Most people don’t even realise, Tianamen Square was about Free Speech, and keeping China communist (They were protesting China becoming more open to Capitalism).
The people being massacred - WERE THE COMMUNISTS AND UNIONISTS…
They weren’t pro-markets… They believed (as communist education teaches) that Capitalism would cause class divisions and greater poverty for the majority. The protestors wanted China to stay communist, just with more democratic rights and protections.
What in the mental gymnastics is your comment meant to be?
Your edit comes across as, “Oops, looks like I was trying to rage against someone without realizing we agree; better edit to add a subtle retraction. Oh, and I’d better add a whataboutism out of nowhere too.”
It’s a bit of that… Arguing on the internet is just easy to fall into so sorry if you feel hard done by in my figuring out we’re agreeing.
I’m also spread a bit thin because I’ve put a lot of comments out under this post, as I have strong opinions on being anti-tankie and anti-communist under American Capitalist Fascism/Trumpism.
But you do understand it makes you and yours look ridiculous - and is thus counterproductive - when you can’t help yourself (due to your stated strong opinions) but to participate in such bad faith, right?
Between that and the suspicion I have that you were implying the massacres would be more acceptable if they weren’t pro-communist protestors and it’s just one more anecdote of tankies having bizarre and unconscionable stances.
Yeah I agree with the idea of a more democratic communist country. But meme is about how tankies suck chinese and Russian assholes with blind adherence.
Yes, and I doubt American Communism would be that way.
It’s often overlooked that Communism isn’t a singlular unbending set of rules or type of government - every single instance of Communism has come with its own modifications and differences.
I imagine American Communism (which is extraordinarily unlikely to ever come about) would involve Free Speech, the right to bear arms, and Religious freedoms.
Ideally it would retain a multi-party system, and be open to being voted out (with a smooth transition of government garanteed).
It would have totally new and American qualities to it - for better and for worse. That’s what history has shown to occur. Each Communism has been different. Vietnamese Communism isn’t like Chinese Communism isn’t like Russian Communism, and frankly the new versions tend to be better.
Not sure if you were being sarcastic, but I think communist societies do have thier own conceptions of democracy… It’s very complicated though (from what I can tell).
Having lived under Capitalism my whole life, I feel under cooked on this myself. I couldn’t tell you much other than I know the Chinese have the five year Plenary session, opposition parties within the communism party, and systems of local provential governments that compete on resolving social problems.
Vietnam has a shit load of unions.
So there’s mass participation in these systems… Maybe that’s part of why they’re still around. Idk… I have to plead ignorance on the topic.
Most people also don’t know that the entire tankman saga happened as Chinese forces were LEAVING Tiananmen Square and he wasn’t run over. The tanks tried to go around then stopped and he climbed up and talked to the driver for a while then walked off with some people. And this all happened outside the foreign press hotel in an area that had been largely blockaded during that time.
Where western reports were going out speaking of tons of violence in areas near the square.
Which tankman has always been a peculiar moment in history cause in context it very much comes off like it was possibly staged by the CCP, or at least the CCP thought it might work in their favor PR wise, but ends up getting used in a way that is suggestive of that moment being a moment of CCP violence against the innocent.
And of course the even larger context of what was being protested was never and still is not really contextualized.
That’s also what most people in the USSR and Eastern Europe wanted - basically to have social systems with greater freedoms - but instead they got IMF shock treatment.
The Chinese government claimed that what the protesters wanted would make China have class divisions and greater poverty. I don’t know if that’s true there, but that is what happened in the USSR.
…a leaders “murdering” really has to be once they’re in power…and a lot of the murdering Mao did was due to unintended agricultural famines (made harder to correct as farmers and teachers had been attacked by the red guard student movement, and the USSR had sent a conman over to advise them on crops - killing all the sparrows certainly didn’t help either).
After the Chinese civil war there was an internal political war for who runs the Red Guard student radicals. Mao lost that one, and thus began the Chinese tradition of sequestering leaders… After Tianamen Square Zhao Ziyang was sequestered to his retirement home for trying to speak up for Student Demonstrators.
The famines preceeded the cultural revolution, and thus the student guard, by a very long time.
In fact, a good argument is that Mao was sidelined after the debacle of the famine, and the Cultural Revolution was him doing a low level insurgency to regain power.
Ignore the swaths of people exposed to the elements in the states while suburban boomers rent out second homes and corporations buy up the rest. What is that if not systemic murder? Yeah Mao did bad shit, killing landlords isnt one of them.
THERE were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves
“What? I just wanted to threaten people with homelessness unless they paid for my equity with their labor! How DARE you pretend I’m the bad guy! Now let me figure a way to steal even more from you and have the cops attack you if you resist.”
Mao was right about landlords.
And Hitler built the Autobahn. Morons love to handwave mass murdering dictators.
Most people don’t even realise, Tianamen Square was about Free Speech, and keeping China communist (They were protesting China becoming more open to Capitalism).
The people being massacred - WERE THE COMMUNISTS AND UNIONISTS…
They weren’t pro-markets… They believed (as communist education teaches) that Capitalism would cause class divisions and greater poverty for the majority. The protestors wanted China to stay communist, just with more democratic rights and protections.
That’s an important thing to educate others on, but… so?
The problem is they massacred protestors, not what the protest was about.
If the people want to speak in support of communism, let them. If they want to speak in support of capitalism, let them.
Okay so they were protesting to get Free Speech, and to keep China communist.
You’re saying what they were protesting for (Free Speech and Communism) isn’t important…
…only Free Speech (one of the things they were protesting for) is important… Not Free Speech (one of the things they were protesting for).
A bit of anti-communist blindness is happening here. It’s really okay for Chinese communists to want a more democratic Communism.
[EDIT: On that much we are agreeing. I’m just also adding US pro-Capitalist massacres on too.]
What in the mental gymnastics is your comment meant to be?
Your edit comes across as, “Oops, looks like I was trying to rage against someone without realizing we agree; better edit to add a subtle retraction. Oh, and I’d better add a whataboutism out of nowhere too.”
It’s a bit of that… Arguing on the internet is just easy to fall into so sorry if you feel hard done by in my figuring out we’re agreeing.
I’m also spread a bit thin because I’ve put a lot of comments out under this post, as I have strong opinions on being anti-tankie and anti-communist under American Capitalist Fascism/Trumpism.
But you do understand it makes you and yours look ridiculous - and is thus counterproductive - when you can’t help yourself (due to your stated strong opinions) but to participate in such bad faith, right?
Between that and the suspicion I have that you were implying the massacres would be more acceptable if they weren’t pro-communist protestors and it’s just one more anecdote of tankies having bizarre and unconscionable stances.
Okay - I’m not a tankie. I’m not even a communist, and no I wasn’t saying that.
Your assumptions are your own.
Yeah I agree with the idea of a more democratic communist country. But meme is about how tankies suck chinese and Russian assholes with blind adherence.
Yes, and I doubt American Communism would be that way.
It’s often overlooked that Communism isn’t a singlular unbending set of rules or type of government - every single instance of Communism has come with its own modifications and differences.
I imagine American Communism (which is extraordinarily unlikely to ever come about) would involve Free Speech, the right to bear arms, and Religious freedoms.
Ideally it would retain a multi-party system, and be open to being voted out (with a smooth transition of government garanteed).
It would have totally new and American qualities to it - for better and for worse. That’s what history has shown to occur. Each Communism has been different. Vietnamese Communism isn’t like Chinese Communism isn’t like Russian Communism, and frankly the new versions tend to be better.
It seems like such an important and obvious forethought. I can’t imagine how any of these communist countries missed on that.
I keep thinking back to animal farm. The temptation of power must be very intoxicating.
Communism with American characteristics.
Not sure if you were being sarcastic, but I think communist societies do have thier own conceptions of democracy… It’s very complicated though (from what I can tell).
Having lived under Capitalism my whole life, I feel under cooked on this myself. I couldn’t tell you much other than I know the Chinese have the five year Plenary session, opposition parties within the communism party, and systems of local provential governments that compete on resolving social problems.
Vietnam has a shit load of unions.
So there’s mass participation in these systems… Maybe that’s part of why they’re still around. Idk… I have to plead ignorance on the topic.
Most people also don’t know that the entire tankman saga happened as Chinese forces were LEAVING Tiananmen Square and he wasn’t run over. The tanks tried to go around then stopped and he climbed up and talked to the driver for a while then walked off with some people. And this all happened outside the foreign press hotel in an area that had been largely blockaded during that time.
Where western reports were going out speaking of tons of violence in areas near the square.
Which tankman has always been a peculiar moment in history cause in context it very much comes off like it was possibly staged by the CCP, or at least the CCP thought it might work in their favor PR wise, but ends up getting used in a way that is suggestive of that moment being a moment of CCP violence against the innocent.
And of course the even larger context of what was being protested was never and still is not really contextualized.
Genuinely crazy to compare that moment to, say, the ICE raids in Minneapolis and come out complaining about “Tankies”.
That’s also what most people in the USSR and Eastern Europe wanted - basically to have social systems with greater freedoms - but instead they got IMF shock treatment.
The Chinese government claimed that what the protesters wanted would make China have class divisions and greater poverty. I don’t know if that’s true there, but that is what happened in the USSR.
Also, Mao wasn’t actually in power in 1989…
…a leaders “murdering” really has to be once they’re in power…and a lot of the murdering Mao did was due to unintended agricultural famines (made harder to correct as farmers and teachers had been attacked by the red guard student movement, and the USSR had sent a conman over to advise them on crops - killing all the sparrows certainly didn’t help either).
After the Chinese civil war there was an internal political war for who runs the Red Guard student radicals. Mao lost that one, and thus began the Chinese tradition of sequestering leaders… After Tianamen Square Zhao Ziyang was sequestered to his retirement home for trying to speak up for Student Demonstrators.
The famines preceeded the cultural revolution, and thus the student guard, by a very long time.
In fact, a good argument is that Mao was sidelined after the debacle of the famine, and the Cultural Revolution was him doing a low level insurgency to regain power.
HE DIDN’T! THE PLANS WERE DRAWN UP UNDER THE KAISER!
Should have been peak performance…
Yes, Godric, compare carbraintopia to removing an entire class of parasites. Sure. I’m the moron lmao
Fuck, a horseshoe theory wallop upside the head yet again :(
Mass-murder is bad, you absolute muppet.
Ignore the swaths of people exposed to the elements in the states while suburban boomers rent out second homes and corporations buy up the rest. What is that if not systemic murder? Yeah Mao did bad shit, killing landlords isnt one of them.
Look at all these landlords up in here scrambling
“What? I just wanted to threaten people with homelessness unless they paid for my equity with their labor! How DARE you pretend I’m the bad guy! Now let me figure a way to steal even more from you and have the cops attack you if you resist.”