Remember when you had the 2nd International, huge marxist parties like the SPD in Germany, all saying they would never support an imperialist war and were true marxists, and then when WW1 began they all sold out and supported the war? Good times. Very few, like Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxembourg and Eugene Debs, remained true to marxism and opposed the war. Well i think a similar situation is happening now with the SMO in Ukraine.
From “democratic socialists” to MLs to maoists to anarchists, they all said they would never support US imperialism, they would never support a new Iraq WMD lie. And yet, when the SMO began and the west started demonizing Russia and beating the drums of war, most of these ostensibly “leftist” figures, especially western figures, sold out and supported the antirussian histeria. From BreadTube to YoungTurks to maoists like Marxist Paul to anarchists, they all sold out. Even some principled MLs like Second Thought and Hakim have shied away from condemning this war histeria and supporting Russia. I think this will be the collapse of the 2nd International of our era, the new divide between true antiimperialists and sellouts.
What are your thoughts?
I agree on most points here. When push comes to shove you see people’s true colors. Now we have a better idea of who the principled leftists are and who have been drinking the kool-aid.
But I think Hakim and Second thought have avoided discussing the SMO because they tend to focus more on Marxist education, and are primarily trying to get a platform for themselves to reach a wider audience.
If you’ve ever tried discussing the Ukraine situation with a lib they will immediately shut you out and refuse to listen, since its such a current and actively propagandized issue. I have no doubt that once its over and some time has passed, and the curtain falls, we’ll see them discuss it much more openly.
Oh boy! I just love dealing with that shit AFTER it’s too late to stop it. Then all the libs will be like “I never supported the war, I supported the Ukrainians. Sloba Zucchini!”
The worst is when you attempt to talk about any sort of politics and the conversation always winds up in the Ukraine, regardless of what you try to discuss. Its like they’ve been programmed to spread their nonsense on top of blindly believing it.
Sigh…so true. At this point we might as well refer to them as Missionaries of Empire.
The US lied about every military operation since WWII (and it even lied about that), but they think this time it’s different.
Also keep in mind that YouTube will outright ban your channel and delete your videos if you question the narrative too much. It’s a fine line for channels that are focusing on ML education. Ones that make anti-Russia videos can pound sand though.
It’s a bit surprising that channels like The New Atlas are still on YouTube, but I guess they demonetize and shadowban (more or less) these channels instead
I think even Second Thought has been shadowbanned. The algorithms of these platforms are blatant. If you look up anti-capitalist/left leaning content you will get suggestions for far right content. Twitter kept sending me Tim Pool tweets, despite the fact that I have never engaged in any remotely right leaning content.
Probably, especially after his “the CIA is a terrorist organization” video (which apparently got him a personal visit)
Luckily, I don’t really notice the algorithms too much since I never really use YouTube/Twitter/etc. directly
The CIA is the most successful terrorist organization in history.
It’s certainly in the top three, along with NATO and the Amerikan army
And that’s why we need a Marxist PeerTube instance.