today is martin luther king day, a day for liberals and conservatives to desperately try to turn him into a harmless icon by erasing his revolutionary anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist politics from view. so here is a thread to commemorate that legacy
the last segment, reposted here, is why MLK (like malcolm x before him) had to be stopped at all cost: he was calling for the revolutionary overhaul of the capitalist economic system, and critiquing the limitation of the struggle to the cultural front
here MLK calls out the hypocrisy of the "lift yourself up by your own bootstraps" propaganda that conservatives and later on also neoliberals employed to destroy any remnants of the welfare state as soon as it could be used to benefit the black community
"trump is the worst president in history" can only be believed if you view the presidency purely through the lens of superficial aesthetics instead of actual harm done. he doesn't come even close to bush or clinton, let alone nixon
biden's body count is way higher than trump's from his days as senator and VP, just add up the iraq war and crime bill. and even aesthetically he's not that different from trump, lying pathologically about everything while being a rapist sex creep. that's why it's called bluemaga
anyone who thinks establishment dems didn't much prefer to let trump off the hook and appeal to "we need to lower the temperature and unify now!" rhetoric but instead were pushed by circumstances into impeaching him is a fucking lemming. just admit you're a joe manchin democrat
feigning contrarian edginess by taking reactive stances you perceive as "owning the libs" when in reality you're just regurgitating the views of the furthest right-wing of the democratic party and the republicans
btw the impeachment will go nowhere exactly bc of these right-wing conservative elements that dominate both parties. they'll delay it being brought up in the senate as much as possible, hoping people will forget about the storming of the capitol, and then let it die a slow death
just fyi, bari weiss has changed none of her politics since the first pieces. she still routinely smears pro-palestine activists as anti-semites and tries to get them fired and censored. the only difference is that she does it while loudly cosplaying as a free speech warrior
oh and she still lies about her many years of trying to get professors fired by smearing them as anti-semites. glenn knows this, he wrote the story on it, yet he happily shares her piece wherein she decries the horrors of censorship and "cancel culture". I don't know why. ask him
russiagate was a deranged propaganda campaign unleashed by the dem establishment and the liberal mediasphere to ward off any serious self-reflection on their grotesque corruption that paved the way for trump, but as ever republicans take the derangement to a whole other level
hillary and leading dem politicians did question the legitimacy of trump's win, but it was not an officially enforced position. obama did not say the election was illegitimate and attempt to prevent trump from taking office. imagine the shitstorm that would've unleashed
and there was always a fundamental contradiction underlying it which the russiagaters never acknowledged: if trump was indeed an illegitimately elected russian agent, why would they vote to hand him more powers like with the renewal of the patriot act or a bigger defense budget?
first of all fidel castro has been dead for over 4 years and the cuban president is miguel diaz-canel. secondly as chomsky notes there is no greater terrorist state than the US
the additional irony is that cuba has long been the target of US terror, from the bay of pigs invasion to the ongoing economic war unleashed on the country and the many assassination attempts on fidel discussed in this thread
biden will likely keep cuba on the sponsors of state terror list as it will keep the embassy in jerusalem, despite it contradicting obama's policy. see this thread for what mandela had to say about these scum and why he and fidel were such close friends
actually the communist party candidate was leading in all the polls in the 1996 election by a wide margin, so the CIA got involved and fixed it for their pathetic drunk puppet. the further immiseration caused by his capitalism on steroids policies led to putin's rise. you grifter
also missing from that deranged account of post-soviet history is that yeltsin's neoliberal economic policies were so devastating that parliament began to oppose it. his response? send in the tanks and literally blow it up. if you want a parallel for trump it's him
the most hilarious part of that thread is that anyone involved with the KGB should have been prosecuted. pray tell julia, does the same apply to the CIA, which has actually committed some of the 20th century's worst atrocities and continues to do so?
since the neoliberal revolution universities have become increasingly financialized, with the "college experience" turned into a commodity managed and sold by HR and PR departments that greatly exceed any research and teaching funding and personnel. universities are brands now
and their clientele are prospective students. their incentive structure is set up to as to maximize this clientele so as to maximize their profits, which leads to ever exorbitant tuition fees and other costs and a hyper-sensitivity to protecting their brand
this financialization and marketization of the university has a distorting effect on all relations within it: between students and teachers/researchers and among students and teachers/researchers themselves, which is expressed in all sorts of pathologies
I love how it's being presented as a feel-good story that a landlord who has the ability to not charge rent is intentionally deciding to tie it to their commitment to do free labour for the sake of her philanthropy PR, with no consideration for the impact this has on them
dangling the prospect of rent deductions in front of people who are already beyond the breaking point, and framing it in such a way that if they can't do it and get evicted it's their fault for being lazy/uncaring? this may very well be the most sadistic shit I have ever seen
in the US liberal wonk freaks are having a meltdown at the mere suggestion of cancelling all student loan debt or even anything a cent above 10K, while in germany and other civilized countries students are actually paid to go to college. the american liberal class is deranged
oh btw biden isn't going to do the 10K either. republicans will do a news cycle on it and block it in congress and he'll say "SORRY THE MODERATE VOTERS WONT ALLOW IT" via an executive order, and that'll be the end of that. "buh he haz the most progressive platform in history!!1!"
more details on the german system: if you're eligible you get full grants, otherwise you can get half as a zero-interest loan, only to be repaid once you earn above a certain threshold, and half as a grant. denmark, finland, sweden et al give full grants to everyone
mussolini, hitler and other fascists are always funded by major industrialists and other capitalist interests as a means of preserving the capitalist system when it's threatened. its intrinsic instability leads to the periodic rise of fascistic tendencies. always. everywhere.
here's a list of german, american and other corporations which happily collaborated with the nazis: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c…
turns out the whole "omg destiny was cancelled by DSA! PURITY POLITICS OMG" was just a pathetic excuse by that grifter for being a lazy hack who didn't plan anything in advance for the canvassing, and, most tellingly, his refusal to pay to get voting data from another org
this is why you never take anything he says seriously. he's a pathological liar whose sole aim is to advance his personal brand and grift. the whole "LETS CANVASS IN GEORGIA" thing was just a PR exercise. he wasn't even willing to pay a little to get the necessary voting data
ask yourself: if he really believed that the fate of the world depends on canvassing in georgia, why did he not pay a little from his lucrative career sitting on his ass all day typing out the n-word to get the necessary data and do it with his dozen or so fanboys? it's a grift
georgia is a state w/ a huge black population, who form the base of the dem coalition. imagine anyone w/ any political sense wanting to associate themselves with a white neoliberal twitch gamerbro who proudly boasts about "saying the n-word all the time"
this grifter spent the last few months rage-whining incessantly about "BAD OPTICS" over slogans and protests, yet expects anyone with a modicum of political understanding to willingly associate themselves with his toxic racist bidenbro ass? lmao ok
what I wouldn't give to see destiny going door to door in atlanta reading out his 10.000 word n-word manifesto (yes, he actually wrote one of those). try that shit in the real world and see how it works out you little bitch
I have to add this line breaks my heart every time: "the sanctions killed a million iraqis, most of them children; most of them died before they even knew that they were iraqis, but they died for no other reason other than that they were iraqis"
it is crucial to keep in mind that this is not just history, it is present
the people responsible for this, republicans and democrats alike, are still in power today. joe biden did this. the people trump put in his cabinet did this. they're all still in power. and every time I think about it it makes me want to vomit in disgust
today is the anniversary of black panther leader fred hampton's assassination by the police working in concert with the FBI as part of its murderous COINTELPRO subversion program. he was only 21 years old
it's instructive to know how they got to him: the FBI bribed someone to give them information used to plan the assassination. local cops then burst into his house, and as hampton lay sleeping next to his pregnant gf they killed him with a hail of bullets
what is not mentioned in that clip is that the FBI snitch didn't just provide them with critical information that led to fred hampton's assassination, he also drugged hampton and others in the house in preparation for the raid
tax the rich is trending, so here's renowned economist thomas piketty explaining why that's essential
as piketty notes, when billionaires like bezos and gates say they "gave away all their money", they mean *to themselves*. and it's part of an elaborate tax evasion scheme, grotesquely sold as a selfless philanthropic endeavor by the very same mainstream media they own and control
when piketty published his book "capital in the 21st century", wherein he proposes a global wealth tax, bill gates told him personally that he does not want to pay more in taxes. why? bc as piketty notes in that clip, he wants the world to come begging to him. a sociopathic ghoul
"defund the police" isn't just a slogan, as disingenuous liberals are claiming along with an appeal to the mythical "moderate voter" to justify their opposition to the policy proposals it advances. here's one: abolish the misdemeanor system. THREAD WITH CLIPS explaining why
the clips are of alexandra natapoff discussing her book "punishment without a crime". the title is literal: the misdemeanor system gives vast powers to police, enabling them to criminalize huge swathes of the population as a means of legitimizing and funding their own existence
but what is the history of the misdemeanor system? why was it set up in the first place? you shouldn't be surprised to learn that it originated in the post-slavery era, designed as a means to criminalize the black and poor white population and keep them in check, as it does today
and see this thread, which includes the astonishing fact that the 3-year recidivism rate for prisoners who had access to pell grants and got a college degree was 5% versus 40% for those who didn't
spoiler alert: they got rid of the pell grants, bc the purpose of the neoliberal penal state is not to reduce crime, it is to punish those in the lower regions of the class and racial hierarchy. for more details see wacqaunt's work linked in this thread:
candace owens trending, so here's that time she literally defended hitler. "if hitler just wanted to make germany great and have things run well, ok, fine."
candace owens' bizarre "argument", which she repeats here, hinges on her inability to understand that nationalism and imperialism aren't mutually exclusive, but coextensive. the nazi conception of national superiority is what led them genocidal imperialism
she also bizarrely fails to comprehend what any 10 year old knows, namely that a concept like "nationalism" is a social construct, created for the purpose of scapegoating "undesirable", "alien" elements within the body politic. both the nazis and magaites use it in this manner
jimmy carter trending, so important to remind you that he's an unrepentant genocidal war criminal, who among other things sold arms to the indonesian dictatorship as it engaged in genocide in east timor
here is more detailed account of how jimmy carter gleefully aided and abetted the genocide in east timor. but it's ok because he builds houses now? he should be tried for war crimes in the hague like every other living postwar president
and for a more detailed account of jimmy carter's blood-drenched presidency see this excellent piece
ok so since marxism is trending I'm going to post the best introduction I've come across of marx's labour theory of value and theory of crisis, which is the core of his work and the marxist critique of capitalism. THREAD WITH CLIPS
now we know what variable capital and surplus value are. how do they function in relation to one another, and the broader capitalist system, and how does this relate to economic crises? for that we need to know what the rate of profit and constant capital are, all explained here
a crucial concept was introduced there, central to marx's critical analysis of capitalism and theory of crises: the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall over a business cycle through the increase in the ratio of constant to variable capital (machines replace labour)
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