abu

<AbigailBuccaneer> hey ##socialism help me out. i got into spraypainting recently. i've been spraying stuff like "EAT THE RICH! // SMASH THE STATE!" and "KILL YOUR BOSSES // LOVE YOUR COMRADES" but i can't think of anything anti-police that fits sorta the same two-line template
<djr013> so edgy
<AbigailBuccaneer> djr013, just having fun and blowing off steam
<modulus> hehe
<AbigailBuccaneer> it's more substantive than tagging anyway
<modulus> hmm the obious things that come to mind involve fuck the pigs
<djr013> just go with the classic
<djr013> ACAB
<djr013> can't go wrong
<Zetkin> How about "Only Good Cop // Is A Dead Cop // AbigailBuccaneer
<AbigailBuccaneer> i've been meaning to learn how to write cursive w spraypaint, "the only good cop is a dead cop" would look gorgeous in cursive
<AbigailBuccaneer> what're people's opinions on non-english slogans (that were popularised by protests and riots in other countries) being used in protests in england/USA?
<modulus> i find it a bit odd but it doesn't offend me or anything
<Zetkin> Well it should be fine if the movement is internationalistic
<modulus> i heard some ppl in britain do spanish slogans sometimes, it's ok with me
<AbigailBuccaneer> they always seem kinda aesthetically pleasing but also i kinda feel it sorta establishes an in-group who already know what the slogans mean
<riddim> u should spray paint smoke weed erryday at the very least once
<Zetkin> AbigailBuccaneer, well you can double with a translation
<Zetkin> like "la lutte continue // the struggle continues"
<AbigailBuccaneer> yeah Zetkin that's a good point
<Zetkin> free language lessons for the masses!
<modulus> AbigailBuccaneer: i guess it can exclude people, i didn't think of that part. otoh it can establish solidarity with people for whom it's a first lang.
<modulus> like if i were in britain now i'd think using polish slogans would be pretty useful politically for example.
<AbigailBuccaneer> riddim, i actually don't smoke weed very often at all, because i have no idea where to buy it in this town, so i only get it with friends in london
<djr013> you should spray paint, "hey man, where the weed at?"
<AbigailBuccaneer> i hadn't thought of that modulus. as a white person who doesn't speak any polish i think it'd be a bit inappropriate for me to do? maybe i should learn some polish
<djr013> like that pedestrian in grand theft auto says every ten seconds
<Zetkin> AbigailBuccaneer, another good one would be Sous les pavés, la plage // Underneath the Street The Beach
<Zetkin> especially somehwere there's cobblestones
<modulus> aren't poles coded as white in britain? idk.
<AbigailBuccaneer> i've been meaning to spray some stuff on the floor. i don't know why people don't do it more often
* Boops (~Astrid@modemcable054.208-56-74.mc.videotron.ca) has joined ##socialism
<modulus> anyway regarding not knowing the language, i don't know, i think it's fine to express solidarity with people who are constantly being fucked with by the establishment like poles in britain.
<modulus> or roma or etc
<Zetkin> oh
<Zetkin> you meant like polish people
<Zetkin> I was thinking like white painted poles
<Zetkin> >.<
<AbigailBuccaneer> hahaha
<modulus> heh no
<modulus> i mean, being blind i *literally* don't see race ;-) so i have some difficulty with decoding the way it operates in different places.
<AbigailBuccaneer> i'm not sure to what extent polish people in britain are coded as white - i think their ability to be white-passing would come down mostly to their english skills and accent
<AbigailBuccaneer> (also i don't know much about demographics, but i'd be very surprised if there were no black people in poland...)
<modulus> pretty sure there are some
<modulus> but iirc it is relatively rare
<modulus> anyway they do seem to get a lot of shit
<AbigailBuccaneer> the area of town that has a significant polish population is really nice. it's like, the poor end of town, and it has a really vibrant community
<modulus> cool
<AbigailBuccaneer> about half of the shops that aren't big chains have street art on the floor above the shop
<AbigailBuccaneer> and all of the sides of buildings have some big murals
<modulus> when i was in .uk there weren't as many poles as there are now so i didn't come across that many of them.
<modulus> (left britain in  2005)
<AbigailBuccaneer> i don't know if i'd be able to add anything to the existing area, except maybe being gutsy enough to spraypaint on the windows of banks
<modulus> haha
<modulus> aren't there lots of cctv?
<AbigailBuccaneer> yeah, i don't think i would be that gutsy
<modulus> sounds risky, aye.
<AbigailBuccaneer> also i don't live in that end of town any more so i think it'd be maybe a little weird for me to go from a slightly richer part of town to the poorer part and spraypaint some stuff for the benefit of the residents
<modulus> yeah, i can see that
<modulus> so how do you feel about the elections, AbigailBuccaneer ?
<modulus> at least you get rid of the tories though the alts aren't great
<AbigailBuccaneer> i think the results are gonna be fairly shit
<AbigailBuccaneer> five years ago i was happy about lib dems having such a huge jump in popularity but i don't trust them any more
<modulus> hmm yeah
<modulus> libdems proved to be complete sellouts imo
<AbigailBuccaneer> i voted green this morning because i'm not in a seat where tactical voting has much of an effect
<modulus> good idea then imo
<modulus> if i had a TUSC candidate i'd probably vote for that
<modulus> other than that greens seem the least bad
<modulus> though i'd probably vote for whatever gets tories out of my seat if it were on edge
<AbigailBuccaneer> we had a TUSC candidate but i've literally never heard of them and didn't care enough to research
<AbigailBuccaneer> "TUSC AGAINST CUTS" was clever though.
<AbigailBuccaneer> i don't really care about voting; i don't think it's that important. anybody who says "if you don't vote you don't get to complain" this year i'm telling "if you don't riot you don't get to complain"
<modulus> fair enough
<modulus> it's just that elections are today so it seems like the thing to ask about
<modulus> though maybe we shouldn't let it set our agenda
<AbigailBuccaneer> like on the one hand if we had a voter turnout of 100% then the election would probably swing way more left, but on the other hand trying to convince people to vote just adds credibility to the idea that changing things within the system is the only way to change things
<modulus> true that.
<AbigailBuccaneer> my boss just came and gave me cookies because i left work early yesterday because i got some horrible news via phone and needed to go cry about it. how do i feel about this
<modulus> though conversely i also feel that this idea that "don't vote for them, it gives them legitimacy" isn't very useful. it seems to me if 10% of people vote they wouldn't care and owuld go on as usual.