Its like Hillary walking into a working class kitchen for the first time.

They’ve been shielded from even critical support of China and other AES for so long they literally, not figuratively, literally cannot process that people exist that have beliefs that aren’t Reddit Approved. They immediately assume it’s bots or wumao. Human beings can’t possibly hold these beliefs, so they must be Oriental hordes or actual robots.

    • CatholicSocialist
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      11 months ago

      Well the world is almost all neoliberal hell so maybe that’d be better than supporting a fascistic hellscape because they have socialist aesthetics.

      I support Cuba and various socialist movements… I don’t pretend Xi is a well-meaning person.

            • CatholicSocialist
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              11 months ago

              Ofc indoctrinated citizens think they’re a democracy, they also probably have different understanding of democracy. America isn’t a democracy either but people are brainwashed into believing it is. Most of the Americans that choose “not a democracy” in that poll are Republicans that’ll say “democracy is mob-rule, we’re a Republic!”

              Does this look democratic to you?:

              • brain_in_a_box [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                11 months ago

                Ah, fortunately we have you, the one and only person immune to indoctrination, to tell us ignorant foreigners what is and is not a democracy, because we’re just too damn indoctrinated to know for ourselves.

                  • MolotovHalfEmpty [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    11 months ago

                    Even if that were true, the content of Hexbear isn’t. Any time spent in thr news mega thread will show that we have comrades from the Balkans, South America, Africa, and from across thr world. And more importantly their perspectives and insights are valued and their posts are appreciated. So even if 80% of Hexbear’s casual readership was American, isn’t that a good dynamic - a site where the population of one of the most insular and propagandised countries on the planet is exposed to a truly international and diverse range of information and perspectives?

              • GnastyGnuts [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                11 months ago

                Ofc indoctrinated citizens think they’re a democracy, they also probably have different understanding of democracy

                How do you justify dismissing it as indoctrination? And if the majority think of it as a democracy, under what definition or understanding of democracy is the perspective of the majority not of prime importance?

                America isn’t a democracy either but people are brainwashed into believing it is. Most of the Americans that choose “not a democracy” in that poll are Republicans that’ll say “democracy is mob-rule, we’re a Republic!”

                The first part of this I agree with (other than the notion of brainwashing), but I don’t understand where you’re getting the second part. According to that poll I linked about perceptions of democracy, 73% of US citizens value democracy, which doesn’t fit with 51% thinking it’s not a democracy, but liking it that way because they think democracy is mob rule.

                Does this look democratic to you?

                I don’t consider the contentiousness of elections to be of primary importance when evaluating if a government is democratic, but given the measurable advancements that have occurred in China under Xi’s leadership, I can buy that he would have such immense support, particularly if there isn’t an equally appealing alternative with such a proven track record.

                • CatholicSocialist
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                  11 months ago

                  And if the majority think of it as a democracy, under what definition or understanding of democracy is the perspective of the majority not of prime importance?

                  So, all the neoliberal western countries that largely believe their democracies are also democracies?

                  The first part of this I agree with, but I don’t understand where you’re getting the second part. According to that poll I linked about perceptions of democracy, 73% of US citizens value democracy, which doesn’t fit with 51% thinking it’s not a democracy, but liking it that way because they think democracy is mob rule.

                  So, 27% of US citizens don’t value democracy? That’s half of the 51% that say it’s not a democracy. Which means if it wasn’t for the 27% largely Republicans that think democracy is mob-rule, around 75% would say America is a democracy. A lot of Americans simply think it’s a “constitutional Republic.”

                  • GnastyGnuts [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    11 months ago

                    So, all the neoliberal western countries that largely believe their democracies are also democracies?

                    I honestly don’t care if western neoliberal countries see themselves as democracies or not, or if they are democracies or not, since that’s not really my grievance with them anyway. However, in China the idea of democracy that is promoted by the Xi himself is one of majority rule, the same way nearly everybody uses the term. That’s the standard that Chinese people are going to be inclined to measure their government against, especially since their government has actively invited them to think of democracy in those terms.

                    Quoting Xi: “Whether a country is a democracy or not depends on whether its people are really the masters of the country. Democracy is not an ornament to be used for decoration; it is to be used to solve the problems the people want to solve.” (from a central conference speech he made in 2021, you can probably find the whole thing if you look)

                    That doesn’t sound far off from “western” notions of democracy, does it? That’s the idea of democracy that they’re being “indoctrinated” with over there, and what the vast majority of Chinese citizens believe their government lives up to.

      • RedDawn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        11 months ago

        Nothing about Xi indicates that he isn’t well meaning, and much more importantly the lives of hundreds of millions of people have been vastly improved during his governance as head of a dedicated communist party.

        • CatholicSocialist
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          11 months ago

          If you think the CCP is genuinely dedicated to communism I cannot take you seriously.

          • RedDawn [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            11 months ago

            It’s CPC and of course they are, there’s no reason to believe otherwise apart from being a dumb little racist baby who thinks only white people can do socialism properly.

            • CatholicSocialist
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              11 months ago

              It’s CPC

              What are you on about, it’s both?

              there’s no reason to believe otherwise apart from being a dumb little racist baby who thinks only white people can do socialism properly.

              Maybe the fact it’s a dictatorship with no power to the people? Tell me, what Chinese factory workers own their means of production?

              Call me a racist? Cuba and Burkina Faso are true attempts at socialism, while the USSR under Stalin was not (Lenin was good though).

              • silent_water [she/her]@hexbear.net
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                11 months ago

                CPSU, CPV, CPK, etc… CCP is a weird, racist neologism coined by the west to emphasize the “Chinese” part of the moniker. CPC is the standard nomenclature.

                  • YuccaMan [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    11 months ago

                    I’d be willing to bet that you haven’t. With the dumb shit you’ve been saying, I like my odds. You’re living proof that leftist politics without historical education is nothing more than aesthetics and pedantry. You’re impotent, and if you had your way the left would never advance. After all, if it did, you’d actually have to do something other than posturing and pointlessly arguing with people.

              • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                11 months ago

                So you want Xi to press the communism button?

                On a serious note, through a communist party controlled state, Chinese workers clearly have greater control over the means of production than workers anywhere else in the world. That’s why they were able to use the resources their own labor created to do things like have an effective covid response.

                • CatholicSocialist
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                  11 months ago

                  Chinese workers clearly have greater control over the means of production than workers anywhere else in the world

                  What makes you think this? Is that why their benefits and conditions are worse than succdem Europe?

                  • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                    11 months ago

                    China was profoundly underdeveloped, and only began to develop in earnest after a revolution in the 1940s. We’ll never know why it’s different than Europe. That’s a really good question.

          • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            11 months ago

            Oh hey it’s you again, I think you forgot to answer me in the other thread as well: what is your solution to the Ukranian puppet government’s ongoing genoicide in the Donbas?

            • CatholicSocialist
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              11 months ago

              Honestly if Russia ONLY invaded Donbas I think I would support that. But you guys are clearly warmongerers that want as many dead Ukrainians as possible.

              • Starlet [she/her, it/its]@hexbear.net
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                11 months ago

                you guys are clearly warmongerers that want as many dead Ukrainians as possible

                This doesn’t even make any sense. People normally criticize us for wanting Ukraine to surrender to end the war – are you just making this up, or??

                • CatholicSocialist
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                  11 months ago

                  I’ll rephrase it, Russia should’ve defended Donbas and nothing else. Going further than Donbas is an unequivocal invasion.

                  I’ve answered all your “questions” hexshit.

                  • brain_in_a_box [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    11 months ago

                    You realise that would mean war with Ukraine, and that it’s universally accepted that you can attack an enemy country you’re already at war with.

                  • SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    11 months ago

                    the only way one could believe this is a viable military strategy is if you have gamerbrain. if Ukraine knew that Russia was not going to go beyond the Donbass then when not just set up a shitload of defense and artillery positions along the border? it would be a massive military advantage to Ukraine and it’s not as if the Western response would have been tempered because of it, they were sanctioning Russia even before the war began

          • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            11 months ago

            Few people here think that the CPC is “genuinely dedicated to communism”. It is a party with millions of members, including communists, liberals, nationalists, and others (happy to chat about the specific major factions in the party if you’re interested). Many in the party are not ardent communists, and have mediocre to poor historical and political literacy from the perspective of a lot of the Marxist nerds on here.

            Some people look at the party and see “hey they’re called communists, and many of them are communists, sure as hell better than whatever is going on in the US or wherever” and kinda hop on board with some enthusiasm that way.

            • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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              11 months ago

              I think they’re pretty clearly dedicated to communism. It’s a long process and a lot of work, especially in a hostile world. Anything I read where they state their intentions perfectly matches their actions. The challenge will be when the actual expropriations begin. The capitalist backlash will be extremely violent.

              • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                11 months ago

                Overall yes I’d agree that the communists are winning, I like most of what Xi is doing personally and respect him far more than any other world leader.

                At the same time the ideological discipline isn’t there in the same way that it was during the Maoist period. Liberals and business owners are allowed to be party members. I don’t think it’s wise to give them such a foothold, but I don’t know enough to comment much further or offer any useful criticism.

                At the end of the day, I’d love to see the PRC introduce a worldwide expansion of socialist principles as much as anyone else here, although my hope is more cautious than other comrades here. As you say, the result speak for themselves, and they still have a couple decades of runway to dial in their targeting systems and fire off the communism button at the right time.

                • ImOnADiet@lemmygrad.ml
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                  11 months ago

                  I think the big signs of hope are the anti corruption campaigns that Xi took, and the fact that billionaires are still losing their wealth (and lives) quite regularly, and will smash any outspoken ones like Jack Ma as well

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                    11 months ago

                    He’s doing very well for the position he’s been in

                    Unfortunately their foreign policy is mid, mostly constrained by US hegemony. To me a shift toward supporting socialism in other countries is what will really convince me, but they aren’t there quite yet.

              • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                11 months ago

                It’s an odd thing to think, like I said there are many communists, but it’s far from everyone, and the politics are not as straightforward as they are here on our site where we aren’t actually in charge of anything.

                Many academic Marxists comment on this, read Wang Hui as an example

              • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                11 months ago

                See other comments, but I would suggest that statement is overly broad on it’s own. There is a large liberal continent within the party, although they are still on their heels.

                • YuccaMan [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  11 months ago

                  I see what you’re getting at, but even the Bolsheviks formed a broad front with liberals, no? Not that that’s a wholly comparable situation, but I’m sure the Party has its reasons, even if we aren’t privvy to them.

                  • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                    11 months ago

                    Right, and if I bothered to read more theory/history I’d probably have some criticisms about that too. It is a necessary aspect of having a functioning socialist government while capitalist forces still reign supreme. It doesn’t mean it’s above me carefully analyzing it, rather than calling it fine and overlooking it.

            • Walk_On [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              11 months ago

              Hey, at least I didn’t say that most communists that support China are doing it because they want to be contrarian. That would be an incredibly ignorant statement to make.

          • GaveUp [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            11 months ago

            Right? All these fucking tankies don’t even believe that there’s a current genocide against the Mongolians

            Bunch of fucking insane nutcases here