So my family was not quite as bad as yours (fewer cards, too)… that being said, you may be surprised how people bend and twist to accommodate those they’ve already decided they love. Once they forfeit those bigotries for you personally, they’ll mellow out in general. Don’t try to “educate” them, it never works. Stock advice, maybe, but homophobia/transphobia is kind of the same thing all the way down.
A couple things… firstly, there’s no way of actually knowing which country is going to have a revolution first or last, what that revolution would require in order for it to occur, or what outcomes would emerge from that revolution. Most everyone who’s tried to think this way has been wrong.
Also reforms are not “compromises.” Their functions are more similar to steam vents. Almost all reforms are phased out eventually or otherwise circumvented until a boiling point is reached again. There is no sliding scale. And there is no “socialist-sympathetic petty bourgeoisie and national bourgeoisie.” Virtually no one would do the things you suggest. If they do, they’re probably tricking some local anarcho-whatever collective into throw bricks at striking autoworkers because they voted for Trump or something.
What you’re suggesting is called “accelerationism” and it’s not very popular. Turning up the heat doesn’t get you any closer to revolution unless there’s a preexisting socialist framework to replace and undermine the faltering structures of capitalism. That takes actual coordination and planning. Revolutions do not self-assemble like cell membranes. This is idealism.
Just hang around a bit, this stuff will become clearer.
The soy cop shows are worse. At least Dick writes characters you can imagine murdering black people between episodes. CC seems to want me to think cop brutality is funny.
Just know you’re not alone in feeling this way. I don’t have the luxury of living in a place where organizing, protesting, and fighting back are realistic options, and I do often wonder about the effectiveness of doing so even given the opportunity. I think of Aaron Bushnell’s words almost every day, “If you ever wondered what you would have done during the Holocaust, you’re doing it now.” It makes me deeply ashamed. I would throw my body on the gears if I could, but I can’t find the gears, and I can’t throw my body on them. They’re simply out of my reach.
Lenin puts this best. The activities which effectively disrupt the machinery of slavery, genocide, and oppression have been outlawed and are being outlawed. This is doubly so in the imperial core. I think BDS is an appealing option for so many first-worlders because it is something we can do that is extremely difficult to criminalize.
Take solace that the work which brings imperialism to its knees is not ours to do. It is the work of the oppressed peoples of the world, and they are the only ones who can succeed in this endeavor. It will happen with or without our support. And it will happen. Let Hamas fire the shots, let Ansar Allah enforce its blockade, and let South Africa take these criminals to court. Palestinians need decent human beings to stand up for them in the imperial core.
Whatever you do, don’t despair. It sounds extremely stupid, but hope for a better world and a steadfast belief in justice which transcends courts and cops are potent weapons against soul-crushing barbarism. Keep speaking truth to power, comrade. It is all we can do.
Yemen will be remembered as a nation full of people who heroically struggled against inhumanity and brutality. Uncritical support to the Houthi “terrorists.”
The tearful hysteria over Venezuelan thugs is not meant to persuade you. It is an act of self-persuasion. “I’m crying, so this must be serious and real.”
Every fascist roach thinks the people they’re exterminating are doing the same back to them. This is the only way to maintain their self-perception of moral, rational people. They lie to themselves to justify the blood sacrifices their racist idols require.
This isn’t a therapist problem. Alex has a persecution complex, not a disease.
Alex probably doesn’t understand that they are doing this. Every single time they start their routine, shut them down by changing the subject. If you aren’t afraid, they might start to wonder why they are afraid.
Presumably a massive economic crash. This has obviously never happened, it doesn’t even “fall” consistently over time due to the repeated capture of new markets overseas. Marx is just describing the consequences of “automation” under capitalism, or more generally the outsourcing of human labor to machinery.
I would research “tendency of rate of profit to fall.” No, automation is not socialism, though it is more viable with socialism than capitalism in the long term.
Translation: You don’t have to retire. Faster, serf!
But also, he can retire. Maybe I’m naive, but how is that not enough money to stop working at 67?