Hey, I needed something like this. I'm from Moldova (mentioned a couple times) and while a leftist who likes the idea of communism I cant shrug off the immense weight it has placed on my country and my family too. My mom is almost blinded by capitalism, praises it just because she's known totalitarian communism and cant accept that there can be something better. I don't feel like I fit in with the usual Western leftists that are american exceptionalists and claim that there can only be one big great evil and that is the US. When the war started I was living in the West and got "cancelled" on twitter for saying that the Euromaidan was student-led and not an american psyop meant to destabilize Ukraine and create war... it's like we in Eastern Europe aren't allowed to have agency! I can recognize the imperialist expansion of NATO and the EU but I'm in constant fear of the war expanding, can't I want security? It's easy to speak from countries that were never ravaged by war, when my parents lived through the '91-'92 civil war created by Russia which ended with a thousand troops STILL stationed on our territory! I'm rambling with no end in sight but I just need leftist views from Eastern Europe. Why must we surrender to Russia?
Good piece. I think one thing that comes out of this is how limited the US world view is (still stuck in simplistic Cold War thinking, for example, and with a weak understanding on colonisation) and how self-referential, which is particularly problematic as the wealth and size of the US means it is influential beyond any actual value it offers, both in mainstream and leftist political circles.
Yes, I think you’re absolutely correct. Many Americans see the rest of world as either an American ally or enemy and then classify them as “good” or “bad” based on that - with very little consideration for all the other factors that make a state what it is.
Hey, I needed something like this. I'm from Moldova (mentioned a couple times) and while a leftist who likes the idea of communism I cant shrug off the immense weight it has placed on my country and my family too. My mom is almost blinded by capitalism, praises it just because she's known totalitarian communism and cant accept that there can be something better. I don't feel like I fit in with the usual Western leftists that are american exceptionalists and claim that there can only be one big great evil and that is the US. When the war started I was living in the West and got "cancelled" on twitter for saying that the Euromaidan was student-led and not an american psyop meant to destabilize Ukraine and create war... it's like we in Eastern Europe aren't allowed to have agency! I can recognize the imperialist expansion of NATO and the EU but I'm in constant fear of the war expanding, can't I want security? It's easy to speak from countries that were never ravaged by war, when my parents lived through the '91-'92 civil war created by Russia which ended with a thousand troops STILL stationed on our territory! I'm rambling with no end in sight but I just need leftist views from Eastern Europe. Why must we surrender to Russia?
Yay!!! I’m so glad you were able to find this and feel some sense of being understand. I think your experience is one that needs to be heard!
Good piece. I think one thing that comes out of this is how limited the US world view is (still stuck in simplistic Cold War thinking, for example, and with a weak understanding on colonisation) and how self-referential, which is particularly problematic as the wealth and size of the US means it is influential beyond any actual value it offers, both in mainstream and leftist political circles.
Yes, I think you’re absolutely correct. Many Americans see the rest of world as either an American ally or enemy and then classify them as “good” or “bad” based on that - with very little consideration for all the other factors that make a state what it is.