this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2026
168 points (92.9% liked)

Lefty Memes

7113 readers
642 users here now

An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of "ML" (read: Dengist) influence. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.

Serious posts, news, discussion and agitprop/stuff that's better fit for a poster than a meme go in c/Socialism.

If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.

Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low quality!

Rules

Version without spoilers

0. Only post socialist memes


That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme. Please post agitprop here)


0.5 [Provisional Rule] Try to use alt text or image descriptions to allow for greater accessibility


(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)

We encourage alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if they’re too complex.

We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.

When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.


0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms


When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart

  • ofc => OFC
  • af = AF
  • ok => OK
  • lol => LOL
  • bc => BC
  • bs => BS
  • iirc => IIRC
  • cia => CIA
  • nato => Nato (you don't spell it when talking, right?)
  • usa => USA
  • prc => PRC
  • etc.

Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them


1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here


Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.


2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such


That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.


3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.


That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" (read: Dengists) (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).


4. No Bigotry.


The only dangerous minority is the rich.


5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.


We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.


6. Don't irrationally idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.


Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.


  1. Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 78 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

This map is the gift that keeps giving:

  • Obodo Oyibo Belfast, Polar Obodo Oyibo — Obodo oyibo is "white man land" in Igbo. See RL Niger and Nigeria.
  • Big Wota — colonisers often picked some random word/expression the locals mention and assumed it was the name of the place. See RL Yucatán, probably from Maya ma'anaatik ka t'ann (I don't understand you)
  • Baris, Rom, Nedelan, Phrans, Deutshland, Doisrikondre, Caucasia — Paris, Rome, Netherlands, France, Germany [Deutschland], Germany (again) Caucasus. It's all somewhere there anyway.
  • Cabo Cinza — geographical feature + adjective. See RL Cabo Verde (Green Cape).
  • Duckstan — it's basically "place of the ducks"; most of the time you see -(i)stan being associated with a local people but that isn't obligatory, see Persian ⟨گلستان⟩ (gulistān "rose garden"). See RL Lagoa dos Patos (Ducks Lagoon).
  • Lithium Coast, Cheese Coast — after some local resource. See RL Argentina, Brazil, Ivory Coast
  • Qhadafia — after some random political big shot. (From the colonising side, of course.) See: RL Philippines, Victoria
  • Kemetic Ocean — Kemet is the old name of Egypt, both the pre-Roman kingdom and the region around the Nile. I think it's being modelled after the RL Atlantic Ocean vs. Atlas.

Surprised to not see any place being called "Big River" or "Day of Arafah Island".

[–] alsaaas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You really be effort posting in this thread today

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Etymology is kind of bait for me. Doubly so with what-if scenarios.

[–] alsaaas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah ent~~o~~ymology is quite interesting to me as well but not on special interest lvl lol

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

not on special interest for etymology

[User banned from linguistics@mander.xyz]

actually it's entomology

[User banned from the whole mander.xyz instance]

Just kidding :-P

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thanks for this, as it explains a lot.

Also, wouldn't Qhadafia be better explained through Rhodesia?

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

It could be too. It depends if the Qhadaf in question was the one founding it (like Cecil Rhodes), or simply some noble the discoverer was trying to please, while fighting the local tribals who were "refusing to be civilised". Either way, it's some name that feels completely out-of-place from Europe, much like all three we mentioned.