askchapo MayoPete • Now • 100%

Why are Democrats doing *waves hands* this against us?

It's rant time because depression and racing thoughts are *fun*. I've been thinking about all of the more blatant Dem actions lately to push the "left" away from the party as far as possible. Part of me is confused. Why push away a potential voting block? After all, aren't you calling yourselves the "big tent" party? Part of me wants to think that there is an ideological push from the centrist and Conservative Dems to get us out of their way. That they honestly did a 180 on the border and suddenly love cops, etc. Maybe part of it is fear? Are Democrats getting enough credible death threats behind the scenes that they are running to the right out of fear? A material analysis might come up with this: Democrats know how their bread is buttered and want to keep the money flowing. **There is a large "industry" or NGOs, 501c3/4 orgs, party organizations, vendors, and other groups that make their money from donations or grants to push for this or that reform.** If abortion becomes legal, Planned Parenthood Action Fund doesn't need to exist. If elections stop being close Priorities USA PAC can go away. Money comes from all of the bullshit PACs like the Lincoln Project getting funded by bazinga-brained dipshits from Silicon Valley that believe in "both sides"/"unity" crap. They have all of the money, so those are the PACs we get. Black Lives Matter doesn't have money, so there are no orgs to sponsor it, which means no staffers needing to cover their asses. Of course AIPAC is a huge part of this as well. All the shitty Dem behavior kind of makes sense when you see it as a bunch of career staffers trying to protect their paychecks. They may not even be thinking about things this way, but they sure are acting like it. What do you think?

main MayoPete • Now • 98%

Capitalism in two pictures

 Trading stocks only radicalized me more. Lunch at a fast food spot is now over $15. Meanwhile it's possible to make a "trade" that nets more profit than a Popeyes employee earns in a day of work. This can't last... or can it?

chat MayoPete • Now • 100%

Do right wingers buy more books?

Or do bookstores only stock right wing books? The most "left" book I can find at this Books A Million is the latest from Bernie Sanders 🙃

technology MayoPete • Now • 99%

Buffalo Wild Wings blocks Hexbear

Adult content 🤔

technology MayoPete • Now • 95%

VPN Recommendations for left organizing?

With ever more Supreme Court fuckery going on I'd like to help comrades in my local org be better secured against potential breaches. Ideally I'd like to recommend 1-3 options that meet these needs: - Easy to use - Can be used on phones as well as mobile devices - Doesn't retain any network traffic data Any ideas on what options we have?

electoralism MayoPete • Now • 100%

They never respond

I get 1-2 of these per day, paste in my question, and never hear back.

main MayoPete • Now • 100%

With protesting effectively banned, how to adapt?

Fascist policy has moved quickly in response to the recent solidarity encampments that sprang up to support Palestine. It seems like every state action right now is geared toward either making sure these camps can never again exist, or they can legally be crushed by any fascist who wishes to do so. I'm NGL, it's a scary time to be an American with left views right now. What's happening just off the top of my head: - Camps are being destroyed and dispersed by armed police, attacked by right-wing mobs, and harassed by Zionist propaganda shops. - Positive coverage of the protests on mainstream media is near-zero. Same thing we saw during BLM protests in 2020. - Individual protestors are facing consequences ranging from doxxing to harassment, to school suspensions, expulsion, and jail time. That's all run-of-the-mill, seen that before. *What's new:* - A man who was convicted, by a jury, of **murdering** protestors was just pardoned by the Governor of Texas. - Protests continue to be attacked by fascists in vehicles. - The federal government & many states are passing laws changing the definition of antisemitism to include the messages that the students were using at the camps, making it that much easier to legally suppress them. - At least one state (NC) is about to change it's mask law to prevent protestors from wearing masks to protect themselves from Zionist retaliation. So... protesting is basically banned, extremely dangerous, and silenced due to media blackout, state oppression, and social media bias. I know showing solidarity is important but I am struggling with seeing the local camp my local org helped support, a group of peaceful students and activists, just utterly crushed. IDK what to say to the people who effectively lost their rights to free speech. **Any ideas on what to do? How to escalate? How to protest in a way that is more effective and safer for the folks involved?** I know the state is scared of these movements growing because of the sheer amount of action it is taking to quell these. At the same time I see these tactics working. I am tired of seeing good people dragged into jail. I'm tired of seeing them speared under the false charges of "anti-Semitism". I'm afraid of losing the life I have if I speak out. It feels like literally everyone is against us and it is depressing af. I originally wanted to post a question about defending against vehicular attacks, but I remembered everything going on and realized there's a lot more stopping protests than that. I don't have the answers but hopefully we can collectively figure out some options.

doomer MayoPete • Now • 100%

I don't want to do anything

Feeling like shit right now ngl 

chapotraphouse MayoPete • Now • 100%

I get one of these per day on average


main MayoPete • Now • 100%

Oops

 is down. Also, main

effort MayoPete • Now • 100%

Socialist Realism, a messaging manifesto

**Disclaimers** tl;dr at the end My perspective comes from living in part of Burgerland (aka the US) and will be focused on the left "movement" in this country. I'm not going to do the typical American thing of assuming my experiences and perspectives are the only ones that matter, so please let me know in the comments how other countries handle what I'm about to cover. Also this post has been kicking around my head for a while, so apologies if it ends up long-winded or hard to read. The way I think is all over the place, so I have lots of headers and sections to keep things organized. **Intro: Messaging from the left = Capitalist Realism** Mark Fisher (RIP) wrote a very important book about a phenomenon he called Capitalist Realism. I highly recommend every leftist reads at least the opening chapter to this book. In this piece Fisher describes a widespread cultural attitude that Capitalism is inevitable, the only system that can exist in this "end of history". No alternatives are possible, so don't bother trying. And if you do try, you will be made an example of, another reason on a long list of reasons not to try again, so don't even bother. Or worse, your criticisms of Capitalism are used to help keep Capitalism going! Your efforts co-opted and integrated seamlessly into the machine. "Sorry To Bother You", but I doubt "Don't Look Up" got throngs of people who never heard of Socialism to sign up with  *The left, unknowingly(?), contributes to Capitalist Realism* Look at the news feeds, the posts on here, all of the updates on all of your favorite Reddit subs, left Twitter, etc. Overwhelmingly negative stories about how Capitalism is screwing us, how this week a company is caught poisoning food, or how capitalist governments are suppressing speech, or some shitty Conservative politician pushing the latest woman-hating bill. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Capitalism sucks. No one here needs convincing of that. What I want you to focus on is how this deluge of negative stories affects activists and organizers. More in comments.

askchapo MayoPete • Now • 100%

Is there any GOOD news out there?

Just wondering if anything good is happening somewhere. Maybe some local organizing wins? Would be nice to see something positive happening.

askchapo MayoPete • Now • 100%

How to make my DSA chapter better?

I know DSA gets dunked on here pretty hard, so hoping we can have a constructive conversation about how to make things better. I'm a DSA member. Plz don't Ban me... It's a smaller chapter in the deep south. There's a mix of people including MLS, Anarchists, and some baby-leftists. No  and we make fun of Democrats all the time. What we're doing: New member education BDS, in particular handing out flyers with a list of companies to boycott Attending Palestinian rallies and supporting the Palestinian rights orgs in our area Tabling at Pride Brake light clinics ...and we're starting a public transit campaign to improve service What are we missing? What could we do better?

askchapo MayoPete • Now • 100%

Where to find stats for AES countries?

I love it when libs think living in places like China or Cuba is like living in a wasteland. The way some people talk about these countries you'd think these places looked like something out of Mad Max instead of thriving, prosperous nations. I'd like to write up some agit prop as a go-to resource on these countries. Examples of info I'd like to have handy: Life expectancy Cost of Healthcare How much does it cost to ride an ambulance? How much does childbirth cost? What if I'm diabetic? What if I need therapy for mental health issues? Crime rates, ex: number of thefts / 10000 people Rates of people suffering from depression Suicide rates Etc. I believe the average person living in China has a higher quality of life than I do in burgerland, but I don't have hard figures to prove it. Help plz?

askchapo MayoPete • Now • 100%

What Is To Be Done (to help Palestine locally?)

I am working on some proposals for my local DSA chapter (I know, ) and am trying to find things we can do that a) actually help Palestine, b) aren't just performative, and c) aren't going to get my comrades arrested or fired. I have a couple ideas but am hoping folks here have better ones: - Print pro-Palestine stickers, put on business store fronts (taken from https://hexbear.net/post/956137) - Research businesses in the area that fund Israel or do business with Israel. Expose them - Create information campaign "this business supports genocide." Create stickers, graphics, and flyers to inform people about Sabra, Burger King, McDonald's support for genocide. "McGenocide... I'm loving it?", "Welcome To Burger King... where bombing children's hospitals rule" - Individual targeting campaign. A tit-for-tat against Zionist doxing of college students who speak in support of Palestine. Are there prominent CEOs, influential figures, elected officials in the area who have publicly supported Israel's genocide or attacked Palestine? Let's expose them, let their neighbors know who they live near, etc. I posted something like this yesterday but it was buried deep in a thread. Any ideas? Anything obvious I missed?