RDJul 22, 2024

I'm assembling a collection of links about campists/"anti-imperialists" (like Caitlin Johnstone, The Grayzone, Mint Press and so on) for future reference and sharing.

Please reply with any good links you're aware of.

Here's what I've got so far:

Against Campism
https://web.archive.org/web/20230207011756/https://fightback.org.nz/2022/12/08/for-a-new-internationalism/

William Gillis - Against Campism and Nationalism on Ukraine
https://c4ss.org/content/59554

The Red-Brown-Yellow Alliance: Making Anti-War “Great” Again
https://c4ss.org/content/58547

The ‘Echo Chamber’ of Syrian Chemical Weapons Conspiracy Theorists
A collection of non-mainstream bloggers has been paid by a murky organization to parrot Assad regime and Kremlin falsehoods
https://newlinesmag.com/argument/the-echo-chamber-of-syrian-chemical-weapons-conspiracy-theorists/

Pro-Assad Lobby Group Rewards Bloggers On Both The Left And The Right
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2019/09/30/pro-assad-lobby-group-rewards-bloggers-on-both-the-left-and-the-right/

RD collection of caitoz links
https://kolektiva.social/@RD4Anarchy/110735469935430823

A Closer Look at the Prose of Caitlin Johnstone
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/11/a-closer-look-at-the-prose-of-caitlin-johnstone/

I Told You So — Caitlin Johnstone is a Con Job
https://medium.com/@yoavlitvin/i-told-you-so-caitlin-johnstone-is-a-con-job-8d67467da809

Please boost, and thanks!

#campism #AntiImperialist #caitoz

For a new internationalism

Existing forms of left internationalism are inadequate, we need a new form.

FightBack
RDOct 9, 2023

@[email protected]

Not surprised by Caitlin Johnstone making the horrific circumstances in Palestine about her. This simple-minded campist take is exactly the same thing she is complaining about.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Fuck #caitoz and her cartoon version of the world.

@bwinbwin

RDAug 28, 2023

@GeriatricGardener

I'm not telling you what you can/can't boost, I'm talking about reading the room.

And I'm trying to prod you a little bit to maybe wonder "wtf is this person talking about? should I just ignore them or should I consider what they're saying?"

But you decided to do neither of those.

Caitoz is only out to promote her brand. If you're really interested in learning about anarchism then you should do that. It is a much more solid foundation to build from than grifters like #caitoz or MintPress.

Here is a link to a piece about campism in case it's helpful:

https://web.archive.org/web/20230207011756/https://fightback.org.nz/2022/12/08/for-a-new-internationalism/

[edited June 4, 2024 to replace defunct link]

For a new internationalism

Existing forms of left internationalism are inadequate, we need a new form.

FightBack
RDAug 28, 2023

@GeriatricGardener

#Caitoz is campist trash, she's the simp.

But then you're on an anarchist instance with a profile calling for NATIONalizing stuff so I don't expect you to understand this quite yet.

It also probably doesn't matter to you that she is petulantly anti-anarchist, but you might take that into consideration when boosting her excrement on an anarchist instance.

Show threadRDAug 9, 2023

#caitoz

https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/110860295876180230

HeavenlyPossum (@[email protected])

The funniest thing about Caitlin Johnstone is that she got her start as an astrologer who then shifted to 9/11 truther and eventually made her way to red-brown polemicist. You do not, under any circumstances, have to take her seriously.

kolektiva.social
RDAug 9, 2023

#caitoz, for example

https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/110861043170119499

HeavenlyPossum (@[email protected])

It’s fashionable in some lefty circles to adopt a preening “realism” in the international relations theory sense. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was provoked, you see, because the US tried to expand NATO to Russia’s border with Ukraine, or something to that effect. Never mind that Russia already had a border with NATO in the Baltic region, or that Putin has very explicitly articulated a fascist explanation for his war of choice, or that Ukraine was never offered NATO membership. The serious kids all know that Russia was provoked, it had no choice, it had to defend itself from Western imperialism, anything less is naive idealism, etc etc.

kolektiva.social
Show threadRDAug 9, 2023

@anilmc @HeavenlyPossum

She poses as egalitarian but she's what I'd call a spiritual vanguardist, classifying people by their level of enlightenment (the ability to see through the "illusions" that she is so bravely challenging for us all).

In her view this "transcendence" is our only hope.

reference (includes a few other very cringeworthy comments that have not aged well, lol, mixed as usual with some things that are true enough but her twist on things is always a little proprietary):

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/12/11/assorted-thoughts-on-politics-humanity-and-the-world/

#caitoz

RDAug 5, 2023

#caitoz

https://kolektiva.social/@Evo/110838723435328807

Evo (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Found out a pretty interesting research paper that investigates leftist divide on #China, in which they looked at the differences in audience targeting & audience types between a pro-china leftist media outlet, Qiao Collective, and an anti-china leftist media outlet, Lausan (PS: I didn't know either of them before finding out this article so know little about them) Main takeaways, although unsurprising: the so-called anti-imperialist, ML, etc... crowd is massively aligned to the pro-china outlet, whereas anarchist crowds is aligned with the anti-china one. Other takeaway: those two communities have almost no overlap. Though that might simply be due to the fact they only took 2 outlets and not particularly big ones. Article here:https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/5345/5345 Twitter thread that serves as a good TLDR: https://twitter.com/lnachman32/status/1552666046871572481?s=20

kolektiva.social
Show threadRDAug 5, 2023

@breadandcircuses

#caitoz
https://kolektiva.social/@HeavenlyPossum/110837639033222841

HeavenlyPossum (@[email protected])

Content warning: Descriptions of violence, violence against children, Caitlin Johnstone, Asad apologism

kolektiva.social
RDAug 5, 2023

@breadandcircuses

Actually I did manage to find some of those old tweets and other references recently when I was having this discussion with @CosmicTrigger (who I regrettably annoyed and they blocked me).

I just remembered that I tagged them with #caitoz so you can look at those for some preliminary receipts.

I think most of it is compiled in this toot, also good discussion in the thread of replies to this one:

https://kolektiva.social/@RD4Anarchy/110735469935430823

RD (@[email protected])

"...you can't link ONE SINGLE FUCKING THING **BY HER** " Somebody share these with @CosmicTrigger please (they asked for proof and I wasn't quick enough to find it before they blocked me) and anyone else you see promoting @[email protected] on kolektiva: "After mainstream shitlibs and rightists, anarchists are the worst at understanding the need to criticize the US empire more aggressively than far weaker and less destructive power structures." https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1562611965150773248?lang=en (This is precisely the campist position) "I make fun of anarchists sometimes but for the record if you're one of those rare anarchists who understands that the US is vastly more tyrannical than any other government on earth and should therefore be opposed with a vastly higher amount of force, we're cool." https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1468375025644306433 (Yeah, she's cool with you if you're a campist like her. Otherwise you're with the vast majority of anarchists in her mind: either a naïve child or a CIA tool.) #caitoz stance on anarchism may have hardened in the last few years. Back in 2018 she was a little more open to it, but with a significant caveat: It can't work until humanity evolves to the next level: "The absence of government is also a viable path, if humanity transcends its malignant unconscious patterning. To believe anarchism can work is to have faith in the possibility of this transcendence." https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2018/12/11/assorted-thoughts-on-politics-humanity-and-the-world/ (so what to do in the meantime? I guess we'll need a vanguard party of enlightened, transcended people like #caitoz) I think this was part of the thread I got involved with where caitoz shat all over anarchists and blocked me. This is text from a deleted tweet she QT'd as proof that anarchism is a COINTELPRO op: "FBI COINTELPRO, late 60s: "The anarchist position could take any direction, such as an attack on Vietnam policies as well as an attack on the Soviets... It is believed that the anarchists point of view is the most disruptive element in the New Left and should be capitalized on." " https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1507482105294749697 Her tweet in this screenshot says: "Anarchism sounds good in theory but in practice it just means regurgitating foreign policy talking points from the US State Department" https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1414705419528773633 (this itself is a regurgitated talking point one hears regularly almost word for word from other campists like Grayzone people and other "indy" thinkers). Spread the word. Caitlin Johnstone is no friend of anarchists, don't support her grift. Reject Trojan Horses.

kolektiva.social