I agree with you about a lot of those cases, I might be biased because I’m a Portuguese communist. The PCP has been done all those things (defend China, North Korea, go hard against the war, sending more military armament and sanctions) and got absolutely rammed by the media for being vocal about the conflict. There was literally a PCP delegate in the Donetsk election. The party was labeled as pro-Putin (which we’re not and will never be), party buildings got vandalized and militants got death threats and aggression. Hell, now that people forgot that war and we’re regaining strength, the media is still trying to make defamatory bullshit in an attempt to hurt the party.

The KKE is not an example for any decent communist party with their brand of eurocommunism that spread into a lot of major left parties in Europe. Should they define what is the Western left? Fuck no. Do they invalidate the existing Western parties and comrades that are fighting for the right cause? Fuck no!

About Clare Daly, google “Clare Daly Ukraine” see what shows up. Could they go further? Definitely, but I definitely understand why they don’t in a continent where going further than that will get you labeled as a putinist, in favor of an alleged “genocide” and even get you in legal trouble in some places. The propaganda is extremely strong and, in my opinion, the best way we can recruit is to present it all in an agreeable digestible manner and give the people the tools to understand it all.

Now about Corbyn, why should we care what he says or not? He’s a so called social democrat, I don’t expect anything else from him.

I completely agree with you there’s a lot of bad apples in the mainstream Western left, I absolutely hate them as much as you do. That should not invalidate or discourage others that are trying to make a difference. And it definitely feels unjust to be lumped in the same bag as eurocommunism and leftlibs as the definition of the “Western left”. We’re as much the definition of “Western left” as any of those Corbyns and Melenchons of Europe.

I’m not gonna lie, with all respect, statements like this about “the Western libs and left” by grouping the left with the libs make me cringe every single time. The actual Western left, those that didn’t sell their soul to attract libs, all are anti-war, anti-NATO and don’t fall into this idiotic and xenophobic conspiracy theories. Just say libs, the description fits them all.

I understand the dislike against some of this so called “leftists” from the West, but let’s please not fall into the mistake of feeding this narrative that only helps the right wing opportunists and their rhetorics that the left is not a solution in the Western world.

Totally agree, also the quill in the Syrian one makes it almost perfect for me. It’s a classic with a twist.

Another promising figure in Die Linke who is generally a bit more vocally anti-imperialist than the rest is Sevim Dagdelen, but lately i haven’t seen much of her.

Apparently she left Die Linke to be part of Wagenknecht’s new party.

I find that the “xenophobic” or “anti-immigration” claims against her and her party seem to be way overblown, e.g., look at the sheer number of first generation Germans in high positions of the party (if I remember correctly, Sahra herself is the daughter of an Iranian immigrant). Of course we’ve seen a bunch of self-hating grifters on the right with similar backgrounds, but if you actually read what is said in the manifesto, it doesn’t seem to be rooted in that kind of bigotry. I’m not German, neither do I live in Germany, so I might be missing some extra context and possible dog whistles.

When talking about immigration, sometimes we on the left fall into the mistake of promoting policies that only help capitalist exploitation while disguising it as progressive action. It’s a tough balancing act and that’s how I interpreted her party’s take. Maybe I’m missing something more problematic that she has said before. Also if, I remember correctly, in the manifesto they talk positively about refugees.

That being said I find her takes on “wokeism”, COVID and “idpolitics” a bit more concerning. I understand being tired of some parties that lib it up and sideline other struggles, but this are essential causes that cannot be separated from the whole proletariat fight. Overall I’ve a positive view on her, hopefully we can get a better picture of where the party actually aligns when their actual platform is released.

It might not be exactly what you’re looking for but, if you’re interested in learning more about how to organize a party and mobilize, there’s an amazing book by Álvaro Cunhal called “O Partido com Paredes de Vidro” (The Party with Glass Walls). It gives an overview on how the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) works and how individuals organize and mobilize inside and beyond the party. It’s available on marxists.org and unfortunately it’s not translated to English but it’s so insightful that I’ve been thinking of translating it myself and publishing it somewhere.

The PCP might be one of the best organized and participative ML parties in Europe and one of political parties with most militants in Portugal, even if electoral results fluctuate (a result of the intensification of defamatory propaganda by the media, e.g. Russia-Ukraine war). From the internal organization and connection with unions to being there with general populations in every single struggle, it should definitely be an example for anyone trying to organize. Many of us get stuck in ideological debates but organizing should not be all about ideological purity. It should be about fighting for actual change in the people’s life, in such a way that it cannot be ignored. They can oppose communism or marxist leninism but no one can ever ignore that the movement is always there and that, as it’s commonly said, “the PCP owns the streets”.

This should be useful both if you’re actually thinking of starting your own initiative or joining an already existing one. If you choose to join the Green Party, be aware that it’s definitely not ML and that most there are probably just interested in “green politics”, but it’s not impossible to bring it closer to those ideals. Look at the Portuguese Green Party which has a coalition with the PCP since 1983. I don’t know much about how the UK Green Party works but maybe try to join it, align yourself with a more leftist fraction within it (if such a thing exists) and try to make a change from inside (do not be obnoxious about it). Try to use the platform of the party or at least a fraction of it to get more involved in everyday struggles of your town and surrounding area. Also above all educate yourself and help others in that process, that’s the “easiest” thing we can do.

PS: Sorry if this came off as a Portuguese Communist Party circlejerk.

It depends, what’s your favorite genre? What do you define as “good movies”?

If you like historical movies, watch “The 800”.

If you like spy movies, check out “Cliff Walkers”.

If you want the equivalent of Murican patriotic action war movies, watch “Wolf Warrior”.

If you want something more serious, you might like “The Best Is Yet to Come” and “One Second”.

If you like comedies, I don’t usually watch it too much but I recently enjoyed “Full River Red”.

If you like SciFi, check out “The Wandering Earth” (and the prequel), I would also suggest watching CDrama “Three-Body” (which is also being adapted by Netflix now) although it’s kind of bloated.

If you like Fantasy, check out “Creation of the Gods”

There are so many more, I definitely have a recency bias and I have no doubt there’s some better movies out there for every taste. These are mostly not “peak cinema”, most are just commercial movies like we’ve in the West. You can find most Chinese movies with subs pretty much in any piracy site, dubs are unlikely or non-existent.

Edit: If you’re interested in learning more about Chinese cinema, I would suggest Accented Cinema.