Comradeship // Freechat
I've been leading the effort for building up a local institution that has been in a "zombie" state of existence for a while. It's a very small org, not necessarily communist, and even our political parties don't pay much attention to it. It's stressful and sometimes a thankless job. Since we're rebuilding it and have very few people, everything takes way more of my time than it should. But it's damn satisfying to see how much can be done just by pooling together some working class people, and how much we help the lives of people affected by us, materially or socially. It's made it even more clear to me how mentally unsustainable society has become through individualism. So this is your regular call to get organised. You don't need to devote too much of your time to it, because every little bit helps a lot. You also don't need to build something from the ground up, you can join a bigger effort around you. It also doesn't need to be a party chapter (specially if you don't have one near you), it can be other necessary organisations like tenants'/trade/workers'/students' unions, animal rescue groups, homeless shelters, food banks and soup kitchens. Heck, even some churches can often have progressive projects that materially help the working class. From a theorectical and material perspective, no revolution will come without organised and connected labour with practical experience. But from a personal and subjective view, building up those connections in service of your class and community is something you probably can do in your immediate surroundings and feel in concrete terms what Marxists mean by "organising" and how effective it can be. So it's a win-win scenario. ::: spoiler less motivational stuff Eventually, without a party coordinating and leading the way, and under a capitalist regime, every organisation will reach their limits of what they can do alone. This is the moment where a proper party can combat opportunism and heighten class conflict. But I assume most here are from countries where labour is so disorganised and disintegrated, to the point where those limits are so far away that they're invisible. This post is not meant to dissuade from party work, but rather as a generalisation for eager comrades in situations where party work seems impossible. Eventually even soup kitchens and affordable TNR clinics will stumble into class conflict, which they can't win without a good Marxist party. But people won't even believe in a proletarian revolution as an alternative, and therefore won't agitate for one, without first hand experience with worker-led smaller projects such as those soup kitchens and affordable TNR clinics. I could write some more on the nuances of local organising, but this was meant as a motivational post. For more theory, click every single link in the [Black Panther MIA page](https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/). :::
Been looking at ways to get a super cheap car. GSAAUctions has some neat govt. fleet vehicles and other stuff for less than a thousand dollars on some. Anything I should know about GSAAuctions? I'm pretty sure the govt. cars aren't criminal asset forfeiture, right? If I were to successfully bid on something, what is the process on "getting it"? They issue you a certificate and you pay the final bid and go and grab it? Or is there something else I'm missing? Never done this before...or bidding on anything at all. I hate bidding.
It only takes a minute of your time to copy your important files to a drive or the cloud. I (potentially) lost one year of progress on a book I'm writing because of my negligence. So please don't be like me.
Figured I could get the best recommendations here since most "breadtubers" seem to be fundamentally liberal, milquetoast socdem types. Especially interested in theory, etc. topics like that. The longer the video the better.
This may be unpopular, but I am getting tired of all the questions to enter a space or create an account, not just in the lemmygrad-sphere, but basically every leftist space on the internet. I wanted to create an account on ProleWiki, but to do so I need to pass an exam. >FIRST SET (please answer all 8 questions) >SECOND SET (choose 5 questions to answer) I have already answered pretty much the same questions to get on lemmygrad and matrix. If I knew I'd be asked the same things over and over, I would have saved them from the first (or second) time I typed them all out. Mind you, lemmygrad isn't the first place I visited/joined, so I have answered a similar set of questions probably 6-7 times in the past few years. The biggest problem with the questions is that they don't work. As in, they're not going to filter out any bad actors, because people intent on joining for destructive purposes aren't going to be deterred by a few questions they can answer with a quick google search. Bad actors will also know what answers you expect to see and write those. It's a bit like when the US border control gives you the green form with the question "Are you a terrorist?" But the questions will turn away people like me who are simply tired of writing an exam just to create an account on a webpage. I have always had problems with tests/exams as in I have a problem they exist and I literally have traumas from them lmao. The pressure, the uncertainty, the doubt... I mean there's a reason people still have anxiety dreams about missing a test or not studying long after they have left school. By all means, have questions in the signup forms, but: **Fewer questions** Two to three questions max. You don't need theory questions, they can be googled. You don't need LGBTQ questions, that should just be a statement "Here we respect LGBTQ people and their right to exist, use pronouns people ask, don't discriminate, etc. violation of this rule will result in a ban, possibly permanent." Done. **Right kinds of questions** If you want a **theory/reading question** ask something like: *What was the book/article/work that got you into Marxism/communism and why?* or *What's the most recent work of communist literature (book, article, novel, pamphlet, zine, etc.) that had an impact on you and why?* People will tell you more about themselves by actually talking about themselves rather than answering questions about theory. Not to mention it's harder to fake being a communist when you have to give your own personal understanding of something that's not a big issue. Asking about Palestine, DEI, culture war topics doesn't make sense because again they can look up what you want to hear. But if someone says the most recent work they read is the Capital or Manifesto and they think everyone should be equal then that should raise a red flag (not for being wrong, but for not being genuine). **No wrong kinds of questions** There are some questions you simply shouldn't ask as a matter of principle. For example, you have this is number 3 of the mandatory questions for ProleWiki: "3. Have you read our principles? Comment your agreements or objections to their points." Since a person filling this out is only *requesting* an account, asking for comments on the principles may come across as you simply rejecting anyone who doesn't agree or will want changes. This shouldn't be a question, but a statement: "These are our principles, joining means you agree to them." I don't know how ProleWiki is run if there are meetings where principles are modified/added/removed or if they are set in stone. If set in stone, then it definitely makes no sense to ask. **Questions that are questions, not several questions hidden as one** Asking things is easy, but whoever wrote the questions has no respect for people's time. This is just way too much work, people have things to do. The time spent answering questions could be spent writing an article for the wiki. *There's an idea!* Instead of answering all those questions, just have a list of topics people can write a wiki article on. That wiki article is the entry form. Simple, elegant, dare I say... beautiful? What's there now though: >Where did you find ProleWiki from?(1) How familiar are you with it?(2) Comment what made you want to join ProleWiki(3) and what areas you are interested in contributing to.(4) That is *4* questions. >What current of Marxist thought do you uphold? Describe as thoroughly as needed your path towards your current political perspective. That is *2* questions, one of them an "essay question". >Have you read our principles? Comment your agreements or objections to their **points**. There are ten subheadings in the principles, with more sub-subheadings. That's a question and an essay question. Q: 6 E: 2 >What is your understanding of gender? Should Marxists support the LGBT community? *2* questions. >What is your position on Joseph Stalin(1) and Mao Zedong?(2) How would you describe their historical role?(3,4) Share any comments or critiques you have regarding them.(5) *5* questions. >What are your thoughts on China,(1) Vietnam,(2) Cuba,(3) DPRK(4) and Laos?(5) Do you believe any of these countries is socialist?(6) Why or why not?(7) *7* questions. >What is settler-colonialism,(1) are there any countries that still fit that description(2) and what should be done regarding them?(3) Further, what is to be done about the decolonization and liberation of indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, and immigrant groups in your country?(4) *4* questions. >What is your analysis of the situation in Palestine?(1) What do you think of the 2023 October 7 events(2) and the groups involved from both sides of the conflict?(3) *3* questions. I count 23 regular questions and 2 essay questions. And that's only the "8" mandatory questions. **TL;DR** too many questions to get an account (like ProleWiki, lemmygrad, matrix, but other leftist spaces too). ask fewer (2-3) but more poignant questions. rules about LGBTQ and other rules that aren't up for discussion shouldn't be a question but a statement to be accepted or not. answering so many questions is mentally taxing/exhausting.
Made a Lemmy account a week ago and it still hasn't been accepted. I've been desperately itching to get at some libs outside of my sporadic posting. If this has been asked a million times before, sorry; just curious on the current "traffic flow" as of now.
Everytime I'm at a demonstration with a lot of police violence like lots of Palestine demonstration I get very nervous, my heart starts racing, my knees get weak and my breath becomes short. I even get it when watching videos of police violence or when I see SWAT team busses outside of demonstrations. I'm not the only one that feels that way but others that I see at every demonstration deal with it better, I feel like. They can get in the zone better. So do you have tips?
Gotta take care of my mental health. Block anyone who uses "tankie" unironically or talks shit about how communists are le bad. Can't even have a friendship with western anarchists.
I got a new job at my college recently and I'm basically a glorified chore runner, and I love it. The pay is pretty shit and I'd probably make more working in a kitchen, but tbh, I'm literally typing this as I'm "on the clock", and I get to spend like 90% of the time doing my class work. That's all, that's the announcement. Hope everyone is doing well. Edit: The wosrt part of this job are the senior workers who feel the need to tell me to get off of my phone. Just now, someone told me to get off of my phone and when I got off of it they were like "haha, i'm just joking!" Like stfu bro, all passive aggressive for no reason smh...the most strenuous thing I've done today was go to the mail-room. If it's not coming out of your pocket then stfu!!!
What it says on the tin. Like, I get it "Evil spoon man is basically as bad as Hilter and I'm a leftist with libertarian tendencies" Fuck I hate Robert Evans
So I don’t wanna come off as depressing but the non-funny answer is when I had to leave work early bc my Mom was passing away from cancer🥺, sad answer aside onto funny answer lol, probably 2nd worst moment at work for me was when I worked Door2Door in the Southside of Chicago activating Free Gov phones and I had a gun pointed at me😂I had a gun threatened like 4-5 times throughout the job but the actual gun out spooked me, I just said in the most polite voice “I apologize and I will most certainly take you off of our list” like I get it, Door to Door people suck but it was a free phone and you could just say no. Anyways sorry for the rambling, what kinda shitty jobs have yall done and what would you say were the worst moments?
eventsinukraine.substack.com
Desertion and mobilization, two sides of the same coin. Dragged into a minibus, given some rocks to throw as ‘grenade practice’ in a training center, then straight to the front. And here’s a soundcloud track titled ‘CZCH’ - the military abbreviation for desertion. The lyrics go: *Unit commander…* *Can get fucked….* *And the whole brigade…* *Can get fucked…* *You bunch of devils…* *I’m going quietly, without being noticed* *To CZCH*
So I was talking with this middle-aged lady and, when it was almost over, she asked if I knew Jesus. I sounded neutral, saying he was a great person and all. And I thought she was going to do the usual proselytizing which she did at first. And then she said that she saw Jesus three times, and she even told me the specific date when this happened. And that's when this started to get rrreeeaaalllyyy different. It's important to point out, of course, that as I was talking to her, it became clear to me that something wasn't right. She didn't seem outright malicious or evil like she wanted to hurt me or anything. But it seems she's got some problems mentally. I'm really trying not to be ableist here, I'm trying to phrase this the best I can and trying to look at this with compassion the best I can. A variety of people across the world, from a variety of cultures and personal beliefs, have claimed to have had some kind of extraordinary, spiritual experience. For example, there have been people who have claimed to have had seen the afterlife after having died or gotten seriously injured. The majority report having a pleasant, heaven-like experience, regardless of their beliefs, even if they are atheists, though occasionally some people have more unpleasant experiences. The fact that so many of these experiences have been reported across a variety of places, cultures, and beliefs has made scientists wonder about what's going on, but of course, a conclusive answer has not been found yet so take this all with a grain of salt. So, why do I bring up these specific spiritual experiences? Because, from my own personal research, the way these experiences change these people tends to be different from I'm going to describe later. For instance, they tend to be more accepting of other people from different cultures and beliefs. Anyway, given the vibe I got from this woman, I will not try to counter what they have said in this post. So anyway, they claim that they have seen Jesus three times in one day. And that He is coming soon. (capitalized because Jesus is a widely respected figure and His pronouns are usually capitalized as such) She talks about being born again and that it's not enough to just go to church and all that. Then she mentions the devastation brought out by Hurricane Helene. She mentions that the "secular media" (red flag) probably underreported hundreds of people dying and there was probably more deaths, and claims that much of the assistance went to "illegal aliens." (This "illegal aliens" part was when I really knew something was off.) She pulls out her phone and shows me a YouTube channel called Last Days. It's run by a guy that's pretty similar to her. It's a super Christian guy who claims to get visions from God, only he makes videos about it. She also mentioned that he predicted that Trump would get shot in the ear, and her general attitude towards Trump was another red flag. She claims that the U.S. government is demonic, which is actually pretty true, they don't call it the Great Satan for no reason. And she claims it started with Obama, and she generally mentioned what he did wrong was stuff like rather irrelevant internal policies. I mentioned that I agreed that Obama was bad and mentioned the suffering he brought to the people of Libya and Syria, she brushed that off. Then she gets to the conflicts in the Middle East. She asks "You're not pro-Palestine, are you?" and I just say I'm neutral but even that seems to have scared her a bit. I mention the two-state solution and the fact that women and children are being killed in this conflict. She kind of brushes off the civilian part as "all kinds of people are dying from this" and mentions a part in the Bible where that land (Palestine) "only belongs to the Jews" and that God will punish those who "try to take their land." In general, she seems pretty pro-Israel and talks about how "the Muslims" are wanting to destroy them. (Edit: I'd like to clarify that I am pro-Palestine and support the end of Israeli colonialism. I only said I was neutral because I feared that being pro-Palestine would've made her get super angry at me.) It was somewhere after that part that the conversation politely ended and we said goodbye. For most of it, I didn't really provide counters, I just said "uh-huh" or mentioned how I agreed with some of it. I'm just sharing what I remember, I'm pretty sure you can imagine what else she said. So, what can we take away from this? Firstly, it should be noted that this lady isn't a threat to myself or really anybody else. She just claims to have seen Jesus, which by itself is an extraordinary claim. The "Last Days" guy, from what I've seen so far, despite his large following, doesn't seem very physically dangerous as well. If there's any danger at all, it would be from other people who share similar sentiments and attitudes but are far more organized. As Marxists, we know that religion is the opium of the masses, the sigh of the oppressed. Under more difficult material conditions, people are more likely to be super religious. As material conditions improve, people are more likely to be more moderately religious or to even abandon religion entirely. In addition to this, people's mental health tends to decline under worse economic conditions. People like Donald Trump are usually not seriously supported by people who are economically secure or confident in the future. They are usually scared and suffering, feeling betrayed by the system, and looking for answers. With wages stagnant, inflation rising, imperialism being weakened, the climate crisis intensifying, the material conditions of those in the imperial core are declining. With the left weak, at least for now, people are turning towards the right instead. I'd say the main point of this post isn't to say "Look guys, this lady said that God said that Muslims are bad!" It's to give a glimpse of how the decline of Western imperialism is affecting the people at home, and even moreso what they're going to feel once collapse has finally, fully arrived. Organize. Join a party. Educate your fellow humans about the truth about socialism. Our future doesn't have to be bleak, we can fight for ourselves a brighter world. Note to Moderators: Once again, I am really not trying to be ableist, but if you feel this post comes off like I am, even accidentally, feel free to remove this.
I don't care how much "real" power they have. If you actually believe in a meritocracy how can you defend someone getting a job because of their lineage, attending real political events and ceremonies and influencing policies that way? And let's not forget that in many cases, they ACTUALLY have institutional powers they just don't use because they don't have to, the institutions serve their interests all the same. Sorry for the pointless rant. It just happens way too often.
It's a chud buzzword I hear often. It's something something "prioritizing diversity at the expense of quality" which makes no sense because the whole point of DEI is to make the workplace more welcoming not targeting obviously impossible and bullshit quotas. Yes DEI is handled horribly because usually the actual policies fail to help employees from marginalized groups work with the same level of proficiency required to do their job.
Good news and bad news! Notice, I want to say that I used a lot of "reactionary" starting points and immediately pivoted into the "opposite view" while masking it under class conscious ideologue. Most of this was to ascertain where he was; make sure he wasn't extremely racist or bigoted, etc. Plan to do more critical work with him in the future I've had a talk with him and actually got somewhere with it. Apparently, despite his fierce patriotic and political display; he has never voted and doesn't plan to. His biggest issue, well, seemingly; is immigrants. So, we had a nice talk about the reserve army of labor. He talked a lot about how they're literally **"STEELIN OUR JERBS"**. At first, I brought up *"Well, who hires and pays for illegal immigration?"* to set up a layer of dissonance (just to wedge in somewhere, I suppose). Next, I pivoted that into *"Why do we even have worry about immigrants when our corporations are the real ones hopping the border?"*. (to incite that nationalistic hog and immediately spin it into talking about how corporations have free right to go wherever but people aren't) He brought up a lot about how **"Our governor is giving free apartments, free X and X to illeeegul immigrants!!"** and in response I deescalated and brought up that even if that scenario was true; billionaires and the ruling class control entire mechanisms of our economy without even putting any work into it like hard-working "illegals" do. Immigrants are the reason our economy is able to function to which I went into "Why is it that our economy is so dependent on illegal immigration, exploiting immigrants and they're the only ones to face punishment?" He kinda mulled it over a bit, to which I then brought up that we are responsible for the most interventions in the world. He pipped in "Well, what is China doing right now?". I said, unlike China, our interventions have brought complete ruin and destruction on South America or the places we visit. He was actually intrigued by the amount of interventions we had; "I had no idea about that" etc etc. I pointed out that the reason we have so many asylum seekers is because we have systematically plowed over every stable governance that disagreed with ours. Now, the bad news is that he keeps...KEEPS trying to relate Trump to everything. "Oh, Trump doesn't want to exploit south american countries" and it feels like if I try to be like "um, actually" he'd shut down or feel threatened. So, I rolled with it and then pointed out where he DIDN'T do things and how he affected my family. Cutting food-stamps, aid, etc. It ended pretty much with us having a beer, talking about that and while I don't think I've "broken in" yet, I feel like I've had him internalize some alternative ideologues and that is a great, great start. I do plan to keep working on him! Another good news is that he apparently isn't transphobic or homophobic; which is odd given his political proclivities. One of the things we ended off with. He pretty much just said "Well, I don't know how I'd feel if my kids went that way but I'd still love them the same. I just don't want "them" tryna force my kids into it" to which I responded "Children are "forced "into a lot of things. It's up to you to give them guidance and know what is best for them and let them decide on that on their own in a point of time." Any advice from anyone? How do I wedge further from him bringing up Trump more? It seems like I've gotten him to think. A lot of the times, I'll say one thing, he'll get agitated and say "X and X" to which I usually sort of prime it with something he relates to and then immediately spin it into a class conscious angle. I did not agree with him on a single thing in relation to his xenophobia or egg that on.
as what the title says, i created a twitch channel. And i did it for fun. I'm probably going to do things like play video games. and when i get a good mic, i might do more things like politics, chatting?, etc. And i will put my twitch link in my bio.
Here in India, media is a tool of the fascists. I am ashamed to say it but the concept of journalistic standards is alien to the audience here. The media literally parrots the IOF line, to such a degree of precision that makes me think that I underestimated the sheer evil that can exist in the heart of human beings. But India is a kind of a special case in the Global South, since its an Islamophobic Hindu fascist state and the preposterous IOF talking points slot well with the racist talking points. But I am wondering what the situation is like everywhere else. Please fill me in.
So, essentially, we got a new neighbor about a month ago. Nothing seemed off at first; they were actually incredibly cool about my "farm", garden, compost, etc. Even our dog; whom is a huge, leaping staffy (w some boxer, obv). I've actually been nice enough to offer them some veggies n such, as they seemed pretty decent. Roommate walked out yesterday and the guy has a Trump sign on our front lawn. Now I'm fucking depressed. It's incredible how you can be nice, work with someone and actually seem like a decent human being until you just put the ol' "Hey, I'd see you dead" sign right on the front lawn. Fucks sake man. My room-mate was the one who told me about it after they dumped it into the can lmao. So! Anyone got recommendations for my own agitprop? My plan so far is to act normal; but just put increasing amounts of communist propaganda in the communal hallway, garden, outside the side door and just start ramping it like crazy. All while pretending I have no idea where it's coming from or if anything has changed. I'd like some websites where I can ethically buy some of this preferably from other communists or anarchists. If anyone would like to commission for such things, let me know! Other ideas are open too.
Among other things, free market theories assume that the employee or the consumer has perfect knowledge, even if "unfortunately" s.he doesn't, let's help them then. The salaries of each employee, with their bonuses, are already known, as well as their categories. If it's displayed on a website then every employee of that category could know where to go in order to get a better pay(, yeah, i don't believe it solves the most important problems(, e.g., monopolies, surplus value, lack of democracy in the workplace, ...), but it wouldn't be worse than nowadays). If the consultation of this website is insufficient, and it will, then an annual text summarizing the result of such research for them should be sent. Similarly, for each product sold, a little screen underneath should indicate where's the cheapest same product ~50kms around. I'm sure they would be glad to realize that they can put into practice their theories(, unironically for the honest ones though).
And they didn't say a thing about it.
Firstly, please excuse my bad English, but it isn't my first or second language. I came to this community about a year ago (during the Reddit exodus). Someone on Reddit recommended Lemmy and while searching for a community I stumbled upon Lemmygrad. I don't know why, but I didn't expect there would be an active socialist forum. As an ML, it seemed like a no-brainer to join this one. I'm mostly a so-called “lurker”, but are almost daily on here. I truly appreciate the news links, discussions, memes and more. It's a fresh air in the normal pro-right/capitalism news that I'm confronted with daily. It's even at a point that I can recognize many names around here 😅. Furthermore, the kind and inclusive vibe is unfortunately rare in today's internet, and is something that I really miss about the old days. Fortunately, it's some that I can still experience here. I just wanted to let you all know I sincerely appreciate the community and you all personally! Keep up the great content and the good vibes ❤️
I'm Asian The first thing whites ask me is what size my dick is The first thing I ask whites is how racist they are
I'm gonna scale back how much time I spend online but it's pretty damn boring. I've been on sedentary lifestyle since the lock down and to put it bluntly it's starting to take its toll. I can even feel the effects of a sedentary lifestyle negatively affecting my gaming sessions. I'm riding a bike again after giving up several times. I already know how to swim in deep waters. Any other ideas? I am looking for other hobbies outside art and gaming.
Just found wi-fi. How are you all, good comrades?
It might help you too idk. For pretty much all my life I thought hobbies had to be creative or at least produce something. E.g. guitar, drawing, photography, creative writing, playing sports, etc. I think this is the case for many people, we believe that a hobby has to produce something at the end of the process, or teach you something, to count as a hobby. I also thought that you had to spend a lot of time doing something to count as a hobby, or that you had to be an expert in it. And that you could only have one. It was while playing a video game that I realized hobbies were something completely different, and the devs didn't even intend for it lol. Hobbies are basically anything you like to spend time on. Keeping up with world news, spending time with friends, discovering new things (music, cool places around town). It can even be more abstract: organizing information (if you like to collect things), becoming more efficient (less time spent on one task), solving math problems... even daydreaming might be a hobby. I think a hobby is more accurately defined as something you do during your leisure time somewhat regularly. It doesn't need to be your whole thing, it doesn't need to be something you intend to become great at, and it doesn't need to be something that you've done since childhood and will do until you die. It might not even be something you particularly enjoy doing over something else (e.g. daydreaming - I imagine most people do it naturally and don't really think about it). I grow chili pepper plants for example in a single pot and I'm starting to consider it a hobby. This hobby is not gardening; it's taking care of my one chili plant. It's one of my many hobbies, I'm not going to scale it up (well, maybe just a little bit) or become a gardener, and that's fine! Anyway, you might find this useful.
Since red., DD Geopolitics etc. have been banned from the mainstream social media platforms after the stupidest US State Department announcement, I was thinking twice about joining Rumble. However, the biggest obstacle for joining was queerphobia. PS: Might invite red. and DD Geopolitics to join the site.
[Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQjuZT8y2ZQ&lc=UgwNwKvb1w507sHhS014AaABAg )
I've been in Uni for a few years now and I have to say the "weird kids" to me aren't the ones with dyed hair, the ones that play their Switch on campus, or even the guys who don't shower. No, the weirdest kids are the ones who show up to class everyday just to talk their heads off in the back of the room. Can you imagine that? Imagine spending 10K to dick around instead of actually pay attention.
there's a guy that i'm mutuals with on other social media who's on the young side, like just out of college, and he's figuring out what he thinks about politics. he's pretty smart and hangs around cool marxist(-leninist) people, but he's definitely trying to figure out stuff on his own, which is really cool and he's critically engaging with stuff well. however, it seems like he's seen a lot of patsocs and ACP members bring up weird corners of Marx's writing to try to justify their positions. the particular case he brought up recently was about an ACP guy on twitter using the productive vs unproductive labor distinction to call baristas (you know, people who make coffee for usually really low wages) enemies of the working class because they are unproductive labor. my friend was worried that this kind of weird nonsense argument was necessary for marxists in general. me and some other people explained that no, the ACP guys are picking weird bits of Marx to try to justify their reactionary bullshit and we actually mostly focus on class and not this other stuff. so like no harm done here, but it makes me wonder how often those kind of things go unchallenged in other people's experience.
I ain't young, but this is my first election where I am a real lefty, and... Has it always been this bad? The liberal seething is just disgusting right now. You can't be on any place of the internet that has any discussion about politics whatsoever. If you suggest that the Democrats should be better, then you get called out for trying to make Trump president If you respond that now is the time to actually put pressure on candidates because they're running for office and in any fucking reasonable place, this is where they would make campaign promises and you can demand stuff out of them, then they say that you're being a fascist. The liberal propaganda is just mind numbing. Even the traditionally leftist places on Reddit (a place I visit very infrequently, so small changes add up over time when I visit and see the crazies have come out of the woodworks) are getting inundated with a bunch of "but the GOP is worse", and "we have to compromise" and blah blah blah. Even in some commie spaces. Like I understand not being a doomer, and trying to actually make things better in the meantime while we build forces for the revolution, but holy shit, it's like Anyone to the right of Marxist Leninists have immediately caved to pressure.
I don't have a penny, the next food bank appointment is 30th Sept. I don't know how I'll last that long. Any faster ways?
Tw: self-harm, mental illness, addiction, trauma, abuse, discrimination I have cptsd, panic disorder, depression, anxiety, ADD, and autism. They said I have high functioning autism but I make 20k a year and cannot function well enough to do basic things or have thoughts in my head so I don't know about the high functioning part. Loner here. I'm in my early 30s and puttering through life without accumulating skills. I work a dead end medical documenting job from home that doesnt interest me at all. I dont have any interest in **any** field. I never go to develop that part of myself and it's too late now because of the hand to mouth nature of my existence which seems to be getting only worse for the foreseeable future. I have the generous support of a couple of family members who are themselves very isolated and struggling. Without them I'd be on the street. Everyday I see myself as a burden and cannot escape the thought that when they are gone one day I will have to off myself somehow, if not sooner. But since I can't seem to do anything right, I'm scared I will botch the attempt and survive. I'm still struggling with cptsd just as much as ever. Despite having quit alcohol years ago and a couple of other addictive behaviors since. Despite leaving my abuser nearly a decade ago. Despite moving from the US to Canada. This place is **not** all it's cracked up to be if you're a struggling poor. There's basically no social safety net, the people are a bunch of liberal zionists, it's frozen over for half the year, and there's no way to make any money. I don't go out or talk to anyone but I know fully well that we do not live in anything resembling a functional society. That's the only conclusion I can reach when I cannot trust the healthcare system, cannot rely on public transport, cannot trust a single word anybody says, cannot expect to ever have my own place to live, cannot find a real job, etc. I am also not a part of any online "communities" either because I cannot read posts that are too long or care about other people's stories. I'm not much on social media. Most of my internet use is just listening to YouTube but that stuff goes in one ear out the other because of my mental problems. It just seems pointless to try because my brain is like a sieve. I graduated from university while I was stuck in a mental hospital that I was dragged into by a couple of campus cops. I didn't make any friends in college or school or since. Can't even remember much of what I studied. It was some kind of history degree. I was drinking heavily at home with my abusive dad and we were codependent. Eventually I was rescued from him and he drank himself to death. All I got from the degree was debt and a piece of paper. So anyway i have been recently assigned a couple of goals for the next year. They are... 1) increasing my muscular strength with the use of a lifting regimen and consuming adequate protein. I spent years in the gym without making Amy noticeable improvements, due in part to not going hard enough but also because I just wasn't getting enough protein at all. Like maybe 60-80 g daily at most. I was loaded on carbs and chronically dehydrated. 2) reading a series of self help and spiritual development books. I'm currently on Joe Dispenza's *Becoming Supernatural* and it's given me the first ideas I've had in a long time. Here is what I want to change.... My day to day is just a repetitive set of autopilot behaviors. My brain is not useful for any purpose that I've seen other people use their brains for. I can't seem to be present in the moment. I'm always forgetting simple things and need to be hand held through tasks. I have to be given exact instructions that are pain staking to go through for the other person and even then I will probably ask a dozen questions and then screw the task up anyway. I wish to die from morning to night. I always want to sleep but i never feel rested afterwards. Some nights I don't bother brushing my teeth. I have no aspirations or interests. I have been like this for as long as I can remember, but it's gotten worse since 2016, then even worse since 2020. I can only think in negative terms. What do I not want to do? What is it I'm not able to accomplish? It seems like others can go through life accumulating things they **can** do, but I'm going through life with an ever expanding list of things I **cannot** do. Apparently my situation is pretty common, but again I have no interest in others because I cannot seem to get my own head straight. My nervous system seems to be stuck in the sympathetic state permanently. I've burned every bridge for venting I can burn. Counselors, forums, relatives, the few friends I made when I was living in the US. It's like I'm this black hole of trauma-induced mental health symptoms. Meds can't seem to do anything. Therapists are beyond what I can afford and whatever advice they have seems to be for upper-middle class tech workers with well-connected parents and vacation homes in the Caribbean. So as I've said I started reading Joe Dispenza lately. I got to the part where he discusses how imbalances of our lower 3 chakras can cause our body to drain from the EM field surrounding us and prevent the flow of electrical charge up to the higher energy centers. I'm not here to debate if it's "real" or not. I try to keep an open mind, and it's not like psych meds have done anything for me anyway. I did the breathing exercise where you release your mind from your body and felt like it really jacked up my heart rate and for once I could actually notice a brief difference in my subjective experience. I'd really like to continue doing this on daily basis. I hope something actually works for my cptsd recovery. Anyway i guess this has been a long-winded way of saying I'm struggling to improve as a traumatized shut-in. If you have found non-pharma approaches to healing from complex trauma, let's discuss them. My messages are open. Thanks folks.
Hi, I just discovered this site. I'm hoping to make some friends. I'm stuck at home and lonely. So I'll tell you a bit about myself. I'm cis female, ace. I've been having cancer treatment for quite a while and recently had a stroke. I'm going through a disability benefit appeal. All my friends drifted away when I got sick as I was no longer fun. The last time i saw my friends was at my 25th birthday party. I'm turning 41 this year. I've had no social life or offline companionship since then. I worked several jobs including fitness instructor and carer for the elderly, then went to university in my 20s to study philosophy. I had to drop out due to the side effects of my cancer meds. My life now revolves around endless benefit assessments, last one I was awarded zero points and had my money stopped. I'm currently fighting it but now have no money at all and a maxxed out overdraft. Food bank access is awful so I'm starving constantly. I've been learning to walk again since the stroke. Previously I was sporty but now it's painful to even walk. So I wanted to take up art as a hobby, start learning to draw from scratch but I can't even afford paper and pencils. So, life is awful. I need a distraction and someone to talk to. I used to talk to the people on a suicide pact forum (I've already made on attempt and often feel desperate enough to try again) but I just got banned from there for trying to sell my meds on there. Don't judge me please - I was only trying to do that out of financial desperation! So now I have literally no-one to talk to online or in real life. Obviously I'm a leftist. I'm sick of this world where some people are billionaires while millions starve.
I want create an organisation (or work for an already created one) that provides support to companies that wish to be worker-controlled and certify those companies such that people can choose these companies when making purchasing decisions. The needs I can immediately see are clear organising agreement templates for the company guaranteeing worker control, worker ownership scheme policy templates (e.g., when a worker leaves), and worker voting policy templates. Perhaps after an organisation has implemented these controls, they may be listed as a certified worker-controlled establishment. Background: I'm a anarcho-communist and when I need to consume, I would love to give power to worker-controlled institutions instead of capitalists. I have found few databases of worker-controlled businesses and none that were providing any goods/services I would actually need on a usual basis. I'm a corporate lawyer (fuck me) so I understand the governance required to distribute profits within a company. I don't see an organisation providing guidance to new businesses started by workers who want to keep their interests where they should be, returning profits to workers. Do you have any thoughts on this, comrades? Worth the effort?
Beyond the typical statistical manipulation of homelessness trends and the differing methods of data collection from state-state, city-city, etc I figured I would share a thought I had, before I discovered this place. Also, I say "housing insecurity" because a nursing home/assisted-living technically isn't considered "homeless". Wording, I suppose. I did maintenance at a few nursing homes. A lot of these nursing homes would have quite a few people with disabilities that had their entire support structure abandoned. A sort of "last-stop" for those who didn't want to help or continue helping their children, family, friends, etc. Some of these people were actually relatively functional...just had nowhere to go and obviously unable to navigate the world by themselves. In a facility of 120, there were at least 12 I remember at a single time. Shit really took me for a whirl because really; how common is this shit specifically? Three years I worked there and during COVID it only got worse. Rant over.
Basically, wanted to know where people are at with mask wearing (as it relates to containing covid and all), I know it's been a while since it started. And I've seen people who say covid can still be threatening, like through long covid and such, even if the initial impact doesn't tend to be as bad. Being in the US, it's especially hard to tell what makes sense because the gov sorta gave up on containment a while back and only ever half-assed pushing mask wearing. And wearing a mask alone was a controversial thing in some places, even in the very beginning. Then there's vaccines, which of course help, but seems to be a thing like the flu where you have to get boosters to be fully covered for variant strains. So in general, I'm wondering stuff like: 1) Do you still wear a mask or not and why? And do you have distinctions like large crowds or anything like that? 2) How does mask wearing compare by country, from what you know? For example, I'm sure China has a more pro-mask-wearing culture and policy overall, but I'm not clear on where they're at this late into it. Partly asking cause I want to re-assess my own position on it, see if it makes sense to change it at all by now. I've still been doing it, in part out of inertia, but the US management of it is such a mess, in gov and culture, it's hard to tell when it makes sense to stop vs. just caving to peer pressure of people who were never acting responsibly to begin with.
Israel has literally been bombing Lebanese territory for almost a year now, they just blew up random civilians in Lebanon, and now it is heavily implied that they are preparing an invasion if Lebanon. At this point, there is no way that Hezbollah alone is prepared to resist Israeli aggression, surely the official Lebanese government and military is prepared as well?
I was wondering what places you all find have the most reliable info about current events? Any specific news sites that do a good job of actually reporting on stuff most places ignore? Mostly looking for written articles rather than videos.