volodya_ilich 2w ago • 80%
So you must certainly agree with me that the US is consequently a terrorist state
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 60%
The solution is obviously not exclusively from pricing models, we need other energy sources than renewables for the time being, that doesn't mean we need to have market-based electricity pricing.
Imagine the state installing as many solar panels as society, guided by experts, democratically decides it wants, basically deciding as a society the energy mix instead of hoping that companies will install enough if we bribe them enough with taxes to do so, and if it's profitable. Then, it decides a pricing model based on a mixture of subsidy and incentivising consumption during production hours.
Problem solved, innit?
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 66%
Do I really need to explain the concepts of taxes, subsidies, or fixed prices regardless of demand, to an adult?
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 85%
Cheap electricity is great for consumers, but not necessarily for producers. Some people might say, "well, screw producers," but even if you take profit out of the equation, electric utilities need to be able to at least cover their expenses, and you can't do that if the amount of electricity you're generating relative to the demand is so high the price actually goes negative (meaning the utility is actually paying the consumer). Again, that's good for consumers, but I'm sure you can see how that's not a sustainable business model.
Fully agreed: let's eliminate business from the issue, and create national, for-service electric grids, that produce the cheapest renewables at all possible times in the most efficient way possible, disregarding hourly profit and taking into account exclusively the cost in €/kWh produced over the lifetime of each energy source.
Suddenly it's obvious that the problem isn't with renewables, but with organising the electric grid as a market
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 60%
abundance of electricity when people need it the least
Isn't peak consumption around middle of the day for most countries?
it's not economical
Mfw electricity being cheap to generate is not economical
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
Everyone's got a few Nazis, but Ukraine's problem with Nazism is far more generalized nowadays than in most places, as a consequence of the invasion. It's not just the Azov battalion, as I said the literal defense ministry tweets Nazi symbolism on the regular.
In fact, the rise of right wing extremism in Europe can be seen to be heavily influenced by the past 15 years of economic stagnation. Your point of "everyone's got a few Nazis" clearly points towards a radicalisation towards the far-right in places as the situation worsens. We see that in the US as well, with Trump quite literally having project 2025, and Kamala supporting Zionist genocide.
Now that everyone's stopped trying to fix Afghanistan and they're now fully autonomous, the Taliban are getting increasingly misogynistic
That's not what's happening. Taliban have always been misogynistic, they just weren't in full control of the country. If you want to compare nearby countries with a Muslim majority that didn't go through such a phase, you can look at Uzbekistan for example, which while not the most progressive country on earth (again, due to the level of development), the continued development and stability within the USSR led to much more progressivism than nearby countries like Afghanistan or Pakistan (which were seriously damaged by western influence). Afghanistan, btw, could have been another socialist country with a comparable quality of life to that of Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan, but the US just HAD TO arm radical militias who, surprise surprise, would turn into the Taliban.
Your logic would suggest they should be heading in the opposite direction
If Afghanistan significantly develops materially over the following decades, I DO expect to see that, btw. It's just that Afghanistan is absolutely destroyed as a consequence of western policy.
You're really trying to decouple the level of societal development to the level of economic progress and to the recent history of the countries, in a sort of racist view that the west is superior just because it's superior, not because of the material and historical conditions.
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
Are you serious? Have you ever heard of the literal Nazi Azov battalion? The invasion of Ukraine is generating insane reactionary tendencies. The minister of Ukraine posted pictures on twitter that included slightly modified emblems of SS corps, and it's very frequent to see soldiers in Ukraine with Nazi tattoos. That's not to say anything positive about the invasion, on the contrary, it's normal that such nationalist radical sentiments are stoked in extreme cases
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
Contemporary, socially progressive ideology (feminism, anti-racism, queer...) is the consequence not of some "western superior ideology", it's mostly a consequence of progress, both societal and economical. Without the societal and economical part of it, you simply don't have the conditions for it. By bombing nations into ashes, you're preventing them from the possibility of arriving to these conclusions by themselves.
In the 50s, there was a movement in Iran that led to a democratically elected, progressive, secular president (Mosaddegh). Failing to maintain the exploitation of oil at low prices by the British Petroleum against the interests of the Irani, the country was embargoed and covert intelligence operations by western countries destabilised it and kicked him out of government (mainly through enforcing poverty and discontent on the population), so that they could put in place a king who would uphold the interests of Britain and the US.
In Egypt, not much later than that, president Nasser was giving speeches about how ridiculous the idea of legally forcing every woman to cover their head with a veil was.
There have been plenty of progressive, secular, truly forward periods in the history of north Africa and the near East. The fact that right now in many countries destroyed by western influence they don't have such movements anymore, has much more to do with western influence than with anything else.
So please, explain me, what is the logic flaw in my argument.
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
I'm not advocating for pushing it over the brink (Trump), I'm advocating for conditioning the vote to an end to genocide (seems reasonable to me). If you think that doesn't work, the logical desired consequence for me is the destruction of the state upholding genocide.
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
"America, despite being on the brink of fascism and its political alternative still being genocidal, is the bulwark of freedom and equality. Never mind the history of subversion, coups, and literal war against democratically elected governments all over the world, and our support of monarchic, fascist, and literally genocidal regimes. Anyone who wants the US to stop doing these things is part of a counter-intelligence program"
American exceptionalism is one HELL of a drug
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
Ok, that's really good insight, so it boils down to France not respecting the 1935 treaty by refusing to declare Czechoslovakia as a victim of aggression?
As a Spanish, I can relate too well (sadly) to the part where the president of Czechoslovakia says "I did not dare to fight with Russian aid alone, because I knew that the British and French Governments would make out of my country another Spain", I assume they're talking of how the Soviet Union was the only country to sell weapons to Republican Spain in their fight against fascism, even as the Nazis and Italian Fascists were militarily and economically helping the reactionaries in Spain, and how France and England didn't do anything under the guise of "non-interventionism".
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
We can't possibly stop the Democratic candidate for president from supporting genocide
I believe America is the greatest force for freedom and equality in the world
Ok, I'm sorry, I can't even keep a straight face at that. I hope you'll reflect a bit. Have a good day, rofl
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
"a month before the election"
The escalation in Gaza by Israel is one year ago, we've been saying this for a year...
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
So basically your whole argument is "we can't possibly stop the democrats from supporting a genocide, it's as physically impossible as making a home run with a pool noodle". If the American system is truly so fucked up, then you must agree with the following: Death to America as a country.
Do you agree?
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
"everyone who doesn't vote for Harris during an ongoing genocide under her administration as vice-president is either a trump supporter or a Russian bot"
God, you guys are pathetic. You asked for a solution, I gave you one, you just don't wanna listen, you're truly Blue MAGA
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 50%
Again, you're telling me that the material and historical conditions of the invaded countries of Levant, aren't relevant to the ideology in said countries, and the spread of radical variants of given religions?
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
Because I know that won't work
You don't see the irony of replying that after basically saying "the only thing stopping your vote from mattering is not believing in it"?
acting like a petulant, naive child
Sorry that you're discomforted by my protest against genocide
who would you rather protest under
You're literally under democrat government, so I hope that you're saying this while organising and attending protest. How about, hear me out, protesting with your vote as I explained
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 33%
Ok, just to get your analogy, you're telling me that the ideology of people in occupied territories of the Levant is not influenced by the material and historical conditions of the past century?
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
If every vote counts, then withhold your Kamala vote on the condition that they will stop a genocide. Parties pay attention to vote totals and where they're winning and losing and what issues are connecting to voters. It's only true that you can't change the genocidal nature of Democrat's if you believe it.
Even if you don't think you're going to stop them from committing genocide, you should still uphold that moral point and condition your vote on it
volodya_ilich 3w ago • 100%
You should be conditioning your vote to Harris to the Dems stopping the genocide. If you think the USA is a democratic country, then a critical mass of anti-genocide voters should be enough to sway Kamala out of supporting genocide. If you don't believe so, then you're essentially saying that the two-party system is completely undemocratic, and you should start organising against it immediately.
User goat@sh.itjust.works has posted the currently top-3 posts in this community as of time of writing, and their recent post/comment history seems to be exclusively about bashing on certain communities such as hexbear, lemmygrad or ml. Just reconsider whether you people wanted to be here on Lemmy originally to spend most of your time arguing about "tankies" while the people who support you are literal genocide deniers (saying things like "just want to remind you all that there was a truce until October 7th"). Since people asked for proof, please take a look yourselves: https://sh.itjust.works/post/10207542 https://sh.itjust.works/comment/6168814 https://sh.itjust.works/comment/6168415 https://sh.itjust.works/comment/6029488 https://sh.itjust.works/comment/6029469 https://sh.itjust.works/post/9247792 https://sh.itjust.works/post/9247795 https://sh.itjust.works/post/9322054 https://sh.itjust.works/post/9322170 https://sh.itjust.works/post/9713632 https://sh.itjust.works/post/10000515 https://sh.itjust.works/post/1011743
Hi, comrades. Some time ago I finished "The Empire Must Die", by Zygar, an interesting book about the history of the early 20th century Russian Empire leading to the Russian Revolution, that covers the period until the October Revolution. Although very unambiguously anti-bolshevist, the book provides a rather good recount of the historical events that led to the Russian Revolution, and the most important people within the revolution (sadly with an emphasis towards liberals like the Cadets, or the Socialist Revolutionaries who were more utopian than scientific socialists). Now I'm interesting on reading about the history, or possibly the evolution of the institutions and the form of government, from 1917 to the death of Lenin. Is there any book you gorgeous people can recommend me about that time period? Thanks a bunch!
As the title says, Poland has birthed some of my favourite songs (as a Spaniard). The band Riverside is just incredible, and in particular the song "Deprived (irretrievably lost imagination)" has to be the most fucking beautiful song ever written. Additionally, Coma's "zaprzepaszczone siły wielkiej armii świętych znaków" haunts my everyday too, so immensely good. Can you guys recommend any similar polish music to this? Because this is EXACTLY my jam. If not, anyway, thanks to your country for birthing these absolutely immaculate masterpieces.
Sup fellas. I'm a Spanish guy who, for the past decade, has been getting increasingly radicalized. I've been mostly so far interested in reading because I wanted to have a solid theoretical background and learn more about the Ws and Ls of communism, from a theoretical and a historical perspective, and while I'm still very much into reading socialist literature, I want to take the step to organizing and activism locally. I was just wondering if anyone here has any resources for any Communist/Socialist/Marxist organisation in Spain or with presence in multiple western-european countries that anyone can recommend me to contact. Thanks a bunch!
Martin Luther King was a well-known activist for Black peoples' and worker's rights. After many years of fighting racism and oppression from the establishment, he shared insights on some of his findings of the unjust opposition to rightful change, which may surprise a few of us who are still learning about his figure: "I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion **that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is** not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but **the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”**; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” **Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will**. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection." We've recently seen widespread liberal rejection of grassroots progressive movements such as Black Lives Matter, the protests against western collaborationism in the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and many so-called "progressives" dedicating more time to finding the mistakes committed by non-western regimes than those of their own nations, and calling "Tankies" to those who are a bit further to the left than us. Let us consider if we ourselves are the moderates that Dr. Luther King was talking about, and let's push for the change we actually want rather than bickering about who's "too far to the left"
Last week, I found a used book in a store, called "what the Soviet worker receives besides their salary" (or something like that, translated it literally from my language). It's a short, 40-pages pamphlet written in 1959 by the then Soviet Minister of Finance, A. Zveriev. On a section regarding housing, the pamphlet claims: "The workers and employees of the USSR pay insignificant rent compared to that paid by workers in capitalist countries. If in the latter, the rent expenditure absorbs 25 to 30% of the family budget, in the USSR, the rent including communal services doesn't rise, on average, above 4 to 5% of the family budget". Leaving aside how much they paid in the USSR for rent, I want to dedicate a moment to examine this 25-30% expenditure of the family budget in rent in developed capitalist countries. I looked up the data for my western-european, developed country, and for the bottom 50% of families by budget, the housing expenditure actually ranges from 45% to 35% of the family budget in 2023 (latest data available). Let's forget about the fact that family budgets can't be compared from 1959 to now because nowadays there are more workers per household as a consequence of the mass-incorporation of women in the workplace and young adults staying with their parents because of housing prices. Even if we forget about that, after 65 years of technological and scientific progress, in which the population of western capitalist countries has actually stabilized, the prices of housing as a percentage of family budgets have risen by about 50%, compared to the numbers given in an anticapitalist pamphlet written by a literal Soviet finance minister. There is no reason for this other than the commodification of a HUMAN RIGHT such as housing. If Cuba and the USSR solved housing for everyone 50+ years ago, there's no actual, physical or economical problem preventing us from doing so. It's purely a desired consequence of our current system.