Apparently this was an actual discourse going around.

  • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    Lol kinda funny because bananas are in real risk of extinction ( at least the cavendish banana, which is the one you get at ur supermarket and widely cultivated in latin america ) thanks to a root disease called ‘panama virus’. All banana trees are clones so they are very susceptible to root diseases, it already killed the more tasty gros michel variety banana.

  • Marxism-Fennekinism@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    Capitalism is the thing that killed the last staple crop species of banana and it’s what’s killing this one. I say socialism is the only way we will keep having bananas.

    No seriously, one of them has already gone extinct due to irresponsible farming practices and the current one is on that path too!

  • ghostOfRoux();@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    There will only be one banana and everyone will have to share.

    Bonus: If you are in possession of the People’s Banana and the People’s Toothbrush at the same time you get on free spin on the magic prize wheel.

    • lil_tank@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      If you possess the People’s Toothbrush and the People’s Banana and the People’s Stick you become Supreme Leader General Secretary of the Communist Party of the United People’s Republic of the Solar System

      We could make a Zelda-like game with that

      • ghostOfRoux();@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        Tbf “Supreme Leader General Secretary of the Communist Party of the United People’s Republic of the Solar System” is a dope ass title.

        Also if I didn’t suck at programming, meme communist games would be something I could see myself doing.

    • lugal@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      I’m not entirely sure how to read your comment but anarchism and international trade aren’t mutually exclusive either.

        • exponential_wizard@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          It’s simple:

          1: crime syndicate likes bananas

          2: crime syndicate steals a cargo ship

          3: you have now produced a cargo ship

          • lugal@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            Because all syndicalists are evil. Do you really believe this statist propaganda?

        • lugal@lemmygrad.ml
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          1 year ago

          I don’t even see the problem. If workers collectively come to consensus about the design, what hinders them from agreeing on a schedule and working on it?

          • lemat_87@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            How small, decentralized communes will handle such a big enterprise, delivery of steel, schedule of works, deliver of engine etc. without some central planning?

            • lugal@lemmygrad.ml
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              1 year ago

              Decentralized can still mean that there is a big system of councils. The difference is that these are bottom up organized. If there is a consensus to build something big, there will be a way to make it. Maybe a committee that’s only for this specific task and will dissolve afterwards and can be desolved by the council earlier.

              Zoe Baker made a good video about anarchism and democracy. You should check it out. It’s also about decision making in big scales within the anarchist tradition.

                • lugal@lemmygrad.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  The video has some. Maybe most best known is the CNT which was a network of free association. A modern example would be Rojava which is not democratic centralism but democratic confederation and therefor decentralized. Of cause, all these are suppressed by all states and therefore it is difficult to implement. Arguably, quite a lot of (but by far not all) organizations before modernity were hieracy free and some still are. the famous anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber once said that anthropologists have a affinity to anarchism because they know it works. He himself did research in Madagascar where, according to him, the state does very little in the rural areas. You should read his work or watch this interview from arround 2005.

        • lugal@lemmygrad.ml
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          1 year ago

          The concept of mutual aid laid out by Kropotkin is very much applicable to international relations. Many anarchist organizations are internationalist, eg indigenous struggles supported the German occupation of Lützerath. True, this isn’t about the infrastructure needed but anarchism isn’t isolationist

    • 201dberg@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      Eh, just eat potatoes or something. They have over twice the potassium content per serving than a banana. Heck there’s actually dozens of other foods that have way higher potassium content than them. Even dandelions have more potassium than bananas… A literal weed. haha

      • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        Yeah but who wants to eat dandelions? And potatoes get boring fast.

        Having a sweet fruit thats extremely cheap and accessable helps fit the niche.

        You don’t need to cook a banana to eat it and it takes under a minute to eat one.

        • 201dberg@lemmygrad.ml
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          1 year ago

          And potatoes get boring fast.

          You better be joking comrade. Potatoes feed the masses. Don’t be dissing the people’s food.

          I’m not saying not to eat bananas, but if your goal is potassium, there’s way better options. It would take 9 bananas to get your daily intake vs like 4 medium sized potatoes… or like 3 cups of beat greens or 4 cups of swiss chard or spinach leaves. You could literally make a medium sized salad and get the whole go of potassium right there and have less than half your daily calories in.

          https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/food-sources-potassium

          Also, I’m just gonna say it, bananas are a pain in the ass to manage. You get a whole bunch and then there like a 3 day window for when they are good to eat. So I guess it’s good you need to eat so many to get in that potassium. lol. I mean sure, you could eat them when they aren’t fully ripe… if you are a psychopath, and sure, when they are overripe you can make banana bread, but like, nobody does that. Potatoes? Leave those things in an old cupboard for like 3 or 4 months, or longer, and they will still be good. Dry them into powder and have instant mashed potatoes whenever. There’s like, a bajillion ways to cook potatoes and add them to other dishes.

            • 201dberg@lemmygrad.ml
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              1 year ago

              That’s fair. Plantains have about 50% more potassium than bananas which is also around 50-60% less than a potato. Lmao

                • 201dberg@lemmygrad.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  They really are. More starchy, better if you cook them. Don’t get me wrong, bananas are delicious, but man are they sugar/carb heavy. Only time I eat em now is when it’s a Friday, I’ve had some beers, my diet died 2 hours ago, I have no shame, a jar of peanut butter, and there just so happens to be someone else’s uneaten bananas on the counter about to go bad… I know this sound really specific, but it’s not an uncommon occurrence.

          • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            But yeah, that’s a tempura. Meaning it’s cooked.

            No one is going to be eating dandelions raw like they do bananas.

              • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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                1 year ago

                Maybe, but the dandelion is still carried due to working with other elements of the salad.

                Plus making the salad is still “cooking”, and takes time, as opposed to the seconds it takes to peel a banana.

                I’m not anti-dandelion, and it makes sense as part of a balanced diet. But internet point is mainly that it’s not as yummy or convenient as a banana.

                • QueerCommie@lemmygrad.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  Sure, time’s a point for the convenience of bananas, but I’d question the use of “cooking,” as I’d associate the word with applying heat. The raw food movement people still prepare their food, but they don’t “cook” it.

  • nour@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    I’m not reading through that entire article (which is just Twitter discourse in article form), but honestly, that question itself seems badly posed.

    Obviously, socialists aren’t going to introduce a policy like “No more bananas” or “We must have bananas at any costs”. In a country where bananas don’t grow, availability of bananas will depend on desire to import bananas, and another country being willing to sell you bananas. I vaguely remember something about bananas being rare in the GDR because there were few friendly countries that grew bananas (though that might have been an anti-communist source, or plain made up, I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound too unrealistic). Availability of bananas will depend on the circumstances you’re building socialism under.

    From that article:

    Although he does not identify as a “degrowther,” Harris rejects the “pro-growth” left’s suggestion that the American consumer’s preferences are sacrosanct.

    I have no idea what this discourse is, but this line bothers me so much. Imagine caring about “American consumer’s preferences”. This is so stupid. If socialism ever somehow manages to take power in the USA, they really must work on changing societal attitude. US society, its values, its ways of thought reflect the worst that capitalism and imperialism have to offer. Socialism cannot succeed if these ways of thought go unaddressed. And whatever bullshit led to “I am consoomer and I am owed banana” is one of the things that have to go.

    • QueerCommie@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      Similarly, we shouldn’t just ban meat, but have its price reflect its environmental impact so that can be dealt with and reduced rather than externalized like the profit motive would dictate. It’s absurd and unnatural for corn and beef to be so cheap and subsidized in the US. It’s far more reasonable for a burger to be $50 like in Venezuela than $5 in the US.

      • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        But this shouldn’t then apply only meat. Items like almonds and alfalfa should also reflect their absurd environmental impact and detriment to the world.

        • rjs001@lemmygrad.ml
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          1 year ago

          And also the price should be increased for unhealthy items that cause more usage of the healthcare system and cause social issues like alcohol and tobacco

          • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            Makes sense, though that could also be mitigated through a consumption tax rather then a direct price increase. A price increase would just go straight to the producer.

            • rjs001@lemmygrad.ml
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              1 year ago

              Absolutely. Discouraged through gradual price increases or decreasing availability and the taxes go to paying for the issues that the item causes. Honestly, this could also work in a capitalist society or a socialist one where the people may still be resistant to giving up that item (like the prevalence of smoking in China)

        • QueerCommie@lemmygrad.ml
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          1 year ago

          True, as such it’s only natural for it to be more economical rather than less to buy local. Only a fossil fuel addicted world can find outsourcing and externalizing more “efficient” and profitable.

          • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            I was referring mostly to how those plants require absurd and absolutely unsustainable amounts of water and nutrients. They shouldn’t even be grown locally, they should not be grown at all or made extraordinary expensive to reflect their cost.

            • QueerCommie@lemmygrad.ml
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              1 year ago

              That too, for many places with “nutrient poor” soil it’s unnatural and unhealthy to have great amounts of nitrogen, thus fertilizer ends up being bad overall, and only non-native plants are grown further harming native ecology. Don’t grow water loving plants in a dry place, nor graze cows where forest is better and ruminants haven’t evolved with the soil. In addition it’s absurd that great fleets of honey bees are driven across the country for almonds, when honey bees aren’t even native anyway. Then the media starts crying they’re gonna go extinct but don’t give a shit about native pollinators.

  • nour@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    The most important question facing the American left today.

    If true, that says much more about the state of the American left than it does about the importance of the question.

    • rjs001@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      I mean it’s a though choice, what’s more important, bananas or anti-imperialism?/s

  • SpaceDogs@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    I’m just going to say it:

    Bananas are mid.

    No, I don’t want them to go extinct, obviously.

    Banana bread, however, is fantastic.

    • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      I’d highly recommend trying to find an “actual banana” (might be a bit expensive) or trying an actual banana if you ever go to a tropical region.

      The bananas in grocery stores are mid at best. Actual bananas are absurdly sweet, delicate, and delicious. You can get them by the kilo for pennies in many nations and there’s a reason they’re a large part of many peoples diets in tropical regions.

      • SpaceDogs@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        I thought I saw somewhere that there was only one species of Banana left which are the mid ones available in grocery stores. I don’t know if there are any “actual bananas” available where I live but if I manage to travel outside of Canada one day I’ll definitely try out the tropical bananas

        • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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          1 year ago

          There are actually over 1000 different varieties of Bananas and Plantains in the world, that are actively farmed.

          Cavendish is the most basic one (found in grocery stores) because the previous most dominant sort was heavily damaged by disease (but not rendered extinct like many think).

          Even tropical Cavendish is delicious because the ones in stores are picked when they are unripe and not able to develop much sugar.

          Here are just a few of the more common sorts of bananas in the world.

          • SpaceDogs@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            This is a great reference, thank you! I don’t know where the hell I got the idea that only one type of banana existed

          • Comprehensive49@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            Blue Java bananas are freaking amazing. They’re actually blue, and taste like berry ice cream. I don’t get why we don’t grow more of them.

            • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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              1 year ago

              Capitalism resists change. They already have the system set up for Canvendish Bananas, why shake things up and spend money growing and distributing Blue Java bananas?

    • ButtigiegMineralMap@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      I agree bananas are totally mid. I wouldn’t even like the real actual bananas that are sweet either because at that point it would be too sweet to have on its own and I’d need to buy something else to mix it with. Idk I’m pretty damn picky

    • Sleepless One@lemmygrad.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      I think it’s more of a dumb version of recognizing unequal exchange from imperialism propping up a labor aristocracy in the west than it is about bananas becoming extinct.