ive been told every time that i even offer light pushback on criticsm against socialist countries in the global south that these are imperialist countries that commit atrocities and im being a total hypocrite by 'supporting' them and that most socialists in global south actually oppose and hate these countries.
is this just bad-faith liberal bullshit? how would one even respond to that?
No that's a fucking lie usually spouted by white, western, privileged, ignorant, anti-communist tools of the CIA. Tell them to fuck off and watch more "CIA Lies Tonight with John Oliver". Global south/non-western left is overwhelmingly Marxist and overwhelmingly supports China. I would say none of them share the anti-communist line towards the DPRK/Venezuela although they may have criticisms, they are not the same ones your ignorant friends are choosing to parrot directly from the CIA and its many tentacles.
Is it bad-faith liberal bullshit? It often is. Sometimes it's ultras who think being a good communist means agitating for the collapse and balkanization of China and then waiting until doomsday until their pure and perfect form of communist thought magically takes and retains power and wins. Point out the material improvements in people's lives, point out the resistance to American imperialism. Honestly if they're mentioning Venezuela as imperialist they're a fucking liberal not an ultra though IMO and they're just a clueless stooge.