Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of GenZedong™ Ltd., here is the weekly discussion thread.

● Matrix homeserver and space\   ● Theory discussion group on Matrix\ ● Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna's Archive and libgen.\   ● Audio versions by Socialism For All

Let's hope it goes through. 🙏🙏

Guayasamín, one of the greatest South American artists of the XX century, created this masterpiece following the US-backed Coup d'Etat that happened in Chile in 1973. He tried to depict his pain after learning about what happened in Chile, including the torture and murder of his friends, such as Victor Jara, a famous Chilean songwriter.

This piece is part of a collection called "La edad de la ira" (The Age of Rage), in which he describes through his art the struggles and social injustice experienced by many cultures due to colonial intervention. I highly invite you to check out his work during this period, since many of the topics he covered are very relevant today.

In these days, Lágrimas de sangre (Tears of Blood) is what many people experience watching what is currently happening in places like Palestine or, more recently, Lebanon.

"Somos este sur y juntamos nuestras manos"- Ana Tijoux (Somos Sur)

Curious about getting into the stock market and found this. Anyone have a pdf of this or something? Says it's only 95 pages. Thinking of buying this if nobody else has a pdf and uploading it for shits and giggles lmao

So the Zionist entity brought Chinese influencers to Israel on a promotional trip, to create a positive image of "Israel" in China… but it seems they invited the wrong guy.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5779704

> Subtitle: > > ---- > > >The letter, which was sent to the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, attempts to use consumer protection laws to make it against the law to support puberty blockers. > > ---- > > From the article: > > ---- > > >On Tuesday, a group of 22 Republican attorneys general, led by Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, sent a letter to the president and vice president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, accusing the organization of violating consumer protection laws by endorsing the use of puberty blockers. The letter also demands answers to 14 probing questions and extensive access to internal documents. While the letter carries no legal authority, states have increasingly used vague and broad consumer protection laws to investigate the records of gender-affirming care and abortion providers, often with little to no judicial oversight. > > > >The letter, bearing the seal of the Idaho Attorney General's office, seeks to prohibit the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) from endorsing puberty blockers as a form of reversible gender-affirming care for transgender teenagers, using consumer protection laws as the basis. "Statements made by medical trade organizations, like the AAP, are subject to state consumer protection laws… misleading and deceptive statements of medical trade associations are connected to commerce and reach consumers," the letter states, asserting the authority of Republican-controlled states to challenge the AAP’s endorsement of puberty blockers and justify extensive investigations into the organization's documents. > > > >The letter leans on flawed science and previous hit pieces from far-right, anti-transgender think tanks that have struggled to gain credibility in scientific and medical communities. It criticizes the organization for describing puberty blockers as “reversible,” a stance supported by several medical and scientific organizations, backed by studies, and decades of use in treating precocious puberty and other conditions. A review by the Sax Institute found that “two systematic reviews reported that puberty suppression treatment is reversible,” and that the treatment is “effective, safe, well tolerated, and reversible.” > > > >The letter heavily references the Cass Review. On the second page, for example, it asserts that the claim puberty blockers are reversible is false, “beyond medical debate.” To support this assertion, it cites the Cass Review, which identifies several "possible" irreversible consequences, such as interference with neurocognitive development, bone density, and “blocking normal pubertal experience and experimentation.” > > > >See this claim here: > > > >! > > > >These claims, however, are not well-supported by evidence. For instance, the assertion regarding neurocognitive development in the Cass Review is entirely speculative. In contrast, the Sax Review found that transgender youth who received gender-affirming hormone therapy demonstrated better cognitive development compared to those who did not, meaning that gender affirming care actually improved the cognitive development for many trans youth through a reduction in negative psychological symptoms. It likewise states that one study making this assertion did not control for ASD and anxiety, which have proven impacts on cognitive development. Other studies on brain development primarily focus on sheep or on youth experiencing precocious puberty. > > > >Similarly, bone density concerns are frequently cited to justify bans on puberty blockers. However, the Sax Review notes that bone density reductions are “within one standard deviation of normal,” and that bone density is restored once puberty resumes. Additionally, most youth in the studies showing bone density reductions were deficient in vitamin D, according to the Sax Review. This is why the informed consent form for puberty blockers addresses this risk and its mitigation, stating, “It is important that patients on Lupron Depot® take other measures to protect their bones: keeping active and ensuring good calcium and Vitamin D intake.” > > ---- > > Read the rest here. > > > Just trying to support this person. Good Substack.

Americans looking scared af or injured in the firefight. Vietnam POW takes out a banana and eats it in the middle of the firefight. From the documentary: Anderson Platoon.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5776986

> From the article below (more in the comments): > > ---- > > >! > > > >Games Workshop, the creators of Warhammer, have found themselves at the center of a drama that even Tzeentch might envy. But this time, it’s not about rule changes, lore retcons, or miniature prices—it’s about money. A good chunk of shareholders, like BlackRock, Vanguard, and Fidelity, recently raised their proverbial pitchforks over executive pay raises that could rival the vaults of the Imperial Palace. Let’s break down exactly why Games Workshop’s AGM (Annual General Meeting) looks to have turned into an intense session of “Who’s getting paid too much?” > > > >What Sparked the Shareholder Backlash? > > > >Imagine you’re a loyal shareholder. You love the company; you love the lore (or maybe just the dividends.) Then you notice your favorite game’s CEO, Kevin Rountree, is now earning close to three times what he made just four years ago. Not bad, right? Unlike last year’s hefty payout, there’s no new massive surprise dividend this year to sweeten the deal for you. For nearly 25% of the shareholders, this may have felt like a power move from the board while their wallets stayed the same. > > > >Summary of the 2024 AGM Voting Results > > > >At the 2024 AGM, shareholders were given the chance to vote on resolutions, including two particularly spicy ones, Resolutions 10 and 11. The problem? We don’t actually know what they were about specifically (because nothing’s ever that simple). However, when almost a quarter of your shareholders object to something, you might want to pay attention. The board said they’d “check in” on the matter in about six months. Sounds like a long cooldown, doesn’t it? > > > >Let’s face it—when people see the phrase “executive pay hike,” it tends to stir feelings. And when that increase more than doubles the salary of key figures in the company (not to mention even higher jumps for non-executive directors), shareholders begin to question the fairness of the power balance. > > > >The Role of Major Institutional Investors (Fidelity, Vanguard, BlackRock) > > > >Financial titans. Fidelity, Vanguard, BlackRock—names that could almost be mistaken for rival factions in a new Warhammer expansion. These big players control vast chunks of shares, and they’re not the type to be amused by excessive pay hikes without corresponding gains. When institutions this large feel their investments aren’t being properly managed, even Space Marines couldn’t save you from the incoming pushback. > > > >Kevin Rountree’s Salary: A Significant Jump Since 2020 > > > >! > > > >Speaking of big moves on the battlefield, Kevin Rountree has been leveling up faster than an overfed Tyranid. Back in 2020, Rountree’s base salary was around £700,000. By 2024, he’s knocking on the door of £2 million annually. That’s quite the pay rise—especially when you add another £2 million in stock at his disposal. It’s the kind of reward you’d expect after single-handedly slaying a dragon (or managing a tabletop empire). But in the eyes of some, this rate of salary increase may seem like a special character in the rulebook getting too many overpowered abilities at once. > > > >CEO Compensation Tripled in 4 Years > > > >Rountree’s income has tripled in four short years. That’s right—threefold in the time it takes for a typical Warhammer edition to come and go. When you see a leap like that, eyebrows tend to raise faster than the point costs in a new codex. While Games Workshop has undoubtedly been successful, some shareholders might be wondering if it’s necessary for the CEO’s pay to inflate quite so aggressively, especially when dividends don’t seem to be flying in as frequently as some would hope. > > > >Rountree’s £2 million package includes his base salary, bonuses, and a little something extra in stock awards. Bonuses doubled between 2020 and 2021 when the latest remuneration policy was given the green light. With his base salary and bonuses alone, the man is pulling in enough to buy more than a few Battleforces every year (and maybe even have some extra for Forgeworld minis). > > > >Impact of the Remuneration Policy Approved in 2021 > > > >That brings us to the 2021 remuneration policy—the mystical document that opened the vaults of the empire for Rountree and the board of directors. This policy essentially sets the guidelines for how executives get paid, and once approved, it led to significant salary increases. While it clearly worked for some (looking at you, Rountree), a growing group of shareholders seem to be questioning if it went too far. Perhaps the salary buffs have become a little unbalanced, and like any game, a rebalance might be in order. > > > >Board Member Pay Raises: The Source of Shareholder Concern?

Sing with me..... Qilai! Buyuan zuo nuli de renmen! Bawomen de xierou, zhucheng women xin de changcheng......

My own article as a companion to the new ProleWiki homepage we are releasing very very soon, explaining how we started from nothing and got the final full page.

I keep seeing it thrown around, does anyone have it? cheers

>“"Israel's" large-scale airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday resulted in 492 deaths and 1,645 injuries, as thousands of people in the south of the country fled for safety.”

Welcome one and all to the weekly discussion thread, the time tested and honored tradition of our group. I am sorry however due to renovations on the GZD cabin, we must hold this discussion thread outside, I sincerely hope this does not cause anyone an inconvenience

• Matrix homeserver and space\   ◦ Theory discussion group on Matrix\ • Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna's Archive, libgen

Damn, I didn't know comedy and the horror of war could be featured in a single movie. I'm left with a ! kind of mood. Really recommend it.

Mainly meant for identifying if members of these corporations and organisations are part of boards and such.

That's it. That's the post. I saw a bunch of anti-Russia posts today. Way more than normal and they are deploying their bot army to the max on them.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5728272

> Just wondering about Molchat Doma's politics. > > Or are they one of those "I disagreed with certain aspects of the CCCP but agreed with the goal" type-of people in the Eastern bloc?

I find it funny when colonizers project their own barbarism on the people they colonize. In fact most of the shit they do are just as barbaric (if not even more) than tying a woman on a table and cutting her heart out, widows burning themselves alive, and whatever reason the bastards give on why x indigenous group is barbaric real or fabricated. If anything if we objectively try to figure out which civilization is the most barbaric then the answer is the West.

I'll list a few things western colonizers do that are even more barbaric than that:

• expelling almost all the Jews from Spain for the most insane reason possible;

• deliberately infecting native populations with smallpox (yes, that's a real thing);

• the Roman empire expanding itself to gain more slaves (which is a terrible idea unsurprisingly);

• supporting colonizing regimes in their reign of terror on the indigenous population;

• deliberately destabilizing entire regions for both the profits of their [...] ultra-wealthy "benefactors" and to stop the masses from figuring out what's really going on;

• waging bullshit wars like in Iraq, the War on Drugs, the recent debacle in Afghanistan, Korea, and now Palestine.

Actually completely unrelated, but since this quote is really famous by itself without context here's the full paragraph, formatted for convenience. Every meme quotation is an opportunity to read theory.

> Communists do not fight for personal military power (they must in no circumstances do that, and let no one ever again follow the example of Chang Kuo-tao), but they must fight for military power for the Party, for military power for the people. > > As a national war of resistance is going on, we must also fight for military power for the nation. Where there is naivety on the question of military power, nothing whatsoever can be achieved. It is very difficult for the labouring people, who have been deceived and intimidated by the reactionary ruling classes for thousands of years, to awaken to the importance of having guns in their own hands. > > Now that Japanese imperialist oppression and the nation-wide resistance to it have pushed our labouring people into the arena of war, Communists should prove themselves the most politically conscious leaders in this war. Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." > > Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party. Yet, having guns, we can create Party organizations, as witness the powerful Party organizations which the Eighth Route Army has created in northern China. We can also create cadres, create schools, create culture, create mass movements. Everything in Yenan has been created by having guns. All things grow out of the barrel of a gun. > > According to the Marxist theory of the state, the army is the chief component of state power. Whoever wants to seize and retain state power must have a strong army. Some people ridicule us as advocates of the "omnipotence of war". Yes, we are advocates of the omnipotence of revolutionary war; that is good, not bad, it is Marxist. The guns of the Russian Communist Party created socialism. We shall create a democratic republic. > > Experience in the class struggle in the era of imperialism teaches us that it is only by the power of the gun that the working class and the labouring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie and landlords; in this sense we may say that only with guns can the whole world be transformed. We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.

Source is "Problems of War and Strategy", section II "The War and History of the Kuomintang".

Reform UK being a bunch of Nazis isn't surprising at all

I'm reading the murderbot series and the light bringer series. And about to start the latest on the bobiverse. At some point I want to go back to Asimov's.

You can probably see a pattern there.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5694077

> people are already making jokes about america in the comments section lmao > > ! > > ::: spoiler ...of course, some also felt the need to drag the pride flag in it as well :/ > > ! > > like America ever cared about queer people > > oh right, I forgot, people kissing people of the same gender and people wanting to change their gender is western American imperialism to these people! ...somehow > ___ > ::: > > idk, I thought it was weird and funny lol

Bangladesh is to be ravaged by the west it seems

Welcome back I am so happy to see you could be here agian this week. Please have a seat, feel free to have anything in the fridge, and enjoy this wonderful tradition of our comunity, the weekly discussion thread!!

• Matrix homeserver and space\   ◦ Theory discussion group on Matrix\ • Find theory on ProleWiki, marxists.org, Anna's Archive, libgen

P.S. You Too Oppo

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5680856

> I'm just surprised that we're at the point where even Legal Eagle is spinning this story. > > Makes me worried for how this New Cold War will affect the country.

SHOCKING report on the total collapse of business in China by the Financial Times was yesterday blown out of the water by users on x dotcom—and then the newspaper's own source joined critics of the news outlet.

The FT reported on Thursday that Chinese entrepreneurship had virtually disappeared, with just 1,202 companies launched last year. Evidence was data from a monitoring service called IT-Juzi.

The grim report by FT writer Eleanor Olcott and its eye-catching graph was viewed more than a million times on x dotcom, slotting naturally into the excessively negative narrative the paper carries every day on mainland China and Hong Kong.

'VOICE OF REASON' The first person to raise an objection was Arnaud Bertrand, a China-based Chinese medicine specialist who has become a popular "voice of reason" against the western narrative that is poisoning minds against the country.

He pointed out yesterday morning that if you looked at a single business sector, such as restaurants, in a single location, such as one city, you could immediately tell that there were large numbers of new companies.

Multiply that over a country of 1.4 billion people and you ended up with millions of new companies—exactly as Chinese government figures said.

ERROR IDENTIFIED Then investment specialist Glenn Luk stepped in and pointed out the precise mistake that the Financial Times had made. It had taken its figures from a narrow list that limited itself to new start-ups funded by institutional investors time-lagged to a specific period.

The data in no way could be used to determine how many new companies had been started in China, Luk pointed out.

FT writer Eleanor Olcott fought back by posting that: "IT Juzi is China’s leading data provider on startups, tracking companies across basically every conceivable vertical that a VC would be investing in."

HE SHOULD KNOW Then, yesterday, a message appeared from Wen Feixiang, the head of the company whose data was used by the Financial Times for its shocking graph.

"Hey, I am Feixiang, the ITJUZI. COM Founder and CEO," he wrote. "The citation in this article regarding the number of Chinese startup companies From ITJUZI is inaccurate."

He confirmed that his research firm's list in no way showed the total number of new firms in China.

"The only ethical thing to do at this stage for the FT is to apologize to its readers, and withdraw the article," Arnaud Bertrand posted last night.