Flippanarchy
Flippant Anarchism. A lighter take on social criticism with the aim of agitation.
Post humorous takes on capitalism and the states which prop it up. Memes, shitposting, screenshots of humorous good takes, discussions making fun of some reactionary online, it all works.
This community is anarchist-flavored. Reactionary takes won't be tolerated.
Don't take yourselves too seriously. Serious posts go to !anarchism@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Rules
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If you post images with text, endeavour to provide the alt-text
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If the image is a crosspost from an OP, Provide the source.
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Absolutely no right-wing jokes. This includes "Anarcho"-Capitalist concepts.
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Absolutely no redfash jokes. This includes anything that props up the capitalist ruling classes pretending to be communists.
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No bigotry whatsoever. See instance rules.
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This is an anarchist comm. You don't have to be an anarchist to post, but you should at least understand what anarchism actually is. We're not here to educate you.
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No shaming people for being anti-electoralism. This should be obvious from the above point but apparently we need to make it obvious to the turbolibs who can't control themselves. You have the rest of lemmy to moralize.
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I'm not gonna be able to condense a 12 page essay into a digestible comment but essentially (read as stripping this part of all of its nuance): if people lived by the morals they claim, they wouldnt be able to sit idly by/ perpetuate a slave state. Can't have a slave state if the bureaucrats running the slave state refuse to run it anymore. And citizens should not be compelled to pay taxes to an institution they find morally reprehensible.
Fun facts about the Tuskegee experiment, it was funded by the United States Public Health Service, the experiment itself was wholly unnecessary as we had recently found a standard of care that treated syphilis effectively, and almost nothing of value was learned. If the pencil pushers and other associated "little guys" enabling this experiment knew what was happening, they could've shut it down swiftly by bringing the bureaucratic process to a halt in an act of protest.
I'm an EMT, and I've often found myself in situations where it's made me question whether I'm doing the right thing by working, and legitimizing, a medical system that feeds off the exploitation of the general populace and medical workers at large. Instead of quitting, I've settled on stealing medical supplies from hospitals and distributing them during food shares and free markets run by local organizations. I'm also a protest medic and help get people trained up to be protest medics. My attempts at unionizing have fallen flat in the past but I'll still engage co-workers and fellow providers in hospitals to encourage organizing.
The people running the machine have an outsized influence on whether that machine runs or not, no matter what their bosses say. A large enough strike (<10% of the federal workforce) could bring this regime to its knees in a matter of days. I don't wholly agree with Thoreau, but an act of resistance in the spirit of his argument would make a world of difference
Agreed on the vast majority of that.
Now let's say you were employed by the USPHS, or VA, or IHS, or... there are other federal healthcare agencies, right? Anyway- you quit because Trump is a dickhead, and now what? Those supplies you're distributing just got cut off. That doesn't help anything.
The pitch I'd make: if you're working for any part of the govt that's functioning as an oppressor, then you should have quit a long time ago unless you're actively sabotaging. Falling that, better late than never - GTFO now. But if you're working for any other part of the govt, do your job and keep in mind who you serve - hint: it's not your boss. Don't be a silent pencil pusher like the 'little guys' in the Tuskegee experiment, speak the fuck up. But don't just quit - use your position to actually serve the public, whether in an official capacity or akin to what you described.
So... I'm with you mostly, but I do hold that there's a distinction between forces like the ICE Nazis and actual public servants employed by the govt.
Absolutely, individual actions will (almost) never solve systemic problems. The only way government employees quitting would make a bit of difference, while ensuring the welfare of those now unemployed workers, would be through robust organization and community support for the dissenting federal workers.
Dual power is essentially non-existent in the states, and those structures would need to be built in order for a strike like this (and broader resistance movements) to be more than a flash in the pan