Before discovering this community, I was in a different community that proudly calls itself leftist. I posted a documentary; Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang which was very eye-opening for me.
Anyway, posting that started to really upset people, saying that the documentary is PSL propaganda. That PSL is authoritarian, backed by a Chinese Maoist billionaire and that PSL is riddled with sex abuse scandals. That of course PSL would simp for DPRK because it’s authoritarian. I was even called a holocaust denier for defending DPRK.
So is PSL bad? Where can I find better information on this? I’ve already tried looking into PSL and it all seems okay? The sex abuse scandals I am not sure about, is there more information on this? Am I being too critical on this?
It was doubly frustrating because one person who took GREAT offense to the video, who also linked to wikipedia articles like the kidnapping of a Japanese director or the Malaysia assassination in 2017. When disputed on this, I was not allowed to talk about it because I was “some white dude in Iceland” and they however, was a child of a refugee from the Vietnam war(southern region I think?) and that there’s generational trauma that somehow gives them higher authority on the opinion of this entire conversation. Who then proceeded to defend imperialism while at the same time saying they have issues with US imperialism. What am I to think about this? It was very confusing. Said person was American too.
I wasn’t sure what to think of it myself, because well. I am not oppressed, I am white and living within the imperial core is a status of privilege no matter how well I am actually doing in life. Still though, that whole interaction still bothers me. Is it wrong?
I also read https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Essay:State_Capital_vs._Finance_Capital:_Why_China_is_not_--_and_Cannot_Become_--_an_Imperial_Hegemon which I thought was a very good essay.
Oh yeah, that’s a frustrating sort of trap. You’re trying to be conscientious about being a white person talking to someone who is considered non-white and they’re using this against you to push narratives that actually benefit white supremacy. So I think that’s the important thing to look for, is when the implicit narrative they’re pushing is enabling of white supremacy and its racism. vs. when they’re sharing a lived experience that is worth listening to and taking into account.
The common implication here, for example, is that 1) They (sometimes as a person who has never even lived in the region they’re talking about, who is only related to it by ethnicity and distance of being a descendant of someone who has) somehow speak for millions of people who do live there and who grew up there and who still live there. 2) What the people who do live there say is not worth listening to or is tainted when they overall like their government because “they’re brainwashed” (millions of them, apparently). Which is pretty racist.
So it circles back to the superiority thing, but they’re siding with the imperial/colonial view instead of the one that benefits their own people (and to be fair, they may have less connection with their ethnic country of origin than the imperial core country they live in if they grew up in the empire, immersed in its culture).
As for where they get the narratives like “my father/grandfather/etc. was oppressed by the government and fled”, sometimes that goes back to their relative being among the power elite from the previous regime and so they fled for that reason. Like a landlord. It’s not always the case, but when we’re talking about governments led by a communist vanguard party, it is one of the reasons those stories get started. I believe another reason is people buying into fear-mongering of “scary commies” when the change of power happens and fleeing for that reason. War of course can be scary and involve hardship regardless of what side you’re on, and Vietnam was trying to shake off the yoke of colonialism.
So yeah, in short: If they’re pushing views that further white supremacy, them being non-white doesn’t excuse it. And some of the so-called victims of communism are members of the former exploiting class who ran. If you’re ever uncertain about it, please feel free to bring it up more on this forum and ask. None of us is imbued with proper judgment on it with ease and working through stuff together can help.
P.S. I don’t think I’ve actually read that essay myself, but I will give it a read, thanks for mentioning it. Looks like a good addon to the point, to further back it up.