An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. 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, and discussion 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!
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)
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" seen on lemmygrad and more specifically GenZedong (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.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
6. Don't 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.
For the shoplifting thing, it depends which store it is. Big chain grocery store? Yeah, I couldn't care less what someone takes. Small single owner shop? Fuck you for stealing from that guy. Those stores struggle enough just trying to compete with the Walmarts of the world.
Stealing food? I didn't see shit.
Absolutely yes, but also, choose your targets. Walmart ain't gonna miss it. The local bodega will.
When the food is multiple grocery bags full of steaks I'm a little less inclined to a charitable view.
That said, I'm still not going to do anything about it. Intervening on the behalf of a grocery store is insane, even if I were opposed to what's happening. Not my monkeys, not my circus.
"Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, otherwise we'd get along!"
Riffraff! Street rat! I don't buy that! If only they'd look closer… Would they see a poor boy? No, siree They'd find out there's so much more to me
Wal mart is still the one and only store I used to steal from back in 90’s. Had to wear umbro shorts since they had that webbing in them and then grab a few CDs and beads to make necklaces that I would sell. By the time I got to high school I was over the shop lifting thing.
Much like pirating Nintendo games, it is morally correct to shoplift from Walmart, assuming you have the skill to get away with it.
Plus it was the only way I could get CDs with explicit lyrics like Rage Against the Machine
Most stores don't stop you. The security guards are just there for the police report and a description. That said, if you get recognized coming back to the same store, they will call the cops.
If there's a police report, you didn't get away with it unless you're never going to that store again. Which is probably not usually the case.
Wait, is sleeping in your car illegal???
In Burgerland? Ofc!
Freedom rains!
"Freedom is always the freedom of the rich" – Ayn Rand, I guess
In many cities in the US, not only is it illegal, they will charge you with DUI if you appear at all intoxicated, and the keys to the car were at all available to you. Available in this case can mean that you were in the back seat sleeping and the keys were in the front console, or one of the front seats. Don't even think about running your car to stay warm/cool.
Is that whole sobriety test thing real in the US? Like, stand on one leg and recite the alphabet etc? I've seen it on TV but always thought it was pretty stupid. In the UK the police have breath-tested for drink driving since 1967.
Depends. Smaller townships without regular access to a breathalyzer, yes. Or cops trying to get you to admit that you are intoxicated.
I walked a straight line while touching my nose because the cop smelled alcohol in the car (rightly so, my wife, then gf, was smashed). Took about 10 seconds for him to go "So obviously that's all her, have a good night!".
So yes, it does happen.
It's real, and it's totally based on the officer's gut feelings. Hell breathalyzers over analyze over 70% of the time. The entirety of the war on drugs and the tools to combat drunk driving are not entirely based in science
tools to combat drunk driving are not entirely based in science
To the point that the accuracy of breathalyzers has been challenged so many times in CA that it's to the point that if the cops in CA have you breathe into a machine and that machine returns a number that would constitute a DUI if that were your BAC then it's a DUI, regardless of what the machine actually does or whether the number in question is actually connected to your real BAC in any way.
Oh they do both. And you can get what they call a DWI (Driving While Impaired) just on the basis of the circus act in some states. So the breath test comes back at say, .037, which is well within the legal limit. The cop can charge you with DWI anyways based on your bad balance.
Forget the bad balance. All the cop has to put in his report is the language they were taught. The suspect had red, glassy eyes when I approached. They might as well drag and drop these statements or just have them written by LLM.
It's all really just an excuse by the popo to book you. Which is why you should always ask for the breathalyzer if you really weren't drinking.
No but it is illegal to park in most places after hours. You will get hit with trespassing.
In what sort of un-free shitehole is that a law?!?
I have so many questions.
a tent in the woods
That's where tents belong, though. It's called camping.
i genuinely can't believe there are laws around sleeping in vehicles these days. You want me to pack up and fuck off after a day? Fine, i'll do that, i can live with that. Fuck you for making it illegal though. Actual bullshit.
I only lie to three people. Cops, judges, and my parents.
I remember being told that an adult could sleep in a car, but with a child, sleeping in a car is considered "endangerment". Doubly so if you're a CIS gender male with a female child. This was a Texas CPS social worker. We just had a flood and were brainstorming ideas for temporary shelter for folks.
Totally!.... At the home Depot if someone shoplifts a drill, tell them where the drill bits are. Chances are they won't be able to come back to home Depot again for a while. They might as well have all they need.
Why not buy some under water drills and an underwater propulsion device then go down to the marina and sink some expensive yatchs? How about slashing some police tires?
Why not study an industry you wanna take down and figure out how? Or gather an online flash mob and invade a conservative website or institution. How about running for office at your local council? Or sending letters to good and bad politicians saying what you think. Contact the media about something you believe but make sure it's the right level for what you're saying.
Or go read some leftwing theory.
Some of that is adventurism, so I would say organizing comes first. Sinking yachts does little without a mass leftist movement to take advantage of the damage.
Theory is great too, it makes your practice sharper.
And we pay to keep them homeless between shit charities with stocked boards making $100k yearly, ER visits, and arrests/enforcement.. This system of capitalism is totally ducked build dense affordable housing, and watch America become actually great again.
I never snitch, ever. If my neighbour was a serial killer, I'd just move instead of calling the cops.
i'd give him a shopping list...
What if they're shoplifting at my store?
Then direct them to Walmart because your owner-operated store with no employees is too rare already.
I know people who are shoplifting for "fun" or for "the thrill". They don't even care about the items and they definitely don't care about the shop owner. They just do it when they see the chances.
Unless it's a small business, I don't care about the shop owner, either.
But who are we to judge when shoplifting is appropriate or not? Also, if you are shoplifting to spite the capitalist system, you are doing society a favor. If you are shoplifting in a small self-owned store that is struggling itself, this would be less than ideal. But all other large corporate-owned shops are ethically OK to shoplift imo.
Gas Station Encounters is a great channel to see shoplifters in action.
Pays 100$ for gas, 50$ worth of scratch tickets, 20$ worth of soda
Steals a 50¢ candy bar
Some people are just... lmao
I sleep outside just because sometimes. So anyways homeless people don't exist right?
I guess it depends on what you're shoplifting and who you're stealing from.
Like, stealing a gaming rig from a mom-and-pop style PC building/repair shop wouldn't be okay
Here's the deal: as long as you're not being an asshole about doing any of these things, I'll probably overlook it.
Start acting a fool however, and I'll have the cops come collect you.