#radical praxis

[archaeocommunologist]

Something that does irk me is seeing people say "what right do I have to question Palestinian resistance?" because that goes against the core of what it means to be a Marxist. Ruthless critique of everything includes Palestinian resistance. It includes "your side."

By way of analogy, I saw a video on the topic where the speaker prefaced by saying "I don't question how the Irish fight the Crown." That's actually really bad! You, as a Marxist, should definitely question how the Irish people have waged their (our) centuries of resistance. The IRA tried to make a deal with Hitler during WWII. That was a horrific mistake, an error of judgment, and a stain on the IRA and the entire Republican movement. You don't need to be Irish to say that. Anyone, of any background, can investigate and come to the correct conclusion. It doesn't compromise your support of Irish independence to say "trying to make a deal with the Nazis was a bad fucking idea."

Similarly, during the Troubles there were several organisations claiming to be the IRA, and some of those splinter groups were bloodthirsty fucking lunatics. Opposing Provo reprisal attacks against Protestant civilians doesn't make you an enemy of Ireland. Opposing terror bombings in London or Dublin doesn't make you a Thatcherite. Certainly, the Officials were still Irish Republicans despite the split, and I'd even go so far as to say it would be a better world for everyone if the OIRA had been the one to survive.

Hamas isn't a good organisation. Their current offensive is likely to end horribly for them and for the Palestinian people. And aside from all that, deliberately targeting civilians is bad strategy, along with being despicable.

Look, I understand feeling glee at seeing Israeli settlers get killed. I understand wanting to inflict horrible violence on oppressors. But the crucial fucking thing, the entire reason why the socialist movement should win, is that we're better and more humane than the imperialists. We are supposed to have higher standards! That doesn't mean we shy away from hard choices, and it doesn't mean we compromise our strategy, but it does mean that we apply our fucking principles.

I take the point about how important it is to maintain rhetorical support for Palestine, and I understand that many people who express concern over civilian killing are doing so in order to carry water for Israel. All that only matters so long as you are absolutely crystal clear on what the actual principles at stake are.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

#free palestine #radical praxis

[anarchistfrogposting]

The point is not moral absolution or ideological purity, it’s building a better world.

#anarchism #anarchist #anarchocommunism #praxis #communism #communist #revolution #leftism #leftist #politics #ideology #intersectionality #radical intersectionality

[whereserpentswalk]

Idk what doomer needs to hear this but the very fact that you recognize injustice is doing something about injustice. Your stance on political issues matters actually, especially to the people around you effected by them. Of course it's great if you do more for a cause you care about, but public opinion is the most powerful force in a world made up of social constructs.

For almost all of human history a major goal of every movement was to get as many people as possible on board with the movement. Propaganda and censorship have been major issues throughout human history because what we believe matters. The fact that you hold, express, and act on your worldview means something.

Praxis isn't just direct action to do something, that is important, but if all you can do right now in your circumstances is limited, being a member of the movements you're part of matters. You shouldn't feel ashamed because some people have the privilege (and it is a privilege) to do more.

If your beliefs weren't important, there wouldn't be people trying to sway them. And if nobody believes a king has a right to rule, or that a serf is bound to his lord, then those things would simply not be.

#politics #socalism #praxis #communism #anti capitalism #activism #doomer #doomers #hope #radical optimism #hopepunk #hopeposting

[wilberave]

the terrifying moment of realization when talking to a self proclaimed Leftist when you can immediately tell “oh. this person has never done an hour of community service in their life.” like. i know it’s been said before but your politics truly do not matter if you’re not interacting with your community in any way. you can vote in every single election and it will not have a fraction of the impact of 17 year old tyler who got sentenced to 20 hours of picking up litter and weeding the community garden. you can never once vote out of protest and read piles of theory and not come close to making the change that the group of 80 year old catholic ladies at St. Mary’s on the corner do with their weekly community meals and school supply drives. we live in the rotting corpse of an evil empire. ideas mean fucking nothing. the only thing that matters at all is physically extending a hand to try to help the people around you.

#getting super involved in volunteer work in my tiny ass town in rural ohio has perhaps radicalized me more than anything else #like truly it is so easy to make sure peoples lives have been tangibly improved even in some small way #just by serving and packaging meals or sorting through clothing donations #or keeping kids entertained while their parents talk to someone abt SNAP or even fucking scrubbing the sinks and toilets in a halfway house #because the residents have much bigger things to worry about than cleaning #all things i’ve done within my own town that were easy and fun and great ways to socialize and meet people near me #literally just fucking google volunteer opportunities + your city and there that’s more praxis than 90% of this fucking webbed site #god. sorry for the rant. can you tell i’ve been seeing an i fluc of Very Stupid posts recently #influx*

[icarusxxrising]

Leftists aren't asking you to burn down walmarts or whatever shadow you're boxing we literally just want you to help us organize community support and mutual aid the other 364 days of the year you aren't fucking voting

#im so tired of asking liberals to do something and hearing the burning down walmart violence shit #its a strawman #help us help people NOW #You wanna be katniss then pick up the soup pot and lets go give people some food #you wanna be percy well grab that box of narcan we're going to hand them oit #stop fighting so hard to not do ANYTHING except what the system wants from you #Im not asking you to do anything violent and any leftist who says you HAVE to be violent to help people is a dangerous person to be around #We cannot create radical change from thin air nor violence we need help getting people things they need #you want a better world? stop complaining about the scary leftists and pick up the fuckin sharps box #leftist #leftism #anarchism #anarchy #anarchist #socialism #communist #communism #socialist #activism #praxis #fnb #food not bombs #food #mutual #community #community support #networking #liberal #vote #voteblue

[quatregats]

Hornblower but I make him talk like this

#yeah yeah this is a rural/working class accent and he's a middle class doctor's son i know #at least it could explain the rhotic slip-ups committed by ioan gruffudd in the show #(which are my beloved btw <3 choosing to consider them conscientious objection to the most english guy to ever english) #(i know that's absolutely not what they were but listen. radical linguistic praxis makes it bearable okay) #anyways i'm sure that hornblower has *some* kentish features in his speech #they're all so mean to him about being the son of a country doctor he has to show a slight phonological coloring in some situations #but also for legal reasons this is entirely a joke #i do think it's a pretty dialect though! i like the way it sounds when i try to read the scrunkly pre-ipa here #perce rambles #adventures in historical sociolinguistics #<- making this a new tag because i feel like it's its own rabbit hole #percy yells at cecil scott

[rotzaprachim]

i think. i think the thing that keeps lodging in my brain about andor is that it isn’t just about fighting fascism, it’s about breaking patterns of fascist thought and belief, about deassimilating, decolonising, recognising the value of life. andor says there are no “essentially” good or bad people, none who are by nature shiny and good heroes for this rebellion or that are by nature canon fodder. andor says this logic itself is part of fascism’s structure, it’s random and purposeful designations of the Some People who must be forced, reformed, made labourers, killed. andor says everyone who is not an active part of a resistance against fascism is complicit with it. there are no good fascists. and yet andor also says that the systemic structures of oppression, poverty, imperialism break people, even “civilians,” that this violence can be a moral violence as well, that not only must a revolution be born of love for the people, it must be born of love for complicated people, out of radical empathy for broken survivors. andor says fuck your Good Marginalized Person/Bad Marginalized Person identity/purity politics, says we will force you to recognise that this messy, complicated, vice-seeking small-town Latino hustler WILL the lynchpin of the liberation of the masses. andor says mutual aid and care for the elderly, for those no longer “useful” to society or even leftist action, is will and must be included in just antifascist work. andor says violence is justified always in the fight against domination, but it also forces the recognition of the consequences of actions, forces the consideration of how the most vulnerable- the prisoners, the elderly, the working class people of color- will be hurt because there is no acceptable amount of canon fodder, collateral damage. andor says most of our heroes will die on screen and this will not be the glory of martyrdom, this will be a profound tragedy at the destruction of life, and though they know they will die they must continue. andor says you are not required to finish the work but neither are you free to desist from it.  andor says andor says andor says....

#andor #i just think this show. this show. this show. i am crying screaming throwing up over this hsow what it SAYS what it means #how it is show PROFOUNDLY concerned with morals and ethics amid an inherently immoral and unethical universe. #the ethics of praxis and the morals of praxis #this show's moral/ethical outlook is RADICAL because it burns everything to do with

[dipperdesperado]

i'm not sure about dialectical materialism...

I spend a lot of time talking about strategies and frameworks for IRL worldbuilding. This can be a bit problematic for a lot of reasons. I’ll start by looking at two: a “democratic centralist” ideological lineage that I disagree with, and a different, more insurrectionary response to that tendency. Now, that is something I have much more respect for, but don’t see it as being able to carry the torch the whole way.

I am someone who sees the importance and benefits of strategic thinking but also understands the negation-oriented spontaneity of uprisings, direct actions, and isolated confrontations. I don’t want (nor do I think it’s possible for) those things to stop, but I want them to be as effective as possible. This means that more people need to become collaborative and autonomous (in the self-directed, can-make-decisions-for-themselves sense). We have to organize around this, and we need a strategy so that we can both make it happen and iterate more successfully.

That’s all I’ll say about that section of things. Anti-organization/anti-strategic folks are dope, but they can’t get us all the way. The best case is that they widen the spaces for autonomy to flourish. The main thing I want to focus on is people who strategize and organize in a centralized way. I’m going to discuss dialectical materialism as it is conceived, and why I think that it blows.

Let’s talk about dialectics and materialism separately for a bit. Dialectics is a way to think about the world, a kind of mental model builder, that allows one to analyze tensions (or contradictions) in society and resolve them in a way more satisfactory than either choice. It is an undergirding idea that can animate further thoughts. Materialism, meanwhile is that the material world/reality itself is what promotes history and social development. Ideas aren’t what make history move, it’s the material conditions. So, the way that they are combined, becoming the philosophy of dialectical materialism is meant to be a framework to allows us to understand and critique society so that we can make it more liberatory.

Dialectical materialism is an idea that I’ll mostly attribute to Stalin that sees social change and history through understanding contradictions and material circumstances. It’s meant to understand the base of society, which is the economic mode of production, and the superstructure, which is everything that is birthed from that economic mode of production. So things like culture, art, ideology, etc. Base = economics, Superstructure = the rest of the pieces of society. Got it?

While this may sound great, dialectical materialism as a framework has some glaring blind spots. People don’t act purely from a place of rationality or determinism based on their conditions. Said otherwise, you cannot look solely at material conditions and understand why the world is why it is, or why people act the way that they do. We have to dialectically (ha) look at the tension between materialism and idealism, analyzing both of their places in the world. With this in mind, the way that dialectics are bundled with materialism (creating the philosophy of dialectical materialism) claims scientific rigor without proving it through a relationship of experimentation and iteration. There isn’t enough empirical evidence to support this conception of dialectical materialism.

It leaves me to question whether or not a more holistic, systems & complexity-oriented method/philosophy can surpass dialectical materialism. Complexity theories, namely the ideas of self-organization, emergence, chaos, and entropy are exciting and interesting ways to see how social change works. Rather than a simple machine, societies are complex adaptive systems that are more than just resolving tensions between contradictions. A useful mental model builder is DSRP (Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, and Perspectives) structures. Distinctions are about looking at the elements/agents within a system, where identifying one element implies the existence of other elements. Systems are an understanding whole that necessitates parts. Relationships are the actions and reactions between the other structures (Distinctions, Systems, other Relationships, and Perspectives). Perspectives are specific positions/points, implying a view. Using DSRP, we can construct models of systems and understand them on a holistic level, rather than reducing the fidelity of our analysis to our detriment. DSRP, similarly to dialectical materialism, is a fractal tool, creating as little or as much fidelity as we would like in our models.

I think that the most damning thing for dialectical materialism is a lack of understanding of how power functions within both the base and the superstructure, influencing and steering social forces. Power is a relationship between both people and their positions within a society. By not questioning the form that power takes (power-over vs. power-to vs. power-with), it cannot actually resolve the contradictions within society meaningfully. It undermines the whole project. We need to unpack the multifaceted nature of inequality, relating to all of the vectors that identity exists (race, gender, ability, sexuality, etc.) and seeing their relation to the structure as both of and from that structure. How social discourses, institutions, and practices reinforce matrixes of domination is very important to understand.

But maybe this doesn’t mean that we fully discard dialectics and materialism. I see them as something that can complement complexity theory and a liberatory power analysis. Dialectics are a great way to look at shifting terrains and sites of struggle, based on our understanding of the complex adaptive system of society. We also need to understand the material world, which benefits from a holistic scientific framework like understanding complexity. Ecosystems (a descriptive, holistic science) are a much more useful touchstone for understanding society than physics (a prescriptive, reductionist science). Oppressive ideas come from material conditions and are shaped by power structures. We could critically employ dialectical materialism to get a fuller picture, but that comes from being in concert with other tools.

Instead of fully abandoning it, we can integrate some of the most useful insights from dialectics and materialism, blending them into more modern systems analysis and theories of power. This has to be done in concert with those marginalized by society. Fuddy-duddies are the ones who have bungled everything, so it’s time to pass the torch. If we can do this, if we can empower the folks on the furthest margin, they will be able to emancipate themselves with a theory that simultaneously facilitates a building of dual power, contesting oppressive power, and ushering in a new world.

#economics #economy #econ #anti capitalists be like #neoliberal capitalism #late stage capitalism #anti capitalism #capitalism #activism #activist #direct action #solarpunks #solarpunk #praxis #socialism #sociology #social revolution #social justice #social relations #social ecology #organizing #complexity #resist #fight back #organizing 101 #radicalization #radicalism #prefigurative politics #politics #mobilize

[f1ghtsoftly]

I actually really, really dislike that radfems tend to focus on judging women for individual life choices like they’re made in a vacuum and not actually making it easier for women to make more life affirming decisions. It's easy now, when so many things are technically legal but socially and financially difficult to blind ourselves to the very real hurdles that can keep women trapped in patriarchal social structures and communities.

While it is true that choices, like partnering with a man, reinforce patriarchy we also live in a system that does everything it can to reward behavior that sets women back. As feminists, it should be our job to make it easier for women to separate and when women refuse to ask ourselves "what more could we do to make this less harrowing?" Underneath, for example, many women's refusal to stop wearing makeup, is really a refusal to forgo the social status conferred by being gender conforming and that social status isn't useless. It can help women advance in their careers, help them gain sympathy, make them more attractive to their desired partners etc etc.. While compliance with patriarchal dictates separates a woman from herself and other women, it also helps her succeed in a woman hating system.

Making feminist decisions in a patriarchy is like swimming backwards against a current. Sometimes that current is weaker or stronger and sometimes, despite a woman' best efforts she might start going backwards. As politically engaged and awakened women, we are supposed to give women tools to help make swimming against that current easier. Not forming cliques or shaming women who are struggling (if you're frustrated with a brainwashed woman, that's your sign to log off and vent to a feminist friend). Even "privileged" patriarchal aligned women are committing self harm on some level, patriarchy hurts all women. Even the ones prolonging its life with their actions.

This is also why class is such a critical feminist issue. When escape from deep poverty is reliant on a women selling her body through an advantageous marriage to a man, it's not in her self interest to forgo that option for political reasons. When childcare is so expensive in the US women are forced to rely on a partner to help them raise children. Not only are male partners more likely to make more money, they also can't get pregnant, and thus can devote themselves to their own children (this is why older women and childfree women should involve themselves in childcare). When women know living single means having to fend off disgusting and violent men, they're less likely to do it.

And yes, I know women can learn a trade and be reasonably financially sufficient but it's also better for women to diversify and organize within their chosen fields. Not only will it make women more comfortable, but it's better for female consumers. Evidence also shows that pay lowers when women enter an industry en masse so the relatively lucrative careers in the trades are only like that because women *aren't there*. Furthermore, when women decide to become mothers, they take a massive financial hit, both in the amount of time they can put into a job and the financial burden of raising children. I'm not an anti-natalist, I think women having children when they want them is a good thing and patriarchy takes a beautiful experience and makes it a way to trap women with horrible men.

When we place the entire burden of feminist actions on individual women "choosing" to not partner with men or cater to them rather then using our energy to unite to make systemic changes we ensure that our movement centers young, childless women, rather then what is demographically common. Not only do we do that, but we also exclude mothers from this movement, when mom's need to be centered.

Here is what I am not suggesting:

We confuse compassion for women unable or unwilling to risk patriarchal backlash for some feminist actions for excusing them. Trying to understand women still aligned with patriarchy won't turn you into a liberal. Makeup is still patriarchal. Dating men is still not great for you mentally, emotionally and physically. Lying about pronouns or refusing to challenge the rollback of women’s rights publicly will still create the illusion women consent to the destruction of their legal protections. That is all real. But patriarchy comes down hard on women who stand against it alone. And an online community, especially one not exactly flush with cash, can only take us so far.

Here is what I am suggesting:

We begin to reprioritize party building and policy goals. How can we make it easier to make feminist choices? What structures can we make to support separatism?

How can we organize women across varying industries against unfair wages, misogynistic standards and the political repression of feminists and feminism?

How can we develop women only networks to support mothers in childrearing?

In general, how can we make forgoing personal safety to be around men a less and less desirable option for more and more women?

In general, let's please, please start thinking in terms of systems instead of individualistically. It doesn't serve anyone but men to pick judgement over solidarity with women who aren't there yet. Stop judging women you only know through a screen and start organizing to make it easier and easier for women to live feminist lives. Put that desire into action, stop using it to make us stagnate when we need to grow aggressively.

#all of the but actually I can do it so you should too women gonna come out of the woodwork #as if not helping women is feminist praxis #as someone who did do a lot alone it was really shitty actually so lol #I can never understand women who simultaneously are like oh patriarchy is so bad and then act like bucking it is easy like is patriarchy #real and serious or is it not #because in my world it's real and serious and that means when women cower in fear of backlash it's not just in their heads #it can be overcome but it's still like...real #radical feminist theory #radical feminism #radical feminist #radfem safe #radblr #radfem #gender critical #radical feminists do touch #writing

[archaeocommunologist]

“Dropping out is not the answer; fucking-up is. Most women are already dropped out; they were never in. Dropping out gives control to those few who don't drop out; dropping out is exactly what the establishment leaders want; it plays into the hands of the enemy; it strengthens the system instead of undermining it, since it is based entirely on the non-participating, passivity, apathy and non-involvement of the mass of women. Dropping out, however, is an excellent policy for men, and SCUM will enthusiastically encourage it.

Looking inside yourself for salvation, contemplating your navel, is not, as the Drop Out people would have you believe, the answer. Happiness lives outside yourself, is achieved through interacting with others. Self-forgetfulness should be one's goal, not self-absorption. The male, capable of only the latter, makes a virtue of irremediable fault and sets up self-absorption, not only as a good but as a Philosophical Good, and thus gets credit for being deep.

SCUM will not picket, demonstrate, march or strike to attempt to achieve its ends. Such tactics are for nice, genteel ladies who scrupulously take only such action as is guaranteed to be ineffective. In addition, only decent, clean-living male women, highly trained in submerging themselves in the species, act on a mob basis. SCUM consists of individuals; SCUM is not a mob, a blob. Only as many SCUM will do a job as are needed for the job. Also SCUM, being cool and selfish, will not subject to getting itself rapped on the head with billy clubs; that's for the nice, `privileged, educated', middle-class ladies with a high regard for the touching faith in the essential goodness of Daddy and policemen. If SCUM ever marches, it will be over the President's stupid, sickening face; if SCUM ever strikes, it will be in the dark with a six-inch blade.” - Valerie Solanas, the SCUM Manifesto

@arepublicsocialistandfree this is my favorite passage  >:3c

#scum manifesto #valerie solanas #radical praxis

[nullcoast]

Why can't we just love eachother and help eachother and cry for eachother when we hurt and laugh for eachother when we're happy. What happened to radical acceptance and beauty. Why are we self-separating using white suppremist ideas about identity. The idea someone needs some pure property to be worthy of adopting a community is point blank a white suprematist idea. Where is the understanding of mistake and pain.

We are so alone and isolated in this generation and we are playing directly into the interests of those in power by further self-separating. Focus on some important fucking shit.

#essentially #get class conscious #explore spirituality #and understand that a human being is an astounding phenomenon and every single one is amazing and terrifying #and is worth the effort of understanding #and accepting #ok yeah I had 6 shots at 3pm whatever #but fr the time someone cut me off bc I said I don't care about hehim lesbians #like in real life #crazy shit (they later apologized which was sick as fuck of them) #just the fact it spills out beyond the internet is horrible and the internet isn't great itself #bc it could otherwise be utilized as an extremley effective tool for praxis #were it not for infighting #like. i know a lot of white queers who avoid 'straight' seeming poc or jocks or whatever the fuck #idk I understand anxiety fully #but if u continue to stay within a social comfort zone #you will never see the beauty of expression possible within humanity #and placing more value on queer white friends than a straigh black friend..... not great. it's not great. #implicitly aligning with your anxiety or discomfort over how another person operates #not great #I've seen queer white ppl treat homeless ppl like SHIT bc ' my anxiety!!' #its fucked up #and it makes me understand why certain demographics see queerness as a rich white phenomoneon (it's not but it makes me understand how ppl #can accept such a ridiculous narrative) #bc white queers such as myself only experiment with radical thought and action within the comfort of whiteness #anything outside that it's the same old white attitude towards others #idk like. what do u do when u meet a homeless guy who is antivax and scizo #do u jsut write him off as a loony conservative? anti lgbt? what do u do? #I've seen this contradiction arise and I'm #just deeply ashamed of how my community is prone to reacting

[scenetocause]

i sort of knew this about ottoman literature but what an absolute paragraph (via a friend, from p78 of Uncoupling Language and Religion: An Exploration into the Margins of Turkish Literature (2021) by Laurent Mignon)

#radical straights as ottoman literature praxis actually

[mushroomsoupofficial]

They put theory in my smut, dawg

#bkdk #mha bkdk #mha #bnha #ao3 #communist theory #hell yeah bb #radicalizing god's angels is praxis #firelily

[deadpanwalking]

Cradle my face in your large capable hands (talons?) and tell me to stop getting drawn into voting discourse

1. Internalize this:

2. Seriously, voter suppression is a much bigger threat to what's left of our democracy than apathy is. You won't ever convince irony-poisoned dipshits to spend time or energy on anything apart from themselves, but you can make sure that disenfranchised people in your community have information, valid IDs, and transportation to and from the polls. Do that!

3.

#no literally just treat them like they're q pilled #there is no palpable difference between the cult waiting for jfk jr. to show up at the dealy plaza #and dudes waiting for an armed revolution to spontaneously generate from untempered misery #if they snap out of it there's a place at the grown up activist table for them #if they don't‚ let them make guillotine memes as radical praxis #we can put them on the fridge when we're done canvassing #anonymous #assbox

[raytorosaurus]

omg thank you for answering so quick -ray toro shirt anon (p.s. there are shirts on ebay of that exact shirt!!) i got the one with a wolf on it, buttt was curious as to what his shirt actually had 😭thank u again 🧡🧡🧡

OH????????

#sometimes i catch myself almost buying band shirts just because ray has worn them #like i do not like the colour yellow or the ramones enough to buy this shirt and yet AND YET. #being a ray kinnie in a frank kinnie economy is honestly radical praxis tho #answered #also yw anon <333333

[truths89]

Wardrobe

I’m switching the camouflage of my shadow! I reckon, the past has met its plateau. Shame seems to be the source of spiritual vertigo.

Overthinking permits mental cobwebs to overgrow. With radical acceptance, I shall mow!

Reframing and validating the dark, I’m choosing my afterglow; Because the divine gave me the key to my crypto escrow.

Therefore, I will embody the golden ratio.

#poetry #ZisaAziza #NegressOfSaturn #Truths89 #energy #healing #spirituality #theory #praxis #interpretation #self-ridicule #self-love #radical acceptance #release #decoloniality #it is what it is #neutrality