I was asked in a private message about my use of the term "tankie", and what "campist" and "ancap" mean. I thought I'd answer publicly in case it's helpful to anyone else, and so others can chime in to correct, clarify or enhance.
When I say tankie I refer to those who identify as leftists but are authoritarian; those who would use the violence and coercion of state to implement their idea of communism or socialism. Fans and apologists of so-called communist or socialist states like the USSR, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Venezuela, etc. Those who identify as communist but believe in state and the idea of a vanguard party (those who think they know better telling the rest of us what to do).
Campists, aka "anti-imperialists" or multipolarists, are supporters and apologists for horrible regimes and dictators that happen to oppose the US (in their eyes anyway). They have a cartoonish view of the world where the US is the only villain worth opposing and enemies of this enemy are their friends. They imagine that most other states have no agency; they are all either pawns of the US or they are heroes of resistance. They will apologize for the most atrocious actors like Putin, Assad, N. Korea, Iran, Hamas, Houthis, etc.
Here is a good piece on campism:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230207011756/https://fightback.org.nz/2022/12/08/for-a-new-internationalism/
Ancap is short for anarcho-capitalist, which is an utterly absurd and incoherent position. Ancaps claim to be anarchist because they are against state, but they believe in private property and capitalism and think these are good things that can somehow exist without state (they cannot). They all seem to want to be leaders of little feudal kingdoms of their own. They imagine themselves as factory owners and everyone will be willing to work for them on a strictly voluntary basis. Short version: most of their incoherence comes from a ridiculously inadequate understanding of what capitalism actually is in the real world as opposed to their cartoonish idea of it.
For the long version, here is a detailed and historical deep dive into the subject:
https://c4ss.org/content/56712
Hope this helps!
RD /
npub12q…40m44
2024-01-03 15:24:30
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2024-01-03 15:24:30Event JSON
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"content": "I was asked in a private message about my use of the term \"tankie\", and what \"campist\" and \"ancap\" mean. I thought I'd answer publicly in case it's helpful to anyone else, and so others can chime in to correct, clarify or enhance.\n\nWhen I say tankie I refer to those who identify as leftists but are authoritarian; those who would use the violence and coercion of state to implement their idea of communism or socialism. Fans and apologists of so-called communist or socialist states like the USSR, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Venezuela, etc. Those who identify as communist but believe in state and the idea of a vanguard party (those who think they know better telling the rest of us what to do).\n\nCampists, aka \"anti-imperialists\" or multipolarists, are supporters and apologists for horrible regimes and dictators that happen to oppose the US (in their eyes anyway). They have a cartoonish view of the world where the US is the only villain worth opposing and enemies of this enemy are their friends. They imagine that most other states have no agency; they are all either pawns of the US or they are heroes of resistance. They will apologize for the most atrocious actors like Putin, Assad, N. Korea, Iran, Hamas, Houthis, etc.\n\nHere is a good piece on campism:\nhttps://web.archive.org/web/20230207011756/https://fightback.org.nz/2022/12/08/for-a-new-internationalism/\n\nAncap is short for anarcho-capitalist, which is an utterly absurd and incoherent position. Ancaps claim to be anarchist because they are against state, but they believe in private property and capitalism and think these are good things that can somehow exist without state (they cannot). They all seem to want to be leaders of little feudal kingdoms of their own. They imagine themselves as factory owners and everyone will be willing to work for them on a strictly voluntary basis. Short version: most of their incoherence comes from a ridiculously inadequate understanding of what capitalism actually is in the real world as opposed to their cartoonish idea of it.\nFor the long version, here is a detailed and historical deep dive into the subject:\nhttps://c4ss.org/content/56712\n\nHope this helps!",
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