A frog who wants the objective truth about anything and everything.
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Alt lemmy account: Cafefrog@lemmy.cafe
this is disallowing platforms to choose whether to allow them on a platform
The block list is editable by any admin, and the sysadmin can delete the block list entirely.
based on the opinions of a guy that has endorsed genocide and child rape.
Uhh, gonna need a source for that one, Chief.
Free Speech means the government shouldn’t prosecute people for their speech, that’s all its ever meant. It doesn’t mean non-government places must allow Nazis to say their piece on your platform. That just turns places into Nazi bars.
Piefed.social is federated with Lemmy.ml, AFAIK.
As someone who was exceptionally shy growing up, what helped me was acknowledging that I really would rather not try to meet new people or join some social setting because it would induce an anxiety response, jitters and all, but, then forcing myself to do it anyway.
It was very uncomfortable, just as I knew it would be, but slowly, as I forced myself to keep doing it; the jitters weren’t as bad, I didn’t have to take so many deep breaths before getting involved to calm myself, and I started joining into conversations more, cracking jokes, and feeling more relaxed as I began to realize that people didn’t seem to mind it if I made mistakes or stumbled over my words from nervousness, and didn’t look at me weird for being a bit silly (though this depends on the group you find, I fell in with some pretty odd/silly folk, so my own sillyness didn’t stick out too much).
It’s essentially exposure therapy, and it took me a while, but eventually I was able to build up some confidence in my ability to talk to others, and realized most other people are just winging things too. I think what helped me the most was really internalizing the idea that it’s genuinely okay to embarrass yourself, and that it can even be a great well of humor to draw from, which for me removed the fear of it potentially happening. That let me me more present and relaxed, which in turn made being social begin to feel fun, instead of a stressful thing I had to force myself to do.
I think a DnD group in particular is a good place to start, since that tends to attract oddballs that let you be silly, and weirdly it can be easier to be social if you act out a more confident character, which can almost trick your brain into not being so nervous, or at least it did for me :p
If there isn’t a DnD group you can reach locally, an online group would be good too, there’s a number of discord ones, including west-marches styles that can make scheduling sessions easier.
Sorry if this comes off as someone throwing unrequested advice at you, just thought I’d share some tips from one shy dude to another :)
And just to be clear, RT is also state propaganda in the same way Fox News or CNN is.
Honestly can’t disagree, it’s unbelievably polished and high quality for being free.
It’s easy to feel like you’re part of an organization that’s operating as a lonely last hold out, because you’re in a dark forest of misinformation and occluded dissent.
Very much this. As was said in Andor:
"Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause.
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward."
I think we differ in how we define organizing. I see it as the ability to effectively organize large groups of people, logistics, supplies, or military responses. I would not consider ‘Out backstabbing the backstabbers’ as under the label ‘organizing’, that’s more of a tactics thing. I also don’t think anarchists should participate in backstabbing at all, as that reduces trust in the whole effort, IMHO, and it doesn’t seem likely that a large anarchist collective would agree via consensus to do such a thing.
Anarchists in 1918 didn’t automatically assume their anti-capitalist allies would betray them in that manner, it was up to that point unprecedented in history (though predicted by Mikhail Bakunin). Anarchists the world over supported the Russian revolution until they visited the USSR (such as Emma Goldman) and it became apparent that it was becoming a new state dictatorship. This was a learning event that showed MLs cannot be trusted despite their appeals of leftist unity.
The Anarchists were fully aware of this betrayal by 1936 in Catalonia, but the circumstances were dire enough to begrudgingly ally with them once more, as the USSR was the only country in the world with the already existing productive capacity and willingness to supply the revolution with needed logistics and heavier weaponry such as tanks and artillery.
It was no fault of Anarchist organizing that those logistics were needed, it was just circumstance that Catalonia did not have any tank manufacturing set up before-hand (something that can take years to do), and that their enemy was stronger than it normally would’ve been at that point in time.
There is nothing they realistically could’ve done to ‘out organize’ the MLs, as organization was not the issue. The issue is that the MLs were an enemy, but they were the enemy of another enemy (the fascists), and the lack of logistical help from the outside world left them with the options of trying to fight both enemies at once, or hope that they can first defeat the fascists before needing to defend against the inevitable ML betrayal. The fact that the MLs ultimately chose to betray mid-fight with the fascists was likely pretty unexpected, since it didn’t really make sense for them to do so in that moment in time (since it made the MLs lose too).
Thanks to those events, we know now it’s probably best to never ally with ML’s under almost any circumstances, even dire ones, and going forward we can avoid those mistakes.
History has shown Anarchists are very capable of organizational power. The Russian revolution itself likely would not have succeeded without the significant military contributions from the Ukrainian Anarchists, but after the Whites were mostly defeated, the Marxist-Leninists betrayed the Anarchists to consolidate power, depicting them as bandits and counter-revolutionary, executing or imprisoning any who did not successfully flee.
Anarchists also demonstrated their organizational abilities in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War (effectively organizing more than 3 million people). Once again, they were betrayed by Marxist-leninists (this time mid-war), which contributed to the defeat of the revolution, among other factors, such as particularly overwhelming logistical support for Franco from Mussolini and Hitler, while the Anarchists had no allies on the world stage.
Links to Anarchist Library article (in an Anarchist community), gets called CIA shill
🤔
But for anyone else reading, here’s a handy guide on other ways to get involved that not only materially help our situation, but also reduces the feeling of helplessness and despair dramatically, and you’ll likely meet some friends along the way.
The protests are good ways of meeting like-minded people in your community to form connections, as well as spreading awareness of local mutual aid groups so more can join or form ICE resistance groups who can join an encrypted chat to coordinate, alert neighbors, and talk strategy. It also is a good place for unions or union members to encourage others to unionize their workplaces, which can also ultimately work toward a national general strike, which is our most tangible and powerful collective action.
The country would be brought to its knees if suddenly deprived of profit and labor, allowing us to directly demand real changes (such as ending the war in Iran, ceasing support for the genocide of Palestine, and Abolishing ICE).
The General Strike was extremely effective in Chile in 2019, and had they not fallen for the trick of liberal reform, they would’ve had a successful revolution on their hands with virtually no bloodshed.
Violence is being used against those who resist and it will only continue. It extremely important to have the skills to be able to keep yourself and others alive if they get hurt.
Tacticool Girlfriend provides a great introduction to building a personal first aid kit, called an IFAK, which can deal with things like bullet wounds and other serious bleeding wounds. I also want to emphasize her recommendation of only buying medical gear from reputable sources (not Amazon!), such as North American Rescue to avoid fakes that could cost you your life.
But you’ll need to learn how to use that equipment, too. The best resource for that is to take a local Stop The Bleed class, which are pretty widely available in most places. They may cost a small fee, but can also sometimes be free. Alternatively, if you cannot access a local class, this video by PrepMedic will give you a solid understanding of how to use Tourniquets and Gauze for wound packing.
Injuries are less harmful if they are tended to early. Learning first aid can help conserve resources when healthcare becomes unaffordable. Having several medics in case of harm by police is an extremely powerful morale booster during a protest that may become a police riot. When you become comfortable with the basics of first aid, riot medicine is the next suggested step.
If you haven’t already, get to know your neighbors. Mutual aid is a willingness to support and grow your community. This can include informal networks through friends, tenant/renter organizations, solidarity groups, and industrial unions.
These are groups using direct action to solve each other’s problems. Building strong communities makes it difficult for fascism to take root. The actions of the government are going to hit every community hard, and the ones who build trust in each other and work together are most likely to survive. We’ve been building a list of resources in !inperson@slrpnk.net to help you on your way. Also check out this handy guide to find existing groups in your area.
This isn’t only for your own community protection. Your ability to organize today will change the political landscape tomorrow. When revolution occurs, the social organizations that show the greatest resilience through the regime are the ones typically calling the shots when the dust settles. When it comes to elections, get out the vote drives are useless if most of the voters are fascists. At some point, you have to do grassroots political education if you don’t want fascist candidates winning elections. Mutual aid networks are excellent forums not only for teaching each other good political ideas, but demonstrating them in practice.
There’s also some projects you can do that help build community (and can be fun in themselves!), for more info, go here, and scroll down to the “Fun Projects to Build Community) section”
If you aren’t in a union (or even if you are, it’s worth dual-carding), consider joining the IWW to unionize your workplace (bonus: you’ll get higher wages, better benefits, and more time off if you succeed!) to make a general strike possible.
Once you are in a union you and your coworkers will need to pressure your leadership to prepare for a general strike, as well as pressure them to organize with other unions to enact a general strike. This is especially true if you are in a more traditional union that isn’t the IWW. Your local shop may need to organize directly with other unions if your union leaders are too cowardly to do so.
Most unions have a strike fund that can supplement your income during a general strike to make it more financially bearable (you should also save as much money as you can reasonably do, so it can also be used to keep yourself afloat during a strike). A General Strike is officially planned by the UAW for May 1st 2028, but it was planned before Trump was elected, and by then will be too late, so prepare now for one that may start sooner.
You can contact the IWW with the link below:
And for our international friends, you should join one as well, as fascism is gaining momentum globally. If your country isn’t listed below, just contact the IWW directly in the link above, and they’ll help you set up a new local branch.
Sometimes benign seeming efforts can turn into unexpected personal data collecting traps. Like an obscure website for exchanging contact info with other students turning into a global ad-tech surveillance network (Facebook), or innocent seeming online personality tests being use to harvest character profiles. Even Etsy, Reddit, Tinder, and Duolingo are feeding information to US Government Agencies like ICE.
Security culture is commonly used to describe the general awareness of such potential traps and how it can affect groups or entire communities. This goes beyond mere individual privacy efforts, as without joint efforts these often fail to work.
Especially in activist circles, security culture is paramount. For opsec reasons not everyone in the group might be aware of what clandestine efforts others are involved in, but with a general security culture many potential data leaks can be avoided.
Movements are made by the volume of their participants, and the easier and less dangerous it is to participate, the more people will get involved. As more people get involved, individual involvement becomes even less dangerous, creating a virtuous cycle.
We’ll start it off with some General Advice:
For a full guide on what encrypted communications platforms to use, and how to stay off the radar, read the Digital Camouflage section within the Monthly Meta post here (you’ll need to scroll down. I’d add it here, but it won’t fit in this comment).
I’d also highly recommend Full Spectrum Resistance to anyone who wants further info on how to resist (audiobook version here).
Vanguard parties always angle for dictatorships and put anarchists who aren’t compliant up against a wall after a successful revolution, history has taught us this time and time again. The PSL are authoritarians and not to be trusted.
I finally got around to watching that a couple years ago, and I personally found it to be painfully boring since there’s no likeable characters. I know it’s considered a classic, and I generally like slow movies, but this one really didn’t do it for me, despite understanding what it was going for with alienation, loneliness, and paranoia.
Like for anyone else give it a try, sure, but don’t force yourself to stick with it to the end like I did if you’re not getting much from it.
The 2003 Battlestar Galactica is like the one sci-fi show I’d never watched, so I gave the 2-part pilot a shot, not really expecting much, but came away quite impressed. It goes in a direction I wasn’t expecting, and the acting is pretty solid, so I think I’ll slowly watch the whole series!
It suffers from that less now since Canonical abandoned the project. UBPorts is AFAIK just a community project to keep it alive. I would’ve assumed they would drop the CLA stuff, but I guess they didn’t want to or couldn’t for whatever reason?
PostmarketOS has a similar ability thanks to Waydroid, though I’ve never used it myself.
Long-term, yes. It isn’t ready as a daily driver for the average person (hence why I used the term ‘build up’), but there is realistically no other option that can truly be called community owned like PostmarketOS can. It’s our best shot at a permanent non-enshittified platform, it just needs our support so it can become polished and support more phones :)
The issue with Ubuntu Touch is that unfortunately it uses an outdated Android kernel (which is also usually not receiving security updates) and a Halium abstraction layer to access the closed source binary blob Android drivers for the phone’s hardware. It also requires that it be installed on top of an existing Android install, so in all it’s more of Linuxified layer on top of Android, which means it’s not truly escaping the control of the Android/Google ecosystem.
UBPorts also appears to inherit the use of CLA’s from Canonical:
I’m very much not a fan of CLA’s., which SailfishOS also employs.
The advantage of PostmarketOS (even though it is not ready as a daily driver for the average person), is that it uses the upstream Linux kernel with open-source GPU/hardware drivers, not an Android kernel to access the outdated proprietary GPU/Hardware blobs.
Graphene is currently the best daily driver for the average person, but as they are a hardened Android fork, they are still somewhat reliant on Google playing ball.
PostmarketOS is not ready for the average person, but it is our best long-term option since it is not based on Android at all.
GrapheneOS is a great OS, and is currently a great options for a daily driver. One problem with them is that Graphene is still ultimately based on Android, which means they are reliant on Google playing ball with them as least a little, which makes it perhaps not a good long-term solution.
The other issue is that GrapheneOS is completely reliant on manufacturer updates to support a device. Once a manufacturer drops support for a phone, GrapheneOS must also drop support, as they can no longer provide security updates due to the hardware using proprietary blobs for its drivers.
PostmarketOS on the other hand can support a phone for potentially decades since it uses open-source drivers directly from the upstream linux kernel. That has the potential to drastically reduce planned obsolescence in phones.
I say the above as a GrapheneOS user, since PostmarketOS is generally not ready as a daily driver for the average person, hence why I suggest we support it so it can be polished and support for more phones added.