Lefty Memes
An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of "ML" (read: Dengist) influence. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
Serious posts, news, discussion and agitprop/stuff that's better fit for a poster than a meme go in c/Socialism.
If you are new to socialism, you can ask questions and find resources over on c/Socialism101.
Please don't forget to help keep this community clean by reporting rule violations, updooting good contributions and downdooting those of low quality!
Rules
0. Only post socialist memes
That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme. Please post agitprop here)
0.5 [Provisional Rule] Use alt text or image descriptions to allow greater accessibility
(Please take a look at our wiki page for the guidelines on how to actually write alternative text!)
We require alternative text (from now referred to as "alt text") to be added to all posts/comments containing media, such as images, animated GIFs, videos, audio files, and custom emojis.
EDIT: For files you share in the comments, a simple summary should be enough if theyβre too complex.
We are committed to social equity and to reducing barriers of entry, including (digital) communication and culture. It takes each of us only a few moments to make a whole world of content (more) accessible to a bunch of folks.
When alt text is absent, a reminder will be issued. If you don't add the missing alt text within 48 hours, the post will be removed. No hard feelings.
0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms
When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart
- ofc => OFC
- af = AF
- ok => OK
- lol => LOL
- bc => BC
- bs => BS
- iirc => IIRC
- cia => CIA
- nato => Nato (you don't spell it when talking, right?)
- usa => USA
- prc => PRC
- etc.
Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them
1. Socialist Unity in the form of mutual respect and good faith interactions is enforced here
Try to keep an open mind, other schools of thought may offer points of view and analyses you haven't considered yet. Also: This is not a place for the Idealism vs. Materialism or rather Anarchism vs. Marxism debate(s), for that please visit c/AnarchismVsMarxism.
2. Anti-Imperialism means recognizing capitalist states like Russia and China as such
That means condemning (their) imperialism, even if it is of the "anti-USA" flavor.
3. No liberalism, (right-wing) revisionism or reactionaries.
That includes so called: Social Democracy, Democratic Socialism, Dengism, Market Socialism, Patriotic Socialism, National Bolshevism, Anarcho-Capitalism etc. . Anti-Socialist people and content have no place here, as well as the variety of "Marxist"-"Leninists" (read: Dengists) (actual ML's are welcome as long as they agree to the rules and don't just copy paste/larp about stuff from a hundred years ago).
4. No Bigotry.
The only dangerous minority is the rich.
5. Don't demonize previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
We must constructively learn from their mistakes, while acknowledging their achievements and recognizing when they have strayed away from socialist principles.
(if you are reading the rules to apply for modding this community, mention "Mantic Minotaur" when answering question 2)
6. Don't irrationally idolize/glorify previous and current socialist experiments or (leading) individuals.
Notable achievements in all spheres of society were made by various socialist/people's/democratic republics around the world. Mistakes, however, were made as well: bureaucratic castes of parasitic elites - as well as reactionary cults of personality - were established, many things were mismanaged and prejudice and bigotry sometimes replaced internationalism and progressiveness.
- Absolutely no posts or comments meant to relativize(/apologize for), advocate, promote or defend:
- Racism
- Sexism
- Queerphobia
- Ableism
- Classism
- Sexual assault
- Genocide/ethnic cleansing or (mass) deportations
- Fascism
- (National) chauvinism
- Orientalism
- Colonialism or Imperialism (and their neo- counterparts)
- Zionism
- Religious fundamentalism of any kind
view the rest of the comments
What about the 240 years before 2024?
What about them? That question is so vague asking it without further context is meaningless.
If only lemmy kept context.
No one knows what fhe fuck you're trying to say, dude. I made, like, six different points about the Democrats and the 2024 election and you replied with, "what about the entirety of American history?" What about it? WTF is your point?
Democrats put candidates in primaries and people votes for them, that's my point. Just because you don't like doesn't mean Americans as a group don't. Even if they disagree on a single issue.
Oh, OK, so then this is also something you're wrong about, because that's not how the process has worked for 240 years. The Democratic party itself has existed for less than 200 years, it's modern form as a (ostensibly) left-leaninf, pro-labor party has existed for less than 100 years, and the modern primary process, where the voters actually select a candidate, has only existed since 1972. Before that, party delegates would just pick a candidate in a backroom meeting and voters would be stuck with it. People were incredibly unhappy with that system, which is why it was reformed in 1072 with binding primaries. The Democrats tried to limit voter influence in the 80s by adding Superdelegates, but after the outsized roll they played the disastrous 2016 election, they were reformed in 2018. Some of those reforms were rolled back in 2024 so they could anoint Harris.
Also, a large majority of Democratic voters did not want Joe Biden to run again in 2024, but the Democrats refused to hold debates and kept challengers off the ballot in many states. That did not end well, and no, Americans as a group are not fucking happy with this system. Generally speaking, people who are happy their current systems of government don't elect fascist conmen who promise to burn the system down.
The fascist conman promised kicking immigrants, banning muslims, protecting pedophiles, triggering libs and tax breaks for the rich, not to burn the system down. Project 2025 was there for all to see. And people just didn't vote against him.
As long as the have been primaries the leftist candidate has lost. Maybe leftist should start acting instead of whining online?
OMFG dude, Project 2025 is burning the system down. What do you think dismantling the federal bureaucracy, illegally shuttering federal agencies, and removing the independence of the FBI and DOJ is? He promised to take a wrecking ball to the entire system, and low information voters said, "fuck it, my life has only grown worse under this system, might as well."
I could further explain how the Democratic primary system has been suppressing progressives for the last quarter century, but since you didn't engage with any of the points I've already made on that topic, it would be a waste of my time. I can't tell if you're an American who knows shockingly little about their own government or a foreigner who's arrogant enough to explain another countries political systems to their own citizens, but either way, you're embarrassing yourself.
That's just taking the system further, not burning it down. More power for billionaires, less for you.
Yeah man, dismantling the administrative state the federal government built up over the last 80 years is, "taking the system even further." You're super smart.
most americans dont vote
chronically, year after year, decade after decade
That in itself is a choice.