Cowbee [he/they]

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Marxist-Leninist ☭

Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don’t know where to start? Check out my Marxist-Leninist study guides, both basic and advanced!

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: December 31st, 2023

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  • Mostly agreed, though I think south Korea/Corea and north Korea/Corea are valid terms (specifically keeping the cardinal directions lowercase). Capitalizing the direction reinforces the idea that these are separate peoples, but frequently the distinction is necessary when discussing this or that subject, such as the fact that taxation has been abolished in northern Corea. I even more strongly prefer “northern” and “southern” as signifiers.

    The problem with using DPRK and ROK alone arises when we are discussing region, not state. The illegitimacy of the ROK as a colonial state set up by the US Empire does not really help us linguistically. The Corean people are one nation, divided. Essentially, I use DPRK/ROK the vast majority of the time, and “northern/southern Korea/Corea” when discussing relational, geographic matters. When discussing the people, I do not distinguish, they are simply “Korean/Corean.”

    Regarding Japan, it’s less a colony and more a vassal state like western Europe. The ROK is more of a direct colony. Japan benefits more directly from imperialism, whereas the ROK is a neocolonial forward operating base for the US to keep China in check.


  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlUSA 2028
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    20 hours ago

    A bit more gray area. The answer is yes, but the fundamental process of settler-colonialism in Mexico led to the majority of the population becoming mixed. Indigenous groups like in Chiapas still fight for sovereignty, but it isn’t the same as the US and Canada, where indigenous peoples were shut out, killed, and stripped from their land the same way.

    Ultimately, it’s a topic I have not studied enough to have a definitive answer to, like the US and Canada. The process of decolonization in Mexico will look pretty different from the US and Canada.








  • The United States occupied the south under pretenses of facilitating an end to Japanese colonialism, as the soviets were doing in the north. The major difference is that in the south, General MacArthur declared himself dictator:

    [Article I] All powers of Government over the territory of Korea south of 38 degrees north latitude and the people thereof will be for the present exercised under my authority . . . [Article III] All persons will obey promptly all my orders and orders issued under my authority.

    While the colonial government was being eradicated in the north, and land redistributed to Koreans, General MacArthur asked that the former Japanese colonial government and the compradors remain. While the Soviet Union was leaving the north to Koreans, the US declared the government being set up across Korea, the People’s Republic of Korea, illegal. This formalized the 38th parallel not just as a military zone, but an actual administrative division, which it was never meant to be.

    The United States installed a puppet dictator, Syngman Rhee, who then murdered hundreds of thousands of Koreans south of the 38th parallel. Before the division, there were actually more communists in the south than the north. Communists were either killed by Rhee Syngman, like in the Jeju Island massacre, or fled to the north. The strong sympathies for the north also explained why it only took the KPA 3 months to get to Daegu, before the US fully invaded Korea and turned the Korean Civil War into an international war.

    To this day, the US has control over the ROK’s millitary, and has a seat at any table where leaders of the north and south speak. The US has colonized the ROK, and therefore the demand of progressive southern Koreans is for the US to leave the peninsula, so that reunification can happen peacefully and Korean sovereignty be restored.