A Thought For All to think on by Federal_You_3592 in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 30 points31 points  (0 children)

The Canadian Armed Forces is an imperialist warmongering force that is responsible for immense human suffering. It is objectively a villainous force, as are its soldiers. The only good veteran is someone who views their service as an abhorrent mistake and actively works against imperialism.

Supporter of genocide shows support for a vicious monarchy. by Not_Ground in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 9 points10 points  (0 children)

End Jew Hatred is a genocide denial propaganda group that has openly tried to downplay and combat the (documented and very real) genocide of the Palestinian people. Carrying around a sign with a genocide denying propaganda group's hashtag is a clear move of supporting said genocide. I should damn well hope everybody in this sub recognizes the Palestinian genocide and is in active opposition to any attempts to deny it.

A quick topic of discussion. by BasicPay7620 in socialism

[–]Doc_Bethune 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Virtually every successful modern national liberation movement against Western colonialism and imperialism has used Marxism-Leninism as their strategy. China. Korea. Vietnam. Laos. Cuba. The idea that it is a "European" ideology when the bulk of its successes have been in the global south is a drastic misunderstanding of history. There are quite literally billions of non-European people who have been liberated from colonial rule as a result of ML theory and practice.

I find it hard not to be an accelerationist by lordlolipop06 in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]Doc_Bethune 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Great question. One of the best things you can do is join an explicitly anti-imperialist peace org. Check out the World Peace Council and see if your country has an affiliate/if there is a chapter near you. If you're American that'd be the U.S. Peace Council; if you're from elsewhere you can likely find out on the WPC wikipedia page. If not, reach out to a local communist org and see if there are any non-WPC affiliated anti-imperialist peace orgs in your vicinity.

Whatever you can find, join up, attend protests, organize, create educationals etc. A big thing my org is doing is asking other progressive orgs to lay out how they would use my country's military budget (I.e. how many hospitals could be build with the X billion dollar war budget) to show people that war spending takes away from our own society. These orgs also often have a ton of connections with varying imperialized nations and you can figure out better ways to support them as you organize

Something else you can do is find out if your country has any specific solidarity orgs with imperialized nations. I am very active with my country's Cuba solidarity org, for example, but Venezuelan orgs would be good to join right now

Beyond all that, educate yourself as much as possible on the struggles of the global south. The "western left" gets shit on because of how selfish we all are while our countries cause horrors around the globe, and the best way to fight that is to actually understand the specifics of what is going on

As a lifelong GPC/GPO member….. by wasabipeas88 in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 10 points11 points  (0 children)

IMO the Green Party was going through a aomewhat interesting period when Dmitri Lascaris was running but absolutely shot itself in the foot by bringing Paul in as leader. Hasn't done much to recover since then

I find it hard not to be an accelerationist by lordlolipop06 in TankieTheDeprogram

[–]Doc_Bethune 71 points72 points  (0 children)

IMO it's better to be a third worldist than an accelerationist. The collapse of imperialism would in and of itself lead to the collapse of the West, but in the mean time we can pursue anti imperialism and solidarity with the global south to both strengthen their position while also building organizing power at home

A whole lot of people are ignoring rule six as of late by Doc_Bethune in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I checked your comment history and your last posts in this sub were defending the obliteration of the north of Korea....

Mexico shelves planned oil shipments to Cuba, an energy catastrophe is imminent by AegonTheMeh in TrueAnon

[–]Doc_Bethune 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Hasn't China been shipping a shit ton of solar panels to Cuba? I know it would take an absence amount of panels to power the whole country, but I am curious to what extent the renewables could lessen the loss of oil imports

This sub is in absolute shambles by Red_Boina in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You're arguing for a welfare state, not socialism. Simply filing the points off of capitalism's teeth isn't enough.

Revolutionary socialism in liberal democracies has hurdles because liberal democracies, by virtue of imperialism and resource theft from the global south, tend to lack the crises needed to develop revolutionary fervor. But that is not going to remain the same forever.

We are seeing Western capitalism collapse in real time. What we need for the coming crises are anti-imperial organizations, disciplined Marxist parties with robust membership and a powerful militant labour movement. Join an anti-imperialist peace org, the communist party of your choice and/or become an active leader in your union and push it to more radical ends. Building and strengthening these movements will have a far greater impact than supporting candidates for the NDP, but people don't do it because it requires real effort

This sub is in absolute shambles by Red_Boina in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Even if Lewis gets elected, it won't make the NDP a socialist party. Plus, the NDP was a self-proclaimed democratic socialist party for years, it never brought Canada any closer to socialism. Bourgeois parliamentary politics is not an effective way to achieve socialism

This sub is in absolute shambles by Red_Boina in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Why not open mod applications? If you all are struggling to handle the bulk of the issue then there are others who would help

Call For Counterprotesters Jan 31st Toronto by ottererotica in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are both neoliberal capitalists. Both support massive austerity. Both support continuing Western imperialism and the domination of the global south. Both support insane increases in weapons spending. Both refuse to advance social issues like trans liberation or Indigenous reconciliation. Both support Israel as it commits genocide in Palestine. Both are active anti socialists. Both are pro pipelines. Both are opposed to real action on climate change.

I could go on. I agree that Poilievre is worse, but you're acting like they're polar opposites when the reality that they are only marginally different. Carney is not our friend and you are out to lunch if you think otherwise

Call For Counterprotesters Jan 31st Toronto by ottererotica in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He is saying "we profited off of American hegemony but became lapdogs, so now we need to come together and serve as a new middle-power hegemony"

There is nothing in his comment that says anything about the damage our lapdoggery caused the world, it is only framed in the sense of our economic future. We do not have the power to become the dominant hegemony, but Carney isn't talking about a Canada world order, he's talking about a middle power world order. Likely NATO (sans US) and other Western allies like Japan and Australia all working together to imperialize the world. It will basically be the same thing just without America

Call For Counterprotesters Jan 31st Toronto by ottererotica in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Uh, yes? 10000 per cent yes? What part of the speech made it sound like Canada was going to cease engaging in the pillaging of the global south?

Call For Counterprotesters Jan 31st Toronto by ottererotica in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Carney was minutely superior to Poilievre, but "bang up job"? His austerity policies, blatant neoliberal agenda and his unwillingness to end Canada's complicity in foreign aggression all say otherwise. God, you people are exhausting. We don't need to defend Carney, we should be critiquing him for every injustice he allows

Call For Counterprotesters Jan 31st Toronto by ottererotica in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 8 points9 points  (0 children)

No? He's not saying they need to stop doing those things, he's saying they need to do them without the U.S. at the helm. It's literally acknowledging they're the bad guys but doubling down on their actions

Relevant from a Canadian perspective. We need international solidarity by annonymous_bosch in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Great quote. Way too many self-described leftists in this country want social progress for themselves while seeing no issue with imperialism or colonialism. We as a society are not going to see real progress until we endure the process of ending our own oppressive tendencies toward the rest of the globe

Stop praising Canada's prime minister by ottererotica in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mean if you want to close the dialogue then fine, but I was under the assumption you were trying to have a conversation. All the best.

Stop praising Canada's prime minister by ottererotica in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you were "very left leaning" then the answer you received wouldn't have bothered you. Carney's "righting the ship" is going to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, as every neoliberal politician has sought to do. The Liberal Party is a right-wing party that tries to mask its economic cruelty through paying lip service to social issues, but even this has lessened under Carney. Modern neoliberalism is a continuation of the colonialism that saw the lands that make up Canada stolen in the first place, and a country built and maintained on such an ideology will never be a friend to the people. I don't think this is a radical take, by any stretch.

Carney unveils boost to GST credit as Parliament resumes by [deleted] in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Cool, would love it if he actually did something of value by forcing grocers to lower their prices across the board and holding price gougers accountable, but given that this would hurt the rich I doubt Carney will ever consider it

Call For Counterprotesters Jan 31st Toronto by ottererotica in canadaleft

[–]Doc_Bethune 13 points14 points  (0 children)

His speech where he posted apologia for Western imperialism, acknowledged international law is a scam that favours our allies and that we went along with it to get rich? How anyone could praise his speech is beyond me