Tankies get really mad when you affirm the reality of the Bosnian genocide because, to them, the Yugoslav wars are a classic example of Western imperialism to dismantle “socialism” in Europe.
To them, the war began with and is exclusive to the NATO war against Milosevic’s forces. The idea that the war began with Milosevic’s invasions of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia, or that it involved the people of Yugoslavia fighting for their own goals and purposes, is utterly alien. The people of the former Yugoslavia aren’t really real to them; they’re fetish objects, background character’s in the tankie’s story.
@HeavenlyPossum Honestly, tankies are a very unoriginal lot, and their lazy "anti-imperalism" just boiler plates international relations to a black/white dichotomy with no sense of self- awareness, critical thinking, or irony. The world is basically a comic book to them it shows their crude "anti-imperialism" is basically shock jock anti-Western sentiments with the same level of analysis.
Then again what do you expect from a group of people whose politics originate out of supporting a mass murdering fuckhead.
Probably the only genocide that tankies don’t seem to care about one way or the other is the 1994 Rwandan genocide, because the only Western involvement was France’s intervention on behalf of the genocidal government.
Elsewise, they steadfastly insist that genocides, as in Bosnia, or other mass abuses, like Russia’s in Ukraine or Asad’s in Syria, simply didn’t happen—because that way they can score rhetorical points against Western actors.
It’s genocide denial as cheerleading for your favorite geopolitical team.
@HeavenlyPossum holy shit, I’m kind of impressed how many of these people you find, I haven’t had to deal with them pretty much at all on here (on Twitter however all the time), I would say they are clowns and beyond parody but this person just disgusts and kind of terrifies me, this is so cultish and vile
Unfortunately, I did this one to myself. I came across this person on Kolektiva.social, my own instance, and asked why they were big fans of Parenti when he’s a genocide denier. Went downhill from there.
@HeavenlyPossum did you report them? I feel like outright genocide denial is definitely something the kolektiva mods don’t want on here, but I also don’t want to report something that already was reported
I did report them. I specifically told the mods that I wasn’t asking for any action, but wanted to let them know this person was engaging in apologism for authoritarian leftists. Kolektiva.social has an explicit rule against that on their instance, and I felt like they should know. This is, I think, the first time I’ve ever reported someone on here.
@HeavenlyPossum That person got seriously backed into a corner and started doing some heavy weapons grade whataboutism lol, every single point you made they had a dodge because they know you're right
There was no communist in Yugoslavia, and I have not commented at all on NATO motivations.
Unlike my interlocutor, I’m capable of acknowledging the factual reality of the Bosnian genocide without making the discussion exclusively about NATO intent and actions. Two things can be bad at the same time.
@HeavenlyPossum Well, in a way I was. I don't find the logic the 'Tankies' use compelling, is what I was saying.
Which leaves your points unaltered and correct.
@HeavenlyPossum The first word in your post is a word invented by English Thatcherite elite college men to taunt communists so thank you for letting me know where you get your ideas from.
The term was invented by anti-authoritarian communists as a pejorative for alleged communists who support the use of state violence to hurt workers and crush their class interests. If you’re offended by that, then that tells me enough about you.
@HeavenlyPossum You are simply incorrect about the history of that term. The more you say it the more you sound like a hideous Eton man yelling at a trotskyist booth at the school fair.
The term emerged from internal debates within the Communist Party of Great Britain in response to diverging reactions to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, but I’m honestly not sure how germane that is today—most people who use it now understand it as a critique of authoritarian, anti-worker “communism” of state capitalist regimes like that of the Soviet Union.
@HeavenlyPossum In essence they're not talking to the people of the affected areas. They're trying to score brownie points with people on their own campus or in their own bubble. It's more important that Phil and Jane down the cubicle know that the speaker has the "right thought" than to interrogate the mothers of the men and boys of places like Srebrenica and Sarajevo about what actually happened.
OTOH, those people are probably "crisis actors" employed by the CIA /s
Absolutely. They’re not “real” to tankies in any meaningful way. The idea that Slovene, Croatian, and Bosniak workers took up arms to defend their communities from imperialist aggression by Belgrade must be denied because someone might then think NATO was “the good guy,” when in reality criticism of genocide is not automatically a defense of a military intervention against the genocide’s perpetrators.
It would be like denying the Holocaust because the Soviets liberated many of the camps and I am critical of Soviet state capitalism. Just absolute brain worms.
@Loukas@HeavenlyPossum
That’s crazy talk, especially for anyone who was around at the time. I had a. family of Bosnians live with me when they were resettling in the U.S. The husband was Muslim and the wife was Christian. There was no place for them in the breakup of Yugoslavia and the ethnic nationalism that emerged.
@Loukas what's pathetic/funny about those people is that they will deny genocide yet they are aware of Serbian war songs about removing muslim presence. Reminds me of italian tankies that ask for "peace talks" in Ukraine and then share Wagner memes @HeavenlyPossum
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