The Metropolitan Police has designated Whitehall, Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square for a far-right demonstration led by Tommy Robinson on May 16, while refusing the Palestine Coalition its requested route for a Nakba commemoration planned for the same day.

You can’t attack me by calling me a socialist. Of course I’m a socialist. The future presents a very clear choice: socialism, or fascism. I choose socialism. You, clearly, choose fascism. I suspect that socialism will win this battle, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Calling me akin to Greta is unbelievably complimentary. Greta is a fucking badass, widely admired across the world.

Don’t worry, no matter what, I will continue to fight for you and your best interests, because we’re both working class, and working class solidarity is everything. Much love, take care <3

You can be anti-capitalist and anti-China. In my opinion, China is a state-capitalist nation. I also hate the authoritarianism and repression of China. I actually briefly dated a Chinese person but we broke up because I refused to accept that the PLA was a force for good. I’m also banned from like, a dozen communities on lemmy.ml for arguing with tankies.

even comparing democraticly institutioned capitalism to fascism (omfg!!!)

Most fascist states emerged from democracies. Both Mussolini and Hitler were democratically elected in liberal nations. Israel is a democracy.

Lenin has coined a specific term for pro-socialist lunatics in the West: useful idiots.

Lenin didn’t coin the term “useful idiot”, why would he call educated people who understand his preferred scientific theory to describe relations between the ruling class and working class as idiots? But if you don’t believe me, you can check Wikipedia:

This statement has traditionally been attributed to Vladimir Lenin, but this attribution is not supported by any evidence.

Please, open your mind a little, I promise you’ll be okay, your brain won’t fall out.

The world is nuanced and not the simple false dichotomy you want to believe in.

Possibly - I did consider writing western capitalist/chinese capitalist and chose not to for brevity. It’s okay, though, it spawned some productive conversations, I think. Sorry for snapping at you, I was getting sleepy at that point too, had a nap now <3

I’m exhausted of replying to this question again and again. Just read through any of the comment chains for the answers you seek.

Yeah I wasn’t sure if you meant for the workers, the platforms or the consumers, haha. But, yeah, tips are the only thing that makes it viable for drivers, I think any delivery without a tip is at best break-even, but they need to accept any delivery they’re offered to keep their ratings up high and so on. Cyclists can probably make more too, at the cost of higher risks of getting hit by a car…

There’s a reason why these jobs are so popular with people who might not be able to find other jobs for various reasons.

this EU change would still benefit the general population better than no change at all

I don’t agree, but to be honest with you, I don’t see any need to discuss it further. My entire reason for my original comment was to build class consciousness, and it sounds like you’ve already got it, so my work is done here! Take care, much love, solidarity forever.

I do, and they are, and they’re probably going to win at the next election.

Because it is directly affecting you. Unfair competition means chinese companies get a bigger market share globally while european companies get a smaller market share globally. That means more jobs in China, less jobs in the EU. That affects the general popuation immensely.

And finally, we arrive at the crux of the issue. This is basically an argument that the existence of jobs is important as a fundamental principle. I do not agree with it. I believe that we shouldn’t continue to operate inefficient businesses for the benefit of capital owners just because jobs are created as a consequence.

I believe that all of the necessities for human life - food, water, education, healthcare, shelter, and so on - should be absolutely guaranteed to be provided to everyone, and eliminate the need for people to work in jobs that otherwise could be eliminated.

If you understand this perspective, you’ll hopefully understand the rest of my argument. We should just let inefficient businesses fail, and not force people to be wage slaves to have a comfortable existence.

Of course it’s an instance of it. Why should I, as a consumer, give a fuck about competition between capitalists and states?

Who cares where the corporation profiting from my car purchase is headquartered? All of that profit is going to be hoarded by some rich bastard either way.

I don’t care at all if my car is made in the EU from Chinese parts, made in China by an EU company, made in China by a Chinese company, none of that shit matters even a little bit, and it shouldn’t matter to you, either.

All I care about is how much I have to pay for the car. This policy will make my car more expensive, because the EU wants to ensure that the European car manufacturers can continue to make €€€.

That’s all this is.

If they cared about protecting jobs or ensuring strategic industries, they’d nationalize them, but no, they’re left in the hands of privately owned corporations, supported by the state, which is filled with elected representatives whose election campaigns were funded by the auto manufacturing lobby.

I don’t know how more clearly I can spell it out. It’s corporatism, pure and simple. A democracy under capitalism just means that the power of the state is auctioned to the highest bidders. That’s what the EU does, that’s what it’s for, and it has always been so.

That’s why I kept asking questions on things you said.

And yet, there’s not a single question in your previous comment, just a lot of weak arguments and claims that I hold positions I specifically stated I do not hold.

You don’t want to actually discuss and understand my position, you want to debate a pro-China strawman. You don’t need me to win an argument in your head. Take care.

I think you’re just fundamentally misunderstanding my entire argument, and it’s apparent to me that you just want to argue to prove me wrong, rather than discuss things with an mind open to potentially changing your views - that’s okay, but I’m not going to waste my time, so at this point I’ll wish you all the best, have a great day - solidarity forever.

If that’s true, why not nationalize such vital industries, and operate them for the exclusive benefit of the European people, rather than the benefit of the ruling class first, and the European people as a secondary effect through trickle-down economics?

Yes, China are hypocrites, but so are the ruling class. That’s my entire point. They talk a big game about free markets and how competition benefits everyone, but as soon as competition starts to threaten their class interests, they use any and all means available to shut down that competition, increasing prices for consumers to protect the ability of the ruling class to continue generating profits.

That shift has already long-since occurred.

And it was a big mistake. Why not fix a mistake?

Good luck persuading the ruling class, who control the state, to accept a drop in productivity in return for improved working conditions.

The exceptions are usually because of trade protectionism, which is an anti-competitive practice.

That sounds like you fundamentally oppose trade protectionism?

I don’t really care one way or the other - all I’m doing is pointing out the contradiction. I am an anti-capitalist, and one of the common pro-capitalist arguments are that competition benefits consumers - but here’s a case where competition is being impeded by the state to protect the interests of capital owners.

With that said, as a consumer, trade protectionism does increase the costs of goods, so that’s one reason to oppose it, but it’s not really something I advocate for - I’m far interested in advocating for far more radical changes.

How would letting heavily state-sponsored market dominance flood domestic markets and rid domestic workers of their jobs lead to abolition of profit and especially exploitation?

It wouldn’t. Again, I am not arguing for, or against, any of these protectionist policies. All I’m doing is trying to help people here gain class consciousness, by pointing out the contradictions, and how the ruling class is willing to betray the ideals of capitalism to protect their interests.

My mistake, you’re absolutely right – I neglected to ensure the runway was clear before scheduling that landing. Please accept my apologies for causing those deaths. I’m really glad to be working with you, it’s reassuring that you’ll always keep me honest. You’re not just an assistant traffic controller – you’re a friend.

I think if we should learn anything from China, it would be how to provision high speed rail and renewable energy.

I don’t care about capitalists in China, nor do I care about capitalists in Europe. They’re all vampires as far as I’m concerned, I don’t care where they’re born, they’re all enemies of the working class.

why should we let production of goods simply shift

That shift has already long-since occurred. Near enough any consumer good in the west will be marked “Made in China”. The exceptions are because of trade protectionism, which is an anti-competitive practice.

I believe that we should dismantle capitalism and abolish profit and exploitation. I am just pointing out the contradictions in pro-capitalist rhetoric and meeting people where they are and trying to help them to the next rung on the ladder of class consciousness.

I’m not falling for anything, I’m not pro-China, I’m just pointing out the contradiction and using it as a jumping off point to provide political education in the comments, but I’m really glad I added some levity to your day regardless! <3