Late Stage Capitalism is when Finland bans symbols of communism. 'It's always East Europe against Communist Symbols', 'Banning the communist symbol makes you a nazi.',
Late Stage Capitalism is when Finland bans symbols of communism. 'It's always East Europe against Communist Symbols', 'Banning the communist symbol makes you a nazi.',
It's almost as if many countries within Eastern Europe and Asia have generational trauma associated with acts of violence, oppression, and genocide connected to those symbols.
I've never understood the obsession with Soviet iconography within communist spaces, especially when there are plenty of communists that acknowledge that the Soviet Union never actually lived up to the ideals of communism, and acknowledge the acts of imperialism and genocide committed by their regime.
The swastika and other ancient symbols are banned for similar reasons in many countries for their association with fascists, and most people seem to be on board with it. But when countries that were directly harmed by communist regimes start to ban soviet iconography, there is suddenly a double standard and a lack of understanding.
I think modern communists who sincerely believe in social justice need to divorce themselves from these symbols of oppression. There are plenty of symbols of solidarity, unity, and workers empowerment that could be used that don't have the same level of taint. I'm a fan of the big dipper myself.
Absolutely. I feel like communism's tolerance of Leninism is as problematic as conservatives' tolerance of Fascism, and police tolerance of protecting the bad cops.
When someone tells me they intend to put me "up against the wall" (at least a few have said this to me over the years), and they are not loudly denounced by their "comrades", then they are complicit in that attitude.
All of that would require accepting that having communism as the end goal has caused death and oppression similar, if not worse then, the Nazis.
And they'll never admit that. Because if they do, then they open the door for criticism of any current "communism" like China. And we're not allowed to talk about the genocides that China is responsible for. If China's flags were green and they used a tractor instead of a hammer and sickle then there would be anough cognitive dissonance to allow for criticism of past regimes while pretending that you're not doing the same thing now. But it's too late. That iconography is now representing China, so they must defend the sanctity of those icons. It's a lot like religion. Or a cult.
If following the Marxist definition, I don't think the end goal of communism is inherently a bad thing. The issue comes from the means of achieving it, and the issue with Marxist-Leninism and Maoism is its tendency towards purity, conformity, compulsory adherence and authoritarianism.
I think you are right in the sense that because China calls itself communist, people are quick to defend it despite the fact that it's current political economic system seems to resemble authoritarian capitalism moreso than even Maoism. Then again, North Korea seperated itself from its communist label decades ago, and Russia isn't even the same political regime it was during the Soviet era, and a lot of self proclaimed communists still jump to their defense.
I can understand being critical of or even hostile to the United States and other first world capitalist nations, but the enemy of your enemy isn't always your friend. Otherwise Imperial Japan would've been based as fuck even though it raped and enslaved people under the guise of "antiimperialism" and "east Asian co-prosperity."
the end goal has caused death and oppression similar, if not worse then, the Nazis
I have extremely strong opinions about this. As someone from a family who was hurt by both, it's not even remotely comparable. The Nazis wanted my family executed. Communists wanted quiet compliance, with penalties for speaking truth to power. Those things are not remotely the same.
Communism here was not pleasant, fair or safe, but at least you had a set of rules to follow (shut up, go to your job, loudly endorse the official party position, report infractions) and you'd be relatively safe.
This is very different from a regime who explicitly wants to murder you.
Where to even start.
Finland is not banning red flags, golden stars, singing workers' songs etc. There's no reason or legal possibilities to persecute communism even if the fascist aligned cabinet hints at it in their small false equivalence minds.
What actually is being investigated is if fascist insignia, for example from Nazis and the Soviet Union, can be prohibited.
But wow those comments are insane
Indeed the straight up drank the koolaid.
The plan is aimed at combating racism and anti-Semitism, including a new law to criminalise Holocaust denial and plans to possibly ban Nazi and Communist symbols – although that could prove legally difficult.
It's quite hard to even find a decent source for this that isn't clickbaity, here's mine: https://www.euronews.com/2023/08/31/finnish-government-renounces-racism-after-a-summer-rocked-by-racist-scandals
It's racism they are denouncing, not communism per se.
Here's a good source of the contents https://yle.fi/a/74-20047962
The whole plan is a theater sleight of hand trick so the cabinet would not need to do any actions to their own fascist-connections.
Fascist
USSR
Pick only one
Hear me out. The terms don't matter. Both the Nazis and the Soviets were/are fanatics. They used whatever *ism they aligned with to do the same exact thing. They tried to take over other nations to control the citizens of those countries to spread their ways of thinking. They used exactly the same techniques that led to the same kind of genocide on both sides.
You could even expand it to what the US did during the cold war, and you can definitely see that China is doing the same thing now. They even have their own genocide that they've committed just recently.
So, at this point there's nothing wrong with using terms that combine Nazis, Soviets, and socialist regimes in general.
The USSR was fascist, by any modern definition.
Since nobody else has posted it, here's a common list of fascist traits:
- Powerful and continuing nationalism
- Disdain for human rights
- Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
- Rampant sexism
- Controlled mass media
- Obsession with national security
- Religion and government intertwined
- Corporate power protected
- Labor power suppressed
- Disdain for intellectual and the arts
- Obsession with crime and punishment
- Rampant cronyism and corruption
It's not the be-all-end-all definition, but it's a good guide. The USSR checked a lot of those boxes, but two big ones it didn't were intertwining religion and government, and protecting corporate power. Arguably, those are because religion and corporations became part of the state, though. The USSR was also generally very keen on science and the arts, but only as long you didn't do anything subversive.
I'd use the term authoritarian myself, but there's enough meat on the bone that you could argue for fascism.
Do they still use swastikas on their fighter jets in Finland?
Currently, the Finnish Air Force uses a white-blue-white roundel. They haven't used swastikas as plane insignia since 1945 for reasons that should be obvious.
WW2 era gear was, as far as I can remember, all prop engines. I need to check my literature but I'm pretty sure the swastikas have never been used in the jetplane age.
The comment may be referring to the fact that several FAF insignias continued to use swastika motifs for a frankly surprisingly long time. (Common apologia you probably hear was "well that was because of Eric von Rosen, the symbol didn't really have anything to do with Nazis"... well, von Rosen did start up National Socialist Block in Sweden after this happened, so take that how you will.)
We still do have a swastika IIRC but its in reverse if you compare it to the Nazi swastika. We have used it since they formed the air force, before Nazi Germany was a thing.Edit: nvm we got rid of it in 2010