No worries! Yea it has humorous undertones, and to communists it might get a chuckle but not really a laugh.

Makes sense!

Yep, still settler-colonial, but in a manner that preserves much of indigenous culture and ties to the land. The US and Canada are much closer to Israel in how settlers colonialism is handled, past and present.

It sparks conversations. Plus, this is a community run by communists, so the target audience is communists.

Mostly agreed, though I think south Korea/Corea and north Korea/Corea are valid terms (specifically keeping the cardinal directions lowercase). Capitalizing the direction reinforces the idea that these are separate peoples, but frequently the distinction is necessary when discussing this or that subject, such as the fact that taxation has been abolished in northern Corea. I even more strongly prefer “northern” and “southern” as signifiers.

The problem with using DPRK and ROK alone arises when we are discussing region, not state. The illegitimacy of the ROK as a colonial state set up by the US Empire does not really help us linguistically. The Corean people are one nation, divided. Essentially, I use DPRK/ROK the vast majority of the time, and “northern/southern Korea/Corea” when discussing relational, geographic matters. When discussing the people, I do not distinguish, they are simply “Korean/Corean.”

Regarding Japan, it’s less a colony and more a vassal state like western Europe. The ROK is more of a direct colony. Japan benefits more directly from imperialism, whereas the ROK is a neocolonial forward operating base for the US to keep China in check.

A bit more gray area. The answer is yes, but the fundamental process of settler-colonialism in Mexico led to the majority of the population becoming mixed. Indigenous groups like in Chiapas still fight for sovereignty, but it isn’t the same as the US and Canada, where indigenous peoples were shut out, killed, and stripped from their land the same way.

Ultimately, it’s a topic I have not studied enough to have a definitive answer to, like the US and Canada. The process of decolonization in Mexico will look pretty different from the US and Canada.

Trotsky lived in LATAM during exile. As such, Trots exist in LATAM more frequently than in other global south regions.

Turtle Island should be decolonized.

Why not decolonize Turtle Island? Canada is also a settler-colony.

I don’t think analyzing the world in terms of “good guys” and “bad guys” is particularly useful. I’m working class, and I support the working class, so therefore I support communists, generally. I’m a communist.

I don’t think it’s a secret at this point that communists use Lemmy.ml’s meme community to try to spark conversations that can make those willing to engage with the subject more sympathetic to communism. There’s also the self-serving meme factor too, of course.

I think it’s worth separating your ideal of a borderless world from the actual struggle of Koreans today to establish sovereignty. The age of a borderless world can only be achieved after indigenous sovereignty around the world.

The United States occupied the south under pretenses of facilitating an end to Japanese colonialism, as the soviets were doing in the north. The major difference is that in the south, General MacArthur declared himself dictator:

[Article I] All powers of Government over the territory of Korea south of 38 degrees north latitude and the people thereof will be for the present exercised under my authority . . . [Article III] All persons will obey promptly all my orders and orders issued under my authority.

While the colonial government was being eradicated in the north, and land redistributed to Koreans, General MacArthur asked that the former Japanese colonial government and the compradors remain. While the Soviet Union was leaving the north to Koreans, the US declared the government being set up across Korea, the People’s Republic of Korea, illegal. This formalized the 38th parallel not just as a military zone, but an actual administrative division, which it was never meant to be.

The United States installed a puppet dictator, Syngman Rhee, who then murdered hundreds of thousands of Koreans south of the 38th parallel. Before the division, there were actually more communists in the south than the north. Communists were either killed by Rhee Syngman, like in the Jeju Island massacre, or fled to the north. The strong sympathies for the north also explained why it only took the KPA 3 months to get to Daegu, before the US fully invaded Korea and turned the Korean Civil War into an international war.

To this day, the US has control over the ROK’s millitary, and has a seat at any table where leaders of the north and south speak. The US has colonized the ROK, and therefore the demand of progressive southern Koreans is for the US to leave the peninsula, so that reunification can happen peacefully and Korean sovereignty be restored.

I haven’t read Ilyenkov, do you have any specific recommendations? Currently I have Maurice Cornforth’s work on dialectical materialism to establish a firm base, but I would love alternatives to explore and refine the list!

Reddit isn’t particularly left-leaning, it leans more liberal. Lemmy is definitely left-leaning, as it is developed primarily by Marxist-Leninists. As for bots on Reddit, it’s profitable.

❤️🫡

I encourage people to not treat voting as the primary source of political engagement anyone has. For me, it does not matter who people vote for, as revolution remains necessary. That isn’t to say Republicans and Democrats are the same, they do have some differences, but their overall function as maintainers of imperialism leads to critical conclusions: trying to “push the democrats left” is a failed endeavor and cannot work.

I don’t believe third party voting is a meaningful way of gaining political change, because I don’t believe reformism works. The purpose of third party political participation in elections is to prove the ineffectiveness of reformism, to advertise the party platform, and to gain new members. This is the extent that socialists understand elections to be genuinely effective.

The current wave of the DSA successfully primarying establishment Democrats is a signifier of increasing socialist sympathies. However, and this is critical, it will not lead to socialism. It will also not end imperialism, and therefore it will not be able to stop the gradual decay of the current capitalist system. There are hard limits to what reforms can accomplish without revolutionary change.

I have no idea what criticisms you are referring to that I haven’t challenged, if you have an example I’m more than happy to address it. As for accusations of LLM use being “common,” I’ve only ever seen you and one other user make such an accusation, so again, not sure where you’re getting that idea. Also not sure what you mean by “questionably sourced,” if you have an example of a source you are skeptical of, then please let me know.

I am in fact a serious person. I have fun too, of course, but I have been consistent in my socialist views and advocacy, and active in real life. I put my words into practice because I want a better world. Am I Lenin 2? By no means, I don’t have such a high opinion of myself. Do I put in effort? Yes, I spend hours every week outside of work continuing my organizing and education/study efforts.

Haha, it’s an easy trap. Socialism comes from the working class, while leaders are important we have to understand that the working class as a whole is the maker of history.

Might be anecdotal, but many more people tend to like me than hate me, especially to the degree you do. Especially considering the baseless accusations of LLM use, the subsequent dehumanization of me (ie, calling me an “engagement bot”), all of this is far more unserious than taking a consistent, principled line on the DPRK, a line shared by the Black Panther Party, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). The fact is, Marxist-Leninists have been sympathetic to the Korean socialist project since its inception, and its resistance to Japanese and later US colonialism.

As for the idea that I am “trying to get the republicans elected,” or that I have changed how active I am because of primary season, neither of these have any evidence. I do actual organization work, which means organizing against Trump and the capitalist state. I have agitated against both the democrats and republicans consistently, because I am a socialist, a Marxist-Leninist specifically. This consistent, principled stance does not make me “bad-faith,” even if you yourself disagree with Marxism and Marxism-Leninism. I put my skin on the line and roll my sleeves up because I truly believe a better world is possible, if that’s “bad-faith” then what would you consider to be “good-faith?” Anything you personally agree with? Would also like an example of how my understanding of theory is shallow, I love to know how to improve.

I doubt I’m that famous, but even if you’re correct about that, that still doesn’t explain the disinformation, ie allegations of LLM use, etc.