I shared the full talk here a while back.

It's interesting to note that even Singapore has started to drift from the West. (Which explains the WSJ article that was published a few days back.)

Of course George Yeo is not Foreign Afffairs Minister anymore, but this view is also advocated by Singapore's current minister of foreign affairs.

To those downvoting, take a look at this thread. Then come back here and tell me if you have objections to the analysis.

Thread is copy-pasted down below.

Let me teach you Marxist 101 wrt this whole Matty Healy thing. The force that drives social change is primarily the internal contradictions of a society, which of course reacts to external influences. The primary contradiction internationally is imperialism at the moment. (1/9)

In a postcolonial world, formerly colonised nations are in the process of healing from colonial trauma. A component of decolonisation is the reclamation of one’s own culture as this affirms and empowers the identity of the colonised. (2/9)

But the colonialists themselves were responsible for epistemicide and cultural genocide. They imposed their norms, including the gender binary which is rooted in capitalism, onto our ancestors who had their own differing attitudes toward gender and sexual diversity. (3/9)

Anti-queer attitudes (in the capitalist sense) among Malays is learned. The knowledge of their previous attitude is repressed. This is not to say that their attitudes were perfect but change happens and the Malays would’ve made their own progress on this issue. (4/9)

The West has a track record of continuing the White Man’s burden, screaming human rights as an excuse to criticise our practice and lecture us on what to do. They’ve also weaponised social issues to incite colour revolutions in parts of the Third World. (5/9)

Matty Healy’s act of “protest” against our government is one that will backfire against us. A white Brit kissing a man to challenge the authority of Malaysia is a microattack on our right to decide for ourselves the values we follow. (6/9)

He also presents the act of two men kissing as a Western imposition onto our people. This adds ammo for a people who are ignorant of their ancestors’ nuanced attitude towards this stuff to label the LGBT people as a threat to national sovereignty. (7/9)

This is why what he did was reactionary. It was a reaction and it will incite reactions that inhibit the progress of our revolutionary efforts. It sabotages our attempt to improve the conditions of gender and sexual diverse people in Malaysia. (8/9)

The government will point to this and can use it as an excuse to enact further restrictions on the practice of the local LGBT community. We will have to face the reaction of the government which they see as necessary to maintain the status quo. So, fuck Matty Healy. (9/9)

I can understand the practical realities of moderation in an anonymous online space in which such sentiments can quickly escalate to a personal level.

But we really need to kill racial ideology. I don’t think we should be that uppity about it.

We SHOULD be racist against “White people”!

Because it doesn’t exist in real life!

Why are we treating a colonial stratification of peoples into “races” and “ethnicities” at face value? Why are we offended like there is a global White genocide?

People in the global south don’t need white guilt. They don’t need self-flagellating whites on one hand and white supremacists on the other. They need “white people” to help tear down this globe-spanning economic and ideological system of stratification that has caused so much pain and suffering.

The hatred of white people is a hatred of this racist system of Capitalism that forcefully and continuously suffocates the entire world.

Mental colonization runs deep in postcolonial societies - and when the colonized lashes out, it is an expression of the humanity that has been denied. The least of my problems is when the oppressed uses the oppressor’s language to demonstrate the false justifications of the oppressor’s existence.

To phrase this another way to make it really on the nose: there are 1.5 billion Global Northerners, while there are 6.5 billion Global Southerners, and since might makes right, “white people” should really be the ones oppressed (lol).

The Left focuses too much on racism

The Left is US election duopoly and State Department controlled paper apparently

I’d personally say race isn’t focused nearly enough by most Amerikans.

If I am not mistaken, ProleWiki has a page on this but I can’t seem to find it.

It may be useful to add all the websites that isn’t on there yet. I’ve been meaning to create an account but haven’t got round to it yet.

These environments is what kinda pushed me to choose the degree I am in. Really cool stuff.

I swear I was staring at the settings for this the other day for a while. I don’t know how I missed it

I mean Indonesia literally conducted multiple genocides, with one currently happening. Anti-Chinese and anti-Christian hate crimes has been brewing for the past few decades as well. And the aforementioned still strict anti-Communist laws @ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml mentioned.

UAE and Saudi Arabia, depending on their methodology, if they only sampled citizens (which I suspect is the case considering the surveys were done only with English and Arabic in the 2 countries) would obviously be much more supportive, and even if they didn’t, those who would stay would literally lose their jobs and be deported if any sort of discontent is expressed.

90% of the UAE are migrant workers, while for Saudi it’s 40%. When you outsource your entire working class to the superexploited Global South, you can give perks to your own citizens, not unlike how European social democracy worked in the 20th century, enabled by American protection and fossil fuel wealth.

I’m not so dogmatic that I will refuse to acknowledge China doing something I disagree with even if I support China on the whole.

Yup. Ultimately as Marxists we must understand things through their essence, not just their aspects, phenomena, and form. We must understand everything through their totality, through the unity of opposites and the primary contradiction that guides it all.

Not saying that’s necessarily the case in this situation though, its too hard to say without more information available.

I’m in the same boat. But I’ll remain especially sceptical about Western claims about anything related to the ocean, considering their abysmal track record in the South China Sea.

I myself am uneducated on this area, and people more educated than me can chime in if I got something wrong, but I found an article that may interest you:

China and the Antarctic: Presence, policy, perception, and public diplomacy by Nong Hong (2021).

There’s no sci-hub copy available though but I’ll try summarize from my quick read-through.

China rejects expansion of the MPAs due to conflicting interpretations between the duality of “rational use” and “conservation” as stipulated in the CCAMLR (the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources).

Another example exhibiting China’s willingness to ‘play by the rules’ are in the MPAs in the Ross Sea and East Antarctica [77]. All CCAMLR resolutions require consensus for approval. In October 2012, China was in agreement with Russia and Ukraine to oppose this proposal, as it believes that the scientific evidence is not solid enough to justify the creation of such large, restricted areas. In their views, in the absence of clear scientific analysis, “rational use” should gain greater consideration over “conservation” in any future agreement. Beijing also objected to the lengthy time period in which the proposed boundaries will be imposed (until 2064 for the Ross Sea and 2043 for the East Antarctic Reserve) [52].

Another concern of China involves the management and enforcement of marine protected area restrictions. China does not yet have the capacity to consistently contribute to enforcement activities. That responsibility will fall on the United States and Antarctic territorial claimants, including New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Argentina and the United Kingdom. MPA enforcement could cause China to lose influence over maritime governance and put it at a distinct disadvantage if existing territorial claimants try to reassert their sovereignty over disputed regions [49], [64]. The Ross Sea region MPA was expanded as a result of inserting an additional zone, (Krill Research Zone), which was proposed by China and represented a compromise between China and USA reached in 2015 [103]. China agreed to the terms of the new Ross Sea MPA since it included a Krill Research Zone which reflects China's long-standing view on the balance between conservation and rational use. The MPA was activated in December 2017 and will then be reviewed in 2052 with another consensus vote needed for a continuance [71]. Hence, China's changing position towards marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean sets a positive implication for future Antarctic governance. The Antarctic case provides concrete evidence that China’s rise in Antarctica provides a poignant example of how active engagement in global governance institutions can simultaneously enhance China’s power and foster peace and security in the international system [52].

I am unsure about the specific areas mentioned in the news article, but I am taking on the assumption that it may be due to similar reasons.

We must also be aware that China is often portrayed as an environmental polluter versus the ecofriendly West, which has been going on, for what, decades now? So I’d be extremely sceptical about any claims about the environment by the country with the largest historical carbon emissions and highest carbon emissions per capita, the United States, who year after year downplays their necessary carbon intensity goals (and other environmental conservation goals) to deride Global South countries for not doing enough. Not to mention the psyops and NGOs.

Also a quick look through the mentioned organisation in the article - the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, showcases totally not nepo babies and overwhelmingly American government affiliated people on the board (mainly USAID but some others), an organisation based in Washington DC (of course), and in general staff who are all are Western educated and/or a Westerner.

Unsure if it’s the new UI or just more content from other instances inundating my feed, but everything feels more cluttered.

Really need to purge my All and Local feeds by banning more communities.

Edit: Nevermind it seems the Local feed got fixed but a bit annoying that now All is defaulted.

I was reading a local business newspaper, Malaysian corporates realign supply chains, which highlighted this interesting factoid:

Direct source: Global Supply Chains – Networks of Tomorrow (HSBC, paywalled for some).

Here’s another from the HSBC summary:

Had to unblock this community just to reply to this post.

I’m not sure. For Singapore, shifting the PAP back towards it’s SocDem, roots

Nah this shit is hilarious. Bringing back PAP to it’s SocDem roots of betraying the communists and killing/jailing them?

Classic succdem behaviour honestly. Makes me cackle.

The issue is over here, although it may be easy to attribute homophobic attitudes to be external in origin, whether it was British colonization or Wahhabist-Salafist influence, it is much more complicated than that.

Obviously those 2 had it roles, and even profound roles, instituting homophobia into our laws and transmitted it downwards onto society.

The other issue is that the ruling class here themselves perpetuate it through self-orientalizing myths of Asian Values, through rigid notions of Malay identity having to be Muslim, through ideological discourses surrounding the ephemeral concepts of race.

All this adds up and the leads to the present day homophobia you find here. It’s a sad reality.

From what I know prior to colonial influence entirely, same-sex relations were recorded in the Malay Annals. It is assumed that no moralistic attributes were given to such people, which would make it the norm in general history, to be fair.

I’ve read some articles that LGBT perceptions in the early 80s and prior, to be morally neutral and sometimes marked with curiosity and friendliness -even by police. I haven’t looked deeply on gay people specifically, but I assume that a similar case is to be made, which makes sense considering that just up north in Thailand, as we both probably know, a country that was never directly colonized, is probably the most LGBT friendly country in SEA.

Well, Asia is a big continent with many people.

But specifically, in terms of racism, or others forms of discrimination like xenophobia, casteism, religious, or any other identifier (language, etc), I am afraid you are not in luck. Every country has some form of discrimination imbedded in the specific forms of capitalism that was developed there. This doesn’t necessarily take in the form of overt, casual racism. It could be structural but personally people are “nice” or “harmonious”.

But in the assumption that you are White, you are in luck that almost all Global South countries want you. You’ll get a comfortable salary for sure.

This is under the assumption that you have received university education, that is, although in some places you might make do with just high school education or if you have a niche skillset.

Since you are here speaking English, I would take it that you’d prefer to be in a country where English use is widespread, which would mean just any country that was controlled by the British.

You’re in luck because they did colonise large parts of Asia, and in terms of the “local/foreigner” dichotomy, countries with already large immigrant and expat populations is probably a safe bet.

This would lead to really 2 locations really, either the GCC member states or SEA, more specifically Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. There are large expat communities in both regions, and other major urban areas in other countries throughout Asia is probably fine too.

However, frankly, I am unsure if you will never not be “treated” as a foreigner, really. Best way is to find local groups on Facebook or other sites that share your experiences and start from there.

Personally, the largest problems I find settling in a new place is finding connections that keep you grounded and not go insane. I struggle with that currently too.

I don’t think you’ll ever find a “perfect” country but you yourself make the perfect place. Finding the people, finding the life that makes it easier to tolerate and deal with it’s struggles, is what makes you want to stay.

Certainly, that’s why many people remain where they are even if there are other places that “objectively” have a better quality of life- and many do move, but many also don’t.

—

Also in terms of not feeling attachment anywhere, I used to feel that strongly and to a certain extent I still do.

I don’t know about your specific situation, but I myself struggled with my identity growing up, having moved to multiple countries throughout my life.

However, eventually I just took on the identity of my nationality and that’s that. It stopped being a complicated process because it doesn’t matter. Everyone here knows me as That Malaysian Guy (or so I hope).

We have to seek truth from facts, and although identity plays a part in how we interpret and experience reality- and there are plenty of anthropology articles on it (emic vs etic), we are all still humans.

Market Socialism in Belarus: An Alternative to China's Socialist Market Economy

Yup I agree with this 100%.

There are Westerners that view the work of LGBT peoples in Asia as conservative or self-hating because they portray our work for acceptance and equal rights as short-sighted or fulfilling heteronormative ideals.

But the reality is that importing individualistic conceptions of LGBT expression, in it’s especially liberal forms like homonationalism - is harmful as it actually creates disunity and actually lays the foundation for further capitalist intrusion of our social lives.

To speak in a more local sense, gender diverse expression and non-hetero sexualities in Southeast Asian history were more “progressive” and prevalent here than in European societies up until “direct” colonization.

For many people here, “progressive” isn’t necessarily a march to the future, but a look to the past for the practices and cultures that were destroyed with the invasion of Eurocentric Capitalism.

In fact here in Malaysia, transgender people were fully integrated into society and gender reassignment surgeries up were allowed until 1983 where a fatwa discouraged the practice.

Indeed, LGBT westerners need not be so critical about Global South LGBT struggles when their only achievement is pink imperialism.

Been playing a lot of TFT (Teamfight Tactics) recently, especially since the new set came out.

Yeah the whole Amerikan intelligence apparatus is really hammering the whole Uyghur issue.

Over here in Malaysia, funnily enough there are two major groups/orgs that follow the narrative, one reformist liberal Muslim group and the other is a far-right reactionary Salafist group. World Uyghur Congress also pops up from time to time.

And they all have Saudi or Amerikan funding and/or direct links to their intelligence operations.

I say good luck to the Americans working overtime in trying to propagandize here.

We have settled populations of Chinese Hui, we have actual Chinese people that speak all the major Chinese ”topolects”, and we have a Muslim population that for the most part have very favourable views to China.

Good luck crackkkers. You aren’t operating in a Euro-Amerikan society, people here aren’t so easily duped into following State Department propaganda.

Same here in maritime Southeast Asia.

Although sometimes the average northern hemisphere summer months (June-Sept) is called Durian season since it’s one of our primary export commodities and a cultural staple.