The Deprogram Podcast
# Wiki %%last updated to match [The Deprogram Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDeprogram/wiki/index/) on 2024-01-03%% > As revolutionaries, we don’t have the right to say we are tired of explaining. We must never stop explaining. We know that when the people understand, they cannot help but follow us. > > — Thomas Sankara ## Education These articles seek to explain various fundamental Communist concepts. However, these are often oversimplistic and sometimes reductive and they are no substitute for reading _actual_ theory. Please see the [Study Guide](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028875) for details. Primers: - [Class Struggle](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296848) - [What is Freedom](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028877) - [What is Fascism](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028878) - [What is Imperialism](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028879) - [What is Revisionism](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028880) ## Praxis > Philosophers have hitherto only _interpreted_ the world in various ways; the point is to change it. > > — Karl Marx. (1845). [Theses On Feuerbach](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/) - [Get Involved](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296902) - [Protest Advice](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296904) ## Debunking These articles aim to dispel common myths and misconceptions about a variety of topics. - [Authoritarianism](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028881) - [Freedom of the Press](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028883) ### USSR - [The Gulag System](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028885) - [Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028888) - [The Holodomor](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028889) ### PRC - [The Uyghur Genocide](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028893) - [Tiananmen Square Massacre](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028895) ### [Cuba](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3203334) ### Logical Fallacies - [Ergo Decedo](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296945) - [Whataboutism](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296947) ### [Israel](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028896) - [Israel: Timeline](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028898) - [Israel: Ideological Roots](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028900) - [Israel: US Backing and Christian Zionism](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028903) ## Profiles - [Che Guevara](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3203336) ## Dunking Naming and Shaming - [Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1028912) - [George Orwell](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296952) ### [Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA)](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296953) - [The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296955) - [The National Endowment for Democracy (NED)](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296956) - [The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM)](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1296959) - [The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1297007) - [The Information Research Department (IRD)](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1297009)
Hello from [r/TheDeprogram](https://reddit.com/r/TheDeprogram) over on Reddit. A comrade reached out asking us to also create the community on Lemmy, so here it is. I'm not really sure what to do with community alongside the subreddit, open to ideas!
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5673501
MTNK was not on Lemmygrad until today MTNK is now on Lemmygrad https://lemmygrad.ml/c/movingtonorthkorea we are also trying to expand it outside Lemmygrad also there are no mods from this subreddit on the Lemmygrad but my message to the mods here is that you can become a mod on this community on Lemmygrad as long as you put your Lemmygrad account in your bio why does this matter? because back in the day FULLCOMMUNISM was quarantined a 1/2 decade ago and GenZedong was also quarantined in 2022 GenZhou and GenZhukov were banned from Reddit so this is a backup and alternative to this subreddit if Reddit tries to ban/quarantined this subreddit go to Lemmygrad if this subreddit ever gets ban/quarantined also I own https://lemmygrad.ml/c/newswithjingjing and go check that out I am trying to expand this outside the local Lemmygrad community and trying to expand it into other Left-Wing Lemmy communities like Hexbear.
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5125747
www.youtube.com
tankie.tube
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4600949 > Second Thought: The New F-Word Series
   This is what you get when you constantly promote zizek. Edit: [there’s a reason why marxists don’t use hegel’s dialectics](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1962/overdetermination.htm)
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3902148 > American Liberals Are The Most Dangerous Thing In The Western Hemisphere
I'm on my last episode of the deprogram until I'm caught up  You're telling me I only get an episode a week now? Fuck that. Any other leftist podcasts y'all like? Other than chapo, aside from their intro music it's not really my vibe
 I saved these from discord almost two years ago.
I haven't been listening regularly to the podcast in some time but this episode caught my attention because Ben Norton is such a great and knowledgeable commentator. As expected it was a really good one. I don't mind them having more fluff-filled lighter episodes, but those are just not for me. I much prefer serious substantive episodes like this. They have also occasionally had guests on that i thought were fairly disappointing, so i hope that they keep bringing guests of this caliber.
%%last updated to match [The Deprogram Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDeprogram/wiki/index/) on 2024-01-03%% # Ernesto "Che" Guevara > If you are capable of trembling with indignation each time that an injustice is committed anywhere in the world, we are comrades. > > — Che Guevara. (1964). Quoted in _Guerrillas in Power: The Course of the Cuban Revolution_ (1971) by K. S. Karol Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. As a young medical student, Guevara traveled throughout South America and was radicalized by the poverty, hunger, and disease he witnessed. His burgeoning desire to help overturn what he saw as the Capitalist exploitation of Latin America by the United States prompted his involvement in Guatemala's social reforms under President Jacobo Árbenz, whose eventual CIA-assisted overthrow at the behest of the United Fruit Company solidified Guevara's political ideology. Later in Mexico City, Guevara met Raúl and Fidel Castro, joined their 26th of July Movement, and sailed to [[r.TheDeprogram Cuba|Cuba]] aboard the yacht Granma with the intention of overthrowing U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Guevara soon rose to prominence among the insurgents, was promoted to second-in-command, and played a pivotal role in the two-year guerrilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime. After the Cuban Revolution, Guevara played key roles in the new government. These included reviewing the appeals and firing squads for those convicted as war criminals during the revolutionary tribunals, instituting agrarian land reform as Minister of Industries, helping spearhead a successful nationwide literacy campaign, serving as both President of the National Bank and instructional director for Cuba's armed forces, and traversing the globe as a diplomat on behalf of Cuban Socialism. Such positions also allowed him to play a central role in training the militia forces who repelled the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Additionally, Guevara was a prolific writer and diarist, composing a seminal guerrilla warfare manual, along with a best-selling memoir about his youthful continental motorcycle journey. His experiences and studying of Marxism–Leninism led him to posit that the Third World's underdevelopment and dependence was an intrinsic result of imperialism, neocolonialism, and monopoly capitalism, with the only remedies being proletarian internationalism and world revolution. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to foment continental revolutions across both Africa and South America, first unsuccessfully in Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia, where he was captured by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces and summarily executed. # Additional Resources You can find his writings in the Marxist Internet Archive: [https://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/index.htm](https://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/index.htm) ## Video Essays: - [Who Did Che Guevara Murder?](https://youtu.be/nkBXFXwGuJE) | BadEmpanada (2019) - [Che Guevara: Homophobic Racist? Response to Steven Crowder & PragerU](https://youtu.be/F5eFPgvhS60) | BadEmpanada (2019) - [Che Guevara's True Legacy](https://youtu.be/5-HkPLFjQc8) | BadEmpanada (2020) - [Conservatives Love Lying About Che Guevara, Inventing Fake Quotes](https://youtu.be/k1M5LnXC8eo) | BadEmpanada (2020) - [Cuba and Che Guevara TALKING POINTS by Sky News - How Do They Hold Up?](https://youtu.be/ZTZwmOHJwq0) | BadEmpanada (2021) - [Che Guevara: Revolutionary Hero | Che's Life, Legacy, and Theory](https://youtu.be/d3yVJghCn9Q) | Marxism Today (2022) ## Books, Articles, or Essays: - _Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life_ | Jon Lee Anderson (1997) ## Podcasts: - [In Defense of Che Guevara: Analyzing his Life and Answering his Critics](https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/in-defense-of-che-guevara-analyzing-his-life-and-answering-his-critics) | Revolutionary Left Radio (2017)
%%last updated to match [The Deprogram Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDeprogram/wiki/index/) on 2024-01-03%% # Cuba The Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel Castro and Ernesto "[Che](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3203336)" Guevara, was a Communist revolution which aimed to address issues of inequality, poverty, and national self-determination. Under Castro's leadership, the Cuban government nationalized industries, implemented land reforms, and initiated programs to improve healthcare and education access. # Brief History Slavery was introduced to Cuba by the Spanish during the early 16th century. African slaves were brought to the island to work on sugar plantations, which became the backbone of the Cuban economy. The brutal conditions of slavery led to various slave rebellions and uprisings throughout the colonial period. In 1898, the Spanish-American War resulted in Spain ceding control of Cuba to the United States. The majority of workers in Cuban sugar plantations during this period were either former slaves or descendants of enslaved Africans. Despite the _official_ abolition of slavery in 1886, workers faced extreme economic exploitation. They were trapped in a cycle of poverty, with low wages and limited opportunities for social and economic mobility. The _patronato_ system emerged, where former slaves and their descendants continued to work on the plantations under debt peonage, a form of economic bondage. In 1952, Fulgencio Batista seized power in a military coup, suspending the Cuban Constitution and ruling as a dictator. Batista's regime was backed by influential Cuban elites, including large landowners, sugar magnates, and business tycoons who benefited from Batista's policies. The U.S. provided military aid and economic support to Batista's military dictatorship. > ...as Castro's revolutionary threat became progressively more potent... the Batista regime sought to counter it with a campaign of terror. As regime-inspired terrorism mounted, anti-Batista groups engaged in counter terrorism against regime supporters and by mid-1958 killings had become widespread and general throughout the country. The regime's campaign of terror got out of control and the government in Havana probably had no clear idea of how many killings the police and army forces were committing. Similarly, the anti-Batista forces--which by mid-1958 had the support of 80 to 90 percent of the population-- had little control over the acts of counterterrorism being committed against pro-Batista elements throughout the country. > > ...the large-scale campaigns of murders and terrorism characteristic of the last years of the Batista regime have not occurred during the Castro regime. > > — CIA. (1965, declassified 2005). [Political Murders in Cuba: Batista Era Compared With Castro Regime](http://web.archive.org/web/20201119103419/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79T00429A000300030015-8.pdf) # The Embargo > The majority of Cubans support Castro... The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship... it follows that every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government. > > — Lester D. Mallory. (1960). [499. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mallory) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom)](https://archive.is/HE7Hf) Later that year, the Eisenhower administration instituted the embargo which persists to this day, over 60 years later. > The non-binding resolution [calling for an end to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba] was approved by 185 countries and opposed only by the United States and Israel... It was the 30th time the United Nations has voted to end the embargo... The trade embargo was put in place following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution and has remained largely unchanged, though some elements were stiffened by Trump. > > — Reuters. (2022). [Cuba and U.S. spar over U.N. resolution calling to end embargo](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-us-spar-over-un-resolution-calling-end-embargo-2022-11-03/) - [The U.S. Embargo on Cuba Is MUCH WORSE Than It Seems](https://youtu.be/dM7_wTqDUCU) | BadEmpanada (2021) - [The Cuban Embargo Explained](https://youtu.be/zmM8p9n6Z9E) | azureScapegoat (2022) # Castro Stole My Stuff > The US claims that it has instituted a policy of tightening the economic noose around Cuba with the Helms-Burton bill on the grounds that Cuba refuses to compensate US companies following nationalisation of their property. This is patently untrue, as Cuba not only successfully negotiated compensation agreements with other countries, but has and is ready to negotiate with the US. > > — S. J. Noumoff. (1998). [The Hypocrisy of Helms-Burton: The History of Cuban Compensation](https://www.jstor.org/stable/4406691) - [The Cuban Nationalization of US Property in 1960: the Historical and Global Context](https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/29/the-cuban-nationalization-of-us-property-in-1960-the-historical-and-global-context/) | Charles McKelvey (2019) # Doctors Despite the challenges posed by the embargo, Cuba has the most doctors per capita in the world and recently surpassed the US in life expectancy. - [The Truth About Cuban Doctors](https://youtu.be/tGFCIAZ_RA4) | BadEmpanada (2020) - [[Meet the U.S. Students Studying Medicine For Free in Cuba - YouTube]] | BreakThrough News (2022) # Democracy - [[How Democracy Works in Cuba - YouTube]] | azureScapegoat (2018) - [[How does Cuba work - YouTube - Viki1999]] | Viki1999 (2021) - [We Asked Cuban Voters If They Live In A Democracy Or Dictatorship. Here's How They Responded.](https://youtu.be/20DgWZtImUk) | BreakThrough News (2022) # Participatory Democracy in action: LGBT rights Prior to the revolution, homosexuality was stigmatized and criminalized in Cuba, reflecting the prevailing attitudes of the time. Unfortunately, the revolutionary government under Fidel Castro initially continued this stance. However, Cuba's stance on LGBT rights has evolved to the point where it has become a symbol of progress within the Latin American context. In 2010, Fidel Castro himself admitted that the persecution of homosexuals in the early years of the revolution was a mistake: > If anyone is responsible, it's me. > > — Fidel Castro. (2010). [I am responsible for the persecution of homosexuals that took place in Cuba: Fidel Castro](https://www.jornada.com.mx/2010/08/31/index.php?section=mundo&article=026e1mun) In 2022, Cuba became the first Latin American country to mark LGBT History Month. Now, Pride parades in Havana are held every May, to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and attendance grows every year. Cuba also passed one of the most progressive Family Codes in the entire world: > The Family Code not only protects the most vulnerable in Cuba, it protects the course of Cuban socialism. Writing the referendum involved the whole population throughout the processes of drafting and amending. It went through 25 revisions over the course of 3 ½ years. > > After the referendum was introduced in 2019, Cuba carried out a nationwide process of education and outreach. Discussions took place in every workplace, organization, neighborhood and community group. To keep all Cubans well-informed, people took the discussions to rural areas and to those who do not have internet access. > > The Family Code was approved by Cubans 2 to 1. A large percentage of Cubans, 74%, took part in the vote... > > In Workers World Sept. 25, 2022, Minnie Bruce Pratt wrote, “Nearly 6.5 million Cubans took part in more than 79,000 meetings facilitated by the Federation of Cuban Women, the Committees to Defend the Revolution and other community organizations. Over 400,000 proposals were offered by the people; these were submitted to the National Assembly of People’s Power for evaluation, and a revised draft was returned to the people for further discussion and proposals... > > Cubans are very proud of what they call participatory democracy, the process they used to introduce and pass the referendum. It is an example to the world and a lesson in democratic centralism. > > — Lyn Neeley. (2023). [Cuba’s new Family Code, a law of love](https://www.workers.org/2023/01/68708/) - [Millions of Cubans Vote on New Family Code, LGBT Marriage, Adoption Rights & More](https://youtu.be/DXL3ScNn5VE) | BreakThrough News (2022) # Additional Resources ## Video Essays: - [Cuba: Before and After the Revolution - The Story of When Michael Parenti Visited Cuba](https://youtu.be/YIqm075vC1A) | azureScapegoat (2017) - [The Truth About The Cuban Missile Crisis](https://youtu.be/adrQweOX5c4) | Spooky Scary Socialist (2018) - [How Cuba Works](https://youtu.be/DXBYlC4-0bQ) | BadEmpanada (2020) - [The Truth About The Cuba Protests](https://youtu.be/zIOw6fSOJI4?t=1087) | Second Thought (2020) - [Why They Hate The USA: CUBA](https://youtu.be/WgWK6_AYq_o) | Hakim (2023) ## Podcasts: - [Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution](https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/fidel-castro-and-the-cuban-revolution) | Revolutionary Left Radio (2017) - [Season 2 - The Cuban Revolution](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3QhgtGyW7ws173eENjddNT) | Blowback (2021) - [Episode 13 - Cucked by Fidel (CIA pls no assassinate)](https://youtu.be/YwMZYNzHd7U) | The Deprogram (2022)
From what I saw he's a "Orwell is a great socialist author" and "the USSR was fascist" kind of terminally white bourgeois British dude. Did he, like, watched a Hakim or JT video before accepting?? I hope it's because he's having a redemption arc or something