From what you learned is there a version of linux that you would recommend to install on your macbook that doesn’t involve too much tinkering? (Use case: mainly browsing/research and writing, the occasional spreadsheet and presentation app, the idea is to improve longevity of the laptop if possible)

Thank you - dialectical materialism really helps in understanding the science of the political economy and the articles on redsails.org really helps accelerate this understanding by breaking it down; I am still learning!

It is difficult to “brainwash” people against their perceived material interests. People are “apolitical” because they benefit from the status quo. There are plenty of Chinese liberals within the mainland who are allowed to benefit from the current system as they interact with it in a way that is overall beneficial to the dictatorship of the proleteriat but if there are narratives that they feel will benefit them further which they can act on that causes malevolence, then they will potentially be a greater cost to the system than a benefit; a burden the country could do without.

Western propaganda works because of perceived material benefits of going along with it and the costs of going against it exceed the benefits in a capitalist world; not because it injects ideas into human beings scifi/horror-movie-style like a poltergiest taking over them against their will.

Though you did not state this, it is important to appreciate considering the cultural revolution as a total mistake is not dialectical; they were mistakes made during that time but without it you would not have the lessons learned and the societal progress that is modern China. That does not necessarily mean we need another cultural revolution. However, if you would like to see an alternative timeline without a cultural revolution just look at what happened to India post-independence. Scientific socialism includes the trials and discoveries of that science from which the world can learn from. We do not need to adhere to the low standards of Western liberalism in framing what makes up “right” and “wrong” when analysing history.

Thank you very much for sharing this video - very informative; not just about the problems that arose from attempted solutions and what ultimately worked but also how it was perceived.

It transpires that Ukraine may not even have $500 billion in RE metals to give away (Inside China Business channel):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tILXLxMTmgA

It’s all just political theater as various capital factions compete in attempting to maintain Western Hegemony.

Though Trump and his ilk may not have the most comprehensive understanding of American imperialism, he and his ilk are allowed to do the things they do because their system of capital allows for it ie there appears to be competing interests of capital here.

For example, there may be here capital interests that feel programmes and networks like USAID have outweighed their usefulness versus capital that feels the services like USAID are vital in maintaining imperialism despite their cost.

Why and how the former has gotten an upper-hand over the latter would warrant an analysis on its own but likely the heightening of contradictions of capital such as the reduction of real productive capacity within the imperial cores, the reduction in leverage of superexploitation against the global south, the general reduction in rate of profit, along with cultural issues secondary to lack of sufficient education of how American imperialism works even among the “elites” that capital felt was not necessary to maintain the system may have all contributed to this.

Remember one does not necessarily need to know how an engine works to drive a car but that lack of knowledge becomes more signifcant when the car breaks down. The engine of the car could almost be considered reified in this analogy; capitalists could be considered priests at the altar of capital.

/Edits: clarity

“The history of all hitherto existing societies is a history of class struggles”

As there are class struggles of women against the oppression by men there are class struggles of nations of peoples against their imperialist/colonial oppressors. If one understands that material conditions can often inform one’s worldview and if those material conditions lend to the privilege of white supremacism then one can easily see why some suffragettes could, for example, support the British Union of Fascists.

Always think about dialectics (for example the interaction between the evolving ideas of a person and their surrounding environment, how they influence each other back and forth) and one will see, unfortunately, why solidarity is not universal and why some people’s empathetic intelligence is stunted.

TLDR: they wanted a more equitable share of the white bourgoisie’s loot.