Requiring the party’s approval is only a small step from them selecting the candidates though. Since they can simply refuse to approve any competing candidates.
Or since Cuba has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, simply arrest them.
I’m an anarchist so there’s no such thing as a candidate that represents me, because any person who represents me well enough to do the job knows it’s a job each individual must do for themselves. Government is always a casino, and the house always wins, and it boggles my mind that no matter how many times the people lose they keep building more casinos.
I understand and sympathize with anarchist positions and hope a stateless society can be achieved someday. But I don’t think acknowledging that states are harmful means we need to accept that they are equally harmful. And the Cuban form of government is a particularly bad one.
I dunno. All my life, my kind have never been catered to by politicians. Minor concessions granted in our favor yes, but LGBTQ+ people have had to fight tooth and nail for everything we’ve ever gotten, and what did we really achieve if all of it can be taken away by one shitty administration in the span of two years? My government has been harmful to me all my life.
That said, I still went out and voted against Trump in the last election because I believed not doing so would be tantamount to approving fascism. So you’re right that some states are more harmful than others, even if some people have been given good reason to see them all as intrinsically harmful.
I get it and that sucks. But minor concessions are a lot better than being executed. In the west at least we can openly organize and agitate for better conditions. There is some repression but it could be a lot worse.
I don’t think Trump has completely succeeded in rolling back lgbtq rights nor will he any time soon. A few decades ago being trans meant being a virtual social outcast. Today lots of trans and other queer people are well integrated into society, even if prejudice still exists. It’s a bad time right now because things are backsliding but this will pass and people are still organizing and pushing things forward, and I believe that momentum will eventually overcome the current repression. Keep fighting the good fight. I think voting against fascism is wise but the anarchists are right that we need to do a lot more than that too.
I admit I’m not familiar with the process for selecting local candidates but in a totalitarian system it hardly matters since the national government has absolute control over almost everything anyway.
If your argument is that Cuba isn’t totalitarian, you’re making a very poor case of it. However, if your argument is that the US and several European countries are far more totalitarian than they’re pretending to be, then you’re doing a great job.
It’s a party but not a party? Now you’re not making sense.
Totalitarian means virtually all political power flows through a single entity, typically the national government. Other sources of independent organizing are harshly repressed to the extent that they must be organized in secret or maintain an appearance of being apolitical.
I would consider the US authoritarian but not totalitarian. Too many countries in Europe to speak to them.
Not really though. There are many political organizations who openly seek to overthrow the ruling class in the US. They do face some repression but they still exist and can organize openly and enact political actions, even illegal ones in some cases, though with Trump this is becoming more difficult. Organizing itself is not outright illegal the way they are in totalitarian states. However due the systematic forces that keep such alternatives from succeeding are what makes it authoritarian, among other things.
I’ll have to look more into what you’re saying about the party. I do not believe this is correct and I believe the party enforces far more ideological constraints on its members than the US government does but I will confirm this. If they all have the same ideology then they’re only different on paper.
My understanding was that Cuba also only had single candidate “elections”, chosen by the party. You’re saying that’s not correct?
I don’t know if that’s the case, I was just clarifying the notions put forth by the user you were replying to.
I see, I didn’t notice you weren’t OP.
Requiring the party’s approval is only a small step from them selecting the candidates though. Since they can simply refuse to approve any competing candidates.
Or since Cuba has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, simply arrest them.
I’m an anarchist so there’s no such thing as a candidate that represents me, because any person who represents me well enough to do the job knows it’s a job each individual must do for themselves. Government is always a casino, and the house always wins, and it boggles my mind that no matter how many times the people lose they keep building more casinos.
I understand and sympathize with anarchist positions and hope a stateless society can be achieved someday. But I don’t think acknowledging that states are harmful means we need to accept that they are equally harmful. And the Cuban form of government is a particularly bad one.
I dunno. All my life, my kind have never been catered to by politicians. Minor concessions granted in our favor yes, but LGBTQ+ people have had to fight tooth and nail for everything we’ve ever gotten, and what did we really achieve if all of it can be taken away by one shitty administration in the span of two years? My government has been harmful to me all my life.
That said, I still went out and voted against Trump in the last election because I believed not doing so would be tantamount to approving fascism. So you’re right that some states are more harmful than others, even if some people have been given good reason to see them all as intrinsically harmful.
I get it and that sucks. But minor concessions are a lot better than being executed. In the west at least we can openly organize and agitate for better conditions. There is some repression but it could be a lot worse.
I don’t think Trump has completely succeeded in rolling back lgbtq rights nor will he any time soon. A few decades ago being trans meant being a virtual social outcast. Today lots of trans and other queer people are well integrated into society, even if prejudice still exists. It’s a bad time right now because things are backsliding but this will pass and people are still organizing and pushing things forward, and I believe that momentum will eventually overcome the current repression. Keep fighting the good fight. I think voting against fascism is wise but the anarchists are right that we need to do a lot more than that too.
deleted by creator
https://lens.civicus.org/cuba-elections-without-choices/
I admit I’m not familiar with the process for selecting local candidates but in a totalitarian system it hardly matters since the national government has absolute control over almost everything anyway.
deleted by creator
If your argument is that Cuba isn’t totalitarian, you’re making a very poor case of it. However, if your argument is that the US and several European countries are far more totalitarian than they’re pretending to be, then you’re doing a great job.
It’s a party but not a party? Now you’re not making sense.
Totalitarian means virtually all political power flows through a single entity, typically the national government. Other sources of independent organizing are harshly repressed to the extent that they must be organized in secret or maintain an appearance of being apolitical.
I would consider the US authoritarian but not totalitarian. Too many countries in Europe to speak to them.
deleted by creator
Not really though. There are many political organizations who openly seek to overthrow the ruling class in the US. They do face some repression but they still exist and can organize openly and enact political actions, even illegal ones in some cases, though with Trump this is becoming more difficult. Organizing itself is not outright illegal the way they are in totalitarian states. However due the systematic forces that keep such alternatives from succeeding are what makes it authoritarian, among other things.
I’ll have to look more into what you’re saying about the party. I do not believe this is correct and I believe the party enforces far more ideological constraints on its members than the US government does but I will confirm this. If they all have the same ideology then they’re only different on paper.