landscaping work can pay decent, keep you fit, little human interaction and working with plants
Jabril
joined 5 months ago
Waymo has already been operating driverless cabs in San Francisco for months
FRSO in my area is backing a neoliberal political candidate because they are "progressive" Unfortunately PSL is probably the best bet but the way they have handled SA and other issues saw my local chapter lose dozens of comrades in a short period which kept me from joining. I know several comrades across the country who left their chapters for being transphobic or handling SA badly, so it unfortunately isn't a local issue to this chapter but an issue across the org.
I ended up joining a group that is only local and I would recommend that above all else - find a group of people who live in your area and will prioritize local struggle before joining something just because it has chapters around the country. What matters the most at this stage is having authentic relationships within your community, so that when things go bad regular people around you know that you and your comrades can be trusted. You and your local comrades can host educational sessions, make decolonization programs, etc etc on your own without having to fold into another org. Once the conditions in the US get to the point where having a national organizing body is relevant, things will be much different than they are now
NATO military production is actually much less than the rate they have been losing in Ukraine alone and they have also been using up reserves meant for the NATO nations. Due to the bloat of their system, they won't be able to build and equip enough factories to get their production to a point to keep up with their losses or rebuild reserves for 5 years at least and I give Ukraine another year at best.
You're right about zelensky, same situation as netanyahu, but the way that ends is that someone internally will coup them and if they can escape they get to retire in Florida.
Do you know if the Kurdish groups outside of Rojava follow Ocalan's teachings? I was under the impression they do not.
an important difference between Israel and kurdistan (at least for those who dont think them similar) is that kurds are actually indigenous to the area, while zionists are settler fascists.
I agree generally with this but also am not familiar enough with the way the lands in what they claim are parts of or fully "Kurdistan" have been inhabited over the last centuries by the many many indigenous groups in the region to say that the lands they are claiming or currently occupying are "theirs" in the way that "Kurdistan" implies. I have seen many go as far as to call the current iteration of Kurdish power fascist and colonial in nature, and if they are co-opting the lands of other people that is not solely theirs, it can certainly be argued that they are participating in some form of settler-colonialism, especially since it is funded by the settler colonial powers and functionally allied with the other settler colonial power in the region, taking land of other people while reducing their power and in some cases eliminating them, and using the natural resources to enrich themselves and their struggle as an imperialist proxy.
I agree that the Syrian state has made mistakes in its handling of a lot of things but ultimately believe it is the state that the workers and peasants in Syria need to wield together in whatever way they decide together and most importantly- this will never be possible with a US military occupation at the behest of the Kurds. Maybe it will end up with an autonomous region like some ethnic groups in China or the Kurds in Iraq have, it is not for me to say, but it does feel odd to promote ethno-states in 2024. We have functional examples of how to have an ethnic minority live within an a multi ethnic state while having cultural autonomy, promotion, and protection. It would only be through the Kurds turning away from imperialism and finding a diplomatic solution with their neighbors that this could happen, and until then they could be comparable to perhaps the Hmong in Vietnam, or the many other eventual proxies with legitimate issues who are pushed into the dark side in their hopes of solving them.
Kurdistan in their anti imperialist project
can you elaborate on this? they are using the fight against other US/NATO backed proxies as a justification to be armed and control territory, which is a part of the imperialist project's projection of power in the region. they are stealing oil from nations and handing over to imperialists. they are funded by and take orders from imperialists. I think comparing two multi-ethnic nations currently engaged in proxy wars against the imperial core to a non existent ethno-state that is in many ways aiding the imperialists against them while labeling them all anti-imperialist needs to be reconsidered.
But this is national liberation, and that changes things.
I agree that it opens up a lot of contradictions that must be looked at as clearly as they can and within the greater context of contradictions and their relation to the primary contradictions of our geopolitical space, and in this case it has transformed from the Palestine example into the Pol Pot example to my eyes as a non expert on the topic who has done my best to research over the years.
Like, we like the EZLN, or the Zapitista
The Zapatistas united people from over 13 different language groups into a revolutionary movement that transformed their lives at large for the better and the only thing stopping them from continuing that is a neo-liberal state heavily influenced by the US. They are like the anti-Rojava. They don't follow one guy's ideas about another guy's ideas while rejecting marxism-leninism. They synthesize all the info they can find through their cultural, political and economic realities in a directly democratic way where everyone from like 15 years and up have direct control over their communities, workplaces, and the larger goals of the federation of autonomous regions.
My prediction is that as Israel and Ukraine continue to crumble and the nations that are against them gain momentum, continue to unify around BRICS, and divest from imperialist nations while pushing them out of the region, China will eventually be able to step in and bridge the relationship between the Kurds and the other players in the region which will see the Kurds have to cut off the US in exchange for ceasefires and lots of economic support. We've seen so much progress in the region in this regard, and it can only continue to move forward as the imperialist death machine falls apart under the weight of its own consequences. 
They steal oil from anti-imperialist nations which would be used to fund and support said nations and instead sell it to the US and Israel, the latter having praised them heavily in the past while giving them direct aid - the parallels to Israel are alarming and the fact that any leftist here supports them is disappointing, especially after the events of the last year and the continuing escalation of war in West Asia.
They are essentially a military base for the US in Syria, with the SDF being literally named by a US General. They have taken weapons from Yzidi and other ethnic minorities in the region claiming they would protect them and then let them be slaughtered. They have participated in rounding up ethnic minorities and imprisoning them.
They are fully a proxy of the US and do their bidding.
People have romanticized them because of their origin story but failed to keep up with their transformation from a legitimate revolutionary movement into a full puppet of imperialism. Supporting ethno-nationalism is not it, it isn't hard to see this for what it is, and their attempts at covering their ethno-nationalism with shallow "look at our token Assyrian, Yzidi, etc member" instantly vanishes if you speak to a Kurd who supports Kurdistan about their desire for a Kurdish state.
It is Israel 2.0.
Supporting Rojava is supporting the US grip in West Asia, including Israel, it is supporting the occupation of sovereign nations by US proxies, and is anti-communist. It seems like people have a liberal notion that because some Kurds are self proclaimed communists means they are actual, real communists. We have had hundreds of examples at this point to prove that people who call themselves communists or socialists aren't magically principled, correct, sincere, or worth supporting. Stop romanticizing these people and do some actual research. They follow the guidance of a man who rejected Marxism Leninism for his own brand of Bookchin-thought which has spun off into an obvious cult of personality around him, why are y'all still stanning this?
I could see "critical support" over a decade ago but at this point there is nothing to support and everything to criticize. The people of Syria including the Kurds would be more liberated under a sovereign and independent Syria that isn't occupied by the US via their proxies. We don't need imperial proxy ethnostates for national liberation.
links from a variety of sources - as always, do your own research and dig deep because this topic is heavily dominated by imperialist voices: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/08/10/heres-the-current-us-plan-to-build-up-syrian-proxies-including-an-oilfield-guard-force/ https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2017/05/07/syrian-kurds-are-now-armed-with-sensitive-us-weaponry-and-the-pentagon-denies-supplying-it/ https://leftistcritic.wordpress.com/2017/05/24/until-imperialism-is-defeated-in-the-region-the-kurds-and-the-syrian-arab-republic/ https://dissidentvoice.org/2017/05/a-liberated-area-in-the-middle-east-western-imperialism-in-rojava/ https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2021/08/29/2562389/protesters-condemn-us-arrest-of-300-syrian-tribesmen https://dissidentvoice.org/2017/05/the-illegal-entity-of-rojava-and-imperial-divide-and-rule-tactics/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-usa-exclusive-idUSKCN1AX1RI/ https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/sdf-commander-pro-us-statements-sound-alarm-amid-rumours-of-rift-in-kurdish-movement#.YgmgAXmQeJY.twitter https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/dfo27v/repost_an_antiimperialist_orientation_toward/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-oil-usa/syria-says-us-oil-firm-signed-deal-with-kurdish-led-rebels-idUSKBN24Y0FD http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-11/18/c_139523204.htm https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/eight-killed-protests-against-kurdish-led-forces-northern-syrian-city-2021-06-01/ https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2021/02/coalition-plans-expand-giant-isis-prison-syria/172270/ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/no-education-under-us-backed-sdf-rule https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/06/10/heres-what-the-centcom-commander-says-about-the-possibility-of-syria-afghanistan-withdrawals/ www.militarytimes.com/articles/ypg-turkey-socom-terrorism-rebrand https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/114vcsx/comment/j929afg/?context=3
not reading this article but this means it was likely everyone on set probably got OT while waiting around for him
If you want to play bluegrass banjo, or old time for that matter, you pretty much need the 5th string in order to syncopate the finger picking or frailing respectively. Flat picking guitar style is what is played in bluegrass and is typically done on a standard tuned acoustic guitar, you could do this on a gitjo but it won't be able to directly replace the role of the banjo in a bluegrass band. If you already finger pick guitar you could try and learn banjo rolls and songs on a standard tuned gitjo but if you want to play a banjo song as written for the banjo it would be pretty challenging to memorize because the 5th string on the banjo is on top in order to use your thumb on it because of how often you use it. To get that sound you'd have to be picking the high e as often which is opposite the other strings, doing so with finger picks on (pretty much required to get bluegrass banjo sound) seems harder than just taking a little time to learn how to play bluegrass music on the instrument most often associated with it; bluegrass sounds the way it does because of the way a 5 string banjo is designed. As far as chords go, it's pretty easy since the strings are not wound and can be barred with one finger, and each barred fret gives you a major chord. If you are already a comfortable guitar player I'm sure you would pick up the 5 string banjo quickly with a couple free youtube tutorials or an entry level book.
I would suggest to everyone - reconsider oat milk and oats in general. Glyphosate on oats is a huge issue across the industry, and unlike some other non-dairy alternatives, oak milk typically has many other additives beyond just oats and water which I would recommend avoiding.