Lead Lemmy Developer, Dessalines, denying the Tiananmen Square Massacre and praising the Uyghur Genocide
https://sh.itjust.works/post/8419342
Dessalines AKA “parentis_shotgun” on Reddit, is the main Lemmy dev, also the admin of lemmy.ml and lemmygrad.ml.
Their post and discussions on Reddit (archive as the original post must have been removed):
Please join the discussions for Lemmy.ml tankie censorship problem:
https://lemmy.world/post/16211417
And the discussions for finding/creating alternative communities on other instances:
https://lemmy.world/post/16235541
What is a tankie?
Tankie is a pejorative label generally applied to authoritarian communists, especially those who support acts of repression by such regimes or their allies. More specifically, the term has been applied to those who express support for one-party Marxist–Leninist socialist republics, whether contemporary or historical.
No one expects America to turn communist today, not in 10, 20, 50 years. The red scare and capitalist propaganda is so bad it would be idiotic to assume America as a socialist frontier.
But:
I get involved in my local elections and city/county boards to endorse and support every policy or candidate that either leans distantly socialist, or puts any measure of power or control back in the hands of the people and workers. That alone will do far, far more realistic good for each of us than “developing revolutionary movements.” That’s still roleplaying and I don’t think the USSR’s “successes” were as meaningful as the tankies propaganda makes it out to be. But that’s not an invite for a biased history lesson.
I think USSR really did influence the world in a big way. No debates, just stating my stance.
It is great that you participate in what you do, and I advise any socialist to act the same, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do both.
Fight the system in existing framework, but don’t forget it’s not the only way. Think revolutionary, but do not settle for that alone and fight the system by legal means too. One shouldn’t exclude the other.