/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

Episode 456: Multilevel Marketing Madness(TrueAnon)
Bridget Read joins us to discuss her new book Little Bosses Everywhere .We talk through the post-2020 explosion of MLMs, the specifically American history of pyramid schemes, guru charisma, dark accounting magick, and more.
https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/multilevel-marketing-madness

Communist Party of Pakistan: Down with chauvinism and war hysteria, long live proletarian internationalism
The escalating hostilities between India and Pakistan deliberately intensified to evoke war hysteria and precipitate a potential military confrontation are profoundly detrimental to the interests of the peace-seeking masses in both nations. The Communist Party of Pakistan registers its deep apprehension regarding this deteriorating situation. In a communiqué issued by the Central Committee, the Party unequivocally condemns the recent act of terrorism in Pahalgam, in which innocent tourists were brutally slain. The statement asserts that stoking bellicose sentiments and transforming tensions into armed conflict would be catastrophic for both states. War begets nothing but ruin. For Pakistan, already ensnared in a debt-ravaged economy and subsisting on loans from the IMF and other predatory financial institutions, the consequences would be even more devastating.
https://www.idcommunism.com/2025/05/communist-party-of-pakistan-down-with-chauvinism-and-war-hysteria-long-live-proletarian-internationalism.html

The RIAA's Full Frontal Assault on Archive.org
They're launching a full-frontal assault on Archive.org. The record company—well, technically the RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America—is behind it. They’re suing Archive.org for $700 million. Nearly a billion dollars.
"The finest works of art are precious, among other reasons, because they make it possible for us to know, if only imperfectly and for a little while, what it actually feels like to think subtly and feel nobly." —Aldous Huxley
Why? Because Archive.org digitized and is now hosting a bunch of 78 RPM records from thPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

Whelp, first the book publishers attempted to extract their pound of flesh from archive.org. Sadly not enough people paid attention and the precedent was set. Now come the other hordes of idea monopolists to try and undo the last 30 years of computing.

>>489352
Why didn't Vietnam leave behind a communist Cambodia?

>>489366
Probably for the same reason Vietnam isn't communist today.

>>489354
>They’re suing Archive.org for $700 million. Nearly a billion dollars.
Yeah those loony damage-claims prove they're clearly making it up as they go along. We have to conclude it's just a type of mafia that has hacked the legal system for an extortion racket.

>But the record companies don’t care. They want Archive.org gone. Why? Because corporations crave absolute control over the past, over the narrative, over what people can see, learn, and hear. Control equals profit. If the only music you're allowed to access is locked behind a paywall—or limited to the corporate-approved "classics" from 1980 onwards—they win.
You are not wrong about their intentions. But consider that the Internet Archive is an attempt at coexisting. They don't necessarily win, by making coexistence impossible.

>>489365
>Now come the other hordes of idea monopolists to try and undo the last 30 years of computing.
This struggle has been going on for millennia, and we keep getting our Libraries burned down. We keep inventing new ways to store and distribute information and they keep destroying it. The Internet has come very close to solving the problem, but maybe there's still something we need to figure out.

>>489323
Where does this say that though?

>>489317
>Shitlib Woke Parties (US)
Pretty harsh anon.

>>489297
it died with Nehru

>>489360
… Elaborate?

>>479962
I believe that court case is still ongoing.

>>479973
maybe they were self-aware on some level ?

>>479974
Probably, yes.
That's a weird habit of certain kinds of tremendously evil people. Like the Ku Klux Klan with the whole dressing as ghosts and burning crosses thing, La Cagoule in France, the Romanian Iron Guard, Haiti's Tonton Macoute, etc.

Officials in a Mississippi county settle lawsuit filed by 2 Black men tortured by deputies
Rankin County officials announced last week that they had settled a lawsuit filed by Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker—who were brutalized by sheriff’s deputies in 2023—for $2.5 million.
https://apnews.com/us-news/mississippi-michael-jenkins-eddie-terrell-parker-lawsuits-law-enforcement-7173cee79fcbcbd89216a6fc03088378

Bill that would punish Americans boycotting Israel pulled from US Congress
An anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions bill scheduled for a vote on Monday has been pulled from the US Congress after severe backlash from several “America First” Republican lawmakers and social media podcasters.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bill-that-would-punish-americans-boycotting-israel-pull-us-congress

Trump issues executive order requiring English proficiency for truckers, escalating attacks on immigrant workers
The order, framed by the White House and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy as a “commonsense safety requirement” and an effort to “protect America’s truck drivers, drivers, passengers, and others,” is nothing of the sort. It is a discriminatory measure that weaponizes a decades-old regulation against immigrant workers, exacerbating an existing labor shortage and ignoring the real, pressing safety issues plaguing the trucking industry.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/05/05/truc-m05.html

Democratic-led states sue to prevent Trump from gutting health agencies
A group of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Monday to challenge the Trump administration's decision to gut the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by firing 10,000 of its employees and shuttering entire agencies within the department.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democratic-led-states-sue-prevent-trump-gutting-health-agencies-2025-05-05/

Michigan drops charges against pro-Palestinian campus protesters
Attorney General Dana Nessel said she believed the cases were strong but suggested her office was worn down by criticism and other factors. She noted that a judge in Washtenaw County still hadn’t decided whether to send the cases to a trial court despite multiple hearings.
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

Three tasks we face in confronting an empowered Reform UK
BRITAIN is now confronted with a Reform UK threat of a new scale and character. The party is no longer fringe, but a powerful force, controlling 10 councils and two elected mayoralties outright. The polls suggest it can make serious gains in Scotland and Wales as well. It has already indicated how it will use its new powers. Within a day Nigel Farage and Richard Tice were threatening refugees (saying Reform councils would seek to stop accommodating them, and suggesting they be moved out of buildings and into tents) and local government workers. In the latter case the attack concerned both terms and conditions and jobs relating to concepts Reform doesn’t believe in, from climate change to equalities. The left faces three essential tasks.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/three-tasks-we-face-confronting-empowered-reform-uk

How Hamas Sees the Current Moment: An Exclusive Interview With Osama Hamdan
In an exclusive interview with Drop Site News, a senior Hamas official said that the movement will not capitulate to any demands from Israel or the U.S. to lay down its weapons and vowed that Hamas will reject any temporary ceasefire deal that does not include a clear path to a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the genocide. “No need for a short-term ceasefire,” said Osama Hamdan, one of the longest serving senior officials within Hamas. “What the Israelis are offering is: We will give you a ceasefire for a short while and then we will come back to kill you again. So what's the idea of giving you food for 12, 40 days, two weeks or three weeks, and then coming back to kill you? It means that you endorse the genocide and you accept that for your own people.”
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/osama-hamdan-hamas-gaza-israel-trump

Bureaucratic Mishaps Demonstrate Undemocratic Nature of Elections Under Capitalism.
Gabriela Santiango-Romero, a current Detroit city council person representing a largely Latinx and immigrant district, has been disqualified from running in the upcoming elections in November. According to the Wayne CoPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>489314
>Undemocratic Nature of Elections Under Capitalism
Elections won't be any more democratic under socialism. You can throw out all the other machinations of capitalist rule but as long as you keep their oligarchic institution of governance you're going to get an oligarchy under socialism.

>>489312
>>489313
Thanks comrade anon, your efforts are appreciated as always.

>>489300
Well it might be lasers but there are other forms of suitable energy too. I didn't know "directed energy" was already a marketing buzzword. I thought i was just using a non-specific term. I'm feeling a bit perplexed, all the existing energy weapons are sort of just technology tests, why would they need marketing before they have wares to sell ?

>>489301
You are right that it's still possible to over-saturate these, but you can't really deplete any interceptor ammunition. I do think that it eventually be cheaper to scale generators and emitter arrays than missile batteries.

I don't know why you think that intercepting automatically means detonating the warhead.

>>489302
>I don't know why you think that intercepting automatically means detonating the warhead.
That's not necessarily my point. An adversary on the other side of the planet might intentionally detonate some of their warheads in the upper atmosphere to generate an EMP and knock out ground infrastructure if they have a feeling that a lot of their warheads might get intercepted anyway. The range of EMPs is easy to underestimate and might end up harming the adversary too (so would nuclear winter), but anything goes in MAD.

>>489303
>An adversary on the other side of the planet might intentionally detonate some of their warheads in the upper atmosphere to generate an EMP and knock out ground infrastructure if they have a feeling that a lot of their warheads might get intercepted anyway.
I can't answer this off the top of my head. I'm not sure what the effective range of an EMP would be when knocking out a energy-weapon-array. Not sure how to estimate that given the broad range of possible designs for energy-weapon-arrays.

But you bring up a valid point.

>>489305
Self-contained military installations typically have shielding to protect against EMPs. It's the entire rest of the civilian infrastructure that doesn't because it's impractical. The target of an EMP wouldn't be a hypothetical laser/maser array likely shielded against this sort of thing, it would be civilians just like targeting a city with a nuke is.

>>489306
So what you are getting at, is that you think intercepting nukes is not worth it because there's always EMPs. Not sure if I agree with that.

>>489227
>If ancient states in Egypt and West Asia predate capitalist relations, that doesn’t make them “antagonistic” to capital
No, it's the fact that rulers in Egypt and middle eastern states regularly went after the finance capital class with debt amnesty proclamations. That's what made them antagonistic to capital. Protecting their population from losing everything including their freedom to the accumulation of creditors. This tradition lasted over a thousand years until the Bronze Age collapse, far longer than capitalism has even been around today.

>>489234
>You're a reactionary, got it.
Please, spare me these hissy fits. This word is used by radlibs just as often in a way that's just as meaningless.

>>489235
There was no “finance capitalist class” in Bronze Age Egypt or Mesopotamia. Only temple/palace creditors and local merchants. Jubilee laws managed primitive accumulation under tributary/slave regimes, preserving free peasants for taxes, labor, and military service.

Debt amnesties were state tools to stabilize class relations, not evidence of states “against capital.” Capitalist finance relies on interest‑bearing money and abstract capital features absent until the late medieval and early modern periods.

Ancient debt relief regulated class exploitation; it didn’t oppose or negate capital in the modern sense.

>>489239
>Capitalist finance relies on interest‑bearing money and abstract capital features absent until the late medieval and early modern periods.
You seem to be engaging in some very fine pedantry here. If by "capitalist finance" you mean "finance for industrial capital", then fine, OK, that particular thing is obviously exclusive to the economic system that displaced feudalism and which we are currently living through. "Finance capital" on the other hand is simply any time a loan is given with interest. It predates industrial capital (the form of capital that actually established capitalism) by several thousand years and in fact it even predates the invention of currency. Throughout the history of civilization there has existed both a class of people whose primary occupation is living off rent and a class of people who needed to take out loans from them to get by. The word class is appropriate here because their interests often worked together and in opposition to other classes in society. They didn't need to wait until capitalism to invent themselves or their respective class conflicts.

You should read Michael Hudson's work on this subject, while there are some rulers who simply wanted to stabilize their society by freeing people from debt bondage, there are also some pretty clear-cut instances of both ancient and classical/medieval rulers going to war against the creditor class because they saw them as a threat to their own rule.

>>489241
There is a distinct qualitative difference between pre-capitalist usury and modern finance capital, it's not pedantry.

His work seems interesting but he's a reformist.

Activist ship with 30 people on board sinking after drone attack near Malta

Earlier, we reported that an Israeli military drone has reportedly attacked a vessel with the Freedom Flotilla activist group as it set off to break Israel’s Gaza blockade and deliver aid to the besieged enclave.

Yasemin Acar, a media officer with the group, has now told CNN there is a “hole in the vessel” and the “ship is sinking”.

Acar said the ship was attacked off the coast of Malta in international waters, and it is now anchored 17km (10.5 miles) from the country. The crew has “sent out SOS calls to the surrounding countries” and a “small boat” from Cyprus has been sent to help, she added.

“We have 30 international human rights activists on that vessel at this very moment, on a vessel that is sinking,” said Acar.

Posting on X, the group said a drone attacked the ship twice at 00:23 Maltese time on Friday morning (22:23 GMT on Thursday night), breaching the hull and causing a fire to break out on board.

Israeli missile strike on children’s playground leaves 8-year-old paralysed

Eight-year-old Palestinian girl, Rehab, was on a playground swing in Gaza when an Israeli missile attack left half her body paralysed.
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

Video from the Freedom Flotilla boat drone bombed by Israel.

>>489190
What did they think was going to happen sailing unarmed to Israel, a country committing genocide?

>>489194
Freedom Flotilla activists have been attacked by Israel before. They knew what they were getting into.

It's over

>>489042
>Peter Coffin used to be ultra-radlib defending le sex workerinos against "SWERFs" back in the day.
Based. SWERFs and TERFs belong in ovens.

>>489125
Tone it down Adolf, we're not putting anybody into ovens.

>>489042
Many radlibs are SWERFs tbh. If radlibs think men are rapists then why should they defend sex work?

Peter is by far the best of the "breadtube" crowd. I've never heard a take from him, these days that I wouldn't largely agree with. He really came into his own explaining how the current left doesn't actually exist, nor do any "leftists" have any real understanding of how the average normie thinks or what they want.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyRiJYdgUuo
This was one of his videos that stuck in my mind, with how something so simple, obvious and popular, was like, complete anathema to most of the "left" who went into meltdown over it and even started shitting on working class people for something this simple to work. Shock horror to most freak show BPD leftists, the average person likes charismatic, fun interactions.

>>489163
This is completely ignored in Canada, I had no idea about today.

Going about my regular daily routine. Nothing's happening here today :(

https://x.com/PeoplesForumNYC/status/1917991848632558040
🚨BREAKING: Protesters march in the streets of NYC for May Day standing with Palestine and with workers across the world!

took time off work to take a road trip.
It was planned, but, fuck it.

>>489187
Hell yeah where to?

Amazon denies tariff pricing plan after White House calls it "hostile and political"
Amazon now denies reports it planned to list how much tariffs increased products' prices after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed the move as a "hostile and political act."
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/29/tariffs-amazon-prime-day-sellers-report

Measles cases in Texas rise to 663, state health department says
The Texas health department reported 663 cases of measles in the state on Tuesday, an increase of 17 cases since April 25, as the U.S. battles one of its worst outbreaks of the childhood disease. Cases in Gaines County, the center of the outbreak, rose to 396, three more from its last update on Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/measles-cases-texas-rise-663-state-health-department-says-2025-04-29/

Supreme Court to hear case over FBI's mistaken home raid
The family was never compensated by the federal government for the damage or the trauma caused by the "wrong house" raid, according to ABC News. Martin's son developed anxiety. She quit her job coaching track because the starting gun scared her. In 2019, the family filed a lawsuit against the FBI under the Federal Tort Claims Act accusing the agency of trespass, assault and battery, emotional distress and more. The law allows individuals to sue government employees acting in their official capacity for some civil wrongs.
https://www.axios.com/local/atlanta/2025/04/29/supreme-court-fbi-raid-lawsuit

Dems Push for “Educational Gag Order” Over Palestine Lessons in California
They’re aiming to pass a law that curbs local school board control over ethnic studies curricula in response to classwork focusing on the history of Israel and Palestine that they say has promoted unprecedented bigotry against Jewish students.
Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

15 years of attacks on the working class and the popular strata of Greece
These days mark 15 years since the social-democratic PASOK government announced the activation of the “support mechanism” for the Greek economy by the EU and the IMF. This was followed by three agreements (memoranda) with the EU for the “salvation” of the Greek economy, accompanied by thousands of anti-people laws at the expense of the working class and the popular strata. We are talking about savage cuts in wages and pensions, heavy taxation, the dismantling of social security and collective agreements, a fierce attack on trade union action, the mass bankruptcy of the self-employed, small tradesmen and poor farmers, the privatization of critical sectors, the underfunding and shutdowns in health and education.
https://www.idcommunism.com/2025/04/15-years-of-attacks-on-working-class-and-popular-strata-of-greece.html

Anti-War Direct Action in Ukraine. What's New Since Winter?
Special thanks to our French comrades from the Solidarity Initiative Olga Taratuta in preparing this material In the second half of 2024, the Ukrainian army was moving towards a loss of combat capability and outright collapse at the front. Then, during the winter came a tightening of the screws in terms of discipline. The threat of a collapse on the frontline only loomed again when the US under the new Trump administration suspended military aid. The State Bureau of Investigation claims that about 21,100 fugitive military servicemen returned to the army thanks to a new law allowing them to avoid punishment for the first escape. The deadline for this expired on March 1. But even now, a criminal case for AWOL (absence without leave) will not be initiated if the period of absence is less than three days, and the soldier will not be deprived of pay. If the absence lasts for more than 3 days, a criminal case will be opened. It can be closed if the fighter ran away only for the first time and the commander allows him to continue serving.
With the failure of patriotic brainwashing after three years of war, the Ukrainian state is still able to hold the front using fear and monetary incentives. An experienced military man from Kharkov described what this looks like: «I personally know a man Post too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>489164
>Google DeepMind UK staff move to unionise to challenge links to Israeli military
>Figures with knowledge of the organising spoke to the Financial Times and said approximately 300 employees inside Google DeepMind, the company's artificial intelligence London office, want to join the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

I wonder if this is motivated by genuine ethical concern, or because they can see the writing on the wall and want to bring some distance between them selves and Israel.

>>489175
¯\_(ツ)_/¯