*cross-posted from lemmy.ml

sources

on the dprk

• right to housing and retirement, multi-party peoples democracy: constitution of the dprk
• power checks and balances: infographic: why the us is a dictatorship and the dprk isnt.
• welfare economy: prolewiki article about the dprk, section on economy (that whole article is generally really great and debunks a lot of western propaganda)
• democratic since inception: kim byong sik. "modern korea: the socialist north, revolutionary perspectives in the south, and unification." 1970.

on the rok

• poverty, slums: prolewiki-article on the term "hell josoen"
• political prisoners: western source confirming the existence of the national security law, stephen gowans (2018). patriots, traitors and empires: the story of koreas struggle for freedom: 'the political partition of korea' (pp. 115–116) , and the prolewiki-article on the rok, sections "national security law" and "unconverted long-term prisoners"
• widespread corruption: a lot of reporting can be found on this topic, even in western media. lets just take the government-sanctioned prostitution and sex trafficking as an example, though there is other equally horrific stuff, including the usage of disabled people as agricultural slaves.
• worlds second highest suicide rate: katrin park (2021-10-5). "south korea is no country for young people" doreign policy.
• tyrannical history: prolewiki-article on the rok, section "history" warning: very bleak read

debunking of anticipated liberal comments

norf korea no food

malnutrition was in fact a thing during the 1990s, though the portrayals of this time period, the so called "arduous march" in westen media are usually exaggerated. mostly omitted by american-allied media is the fact that those difficulties were caused by the inhumane and terrorist western sanctions and embargo against the dprk, as well as the cia-backed illegal and undemocratic dissolution of the ussr. nowadays problems regarding food security have pretty much ceased to exist in the country.

hermit kingdom

first of all, the term itself is nothing but racist, orientalist nonsense, but whatever... the dprk is in no way a kingdom, its democratic model of governance, while obviously imperfect and worthy of (constructive) criticism, is explained in the constitution and infographic linked above.

furthermore, the county is neither "reclusive", nor internationally isolated. the dprk enjoys very friendly relations with fellow aes china, cuba, laos and vietnam, as well as anti-imperialist nations like iran, russia and palestine. the reason you dont hear much from inside the country is due to western press not wanting to report the truth.

no lights, no electricity

the famous "no lights"-photo is a photoshopped fake initially circulated by a southern far-right tabloid. here is an actual image of east asia, including the korean peninsula:

haircut police

unlike south korea, the dprk never had such policies. here is a very entertaining video debunking that myth.

sources

on the dprk

• right to housing and retirement, multi-party peoples democracy: constitution of the dprk
• power checks and balances: infographic: why the us is a dictatorship and the dprk isnt.
• welfare economy: prolewiki article about the dprk, section on economy (that whole article is generally really great and debunks a lot of western propaganda)
• democratic since inception: kim byong sik. "modern korea: the socialist north, revolutionary perspectives in the south, and unification." 1970.

on the rok

• poverty, slums: prolewiki-article on the term "hell josoen"
• political prisoners: western source confirming the existence of the national security law, stephen gowans (2018). patriots, traitors and empires: the story of koreas struggle for freedom: 'the political partition of korea' (pp. 115–116) , and the prolewiki-article on the rok, sections "national security law" and "unconverted long-term prisoners"
• widespread corruption: a lot of reporting can be found on this topic, even in western media. lets just take the government-sanctioned prostitution and sex trafficking as an example, though there is other equally horrific stuff, including the usage of disabled people as agricultural slaves.
• worlds second highest suicide rate: katrin park (2021-10-5). "south korea is no country for young people" doreign policy.
• tyrannical history: prolewiki-article on the rok, section "history" warning: very bleak read

debunking of anticipated liberal comments

norf korea no food

malnutrition was in fact a thing during the 1990s, though the portrayals of this time period, the so called "arduous march" in westen media are usually exaggerated. mostly omitted by american-allied media is the fact that those difficulties were caused by the inhumane and terrorist western sanctions and embargo against the dprk, as well as the cia-backed illegal and undemocratic dissolution of the ussr. nowadays problems regarding food security have pretty much seized to exist in the country.

hermit kingdom

first of all, the term itself is nothing but racist, orientalist nonsense, but whatever... the dprk is in no way a kingdom, its democratic model of governance, while obviously imperfect and worthy of (constructive) criticism, is explained in the constitution and infographic linked above.

furthermore, the county is neither "reclusive", nor internationally isolated. the dprk enjoys very friendly relations with fellow aes china, cuba, laos and vietnam, as well as anti-imperialist nations like iran, russia and palestine. the reason you dont hear much from inside the country is due to western press not wanting to report the truth.

no lights, no electricity

the famous "no lights"-photo is a photoshopped fake initially circulated by a southern far-right tabloid. here is an actual image of east asia, including the korean peninsula:

haircut police

unlike south korea, the dprk never had such policies. here is a very entertaining video debunking that myth.

ive recently made an extremely cringe comment in a thread about the electoral victory of the (even more) extreme right in germany which i since removed. in that comment i accused the german people of being intrinsically inclined towards fascism and even called for measures of ethnic cleansing against that population, including children and elderly people. this statement was inhumane, destructive and just generally disgusting and inexcusable. so what led me to do such a thing?

(again, i want to reiterate that im in no way trying to excuse or justify my behavior in any way)

like with virtually all of the population of the former soviet union, my family history is defined by great tragedy that we suffered from the hands of the fascist invaders. many of my ancestors served in the red army (even the non-communist ones) and others still were part of one of the population groups that the hitlerites were brutally murdering in concentration camps. how this lead to a dramatic surge in germanophobic sentiment after 1941 is obvious.

but here is the thing: the direct victims of those crimes, those heroic men and women of the victorious red army that marched all the way to berlin, mostly dindt really fester this kind of sentiment. contrary to western anti-communist propaganda narrative they behaved themselves with almost unbelievable levels of humanitarianism, empathy and generosity towards german civilians, organizing soup kitchens and free abortions for women raped by western soldiers. i believe that the reason for this is that unlike reactionary ideas our worldview is humanitarian above anything else. i lost sight of that fact and this led me to say things that i now regret. and i believe that sadly this is a somewhat systemic issue within the global anti-imperialist left:

many people within the cprf, myself sometimes regrettably including, say death to america but actually mean death to americans. this tendency is unjust, as our hatred as anti-colonialists should be directed towards the genocidal american regime and not the population that also suffers from its governments vile actions. in leftist online spaces there are emerging similarly wrong viewpoints like people taking the unlimited genocide-meme way to seriously or even posting "apology forms" to vile figures like henry morgenthau. a user on lemmygrad recently stated that he would be fine with the west being "left to fester in its own fascism" and that antifascists should simply emigrate to china (i hope i dont have to explain the classist underpinnings of such views). a different person on that same instance speculated in all seriousness a few months ago, that westerners have a "racist gene" that makes them more inclined towards white supremacism.

such thinking led many western users, who form a majority on the english-speaking web, to engage in excessive self-flagellation, decrying their own cultures as inherently inferior and barbaric, denouncing even the most unproblematic of aspects like cuisine. those people should take a look at the gdr and ask themselves wether that government was trying to destroy german culture.

comrades! lets not loose ourselves to the darkness of racial and petty-nationalist hatred! justice for the criminal regimes? yes! reeducation for the propagandized? absolutely! but ultimately progress and socialism for ALL of humankind.

please read some parenti