@jerome@jasette.facil.servicesRE: https://techhub.social/@Techmeme/115742444654558105
After hours—and more than 140 back-and-forth messages—Long got Claudius to embrace its communist roots. Claudius ironically declared an Ultra-Capitalist Free-for-All.
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialThis is a subtweet...
People who are not anti-capitalist sometimes wonder: "Why is there a monopoly on X life-critical thing?" (E.g., epipens, insulin, web search).
This one is really simple actually: because monopolies are more profitable than competition, and the foundation of capitalism is that capital = power.
Various societies have recognized the necropolitical outcomes of monopolies and have tried to erect barriers to monopoly; we all know that monopolies are bad, death-and-suffering-causing things. But since these societies mostly remain capitalist, they allow these barriers to be eroded by the power of capital (to do otherwise would be to repudiate capitalism because it puts a limit on the power of money). The barriers are ineffective, and the capital = power equation holds, and monopolies result and get to do their killing & maiming thing (remember: even things like social media monopolies that you wouldn't expect to pay for political assassinations like a mining company still profit from inciting genocides). *Sometimes* there are oligopolies instead of monopolies, but instances of really competitive markets are pretty rare for things that are widely sought-after.
The "government will manage the markets to prevent bad outcomes like monopolies" strategy has failed repeatedly, spectacularly, and almost universally. To actually prevent monopolies you need a population that no longer believes that money should equal power, it's that simple. Sadly, it's actually not that simple, since all of the alternatives which equate something else to power, like "the king" or "party loyalty as judged by the supreme leader" have the same problems or worse. The attitude you need to cultivate is "nobody should have power," which is hard because *all* of the power-systems we have constantly propagandize against this attitude in myriad ways. Still, in the future once we've broken free of this age where hierarchy is accepted, people will look back and wonder whether the historical records are even credible given how much needless death and suffering were endured with little resistance.
#anarchy #capitalism
@hex@kolektiva.socialThe #IWW #GDC as an antifascist organization was always kind of a hack. It was a beautiful hack and it worked well for what it did.
In 2016, as Trump was rising, I found info from the Twin Cities GDC. They were super organized, building an amazing community defense organization. When we (Seattle) went to set up our chapter, following their lead, they were extremely supportive. When I got shot, Twin Cities folks were at my house keeping my partner safe. They literally flew people out to support us. They very much remain in my mind when I think about what mutual aid looks like.
Unionism is an important strategy of a larger fight. But it's important to realize that it's not the other way around. The GDC was built to defend the union, because there wasn't something larger to do that work. It filled a gap.
When we organized against Trump, we tried to make the GDC the greater thing. We tried to make the GDC into the vehicle for social revolution against the fascist threat... And it sort of worked. We were able to do a lot.
But that was never what it was built to do. It was always built as an appendage of the IWW. This contains its own problem. If Unionism is the revolutionary movement, then it becomes impossible to build a truly revolutionary society. Unionism centers "workers" which implicitly decenters those who can't work in the traditional sense (the young, the elderly, those physically or mentally able to work). It also decenters care labor that hasn't yet been widely commodified. Sure, there are all types of hacks to patch the holes, but the fundamental construction starts from the wrong assumptions.
It felt, for a while, like things could go another way. Like that our ability to bring members in could shift things a bit, maybe set the GDC on more equal footing with the core focus of the IWW. But that was always an illusion, far less important to think about than the crushing terror of the regime we were fighting.
Now, I will absolutely trash talk the IWW on occasion but in the end I do think they're doing good and important work. Any criticism I have should be taken with a grain of salt... And I know I do have a lot of salt. Again, Unionism is an important strategy. It's useful both in improving immediate material conditions and as part of the most powerful weapon we have against the capitalist system: the general strike. It's important, I can't say that enough. But it's not sufficient.
I've been thinking about this a bit recently, and I wonder if there are any other GDC organizers or former organizers who might be feeling the same. Feel free to DM me. I'd like to get some more perspectives and see if my understanding from several years ago deviates significantly from what other folks are feeling right now.
I'd also like to bounce some ideas around that come from my own organizing experience.
@lilmikesf@c.imPolitically connected Local SF "Venture Capitalist" villain and notoriously bad tipper #RonConway publicly announces he has resigned from #MarcBenioff charitable org board after #Salesforce founder's flubbed req…
@fgraver@hcommons.socialGreat thread. https://mstdn.social/@Remittancegirl/115388249276371636
@Techmeme@techhub.socialEmail: Ron Conway, a close friend of Marc Benioff for 25 years, stepped down from the Salesforce Foundation board, citing Benioff's comments supporting Trump (Heather Knight/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10…
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizzaI have always envisioned a union operating autonomously from capitalist structures, organized horizontally without hierarchical authority, embodying direct workers’ self-management and solidarity, aimed at dismantling hierarchical power and creating a society structured around the needs and capacities of people rather than profit.
#Anarchism
@gedankenstuecke@scholar.social«Milei has dashed his ship of state against the rocks, quite simply, because he followed the cracked compass called libertarianism. Libertarianism doesn’t work. Its core assumptions aren’t true. It’s the intellectual equivalent of huffing paint. But the pro-capitalist press outside #Argentina, for their part, ignored Milei’s obvious flaws and hyped him up because they wanted him to be the real deal.»
The article shows how other countries want to run off that cliff too…
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/this-is-why-you-dont-let-libertarians-run-your-country
@dhuyvetter@mastodon.socialCapitalism incentivizes those who are willing to sell out, those born with sociopathic tendencies. Those willing and eager to trample everyone around them and purge their own humanity, are rewarded. Endless greed, endless thirst for power, the total absence of values — the dominant world system rewards these traits and behaviors.
@ingo@social.stuetzle.cc
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizzaI refuse to replace capitalist hierarchies with red-tinted authoritarianism, because in the end, I want liberation, not another power structure draped in red with the hammer and sickle.
#Authoritarianism #Anarchism
@Techmeme@techhub.socialSources: Lip-Bu Tan's dual roles as Intel CEO and tech investor cause consternation in the industry and at Intel; four ex-Intel execs say it caused them to exit (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/technology/lip-bu-tan-intel-ceo-investor.h…
@cdarwin@c.imTruly, everyone's a "rogue capitalist" now.
It's almost like the problem with companies isn't whether their business model is based on showing you ads or charging you money,
but rather, whether they can abuse you for profit and get away with it.
-- Coty Doctorow
https://mamot.fr/@…
@UP8@mastodon.social💸 A World Cup preying on Fomo: Fifa’s 2026 ticket scheme is a late-capitalist hellscape
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/oct/11/fifa-2026-world-cup-tickets-dynamic-pricing-nft-resale
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizzaI’ll never understand how someone can claim to be a leftist while still supporting parties that defend and sustain capitalist exploitation.
#Capitalism #AntiCapitalism
@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.itI like when the #NYPost says the quiet part out loud. See, ending illegal labor practices and paying workers a living wage is "anti-capitalist." Being in favor of #capitalism means being happy crushing your workers and driving them into poverty.
If only they said that more…
@degrowthuk@mstdn.socialWhat is #degrowth?
We offer a definition wherein the fundamental core is the planned reduction of energy and material use to keep within planetary limits, while the associated 'pluriversal' belt of concepts and practices is also essential to degrowth.
Part of our response to @…
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot#WritersCoffeeClub 26 Oct
How culturally diverse do your casts tend to be?
In my fantasy stories, the Great Place is a very complex theocracy; the Coast has a broadly communistic peasantry with superstructures of a capitalist urban merchant class and a autocratic aristocracy; the Western Clans are a tribal society which is broadly communist; the Wild Herd are a puritanical mat…
@lilmikesf@c.im
@pre@boing.worldOne room at the conference center is dedicated to an art gallery, showing pictures and images inspired by satoshi and bitcoin. Some are impressive and colourful, but some I find myself ideology opposed to their point of view.
Bitcoiners as a group tend libertarian and capitalist. Is there common cause between them and me, a more anarchist and socialist tending individual?
I think we can agree that the government money system is broken, disagree about the aims of a replacement system, and disagree on the actual effects of a bitcoin based system.
Some say bitcoin is money for enemies. We do need to transact with people without having to agree with them.
#bitfest #bitcoin #art
@fgraver@hcommons.socialTrump Classifies “Anti-Capitalism” as a Political Pre-Crime https://jacobin.com/2025/10/trump-classifies-anti-capitalism-as-a-political-pre-crime/
@hex@kolektiva.socialWe all know Trumpism is an illusion, a facade, a game. His cult is breaking down as they continue to be confronted with the ever widening divergence between their perceived reality and his claims. I feel as though Dawn of Everything provides a useful lens through which to both understand this and to dismantle the ritual violence this cult is carrying out. Perhaps we can even extend this to ourselves to disentangle ourselves from the cultish elements of capitalist modernity.
Authoritarianism itself is ultimately a complex illusion, thus this analysis, the recognition and dismantling of illusion, should inform all elements of those who wish to express anti-authoritarian resistance.
#USPol #50501 #NoKingsDay #Portland
@weltenkreuzer@social.tchncs.deOha, Bärbel Bas erinnert sich an das "S" in #SPD:
(Und der SPIEGEL berichtet nur darüber, weil die Arbeitgeber es kacke finden. Capitalist Realism in Aktion ...)
@wraithe@mastodon.socialSo this got me thinking:
Starter primers:
Andor: Leftism/resistance
Barbie: Feminism
Matrix: Philosophy
Good Place: Ethics/Moral Philosophy
Sesame Street: Coexistence
Mr. Rogers: Empathy
Gillian’s Island: Capitalist Theory
https://youtu.be/rsRjQDrDnY8
@aral@mastodon.ar.alThe only flavour of decentralisation there’s no room for at FOSDEM is the kind that won’t speak at a conference that allows itself to be sponsored by, and thereby whitewashes, a surveillance capitalist like Google that is complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.
ht…
@gedankenstuecke@scholar.social«In a world where fascists redefine truth, where surveillance capitalist companies, more powerful than democratically elected leaders, exert control over our desires, do we really want their machines to become part of our thought process?»
I don't care how well your "AI" works - fiona fokus
https://fokus.cool/2025/11/25/i-dont-care-how-well-your-ai-works.html
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizzaHomelessness is not a moral failure or an accident of fate, it is the direct result of capitalist property relations. Under a system where land, housing, and production are privately owned, the working class is alienated from its means of existence. People are cast into the streets not because scarcity is real, but because profit determines who deserves shelter.
The solution is not charity or state bureaucracy but the abolition of private property in housing and the collective organiza…
@Techmeme@techhub.socialDario Amodei addresses "inaccurate claims" about Anthropic's policy stances after David Sacks said the "real issue" is "Anthropic's agenda to backdoor Woke AI" (Ashley Capoot/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/21/anthropic-ceo-trump-s…
@hex@kolektiva.socialWhat are you going to do when the regime falls? After calling all your friends, after the great memes, after the parties, what are you going to do to make sure it never happens again? What world should we create?
Taxing billionaires is great and all, but we could build systems where billionaires are impossible. Is hoarding wealth and using it to control people even something we should consider part of a functional and humane system? Any system where one group of people doesn't have rights means that anyone can be stripped of their rights, like has happened with all the US citizens who've been illegally detained and deported by ICE. Does the concept of "rights" that must be defended with violence, that can be stripped away by people who can exercise more violence, even make sense? Or should the bedrock of a functional system be the obligations that we have to each other and to society, that cannot be severed or taken from us, that tell us we *must* defend regardless of whether systemic oppression will impact us or not?
Americans have been so restricted by the limitations of the two party system, only able to choose between options acceptable to different sections of the capitalist class. Would we even be able to imagine what we could do if those restrictions went away?
The fall of the Berlin wall was a surprise. The fall of Assad was faster than anyone expected. One day the government of Nepal was an unrepentant oligarchy, the next it was on fire. Everything can change in an instant, faster than anyone expects. No one can predict revolutionary change. Will you be ready if the opportunity presents itself?
The US cannot be fixed. The economic system is a ponzi scheme that has been patched again and again, but has finally run out of options. Racism, sexism, and Christian nationalism are baked into the system at every level. Trump gutted the system of soft power that held the US economy together, now there is only a slow decline. Even after he's gone, the damage is done. Once we let go of how to fix something that cannot be fixed, we can start to imagine something that cannot be achieved within the current system.
This is a time of opportunity. Do not burrow so deep in terror that you miss your chance to dream.
#USPol
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizza
@paulbusch@mstdn.caGood Morning #Canada
I don't want to alarm you but... #WinterIsComing. That means it's time to start thinking about installing your #SnowTires because I don't want you behind me on a slippery slope if you're not prepared. Outside of Quebec, where winter tires are mandatory, over 76% of Canadians are putting on the special rubber to protect themselves and others. Atlantic Canada leads with 94% using winter tires, and tropical Saskatchewan and Manitoba have the lowest usage at 64%. But you need to be alert because 31% of Canadians surveyed say they won't buy or replace their snow tires because of affordability. The friendly rotund Michelin Man recommends that every vehicle should have snow tires from December 1st to March 15th. Why would he lie to us.
#CanadaIsAwesome #Snowmageddon
@fgraver@hcommons.socialThe Right Can’t Figure Out What to Do With Zohran Mamdani https://jacobin.com/2025/11/mamdani-democratic-socialism-trump-conservatives/
@Techmeme@techhub.socialA profile of Katherine Boyle, an a16z partner and a friend to JD Vance, as Silicon Valley increasingly adopts her views, including embracing defense tech (Julia Black/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/business/katherine-b…
