Here's something I'm sure you find infuriating;

"I'm not into politics. I don't really know, I'm just not a political person."

We know that this IS being political! It means you condone everything - you don't think anything is worth fighting for, you're fine with the status quo as long as it benefits you vaguely. It's the mindset of someone so aggressively individualist, that the suffering of others is simply not a concern - since the system can't be broken, if they're alright. The kind of people to vote for a fascist if it'll mean that their taxes are lower next year. To stand by and watch oppression is insidious. Not even watch - to Celebrate oppression as long as it's against the "savages" and "beasts." Mass mistreatment still exists beyond the gulf surrounding apathetic suburbia.

I’m just gonna say it, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rightfully being condemned, is barbaric & beyond stupid, and left them with heavy sanctions- The US deserves that exact same treatment and should have been the most sanctioned country in the world after they invaded Iraq 20 years ago

1 million Iraqis dead- family, friends, children, and community gone, a whole region of the world destabilized, infrastructure destroyed, abuse of women and children, and extensive torture & torture networks and black sites that defy humanity. All from an *illegal* war, and it’s even worse when you look at all the other places we invaded- and the US received *zero* consequences for what it’s done. It’s only fair, right?

what does it mean when people say stuff like individual morality or action is incompatible with class analysis or class struggle?

alright so like one of the key ideas about class analysis is the idea that classes (as a whole) have economic interests that affect all their members but don't extrapolate out to an individual analysis.

for example, let's say that you can't find a job, and somebody offers to pay you below the table for below minimum wage. it's in your individual interest to do this--it beats having no job! but as a member of the working class, once this practice becomes normalized, suddenly the standards of pay for everyone are lower because people know that they can just pay less than minimum wage under the table. competition between workers for jobs drives wages down for everyone, leaving them all in a worse situation overall even if each individual choice to scab, to accept lower pay, to resist unionization, etc, leaves the person who makes it better off. cf. karl marx on what happens when wages and working conditions deteriorate:

The labourer seeks to maintain the total of his wages for a given time by performing more labour, either by working a great number of hours, or by accomplishing more in the same number of hours. Thus, urged on by want, he himself multiplies the disastrous effects of division of labour. The result is: the more he works, the less wages he receives. And for this simple reason: the more he works, the more he competes against his fellow workmen, the more he compels them to compete against him, and to offer themselves on the same wretched conditions as he does; so that, in the last analysis, he competes against himself as a member of the working class.

— Karl Marx, Wage Labour & Capital

similarly, any individual member of the working class is completely dispensable and replaceable by capital. if one person refuses to work unless they're paid a higher wage, they'll be fired and replaced with somebody who doesn't. the individual worker has no economic leverage whatsoever. but the working class has incredible economic leverage! and so does the intermediate stage between the working class and the individual--organized segments of the working class (e.g. trade unions) have economic leverage. if one person strikes, the capitalist can fire them. if 40,000 people strike, your industry is going to shut down.

so the reason why class analysis is compatible with individual action is that your incentives measurably change when you start organizing--it's in the interests of the individual to compete, but in the interests of the class to cooperate. and obviously you cannot just expect everyone to spontaneously coordinate! you, the individual, are disposable to capital! if you, personally, refuse to take the under-the-table offer, either on moral grounds or because you recognize your class interest, your neighbour's going to take it--unless you and her get together and agree that neither of you will take it. that's the only way that the guy making the offer is going to have to give in and offer the job for a living wage.

and this is what organization is--trade unions (although they have severe limitations!), communist parties, and other worker's organizations allow the working class to pursue their collective interest--which can only be pursued by collective action, because engaging in the strategies of collective action as an individual, without the cooperation of your peers, is high risk for no reward.

Look, I don't talk about Climate Change very often, A because plenty of other people better cover the issue than I ever could, and B because establishment of the Democratic Party along with the Liberal establishments of most European countries, are using Climate Change to push an agenda of artificial food scarcity to raise prices and I personally believe, to ensure the poorest among us are too busy fighting for scraps of food to fight the Capitalist Class.

They don't ask the US Military, the largest polluter on the planet to make cuts, they don't ask the Fossil Fuel companies to make cuts, they're not asking the elites flying in private jets to make cut backs, no they ask us, the workers to cut back, or they ask the farmers to make do with fewer animals at a time when small and medium farms are in crises, completely unable to compete with large Corporate factory farms who, for all intents and purposes own the regulators and literally write the regulatory laws themselves.

I won't play along with this kind of attack on the working class under the guise of Climate Change.

But all that being said, ITS FUCKING HOT OUT THERE. This shit just isn't normal.

Last week we had a day with a heat index pushing 130°F, yesterday's was about 120°F and today a bit more mild at only 115°F.

At Persian Gulf Airport in Iran reached a heat index of 152°F on July 16th.

And it seems it's not getting any better this week:

Stay safe everyone, hide in the shade and AC where you can, stay cool and drink plenty of water 🥤

Week In Review

Aloha kākou and Happy Aloha Friday. What a week it has been. Some days are glad, and some days are sad. The following are my weekly news picks that are at the top of my list. There’s a lot of other things going on, but these are the issues I found most compelling for this week’s epilogue. Local News: The Maui Wildfire is affecting Maui electrical costs and will soon spread to neighboring islands.…

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This might be the most Western Leftist shit I have ever fucking seen in my life

Genuinely embarrassing to think this party represents the largest collection of socialists in the US and there will be no consequences to this type of action.

On "lesser evils"

For the people saying things like "Biden isn't perfect" lets look at what he actually is.

He has done nothing for any group you might care about, be it the working class, queer people, or people of color.

He has/is overseeing the same concentration camps as trump.

He is a rapist.

He is objectively right wing in all of his views.

His existence has pushed the left out of American politics and put a stop to progress.

His right wing policies face no pushback.

Broke strikes (and then was praised when his attempt to break the strikes failed.)

Didn't do anything to stop abortion bans.

If you want to vote for him based on lesser-evilism, then at least understand that you are voting for someone on the political right. And if you don't want to protest him, and still defend him once he's in, then you are accepting the right on the basis that it isn't as far right as possible, or is polite enough for your sensibilities.

I'm not voting for him, on the principle that I will never support a rapist getting into power, no matter what.

Stop acting like he is left wing because he's more polite than trump.

The Congolese struggle is vital to the global revolutionary movement and the masses in the Congo should be supported vigorously by any means available. We should never break solidarity with Congolese workers and slaves and all other exploited classes. All efforts to imperialize the Congo or continue the genocide there must be emphatically opposed. Any organization that stands for the rights of the marginalized, the workers, and human rights needs to stand in solidarity with the Congolese masses, and the ongoing attempt to wipe out this people and plunder their resources must be struggled against with all available power the workers of the world have. Solidarity with the Congolese masses! Death to the imperialists! Liberation to all peoples!

Organizing Tip: Don’t talk down to normies

I love my theory and politically driven discussion with comrades who I know I agree with. But outside of my Socialist sphere, in the workplace and among family and friends I work with a whole host of other people. Some conservative. Some liberal. Some progressive. And I like to get into political conversations with each of them and there is one universal theme I get:

Don’t be an ass.

No one wants to feel like they are being scolded or yelled at for having the wrong opinion. People are terrified of being yelled at for “having the wrong opinion” and are wary of the stereotype of the angry leftist that they saw on the fear mongering news.

Now for the case of the average worker who isn’t a die-hard far-right reactionary, does that mean you should just let them say problematic things? No.

But it does mean you should respond to them slowly and thoughtfully. Ask them why they think what they do. The vast majority aren’t saying what they are out of some deep understanding of the issue. They haven’t read liberal or conservative “theory”. They are rehashing something they saw on the news that they think meshes with their values of being a good person. When someone thinks that you are both intelligent on a subject and respectful, they will want to hear more of your side in the future. That’s how you open pathways to radicalizing your “a-political” or moderate coworkers friends and family.

If we want to organize the masses we have to be among the masses of non-socialists. We have to educate them. And like very good teacher, we meet them where they are at respectfully and as fellow proletarians to pull them over to our side over time.

Now for the obvious final point. Yes, if someone is delving into some deep and heated bigotry, definitely call them out. What I’m saying is that when someone is saying things that don’t reach that level.