Feel free to link anything and I’ll give it a read.

Oh I’m sorry, I thought you would have seen it elsewhere in the thread. Miz wrote a nice short summary.

I dont understand why you say this definition is non-actionable when it is the reason i say we must act to stop Putin from invading Ukraine.

The reason I am so ardently opposed to that position is that in practice it translates into supporting European militarization and the expansion of the American Military-Industrial-Complex. Is there a world where Ukraine defends itself without strengthening western imperialists? That’s the whole reason NATO supports the war.

So either you have an actionable definition of imperialism that tells you that you need to join a revolutionary organization and focus your efforts on countering American hegemony, or you have a non-actionable definition that would have you in a picket line together with union machinists from Lockheed Martin.

Is the socialist state oppressing them by arresting them without trial and sending them to death camps? Because without due process how do we know these are actually the capitalists they’re accused of being?

If they sent you to a death camp as a “capitalist” without evidence is it okay if I reserve the right to speak out on your behalf?

I think there are some types of brutality and human rights abuses that are so awful it transcends “team sports” and should just be off limits for everyone. That’s sort of where the genocide in Ukraine crosses the mine.

This is an absurd jump. I don’t think there is a genocide in Ukraine, although there have been many civilian casualties and that has included events in which Russia targeted civilian areas. That’s a very, very far cry from death camps.

What I mean more specifically is something like when China sentences a billionaire to death because of corruption. I’m morally opposed to the death penalty, but I recognize why China is using it against people who took decisions that cost lives and livelihoods in a massive scale. The fact that they are a proletarian state and are advancing the interests of the working class means that I don’t think it’s productive to condemn China for using the death penalty. That’s what I mean.

Was life better for the serfs because of Mao? I regrettably know as much about that part of history so I don’t want to talk out of my ass just to win a point.

What I do know is that when the US liberated France, they gave France back to the French. That sort of sets the ideal for what liberation should look like.

If Tibet isn’t it’s own country they didn’t really “liberate” Tibet. They just took it. They annexed it.

I think if you annex a country and make it an autonomous province with vastly superior social conditions compared to the previous order of things, that’s liberation. I’d recommend Michael Parenti’s Friendly Feudalism as a source here.

I appreciate your willingness to learn!