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USA leftists in favor of voting for Biden: What other direct action should we do? (lemm.ee)

submitted 4 months ago by anarchost@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

138 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A few things that are accessible within the USA include:

Participating in mutual aid programs
Campaigning on the local level, including for positions like poll watchers
Making your voice heard in community events in general
Joining your local DSA, networking

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[–] Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Just now noticing that you mentioned "voting for Biden" as being "direct action" so I think you should probably look into who the LaRouchites are. The history is really interesting so I won't spoil much for it but I will summarize for the lazy that they are not good people.

[–] anarchost@lemm.ee 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

LaRouchites are closely related to tankies iirc... Anyway

I could change the title to say "voting isn't direct action", but I think at that point it would be needlessly repetitive or wordy. Also, what is your definition for direct action which explicitly un-includes voting?

[–] Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

LaRouchites are closely related to tankies iirc

OK you need to actually read about them because it's insane how inaccurate that statement is, unless your definition is "anyone left of hitler" which honesty considering you think voting is direct action, which it's not, seems likely. Are you perchance one of those blueMAGA types?

Direct action, by definition, is when you, yourself, do something. Not get someone else to do it for you.

[–] anarchost@lemm.ee 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Looks like LaRouche was regarded as the Stalinist type of socialist, a cult leader, and an anti-Semite. All three of those things also fit Caleb Maupin, a famous tankie. Many tankie collectives spring up around a single strongman in general. LaRouche believed AIDS was spread by insects, which harkens back to Lysenkoism.

If the shoe fits, right! Many nazis also get offended when called nazi.

[–] Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

OK so just a problem of differing definitions. I use cryptofash to refer to the Caleb Maupin types, cus those people sure as hell ain't on the left no matter how much they claim to be. Usually when people use terminology like "stalinist/tankie" they just use it to refer to anyone left of hitler, which is where the mix-up came from. After I learned those terms were created by anticommunists at the CIA (the same guys who overthrow democratically elected leaders to install their own fascists) for nefarious ends, I stopped using them. Too much baggage.

[–] anarchost@lemm.ee 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

CIA?

The term "tankie" was originally used by dissident Marxist–Leninists to describe members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) who followed the party line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Specifically, it was used to distinguish party members who spoke out in defense of the Soviet use of tanks to crush the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the 1968 Prague Spring uprising, or who more broadly adhered to pro-Soviet positions.

Seems pretty leftist to me. And it doesn't have any other baggage to it, like ableism, classism etc.

For contrast:

The term "nazi" had been in use, before the rise of the NSDAP, as a colloquial and derogatory word for a backwards farmer or peasant. It characterised an awkward and clumsy person, a yokel. In this sense, the word Nazi was a hypocorism of the German male name Igna(t)z... a common name at the time in Bavaria, the area from which the NSDAP emerged.

Which is a word I personally find very useful and will never stop using when appropriate.

[–] Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

As long as you're genuinely antifascist that's all I care about.

[–] anarchost@lemm.ee 0 points 4 months ago

Same 😊