The US-backed gov't of Bolivia has suspended elections due to be held on September 6 for the third time since last year's coup.
  • femboi [they/them, she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Hmm I’m starting to think that the coup wasn’t really about restoring democracy... :thinking face:

      • zangorn [none/use name]
        ·
        4 years ago

        They're going to wait as long as they have to until they know MAS won't win.

        And this is why we can't have nice things. Fucking hell. Correct me if I'm wrong, but socialist countries (leftist, ML, communist, whatever) can't be democratic. Its not that they don't want to be, its just that if they are, it will be corrupted by the rich until its no longer socialist. Thats why the successful socialist countries are authoritarian.

        I hate that I believe that. Someone, PLEASE, change my view.

        • KiaKaha [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          It’s still democratic. It’s just a people’s democratic dictatorship. The people’s needs are met, and their views listened to. But instead of giving the rich formal mechanisms and protection for political influence, they’re persecuted.

          You can have plenty of democracy within a one party state, and a complete lack of it in a two party state.

          • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            4 years ago

            The China chat on the discord really made me understand this. Like Cuba, for example, has democracy, on a local level. It's more democratic than the US. Debate is allowed, and most speech is free, except, to paraphrase Castro, speech that supports the US. All of this is within one political party. Now the US might have two parties, but we all know that, in reality, there's only one party; the bourgeois party. Dunno where I'm going with this, I'm pretty drunk.

            • CoralMarks [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              And if you stray too far from accepted speech or accepted practices, you're ostracised or even persecuted as well.
              I'm not a big fan of Chomsky, but I like this quote:

              “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum....”

              • sunlit_uplands [none/use name]
                ·
                4 years ago

                I'm reminded of the adam curtis answer from the chapo interview

                https://twitter.com/seanonlyskin/status/846486654344974337

    • SirLotsaLocks [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      It's so frustrating knowing that this wasn't how it was supposed to be, but capitalism and imperialism are solidifying as much suffering as possible.

      • izz [they/them,she/her]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Did you see what fuckin Elame Musk tweeted? "we will coup whoever we want" says the guy who's private lithium mines got nationalized

            • SirLotsaLocks [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              I literally had to look it up because I couldn't belive someone even as dumb as elon musk could say something so unfathomably brainless and horrific as that

              • izz [they/them,she/her]
                ·
                4 years ago

                yeah he's a piece of shit, and the more he slips in popularity, the more he'll just say whatever the fuck he's thinking

                • SirLotsaLocks [he/him]
                  ·
                  4 years ago

                  Then we'll get a situation like trump where people love him because "he speaks his mind" which translates to "he can openly support atrocities and get away with it and I wish I could do that without getting in trouble too"