this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
81 points (95.5% liked)
The Deprogram
1771 readers
79 users here now
"As revolutionaries, we don't have the right to say that we're tired of explaining. We must never stop explaining. We also know that when the people understand, they cannot but follow us. In any case, we, the people, have no enemies when it comes to peoples. Our only enemies are the imperialist regimes and organizations." Thomas Sankara, 1985
International Anti-Capitalist podcast run by an American, a Slav and an Arab.
Rules:
- No capitalist apologia / anti-communism.
- No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.
- Be respectful. This is a safe space where all comrades should feel welcome; this includes a warning against uncritical sectarianism.
- No porn or sexually explicit content (even if marked NSFW).
- No right-deviationists (patsocs, nazbols, Strasserists, Duginists, etc).
- Use c/mutual_aid for mutual aid requests.
Resources:
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
You have a lot of moral outrage over this but you have completely divorced it from any dialectical or historical materialism.
You have not looked at the material conditions, China's actions outside of this incident, the balance of powers or seemingly anything beyond the fact that this action makes you feel shitty and offends your moral sensitivities.
You act like aggression towards "Israel" economic or otherwise would receive no blowback or retaliation when that is blatantly false. It's like saying China should take up economic warfare against Florida and pretending the rest of the US wouldn't retaliate.
China may be the world's second largest power but it is far from capable of total war against the 1st and 3rd through the rest, who absolutely would band together as they have every time US interests are threatened.
You need to move beyond leftism in vibes only and start applying the scientific socialist method even when it's on topics that are frustrating or make you feel bad.
So I should just make excuses for China not being able to manage not trading with Nazis? If they can't manage that then they are not some savior socialist state that will help or protect the global south. They are fine with genocides happening around the world as long as it doesn't affect their bottom line. If it was profitable to help Palestine they would do it. Instead it is profitable to them to support Israel. To think that ceasing trade with Israel will provoke some greater war when there's no evidence of this continues the same old excuse. Power should and can be exerted to do good things. Not using it because you are afraid of other great power nations is what leads to Nazis taking over the entire globe.
You’re still doing exactly what I pointed out. Substituting moral outrage for material analysis. You are effectively throwing a tantrum.
Nobody is asking you to “make excuses.” I’m telling you to analyze reality and apply scientific socialism. This is a socialist space this should be the baseline not some tremendous burden.
States do not act on vibes. They act on concrete balances of power, supply chains, military encirclement, sanctions risk, and long-term strategic positioning. China exists inside an imperialist world system still dominated by the US and its allies. Israel is not some isolated rogue actor, it is embedded in the Euro-American imperial apparatus: finance, tech, arms, intelligence, and regional power projection. Any unilateral Chinese economic attack on Israel is, in practice, an attack on Euro-American strategic interests. Pretending otherwise is pure fantasy completely detached from the modern material conditions.
You keep asserting that cutting trade “wouldn’t provoke anything serious” while offering zero material evidence. Which maybe wouldn't be that big an issue if history didn't say the exact opposite. The imperial core retaliates collectively when its interests are threatened. We’ve already seen this play out with tariffs, tech bans, semiconductor blockades, sanctions regimes, financial warfare, and military containment. China is currently already under partial siege. Escalating that into open economic warfare without favorable conditions is not “exerting power for good,” it’s reckless adventurism and self immolation.
Your “if they don’t do this they aren’t socialist saviors” framing is also liberal nonsense. No socialist state has ever been a savior fairy godmother. Socialism develops under siege. Every AES project in history has had to prioritize survival first. That’s the basics of historical materialism. You don’t get to skip parts of development because genocide makes you feel angry (even when that anger is justified).
And your Nazi analogy is plainly ridiculous. The USSR didn’t defeat fascism through symbolic boycotts. It did it through decades of forced industrialization, strategic alliances, and ultimately total war once material conditions allowed/forced action. That required steel, factories, logistics, food security, and millions of dead soviet citizens. How many Chinese citizens should China sacrifice to satisfy your moral sensitivities?
You also further contradict reality when you say China only acts on profit, while ignoring massive non-profitable investments across the Global South, infrastructure projects, development lending, technology transfer, and diplomatic shielding in international forums. That doesn’t mean China is perfect or beyond criticism. It means reality is more complex than your reductionist “they trade therefore they support genocide” take.
Power can be used for good. But only when it actually exists in sufficient quantity. You don’t conjure power by making moral demands. You build it materially. Acting before conditions are ripe doesn’t stop fascism it gets you crushed, isolated, and balkanised, which helps imperialism. If China is crushed that would mean the end of the DPRK, the mass immiseration of over a billion Chinese and the return of the global south under the thumb of the IMF and imperialist development pathways.
What you’re doing is leftism in vibes only: moral absolutism with radical language, detached from concrete strategy, historical precedent, and balance-of-forces analysis.
Scientific socialism isn’t about what feels righteous. It’s about understanding contradictions, timing, and capacity, even when that conclusion is uncomfortable.
You need to start thinking in terms of systems, not sentiments. Currently you’re just doing liberalism with red aesthetics.
Very well put!
I wonder where you learned the phrase "pull the race card" from to use it that way and what war crime your grandfather is guilty of.
I mean you are doing a real convincing impression of you offering no solidarity with the Chinese - you are more than happy if the Chinese are fodder for your politics.
Palestine is on your radar because of Hamas and what BE does here appeals to your westernised sensibilities because you're a parasite leaching off the Global South.
This is an oppurtunity for you to learn rather than double down on whatever this is.
I find it funny how hard you'll defend China for abetting a genocidal state, and wonder why you feel the need to defend it so.
The fact you are fine with them trading with genociders and nazis shows your moral lacking, not mine.
Also Lol at Palestine was on my radar cause of Hamas, I got a kick out of that.
So after all that huffing and puffing, you're going to offer solidarity with the Chinese if they do trade cessation?
crickets