feels like a good time to remind people that taiwan is where the fascist kuomintang fled after they lost to mao. when they arrived they massacred tens of thousands of people. taiwan has served as an imperialist outpost since then, much like Israel

the standards the western left holds aspiring socialist states to is wild. china is leaps and bounds ahead of the US in building socialism and yet western leftists heap criticism on china as if they have anything substantial to point to when it comes to building actual socialism in this country

NEXT WEEK cuba pt. 7: how cuban socialism works w/ helen yaffe

one the main reasons why childhood is so romanticized in the US is because it's the only period where most people have copious amounts of free time to exercise creativity, imagination, and aimlessness. this is not possible at 40+ hrs a week at a job

96 percent of cubans own the home they live in and for the 4 percent who are renters their rent cannot exceed 4% of their income

when the right (including liberals) point to "low wages" as a criticism of cuban socialism, they don't factor in all the subsidized benefits including housing, healthcare, university, and food, which actually make cubans some of the highest earners in latin america

the idea of nationalizing anything under capitalism is not a step toward socialism nor will it benefit the working class. a business or industry nationalized by a capitalist government will just result in a more monopolistic and efficient form of exploitation and profit-seeking

the only thing cuba threatens is a world ruled by men like marco rubio

one of the most exhausting and challenging aspects of living in a society in collapse is the complete dissolution of trust as part of the social fabric holding things together—people don't trust each other (and with good reason)

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON cuba pt. 6: the political thought of fidel castro w/ renzo llorente

wearing a MAGA hat or painting T-R-U-M-P on your truck is not a personality. there are a lot of ideological trump worshippers but more who are just trying to manufacture a personality in the place of what's a deeply, deeply empty and boring void

NEW EP we're joined by liz oliva fernández and manolo de los santos for a view from within Cuba as it faces an increasingly violent and brutal onslaught from the United States

cubans when the US imposes an illegal fuel blockade: "our chemical engineers discovered a novel way to process our own crude" americans when they couldn't get a haircut for a month in 2020:

let's be very clear, the reason that cuba has been able to resist and survive the US's ceaseless onslaught is because it's a highly organized socialist society led by a revolutionary communist party

"I've heard so many diplomats say (always in private, of course) that cuba says the things we all want to say but are afraid to say. that cuba does what all of our countries are afraid to do—which is say (in the kindest of words): "fuck the US" – manolo de los santos

the whole "lesser evil" thing is so wild because it reveals that americans understand on a cellular level that their country is evil but as long as they get to have nice stuff (not much longer!) they're willing to go along with it

NEXT WEEK cuba pt. 5: under siege w/ manolo de los santos & liz oliva fernández

NEW PATREON EP torkil lauesen joins us to trace the path of socialist transition from the failed 1848 european revolutions to the paris commune to china—all part of the long transition towards socialism and the end of capitalism

revolutionaries need temporal intelligence—to think short and long, linear and cyclical—to survive today under capitalism and contribute to the transition we may not see the fruition of. to learn from movements in the past and adjust strategies to current material reality

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON: the long transition towards socialism and the end of capitalism w/ torkil lauesen

the nhl scheduling the only two watchable eastern conference games during the same time slot is so on brand

NEW EP socialist candidate for california governor @ramsey4gov joins us to discuss what a socialist california would look like, how we can get there, and why it's crucial that we do

toggling between 3 hockey games in between commercial breaks 👍

NEXT WEEK: a socialist california w/ @ramsey4gov.bsky.social

the deliberate emphasis on rote memorization and the absence of critical thinking development in our education system primed us for their propaganda. their purchase of news stations, newspapers, and cultural products gave them a mass distribution mechanism for their propaganda

people are burning down their workplaces, firebombing tech oligarchs' homes, and assassinating insurance CEOs on the street because life in the united states has become unbearable. meanwhile 90 percent of people in china own their homes and 91 percent feel the government serves the people

if you're wondering why the liberal establishment has always offered more respect and courtesy to fascists like JD Vance than they do to anyone on the left it's because they agree more with fascists than anyone even remotely left of center

I did not realize that watching videos of Israeli tourists being publicly shamed would be so therapeutic

the democratic party shelters and fundraises for sexual abusers and epstein associates within its own ranks and is somehow also the party that liberal feminists will shame you for not voting for

it's journalistic malpractice to report on eric swallwell's sexual misconduct allegations without mentioning that it was an open secret among democratic leadership who continued to support him throughout regardless

libs were dancing outside a concentration camp with dildos because their ideology asserts that reality is a battle of ideas as opposed to a class struggle waged through a material struggle for power

OUT TODAY matteo capasso breaks down the global implications of this war with a historical and dialectical materialist analysis // full episode on patreon.com/upstreampodcast or check out the teaser anywhere you get your podz 🎧

yes thousands have been killed and food will be unaffordable to most of us but have you considered that a dying empire gets to puff out its chest for a few months

US-led global capitalism managed to hobble into the 21st century. but it's now clear to anyone with a working brain that it has reached a point of profound, perhaps terminal crisis. and nothing demonstrates this as clearly as Iran

"there needs to be a force that stands up to the united states and Israel" there already is it's called the axis of resistance

“The US cannot afford regional stability in West Asia because such stability would inevitably facilitate alternative economic partnerships and potentially undermine the dollar-denominated oil system that underpins US global financial dominance." – Matteo Capasso

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON iran pt. 4: towards a multipolar world w/ matteo capasso

this party cannot be reformed or changed from within. we need a real labor party that rejects Israel and embraces cooperation in a multipolar world. this will never happen until people stop voting democrat

"where are the democrats in response to this" by brother they just genocided the palestinians in gaza, they're taking a short break so they have the energy to genocide another people in 2028

NEW EP renzo llorente joins us for a discussion on counterrevolution in Cuba and the many forms it takes—from sabotage to military incursions to ideological warfare

just a reminder that the democrats had a supermajority, the executive, the senate, and the house and they bailed out wall st., stayed in iraq, and passed a conservative heritage foundation healthcare bill. this is a right wing party and they keep telling you this over and over and over again

I feel like we're finally ready to start planning a Democratic People's Republic of Korea series

just a reminder that elián gonzález is now 32 years old and he's a proud member of the cuban communist party and is a member of the national assembly of people's power

"the imperialists may put a man on the moon, but they’ll never put a man in Havana.” – 1971 cuban propaganda poster commemorating the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion

cuba pt. 4: counterrevolution w/ renzo llorente

Upstream( @upstreampodcast.bsky.social )Podcast w/ Della Z( @dellazduncan.bsky.social )Duncan & Robert R.( @robpertray.bsky.social )Raymond "Iran Pt. 3: The Empire vs. Iran w/ Bikrum Gill" podcasts.apple.com/sk/podcast/i...

trump is the perfect embodiment of the USA. his terror regime did not bring us to this precipice. to the contrary—the precipice was always looming. it chose him as the perfect vessel to guide us directly into it

do you walk into a department store and see all the cheap crap and think about the thousands upon thousands of these places and the poor people who made this shit for pennies because the USA coup'd their democratically elected socialist government

c. summer 2024

the democratic party is not a real political party—it's a private corporation posing as an opposition political party with the real mission of co-opting and neutralizing left-leaning movements on behalf of the same ruling class that rapes 9 year old girls