Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/ComradeHakim Twitter: @YaBoiHakim Hi there! I hope everyone is well. This video is a cursory glance at some of the issues of the Western left as I see them. It isn't meant to be all exhaustive, and a lot more can be said. Still, I think this is useful for those that have encountered these errors and haven't had the time to think up proper responses to them. That's all for today, love you all! *Sources:* Divided World Divided Class: Global Political Economy and the Stratification of Labour Under Capitalism by Zak Cope The Wealth of (some) Nations: Imperialism and the Mechanics of Value Transfer by Zak Cope globalvoices.org/2019/12/24/8-west-african-countries-rename-currency-in-historic-break-from-france-but-colonial-era-taxes-persist/ www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/may/24/world-is-plundering-africa-wealth-billions-of-dollars-a-year blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2017/07/12/the-cfa-franc-french-monetary-imperialism-in-africa/ nypost.com/2021/03/22/way-more-rich-people-dodge-taxes-than-are-caught-study/ www.oxfam.org/en/inequality-and-poverty-hidden-costs-tax-dodging www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-world-inequality-report-20171215-story.html www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6?r=US&IR=T www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/18/silence-us-backed-coup-evo-morales-bolivia-american-states www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/world/americas/chile-coup-cia-museum.html www.independent.co.uk/voices/how-nhs-being-dismantled-10-easy-steps-10474075.html www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/04/uk-government-using-crisis-to-transfer-nhs-duties-to-private-sector www.forbes.com/sites/camilomaldonado/2018/07/24/price-of-college-increasing-almost-8-times-faster-than-wages/?sh=1fb7cf0066c1 physics.umd.edu/~yakovenk/econophysics/ *Videos recommended:* Unequal Exchange - Hakim: ruclips.net/video/4lDZaKjfs4E/видео.html& Paul Cockshott: ruclips.net/video/XyxnG2ck-sw/видео.html Yugopnik: ruclips.net/video/KGP5ywPDJGs/видео.html Daniel Torres: ruclips.net/video/vieXwYpGRUg/видео.html ruclips.net/video/VIXksTpJS98/видео.html *Books recommended:* Black Against Empire by Joshua Bloom Classical Econophysics by Yakovenko and Cockshott Against The Market by David McNally Divided World, Divided Class by Zak Cope The Wealth of Some Nations by Zak Cope Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Lenin Unequal Exchange by Emmanuel Arghiri The Law of Worldwide Value by Samir Amin Unequal Development by Samir Amin Reform or Revolution by Luxemburg
Great video. I definitely struggle with expanding my videos beyond US-centric problems, and that’s something I hope to improve on. Keep up the good work ❤️
Trump called Biden a radical socialist, BIDEN, the shining example of neoliberalism of the “free world”, class consciousness here will take a long time. I live in Florida and talk with people about the state of the working class and they agree it’s fucked up, but when I talk about socialist ideas they say no no we can’t do that. We have a looot of work to do here.
I don't know, man. I don't think America will ever reach class consciousness if so many people are able to believe that. The ruling class is too strong here.
@@christiaanstephan4387 Keep in mind the popular support Bernie Sanders had, both with liberals and even with independents and conservatives. Sure, he and his social democratic platforms are not the end-all be-all, but he has done a great job cleaning up the word "socialism." We have a lot of fascists and a lot of proto-fascists, but we also have a lot of progressive liberals and a small but increasing amount of leftists. I think of one of the most important things we can do for the Culture War (TM) is fight Wokescoldery (TM). Radlibs have hijacked the megaphone of the American Left and made us out to be irrational, alienating reactionaries.
try not mentioning "naughty" words like socialism and communism try talking about how the working class should have the power, not the "dc elites" and "big tech", use their own language
@@idkdk569 this is good advice. I recall reading in Castro's autobiography that during the revolution, they had not used words like "communism" nor identified openly as communist because these words had just bad connotations in Cuba due to the constant barrage of anti-left propaganda. It is absolutely possibly to organize and even revolt without using the words that trigger a bad Pavlovian response in people. This is why I support BLM, Veterans for Peace and worker's co-op initiatives so much, because they all boil down to wanting the same things that I as a socialist also want, but without openly identifying as any particular leftist ideology.
Yah I was introduced to leftism by breadtube, as we're many others, so I think it can be a good introduction, but that's about it. My movement towards radical leftism is something I had to do on my own. I think we as a :community" need to make more videos on radical topics, and push many breadtube leftist viewers even further left. Great video as always Hakim.
I was initially enthralled by Breadtube but the further i got involved with my ML party, the more disappointing and grifting a lot of Breadtube started to become for me
Even in European social democracies the concessions made by the ruling class are always pushed back, I'm Portuguese and in the last 20 years worker's rights and even our healthcare have started to deteriorate. This is to say that people who think that just by achieving these basic things, as good as they are for the workers, they're ignoring the suffering imposed on the people of the global South, and the bourgeois are still going to fight tooth and nail to take it away too
Verdade. And neo fascist movements take advantage of people's discontent pinning the blame on immigrants/ black/ roma whilst supporting big corporations. Point in case today, the closeness between the *social-democrat* party and the fascists.
@Karl Marx the communist party of Portugal is the party of the working class in Portugal (PCP), Marxist Leninist party. The PCP has had right wing deviations in the past but they've since gotten back on track. The material conditions in Portugal are studied and the party has their own revolutionary tactics tailored to those conditions. They also cooperate with worker's syndicates and with workers on the ground, most members work in bourgeois enterprises. The party also has a presence in parliamentary politics as opposition to bourgeois politics and also has had a major role in the creation of the Portuguese constitution.
@@dabibibibibi455 I'm not a big fan of the communist party of portugal. Socially speaking they are more conservative than the left block (they will often abstain or vote against issues such as LGBT rights, abortion and recently euthanasia, although i read their defense of their opposition to euthanasia and actually respect their view on it, although i obviously disagree). It is true to say that they played a revolutionary role very early on after the carnation revolution. The Portuguese constitution WAS potentially the most radically left wing ever written in a western liberal democracy, thanks to them (for others reading, if you are familiar with UK politics, the thing that made it so radical was that it had in it an equivalente to labour's now abandoned clause 4, on a COUNTRY'S CONSTITUTION). However, that constitution has been scrapped and replaced after they did a failed coup de ta in 1975 (am fuzzy on this part of history so feel free to correct me) As of right now it is my view that they don't do much of anything, and for reasons of being more socially progressive i would throw my vote in with the left block if i had to, although i'm not a huge fan of them either. Feel free to correct me if i got anything wrong.
@@sophiefoley2378 anyone who would be against those three things is hopelessly conservative and either religiously dominated or fundamentalist or straight up fascist. These are the COMMUNISTS in your country you say??
I feel that breadtube just boils people up, but has no release. We just keep talking instead of doing and by not establishing ourselves is the main reason why we fail
it is cute and refreshing seeing especially in the US and young people publicly using the word "socialism" often yes, but the reality is that, what after150years?this road-of-thought never even left the state of misunderstanding *basic* word definitions, like, outside academia, .... why? because itb is *still* caught up and blindly playing role in group-identy teamsports culture...the antagonistic, competitive market•neurosis...("capitalism") ...people understandably are craving for identity, ..well at least its a way to raise political awareness. otherwise needless, at best. #findpeterjoseph
@Very Sad nazis do this kind of shit too,where they tell you the world sucks and there is nothing you can do about it. This often leads to extreme behavior due to the right wingers like crowder not wanting to lead them. So they shoot up synagogues,collect blackmail,get swastika tattoos etc. I have a feeling that some leftist are gonna start doing stuff like this very soon.
As a result I think it leads to people releasing their anger on other leftubers, or looking of comfortable RUclipsrs that has reactionary ideologies but leftist aesthetics.
Thank you to everyone that joined me for the premier! I know it was out of nowhere; last minute I decided to give the feature a run just to get the hang of it. I plan on doing more with it in the future of course, so stay tuned. Love you all!
Problem 108: The tendency for leftists (both online, and IRL) to engage in a perpetual pissing-contests over who's read more theory, as though left-politics were a competitive sport in which the person with the most free-time and/or largest personal library is the most qualified to formulate opinions on policy, tactics, or theory.
Its because of how education and self critism is esential to society. No system is perfect, POINT. Utopias are imposible. Socialism wont fix all and has its own problems as corruption happens. So, Pushing for more education and discusion is inportant. Conflict is the nature of the world, when you acept that and see everyone else not as a pompusr ashole but as someone expresing themselves you can begin to engage and discuse. Ovbiously, not all argument will be with good faith or argument. This is why confrintation and education is important, so this ideas are challenge and drop. Just looking how trump got people to inject themselves bleach tells you about american state.
@@ericquiabazza2608 the thing about all of that is that at the end of the day, its all theory, and of course the oh so popular response is that any failures in practicing such theory were not due to the theories themselves, but the execution of it. theories are great, but they need to be able to be executed more properly, or at least less corruptly. The free market economy, known as capitalism, has been executed much better than than any example of socialism. Is there a large gap between the poor and working class, and the elites? yes; you are going to get that with every system though. when systems are more and more centralized, you are only giving more power to those elites.
I feel like this argument was preempted by the Anti-Intellectualism segment at *10:46* , down to the dubious suggestion that it's a matter of privilege that the poorer struggle to attain. In fact, people living in privileged positions aren't at all used to being given reading regarding politics, since they've been raised not to engage with them at all beyond maybe voting
@@vanguard6937 The argument that _every_ system will produce class divides only betrays the ignorance of the one making it: Literally every other system in history has been explicitly predicated on class division, and _only_ socialism/communism is predicated entirely on the abolition of the very means of creating class divisions
@@alonsoarana5307 Yeah. To be clear, I believe tankies are a problem on the left (those who worship authority and will jump to defend anything with the aesthetics of power as long as they call themselves communist). But, of course, not all MLs and Maoists are necessarily tankies.
I was a social democrat until reading "reform or revolution". What you said is very much true, theory is essential. Having said that I really need to read some more haha
Books that changed much of my views: State and Revolution - Lenin (trust me, this is mindblowing stuff) No Logo - Naomi Klein (more proof of that neoliberalism is totalitarian, and identity politics is a corporate and ideological fraud) History Will Absolve Me - Fidel Castro (its like a must read if you want a foundation about the cuban revolution) Poilu: The World War I Notebooks - Louis Barthas (very interesting point of view, a socialist soldier in ww1, gruesome stuff)
Start or join a reading group if you can. reading group builds a solid social foundation for your group to organize as everyone learns to disagree and debate without tearing each other down the way debatebros do(since the goal is to learn rather than to win a debate), reading groups get folks into a better mindframe, learning theory in a group can be much more informative than learning by yourself, and a reading group is an activity the group can do even if they're unsure or unable to do other actions.
@@TheInfinitecheese thanks for the tip! I usually debate philosophy, critical theory, religion and such with a few friends of mine and it is really productive but actually discussing certain books would be really cool
Breadtube is what got me into socialism in the first place. 4 years ago I was a liberal who thought of socialism as a cool theory, but not not useful in practice. Today I would consider myself as a Marxist-Leninist. I think breadtube makes for a good introduction to anti-capitalism. Ideas can take some time to fully take hold in someones mind
Agreed. I feel while the concept of Breadtube is nebulous and encompasses far too many varying voices that dance around different degrees of radicalization to even make it a concrete thing, it existing as a general guideline for greater theory to take root is still a very much appreciated source on the web. Sure, it’s glitzy and glamorous and even a little shallow as far as certain anti-capitalist content goes, but at least it still acts as an introductory diving board for people like us to stumble upon. This was a great video in detailing how much better it could be though and glad we can all find our way through various outlets!
@UCYZONik5ZycMXYJDLiVFYjw What is breadtube and how can you assure that they discourage people from becoming a Marxist-Leninist? It's obvious if you look at the comments that breadtube is clearly getting your feet wet on the leftist topics and opens the door for many people into actually becoming radicalized. People will and will not be radicalized by different things and Marxism-Leninism is just one of the many ideologies that are to the far left, so it's pretty disengenous to believe that breadtube has no effect on wether or not some radicalizes.
@@Weighty68 I think you hit a good point, namely that the problem of breadtube isn't what it is, but rather what it is perceived to be. Breadtube isn't some coalition of radical leftist thought, it's just (usually) highly produced anti-capitalist or anti-liberalism sentiment that is very palatable to liberals. I think this is a pretty important component to radicalizing more westerners, which can only strengthen the numbers of class conscious folks going around spreading the message.
@@TheMrQuepe i think a lot of them are explicitly against MLs and advocate more for "democratic" reform and working within electoral parties which hasn't even gotten the left anything
High quality as usual. This tendency in the Western Left is something I've noticed, and it is incredibly counterproductive for organization. Trying to figure out a way to start introducing Mao to the circles I run with as he has some of the best writing on how to overcome common problems with basic organizing.
Hakim is like Adam Curtis for Far Leftists, and I absolutely love it. The filmmaking here is top notch, so beautiful, dazzling and nostalgic, alongside Hakim's simple yet effective writing and talking! Phenomenonal man, keep being the best on the platform.
Adam Curtis, but without the pervasive nihilism and internalized passivity induced by the modern "systems of power" (his favorite technical term). Hey, can we also recommend Prolekult here? Him and Hakim are, as far as I'm aware, the most prominent voices of Marxism-Leninism here on RUclips.
@@samstewart6087 Yay, yeah exactly! I'm glad you see the inspiration and vibes man. I absolutely love it too. It's really nice to meet a fellow fan! :)
@@june4135 I only ever watch vaush for entertainment especially when he confronts nazis and talks with “American left wingers” like destiny. As horrible as vaush’s community is I still think it’s paramount to defend against the right wing terminal cancer that has metastasized in the world. I appreciate that Hakim has extended courtesy to vaush directly during their convos but god damn vaush’s community is infantile
Thankyou so much for this video, as an african living in france, it affirms my anger towards the bullshit in the western world. Europe's socialism comes from the suffering of black people, period.
Unfortunately a lot of the left wing movement in North America has this same problem. People fear that we will beclme a Third World country and seek greater gains for the working class so as to maintain our elevated position rather than express solidarity with socialist movements outside of the imperial core.
@@WM-gf8zm I belive he means social democracy, and hes 100% right. Their standard of living in europe is very high... how? I mean the population is growing, but the standard of living is increasing. How? If people are doing less work and having more free things in a capitalist system, how is it possible for the actual standard of living to increase when the same amount, if not more, work needs to be done. It's because they exploit the poorer countries
@@jimmyje5608 to reword it, europe isnt socialist. Its capitalist hellhole and some countries have better social platforms. Its not really increasing, more like getting as crappy as before. Friend in sweden cant get her medications cause its not profitable to sell them in her area. The way they get money is mostly Oil, German imperialism & not just black but all people of europe and arabs who are exploited as proletariat
@@WM-gf8zm the thing I don’t get about hardcore socialism is the failure to link sweatshops and the export of manual labor to capitalism in and of itself. The export of hard labor is for the original country to continue expanding its living standards and consumption of goods because things don’t last forever. Thus in small countries this labor is exported to other places. While more profits is certainly a role that increases this exchange, nowhere do I see it being the sole cause. In socialism constant production of products is still needed, and the host country’s workforce - which is already working jobs, can’t possibly handle the extra exported jobs to reasonably function, and so in a fully socialist (communist, rather, as I assume this is a socialist theory nation rather than specifically economic socialism) jobs still must be exported to other places, and of course those are going to be the hard labor jobs not out of greed but of a need to avoid working said hard labor. If this doesn’t happen small country’s economy crumbles into a smaller, poorer economy solely based on their own population, which may not be fair to those in third world countries because this also cripples international trade that is fueled by exporting jobs and ends up leaving countries in a worse economic state than before. We can even see this in historical examples of the implementation of socialism, with Lenin and Stalin needing to cripple their own economy to force a vast majority of people into hard labor workers and rebuild their economy from the ground up. Since other capitalist nations existed because you can’t snap a finger and make everything socialist instantly, this meant keeping money around still, and of course the government hoarded said money for emergency purposes, and suddenly we are in a near authoritarian labor state. Take Venezuela as a secondary example, or China (I know it isn’t actually fully communist but it attempted and got corrupted). I’m certainly not saying socialism is evil as I myself am a socialist capitalist, but socialism in and of itself doesn’t solve the exporting of hard labor without turning your own country into a labor camp.
I'm glad creators like yourself and Luna have been having conversations like these because honestly, a lot of us american leftists NEED to hear it. The online left and socdems were a lot of our first intro to these ideas, so continuing on into leftism we were building our own beliefs through a flawed framework. I'm finding myself having to unlearn and tear down my previous beliefs because I see now that a lot of what I was saying was built on maintaining the imperial core and advancing my own personal benefit. Seriously, wonderful video Hakim. Gave me a lot to think about and look into.
Same, although as someone who’s a descendant of black slaves, I always looked fondly on the work of groups like the Black Panthers, I still fell into a lot of the traps that result in a western-centered ideology and chauvinism. Learning about dialectical materialism from Luna really helped me to start rebuilding my worldview from a more solid foundation.
I think breadtube is more anti fascist than it is leftist. I think a lot of their most compelling stuff is revealing the way fascist and reactionary views still pervade the west despite going under different names. Because they are often doing an aesthetic analysis discussing fascist culture I think the presentation style of say contrapoints is actually very well suited since presentation itself is the topic.
@@freealter When fascism is as active as it is RIGHT now? We can do both at the same time but I think it DEFINITELY requires a great deal of our attention.
@@lordcownostril331 A material analysis recognizes that fascism’s rise & legitimacy is directly connected to the insufficiencies & oppressive nature of neoliberal ‘democracy’. This sentiment in which people fearmonger about fascism, but don’t equally fearmonger about the violence of neoliberal austerity and privatization, shows that some people are inclined to constantly play catch up with fascism instead of getting down to the material issues underlying it all. We need to rid ourselves of our lingering liberal-minded analysis, otherwise we’ll stay in this perpetual cycle. “When fascism is as active as it is right now” No, no more of this ‘wait for a more convenient time language’. Fight fascism, but be *just* as forceful in establishing an affirmative anti-capitalist materialist-left politics.
@@docan5248 Oh no I agree with you. I’m more so concerned about the fact that the VAST majority of people (at least in the West) are CURRENTLY still misguided by the veil of neoliberalism. I’d argue that that obstacle IS a part of our material conditions, the fact that it is IMMENSELY difficult to infiltrate the minds of the masses and encourage them to exit this cycle. If that’s the case, I’m concerned that our cries for communism fall on deaf ears. Radicalization on that kind of scale is, well...radical. Teaching people to reject the system oppressing us all requires an internal dismantling of that system in their mind. One that I don’t think can be approached by divebombing into that kind of material. Conditions may be far more dire in other parts of the world, but in the West we’re conditioned to ignore even THOSE issues and stay in our bubble. A situation like this requires a unique approach to this kind of education. One that both respects the immediate concerns of fascism that we’re so used to, while also presenting the larger threat.
Love this Hakim. As a western leftist i never realized how white centric our left is until you debated Vaush. It set me on this path of hearing different voices from different comrades like Luna and BRG and now I cant look at our pro-imperialist left the same. Thanks man and solidarity from Chicago.
@@kaseylore How? On what? I haven't been convinced whatsoever. It feels like Luna/Hakim are akın to righties believing their shit smells the best. It seems like they have no ability to fairly criticize the shortcomings of their beliefs.
@@sergiopulido1584 I specifically was a big fan of vaush until recently. What did it for me was when luna was talking about her experience in the vietnamese education system and vaush said "I don't know enough about vietnam so I'm not going to pretend like I do" then after five minutes of wikipedia and googling he started to tell luna how "she doesn't even know her own country lol!". Then watching hakim's videos on vaush where hakim expanded on the theory vaush was misusing, it's pretty obvious that he hadn't read the texts in full and when hakim went onto vaush's stream, vaush straight up said "I didn't watch the second video and I only skimmed the first", it was again, plainly obvious that vaush had no intention of actually listening to the critiques hakim had, and only wanted to maintain his mindset. Probably because he knew he hadn't ready the theory in those videos properly and didn't want to let hakim question him on it on his own stream. Now we move onto today where luna and hakim and having conversations about how the american left acts towards leftists from other countries, and still vaush is saying he "regrets platforming" his fellow leftists while simultaneously platforming the same canadian n*zi twice. Which I personally believe is because when he talks to n*zis, he looks good, but when he speaks to other leftists, he looks bad. He's not interested in changing his beliefs, just about his image like hakim said in this video. So those are the mask off moments for vaush for me, and since listening to luna and hakim, in full, in good faith, no, they don't believe that in the slightest. What you're hearing from them is genuine education and understanding of the topic at hand. They don't think their "shit smells the best", they just have more experience with the theory in question. So when a child opens their mouth with bad information and an adult who specializes in the field corrects them, it's not them being high and mighty, they just know more. You're interpreting that from luna/hakim because you haven't engaged with their educational content in good faith, and have simply had reactionary tendencies towards their content. I urge you to watch hakim's videos on vaush IN GOOD FAITH, and you'll see that hakim is simply just more educated. I'm still learning and analyzing what both hakim and luna have talked about, so while my positions haven't fully changed/are in the middle of shifting, Their content has still absolutely opened my eyes to the issues with american leftists, just like vaush's content did against the issues with socdems. It's ok to learn and grow, to listen to those more educated than you, and it's ok to engage with other leftists in good faith. I'd encourage you to try it sometime.
Great work! I run into this type of issue when talking to other westerners far too often and I think nipping this left anti-communism in the bud is very important here.
Maybe is the universe telling you that stop enriching your master and break your chains? That is what a communist will tell you. And Insta is just a coincidence. Anyway enjoy the video and have a good day
Ngl I don’t have much time or energy to read theory but I also don’t pretend to know everything or have all the answers and definitely think theory’s important
While not a valid substitute for reading, listening to RUclips videos from Hakim and podcasts can go a long way. Rev Left Radio, Proles of the Roundtable, Red Menace are quality podcasts. Finnish Bolshevik is good on RUclips too.
There’s also a RUclipsr called radical review who summarizes political theory books. He’s an anarchist but also talks about plenty of Marxist literature and such.
I live in the UK, and we have also had a period with social democracy. What many social democrats will not tell you is that Britain was still very much a colonialist power during this time and exploited millions in Africa to improve the conditions of the working class at home.
Breadtube softened me up to socialism. Western propaganda makes even open minded people like me have a hard time going anywhere left of Bernie. Funny thing is, that for me at least. I always was a ML to a degree. I just didn't know it yet.
Agreed. It was weird, I basically believed in socialism from when I was a kid. But it felt like a dirty word to associate, so I avoided it until fairly recently. It still sounds weird to call myself, it feels like I'm saying "yeah I'm lazy, evil, entitled, violent, uneducated, and worthless" in my head because of what we've been trained to view it as. I know people who voted for Trump who are socialists underneath the lifetime of conditioning. It's really sad.
I was completely convinced that socialism was wrong and bad and doomed to fail in practice since I was a kid and my grandma said something along those lines just because overall she was really smart and I hadn't yet understood that smart people can be wrong. I remember first finding PhilosophyTube's video on antifa and watching it so hesitantly because I had no idea what antifa even was and I thought I would get in trouble if I was caught watching it, I've come so far XD (The saddest thing, in my opinion, is that the only person who could have "caught" me watching that video is my mom and in reality she's actually almost a leftist, I mean I wouldn't call her a leftist exactly but I definitely wouldn't have been in trouble for watching a video on antifa, I just thought I would be because of my limited knowledge on the subject)
@@everythingcoffee8901 Just goes to show how we are trained to have a visceral, unconscious reaction to anything remotely Left. A kid carving a swastika into a desk or pretending to Sieg Hiel is dismissed as silliness, but if that same kid had carved a hammer and sickle or chanted a stereotypical communist slogan it's seen as going "too far," I think because people think communism is an imminent threat whereas fascism is seen as some old, long dead thing we settled in WW2. I know I got stronger resistance from people who saw me reading Marx in the last few years than people who saw me reading Mein Kampf in high school (never was a Nazi or even remotey close, I was just curious, as kids should be, and I feel curiosity with fascism is seen as forgivable edginess while curiosity with socialism is seen as a serious red flag).
@@Yet.Another.Rapper.KiG.V2 Ok this isn't entirely related but- You read Mein Kampf? Also just curious, I've never read it, I had sort of been planning to, ofc I'm also not a nazi or anything but I thought maybe it could give some insight into the mindset of arguably the most infamous person in history, I mean he's often basically seen as pure evil more than anyone else so is it actually a worthwhile read from that perspective? I definitely don't want to spend money on it if it's only gonna be a bunch of rambling about genocide and white supremacy... now that I think about it I think my mom mentioned having a copy once XD (she's also not a nazi, we're just a bunch of curious non-nazis lol)
Class consciousness is the main problem in the U.S. A lot of the working class considers themselves above working class. They accepted the middle class myth.
One thing I’ve noticed about some bread tubers, Abigail Thorne in particular, is a clear fear that if they talk about revolution they will alienate there mainly upper class English speaking audience. There are multiple philosophytube videos where Abi clearly wants to talk about revelation but feels she will turn her audience so just sort of vaguely says “hey you guys should do something about this” rather than actually laying out concrete goals. The biggest problem with right wing youtube is that the content is made to entertain not to educate. I think the biggest problem with breadtube is it is made to make people more aware of the unfair world they live in while at the same time not showing them how to change it. Consume and move on with your life to the next RUclips video.
Exacrly. If anything, raising awareness of problems without actually outlining clear plans can drive people to the right, because they (pretend to) have a solid plan for the working class, channeled in the form of populist-sounding hucksters like Fucker Carlson.
A ''mainly upper class'' audience??? I don't think you've ever looked at a comment section on her videos. And saying ''uh revolution'' isn't anymore of a concrete plan than saying you should do something about it. A concrete plan would be detailing how exactly this revolution should happen, something you certainly wouldn't talk about on a platform where literally everyone can see you lol.
@@legrandliseurtri7495 You're right, revolution can take many forms. It can be achieved many ways and can be built in many ways... but it is still the solution. Capital R Revolution. And that these breadtubers can't SAY IT, only making half-hearted winks and nudges, is a problem.
While I recognize the importance of being informed on theory, and I have read some, I'm weary of falling down the theory rabbit hole, because I'm worried it will limit my ability to communicate with the less radicalized people around me. I've experienced this before with music. Learning music theory has given me a greater understanding of the mechanics of music, but it has also alienated me from the people who aren't as educated on the subject. I have a hard time communicating my musical perspective to friends and family, because we think of music in completely different terms. Basic ideas that I've long since internalized and take for granted, have to be defined before I can even get to the point I'm trying to make. I've noticed this same thing happening when I read Socialist or Communist theory. I gain a greater understanding of the subject, but I also gain a new vocabulary of uncommon words that now have to be defined and explained before I can even start making headway. That's why I mostly try to learn theory by proxy. Even though your videos are still a bit on the technical side, having someone like you explain Marxist-Lennenist ideals using colloquial language, and with a modern perspective thrown in, allows me understand the subject in a way that I can more easilly pass on to the people around me. I think that's the main benefit of Breadtube: packaging complex leftist ideas for modern viewers. We just need to find more people capable of bridging the gap between intellectual theory and the masses. I'm hoping that your continued growth is an indication that RUclips is ready for a second wave of more radical Breatubers.
Excellent video. Definitely agree with all of these points but there is one thing I would add. Anti-intellectualism is not exclusive to Breadtube folks, it is defiantly a problem in MLM circles aswell. A lot of MLM people will be very hostile to any theory outside of MLM and will view critical theory as "bourgeois" and postmodern theory as the enemy. I think that critical theory (especially that of the Frankfurt school like Adorno and neo-marxist thinkers like Althussier, Debord Gramsci, Zizek, Jameson, as well as postmodernists like Foucault and Baudrillard can be useful for understanding the bizarre socio-political climate we are in. Of course the goal is not only to interpret the world, we have to change it. But in order to change the world, we must understand it. We must understand power, ideology, and how to influence masses we are trying to mobilize. MLM theory can't explain all of that.
Ayyy I love your videos! Thanks for stopping by. I'm on the same page; sadly dogmatism exists on both sides, either with those that really don't want to read or those that are very set in their ways about what is "okay" to read. Having an open-mind is always best, and those that have the time and will to do so should, imo.
@@YaBoiHakim Thanks comrade. 100% agree. Delighted to hear that you watch my videos! Ive been a regular viewer of your content for quite a while. Keep up the great work (:
@@YaBoiHakim I think you will like the most recent one. Its about the more subtle forms of power which western liberal capitalist countries use to control their people (to get people to voluntarily enslave themselves). Self Help culture is one if its many manifestations.
Hey Hakim, I’m from Mexico and right now I’m interested in starting a mutual aid group in my city, we have started doing small work like painting streets, donating food and needs to shelters, but I wanted to ask if there is any theory or work about small organization and plans of action, thanks for the video!
14:56 Totally valid point, also something I’ve noticed. But the thing to bear in mind is that most western leftists in general (at least online) tend to be white middle to upper class folk as well. That’s why their views on foreign policy tend to be very western centric and frequently ignore the agency of non-western working class people who are directly impacted. Often sidelining them in favour of people who already agree with their views.
The reason for that is because upper class people (who are disproportionately white in the west) are the only people with the free time and economic stability to stream or make videos about politics
When I was sick in the hospital with Covid, this channel got me through. I had been introduced to the left by a few other channels, but when I found this one, I couldn't stop listening to it. Since then, I have been reading and informing myself. Thank you for these videos and, especially, thank you for including information on the Black Panthers because representation is very important.
We're seeing progress, these debates are building, I'm happy to see this and hope for a furthering expansion and crystalization; though I do fear the reactionary backlash.
you cited Bolivia (morales) and Chile (Allende) i recommend that you study the Brazilian case since 2014 and the coup D'etat, that eventually led to Bolsonaro's election, with of course, the blessings of the CIA.
@@sergiopulido1584 No, they particularly said that they were completely fine, and had open arms to criticism, provided it wasnt done by bad faith actirs who tries to score cheap moral highground. You clearly didnt watch the interview, because they made that ABUNDANTELY clear
@@degamispoudegamis Westerner is not white nor am I saying anything to do with race. There's a difference between western philosophy and eastern philosophy and that plays a role in our cultures. Luna and Hakim are not westerners. They didn't grow up in any of the Americas. Dumb *****
Thanks for this video Hakim! As a first generation Chinese immigrant I completely agree with what you're saying and my hope now is that breadtube will move more left and people will start to notice their Western biases.
Ever since the bread tube schism of the many vaush controversy’s, I feel that bread tube has had the liberalism wrang out of it like a wet rag. It’s still quite moist but not dripping with liberalism like it once was.
Videos like these remind me of why I am still deeply saddened by Michael Brooks' passing He was able to so succinctly express the importance of building left movements abroad, amongst many other things
This video blackpilled me on how much we overestimate how far we’ve come. How much we have engaged in fruitless debates and obscure topics about a economic system that Hasn’t even been realized yet.
I literally can't believe my own eyes. Did I just find an actual English speaking marxist channel? I am just so tired of stumbling upon one leftist channel after another and after making some decent analysis of the social problems they inevitably devolve into "and that's why I vote for...". As if instead of making the final logical step they do a complete 180 specifically to annoy you. You are really a breath of fresh air.
Hakim is an Iraqi so him being way more radical than most people on Breadtube. Also this comment is a month old so maybe by now you know but just in case, @SecondThought and @Yugopnik are both just as communist as him and both are free at + them 3 have a Marxist-Leninist podcast that’s very fun.
I think it all boils down to American individualism and how it plays into things in America especially and countries influenced by it. The Bourgeois individualism of America is fever pitch and it leads people to 1) Worship themselves and not the community, and 2) Worship demagogues and figures rather than the ideas they spout. Ironically it is they who are in cults of personality, not us
Individualism isn't inherently wrong btw. only bourgoise ideals of individualism are. proletarian individualism is a good liberationist thought (imo) even though it really comes from neo trotskyists
I feel like a lot of the western lefts issues can be boiled down to a lack of imagination. We (including myself) have a hard time imagining how to build revolutionary action, and what the world would look like after, and settle with tamer action that feels more feasible.
I think that it's somehow also very related to escapism. People in the west are pressed for money, but not as pressed that they cannot indulge in large quantities of escapism that the thirld world can simpy not afford. Not to sound like a reactionary, but I have a feeling that a lot of westerners are drowing at least the social-cultural effects of capitalism in copious amounts of alcohol, drugs, tv series and gaming, whereas the average Indian peasant has to face the effects of capitalism head on. Then there is the fact that a large amount of the western population is very icky about any sort of socialist thought experiments because it would mean the aknowledgement of their privileged standing as a labour aristocracy in comparison to thirld world inhabitants, which would mean a decline in the supply of luxury goods under any near socialist scenario as imperialism is done away with.
Your videos helped me get out of that strange ‘Western leftist’ phase. I didn’t stay in it long, but your videos 100% helped me in my understanding of topics such as the USSR, etc. Looking back at it, I’m glad you did. I still support my anarchist comrades but wish they weren’t so vulnerable to propaganda and were more willing to educate themselves.
What is the state of left politics in Iraq? I've been following your videos for a while and I don't think I've ever heard you talk about contemporary issues in your region. What do you think about a return to monarchies for unstable countries until proper education and infrastructure are in place? Lastly, what do you think about Nick Land's work?
so much bourgeois lies saying that nordic countries are happy whilst siphoning off from these further privatization. unfortunately in social democracies they undo the reforms... its reform or revolution..
if just one or two major breadtubers openly praised your work, leftism in america would be in a much better spot. kinda sad that they won't when you think about it. like you said, they play it safe :/
Suburban white kids: Mom can we stop & get _The Conquest of Bread_ Suburban soccer mom: No honey we have _The Conquest of Bread_ at home _The Conquest of Bread_ at home: *Why I Should Be President: Real Hard Choices* by Hillary Clinton.
This was a great video, and I heartily agree. I don't want to give a whole essay about my takes on the American left and how I think a revolution can or should play out in the United States, but here goes. I think a big problem, at least from what I've seen, is an unwillingness from a lot of people to leave their online space and put up with the boring work. No better was this phenomenon demonstrated than when #GeneralStrike was trending on Twitter, and then literally nothing came of it. Because as it turns out there's a lot more to a general strike than just saying you want to do it and then posting about it on Twitter for a few days. Organizing just one workplace is a long and tedious process, nevermind trying to unionize millions of workers across the country, and then coordinating said workers to do a general strike. A really stupid metaphor that I love to use to describe the current state of the online left is "a Scry deck with no win condition". In the game Magic: the Gathering there are cards which allow the player to draw more cards, select specific cards from their deck, etc. In this metaphor, class struggle is like a game of Magic, and drawing cards is like online signal boosting. Using online spaces to communicate socialist ideas can grow class consciousness and give people the information necessary to carry out a revolution just as the spell Divination can add powerful cards to your hand. But the thing about Magic is that you can't win with a deck that only has Divinations. No matter how many cards you have in your hand, you still need mana to cast them, creatures to deal damage, enchantments to provide buffs, and instants to counter your opponent. The online left is stuck in an endless cycle of casting Divination while struggling to build up its early-game board. And while there are people who are out there doing meaningful work, there aren't nearly enough right now. I volunteer for a tenant union, and we only get maybe three or four guys showing up to canvass every time we go out. If even a fraction of the leftists I see posting Mao memes and guillotine GIFs online showed up to help, we'd have the half the metro area organized and in revolt by the end of the month! I don't know if my experiences and observations are representative of the actual state of the American and online left, but I do think it's important to get people out and active, even if it's just to do the little things. Using platforms not to elevate creators and personalities, but to encourage people to join organizations and participate in actions. TL;DR Online information spreading, electoral politics, etc can be useful tools, but the American left is struggling because of its inability and/or resistance to expanding its capacities beyond those tools.
The tragedies of Corbyn's campaign is the most painful memories of my life. I can't express how disappointed I am in humanity with how this wonderful person was mistreated by corporate, capitalist media. Imagine how better our world would be if he won, man.
I'll have to disagree on some of that, social democracy while they ruled would have been great for the workers of both the US and UK, but It would have been a short period until a social liberal and/or conservative came along and threw It all down the toilet. And Internationally Corbyn would have been great and a friend to all opressed in the world probably to my knowledge, but with Sanders I am not so sure, he voted for the intervention in Yugoslavia and let's be real, the "stablishment" of the US is too much to take on by winning an election, that is why we need marxism and revolutionary socialism!
The left makes a resurgence in the labour party every 30 years or so and each time it's quelled.. I've been reading S A R by Lenin and it seems kinda apt 103 years later.
@@SealandBall For real man, that election was so disappointing for us leftists... I can't believe the UK still votes for the Conservative government. Absolutely heartbreaking.
@@Wackaz it’s the culture war shit and because the leading western nations are so much better than the leading socialist nations at propaganda. It’s hard to build socialism in your country when the ruling class of your country has such an easy time smearing socialism by connecting it to some bad decision another socialist country made.
As a small "practical" corollary for point 3, for people with ADHD or other attention issues: I've found that listening to a lot of classic works of theory can be very helpful for retention, as well as reading secondary literature (to have a perspective you can criticise/critically support). Please do not let your condition (completely) define your understanding or your future. Thank you for the great video Hakim! While I don't always agree with you, I deeply value your work and perspective from my (relatively privileged) perspective in the imperial core. Much love!
If you're someone who watches Breadtube, you should ask yourself what exactly it is you're getting out of it. If you're genuinely learning a lot from the videos, it's quite likely that the videos are engaged with topics from books. Read those books with the video as a supplement and you'll grow far more than you would by just clicking play on another video.
Not everyone is neurotypical. I have a great deal of concentrating while reading and find the material much easier to engage with and digest while watching in video essay form.
@@Nanook128 Me too! I’ve got ASD and ADD but I succeed in reading theory because I use video essays as a supplement when I need help. I also joined online reading groups to help me by giving me space to ask questions. Reading is *not* impossible and there are resources!
Honestly, while I haven't really looked at "Breadtube" or more specifically the subreddit, I think you make a good point that "Breadtube" as we know it is largely the shallow end of the metaphorical pool. You can paddle around and get in and out easy, but you aren't learning how to actually SWIM. And something that HAS been bugging me about this is that after I watch one of those videos, a fundamental question isn't answered: "So what do I have to do?" Do I quit my job and throw myself into advocacy as a career? Do I give up other stuff like my hobbies so I can survive at my job while still furthering the cause? Do I have to learn how to shoot a gun? I'm scared to even DRIVE! What am I supposed to actually be doing?!
Survive, dont give up and continue living while thinking positivly and staying true to yourself. It's a hard, annoying and extreamly exhausting way to live but no matter how often you fail continue on because you owe it to yourself to never give up.
Best thing to do is to find some time you have available and check out what activist groups exist in your region. Don’t give up anything for these groups initially (if they expect you to that’s a red flag), just go to a few events and see what you make of them before you make any commitments
I am often called a "debate bro" because I call out lies, and that I am more objective when it comes to fact, discourse, views. I am actually beginning to think that the large majority of people do not even care about being objective or be nuanced when it comes to fact and discourse. I don't know what caused this... It's like they fish for a debate, but it's like to debate have some self value for them, idk... (I am not austic or something like that, I have done multiple check ups there, because I began to wonder myself)
The best thing western lefttubers can do is use their "clout" for good. With every topic they discuss on which they espouse a US-centric or western Europe-centric perspective, they should do right by their audience and recommend nonwestern creators, both as a way of encouraging their western audience to broaden their horizons but also as an acknowledgment of their viewers in the third world (hello). It's better than trying to tackle issues on which they may have a less developed view, and it trains their audience to let voices from the third world lead the conversations.
Thank you for bringing to light the problems of how dominated the Leftist conversation is by western specific dialogue. Tbh, it's refreshing to hear as someone from a third world country trying to make things better
As someone who loves listening to philosophy, I appreciate your well thought out and articulate videos. I don’t consider myself a socialist or communist, but I appreciate your effort to educate the masses.
I appreciate Vaush because whenever he would beef with other leftist youtubers I would discover a new and highly thoughtful creator on this platform. After all, this is how I found both Hakim & Yugopnik
I would like it if the big BreadTubers would shout-out more of the smaller channels. They are a good gateway with their movie analysis and fancy visuals. You can show smth like PhilosophyTube to someone who's basically a complacent centrist and they will probably agree with most and be more open to Leftist politics afterwards. But the process shouldn't stop there.
Appreciate these videos brother. Been lurking around Breadtube for almost a year at this point, while also watching YUGOPNK, EcoGecko, and a couple other good youtubers and couldn't quite find out why I couldn't stand watching Hasan and Vaush try and weasel their Democratic party support under socialists noses, while also ridiculing those attempting to actually put pressure on the left wing. This video perfectly explains my reluctance to fully agree with them on some issues in American politics; way too much faith in capitalism whilst it's been failing this country for years.
All I got from the online western left was a realisation that they don't see the rest of the world as human beings the way they see themselves. That I'd say is the interpersonal primary contradiction. As always, thanks for your videos.
Hakim, I think that a mass movement needs to be built through elections, of socialist candidates of course. Saying "oh just build 'duel power'" is a thing I hear a lot of internet people say who have never actually organized in real life. And waving away any strategy that involves elections as "electoralism" (I hate that word!) is unproductive.
I hear what you're saying, but I think the larger point from Hakim 'Building support abroad' also addresses this point. America as the last bastion of capitalism amongst a sea of other economic structures wouldn't have the 'clout' to last terribly long...
As an American I for one can say without a doubt in my mind that your perspective doesn't go unnoticed by people like me. I was radicalized at an early age. but by the ethos of Libertarian-Conservative conspiracism topics. Bread-tube further along that radicalization with more honest and intellectual takes on the ill's of our world and time. Overall I would say there isn't anyone who would change my mind about how imminently screwed we all are, and I will always feel trapped in a world headed head first towards a brick wall that I can't pump the brakes.
Media analysis can be a great tool to understand social issues though. I recommend Aph Ko's “Racism as zoological witchcraft : a guide to getting out” as a good example of this. Media is in its very nature popular, and hence can be very insightful on the population.
I would like to make an argument for anti-intellectualism, I am saying this as somebody who values intellectualism as a human virtue, and is arguably an intellectual themselves. One of the biggest obstacles to democracy is bureaucracies; even if you have the best of intentions, your actions can become nullified, redirected, or leveraged, or escalated by bureaucratic intervention. a bureaucratic society is leveraged by those who know how to work the system, regardless of their ideologies. and those intellectuals can come to control what is taught, how education is distributed, and what skills are necessary to participate in society. The most extreme version of this are the philosopher kings that Plato inspired. intelligent people aren't necessarily good people, or are asking the right questions. Intellectuals may blind themselves to inconvenient information to rationalize something they already agree with (for example how Marx overlooked colonialism as a threat to democracy, because he benefited from it). Even if other intellectuals are smart enough not to take everything at face value, a society that places intellectualism on a pedestal may allow intellectuals to control their fate to avoid this fate, it would be best to make society as intuitive as possible, make politics idiot-proof; make sure that no individual voice can influence a community without their participation. it is a society that WILL make mistakes, since people wouldn't be obligated to listen to intellectuals; but a society that is tolerant to mistakes, where mistakes can't spiral out of control, can not only be as free as possible, but also safe and stable. Intellectuals are still important to perform specialized jobs like medicine, and they are also entrusted to dispense accurate information about such topics; but ultimately the actions they propose are subject to democracy, even if it shoots the community in the foot. There are a lot of things people have to think about to participate in society; social relations, skills, identity, government, ideology, entertainment: when there is so much to think about, it becomes harder to give any particular subject the time and care necessary to reflect on it. it is ultimately an economy of time; the more we have, the more we can spend on things that matter, and the better quality of our experiences in relation to the truth. I don't know if somebody else has these ideas as well, but if not, I call this idea Neo-primitivism.
i know this is flooding the comments but your critiques have opened my eyes to so many things about my views as a western leftist (ever since you debated vaush). thank you for helping me, along with many others, further along our political path and ripping off the training wheels
Talking about people who don't "read theory": "it's not just just a bunch of white guys" Talking about Breadtube: "it's just a bunch of white guys" Joking aside, I feel like this critique of the "American Western Social Media Left" is weird. The rest of the video is pretty good, as always, but there is a greater discussion to be having about the multiple cores of leftist thought. And it's not something that could be boiled down to "the smart guys" versus "the anti-intellectualists". Look, there are people who refuse to read everywhere. There are Marxist-Leninists who refuse to even consider the existence of libertarian socialism, or read Malatesta. There are trotskyists who despise any form of self-critique of any movement. I've met people who consider Foucault a joke without reading his works because, well, it's "counter-revolutionary". Heck, even if you do read, the idea that you will in fact absorb from it can differ from one person to another. And even if Breadtube as a social phenomenon doesn't recite State & Revolution because they are too busy critiquing Kamala's racist policies, you have to understand that it is their verbal space. Their frontiers. It's like an easy mode, which should prepare people to read more and be more invested in the systematic improvement of our society, or maybe not. Which is the other thing that should be said. Many on the left are pretty much more interested in other fields than in the pure political studies. I study linguistics, so there is not a lot that Lenin can add to my field. Instead, I look at other marxist authors like Bakhtin to realize my own revolutionary vision within its bounds. The same can be said about Law, about Medicine, about Psychology. Our approach must also consider how our voices reach the working class.
It seems to me that every "non-political" interest of mine will eventually hit politics. Inevitably. They can be more interested in say, art or economics, but if you're creating serious content in a given area of study, it won't be long until you see the wider political implications of your interests.
I'm very glad you made a video about this, I'm getting more and more tired of getting my leftist news and discussion from people like Vaush and Xanderhal, as much as I used to be big fans of theirs. It honestly feels like I started leftism with them, but did not stop moving as they did. I do admittedly enjoy some of their content, but anything about the left from them is an immediate click-away. Additionally, thank you for your content! You have given me hope for the online left and the motivation to do things in my community. I'd like to start with making an ML book club.
Theory is great and all, but the lack of actual policy is why nothing has changed. Telling the worker class to “read theory and be smarter” is like telling a dog to learn how to play dead. They aren’t doing it themselves, and good luck convincing them why. Plus policy is how you actually change the world. Yet I see less policy compared to even theory, yet breadtube gives talking points involving actual change and policies, not theory.
I feel like Breadtube is best understood as a kiddie pool. It's not bad for those starting out, but it's something *will* outgrow and move beyond if you're at all serious in your beliefs. Change will come from action and organization in the real world, not from anything done or said on RUclips. It's also, I think, important to recognize that "Breadtube" itself is a label applied to a group of channels that are only loosely-affiliated with each other in the first place. They don't interact or coordinate that much, they're each pretty much doing their own thing, and they have a range of differing views and ideas of what needs to be done.
Hakim you have slowly crawled your way into becoming one of my favorite leftist content creators here on RUclips. Brilliant videos like this only seem to reinforce this notion.
Its beyond doubt that revolution is inevitable for advancing socialism. But inorder to materialise revolution left should be popular and supported by masses. I think its difficult to popularise left without participating in electoral politics. First and foremost we need a sizable mass to radicalize.
I don't think voting will fundamentally change the world or even most countries, however voting will legitimize socialism in a few people's minds and can create some real improvements in some people's lives. Health insurance isn't socialism, no, but not paying a full mortgage on a particularly nice house is better for poor or even "middle" class people who suddenly develop a serious illness or injury. It won't bring a revolution but it can improve people's lives in real meaningful ways. Just don't make it the only thing you do.
I agree with you that overdoing social critic rather than pursuing economic change is damaging the left, but you did make a video about how Aladdin is racist
I love your videos! I saw your interview on Luna oi. Those was a good video. I’m always learning and not well read yet but this much I know is true. Nice to hear someone else say it out loud.
I do think breadtube can do some good in terms of winning over a generation of young progressive liberals to take their first tiptoes into socialist ideas, but I completely agree with you that it's a major issue that people don't take the next steps that follow in terms of joining organizations, reading theory, etc. Even if you don't want to sit down and read a book there are ways to learn. People can and do make videos explaining theory, you can listen to audiobooks while going about your day, you can join a study group, etc. Very good video comrade, thank you for being a reasonable Marxist voice on RUclips.
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Hi there! I hope everyone is well. This video is a cursory glance at some of the issues of the Western left as I see them. It isn't meant to be all exhaustive, and a lot more can be said. Still, I think this is useful for those that have encountered these errors and haven't had the time to think up proper responses to them. That's all for today, love you all!
*Sources:*
Divided World Divided Class: Global Political Economy and the Stratification of Labour Under Capitalism by Zak Cope
The Wealth of (some) Nations: Imperialism and the Mechanics of Value Transfer by Zak Cope
globalvoices.org/2019/12/24/8-west-african-countries-rename-currency-in-historic-break-from-france-but-colonial-era-taxes-persist/
www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/may/24/world-is-plundering-africa-wealth-billions-of-dollars-a-year
blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2017/07/12/the-cfa-franc-french-monetary-imperialism-in-africa/
nypost.com/2021/03/22/way-more-rich-people-dodge-taxes-than-are-caught-study/
www.oxfam.org/en/inequality-and-poverty-hidden-costs-tax-dodging
www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-world-inequality-report-20171215-story.html
www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6?r=US&IR=T
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/18/silence-us-backed-coup-evo-morales-bolivia-american-states
www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/world/americas/chile-coup-cia-museum.html
www.independent.co.uk/voices/how-nhs-being-dismantled-10-easy-steps-10474075.html
www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/04/uk-government-using-crisis-to-transfer-nhs-duties-to-private-sector
www.forbes.com/sites/camilomaldonado/2018/07/24/price-of-college-increasing-almost-8-times-faster-than-wages/?sh=1fb7cf0066c1
physics.umd.edu/~yakovenk/econophysics/
*Videos recommended:*
Unequal Exchange - Hakim:
ruclips.net/video/4lDZaKjfs4E/видео.html&
Paul Cockshott:
ruclips.net/video/XyxnG2ck-sw/видео.html
Yugopnik:
ruclips.net/video/KGP5ywPDJGs/видео.html
Daniel Torres:
ruclips.net/video/vieXwYpGRUg/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/VIXksTpJS98/видео.html
*Books recommended:*
Black Against Empire by Joshua Bloom
Classical Econophysics by Yakovenko and Cockshott
Against The Market by David McNally
Divided World, Divided Class by Zak Cope
The Wealth of Some Nations by Zak Cope
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Lenin
Unequal Exchange by Emmanuel Arghiri
The Law of Worldwide Value by Samir Amin
Unequal Development by Samir Amin
Reform or Revolution by Luxemburg
BASED! INSHALLAH
Thanks
Thanks Hakim for these sources
No this Is bot not facts
Mashallah habibi keep the great content coming and all the luck in the world in your endeavors in Iraq. La Ilaha Il Allah comrade.
Great video. I definitely struggle with expanding my videos beyond US-centric problems, and that’s something I hope to improve on. Keep up the good work ❤️
I love your work!
Man, Second Thought watching Hakim is so damn awesome! I love larger channels supporting smaller channels. Hopefully he sees your comment :)
Interesting to see you here.
i love you and hakim
Never would've thought Second Thought would watch Hakim, you've earned yourself another supporter, comrade!
Trump called Biden a radical socialist, BIDEN, the shining example of neoliberalism of the “free world”, class consciousness here will take a long time. I live in Florida and talk with people about the state of the working class and they agree it’s fucked up, but when I talk about socialist ideas they say no no we can’t do that. We have a looot of work to do here.
I don't know, man. I don't think America will ever reach class consciousness if so many people are able to believe that. The ruling class is too strong here.
@@christiaanstephan4387 Keep in mind the popular support Bernie Sanders had, both with liberals and even with independents and conservatives. Sure, he and his social democratic platforms are not the end-all be-all, but he has done a great job cleaning up the word "socialism." We have a lot of fascists and a lot of proto-fascists, but we also have a lot of progressive liberals and a small but increasing amount of leftists.
I think of one of the most important things we can do for the Culture War (TM) is fight Wokescoldery (TM). Radlibs have hijacked the megaphone of the American Left and made us out to be irrational, alienating reactionaries.
try not mentioning "naughty" words like socialism and communism
try talking about how the working class should have the power, not the "dc elites" and "big tech", use their own language
@@idkdk569 this is good advice. I recall reading in Castro's autobiography that during the revolution, they had not used words like "communism" nor identified openly as communist because these words had just bad connotations in Cuba due to the constant barrage of anti-left propaganda.
It is absolutely possibly to organize and even revolt without using the words that trigger a bad Pavlovian response in people. This is why I support BLM, Veterans for Peace and worker's co-op initiatives so much, because they all boil down to wanting the same things that I as a socialist also want, but without openly identifying as any particular leftist ideology.
It's a similar problem here in Britain, but it's the duty of those of us with a semblance of class consciousness to do the work.
Yah I was introduced to leftism by breadtube, as we're many others, so I think it can be a good introduction, but that's about it. My movement towards radical leftism is something I had to do on my own. I think we as a :community" need to make more videos on radical topics, and push many breadtube leftist viewers even further left. Great video as always Hakim.
That's exactly my thought-path as well. Nice to see you here habibi
@@YaBoiHakim Nice to be here :)
Like the alt right pipeline, but good lol
Same here vaush open the gate for me and I just went further Left from there
I was initially enthralled by Breadtube but the further i got involved with my ML party, the more disappointing and grifting a lot of Breadtube started to become for me
Even in European social democracies the concessions made by the ruling class are always pushed back, I'm Portuguese and in the last 20 years worker's rights and even our healthcare have started to deteriorate. This is to say that people who think that just by achieving these basic things, as good as they are for the workers, they're ignoring the suffering imposed on the people of the global South, and the bourgeois are still going to fight tooth and nail to take it away too
Verdade. And neo fascist movements take advantage of people's discontent pinning the blame on immigrants/ black/ roma whilst supporting big corporations. Point in case today, the closeness between the *social-democrat* party and the fascists.
@Karl Marx never said that.. what do you mean?
@Karl Marx the communist party of Portugal is the party of the working class in Portugal (PCP), Marxist Leninist party. The PCP has had right wing deviations in the past but they've since gotten back on track. The material conditions in Portugal are studied and the party has their own revolutionary tactics tailored to those conditions. They also cooperate with worker's syndicates and with workers on the ground, most members work in bourgeois enterprises. The party also has a presence in parliamentary politics as opposition to bourgeois politics and also has had a major role in the creation of the Portuguese constitution.
@@dabibibibibi455
I'm not a big fan of the communist party of portugal. Socially speaking they are more conservative than the left block (they will often abstain or vote against issues such as LGBT rights, abortion and recently euthanasia, although i read their defense of their opposition to euthanasia and actually respect their view on it, although i obviously disagree).
It is true to say that they played a revolutionary role very early on after the carnation revolution. The Portuguese constitution WAS potentially the most radically left wing ever written in a western liberal democracy, thanks to them (for others reading, if you are familiar with UK politics, the thing that made it so radical was that it had in it an equivalente to labour's now abandoned clause 4, on a COUNTRY'S CONSTITUTION). However, that constitution has been scrapped and replaced after they did a failed coup de ta in 1975 (am fuzzy on this part of history so feel free to correct me) As of right now it is my view that they don't do much of anything, and for reasons of being more socially progressive i would throw my vote in with the left block if i had to, although i'm not a huge fan of them either.
Feel free to correct me if i got anything wrong.
@@sophiefoley2378 anyone who would be against those three things is hopelessly conservative and either religiously dominated or fundamentalist or straight up fascist. These are the COMMUNISTS in your country you say??
Mashallah daddy Hakim has uploaded.
Mashallah Naheed has commented
@@YaBoiHakim mashallah daddy Hakim replied
Alhamdurallah even 😳
ANA BADEF SHWEYETARABI MOOMNIHECTIR
❤❤❤
I feel that breadtube just boils people up, but has no release. We just keep talking instead of doing and by not establishing ourselves is the main reason why we fail
it is cute and refreshing seeing especially in the US and young people publicly using the word "socialism" often yes, but the reality is that, what after150years?this road-of-thought never even left the state of misunderstanding *basic* word definitions, like, outside academia, .... why? because itb is *still* caught up and blindly playing role in group-identy teamsports culture...the antagonistic, competitive market•neurosis...("capitalism") ...people understandably are craving for identity, ..well at least its a way to raise political awareness. otherwise needless, at best.
#findpeterjoseph
@Very Sad nazis do this kind of shit too,where they tell you the world sucks and there is nothing you can do about it. This often leads to extreme behavior due to the right wingers like crowder not wanting to lead them. So they shoot up synagogues,collect blackmail,get swastika tattoos etc. I have a feeling that some leftist are gonna start doing stuff like this very soon.
@@roseclouds5838 Join an organization in the REAL world I am sure the UK has plenty
@@figurefiguras4104The UK isn't the real world
As a result I think it leads to people releasing their anger on other leftubers, or looking of comfortable RUclipsrs that has reactionary ideologies but leftist aesthetics.
Thank you to everyone that joined me for the premier! I know it was out of nowhere; last minute I decided to give the feature a run just to get the hang of it. I plan on doing more with it in the future of course, so stay tuned. Love you all!
Appreciate your critique. Here's hoping you reach 100k.
Next time maybe get some of your buds like yugo or morrin etc. to serve as mods though...
@@carlos_herrera I'll definitely get some people from the community to be mods, no worries :)
@@YaBoiHakim since I have your attention briefly thanks for what you do it's really important
@@carlos_herrera You're too kind, thank you.
Problem 108:
The tendency for leftists (both online, and IRL) to engage in a perpetual pissing-contests over who's read more theory, as though left-politics were a competitive sport in which the person with the most free-time and/or largest personal library is the most qualified to formulate opinions on policy, tactics, or theory.
Its because of how education and self critism is esential to society.
No system is perfect, POINT.
Utopias are imposible.
Socialism wont fix all and has its own problems as corruption happens.
So, Pushing for more education and discusion is inportant.
Conflict is the nature of the world, when you acept that and see everyone else not as a pompusr ashole but as someone expresing themselves you can begin to engage and discuse.
Ovbiously, not all argument will be with good faith or argument.
This is why confrintation and education is important, so this ideas are challenge and drop.
Just looking how trump got people to inject themselves bleach tells you about american state.
@@ericquiabazza2608 the thing about all of that is that at the end of the day, its all theory, and of course the oh so popular response is that any failures in practicing such theory were not due to the theories themselves, but the execution of it. theories are great, but they need to be able to be executed more properly, or at least less corruptly. The free market economy, known as capitalism, has been executed much better than than any example of socialism. Is there a large gap between the poor and working class, and the elites? yes; you are going to get that with every system though. when systems are more and more centralized, you are only giving more power to those elites.
I feel like this argument was preempted by the Anti-Intellectualism segment at *10:46* , down to the dubious suggestion that it's a matter of privilege that the poorer struggle to attain. In fact, people living in privileged positions aren't at all used to being given reading regarding politics, since they've been raised not to engage with them at all beyond maybe voting
@@vanguard6937 The argument that _every_ system will produce class divides only betrays the ignorance of the one making it: Literally every other system in history has been explicitly predicated on class division, and _only_ socialism/communism is predicated entirely on the abolition of the very means of creating class divisions
@Gray El entrenador Pokémon I saw what you did there 😂
Despite our ideological differences, I'm glad you made this video. Good work, Hakim!
Thank you!
What are your views?
@@whythelongface64 Left-wing anarchist
I've got a hell of a lot more respect for you than radlib larpers calling ML's red faschies
@@alonsoarana5307 Yeah. To be clear, I believe tankies are a problem on the left (those who worship authority and will jump to defend anything with the aesthetics of power as long as they call themselves communist). But, of course, not all MLs and Maoists are necessarily tankies.
I was a social democrat until reading "reform or revolution". What you said is very much true, theory is essential. Having said that I really need to read some more haha
Books that changed much of my views:
State and Revolution - Lenin (trust me, this is mindblowing stuff)
No Logo - Naomi Klein (more proof of that neoliberalism is totalitarian, and identity politics is a corporate and ideological fraud)
History Will Absolve Me - Fidel Castro (its like a must read if you want a foundation about the cuban revolution)
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks - Louis Barthas (very interesting point of view, a socialist soldier in ww1, gruesome stuff)
@@The80sWolf_ History will absolve me is practically Cuban propoganda.
Start or join a reading group if you can. reading group builds a solid social foundation for your group to organize as everyone learns to disagree and debate without tearing each other down the way debatebros do(since the goal is to learn rather than to win a debate), reading groups get folks into a better mindframe, learning theory in a group can be much more informative than learning by yourself, and a reading group is an activity the group can do even if they're unsure or unable to do other actions.
@@TheInfinitecheese thanks for the tip! I usually debate philosophy, critical theory, religion and such with a few friends of mine and it is really productive but actually discussing certain books would be really cool
@@sergiopulido1584 good
Breadtube is what got me into socialism in the first place. 4 years ago I was a liberal who thought of socialism as a cool theory, but not not useful in practice. Today I would consider myself as a Marxist-Leninist. I think breadtube makes for a good introduction to anti-capitalism. Ideas can take some time to fully take hold in someones mind
Agreed. I feel while the concept of Breadtube is nebulous and encompasses far too many varying voices that dance around different degrees of radicalization to even make it a concrete thing, it existing as a general guideline for greater theory to take root is still a very much appreciated source on the web. Sure, it’s glitzy and glamorous and even a little shallow as far as certain anti-capitalist content goes, but at least it still acts as an introductory diving board for people like us to stumble upon. This was a great video in detailing how much better it could be though and glad we can all find our way through various outlets!
@UCYZONik5ZycMXYJDLiVFYjw What is breadtube and how can you assure that they discourage people from becoming a Marxist-Leninist? It's obvious if you look at the comments that breadtube is clearly getting your feet wet on the leftist topics and opens the door for many people into actually becoming radicalized. People will and will not be radicalized by different things and Marxism-Leninism is just one of the many ideologies that are to the far left, so it's pretty disengenous to believe that breadtube has no effect on wether or not some radicalizes.
@@Weighty68 I think you hit a good point, namely that the problem of breadtube isn't what it is, but rather what it is perceived to be. Breadtube isn't some coalition of radical leftist thought, it's just (usually) highly produced anti-capitalist or anti-liberalism sentiment that is very palatable to liberals. I think this is a pretty important component to radicalizing more westerners, which can only strengthen the numbers of class conscious folks going around spreading the message.
@@TheMrQuepe i think a lot of them are explicitly against MLs and advocate more for "democratic" reform and working within electoral parties which hasn't even gotten the left anything
@D H lol i respect your point, but "tankie" is such a stupid word
High quality as usual. This tendency in the Western Left is something I've noticed, and it is incredibly counterproductive for organization. Trying to figure out a way to start introducing Mao to the circles I run with as he has some of the best writing on how to overcome common problems with basic organizing.
Hakim is like Adam Curtis for Far Leftists, and I absolutely love it. The filmmaking here is top notch, so beautiful, dazzling and nostalgic, alongside Hakim's simple yet effective writing and talking! Phenomenonal man, keep being the best on the platform.
Adam Curtis, but without the pervasive nihilism and internalized passivity induced by the modern "systems of power" (his favorite technical term). Hey, can we also recommend Prolekult here? Him and Hakim are, as far as I'm aware, the most prominent voices of Marxism-Leninism here on RUclips.
This is genuinely really lovely feedback habibi, thank you.
@@YaBoiHakim was gunna say getting major Adam Curtis vibes, love it!
@@YaBoiHakim That's so wholeheartedly wonderful to hear, I'm super glad my friend! You're most welcome Hakim, keep up the fantastic work brother :)
@@samstewart6087 Yay, yeah exactly! I'm glad you see the inspiration and vibes man. I absolutely love it too. It's really nice to meet a fellow fan! :)
7:40 Vaush literally agreed with all of this when he talked with you. Yet he got pissed when you pointed out that he contradicted this with Luna.
Exactly, I feel like all of the conflict is based on misunderstanding in both parties.
@@bimmovieproductions6352 No, the "misunderstanding" is only in one party.
Vaush is pretty inconsistent, and his community is cancer. I’m sorry, but maybe Vaush is bade...
@@june4135 he is not inconsistent, he just changed some beliefs over time
@@june4135 I only ever watch vaush for entertainment especially when he confronts nazis and talks with “American left wingers” like destiny. As horrible as vaush’s community is I still think it’s paramount to defend against the right wing terminal cancer that has metastasized in the world. I appreciate that Hakim has extended courtesy to vaush directly during their convos but god damn vaush’s community is infantile
Thankyou so much for this video, as an african living in france, it affirms my anger towards the bullshit in the western world. Europe's socialism comes from the suffering of black people, period.
Unfortunately a lot of the left wing movement in North America has this same problem. People fear that we will beclme a Third World country and seek greater gains for the working class so as to maintain our elevated position rather than express solidarity with socialist movements outside of the imperial core.
"europes socialism comes from suffering of black people" what?
@@WM-gf8zm I belive he means social democracy, and hes 100% right. Their standard of living in europe is very high... how? I mean the population is growing, but the standard of living is increasing. How? If people are doing less work and having more free things in a capitalist system, how is it possible for the actual standard of living to increase when the same amount, if not more, work needs to be done. It's because they exploit the poorer countries
@@jimmyje5608 to reword it, europe isnt socialist. Its capitalist hellhole and some countries have better social platforms. Its not really increasing, more like getting as crappy as before. Friend in sweden cant get her medications cause its not profitable to sell them in her area.
The way they get money is mostly Oil, German imperialism & not just black but all people of europe and arabs who are exploited as proletariat
@@WM-gf8zm the thing I don’t get about hardcore socialism is the failure to link sweatshops and the export of manual labor to capitalism in and of itself. The export of hard labor is for the original country to continue expanding its living standards and consumption of goods because things don’t last forever. Thus in small countries this labor is exported to other places. While more profits is certainly a role that increases this exchange, nowhere do I see it being the sole cause. In socialism constant production of products is still needed, and the host country’s workforce - which is already working jobs, can’t possibly handle the extra exported jobs to reasonably function, and so in a fully socialist (communist, rather, as I assume this is a socialist theory nation rather than specifically economic socialism) jobs still must be exported to other places, and of course those are going to be the hard labor jobs not out of greed but of a need to avoid working said hard labor. If this doesn’t happen small country’s economy crumbles into a smaller, poorer economy solely based on their own population, which may not be fair to those in third world countries because this also cripples international trade that is fueled by exporting jobs and ends up leaving countries in a worse economic state than before.
We can even see this in historical examples of the implementation of socialism, with Lenin and Stalin needing to cripple their own economy to force a vast majority of people into hard labor workers and rebuild their economy from the ground up. Since other capitalist nations existed because you can’t snap a finger and make everything socialist instantly, this meant keeping money around still, and of course the government hoarded said money for emergency purposes, and suddenly we are in a near authoritarian labor state. Take Venezuela as a secondary example, or China (I know it isn’t actually fully communist but it attempted and got corrupted). I’m certainly not saying socialism is evil as I myself am a socialist capitalist, but socialism in and of itself doesn’t solve the exporting of hard labor without turning your own country into a labor camp.
I'm glad creators like yourself and Luna have been having conversations like these because honestly, a lot of us american leftists NEED to hear it. The online left and socdems were a lot of our first intro to these ideas, so continuing on into leftism we were building our own beliefs through a flawed framework. I'm finding myself having to unlearn and tear down my previous beliefs because I see now that a lot of what I was saying was built on maintaining the imperial core and advancing my own personal benefit. Seriously, wonderful video Hakim. Gave me a lot to think about and look into.
Same, although as someone who’s a descendant of black slaves, I always looked fondly on the work of groups like the Black Panthers, I still fell into a lot of the traps that result in a western-centered ideology and chauvinism. Learning about dialectical materialism from Luna really helped me to start rebuilding my worldview from a more solid foundation.
I think breadtube is more anti fascist than it is leftist. I think a lot of their most compelling stuff is revealing the way fascist and reactionary views still pervade the west despite going under different names. Because they are often doing an aesthetic analysis discussing fascist culture I think the presentation style of say contrapoints is actually very well suited since presentation itself is the topic.
Anti-fascism is nice but we can’t spend all of our time critiquing fascism. We need to talk about communism.
@@freealter When fascism is as active as it is RIGHT now? We can do both at the same time but I think it DEFINITELY requires a great deal of our attention.
@@lordcownostril331 A material analysis recognizes that fascism’s rise & legitimacy is directly connected to the insufficiencies & oppressive nature of neoliberal ‘democracy’. This sentiment in which people fearmonger about fascism, but don’t equally fearmonger about the violence of neoliberal austerity and privatization, shows that some people are inclined to constantly play catch up with fascism instead of getting down to the material issues underlying it all. We need to rid ourselves of our lingering liberal-minded analysis, otherwise we’ll stay in this perpetual cycle. “When fascism is as active as it is right now” No, no more of this ‘wait for a more convenient time language’. Fight fascism, but be *just* as forceful in establishing an affirmative anti-capitalist materialist-left politics.
@@docan5248 Oh no I agree with you. I’m more so concerned about the fact that the VAST majority of people (at least in the West) are CURRENTLY still misguided by the veil of neoliberalism. I’d argue that that obstacle IS a part of our material conditions, the fact that it is IMMENSELY difficult to infiltrate the minds of the masses and encourage them to exit this cycle. If that’s the case, I’m concerned that our cries for communism fall on deaf ears.
Radicalization on that kind of scale is, well...radical. Teaching people to reject the system oppressing us all requires an internal dismantling of that system in their mind. One that I don’t think can be approached by divebombing into that kind of material. Conditions may be far more dire in other parts of the world, but in the West we’re conditioned to ignore even THOSE issues and stay in our bubble. A situation like this requires a unique approach to this kind of education. One that both respects the immediate concerns of fascism that we’re so used to, while also presenting the larger threat.
I did really like contrapoint’s video about facist talking points and gender and such, but yes, it is the time to talk more about theory
You and Luna have called out a lot of my preconceived notions. Thanks! 😊
Love this Hakim. As a western leftist i never realized how white centric our left is until you debated Vaush. It set me on this path of hearing different voices from different comrades like Luna and BRG and now I cant look at our pro-imperialist left the same.
Thanks man and solidarity from Chicago.
Solidarity from Knoxville comrade!
I'm on this EXACT same path, hakim and luna really changed my perspective on things.
@@kaseylore How? On what? I haven't been convinced whatsoever. It feels like Luna/Hakim are akın to righties believing their shit smells the best.
It seems like they have no ability to fairly criticize the shortcomings of their beliefs.
@@sergiopulido1584 I specifically was a big fan of vaush until recently. What did it for me was when luna was talking about her experience in the vietnamese education system and vaush said "I don't know enough about vietnam so I'm not going to pretend like I do" then after five minutes of wikipedia and googling he started to tell luna how "she doesn't even know her own country lol!".
Then watching hakim's videos on vaush where hakim expanded on the theory vaush was misusing, it's pretty obvious that he hadn't read the texts in full and when hakim went onto vaush's stream, vaush straight up said "I didn't watch the second video and I only skimmed the first", it was again, plainly obvious that vaush had no intention of actually listening to the critiques hakim had, and only wanted to maintain his mindset. Probably because he knew he hadn't ready the theory in those videos properly and didn't want to let hakim question him on it on his own stream.
Now we move onto today where luna and hakim and having conversations about how the american left acts towards leftists from other countries, and still vaush is saying he "regrets platforming" his fellow leftists while simultaneously platforming the same canadian n*zi twice. Which I personally believe is because when he talks to n*zis, he looks good, but when he speaks to other leftists, he looks bad. He's not interested in changing his beliefs, just about his image like hakim said in this video.
So those are the mask off moments for vaush for me, and since listening to luna and hakim, in full, in good faith, no, they don't believe that in the slightest. What you're hearing from them is genuine education and understanding of the topic at hand. They don't think their "shit smells the best", they just have more experience with the theory in question. So when a child opens their mouth with bad information and an adult who specializes in the field corrects them, it's not them being high and mighty, they just know more. You're interpreting that from luna/hakim because you haven't engaged with their educational content in good faith, and have simply had reactionary tendencies towards their content. I urge you to watch hakim's videos on vaush IN GOOD FAITH, and you'll see that hakim is simply just more educated.
I'm still learning and analyzing what both hakim and luna have talked about, so while my positions haven't fully changed/are in the middle of shifting, Their content has still absolutely opened my eyes to the issues with american leftists, just like vaush's content did against the issues with socdems. It's ok to learn and grow, to listen to those more educated than you, and it's ok to engage with other leftists in good faith. I'd encourage you to try it sometime.
@@kaseylore incredibly well said.
Great work! I run into this type of issue when talking to other westerners far too often and I think nipping this left anti-communism in the bud is very important here.
Hakim, you need to stop dropping great videos when I´m swamped with work. How am I supposed to get anything done when you drop this banger?
Haha I'm sorry habibi. Best of luck with all of it!
Maybe is the universe telling you that stop enriching your master and break your chains? That is what a communist will tell you. And Insta is just a coincidence. Anyway enjoy the video and have a good day
Ngl I don’t have much time or energy to read theory but I also don’t pretend to know everything or have all the answers and definitely think theory’s important
While not a valid substitute for reading, listening to RUclips videos from Hakim and podcasts can go a long way. Rev Left Radio, Proles of the Roundtable, Red Menace are quality podcasts. Finnish Bolshevik is good on RUclips too.
There’s also a RUclipsr called radical review who summarizes political theory books. He’s an anarchist but also talks about plenty of Marxist literature and such.
Audiobooks are also a great option imo especially as someone who can't focus on books for long periods
just watched it...
Guess i'll have to rewatch it 100 times until your next one comes out
I live in the UK, and we have also had a period with social democracy. What many social democrats will not tell you is that Britain was still very much a colonialist power during this time and exploited millions in Africa to improve the conditions of the working class at home.
Breadtube softened me up to socialism. Western propaganda makes even open minded people like me have a hard time going anywhere left of Bernie.
Funny thing is, that for me at least. I always was a ML to a degree. I just didn't know it yet.
Agreed. It was weird, I basically believed in socialism from when I was a kid. But it felt like a dirty word to associate, so I avoided it until fairly recently. It still sounds weird to call myself, it feels like I'm saying "yeah I'm lazy, evil, entitled, violent, uneducated, and worthless" in my head because of what we've been trained to view it as. I know people who voted for Trump who are socialists underneath the lifetime of conditioning. It's really sad.
I was completely convinced that socialism was wrong and bad and doomed to fail in practice since I was a kid and my grandma said something along those lines just because overall she was really smart and I hadn't yet understood that smart people can be wrong. I remember first finding PhilosophyTube's video on antifa and watching it so hesitantly because I had no idea what antifa even was and I thought I would get in trouble if I was caught watching it, I've come so far XD
(The saddest thing, in my opinion, is that the only person who could have "caught" me watching that video is my mom and in reality she's actually almost a leftist, I mean I wouldn't call her a leftist exactly but I definitely wouldn't have been in trouble for watching a video on antifa, I just thought I would be because of my limited knowledge on the subject)
@@everythingcoffee8901 Just goes to show how we are trained to have a visceral, unconscious reaction to anything remotely Left. A kid carving a swastika into a desk or pretending to Sieg Hiel is dismissed as silliness, but if that same kid had carved a hammer and sickle or chanted a stereotypical communist slogan it's seen as going "too far," I think because people think communism is an imminent threat whereas fascism is seen as some old, long dead thing we settled in WW2. I know I got stronger resistance from people who saw me reading Marx in the last few years than people who saw me reading Mein Kampf in high school (never was a Nazi or even remotey close, I was just curious, as kids should be, and I feel curiosity with fascism is seen as forgivable edginess while curiosity with socialism is seen as a serious red flag).
@@Yet.Another.Rapper.KiG.V2 Ok this isn't entirely related but- You read Mein Kampf? Also just curious, I've never read it, I had sort of been planning to, ofc I'm also not a nazi or anything but I thought maybe it could give some insight into the mindset of arguably the most infamous person in history, I mean he's often basically seen as pure evil more than anyone else so is it actually a worthwhile read from that perspective? I definitely don't want to spend money on it if it's only gonna be a bunch of rambling about genocide and white supremacy... now that I think about it I think my mom mentioned having a copy once XD
(she's also not a nazi, we're just a bunch of curious non-nazis lol)
Class consciousness is the main problem in the U.S. A lot of the working class considers themselves above working class. They accepted the middle class myth.
And they still help the system that oppresses them while yelling at a scream.
One thing I’ve noticed about some bread tubers, Abigail Thorne in particular, is a clear fear that if they talk about revolution they will alienate there mainly upper class English speaking audience. There are multiple philosophytube videos where Abi clearly wants to talk about revelation but feels she will turn her audience so just sort of vaguely says “hey you guys should do something about this” rather than actually laying out concrete goals. The biggest problem with right wing youtube is that the content is made to entertain not to educate. I think the biggest problem with breadtube is it is made to make people more aware of the unfair world they live in while at the same time not showing them how to change it. Consume and move on with your life to the next RUclips video.
Exacrly. If anything, raising awareness of problems without actually outlining clear plans can drive people to the right, because they (pretend to) have a solid plan for the working class, channeled in the form of populist-sounding hucksters like Fucker Carlson.
A ''mainly upper class'' audience??? I don't think you've ever looked at a comment section on her videos.
And saying ''uh revolution'' isn't anymore of a concrete plan than saying you should do something about it. A concrete plan would be detailing how exactly this revolution should happen, something you certainly wouldn't talk about on a platform where literally everyone can see you lol.
@@legrandliseurtri7495 You're right, revolution can take many forms. It can be achieved many ways and can be built in many ways... but it is still the solution. Capital R Revolution. And that these breadtubers can't SAY IT, only making half-hearted winks and nudges, is a problem.
While I recognize the importance of being informed on theory, and I have read some, I'm weary of falling down the theory rabbit hole, because I'm worried it will limit my ability to communicate with the less radicalized people around me.
I've experienced this before with music. Learning music theory has given me a greater understanding of the mechanics of music, but it has also alienated me from the people who aren't as educated on the subject. I have a hard time communicating my musical perspective to friends and family, because we think of music in completely different terms. Basic ideas that I've long since internalized and take for granted, have to be defined before I can even get to the point I'm trying to make.
I've noticed this same thing happening when I read Socialist or Communist theory. I gain a greater understanding of the subject, but I also gain a new vocabulary of uncommon words that now have to be defined and explained before I can even start making headway.
That's why I mostly try to learn theory by proxy. Even though your videos are still a bit on the technical side, having someone like you explain Marxist-Lennenist ideals using colloquial language, and with a modern perspective thrown in, allows me understand the subject in a way that I can more easilly pass on to the people around me.
I think that's the main benefit of Breadtube: packaging complex leftist ideas for modern viewers. We just need to find more people capable of bridging the gap between intellectual theory and the masses. I'm hoping that your continued growth is an indication that RUclips is ready for a second wave of more radical Breatubers.
Excellent video. Definitely agree with all of these points but there is one thing I would add. Anti-intellectualism is not exclusive to Breadtube folks, it is defiantly a problem in MLM circles aswell. A lot of MLM people will be very hostile to any theory outside of MLM and will view critical theory as "bourgeois" and postmodern theory as the enemy. I think that critical theory (especially that of the Frankfurt school like Adorno and neo-marxist thinkers like Althussier, Debord Gramsci, Zizek, Jameson, as well as postmodernists like Foucault and Baudrillard can be useful for understanding the bizarre socio-political climate we are in. Of course the goal is not only to interpret the world, we have to change it. But in order to change the world, we must understand it. We must understand power, ideology, and how to influence masses we are trying to mobilize. MLM theory can't explain all of that.
Ayyy I love your videos! Thanks for stopping by.
I'm on the same page; sadly dogmatism exists on both sides, either with those that really don't want to read or those that are very set in their ways about what is "okay" to read. Having an open-mind is always best, and those that have the time and will to do so should, imo.
@@YaBoiHakim Thanks comrade. 100% agree. Delighted to hear that you watch my videos! Ive been a regular viewer of your content for quite a while. Keep up the great work (:
You too habibi
@@YaBoiHakim I think you will like the most recent one. Its about the more subtle forms of power which western liberal capitalist countries use to control their people (to get people to voluntarily enslave themselves). Self Help culture is one if its many manifestations.
Hey Hakim, I’m from Mexico and right now I’m interested in starting a mutual aid group in my city, we have started doing small work like painting streets, donating food and needs to shelters, but I wanted to ask if there is any theory or work about small organization and plans of action, thanks for the video!
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Good luck with your mutual aid group!!
Buena suerte con tu programa
De que ciudad eres amigo? Igual y podríamos cooperar.
Qué parte de México?
14:56 Totally valid point, also something I’ve noticed. But the thing to bear in mind is that most western leftists in general (at least online) tend to be white middle to upper class folk as well.
That’s why their views on foreign policy tend to be very western centric and frequently ignore the agency of non-western working class people who are directly impacted. Often sidelining them in favour of people who already agree with their views.
Labor aristocracy
The reason for that is because upper class people (who are disproportionately white in the west) are the only people with the free time and economic stability to stream or make videos about politics
When I was sick in the hospital with Covid, this channel got me through. I had been introduced to the left by a few other channels, but when I found this one, I couldn't stop listening to it. Since then, I have been reading and informing myself. Thank you for these videos and, especially, thank you for including information on the Black Panthers because representation is very important.
Really important video comrade! Great job 😁. A whole lotta lessons here that people would be wise to listen to
🍻Cheers comrade
Hakim, you turned me into a “tankie”. I appreciate you comrade from the bottom
of my heart and I also love how you recommend books in each video.
#tankiepride :)
We're seeing progress, these debates are building, I'm happy to see this and hope for a furthering expansion and crystalization; though I do fear the reactionary backlash.
you cited Bolivia (morales) and Chile (Allende)
i recommend that you study the Brazilian case since 2014 and the coup D'etat, that eventually led to Bolsonaro's election, with of course, the blessings of the CIA.
Brazil should be entirely destroyed because it can't be saved, even with communism
Great video again Hakim. Greetings from Pakistan 🇵🇰 comrade
Nice to see a Pakistani comrade here🇵🇰
comrades 🇵🇰
This seams like an extension of the luna discussion. Very important video
i keep seeing stuff regarding that, but can't really find a summary/the origin of it. where should i look?
Except any criticism of the arguments Luna and Hakim put forward is met with disgust if it's done by a westerner with an opposing view.
@@travdump209 On luna oi's youtube channel if that is what you are asking
@@sergiopulido1584 No, they particularly said that they were completely fine, and had open arms to criticism, provided it wasnt done by bad faith actirs who tries to score cheap moral highground. You clearly didnt watch the interview, because they made that ABUNDANTELY clear
@@degamispoudegamis Westerner is not white nor am I saying anything to do with race. There's a difference between western philosophy and eastern philosophy and that plays a role in our cultures.
Luna and Hakim are not westerners. They didn't grow up in any of the Americas. Dumb *****
Thanks for this video Hakim! As a first generation Chinese immigrant I completely agree with what you're saying and my hope now is that breadtube will move more left and people will start to notice their Western biases.
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Ever since the bread tube schism of the many vaush controversy’s, I feel that bread tube has had the liberalism wrang out of it like a wet rag. It’s still quite moist but not dripping with liberalism like it once was.
Videos like these remind me of why I am still deeply saddened by Michael Brooks' passing
He was able to so succinctly express the importance of building left movements abroad, amongst many other things
It wasn’t a coincidence he was a Marxist
Nearly every time I watch your videos I come out of it feeling much more aware of ways I didn't know I was ignorant. It's great.
This video blackpilled me on how much we overestimate how far we’ve come. How much we have engaged in fruitless debates and obscure topics about a economic system that Hasn’t even been realized yet.
I literally can't believe my own eyes. Did I just find an actual English speaking marxist channel?
I am just so tired of stumbling upon one leftist channel after another and after making some decent analysis of the social problems they inevitably devolve into "and that's why I vote for...". As if instead of making the final logical step they do a complete 180 specifically to annoy you.
You are really a breath of fresh air.
Hakim is an Iraqi so him being way more radical than most people on Breadtube. Also this comment is a month old so maybe by now you know but just in case, @SecondThought and @Yugopnik are both just as communist as him and both are free at + them 3 have a Marxist-Leninist podcast that’s very fun.
I think it all boils down to American individualism and how it plays into things in America especially and countries influenced by it. The Bourgeois individualism of America is fever pitch and it leads people to 1) Worship themselves and not the community, and 2) Worship demagogues and figures rather than the ideas they spout. Ironically it is they who are in cults of personality, not us
Individualism isn't inherently wrong btw. only bourgoise ideals of individualism are. proletarian individualism is a good liberationist thought (imo) even though it really comes from neo trotskyists
@@zakbeasley7339 Agreed, I should have clarified, kind of thought it was a given by "American individualism" but yeah
I feel like a lot of the western lefts issues can be boiled down to a lack of imagination. We (including myself) have a hard time imagining how to build revolutionary action, and what the world would look like after, and settle with tamer action that feels more feasible.
I think that it's somehow also very related to escapism. People in the west are pressed for money, but not as pressed that they cannot indulge in large quantities of escapism that the thirld world can simpy not afford. Not to sound like a reactionary, but I have a feeling that a lot of westerners are drowing at least the social-cultural effects of capitalism in copious amounts of alcohol, drugs, tv series and gaming, whereas the average Indian peasant has to face the effects of capitalism head on. Then there is the fact that a large amount of the western population is very icky about any sort of socialist thought experiments because it would mean the aknowledgement of their privileged standing as a labour aristocracy in comparison to thirld world inhabitants, which would mean a decline in the supply of luxury goods under any near socialist scenario as imperialism is done away with.
they can't even hold a gun, nor machinery, anything. they could be use as the prime example of what a human slave to capitalism is.
This may have been an 18 min video but it was so captivating it felt much shorter. Time to binge watch all your videos.
Your videos helped me get out of that strange ‘Western leftist’ phase. I didn’t stay in it long, but your videos 100% helped me in my understanding of topics such as the USSR, etc.
Looking back at it, I’m glad you did. I still support my anarchist comrades but wish they weren’t so vulnerable to propaganda and were more willing to educate themselves.
What is the state of left politics in Iraq? I've been following your videos for a while and I don't think I've ever heard you talk about contemporary issues in your region. What do you think about a return to monarchies for unstable countries until proper education and infrastructure are in place?
Lastly, what do you think about Nick Land's work?
Keep it up, dear Hakim.
so much bourgeois lies saying that nordic countries are happy whilst siphoning off from these further privatization. unfortunately in social democracies they undo the reforms... its reform or revolution..
if just one or two major breadtubers openly praised your work, leftism in america would be in a much better spot. kinda sad that they won't when you think about it. like you said, they play it safe :/
What about Second Thought?
Suburban white kids: Mom can we stop & get _The Conquest of Bread_
Suburban soccer mom: No honey we have _The Conquest of Bread_ at home
_The Conquest of Bread_ at home: *Why I Should Be President: Real Hard Choices* by Hillary Clinton.
Mom can we have theory
We have theory at home
Theory at home: a book about ants
@Karl Marx no u
@Karl Marx E
@@primeroyal7434 M
O
N
S
@@Yet.Another.Rapper.KiG.V2 *ah yes L E M O N S*
I'm so happy to have come across your channel and have enjoyed learning about these subjects. thank you for creating great and enlightening content.
Thanks Hakim, all excellent points. I've often wondered what we in the imperial core could do to better support those movements outside of it.
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Interesting.
Based
This was a great video, and I heartily agree. I don't want to give a whole essay about my takes on the American left and how I think a revolution can or should play out in the United States, but here goes.
I think a big problem, at least from what I've seen, is an unwillingness from a lot of people to leave their online space and put up with the boring work. No better was this phenomenon demonstrated than when #GeneralStrike was trending on Twitter, and then literally nothing came of it. Because as it turns out there's a lot more to a general strike than just saying you want to do it and then posting about it on Twitter for a few days. Organizing just one workplace is a long and tedious process, nevermind trying to unionize millions of workers across the country, and then coordinating said workers to do a general strike.
A really stupid metaphor that I love to use to describe the current state of the online left is "a Scry deck with no win condition". In the game Magic: the Gathering there are cards which allow the player to draw more cards, select specific cards from their deck, etc. In this metaphor, class struggle is like a game of Magic, and drawing cards is like online signal boosting. Using online spaces to communicate socialist ideas can grow class consciousness and give people the information necessary to carry out a revolution just as the spell Divination can add powerful cards to your hand. But the thing about Magic is that you can't win with a deck that only has Divinations. No matter how many cards you have in your hand, you still need mana to cast them, creatures to deal damage, enchantments to provide buffs, and instants to counter your opponent.
The online left is stuck in an endless cycle of casting Divination while struggling to build up its early-game board. And while there are people who are out there doing meaningful work, there aren't nearly enough right now. I volunteer for a tenant union, and we only get maybe three or four guys showing up to canvass every time we go out. If even a fraction of the leftists I see posting Mao memes and guillotine GIFs online showed up to help, we'd have the half the metro area organized and in revolt by the end of the month!
I don't know if my experiences and observations are representative of the actual state of the American and online left, but I do think it's important to get people out and active, even if it's just to do the little things. Using platforms not to elevate creators and personalities, but to encourage people to join organizations and participate in actions.
TL;DR Online information spreading, electoral politics, etc can be useful tools, but the American left is struggling because of its inability and/or resistance to expanding its capacities beyond those tools.
The tragedies of Corbyn's campaign is the most painful memories of my life. I can't express how disappointed I am in humanity with how this wonderful person was mistreated by corporate, capitalist media. Imagine how better our world would be if he won, man.
2019 general election was heartbreaking, my first election I actively campaigned in as well 😢
I'll have to disagree on some of that, social democracy while they ruled would have been great for the workers of both the US and UK, but It would have been a short period until a social liberal and/or conservative came along and threw It all down the toilet.
And Internationally Corbyn would have been great and a friend to all opressed in the world probably to my knowledge, but with Sanders I am not so sure, he voted for the intervention in Yugoslavia and let's be real, the "stablishment" of the US is too much to take on by winning an election, that is why we need marxism and revolutionary socialism!
The left makes a resurgence in the labour party every 30 years or so and each time it's quelled.. I've been reading S A R by Lenin and it seems kinda apt 103 years later.
@@SealandBall For real man, that election was so disappointing for us leftists... I can't believe the UK still votes for the Conservative government. Absolutely heartbreaking.
@@Wackaz it’s the culture war shit and because the leading western nations are so much better than the leading socialist nations at propaganda. It’s hard to build socialism in your country when the ruling class of your country has such an easy time smearing socialism by connecting it to some bad decision another socialist country made.
Hakim you have no idea how we enormously appreciate your work on RUclips :) You just keep encouraging me on keeping up with Marxism. Thanks man
As a small "practical" corollary for point 3, for people with ADHD or other attention issues: I've found that listening to a lot of classic works of theory can be very helpful for retention, as well as reading secondary literature (to have a perspective you can criticise/critically support). Please do not let your condition (completely) define your understanding or your future.
Thank you for the great video Hakim! While I don't always agree with you, I deeply value your work and perspective from my (relatively privileged) perspective in the imperial core. Much love!
If you're someone who watches Breadtube, you should ask yourself what exactly it is you're getting out of it. If you're genuinely learning a lot from the videos, it's quite likely that the videos are engaged with topics from books. Read those books with the video as a supplement and you'll grow far more than you would by just clicking play on another video.
Not everyone is neurotypical. I have a great deal of concentrating while reading and find the material much easier to engage with and digest while watching in video essay form.
@@Nanook128 Me too! I’ve got ASD and ADD but I succeed in reading theory because I use video essays as a supplement when I need help. I also joined online reading groups to help me by giving me space to ask questions. Reading is *not* impossible and there are resources!
I absolutely despise reading, I like videos much more, and pausing to think about things.
Buuuuuut, where do I get the books?
@@faidou9954 marxists dot org or libgen
Another great and important video, comrade. Keep up the good work.
Another banger. Your work has helped me learn "how to learn" about political/leftist theory. Much love brother. Keep at it
This channel is very underrated. From a Lebanese socialist, I commend you. Keep on the great work
Honestly, while I haven't really looked at "Breadtube" or more specifically the subreddit, I think you make a good point that "Breadtube" as we know it is largely the shallow end of the metaphorical pool.
You can paddle around and get in and out easy, but you aren't learning how to actually SWIM. And something that HAS been bugging me about this is that after I watch one of those videos, a fundamental question isn't answered: "So what do I have to do?"
Do I quit my job and throw myself into advocacy as a career? Do I give up other stuff like my hobbies so I can survive at my job while still furthering the cause? Do I have to learn how to shoot a gun? I'm scared to even DRIVE! What am I supposed to actually be doing?!
Survive, dont give up and continue living while thinking positivly and staying true to yourself.
It's a hard, annoying and extreamly exhausting way to live but no matter how often you fail continue on because you owe it to yourself to never give up.
Best thing to do is to find some time you have available and check out what activist groups exist in your region. Don’t give up anything for these groups initially (if they expect you to that’s a red flag), just go to a few events and see what you make of them before you make any commitments
I am often called a "debate bro" because I call out lies, and that I am more objective when it comes to fact, discourse, views. I am actually beginning to think that the large majority of people do not even care about being objective or be nuanced when it comes to fact and discourse. I don't know what caused this... It's like they fish for a debate, but it's like to debate have some self value for them, idk...
(I am not austic or something like that, I have done multiple check ups there, because I began to wonder myself)
The best thing western lefttubers can do is use their "clout" for good. With every topic they discuss on which they espouse a US-centric or western Europe-centric perspective, they should do right by their audience and recommend nonwestern creators, both as a way of encouraging their western audience to broaden their horizons but also as an acknowledgment of their viewers in the third world (hello). It's better than trying to tackle issues on which they may have a less developed view, and it trains their audience to let voices from the third world lead the conversations.
Woah I actually didn't realize this was posted today lol I was busy finding vids of yours I haven't watched, anyways big fan
Thank you for bringing to light the problems of how dominated the Leftist conversation is by western specific dialogue. Tbh, it's refreshing to hear as someone from a third world country trying to make things better
been waiting for dis king ❤️
My problem with the western left: it's too WESTERN
Same lol
and not enough left
cringe maoism
100%
As someone who loves listening to philosophy, I appreciate your well thought out and articulate videos. I don’t consider myself a socialist or communist, but I appreciate your effort to educate the masses.
Read theory and Lenin's imperialism
I appreciate Vaush because whenever he would beef with other leftist youtubers I would discover a new and highly thoughtful creator on this platform.
After all, this is how I found both Hakim & Yugopnik
@Karl Marx He is okay on dunking conservatives and alt-righters in an attempt to convert these people.
@Karl Marx I know that most economists say that central planning has its limitations at providing needs outside of rapid industrialization.
I would like it if the big BreadTubers would shout-out more of the smaller channels. They are a good gateway with their movie analysis and fancy visuals. You can show smth like PhilosophyTube to someone who's basically a complacent centrist and they will probably agree with most and be more open to Leftist politics afterwards. But the process shouldn't stop there.
Appreciate these videos brother. Been lurking around Breadtube for almost a year at this point, while also watching YUGOPNK, EcoGecko, and a couple other good youtubers and couldn't quite find out why I couldn't stand watching Hasan and Vaush try and weasel their Democratic party support under socialists noses, while also ridiculing those attempting to actually put pressure on the left wing. This video perfectly explains my reluctance to fully agree with them on some issues in American politics; way too much faith in capitalism whilst it's been failing this country for years.
OHMYGOD this video was LONG awaited and MUCH NEEDED
All I got from the online western left was a realisation that they don't see the rest of the world as human beings the way they see themselves. That I'd say is the interpersonal primary contradiction.
As always, thanks for your videos.
You can drop “online” and “left” from your comment and and it remains true, unfortunately.
So you are saying they see things in a black and white way with no nuances?
Hakim, I think that a mass movement needs to be built through elections, of socialist candidates of course. Saying "oh just build 'duel power'" is a thing I hear a lot of internet people say who have never actually organized in real life. And waving away any strategy that involves elections as "electoralism" (I hate that word!) is unproductive.
I hear what you're saying, but I think the larger point from Hakim 'Building support abroad' also addresses this point. America as the last bastion of capitalism amongst a sea of other economic structures wouldn't have the 'clout' to last terribly long...
it's dangerous to go alone, take this (algorithm boost)
As an American I for one can say without a doubt in my mind that your perspective doesn't go unnoticed by people like me. I was radicalized at an early age. but by the ethos of Libertarian-Conservative conspiracism topics. Bread-tube further along that radicalization with more honest and intellectual takes on the ill's of our world and time. Overall I would say there isn't anyone who would change my mind about how imminently screwed we all are, and I will always feel trapped in a world headed head first towards a brick wall that I can't pump the brakes.
Media analysis can be a great tool to understand social issues though. I recommend Aph Ko's “Racism as zoological witchcraft : a guide to getting out” as a good example of this.
Media is in its very nature popular, and hence can be very insightful on the population.
Great all-around video. I appreciate the fact that after you state something you give us books to read to delve deeper into the topic. Mashallah
I would like to make an argument for anti-intellectualism, I am saying this as somebody who values intellectualism as a human virtue, and is arguably an intellectual themselves.
One of the biggest obstacles to democracy is bureaucracies; even if you have the best of intentions, your actions can become nullified, redirected, or leveraged, or escalated by bureaucratic intervention. a bureaucratic society is leveraged by those who know how to work the system, regardless of their ideologies. and those intellectuals can come to control what is taught, how education is distributed, and what skills are necessary to participate in society. The most extreme version of this are the philosopher kings that Plato inspired.
intelligent people aren't necessarily good people, or are asking the right questions. Intellectuals may blind themselves to inconvenient information to rationalize something they already agree with (for example how Marx overlooked colonialism as a threat to democracy, because he benefited from it). Even if other intellectuals are smart enough not to take everything at face value, a society that places intellectualism on a pedestal may allow intellectuals to control their fate
to avoid this fate, it would be best to make society as intuitive as possible, make politics idiot-proof; make sure that no individual voice can influence a community without their participation. it is a society that WILL make mistakes, since people wouldn't be obligated to listen to intellectuals; but a society that is tolerant to mistakes, where mistakes can't spiral out of control, can not only be as free as possible, but also safe and stable. Intellectuals are still important to perform specialized jobs like medicine, and they are also entrusted to dispense accurate information about such topics; but ultimately the actions they propose are subject to democracy, even if it shoots the community in the foot.
There are a lot of things people have to think about to participate in society; social relations, skills, identity, government, ideology, entertainment: when there is so much to think about, it becomes harder to give any particular subject the time and care necessary to reflect on it. it is ultimately an economy of time; the more we have, the more we can spend on things that matter, and the better quality of our experiences in relation to the truth. I don't know if somebody else has these ideas as well, but if not, I call this idea Neo-primitivism.
i know this is flooding the comments but your critiques have opened my eyes to so many things about my views as a western leftist (ever since you debated vaush). thank you for helping me, along with many others, further along our political path and ripping off the training wheels
15:18 , damn that hboomer callout lol
great video, keep up the excellent work
Talking about people who don't "read theory": "it's not just just a bunch of white guys"
Talking about Breadtube: "it's just a bunch of white guys"
Joking aside, I feel like this critique of the "American Western Social Media Left" is weird. The rest of the video is pretty good, as always, but there is a greater discussion to be having about the multiple cores of leftist thought. And it's not something that could be boiled down to "the smart guys" versus "the anti-intellectualists". Look, there are people who refuse to read everywhere. There are Marxist-Leninists who refuse to even consider the existence of libertarian socialism, or read Malatesta. There are trotskyists who despise any form of self-critique of any movement. I've met people who consider Foucault a joke without reading his works because, well, it's "counter-revolutionary". Heck, even if you do read, the idea that you will in fact absorb from it can differ from one person to another. And even if Breadtube as a social phenomenon doesn't recite State & Revolution because they are too busy critiquing Kamala's racist policies, you have to understand that it is their verbal space. Their frontiers.
It's like an easy mode, which should prepare people to read more and be more invested in the systematic improvement of our society, or maybe not.
Which is the other thing that should be said. Many on the left are pretty much more interested in other fields than in the pure political studies. I study linguistics, so there is not a lot that Lenin can add to my field. Instead, I look at other marxist authors like Bakhtin to realize my own revolutionary vision within its bounds. The same can be said about Law, about Medicine, about Psychology. Our approach must also consider how our voices reach the working class.
It seems to me that every "non-political" interest of mine will eventually hit politics. Inevitably. They can be more interested in say, art or economics, but if you're creating serious content in a given area of study, it won't be long until you see the wider political implications of your interests.
I'm very glad you made a video about this, I'm getting more and more tired of getting my leftist news and discussion from people like Vaush and Xanderhal, as much as I used to be big fans of theirs. It honestly feels like I started leftism with them, but did not stop moving as they did. I do admittedly enjoy some of their content, but anything about the left from them is an immediate click-away.
Additionally, thank you for your content! You have given me hope for the online left and the motivation to do things in my community. I'd like to start with making an ML book club.
Thanks for another great upload. Every time I watch one of these, I'm inspired to read some more theory
Do you consider Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism to be the best piece of theory of the 21st century so far?
Theory is great and all, but the lack of actual policy is why nothing has changed. Telling the worker class to “read theory and be smarter” is like telling a dog to learn how to play dead. They aren’t doing it themselves, and good luck convincing them why.
Plus policy is how you actually change the world. Yet I see less policy compared to even theory, yet breadtube gives talking points involving actual change and policies, not theory.
I feel like Breadtube is best understood as a kiddie pool. It's not bad for those starting out, but it's something *will* outgrow and move beyond if you're at all serious in your beliefs. Change will come from action and organization in the real world, not from anything done or said on RUclips.
It's also, I think, important to recognize that "Breadtube" itself is a label applied to a group of channels that are only loosely-affiliated with each other in the first place. They don't interact or coordinate that much, they're each pretty much doing their own thing, and they have a range of differing views and ideas of what needs to be done.
Hakim, I may not be a traditional ML, but you have my deep respect and appreciation. Proud to be among your donors.
Hakim you have slowly crawled your way into becoming one of my favorite leftist content creators here on RUclips. Brilliant videos like this only seem to reinforce this notion.
Its beyond doubt that revolution is inevitable for advancing socialism. But inorder to materialise revolution left should be popular and supported by masses. I think its difficult to popularise left without participating in electoral politics. First and foremost we need a sizable mass to radicalize.
I don't think voting will fundamentally change the world or even most countries, however voting will legitimize socialism in a few people's minds and can create some real improvements in some people's lives. Health insurance isn't socialism, no, but not paying a full mortgage on a particularly nice house is better for poor or even "middle" class people who suddenly develop a serious illness or injury. It won't bring a revolution but it can improve people's lives in real meaningful ways. Just don't make it the only thing you do.
Maşallah Hakim baba yine döktürmüş
Love it. Anti-imperialism if one of our main tasks today. Greetings from Chile and thank you for the mention of Allende.
I agree with you that overdoing social critic rather than pursuing economic change is damaging the left, but you did make a video about how Aladdin is racist
Yeah, and tbh, it wasn’t his best video...
I always thought he did that one to attract woke disneyheads to communism. And if he succeeded with even one then...
I love your videos! I saw your interview on Luna oi. Those was a good video. I’m always learning and not well read yet but this much I know is true. Nice to hear someone else say it out loud.
I do think breadtube can do some good in terms of winning over a generation of young progressive liberals to take their first tiptoes into socialist ideas, but I completely agree with you that it's a major issue that people don't take the next steps that follow in terms of joining organizations, reading theory, etc. Even if you don't want to sit down and read a book there are ways to learn. People can and do make videos explaining theory, you can listen to audiobooks while going about your day, you can join a study group, etc. Very good video comrade, thank you for being a reasonable Marxist voice on RUclips.
Amazing! So many people need to see this