'Why do all left wing revolutions end up as oppressive dictatorships?'

Why do all left wing revolutions end up as oppressive dictatorships?

My very right-wing father asked me this on Facebook, after I shared a post praising Ho Chi Minh. I just thought I'd keep a log here of the response that I sent him. It's a bit of a ramble.

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Oppression and tyranny are FAR more associated with capitalism than socialism. It is always implemented by brutal, totalitarian regimes. Think Pinochet, Suharto, Batista, etc etc etc etc etc. All the at behest of the US/western capital. Colonialism never really ended.

And capitalist empires led to two world wars!!!

What exactly are these totalitarians implementing? A monopolized system of corporate control that destroys the environment, lives, the food we eat, etc; all that matters is quick profit; you get extreme exploitation, inequality, as the few steal all the wealth from the many, and buy the government, and just generally wreak havoc on the world. Not sure you noticed, but a handful of men now have more wealth than the bottom 50%! Meanwhile, 1 billion go undernourished. God knows how many thousands die every day thanks to capitalism’s imperialism, poisoning of food/nature, and inequality. (Not to mention how many will die from pandemics thanks to capitalism’s inability to prepare for and cope with them!).

There’s very little democratic about any of it. It’s oligarchy.

Those who resist this system here end up in prison at worst (see Assange), or suppressed/smeared by media at best. Revolutionary movements in the colonized global south that resist; that seek to end their oppression and empower their people, are likely to end up sanctioned/starved, bombed, and/or attacked by US-backed mercenaries etc. They are incredibly courageous for resisting, but it is obviously very difficult to set up a new system from scratch, (and made much, much more difficult by that constant imperialist threat). There will obviously be very varied results as people try and recover from, often centuries, of colonial rule. It’s trial and error, and a constant struggle. 

What is the alternative to resistance? That everyone in that perpetually exploited global south just allow themselves to continue to be subjugated by US-installed dictators, for the benefit of western corporations? That everyone in the US just accept a life of misery working in Walmart, earning barely enough to survive (as the fruits of their labour go to wealthy shareholders), with a choice between two identical, bought-off political parties to ‘choose’ between every few years, neither of which give a damn about them? That people get so depressed and hopeless that there’s an epidemic of suicide, and 1% of the adult population turn to crime and end up incarcerated, (as in the US)? All profitable for the prison industry through! That’s all that matters in this system. This is your definition of ‘democracy and freedom’?! It is freedom for a wealthy elite few, that is all.

The UK and other capitalist states developed via centuries of colonialism and tyranny. NOT via democracy!!! And we only achieved any kind of decency for our society by constant resistance to capitalism from social movements. The NHS, worker’s rights, etc, weren’t just given to us out of the kindness of capitalism’s heart.

Others want to develop via socialism. What socialist Cuba has achieved is amazing. Cuban people have built their own society, rather than being dictated to and exploited by an oligarchy under the thumb of the west. As a result, they eradicated illiteracy almost overnight, they have free healthcare, they have a higher life expectancy than the US, etc. And they send doctors around the world, not bombs. And they’ve achieved all this despite constant oppression - economic blockade - from the US. 

I think most people ultimately would just like a mixed economy with a strong public sector and a government that truly represents the people, to ensure everyone has a decent life, and to prevent monopolisation, corruption, tax avoidance, extreme inequality, imperialism. Worker-ownership of industry (cooperatives) is probably the best hope for preventing all that, and this is the kind of socialism that most socialists in the developed world are calling for today, but many really are just calling for a Finland-style social democracy. Neoliberal ‘centrist’ extremists won’t even allow that. Market fundamentalism of Thatcher, Reagan, Clinton, Blair ruined us.

Why is it exactly that you are so desperate to deny rights to people and to keep them oppressed, exploited and colonized? To argue that this = democracy, is the most Orwellian thing ever.

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His response: Can’t beat a good ramble to avoid answering the question

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And I replied with...

I did answer your question:

‘There will obviously be very varied results as people try and recover from, often centuries, of colonial rule. It’s trial and error, and a constant struggle’. 

It would be good if you could stop this gaslighting and be honest with me and with yourself. Just say it - you have always supported the western neo/colonization of the world, and those who dare to resist that global tyranny, are inhuman to you. Even when a country, like Venezuela, sticks with a multi-party system, you support all imperialist efforts against it. Disgusting.

And we both know that you are seeking to draw equivalence between colonial, totalitarian/fascist capitalist dictatorships, which destroy millions of lives for the benefit of a few, and sovereign, one-party socialist states like Cuba and Vietnam, that are (FAR more so than any kind of capitalist state) run by and for working people. It is horrific to equate these. 

You are unbelievably indoctrinated. I really don’t know why you keep trolling. 

Coronavirus: some thoughts

Regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, I have focussed on the failings of neoliberalism to cope with crises; the inability to prepare for them, and thus, the inability to enact sufficient state led responses to them - due to privatisation, austerity, market fundamentalism. This surely explains why, for example, Germany, (where there have been a similar number of tests per million as the UK), have had far fewer deaths. (Germany is by no means socialist, but is at least less of a neoliberal state than the UK). And it explains how anti-neoliberal, 'socialism with Chinese characteristics', China, has been capable of responding as it did, earning praise from the World Health Organisation. (China had a few more cases of the virus in Wuhan last week, and they subsequently set about testing the entire population of the city in 10 days!).

This is a vital point to make - that neoliberalism, which has diminished our state sector and prioritizes the individual over the collective, has massively affected our ability to handle crises, which require a collective and state-led response, and investment in things that are not profitable. There is huge denial about this.

Lately, my focus has increasingly been on concern that the reaction (lockdowns) to the virus has actually done far more harm than good, as it has led to massive collateral damage: over one hundred million more people now face acute hunger. But this again, is due to neoliberalism. Neoliberal globalization has created an extremely exploitative, inhuman and precarious global system, meaning that economic lockdowns in the global north lead to disaster; (or I should say, an even greater disaster than that system was already inflicting).

Also, there is a further corporate heist of our economies underway, as the lockdowns (along with neoliberal leadership) lead to economic collapse and small businesses going bust/being put into more debt - which will do nothing to end that neoliberal globalisation! Even more concentration of wealth and power is afoot.

I've also been starting to wonder whether the virus is actually as bad as feared? Where I live - in California - the medium age of those who’ve died of it is 79. The life expectancy here is 81. In other regions of the US, and the world, the median age of those who’ve died is actually higher than the local life expectancy.

I have seen many people point out that those dying may well have died ‘with’ the virus, but not actually ‘of’ the virus. But their deaths are being logged (I think?) as the latter. The vast majority had underlying health conditions - is there certainty that their deaths were caused by Covid, rather than by their other illnesses?

And what percentage of ‘excess deaths’ are of those who couldn’t/were too afraid of going to hospital for other illnesses?

Read: The BMJ: Only a third of the excess deaths seen in the community in England and Wales can be explained by covid-19, new data have shown. 

The response from China, and several other countries (South Korea, New Zealand), to the virus, has been commendable, but it seems very likely to me that the response from most of the global north will do vastly more damage than the virus itself. Should we have accepted that there is no chance that neoliberal states can do as China did and so should we have avoided strict lockdowns that have led to horrific repercussions? Should we have accepted that this is a pandemic that only really threatens those who’re already near the end of their lives? Was our panicked response a sign of our inability to accept our mortality? Were we made to panic so that certain individuals and corporations could profit/expand surveillance measures? Should we have done as Sweden did? Was the Covid death rate definitely exponential, or was it always going to peter out? Do we need to accept new viruses as a fact of life, (though made more likely by our/capitalism’s destruction of nature)? Why have we not been this panicked about other diseases? How accurate are the statistics?

These are all questions that run through my head right now. As ever, my main conclusion is that we need a massive redistribution of power and wealth, so that we can have strong public services, a world run by people, not corporations, and an emphasis on localization, rather than globalization, which has exploited the global south, leaving millions, if not billions, extremely vulnerable.

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More thoughts:

• ‪Given that lockdowns are highly profitable for some elites, and given the crisis is being used to advance certain agendas - like digital ID - I think it important that we be alert to the possibility of authorities seeking to extend lockdown more than necessary. 

• I’m confused re why there isn’t yet a second wave of the virus. It’s been weeks since lockdown relaxed and everyone flocked to the beach. 

Covid Cold War

Boris Johnson is now reducing Hauwei’s role in Britain’s 5G network, falling more into line with the US.

Instead of learning some lessons from Covid, mainly about how shit neoliberal capitalism is, it looks like we’re going to intensify the new Cold War against socialist China instead. Yay.

Western elites didn’t accept the presence of the Soviet Union on the world stage, (nor any other country that rejects western domination), so they sure as hell won’t be accepting China, now that they’ve got all they can get out of cheap Chinese labor. The CIA will likely currently be targeting all nations that are forging close ties with China.

We need an anti-imperialist, peace movement now more than ever, to oppose this new Cold War, (which will be hot for many, just as the last one was. And could potentially be extremely hot for all of us).

Watch John Pilger’s doc, broadcast on ITV a couple of years ago:

Tories screw British farmers

Read here.

The EU is crap, but Brexit’s slogan of ‘taking back control’ really just meant handing even more control over to US corporations. Now we’ll get shitter quality, environmentally awful food that’ll make us all sicker, so that we then have to use an expensive healthcare system (as we’ll also gradually lose control of that), all for the benefit of those corporations!

Tories do not care about us. And there’s nothing conservative about them, just as there’s nothing liberal about most liberal parties. They’re all career politicians and puppets of transnational corporations, to varying extents. People+planet be damned.

CHINA IS NOT THE AGGRESSOR

Some links:

Hillary Clinton: "We discovered Japan"; "We" are going to "ring China" with the US military

ex US ambassador to China admitted Chinese President Xi Jinping didn't want to militarize the South China Sea and offered a peace agreement, but the Obama admin rejected his olive branch and continued militarizing the region

Watch this documentary.

Yanis on China.

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Debunking anti-China propaganda:

Info about Xinjiang coming from a guy funded by the CIA who blames the downfall of the world on homosexuality.

The truth about fake news.

The fake "independent institute" promoting the China "threat" in the West is the Australan Strategic Policy Institute, the go-to source for Vichy journalists currently hoodwinking the public. It's exposed here as a front for warmongers and arms companies.

Anti-China Rhetoric Is On The Rise. Is The US Right To Be Worried?

Viral Fake Footage Of “Chinese” Atrocities Shows The Power Of Narrative Spin

Biking to Xinjiang with Jerry Grey

The BBC cites Epoch Times as a Credible “Anti-establishment” newspaper 

Capitalism to blame for hunger

The world currently produces enough food for 12-14 billion people. (And we could produce even more than that if we did away with the industrial food system).

Yet nearly 1 billion are undernourished, and 235 million are now facing acute hunger.

On current projections, the global population is set to peak at 11 billion in 80 years time.

Capitalism’s extreme irrationality, monopolisation, need for growth, imperialism, exploitation, and inequality, is the major problem - not population. Covid has exposed this more than ever

More social media censorship

This image of the Soviet flag is being banned on Facebook.

This is so messed up!

Like it or not, this is the flag of those who did most to defeat Nazism. That’s a fact agreed upon by most western historians, and even Winston Churchill! (Though that madman did want to wage war on the Soviets once Hitler was dealt with - Operation Unthinkable).

What about the British flag? Why is that allowed? Britain colonised most of the world! Millions killed/subjugated. But the Union Jack is cool? Ditto the US flag. Millions killed by their Empire these last 75 years. Ugh!

It is not surprising that China and others want their own internet and want to stay well away from ours!