I've noticed something about anarchists that i find pretty funny: they'll praise marxist revolutions and revolutionaries AS LONG AS they dont actually succeed.
You'll see anarchists praising Rosa Luxemburg, who if they had actually read her writings -- they would see that she was very clearly one of the "authoritarian" socialists that they rail against so much.
You see them praise the Black Panthers, who were supported financially by the DPRK and aligned themselves with the Juche ideology of Kim Il Sung.
They even praise Thomas Sankara, who purged anarchists and arrested syndicalists.
If these people had succeeded, i have no doubt in my mind that anarchists would call them "tankies," they would call their experiments "capitalism with a red flag." And I also have no doubt in my mind that if the October Revolution, Chinese Revolution had been crushed, they would hail Lenin and Mao as proletarian heroes.
We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.
We want full employment for our people.
We want an end to the robbery by the Capitalists of our Black Community.
We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.
We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society.
We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.
We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people.
We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.
We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.
We must give our all in the struggle to unify the entire society with the revolutionary ideology of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung.
We must honor the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung with all our loyalty.
We must make absolute the authority of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.
We must make the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung's revolutionary ideology our faith and make his instructions our creed.
We must adhere strictly to the principle of unconditional obedience in carrying out the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung's instructions.
We must strengthen the entire party's ideology and willpower and revolutionary unity, centering on the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.
We must learn from the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung and adopt the communist look, revolutionary work methods and people-oriented work style.
We must value the political life we were given by the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung, and loyally repay his great political trust and thoughtfulness with heightened political awareness and skill.
We must establish strong organizational regulations so that the entire party, nation and military move as one under the one and only leadership of the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung.
We must pass down the great achievement of the revolution by the Great Leader comrade Kim Il Sung from generation to generation, inheriting and completing it to the end.
I don't think your quote is a summary that really shows what the BPP might've liked about Juche:
The Juche idea was created on the basis of such a practical requirement of the Korean revolution. The revolution is a struggle to meet the masses' desire for independence by enlisting their strength. It is a struggle of the masses to free themselves. When they are armed with the revolutionary idea and united into an organized political force, the masses can emerge victorious in the revolution. The duty of revolutionaries is to go among the popular masses, masters of the revolution. to educate, organize, and inspire them to a struggle. The revolutionary forces, too, should be trained from among the masses, and all problems arising in the revolutionary struggle should likewise be resolved in reliance on their wisdom and strength.
(On the Juche Idea - Kim Jong-Il p7)
I italicized the bit that stood out to me as most like the BPP.
The DPRK is mostly viewed pretty well here, btw. It's not an insult or a smear to align the Black Panthers with them. It's a compliment.
I'm not in a big argumentative mood today, so I'd like to avoid any big debates if that's ok! :)
Lemmygrad is mostly Marxist-Leninist communists, and the DPRK is usually seen as adapting MLism to their conditions.
When you start to dig into the U$ understanding of the DPRK, you'll start to see that most of the negative, weird, news we read about them is either attributed to anonymous sources or directly comes from the CIA. Most of the insane, hard to believe stuff is pretty likely to be untrue.
The conditions in the DPRK aren't perfect, but they're a direct result of being under siege for something like 90 years, sanctioned (literally) to death by the U$, and having something like 80% of all standing structures obliterated during the Korean war. It's hard, but it looks like they're making the best of what they can.
If you're curious, I'm happy to try to dig up some of the source threads from here and reddit. They've been talked about before!
Sure, send me some threads if you're okay with that. I'm not looking for argument if you don't want it, but I definitely don't agree out of the gate with your assertion. I've read negative stories about the DPRK in all kinds of journalistic outlets that aren't anonymous and that I wouldn't expect to be CIA-influenced.
There are countries where I would 100% agree with your assessment of where the blame lies for their situation (Cuba is probably the prime example), but North Korea isn't one of them. Send me the source threads, I'm curious.
I’m guessing you’re referring to defectors. Many people left in 90’s because of legitimately bad conditions thanks to sanctions and the fall of the USSR. When they go into South Korea they are put into camps where they check if the defectors are spies and then try to brainwash them against communism and against their former leaders. Then once they are free they are often paid large amounts of money to tell (and exaggerate) their story of escape. The more crazy and horrible the story the more they get paid. A decent amount of people want to go back, but the SK government won’t let them. For more information watch ‘Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seol’ which someone already linked.
I think you'd be surprise how far the CIA admits to extending. Radio Free Asia is often sourced in anti-China and anti-DPRK news, and they're publicly linked with the CIA.
If you watch just one of the documentaries, Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang is pretty good. This is a shitload of links, so I understand it if you don't check most of it out!
"Juche is a political ideology that serves as the guiding principle of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It was developed by the country's first leader, Kim Il-sung, and is still upheld by subsequent leaders, including Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un.
Juche is often translated as "self-reliance" or "self-determination" and emphasizes the self-reliance and sovereignty of the nation. It promotes the idea that the Korean people are the masters of their own destiny and should rely on their own efforts, resources, and capabilities rather than being dependent on external forces. It encompasses political, economic, and cultural aspects of society.
From the perspective of the DPRK and its citizens, Juche emphasizes the importance of independence and the pursuit of their own unique path. It places great significance on the Korean people's revolutionary spirit and their ability to shape their own destiny. Juche encourages self-sufficiency and the development of domestic industries and resources, aiming to reduce reliance on foreign aid and external influences.
In practical terms, Juche has manifested itself in various policies and practices within North Korea. These include an emphasis on economic self-reliance, the pursuit of nuclear weapons as a means of national defense and deterrence, the promotion of a distinct national identity and culture, and the concept of "military-first politics" (Songun) which prioritizes the military in the allocation of resources.
It's important to note that the understanding and interpretation of Juche can vary depending on who you ask. While the DPRK government presents it as a fundamental principle that guides their policies, some critics argue that Juche is used as a tool for maintaining the regime's control and isolating the country from the rest of the world.
Overall, Juche, from the perspective of the DPRK and its citizens, promotes the idea of self-reliance, independence, and the pursuit of their own unique path in political, economic, and cultural spheres."
One can easily see the parallels with the Panther's approach to self reliance, and community care/defense organizations etc.