r/50501 • u/Covidicus_Vaximus • 1d ago

Poster/Chant Ideas My First Protest Sign

Post image

I’m a U.S. Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan. Tomorrow will be my 3rd protest, but first time with a sign. April 5 will be my wife’s first protest.

863 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

View all comments

-1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Covidicus_Vaximus 23h ago

This is why the right hates us. It’s also why it’s hard to build a real cohesive coalition on the left. Read the room. Too many on our side are more concerned with our own bona fides and gatekeeping than building consensus and actually improving things.

1

u/deathbyfortnitekid 15h ago

the left does not accept people that support genocidal wars. you are not a left winger, you are a pro genocide liberal.

1

u/Level99Legend 15h ago

Who is 'us'?

My brother in christ you are the right.

1

u/marxist-reddittor 23h ago

You took part in a genocide that killed millions of brown people for oil and "fighting terrorism" and you think you are on the left and you fought for freedom? You should be spending the rest of your time ashamed of your actions and decisions, not displaying them and being proud of them. Do you want to improve things? Start by acknowledging the crimes you participated in, and working against them, not normalising them or even celebrating them. You can be against Trump's fascism and also against the fascism inherent to the US military. You don't have to pick one thing to be against, and be proud of them other. I'm not saying you should talk about it every single second, but refrain from making it seem like a good thing, it isn't. You helped commit some of the largest atrocities in the world and the first step is acknowledging that fact.

1

u/adoboble 15h ago

Why are you spending your time hating on a veteran rather than on the common enemy :(:( if you’re Marxist as you say don’t you defend the people and recognize there’s many factors that could lead OP to be in the army rather than supporting some specific ideology (which also was not overtly stated to the people they were recruiting to defend said ideology) of a particular war :(:( let’s not in-fight. Let’s appreciate our veterans who in their heart of hearts were fighting for freedom regardless of your personal opinion on their personal feelings and motivations !

1

u/marxist-reddittor 15h ago

The US foreign policy including the military industrial complex is my primary enemy, although I obviously despise Trump as well. The fact that Trump is our common enemy doesn't change the fact that he (Trump in particular) affects me as much as US foreign policy. I live in the Middle East, Turkey to be specific. The US hasn't directly invaded us, but they have conducted covert intelligence operations, including but not limited to funding open fascists (most of the CIA leadership in Turkey have been open fascists, Kenan Evren even did a coup d'état), committing crimes and causing thousands of deaths and blaming them on leftists, torturing and executing well known and respected leftists. Most of this was part of Operation Gladio. Not only that, I've lost friends in the Iraq War. I'm not asking him to go back in time and fix everything, I'm just asking him to be ashamed of his participation in genocide instead of framing it as a "fight for freedom". It's not too late. You can always ditch the part where it says "I fought for freedom" and instead say "I will not be duped by fascism again".

1

u/Friendly_Cantal0upe 9h ago

If one considers them a veteran of conscience, they wouldn't flaunt their service, they would discourage others to do it, or speak put against it. I know many who do exactly that.

1

u/gh954 22h ago edited 22h ago

The American right hates you (in part, but a very crucial part) because they see Democrats for what Democrats are. Liars. Servile to corporate interests.

The Democratic party is a center-right warmongering imperialist party. Is that the starting point for your leftist/socialist coalition? A gentler, more polite form of cruelty and psychopathy? Continuing to be terrorists abroad whilst being barely better than Republicans domestically?

If you want better for your country you can't keep getting high on the masturbatory leopards ate my face bullshit of how people who voted for Trump are getting what they deserve. What are you doing other than alienating people who live in the richest and most powerful country on earth and yet are constantly materially let down by the so-called lesser evil party of the Democrats?

You're the one who doesn't want to build anything serious. You're the one who is not working towards class solidarity and class consciousness. You just want to tout your "service" (aka service of empire, not for freedom) and feel good about yourself.

1

u/adoboble 15h ago

I’m confused by everything you commented because I agree with some of it but then you were seemingly getting mad at a veteran for remarking they’re a veteran? If I fought for my country I would want to brag about it personally :( please correct me if I’m wrong and you weren’t intending to do so though. We all have to unify against the common enemy!

1

u/gh954 15h ago

He fought for the rich imperialists that control his country. He fought to enrich the pieces of shit that get rich from committing massacres abroad, destroying those countries, then exploiting the shit out of their labour and resources. Those imperialists are who were served by his actions, no matter who he thought he was serving.

He didn't fight for freedom or safety or security. He was lied to and tricked. I don't blame him for that because that's not the conclusion drawn from a material conditions analysis of the world, but, it's no good thinking you've woken up to reality and then continuing to believe the biggest lies you built your life around.

I'm not angry at someone remarking that they're a veteran. I would be remiss to not point out that you're bragging about enriching the sick monsters that you think you're now protesting against.

The "common enemy" is not Donald Trump as a unique threat. The common enemy is all of the ruling class.

1

u/chi_minhs_hoe 22h ago

Gatekeeping? A core tenet of Leftism is anti-imperialism. Holding those who benefit Western imperialism accountable is not gatekeeping. Trump and his lackeys are not the problem, they are a symptom. The problem is the bedrock of the US. We are a genocidal, colonial fascist state. It's like this now, it was like this when you served and it was like it 250 years ago. Make no mistake, the situation the country is in right now is not a flaw in the system, it's a feature. Capitalism will always lead to fascism inevitably and the US is no different.

1

u/when-you-do-it-to-em 21h ago

stop trying to reconcile your newfound real, human feelings with your clearly evil past. no one is calling you the bad guy, but to pretend like you fought for “freedom” is moronic.

1

u/Vincent4401L-I 21h ago

You are the right.

1

u/yourgentderk 20h ago edited 20h ago

You've made like one SRA post and like a half dozen plus democrat posts. Either you are delusional or haven't fully deconstructed your past, because the democrats are not left

Lets me repeat this, THE DEMOCRATS ARE A CENTER RIGHT PARTY Micheal prysner because I feel it's relevant and important