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Russiagate

2026-02-22T03:41:56Z

97.242.136.127: Added another section - C:

'''Russiagate''' is a [[conspiracy theory]] that the [[Russian Federation]] was responsible for [[Donald Trump]]'s victory in the 2016 [[United States of America|United States]] presidential election against [[Hillary Clinton]]. The [[Bourgeoisie|ruling class]] is using it to promote war against Russia and to attack [[Left-wing politics|leftists]] and the [[Black liberation]] movement.<ref>{{Web citation|author=[[Brian Becker]]|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Past a point of no return: “Russiagate” and the reorientation of U.S. imperialism|date=2018-04-07|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/past-point-no-return-russiagate-reorientation-u-s-imperialism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518233640/https://www.liberationnews.org/past-point-no-return-russiagate-reorientation-u-s-imperialism/|archive-date=2022-05-18|retrieved=2022-10-30}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Video citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_HI_N3DPUY|channel=The Real News Network|title=For Russiagaters, Do Black Lives Matter?|date=2017-10-25}}</ref>

For its [[Liberalism|liberal]] target audience, the Russiagate conspiracy theory achieves several things. It pushes an [[Imperialism|imperialist]] and jingoistic variety of [[fascism]] in the name of fighting the supposedly foreign or "un-American" Trumpist variety of fascism, foments [[Anti-communism|anticommunist]] sentiment by conflating Russia with the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]], and legitimizes [[Banderism|Ukrainian fascism]] among Statesians.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Lorenzo|newspaper=Popaganda|title=On Russia, Today’s Liberal Luminaries Take Their Cues From Fascists|date=2017-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171127165444/https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2017/10/11/on-russia-todays-liberals/|archive-date=2017-11-27|retrieved=2025-09-02}}</ref>

== Background ==
The United States has interfered in Russian affairs to maintain its own hegemony several times. In 1996, the US meddled in the Russian presidential election to ensure the unpopular pro-Western incumbent, [[Boris Yeltsin]], would win a second term. The [[Bill Clinton|Clinton]] administration recognized that the [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation|Communist Party]] candidate [[Gennady Zyuganov]] was outperforming Yeltsin in the polls early in 1996 and so they worked with the Yeltsin campaign team, Russia's [[bourgeois media]], and the Russian [[bourgeoisie]] itself to assist Yeltsin's campaign. This also involved transferring billions of dollars to Yeltsin through the [[International Monetary Fund]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Sean Guillory|newspaper=Jacobin|title=Dermokratiya, USA|date=2017-03-13|url=https://jacobin.com/2017/03/russia-us-clinton-boris-yeltsin-elections-interference-trump/|retrieved=2025-07-06}}</ref> In [[Chechnya]], Yeltsin received an impossible number of votes.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Graham T. Allison and Matthew Lantz|newspaper=Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs|title=Assessing Russia's Democratic Presidential Election|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119200128/http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/2362/assessing_russias_democratic_presidential_election.html|archive-date=2010-01-19|retrieved=2025-07-06|quote=Was the vote counted fairly? The answer appears to be yes. But the evidence available is not conclusive. There is no question that there were serious thefts of votes in some areas. In Chechnya, for example, the Central Electoral Commission counted one million votes, despite the fact that international observers believe that fewer than 500,000 adults live in Chechnya. Even more remarkable, precisely 70.0% of people were reported to have voted for Yeltsin!}}</ref>

=== Anti-blackness ===
There is a history of white [[Statesian|Statesians]] claiming domestic movements for Black liberation are the result of foreign "agitators" planting ideas among Black people going back as far as slavery and during the civil rights era.<ref name=":0" /> In a May 1961 Gallup poll, 17% of Statesians polled characterized the anti-racial segregation [[Freedom Riders]] as "agitators, troublemakers, communists, etc." In one from October 1965 asking whether they believed there was communist involvement in demonstrations over Black civil rights, 48% answered "a lot" and 27% answered "some."<ref>{{Web citation|title=Public Opinion Polls on Civil Rights Movement, 1961-1969|url=https://www.crmvet.org/docs/60s_crm_public-opinion.pdf|retrieved=2025-06-24}}</ref>

After Russiagate became a news story, numerous liberal pundits accused the Russian Federation of manipulating Black activists to "sow political discord" and even undermine the United States.<ref name=":0" />

=== Antisemitism ===
Some of Russiagate's promoters point to a business trip Donald Trump made to the Soviet Union in 1987 as evidence of Trump's specifically ''Soviet'' (rather than merely Russian) influence and even accuse Trump of being cultivated by the [[KGB]]. The source of their claim is an article shared by the Russiagater Sarah Kendzior from a newspaper ran by the [[Lyndon LaRouche]] cult, a group that explicitly believes the Soviet Union was involved in "Judeo-Bolshevik" conspiracies.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Zhenli|newspaper=Red Sails|title=Daniel Burke and the LaRouche Cult|date=2024-07-29|url=https://redsails.org/the-larouche-cult/}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|title=Deconstructing Russiagate Part 6: The Forgotten Russiagate(s)|date=2022-10-09|url=https://thewublies.wordpress.com/2022/10/09/deconstructing-russiagate-part-6-the-forgotten-russiagates/}}</ref> Needless to say, many Statesian capitalists besides Trump, including some who support Russiagate, had business relationships with Russian capitalists from the ''[[perestroika]]'' period onwards.

== References ==
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]

Science

2026-02-22T01:18:50Z

97.242.136.127:

{{stub}}
'''Science''' is a system that builds and organizes knowledge in testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

==History==

==Principles==

===Scientific Method===

The scientific method is a theory of gaining knowledge through attempted testing. It is characterized by the looping instructions:

# Observation
# Research
# Hypothesis
# Testing
# Analysis
# Concluding

==Marxist theory==
Scientific knowledge develops dialectically through experimentation; that is, through a contradiction wherein people learn more about reality by altering it.
[[Category:Science]]

Lumpenproletariat

2026-02-13T18:12:19Z

97.242.136.127: Malcolm X on the lumpenproletariat - C:

The '''Lumpenproletariat''', alternatively called '''lumpenprole''' or '''lumpen''', refers a marginalized and impoverished social group that includes people who may be unemployed, homeless, or engaged in informal and illegal activities. They do not have a clear role in the Capitalist mode of production and are often considered to be outside the traditional working class. The lumpenproletariat is (but not always) exploitable by [[reactionary]] and [[Counterrevolution|counter-revolutionary]] forces. The term was coined by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]].

Marx defined the lumpenproletariat as a dangerous class and "passively rotting mass" thrown off the lowest layers of the old society.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Karl Marx]]|title=[[Communist Manifesto]]|chapter=1|page=15|quote=The "dangerous class" [lumpenproletariat], the social scum, that passively rotting mass thrown off by the lowest layers of the old society, may, here and there, be swept into the movement by a proletarian revolution; its conditions of life, however, prepare it far more for the part of a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue.|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm}}</ref> He and [[Vladimir Lenin]] dismissed the revolutionary potential of the lumpenproletariat. However, [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] believed that the lumpenproletariat could be revolutionary with the correct guidance.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Mao Zedong]]|year=1926|title=Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_1.htm}}</ref> Similarly, [[Malcolm X]] believed in the revolutionary potential of the "ghetto hustlers" and the black teenagers who emulated them, whom other black leaders overlooked at the time.<ref>{{Citation|author=Malcolm X, Alex Haley|year=1965|title=The Autobiography of Malcolm X|chapter=16. Out|page=|quote=And because I had been a hustler, I knew better than all whites knew, and better than nearly all of the black ‘‘leaders’’ knew, that actually the most dangerous black man in America was the ghetto hustler.

Why do I say this? The hustler, out there in the ghetto jungles, has less respect for the white power structure than any other Negro in North America. The ghetto hustler is internally restrained by nothing. He has no religion, no concept of morality, no civic responsibility, no fear—nothing. To survive, he is out there constantly preying upon others, probing for any human weakness like a ferret. The ghetto hustler is forever frustrated, restless, and anxious for some ‘‘action.’’ Whatever he undertakes, he commits himself to it fully, absolutely.

What makes the ghetto hustler yet more dangerous is his ‘‘glamor’’ image to the school-dropout youth in the ghetto. These ghetto teen-agers see the hell caught by their parents struggling to get somewhere, or see that they have given up struggling in the prejudiced, intolerant white man’s world. The ghetto teen-agers make up their own minds they would rather be like the hustlers whom they see dressed ‘‘sharp’’ and flashing money and displaying no respect for anybody or anything. So the ghetto youth become attracted to the hustler worlds of dope, thievery, prostitution, and general crime and immorality.

It scared me the first time I really saw the danger of these ghetto teen-agers if they are ever sparked to violence. [...]

Why, those young, teen-age Negroes got upset, and started milling around and yelling, upsetting the older Negroes in the crowd. The first thing you know traffic was blocked in four directions by a crowd whose mood quickly grew so ugly that I really got apprehensive. [...]

I know one thing: it had taught me in a very few minutes to have a whole lot of respect for the human combustion that is packed among the hustlers and their young admirers who live in the ghettoes where the Northern white man has sealed-off the Negro—away from whites—for a hundred years.

The ‘‘long hot summer’’ of 1964 in Harlem, in Rochester, and in other cities, has given an idea of what could happen—and that’s all, only an idea. For all of those riots were kept contained within where the Negroes lived. You let any of these bitter, seething ghettoes all over America receive the night igniting incident, and become really inflamed, and explode, and burst out of their boundaries into where whites live!|city=New York City|publisher=Grove Press|isbn=9780345350688}}</ref>

A notable attempt at utilising the lumpenproletariat was with the [[Black Panther Party]] (BPP). In 1969 [[Eldridge Cleaver]] claimed that [[Huey P. Newton]] had transformed the black lumpenproletariat into the "vanguard of the proletariat".<ref>{{Citation|author=Eldridge Cleaver|year=1969|title="On the Ideology of the Black Panther Party"|title-url=https://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/Black%20Liberation%20Disk/Black%20Power!/SugahData/Books/Cleaver.S.pdf|page=2-11|quote=Essentially, what Huey did was to provide the ideology and the methodology for organizing the Black Urban Lumpenproletariat. Armed with this ideological perspective and method, Huey transformed the Black lumpenproletariat from the forgotten people at the bottom of society into the vanguard of the proletariat.|city=Oakland|publisher=Black Panther Party|trans-lang=English}}</ref> However, in actuality the lumpen sections of the BPP were more a small section of the party associated with a lack of discipline and a criminal mindset that provided [[bourgeois media]] more opportunities to slander the BPP than they would otherwise have.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Sundiata Acoli|newspaper=[[Red Sails]]|title=A Brief History of the Black Panther Party and Its Place In the Black Liberation Movement|date=2008|url=https://redsails.org/a-brief-history-of-the-black-panther-party/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250518104103/https://redsails.org/a-brief-history-of-the-black-panther-party/|archive-date=2025-05-18}}</ref>

== Etymology ==

Lumpen was a prefix for "rag"; therefore Lumpenproletariat literally means "rag proletariat".

== Instances ==

* [[Prostitution|Prostitutes]]
* [[Criminal|Criminals]] (tramps, vagabonds, homeless persons)

=== Unemployed workers ===
[[Unemployment|Unemployed]] workers can turn into lumpenproletarians a result of being barred from employment by [[Bourgeoisie|capitalists]].

Unemployed workers typically consist of:
* Blacklisted workers
* [[Disability|Disabled]] persons

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]

Trotskyism

2026-01-31T20:31:55Z

97.242.136.127: Formatting corrections and new info from Ho Chi Minh about Trotskyists in China - C:

[[File:Trotskyite symbol.png|right|[[Hammer and sickle]] with the number 4 for the [[Fourth International]]]]{{Trotskyism}}
'''Trotskyism''' originated from [[Trotsky]]'s opposition against [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] in the theoretical struggle towards a scientific interpretation of [[Leninism]] for the case of world revolution. While it advocates for a militant [[Proletarian revolution|workers' revolution]], unlike [[social democracy]], it rejects the alliance between the [[proletariat]] and the [[peasantry]]. It also supports a worldwide permanent revolution in contrast to policies like socialism in one state.

Trotsky and his followers joined the [[bourgeoisie]] and their henchmen, the [[Mensheviks]], in a campaign to convince the workers, peasants and communists that socialism was impossible in the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]. They tried to undermine the confidence of the working people using an argument opposed to Lenin’s standpoint. The only conclusion is that Trotskyism played a [[Counterrevolution|counterrevolutionary]] role, hiding behind pseudo-left rhetoric. Promoting defeatism was the essential role of Trotskyism in regard to the Soviet Union.

== Permanent revolution ==
Trotsky occupied a middle position between the [[Bolsheviks]] and [[Mensheviks]] but in essence was closer to the Mensheviks.

He agreed with the Bolsheviks that the [[liberal]] [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] would have nothing to do with the coming revolution. At the same time he agreed with the Mensheviks that the peasantry could not be a dependable ally.

Tsarism, according to Trotsky could be replaced by a workers government. On no account could it be replaced by a joint dictatorship of the working class and the peasantry. And on coming to power it would be the function of the Workers government to attack private property, including the peasant holdings. By its attack on private property by the Workers government would alienate and arouse the hostility and resistance (thanks to Trotsky) of the majority of the population.

The resistance of the peasantry would endanger the workers government. But on the other hand the workers government would stimulate the working class of the industrially advanced European countries to wage ruthless struggle against their own bourgeoisie, seize state power and establish socialism.

In return, Western Europe would now come to the aid of the Russian workers government in [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|Russia]] to crush by force the resistance of the peasantry. This is permanent revolution.<blockquote>“In the absence of direct State support on the part of the European proletariat, the Russian working class will not be able to keep itself in power and to transform its temporary rule into a stable socialist dictatorship. No doubt as to the truth of this is possible.”</blockquote>''Trotsky, Our Revolution 1906, Pg. 278.''<blockquote>“A steady rise of socialist economy in Russia will not be possible until after the victory of the proletariat in the leading countries of Europe.”</blockquote>''Trotsky, (“Collected Works,” Vol. 3, Part I, Pgs.92-93.)''<blockquote>What this would mean in practice is Permanent Counter-Revolution. By the negation of the peasantry as a revolutionary role that the peasantry could play (and did play) it would mean depriving the Russian working class of a dependable ally and turning the peasantry into a tool of the liberal bourgeois. There would have been no revolution in Russia had this line followed and Lenin was to reject it for a second time in 1915 in the following:

To bring clarity into the alignment of classes in the impending revolution is the main task of a revolutionary party. This task is being shirked by the Organising Committee, which within Russia remains a faithful ally to Nashe Dyelo, and abroad utters meaningless “Left” phrases. This task is being wrongly tackled in Nashe Slovo by Trotsky, who is repeating his “original” 1905 theory and refuses to give some thought to the reason why, in the course of ten years, life has been bypassing this splendid theory.

From the Bolsheviks Trotsky’s original theory has borrowed their call for a decisive proletarian revolutionary struggle and for the conquest of political power by the proletariat, while from the Mensheviks it has borrowed “repudiation” of the peasantry’s role. The peasantry, he asserts, are divided into strata, have become differentiated; their potential revolutionary role has dwindled more and more; in Russia a “national” revolution is impossible; “we are living in the era of imperialism,” says Trotsky, and “imperialism does not contra pose the bourgeois nation to the old regime, but the proletariat to the bourgeois nation.”

Here we have an amusing example of playing with the word “imperialism”. If, in Russia, the proletariat already stands contra posed to the “bourgeois nation”, then Russia is facing a socialist revolution (!), and the slogan “Confiscate the landed estates” (repeated by Trotsky in 1915, following the January Conference of 1912), is incorrect; in that case we must speak, not of a “revolutionary workers’” government, but of a “workers’ socialist” government! The length Trotsky’s muddled thinking goes to is evident from his phrase that by their resoluteness the proletariat will attract the “non-proletarian [!] popular masses” as well (No. 217)! Trotsky has not realised that if the proletariat induce the non-proletarian masses to confiscate the landed estates and overthrow the monarchy, then that will be the consummation of the “national bourgeois revolution” in Russia; it will be a revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry!

A whole decade—the great decade of 1905-15—has shown the existence of two and only two class lines in the Russian revolution. The differentiation of the peasantry has enhanced the class struggle within them; it has aroused very many hitherto politically dormant elements. It has drawn the rural proletariat closer to the urban proletariat (the Bolsheviks have insisted ever since 1906 that the former should be separately organised, and they included this demand in the resolution of the Menshevik congress in Stockholm). However, the antagonism between the peasantry, on the one hand, and the Markovs, Romanovs and Khvostovs, on the other, has become stronger and more acute. This is such an obvious truth that not even the thousands of phrases in scores of Trotsky’s Paris articles will “refute” it. Trotsky is in fact helping the liberal-labour politicians in Russia, who by “repudiation” of the role of the peasantry understand a refusal to raise up the peasants for the revolution!</blockquote>-Lenin, Two Lines On The Revolution

Stalin, in his work to

It took only two years to prove Lenin's correctness

In conclusion, Trotskyism:

* Rejects the peasantry as a revolutionary force
* Rejects stages in the development of the revolution (Which amounted in practice skipping the first stage of the revolution: the majority of the Russian people, particularly the peasantry, against the Tsar. But only the working class who constituted a tiny minority at the time against the Tsar and the “bourgeois nation” including the peasantry)

It is noted that the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviets]] did eventually wage a war against the nascent bourgeois elements in the peasantry which did seriously de-stabilise the Soviet government. But this was done in the early 1930s when a lot of the peasantry had been drawn into the cities and into the proletariat. Not as immediate fact against the “bourgeois nation” in 1917 which would’ve seen the peasantry side with the White guardists.
==Ideological differences between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism==
Ever since Lenin died in 1924, Trotskyism has challenged Marxism-Leninism for the ideological leadership of the international communist movement. J.V. Stalin, 1879-1953, was able to meet and saw off this challenge, to the extent that Trotskyism became a marginal, exterior tendency in relation to the communist movement. However, the attacks on Stalin by the [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchevite]] leadership in the Soviet Union, and the consequent rise of revisionism in some of the most influential parties of the communist movement, served to breathe new life into the project inspired by Trotsky.

This creed, Trotskyism, gained a substantial intellectual following in all the main imperialist countries due to its attacks on what they and the bourgeoisie call ‘Stalinism’. In attacking Stalin, and in fact, every country of socialist orientation, and regarding themselves as representing authentic Marxism, the activities of these pseudo-left sectarians promoted the propaganda interest of the imperialist bourgeoisie. However, the claims of Trotskyism rest not only on attacking Stalin and the countries of socialist orientation. These claims rest also on convincing certain intellectuals that Trotskyism is the continuation of Leninism. This is why it may be considered useful for us to present a synoptic exposition of the main ideological differences between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism as a guide for those who seek to examine this matter more deeply.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=EspressoStalinist|title=A Brief Guide to the Ideological Differences Between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism|url=https://espressostalinist.com/marxism-leninism-versus-revisionism/a-brief-guide-to-the-ideological-differences-between-marxism-leninism-and-trotskyism/|retrieved=29-03-2022}}</ref>
===Russian Revolution===
Trotskyites argue that the [[Russian revolution of 1917|October revolution of 1917]] was the realisation of Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution. The Marxist-Leninist position is that the revolution was made possible by the peculiar circumstances created by the 1914-1918 war and that without these conditions the transition to the socialist revolution would not have been possible.
=== Labour policy ===
Following the revolution and civil war, Trotskyites argued for the militarisation of the trade unions, that is a policy of coercion towards the unions. Marxist-Leninists around Lenin, including Stalin, opposed the Trotskyite militarisation policy, arguing instead that emphasis must be placed on persuasion rather than coercion. This led to a serious factional dispute in the communist party between the Marxist-Leninists and the Trotskyites between 1920-1921. Lenin himself regarded Trotsky’s policy on the trade unions as representing a ‘reactionary movement’.(See: Lenin: Collected Works, Vol.32)
===World revolutionary process in regard to socialism===
For Marxist-Leninists, socialism in one or several countries is a stage in the world revolution. Trotskyites argued that the policy of building socialism in one country was opposed to Marxism. The Marxist-Leninists argued building socialism in one country was an integral part of world revolution and, in fact would serve this process, in aiding the development of the latter. Since Trotsky did not raise the issue with Lenin, Marxist-Leninists can only assume that Trotsky’s real motives were of a factional nature. Or, with Lenin out of the way, following his death in 1924, Trotsky sought to impose his Permanent Revolution theory on the party.
===Industrialisation policy===
The Trotskyites sought to impose an industrialisation and [[Collectivization|collectivisation]] policy on the communist party at a time when the party and the dictatorship of the proletariat were in a weak position. Marxist-Leninists around Stalin wanted to wait until the party and the state had gathered enough strength to oversee such a policy. This meant defending the mixed economy of the [[NEP]] period until the party had strengthened itself in the working class and in the countryside.
===Fighting bureaucracy===
Trotskyites argue that after the death of Lenin a “Stalinist bureaucracy” emerged in the Soviet Union. This "bureaucracy", they claimed, would undermine the revolution and to forestall this a political revolution would be necessary to remove it from power. Marxist-Leninists argue that the Soviet bureaucracy was more anti-Stalinist than ‘Stalinist’, a fact underlined by the frequent purges directed against it. In addition, Marxist-Leninists rejected this Trotskyite theory as completely one-sided, and argued that what was needed was not a political revolution to overthrow a supposedly counterrevolutionary bureaucracy, but rather there was a need to expose and purge the counterrevolutionary elements from it. The Trotskyite talk about a ‘political’ revolution to overthrow bureaucracy represented a break from Marxism to [[anarchism]].{{Citation needed}}
===Peaceful coexistence===
Soon after coming to power the Bolshevik communists, led by Lenin pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the capitalist states. The thinking behind this was to force the capitalist states, particularly the imperialists states, to live in peace with socialism, as far as foreign relations were concerned. This was not only based on the recognition that combined the imperialists states were by far stronger than the socialist one, it was also because socialism, unlike capitalism, is not a warlike system. It is capitalism which needs war to increase profits for the monopolists, not socialism. While it is true that, on the one hand, the Khrushchevite revisionists distorted the communist policy of peaceful coexistence, it is also true, on the other hand, that the Trotskyites, and other pseudo-leftists rejected Lenin’s policy, wanting the socialist countries to act like capitalists and embroil the world into war.
==="Counterrevolution" in the Soviet Union===
Trotskyites claim that the counterrevolution in the Soviet Union was the work of a supposedly “Stalinist bureaucracy”. Such a claim made no sense because not only was there no entity which could be called the “Stalinist bureaucracy”, but the Stalinists, i.e., supporters of Stalin, had been purged by the Khrushchevites in the 1950s. Marxist-Leninists maintain that the Soviet counterrevolution was led by the [[Revisionism|revisionists]] who had come to power after Stalin’s death. This counterrevolution was begun by Khrushchev and completed by [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]]. Trotsky believed that, despite the supposed bureaucratization of the USSR, an internal restoration of capitalism was impossible.

Trotskyists often claim that Stalin purged all of the Old Bolsheviks even though many of Stalin's supporters ([[Lazar Kaganovich|Kaganovich]], [[Sergei Kirov|Kirov]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]], [[Andrei Zhdanov|Zhdanov]], etc.) were Old Bolsheviks. [[Karl Kautsky|Kautsky]] and [[Julius Martov|Martov]] were also very influential Marxist theorists who later became [[Revisionism|revisionists]].<ref name=":0223">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|chapter=The Great Purge|isbn=9782872620814|publisher=Editions EPO|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|page=121–122}}</ref>
===Communist history===
Trotskyites blame the defeat of revolutions in Germany, France and Spain on Stalin’s leadership of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]]. Marxist-Leninists have long argued that Stalin was in a minority in the Comintern. Therefore, the defeats experienced by the communist movement cannot simply be dumped at Stalin’s door. Only a concrete analysis, based on Marxism-Leninism, can throw light on how individual defeats came about.
===Revisionism===
One of the slanders aimed at Stalin by the open and concealed Trotskyites is that he led the international communist movement into the camp of revisionism. However, neither now or in the past, have they been able to provide any documentary evidence to support these claims based on Marxism-Leninism. The truth is, that any study of the writings of Stalin shows, without any shadow of doubt that he remained a committed Marxist-Leninist all his life.
===Evaluation of Stalin===
Trotskyites argue that Stalin betrayed the 1917 socialist revolution. However, in 1936, stunned by the gains that the Soviet Union had made under Stalin’s leadership, Trotsky had to pretend that the USSR's achievements had nothing to do with Stalin. Marxist-Leninists argue that Stalin was a defender of the socialist revolution in the most inauspicious of circumstances. Furthermore, in his time, he successfully defended the socialist orientation of the Soviet Union against revisionists and other two-faced elements posing as communists in the party and state. When these concealed enemies of socialism were found out they were immediately purged.

== The "Uniqueness" of Permanent Revolution ==
There are several points that ought to be noted in regards to Permanent Revolution. The first is that the idea or notion of Permanent Revolution is not unique to Trotskyism. Marx, in his [[Address to the Communist League]] in 1850 has stated that the following:<blockquote>''While the democratic petit bourgeois wish to bring the revolution to a conclusion as quickly as possible, and with the achievement, at most, of the above demands, it is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent, until all more or less possessing classes have been forced out of their position of dominance, until the proletariat has conquered state power, and the association of proletarians, not only in one country but in all the dominant countries of the world, has advanced so far that competition among the proletarians of these countries has ceased and that at least the decisive productive forces are concentrated in the hands of the proletarians''<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Marx|year=1850|title=Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm|quote=While the democratic petty bourgeois want to bring the revolution to an end as quickly as possible, achieving at most the aims already mentioned, it is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent until all the more or less propertied classes have been driven from their ruling positions, until the proletariat has conquered state power and until the association of the proletarians has progressed sufficiently far – not only in one country but in all the leading countries of the world – that competition between the proletarians of these countries ceases and at least the decisive forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the workers.}}</ref></blockquote>This, however does not necessarily mean that the Permanent Revolution followed by Trotskyites is justified. Stalin, in his work [[Foundations of Leninism]] has noted that Marx' message on Permanent Revolution was distorted by the Trotskyites, making it "unfit for practical uses". What he meant by this was that not only that Trotskyites underestimate the role of the peasantry, they also misunderstood Marx' message that after attaining state power, the proletariat ought to dispose one section of the bourgeoisie one after another, this would then kindle the fire of revolution in every country. It was often assumed that achieving victory in one country was impossible without the support and actions of the proletariats in advanced countries, yet the [[Russian revolution of 1917|victory of the Bolsheviks over the Russian Republic in 1917]], leading to the establishment of the first Socialist state in history has proven this wrong.

== Influence ==
Trotskyism has had very little impact on the [[Third World]] except in [[Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]], [[Bolivia]], and [[Argentine Republic|Argentina]] due to its opposition to [[Anti-colonialism|anti-colonial]] [[nationalism]] and the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], while in contrary it became a lot more popular in [[Imperial core|the West]].<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Enemy of Imperialism|page=81|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref> In a series of letters sent to the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] in 1939, [[Hồ Chí Minh]] described the way Chinese Trotskyists worked to undermine the [[Communist Party of China|Communist Party of China's]] war against Japanese occupation and even signed a pact with and were paid by the Japanese occupiers in the cases of [[Chen Duxiu]], [[Peng Shuzhi]], and [[Luo Han]] (named in Vietnamese as Tran Doc Tu, Banh Thuat Chi, and La Han).<ref>{{Citation|last=Pirani|first=Simon|year=1987|title=Vietnam & Trotskyism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/vietnam/pirani/|chapter=Three letters from Ho Chi Minh|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/vietnam/pirani/hochiminh.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/vietnam/pirani/}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Left-communism]]
* [[Fourth International]]
* [[Luxemburgism]]
* [[Posadism]]

== Further reading ==

* [[Library:On the shortcomings of party work and measures to eliminate Trotskyist and other double-dealers|''On the Shortcomings of Party Work and Measures to Eliminate Trotskyists and Other Double-Dealers'']]
* [[Library:Trotsky’s Day in Court|''Trotsky's Day in Court'']]
* [[Library:Trotskyism: Counter-Revolution in Disguise|''Trotskyism: Counter-Revolution in Disguise'']]
* [[Library:Trotskyism or Leninism?|''Trotskyism or Leninism?'']]
* [[Library:Trotskyism: Counter-Revolution in Disguise|''Trotskyism: Counter-Revolution in Disguise'']]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Trotskyism]]
[[Category:Left communism]]
[[Category:Left-wing ideologies]]
[[Category:Communist ideologies]]

Central Intelligence Agency

2026-01-21T23:24:09Z

97.242.136.127: Added additional information on the CIA and the media; also consolidated existing info - C:

{{Infobox company|name=Central Intelligence Agency|image=CIA logo.png|caption=Logo|founding_date={{birth date and age|1947|9|18}}
| website = [https://www.cia.gov www.cia.gov]
}}

The '''Central Intelligence Agency''' ('''CIA''') is an [[Imperialism|imperialist]] [[Terrorism|terrorist]] organization serving as the secret police of the [[United States imperialism|U.S. empire]]. It is one of the principal members of the [[United States Intelligence Community]] (IC). It has a long history of criminal behaviour, fabricating [[propaganda]], funding and supporting [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] movements and "NGOs", and directly and indirectly participating in [[human rights]] abuses. Unlike the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI), which is a domestic security service, the CIA has no law enforcement function and is officially mainly focused on overseas intelligence gathering. According to one of its own case officers, [[John Stockwell]], the CIA was responsible for at least six million deaths in its first forty years of existence.<ref>{{Citation|author=John Stockwell|year=1987|title=The Secret Wars of the CIA|publisher=Information Clearing House|title-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630173556/http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Video citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1tfkESPVY|channel=Witness to War|title=Former CIA Agent John Stockwell Talks about How the CIA Worked in Vietnam and Elsewhere|date=Sep 29, 2017}}</ref>

The CIA is an instrument of capitalist imperialism and covert interventionism which serves the interests of the ruling (Capitalist) class in the United States. It works to maintain global dominance and advance U.S. geopolitical interests: subjugating nations, exploiting their resources, and preventing the rise of Socialist or anti-imperialist movements.

Methods including coups, assassinations, and support for right-wing regimes are used to undermine sovereign nations and popular movements that challenge Capitalist hegemony. The CIA has also been documented "planting stories" in popular media outlets.<ref>{{Video citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwerBZG83YM|channel=Witness to War|title=CIA Officer Frank Snepp Discusses Planting Stories in Vietnam|date=Sep 30, 2017}}</ref>

The CIA’s historical association with anti-Communist activities is a significant concern for us. During the Cold War, the CIA was involved in countering Socialist and Communist movements around the world, often collaborating with repressive regimes and engaging in propaganda campaigns against leftist ideologies. The CIA’s secretive nature and lack of transparency make it susceptible to abuses of power. The agency’s covert operations are a way for Capitalist interests to exert control without public scrutiny, undermining democratic principles.

{{Quote|We'll intervene whenever we decide it's in our national security interests to intervene, and if you don't like it, lump it. Get used to it, world -- we're not gonna put up with nonsense. And if our interests are threatened, we're gonna do it.|Duane Clarridge. (2015). ''John Pilger interviews former CIA Latin America chief Duane Clarridge''|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER77vxxGVAY }}

== History ==
The CIA was created in 1947 when President [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] signed the National Security Act into law. Its major predecessor was the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS), which was the intelligence agency of the United States during the [[Second World War]]. The success of the British Commandos during World War II prompted U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to authorize the creation of an intelligence service modeled after the [[British Secret Intelligence Service]] (MI6), which led led to the creation of the OSS. The OSS was dissolved in 1945 and its functions were split mainly among the U.S. Department of State and Department of War. After 1945, intelligence functions were carried out by the National Intelligence Authority (NIA), the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and others, until the CIA was eventually created in 1947.

Between 1949 and 1952, the number of overseas CIA outposts grew from seven to 52, and its budget increased from $4.7 million to $82 million. The number of covert operations grew by 16 times from 1951 to 1953. In 1958, the CIA trained over 500,000 [[police]] officers in 25 countries.<ref name=":022222">{{Citation|author=David Vine|year=2020|title=The United States of War|chapter=Normalizing Occupation|page=310–1|city=Oakland|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520972070|lg=http://library.lol/main/191568BFAC73F009132DB00ECD0F0F05}}</ref> In November 1959, the CIA created a dedicated [[Africa]] division.<ref name=":1">Meyer, Lily. 2021. [https://www.npr.org/2021/08/12/1027183677/cia-role-in-africa-expanded-as-u-s-cold-war-worries-grew-white-malice-details “CIA Role in Africa Expanded as U.S. Cold War Worries Grew, ‘White Malice’ Details.”] NPR.org. August 12, 2021. [https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.npr.org/2021/08/12/1027183677/cia-role-in-africa-expanded-as-u-s-cold-war-worries-grew-white-malice-details Archived] 2022-09-05.</ref>

[[Allen Dulles]], a nazi, was the first civilian CIA Director and the longest-serving CIA Director, serving from 1953 to 1961. As head of the CIA during the early [[Cold War]], he oversaw the [[1953 Iranian coup d'état]], the [[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état]], the [[Lockheed U-2 aircraft program]], the [[Project MKUltra]] mind control program and the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]]. His older brother, [[John Foster Dulles]], was the [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] during the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] Administration.

[[George H.W. Bush]], who served as the 11th Director of Central Intelligence from 1976 to 1977, would later go on to become Vice President under [[Ronald Reagan]] from 1981 to 1989, and 41st President of the United States from 1989 to 1993.

In the 1989 book "Rollback!" authors Thomas Bodenheimer and Robert Gould explain how in the 1980s, proponents of the imperialist [[rollback]] policy, which sought to "roll back" communism worldwide and prevent revolutions in the [[Third World]] (now more commonly conceptualized as the [[Global North and South|Global South]], with a somewhat different definition), sought to create increased plausible deniability for the CIA by creating an apparatus for bypassing presidential approval and congressional notification for the CIA's actions: <blockquote>For decades the CIA has conducted covert operations that could be “plausibly denied” by the presidency. But legislation in 1974 and 1980 requiring formal presidential approval and congressional notification of covert operations made such deniability difficult. Thus under Reagan, an apparatus was established whose actions could be plausibly denied not only by the president but by the CIA as well. To staff this apparatus, right-wing ideologues inside government-led by CIA Director William Casey and National Security Council staff member [[Oliver North]]-came together with their rollback-oriented companions outside government, most prominently retired Gen. Richard Secord. This rightwing apparatus derived enormous power from its access through Oliver North to National Security Advisor Adm. John Poindexter. As one of the top foreign policy officials, Poindexter--especially with a president widely considered to be incompetent—had the power to place enormous resources of the United States government at the service of the global rollback network.<ref name=":2">Bodenheimer, Thomas; Gould, Robert. [https://archive.org/details/rollbackrightwin00bode/mode/1up "Rollback! : Right-wing Power in American Foreign Policy."] 1989. South End Press, Boston, MA. </ref> </blockquote>The [[Iran–Contra affair]] occurred during the second term of the Reagan administration. The president had declared Iran to be an enemy and terrorist state, but in secret he was selling Iran major shipments of weapons. Between 1981 and 1986, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the [[Contras]], a right-wing rebel group, in Nicaragua. According to Bodenheimer and Gould, "The secret apparatus itself was nothing new [...] CIA covert operations involving private individuals and companies were part of the conservative elites' tradition. What stood out about Contragate was the loss of control by the conservative elite. [...] The Contragate exposé was the backlash of the conservative elite, who viewed the Right as overly reckless and assuming far too much power." The authors explain that Ronald Reagan and his rollback henchmen drew criticism from Congress and the entire nation, the scope of the investigation remained extremely limited, with the leadership of the House and Senate committees specifically avoiding delving into the history of the CIA-linked proprietaries and public-private networks, "Thus the CIA's capabilities for covert and illegal interventionist operations remained protected for the future, while the 'rogues' of the Right were conveniently and temporarily scapegoated."<ref name=":2" />

In 1982, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was signed into law by President Reagan, establishing criminal penalties for any person who discloses information which identifies a U.S. covert intelligence agent. Prior to the passage of the act, [[CovertAction Magazine|CovertAction Information Bulletin]] (now CovertAction Magazine) used to publish a "Naming Names" column which would identify names and locations of covert agents and their stations.<ref>"Naming Names." CovertAction Information Bulletin, No. 14-15. October 1981. [https://www.invissin.ru/upload/CAQ/14-15,%20Oct%201981.pdf PDF]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230316023252/https://www.invissin.ru/upload/CAQ/14-15,%20Oct%201981.pdf Archive].</ref>

In modern times, the CIA has undertaken efforts to try to rebrand itself as being "liberal" and "woke" in a disingenuous effort to appeal to the liberal sensitivities of the American upper-middle class population.<ref>{{News citation|title=The CIA and the New Dialect of Power|url=https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/11/the-cia-and-the-new-dialect-of-power/|newspaper=American Affairs Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215131731/https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2021/11/the-cia-and-the-new-dialect-of-power/}}</ref> [[Moderate Rebels]] has produced a [[Library:Parody of Woke CIA Recruitment Ad|parody CIA recruitment ad]] ridiculing this trend.

In honor of the 60th anniversary of the [[Korean War|Korean war]], the CIA released several formerly classified documents regarding the war in a collection titled "Baptism by Fire" in 2013. Among the released documents, author [[Jeffrey Kaye]] asserted that the "handprint of [[Unit 731]]" was "all over" various documents which made reference to the long-alleged biological warfare conducted by U.S. forces against north Koreans.<ref>Xu Chi. [http://www.news.cn/english/northamerica/2021-09/18/c_1310196215.htm “Interview: CIA Confidential Files Expose Use of Unit 731-Inspired U.S. Bioweapons in Korean War -- U.S. Author.”] 2021-09-18. News.cn. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220905125247/http://www.news.cn/english/northamerica/2021-09/18/c_1310196215.htm Archived] 2022-09-05.</ref><ref>Jeffrey Kaye. [https://jeff-kaye.medium.com/a-real-flood-of-bacteria-and-germs-communications-intelligence-and-charges-of-u-s-4decafdc762 "“A real flood of bacteria and germs” — Communications Intelligence and Charges of U.S. Germ Warfare during the Korean War."] 2020-09-17. Medium.</ref>

In 2019, former CIA director and Secretary of State [[Mike Pompeo]] stated to an audience from [[Texas A&M University]] that the CIA trains employees to lie, cheat and steal, saying: "When I was a cadet--what's the cadet motto at [[West Point]]? 'You will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.' I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment."<ref name=":5">[https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/We-Lied-Cheated-and-Stole-Pompeo-Comes-Clean-About-CIA-20190424-0033.html “‘We Lied, Cheated and Stole’: Pompeo Comes Clean about CIA.”] Telesurenglish.net. teleSUR. 2019. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230316233629/https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/We-Lied-Cheated-and-Stole-Pompeo-Comes-Clean-About-CIA-20190424-0033.html Archived] 2023-03-16.</ref>

== CIA leadership and personnel ==

=== CIA directors ===
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA), formerly the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), serves as one of the chief intelligence advisers to the president of the United States. Following a change in the early 2000s, the [[director of national intelligence]] (DNI) oversees and directs the implementation of the National Intelligence Program budget and serves as the head of the [[United States Intelligence Community|Intelligence Community]] and is principal advisor to the President for intelligence matters.<ref>[https://www.dni.gov/index.php/what-we-do “What We Do.”] Dni.gov. 2018.</ref>

This is a chronologically ordered list of CIA directors (both the old position called DCI and the new position called D/CIA), from the earliest to the most recent.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-Central-Intelligence-Agency-directors-1787118 “List of CIA Directors.”] Encyclopædia Britannica.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency and Directors of Central Intelligence
!Name
!Tenure
!Administration(s)
!Notes
|-
|Rear Adm. [[Sidney W. Souers]], U.S. Naval Reserve
|January 23, 1946–June 10, 1946
| rowspan="3" |[[Harry S. Truman]]
|
|-
|Lieut. Gen. [[Hoyt S. Vandenberg]], U.S. Army
|June 10, 1946–May 1, 1947
|
|-
|Rear Adm. [[Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter]], U.S. Navy
|May 1, 1947–October 7, 1950
|
|-
|Gen. [[Walter Bedell Smith]], U.S. Army
|October 7, 1950–February 9, 1953
| rowspan="2" |[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
|
|-
|[[Allen Dulles|Allen W. Dulles]]
|February 9, 1953 – February 26, 1953
|(Acting director)
|-
|Allen W. Dulles
|February 26, 1953–November 29, 1961
|[[John F. Kennedy]]
|
|-
|[[John A. McCone]]
|November 29, 1961–April 28, 1965
| rowspan="2" |[[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
|
|-
|Vice Adm. [[William F. Raborn]], Jr., U.S. Navy
|April 28, 1965–June 30, 1966
|
|-
|[[Richard M. Helms]]
|June 30, 1966–February 2, 1973
| rowspan="2" |[[Richard Nixon]]
|
|-
|[[James R. Schlesinger]]
|February 2, 1973–July 2, 1973
|
|-
|[[William Colby|William E. Colby]]
|September 4, 1973–January 30, 1976
| rowspan="2" |[[Gerald Ford]]
|
|-
|[[George H. W. Bush|George H.W. Bush]]
|January 30, 1976–January 20, 1977
|<ref group="Notes">[[George H. W. Bush|George H.W. Bush]] later became U.S. Vice President (1981-1989), then President (1989-1993). His son is former President [[George W. Bush]] (2001-2009).</ref>
|-
|Adm. [[Stansfield Turner]], U.S. Navy
|March 9, 1977–January 20, 1981
|[[Jimmy Carter]]
|
|-
|[[William J. Casey]]
|January 28, 1981–January 29, 1987
| rowspan="2" |[[Ronald Reagan]]
|
|-
|[[Robert M. Gates]]
|December 18, 1986 – May 26, 1987
|(Acting director)
|-
|[[William H. Webster]]
|May 26, 1987–August 31, 1991
| rowspan="2" |George H.W. Bush
|
|-
|Robert M. Gates
|November 6, 1991–January 20, 1993
|
|-
|[[R. James Woolsey]]
|February 5, 1993–January 10, 1995
| rowspan="3" |[[Bill Clinton]]
|
|-
|[[John M. Deutch]]
|May 10, 1995–December 15, 1996
|
|-
|[[George J. Tenet]]
|December 16, 1996 – July 11, 1997
|(Acting director)
|-
|George J. Tenet
|July 11, 1997 – July 11, 2004
| rowspan="3" |[[George W. Bush]]
|
|-
|[[Porter J. Goss]]
|September 24, 2004–May 26, 2006
|<ref group="Notes">The position called Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) was replaced by director of Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA), making [[Porter J. Goss|Porter Goss]] both the last DCI and first D/CIA. In addition, the position of the [[director of national intelligence]] (DNI) was strengthened in this period, placing the DNI as the executive head of the [[United States Intelligence Community|Intelligence Community]] (IC). Before the DNI was formally established, the head of the Intelligence Community was the director of central intelligence (DCI).</ref>
|-
|Gen. [[Michael V. Hayden]], U.S. Air Force
|May 30, 2006–February 13, 2009
|
|-
|[[Leon E. Panetta]]
|February 13, 2009–June 30, 2011
| rowspan="3" |[[Barack Obama]]
|
|-
|Gen. [[David Petraeus]], U.S. Army
|September 6, 2011–November 9, 2012
|
|-
|[[John Brennan]]
|March 8, 2013–January 20, 2017
|
|-
|[[Mike Pompeo]]
|January 23, 2017–April 26, 2018
| rowspan="2" |[[Donald Trump]]
|
|-
|[[Gina Haspel]]
|May 21, 2018–January 19, 2021
|
|-
|[[William J. Burns]]
|March 19, 2021–January 23, 2025
|[[Joe Biden]]
|
|-
|[[John Ratcliffe]]
|January 23, 2025<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Central Intelligence Agency|title=About CIA — Director of the CIA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250617040002/https://www.cia.gov/about/director-of-cia/|archive-date=2025-06-17}}</ref>–Present
|[[Donald Trump]]
|Incumbent
|}
'''Notes:'''
<references group="Notes" />

=== Other CIA personnel and agents ===
CIA station chiefs are the top officers of a CIA station, which is a CIA office. Operations officers carry out the operations of a station.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Barbara Bean-Mellinger|newspaper=CHRON.|title=CIA Agent vs. Station Chief|url=https://work.chron.com/cia-agent-vs-station-chief-24145.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250918055958/https://work.chron.com/cia-agent-vs-station-chief-24145.html|archive-date=2025-09-18|retrieved=2025-09-18|quote=Overseas offices of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are officially called CIA stations. [...] According to the CIA, operations officers are assigned to carry out the missions, or operations, of a station.}}</ref> Case officers are the officers whose job it is to recruit and handle local sources in the country of operation. Recruited local sources are known as agents.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Luis Rueda|newspaper=Debrief|title=The Case Officer - Agent Relationship|date=2022-04-29|url=https://www.debriefarundown.com/post/the-case-officer-agent-relationship|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250918055146/https://www.debriefarundown.com/post/the-case-officer-agent-relationship|archive-date=2025-09-18|quote=At the heart of all HUMINT operations is the relationship between the case officer and the agent [...] case officers, also known as operations officers, are professional intelligence officers whose job is to recruit and handle human sources for the purpose of collecting intelligence. Agents are those sources recruited by the case officer.}}</ref> Case officers engage in networking as they seek out potential sources and carry out station operations, with many working at US embassies.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Frank Snepp|title=[[Library:CIA Officer Frank Snepp Discusses Planting Stories in Vietnam | "CIA Officer Frank Snepp Discusses Planting Stories in Vietnam."]]|date=1983|quote=In Saigon, I had various covers. I was a State Department officer; I was a military officer at one time. But everybody I dealt with—agents, journalists—knew that I worked for the CIA.}}</ref> Former case officer John Stockwell has described CIA officers as "ranking privileged members of the police brotherhood of the world" who are not in danger, and who establish liaison with the police in every country where they can, saying "they're not fearful and they're not playing cover games. They're having lunch with the police chief."<ref>{{Library citation|link=Library:Interview with former CIA agent John Stockwell|quote=Everyone always knows who the CIA people are, let there be no doubt whatsoever. This is one of the biggest farces that the CIA and Congress have put on the American people. We--as Moynihan said, Patrick Moynihan said, in testifying against this Official Secrets Act recently--he said at the UN, he said, they swaggered around like Texas cowboys in 10-gallon hats and high-heeled boots.

In Vietnam we had yellow Datsuns and sequential license plates. So if you had a yellow Datsun and "144" on your license plate, you had to be CIA, and everybody knew it. Up country, we had emerald green Jeeps, and the army had olive drab and AID had gray Jeeps. And if you had a green, green Jeep, you had to be CIA. And any denial of that was only tongue-in-cheek, perfunctory. Certainly, journalists knew the difference. [...] Allen Dulles wrote in his book The Craft of Intelligence, you know, the famous CIA Director, in the foreword of his book he says an intelligence agent, contrary to popular opinion, has to be known as such, otherwise people with secrets won't know where to take them. He set up the policy, the precedent of traveling the world each year and assembling his case officers in hotels, and having what you could only describe as a sales conference. Meetings in the hotel rooms, breakfast, lunch, and dinner and drinks together in the hotel rooms. [...] So, you're talking--so, you're talking about not an underworld, you're talking about ranking privileged members of the police brotherhood of the world. CIA officers are not in danger. Tourists don't hit them. In every country where they can, they establish liaison with the local police. And inside the veils of, you know, their secrecy and protection, they're not fearful and they're not playing cover games. They're having lunch with the police chief.}}</ref>

[[Frank Wisner]] is one of the founding operations officers of the CIA.<ref>{{Web citation|author=David W. Brown|newspaper=Mental Floss|title=Frank Wisner, Father of American Covert Operations|date=2013-02-27|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/48959/retrobituaries-frank-wisner-father-american-covert-operations}}</ref> Wisner is known for his metaphor of the "Mighty Wurlitzer" to describe the CIA, likening it to the world-famous theater organ on which he could direct the network of organizations to play any propaganda "tune".<ref>{{Web citation|author=Nancy Hanover|newspaper=World Socialist Web Site|title=The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America|date=2015-08-17|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/08/17/wur1-a17.html}}</ref>

=== Whistleblowers ===
When engaging with supposed [[Whistleblower|whistleblowers]] of intelligence organizations as a source of information, it is important to engage critically, noting phenomena such as the [[limited hangout]], which is a calculated partial disclosure of classified information in order to create the appearance of transparency. Furthermore, many so-called "former" CIA personnel remain in service of or in contact with the CIA, or otherwise remain in agreement with the aims of the CIA. The CIA is also capable of conducting [[blackmail]], [[lawfare]], [[Smear campaign|smear campaigns]], and [[Assassination|assassinations]] against its enemies, which may discourage comprehensive or completely truthful disclosures by (former) personnel. Therefore, although its possible a given individual CIA whistleblower may have accurate information to provide, and may potentially have genuine truth-telling intent, one must remain critical of their supposed whistleblower status and keep in mind possible omissions, motivations, or undisclosed affiliations of that individual.

Some well-known (supposed or presumed) whistleblowers of the CIA include: Philip Agee, regarded as the CIA's first whistleblower, who went on to write ''[[Inside the Company]]''<ref>{{Citation|author=Philip Agee|year=1976|title=Inside the Company: CIA Diary|title-url=https://archive.org/details/insidecompanycia0000phil/|pdf=https://ia804505.us.archive.org/28/items/pdfy-DAzR701tP2dL_DNu/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee.pdf|publisher=Stonehill Publishing}}</ref> and co-founder of CovertAction Information Bulletin (now CovertAction Magazine).<ref>{{Web citation|author=Chris Agee|newspaper=CovertAction Magazine|title=History|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/history/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250814161656/https://covertactionmagazine.com/history/|archive-date=2025-08-14|retrieved=2025-09-18}}</ref> Another well-known whistleblower is John Stockwell, author of ''[[In Search of Enemies]]''<ref name=":12" /> and who made frequent appearances on the program [[Alternative Views]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/alternative_views?tab=collection&query=Stockwell "Stockwell."] ''[https://archive.org/details/alternative_views?tab=collection Alternative Views]''. Internet Archive.</ref>

== Operations by region ==

=== Africa ===
Although CIA officers had been present in Africa since the agency's inception, a dedicated Africa division was formed in 1959.<ref name=":1" /> As more and more African nations gained formal independence from European colonial powers following the Second World War, the United States and other Western powers grew concerned with how to maintain control over Africa's resources, as African resources and markets continued to be vital to Western economies.<ref name=":6">{{Citation|author=Ellen Ray, William Schaap, Karl Van Meter, Louis Wolf (Eds.)|year=1980|title=Dirty Work 2: The CIA in Africa|title-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/|chapter=OVERVIEW: Introduction (Philip Agee)|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/page/n14/mode/1up?view=theater|city=London|publisher=Zed Press}}</ref> Western powers thus sought to influence the establishment of [[Neocolonialism|neo-colonial]] governments and institutions which would not pose a threat to their traditional colonial interests. Such interests included access to minerals<ref name=":6" /> (including [[nuclear]] material such as [[uranium]]),<ref name=":1" /> as well as the labor and infrastructure to [[Mining|mine]] them, and access to [[Petroleum politics|petroleum]] and [[natural gas]] resources. They also sought to ensure access to markets for food and manufactured products, opportunities for [[capital]] investments, and important sea routes through the [[Suez Canal]] and around the Cape, and to otherwise ensure optimal operating conditions for Western corporations.<ref name=":6" />

As observed by former CIA case officer [[Philip Agee]], in the 1960s, operations by the US government and US companies expanded both in support of and in competition with the former colonial powers.<ref name=":6" /> As a competitor, the US was interested in undermining European colonial influence to the extent that it could open up Europe's (former) colonies to US influence and commercial penetration.<ref>{{Citation|author=Ellen Ray, William Schaap, Karl Van Meter, Louis Wolf (Eds.)|year=1980|title=Dirty Work 2: The CIA in Africa|title-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/|chapter=The CIA and African Trade Unions (Barry Cohen)|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/page/n84/mode/1up?view=theater|city=London|publisher=Zed Press}}</ref> However, though the US competed with its European allies for natural resources and markets, "the U.S. had set up military bases in Africa and joined the Europeans in opposing the nationalist and anti-colonial movements that were supported by socialist countries or whose nationalism and radicalism made them seem threatening, while supporting those which were moderate and pro-capitalist."<ref name=":6" /> During this period, the CIA participated in the overthrow of [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] leaders [[Kwame Nkrumah]] in [[Republic of Ghana|Ghana]] and [[Patrice Lumumba]] in the [[Republic of the Congo (1960–1971)|Congo]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Djibo Sobukwe|newspaper=[[Black Agenda Report]]|title=NATO and Africa|date=2022-07-13|url=https://blackagendareport.com/nato-and-africa|retrieved=2022-07-15}}</ref>

==== Angola ====
In November 1975, the CIA and [[apartheid]] [[South Africa]] invaded [[People's Republic of Angola (1975–1992)|Angola]] when it became independent from [[Portuguese Republic|Portugal]]. [[Fidel Castro]] deployed 350,000 Cubans in Angola who fought until 1989 and defeated the white supremacist forces.<ref name=":3">{{Web citation|author=Abayome Azikiwe|newspaper=[[Workers World]]|title=CIA turned in Mandela in ’62, still undermines Africa|date=2016-05-25|url=https://www.workers.org/2016/05/25544/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211030649/https://www.workers.org/2016/05/25544/|archive-date=2022-02-11|retrieved=2022-10-09}}</ref>

Former CIA case officer John Stockwell was chief of the CIA's Angola task force.<ref name=":8">John Stockwell and Clete Roberts. [[Library:Interview with former CIA agent John Stockwell|''Interview with former CIA agent John Stockwell'']]. 1983.</ref> In his various books and interviews, Stockwell has described the CIA as engaging in manipulation of the media to influence opinion against the [[People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola]] (MPLA), as engaging in secretive funding of [[National Union for the Total Independence of Angola]] (UNITA) and [[National Liberation Front of Angola]] (FNLA) via European bank accounts,<ref>{{Citation|author=Ellen Ray, William Schaap, K. van Meter, and Louis Wolf|year=1980|title=Dirty Work 2: The CIA in Africa|title-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/|chapter=Media Manipulation in Angola|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/page/n118/mode/2up|page=104-105|quote=FNLA representatives arrived in New York in late September to lobby at the United Nations General Assembly. They were broke. Bubba Sanders set up a small task force in a Manhattan hotel room to direct our United Nations propaganda operation. In daily meetings the New York officers secretly funded the FNLA delegation and plotted strategy as they made contacts at the United Nations and with the New York newspapers. They distributed the white paper in the UN and to the U.S. press. They also toured Africa with it, and distributed copies to the Chinese. [...] The UNITA representatives also arrived broke, and although we did not have a paper for them to distribute, the New York officers provided funds and guidance. [...] In order to keep the two delegations doing their “good work” in New York and in Washington and still protect the CIA from any blow-back, funds would be channeled to them via overseas banks. [...] Each delegation opened a bank account in Europe to which European-based CIA finance officers could make regular deposits. Thereafter the CIA could plausibly deny that it had funded anyone’s propagandists in the United States. It would be extremely difficult for any investigators to prove differently.}}</ref> sending secret agents to conferences of the [[Non-Aligned Movement|Non-Aligned Nations]] and [[Organization of African Unity]], helping disseminate CIA-written documents at the United Nations and to US ambassadors in Africa, and planting fake news and fake photos and atrocity propaganda about the Cubans in Angola.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Citation|author=Ellen Ray, William Schaap, K. van Meter, and Louis Wolf, et. al.|year=1980|title=Dirty Work 2: The CIA in Africa|title-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/|chapter=Media Manipulation in Angola}}</ref>

==== Democratic Republic of the Congo ====
Patrice Lumumba was chosen prime minister of the independent [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (then [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Republic of the Congo]]) by the newly-elected parliament following independence from [[Kingdom of Belgium|Belgium]] in June 1960. Ideologically an [[African nationalism|African nationalist]] and [[Pan-Africanism|pan-Africanist]], he led the [[Congolese National Movement]] (MNC) party from 1958 until his assassination.

Lumumba was very popular, but too nationalist and seemingly left-leaning for the imperialists. Both [[Kingdom of Belgium|Belgium]] and the US were affected by the Cold War in their attitude to Lumumba, as they feared he was increasingly subject to communist influence. CIA Director Allen Dulles authorized a fund of up to $100,000 to replace Lumumba's government with a pro-Western regime. With CIA help, Lumumba was deposed, first by President [[Joseph Kasavubu]], and later by Army strongman (cultivated by the CIA) [[Mobutu Sese Seko]]. The CIA made a plan to assassinate Lumumba with poison carried from the United States by CIA operative [[Sidney Gottlieb|Sid Gottlieb]]. The poisoning plan was aborted, but Lumumba was caught and murdered.<ref name=":2" /> After Lumumba's murder, Mobutu Sese Seko ruled until 1996 as a CIA puppet.<ref name=":3" />

==== Ghana ====
''See also: [[Republic of Ghana#1966 coup d'etat]]''

On 24 February 1966, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, was overthrown in a CIA-supported coup. A 1966 U.S. government internal memorandum describes Nkrumah as "strongly pro-Communist" and says that "Nkrumah was doing more to undermine our interests than any other black African."<ref>Komer, Robert W. [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v24/d260 "Memorandum From the President’s Acting Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Komer) to President Johnson."] Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXIV, Africa. Document #260. Office of the Historian. United States Department of State. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220518133259/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v24/d260 Archived] 2022-05-18.</ref> The memo was written by [[Robert W. Komer]], who later became the head of the [[Phoenix Program]] in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]].<ref>Charles Quist-Adade (2021-02-24). [https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/02/24/how-did-a-fateful-cia-coup-executed-55-years-ago-this-february-24-doom-much-of-sub-saharan-africa/ "How Did a Fateful CIA Coup—Executed 55 Years Ago this February 24—Doom Much of Sub-Saharan Africa?"] ''[[CovertAction Magazine]]''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220126041140/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/02/24/how-did-a-fateful-cia-coup-executed-55-years-ago-this-february-24-doom-much-of-sub-saharan-africa/ Archived] from the original on 2022-01-26.</ref> Prior to the coup, Western imperialist financial institutions such as the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] had been denying assistance to Nkrumah's government. Only weeks after the reactionary coup regime took power and began selling off state-owned enterprises that had been developed under a socialist model, the IMF invited the leaders of the coup regime to meetings about receiving aid.<ref name=":4">Nkrumah, Kwame. ''Dark Days in Ghana''. 1968.</ref>

1965 U.S. security council memorandums from several months before the coup, also written by Robert Komer, and not released until years later, show U.S officials discussing among themselves that pro-Western coup plotters in Ghana were keeping U.S. officials "briefed", and a U.S. security council staffer states that "we and other Western countries (including France) have been helping to set up the situation by ignoring Nkrumah's pleas for economic aid" hoping that this would "spark" the coup.<ref>Komer, Robert W. [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v24/d253 "Memorandum From Robert W. Komer of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy)."] Washington, May 27, 1965. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968. Volume XXIV, Africa. Document 253. Office of the Historian, United States Department of State. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230311105443/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v24/d253 Archived] 2023-03-11.</ref> Weeks after the coup, March 12 1966 U.S. internal documents discuss that the new, "almost pathetically pro-Western" regime should be given gifts of surplus grain to "whet their appetite" for further U.S. support.<ref>Komer, Robert W. [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v24/d260 "Memorandum From the President’s Acting Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Komer) to President Johnson."] Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXIV, Africa. Document #260. Office of the Historian. United States Department of State. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220518133259/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v24/d260 Archived] 2022-05-18.</ref>

In his book about the coup, ''[[Library:Dark Days in Ghana|Dark Days in Ghana]]'', Nkrumah describes the above tactic as "standard practice" in the then-recent wave of coups in Asia, Latin America and Africa. He states that wherever progressive governments have been replaced by counter-revolutionary forces, imperialist financial organizations have rushed to bolster them up with loans and various forms of so-called "aid". He explains that this practice "is a necessary corollary to the 'big lie' usually employed to justify the overthrow of 'undesirable governments'—the lie of 'economic chaos' and a 'starving' population. But more important, it serves to tighten the stranglehold of foreign economic control over the captive people by creating more indebtedness and a deeper penetration by foreign business interests."<ref name=":4" />

Former CIA case officer John Stockwell wrote that the CIA station in Ghana played a "major role" in the overthrow of Nkrumah's government, and that "The Accra station was [...] encouraged by headquarters to maintain contact with dissidents of the Ghanian army for the purpose of gathering intelligence on their activities. It was given a generous budget, and maintained intimate contact with the plotters as a coup was hatched."<ref name=":12">Stockwell, John. ''In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story.'' 1978.</ref>

==== Libya ====
In 2011, [[Barack Obama]] sent hundreds of CIA operatives to [[Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011)|Libya]] to organize airstrikes against [[Muammar Gaddafi]]'s socialist government.<ref name=":3" />

==== Niger ====
In 2018, a facility in Dirkou, [[Republic of the Niger|Niger]] was converted into a CIA [[drone]] base.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Mohammed Abunahel|newspaper=World BEYOND War|title=The United States Has Built a Network of Drone Bases Across Africa|date=2024-03-22|url=https://worldbeyondwar.org/the-united-states-has-built-a-network-of-drone-bases-across-africa/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322170935/https://worldbeyondwar.org/the-united-states-has-built-a-network-of-drone-bases-across-africa/|archive-date=2024-03-22}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Abigail Fielding-Smith|newspaper=The Bureau of Investigative Journalism|title=Deciphering the new CIA drone base in Niger|date=2018-09-11|url=https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2018-09-11/deciphering-the-new-cia-drone-base-in-niger/}}</ref>

=== Asia ===
Following the surrender of [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japan]] in the Second World War, the U.S. sought to dominate [[East Asia]] and the [[Oceania|Pacific]]. A conflict over a policy of aggressive total rollback of communism vs. containment of communism was taking place among the U.S. ruling class, but regardless of tactics preferred by either end of the spectrum, the need to establish U.S. influence in Asia was a priority, whether it was with the long-term rollback goal encapsulated by containment policy (isolate communist countries so they eventually collapse on their own), or the aggressive immediate rollback policy that would entail surrounding [[China]] and the Soviet Union to invade and attack them.

The [[Pivot to Asia]] announced under the [[Barack Obama|Obama]] administration indicates Asia as the priority of U.S. foreign policy and geopolitical interest, with China's rise being considered unacceptable to U.S. hegemony. Carrying on with largely the same objectives of containment and rollback of communism from the original Cold War, this state of affairs is increasingly regarded as the [[New Cold War]].

==== East Asia ====
One of the first major conflicts in which the CIA was involved was the occupation of the [[Korea|Korean peninsula]] by U.S. forces, the establishment of a [[Republic of Korea|puppet government in the south]], and the subsequent [[Korean War]]. Relatedly, the CIA has had extensive involvement of shaping the course of Japanese politics ever since the end of World War II, with the CIA spending millions to support right-wing parties in Japan and to infiltrate the [[Japan Socialist Party]], and placing agents in youth groups, student groups and labor groups.<ref>Weiner, Tim. [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/world/cia-spent-millions-to-support-japanese-right-in-50-s-and-60-s.html “C.I.A. Spent Millions to Support Japanese Right in 50’S and 60’S."] The New York Times. Published 1994. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220922181753/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/09/world/cia-spent-millions-to-support-japanese-right-in-50-s-and-60-s.html Archived] 2022-09-22.</ref>

After the liberation of [[China]] by the [[Communist Party of China]], the CIA made many attempts to infiltrate and undermine the country. In April of 1951, a "raiding force" composed of American CIA operatives and anti-communist [[Kuomintang]] exiles was driven back by the [[People's Liberation Army]] after sustaining heavy casualties, including the deaths of several CIA operatives. Between 1951 and 1954, the Chinese had killed 106 CIA and KMT agents while capturing 124 others. However, the CIA remained undeterred by its repeated failures, and continued to seek new ways to harass the Chinese.<ref name=":11">{{Citation|author=William Blum|year=2004|title=Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II|chapter=China 1945 to 1960s: Was Mao Tse-tung just paranoid?|page=24-25|city=Maine|publisher=Common Courage Press}}</ref>

==== Southeast Asia ====
The [[Phoenix Program]] was designed and coordinated by the CIA during the [[Vietnam War]]. Regarding CIA and US imperialist activity in [[Southeast Asia]], Bodenheimer and Gould state, "Because of the interrelatedness of the 1958-70 events in Southeast Asia, and the resolve of the United States to keep control of all governments in that region, the rollback activities in Southeast Asia can be considered as one complex, prolonged, major covert operation working in conjunction with the overt Vietnam War."<ref name=":2" />

=== Europe ===
''See: [[Operation Gladio]], [[Operation Paperclip]]''

=== North America ===
The CIA's activities in [[North America]] have been heavily concentrated in [[Central America]] and the [[Caribbean]], although some victims of [[Project MKUltra|MKUltra]] and related projects which aimed to develop procedures and identify psychoactive drugs that could be used in interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture were inflicted on U.S. and [[Canada|Canadian]] citizens.

==== Guatemala ====
In [[Republic of Guatemala|Guatemala]] in February 1953, the government of [[Jacobo Arbenz]] expropriated almost 400,000 acres of unused [[United Fruit Company]] land as part of a moderate land reform program. Compensation was offered, which United Fruit rejected. United Fruit approached the CIA to take action. The CIA trained a small army, and arranged for the CIA-run airline Civil Air Transport to conduct bombing raids. The main thrust of the operation was psychological warfare. A CIA radio station was set up to create rumors making the government and population think that a major rebellion was taking place. As a result, the small CIA army and a few bombing raids created a panic.<ref name=":2" /> General [[Ydigoras Fuentes]] took power in 1958. In 1960, the CIA crushed progressive elements of the Guatemalan military, and a guerrilla movement began in the countryside, led by former military officers who had attempted the uprising of 1960. Fuentes lost U.S. support when he allowed former progressive leader [[Juan José Arévalo]] to return to the country, and he planned to step down in 1964 and allow an election. In March 1963 the United States organized another coup, and Colonel [[Enrique Peralta Azurdia|Enrique Peralta]] overthrew Fuentes. However, the U.S. was not entirely satisfied with the policies of Peralta, either, and backed [[Julio Cesar Mendez Montenegro]] in the election held in March 1966.<ref>William Blum (2004). ''[https://williamblum.org/books/killing-hope Killing Hope]'': [https://williamblum.org/chapters/killing-hope/guatemala 'Guatemala, 1962 to 1980s: A less publicized “final solution”']. Common Courage Press. ISBN 9781567512526</ref>

==== Jamaica ====
In 1972, [[Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] [[Michael Manley]] was elected prime minister of [[Jamaica]]. Henry Kissinger initiated measures to destabilize the government, including a withdrawal of U.S. aid and the sending of CIA-trained Cuban exiles to Jamaica to instigate violent incidents which had a devastating effect on the tourist business, critical to the Jamaican economy. CIA-trained labor leaders also engaged in anti-government strikes. In addition to the CIA activities, U.S. aluminum companies reduced their Jamaican production, further damaging the economy. The United States closed Jamaica out of the international public and private lending market. Economic austerity measures initiated by the U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund led to price increases and wage freezes.<ref name=":2" /><ref>cganemccalla. [https://newsone.com/543415/how-the-cia-created-the-jamaican-shower-posse/ “How the CIA Created the Jamaican Shower Posse.”] NewsOne. June 3, 2010. [https://web.archive.org/web/20221002052114/https://newsone.com/543415/how-the-cia-created-the-jamaican-shower-posse/ Archived] 2022-10-02.</ref><ref>Saul Landau. [https://www.tni.org/es/node/7503 “Behind the Violence in Jamaica.”] Transnational Institute. July 18, 2005. Originally Published on ZNet, 26 July 2001. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220529191052/https://www.tni.org/es/node/7503 Archived] 2022-05-29.

‌</ref> This pattern of economic destabilization coupled with electoral rollback by any means possible is a typical one seen with U.S imperialism.

=== South America ===
The CIA has been involved in numerous coups, color revolutions, destabilization efforts, and right-wing death squads and regimes in [[South America]], and throughout [[Latin America]] in general. During [[Operation Condor]], a terrorist campaign conducted in multiple South American countries throughout the 1970s and 1980s, "the CIA and top-ranking US officials supported, laid the groundwork for, and were even directly involved in Condor’s crimes."<ref>[https://jacobin.com/2020/11/operation-condor-cia-latin-america-repression-torture “The CIA’s Secret Global War against the Left.”] Jacobin.com.</ref><ref name=":5" />

The United States provided support to many military juntas that came to power in Latin America (both in Central and South America), training them on harsh counterinsurgency techniques at the United States Army [[School of the Americas]] (Spanish: ''Escuela de las Américas'') located in Fort Benning in Columbus, [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], USA. The school was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in the early 2000s.<ref>[https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/No-Prisoners-Only-Bodies-US-Declassified-Documents-Expose-Argentine-Dictatorship-Crimes-20190414-0013.html “‘No Prisoners, Only Bodies’: US Declassified Documents Expose Argentine Dictatorship Crimes.”] Telesurenglish.net. teleSUR. 2019. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230401103046/https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/No-Prisoners-Only-Bodies-US-Declassified-Documents-Expose-Argentine-Dictatorship-Crimes-20190414-0013.html Archived] 2023-04-01.</ref><ref>[https://www.rt.com/usa/361286-school-americas-names-court/ “Court Overrules Disclosure of US ‘School of Assassins’ Graduates Names.”] RT International. October 2016. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220307114317/https://www.rt.com/usa/361286-school-americas-names-court/ Archived] 2022-03-07.</ref>

==== Argentina ====
''See: [[Argentine Republic#Operation Condor]]''

==== Chile ====
On September 4, 1970, socialist candidate [[Salvador Allende]] received the plurality of votes in the [[Republic of Chile|Chilean]] election. A congressional runoff election was required to decide between the top two candidates, and Allende's victory in Congress was assured because he had the support of the third-place candidate. On September 8, [[Henry Kissinger]] ordered a "cold blooded assessment" of "the pros and cons and problems and prospects involved should a Chilean military coup be organized now with U.S. assistance...." On September 15, President [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] told CIA Director Richard Helms and Henry Kissinger that they must do everything possible to prevent Allende from assuming power.<ref name=":10">{{Web citation|author=Marc Cooper|newspaper=TruthDig|title=Kissinger and the CIA in Chile: An Interview With Peter Kornbluh, Part I|date=2023-07-06|url=https://www.truthdig.com/articles/kissinger-and-the-cia-in-chile-an-interview-with-peter-kornbluh/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250722144312/https://www.truthdig.com/articles/kissinger-and-the-cia-in-chile-an-interview-with-peter-kornbluh/}}</ref>

As a result of the Nixon order, CIA operatives were sent into Chile to pass money and weapons to right-wing Chilean military officers to assassinate Allende. A quarter of a million dollars was authorized to bribe members of the Chilean Congress to vote against Allende. The CIA and U.S. Army attaché Col. Paul Wimert contacted two groups of right-wing Chilean officers, headed by Gens. Roberto Viaux and Camilo Valenzuela, to arrange a coup or assassination. On October 22, Gen. René Schneider was murdered by Viaux's people in the hopes that the resultant upheavals in the military would precipitate action against Allende; Schneider was a moderate and opposed any military action against Allende. However the Schneider killing angered Chilean moderates, thus ensuring Allende's election in the October 24 congressional vote.<ref name=":10" />

Following this failure, the United States began a policy of economic destabilization, using organizations such as [[The World Bank]] to shut Chile out of international credit markets. While U.S. economic aid disappeared, aid to the military and U.S. training of military personnel increased. CIA covert tactics continued at the cost of several million dollars per year. The CIA financed long strikes, particularly in the trucking industry, disrupting distribution of consumer goods and creating shortages of necessities. The CIA trained members of the extreme rightist organization [[Patria y Libertad]] in bombing and guerrilla warfare. The CIA recruited agents within the Chilean military.<ref name=":10" /> The CIA sponsored the spreading of false rumors about the government.<ref name=":10" /> Right-wing newspaper [[El Mercurio|''El Mercurio'']] received considerable CIA funds.<ref name=":10" /> The CIA collected names of pro-Allende individuals to be targeted for arrest after a coup and supplied plans for which installations should be occupied during a coup. During the September 1973 coup, U.S. military attachés were in the field with the Chilean army, a Navy commando team landed in Chile, U.S. ships were in Chilean waters, and U.S. fighter planes were at an Argentine base just across the Chilean border. Following the coup which installed Gen. [[Augusto Pinochet]]'s military dictatorship, Richard Helms, CIA Director during the Chilean operation, denied in sworn testimony that the CIA had tried to overthrow Allende. Helms was later indicted for perjury and pleaded no contest.<ref name=":2" />

=== Oceania ===

==== Australia ====
The CIA also orchestrated the dismissal of [[Australian]] Prime Minister [[Gough Whitlam]] for threatening to shut down the CIA spy base at [[Pine Gap]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=John Pilger|newspaper=Independent Australia|title=U.S. dominance and Australia’s secret coup|date=2014-03-21|url=https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/us-dominance-and-australias-secret-coup,6300|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/VjQCC|archive-date=2025-09-05|retrieved=2025-09-05}}</ref>

==== Palau ====
Journalist Ed Rampell has speculated on CIA or [[George H. W. Bush|Bush]] family involvement in the 1985 assassination of [[Republic of Palau|Palau]]'s first president, [[Haruo Remeliik]] and the outbreak of a "mysterious reign of terror" which erupted at a time when the US was refusing to grant Palau independence unless it changed its constitution.<ref name=":9">{{Web citation|author=Ed Rampell|newspaper=People's World|title=The Bushes, dirty tricks and regime change in nuclear-free Palau|date=2015-06-30|url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/the-bushes-dirty-tricks-and-regime-change-in-nuclear-free-palau/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250811121212/https://peoplesworld.org/article/the-bushes-dirty-tricks-and-regime-change-in-nuclear-free-palau/|archive-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> Rampell has also speculated upon the IPSECO power plant debt scandal in Palau, which he describes as "apparently a covert action in the guise of a costly, far-too-big power plant and fuel farm that threatened to bankrupt the diminutive developing island nation and force it into an even weaker negotiating position with the U.S."<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ed Rampell|newspaper=CovertAction Magazine|title=A Terrorist Tidal Wave of Dirty Tricks Struck Oceania 40 Years Ago|date=2025-07-25|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/07/25/a-terrorist-tidal-wave-of-dirty-tricks-struck-oceania-40-years-ago/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250811205608/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/07/25/a-terrorist-tidal-wave-of-dirty-tricks-struck-oceania-40-years-ago/|archive-date=2025-08-11}}</ref> In his analysis, Rampell notes the precedent of the CIA bugging [[Federated States of Micronesia|Micronesian]] political status negotiations in the 1970s.<ref name=":9" /><ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=The New York Times|title=U.S.‐MICRONESIA STATUS HELD CLOUDED BY SPYING|date=1976-12-13|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/13/archives/usmicronesia-status-held-clouded-by-spying.html|quote=A Justice Department spokesman said yesterday that the department was studying the legality of the surveillance by the Central Intelligence Agency in the last four years in Micronesia, a group of Pacific islands governed by the United States under a United Nations trusteeship.

The spokesman declined to give any details of the issues. But intelligence sources said that the surveillance involving wiretaps and the bugging of rooms had been conducted to learn Micronesian bargaining positions as the island group negotiated its hidependence.}}</ref>

At the time surrounding Remeliik's assassination, Palau was a colony of the US under the UN Trust Territory system, and was making preparations for self-rule. A majority of Palauans had supported a constitution which would ban nuclear material from their territory, a major concern for many Pacific island nations which had suffered the severe health and environmental consequences of US and other nations' nuclear testing in their islands and waters and on their citizens. This nuclear-free constitution went into effect in 1981. However, the US refused to grant Palau independence unless it removed the nuclear-free provision from its constitution. A period ensued in which Palauans were compelled to keep voting numerous times on their constitution, with the US desiring the nuclear-free provision to be removed.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68j1zfe3mv4 "Plebiscite '86: A Video Testimony - A Palauan Documentary."] The Ecological Options Network (EON). Belau Palau, YouTube. 2014-01-23.</ref> Rampell notes that at this time, "Palau was gripped by a mysterious reign of terror" and that following the assassination of Remeliik and further legal battles regarding the nuclear-free constitution, in 1987, "terrorists firebombed and shot Pacific pacifists, and besieged Palau’s congress." In 1988, Palau's second elected president, [[Lazarus Salii]], was deemed to have committed suicide via gunshot. In Rampell's view, "the elimination of Salii [...] untied the Gordian knot that led to the elimination of Palau’s anti-nuclear clauses."<ref name=":9" />

== Functions of the CIA ==
Philip Agee has described the range which covert activities may include, writing that these "may range from a simple poison-pen letter (which may be true or falsified), to supporting or splitting political parties, to establishing and manipulating trade unions, to fielding armies on a battlefield. They also include undermining public support for governments, overthrowing governments, and political assassinations" and that targets include "governments, political parties, military and security services, trade unions, youth and student organizations, cultural and professional societies, and the public-information media."<ref>{{Citation|author=Ellen Ray, William Schaap, Karl Van Meter, Louis Wolf (Eds.)|year=1980|title=Dirty Work 2: The CIA in Africa|title-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/|chapter=THE RANGE OF COVERT INTERVENTION: Introduction (Philip Agee)|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/CIAInAfrica/page/n60/mode/1up?view=theater|city=London|publisher=Zed Press}}</ref>

According to Stockwell, among the "major functions" of the CIA is the dissemination of false information to the press and the funding of authors to promote CIA propaganda in the U.S. literary sphere. Stockwell said in a 1983 interview that it was common practice to create "totally false propaganda" to create an "illusion" of communist atrocities, such as by planting false stories in newspapers and circulating fake photographs in the media. Citing anti-[[Republic of Cuba|Cuban]] propaganda as an example, Stockwell said, "We didn't know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw, false propaganda to create an illusion of communists, you know eating babies for breakfast and the sort. Totally false propaganda."<ref name=":0">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1tfkESPVY "Former CIA Agent John Stockwell Talks about How the CIA Worked in Vietnam and Elsewhere."] Witness to War. YouTube. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220823212511/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK1tfkESPVY Archive link].</ref>

Former CIA case officer [[Ralph McGehee]] described the CIA in the following way: "The CIA is not an intelligence agency. In fact, it acts largely as an anti-intelligence agency, producing only that information wanted by policymakers to support their plans and suppressing information that does not support those plans. As the covert action arm of the President, the CIA uses disinformation, much of it aimed at the U.S. public, to mold opinion." McGehee further states: "Instead of gathering genuine intelligence that could serve as the basis for reasonable policies, the CIA often ends up distorting reality, creating out of whole cloth 'intelligence' to justify policies that have already been decided upon. Policymakers then leak this 'intelligence' to the media to deceive us all and gain our support."<ref>Ralph W. McGehee. ''[https://archive.org/details/11-deadly-deceits-my-25-years-in-ralph-w.-mc-gehee Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA]''. 1983. Open Road Integrated Media, New York. </ref>

=== Influencing public opinion ===
The CIA, through numerous agents and front organizations, plays a large role in disseminating disinformation and attempting to influence public opinion.

Writing in 1977, the journalist [[Carl Bernstein]] listed the Columbia Broadcasting System, Time Inc., the New York Times, the Louisville Courier‑Journal, the Copley News Service, the American Broadcasting Company, the National Broadcasting Company, the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps‑Howard, Newsweek magazine, the Mutual Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald, the Saturday Evening Post and the New York Herald‑Tribune as media outlets that cooperated with the CIA''.''<ref>{{Web citation|author=Carl Bernstein|newspaper=Rolling Stone|title=The CIA and the Media|date=1977-10-20|url=https://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026060752/https://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php|archive-date=2007-10-26|retrieved=2025-06-23|quote=Among the executives who lent their cooperation to the Agency were William Paley of the Columbia Broadcasting System, Henry Luce of Time Inc., Arthur Hays Sulzberger of the New York Times, Barry Bingham Sr. of the LouisviIle Courier‑Journal, and James Copley of the Copley News Service. Other organizations which cooperated with the CIA include the American Broadcasting Company, the National Broadcasting Company, the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps‑Howard, Newsweek magazine, the Mutual Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald and the old Saturday Evening Post and New York Herald‑Tribune.}}</ref> Media organizations such as [[Voice of America]], [[Radio Free Asia]], and [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Liberty]] also promote CIA propaganda. In particular, [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Liberty]] was funded by the CIA until 1971.<ref>{{Citation|author=Cord Meyer|year=2000|title=The CIA and Radio Free Europe|title-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43134017}}</ref> During a hearing before the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, former CIA analyst [[Ray S. Cline]] described the [[Bourgeois media|bourgeois media's]] collaboration with the CIA as an "entirely natural" extension of both institutions' work as intelligence gatherers and laid out several ways their duties overlapped.<ref>{{Citation|year=1978|title=The CIA and the Media: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress, First and Second Sessions|title-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039053452&seq=1|chapter=Tuesday, December 27, 1977|section=Statement of Dr. Ray S. Cline, executive director of studies, The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University|page=60-67|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office}}</ref>

In addition to disseminating false stories and fake photos to the press, the CIA has also been involved in the printing of an untold number of books that contain CIA talking points regarding topics such as history and Marxism. According to Stockwell, a thousand of such books were printed during the Vietnam War, and many of the authors who produced these books under the auspices of the CIA went on to become respected figures in academia.<ref name=":0" />

The CIA and its front organizations have also taken an interest in funding and being involved with particular ideological currents and philosophical schools, such as can be seen with the CIA's interest in the [[Non-Communist Left]] and the [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]] as well as promotion of the [[Frankfurt School]] and influencing the development of [[critical theory]].<ref>Gabriel Rockhill. [https://mronline.org/2022/07/06/the-cia-the-frankfurt-schools-anti-communism/ “The CIA & the Frankfurt School’s Anti-Communism.”] MR Online. July 6, 2022. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220911102147/https://mronline.org/2022/07/06/the-cia-the-frankfurt-schools-anti-communism/ Archived] 2022-09-11.</ref>

The [[National Endowment for Democracy]] (NED) is a notable CIA-related organization used for influencing and supporting anti-communist projects.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America|title=Fact Sheet on the National Endowment for Democracy|date=2022-05-07|url=http://us.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zgyw/202205/t20220507_10683090.htm|retrieved=2025-06-24}}</ref> The NED exists to fund these projects openly where previously they would have been funded covertly by the CIA.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis|newspaper=Declassified UK|title=‘CIA sidekick’ gives £2.6m to UK media groups|date=2022-01-17|url=https://www.declassifieduk.org/cia-sidekick-gives-2-6m-to-uk-media-groups/|retrieved=2025-06-24}}</ref>

The CIA has also experimented with mind control techniques, such as with [[Project MKUltra|Project MKULTRA]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Brianna Nofil|newspaper=History.com|title=The CIA's Appalling Human Experiments With Mind Control|url=https://www.history.com/mkultra-operation-midnight-climax-cia-lsd-experiments|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/kaGNZ|archive-date=2025-09-05|retrieved=2025-09-05}}</ref>

=== Running secret wars ===
According to Stockwell, one of the CIA's principal functions is to run secret wars.<ref name=":0" /> As the CIA is an arm of the U.S. imperialist bourgeoisie, the primary objective in these wars is to keep countries open for U.S. capitalist interests. The CIA engages in the covert aspect of this goal.

The countries targeted for these wars are countries who seek full independence from the economic, political, or military interests of the United States. They may be socialist, revolutionary nationalist, or simply uncooperative with U.S. business interests. They may be targeted with other forms of interference, for instance with economic sanctions, in addition to a covertly CIA-led or CIA-instigated war.

=== Drug trafficking and arms dealing ===
The CIA has been involved in drug trafficking and arms dealing in connection with its other covert activities. Arms dealing and drug trafficking serve the dual purpose of funding covert activities and organizations while also sewing chaos in targeted regions.

Soon after its creation, the CIA collaborated with the Corsican Mafia in [[France]] to undermine the influence of the [[French Communist Party]]. This enabled the Corsican Mafia to take control of several ports in Marseille, which they used to export heroin to the United States.<ref name=":7">{{Citation|author=Mahmood Mamdani|year=2005|title=Good Muslim, Bad Muslim
America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror|section=Financing Proxy Wars|page=66-67|city=New York City|publisher=Pantheon Books}}</ref> In the 1950s, the CIA also collaborated with anti-communist [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) remnants who fled to [[Burma]] after the victory of the [[Communist Party of China]], hoping that they could be used as a proxy against China. Instead, the corrupt KMT forces repressed the local inhabitants, looted their property, and took over the opium trade in the [[Golden Triangle]].<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Citation|author=Alfred McCoy|year=2003|title=The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade|chapter=Secret War in Burma: KMT and CIA|page=162-173|city=Chicago|publisher=Lawrence Hill Books}}</ref>

In 1996, journalist [[Gary Webb]] revealed CIA involvement with Colombian cartels and [[Los Angeles]] gangs to fund the Contras rebels in Nicaragua with drug profits. The CIA's major role in the trade resulted in the sudden proliferation of cocaine in Los Angeles, significantly contributing to [[crime]] and [[homelessness]] in the city.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Gary Webb|newspaper=San Jose Mercury News|title=America's 'crack' plague has roots in Nicaragua war|date=1996-02-06|url=http://www.sjmercury.com/drugs/day1main.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961220020751/http://www.sjmercury.com/drugs/day1main.htm|archive-date=1996-12-20|retrieved=2025-09-11}}</ref>

== Blowback ==
The issue of blowback, which refers to the unwanted side-effects of a covert operation, is a common result of covert activities. To the civilians suffering the blowback of covert operations, the effect typically manifests itself as "random" acts of political violence without a discernible, direct cause; because the public—in whose name the intelligence agency acted—are unaware of the effected secret attacks that provoked revenge (counter-attack) against them.

“Blowback” is a CIA term first used in March 1954 in a now declassified report on the 1953 operation to overthrow the government of [[Mohammed Mossadegh]] in [[Islamic Republic of Iran|Iran]]. It is a metaphor for the unintended consequences of the US government’s international activities that have been kept secret from the U.S. public.<ref>Chalmers Johnson. [https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/blowback/ “Blowback.”] The Nation. September 27, 2001. [https://archive.ph/lstHj Archive.ph]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220628002237/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/blowback/ Archive.org] 2022-06-28.</ref>

One example of blowback is the CIA's financing and support for the [[Mujahideen]] to fight an anti-Communist proxy guerrilla war against the USSR in Afghanistan. The Mujahideen would later become [[Al Qaeda]] which would commit the [[9/11 attacks|September 11, 2001 attacks]].

Due to the CIA's function as an anti-communist organization, it typically relies on right-wing groups to achieve its policy goals, either by latching on to and supporting pre-existing anti-communist groups and leaders or helping to create them. This leads to the spread of fascism, terrorism, and increased instability in regions where the CIA has used their influence, even after the CIA has ceased actively using them to achieve specific goals.

== See also ==

* [[List of atrocities commited by the United States of America|List of atrocities committed by the United States of America]]
* [[United States imperialism]]
* [[:Category:Imperialist secret police|Imperialist secret police]]
*[[National Endowment for Democracy]]
*[[United States Department of State]]
*[[United States Intelligence Community]]
*[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Liberty]]
*[[Radio Free Asia]]
*[[Voice of America]]
*[[Project MKUltra]]
*[[CIA Tibetan program]]
*[[Colour revolution]]
*[[Operation Gladio]]
*[[Operation Mockingbird]]
*[[Operation Paperclip]]
*[[Contras]]
*[[Operation Aerodynamic]]
*[[Vault 7]]
*[[Prague Spring]]
*[[Timber Sycamore]]
*[[Operation Cyclone]]

== ProleWiki library works ==

* [[:Category:Library works about the CIA|List of works about the CIA on ProleWiki]]

=== Books and articles ===

* [[Library:Killing Hope|Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions since World War II]]
* [[Library:Washington Bullets|Washington Bullets]]
* [[Library:The CIA & the Frankfurt School's Anti-Communism|The CIA & the Frankfurt School's Anti-Communism]]
* [[Library:The CIA's Shining Path: Political Warfare|The CIA's Shining Path: Political Warfare]]

=== Interviews ===

* [[Library:Interview with former CIA agent John Stockwell|Interview with former CIA agent John Stockwell]]
* [[Library:CIA Officer Frank Snepp Discusses Planting Stories in Vietnam|CIA Officer Frank Snepp Discusses Planting Stories in Vietnam]]
* [[Library:John Pilger interviews former CIA Latin America chief Duane Clarridge, 2015|John Pilger interviews former CIA Latin America chief Duane Clarridge]]

== External links ==

* ''[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoincia0en Who's Who in the CIA]'' (1968 book)

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:United States of America]]
[[Category:Far-right groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Imperialist secret police]]

Antisemitism

2026-01-12T05:46:37Z

97.242.136.127: Short section on "new antisemitism" - C:

[[File:1960s racist anti-communist poster.png|thumb|Antisemitic, racist, and [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] poster from the [[United States of America|United States]]]]
'''Antisemitism''' is a form of [[racism]] and/or prejudice against the [[Semites|Semitic peoples]] (and in particular [[Judaism|Jews]]) based on the belief that Semites are inferior to non-Semites or that they are responsible for the world's problems. This type of bigotry often manifests as hostility or violence towards Jewish individuals or religious buildings. Antisemitism has a long history, dating back to ancient times, and has been a pervasive problem throughout much of the world. Today, it continues to be a serious issue, with Jews and Arabs facing discrimination and violence in many countries.

== History ==
Antisemitism dates back to ancient times. In the ancient world, Jewish people were often the targets of persecution and discrimination by other groups, with Jewish migrants often being targeted by the Catholic church, and being impeded from working certain jobs. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, antisemitism became more widespread and organized, with the rise of political parties such as the [[National Fascist Party]] and the [[National Socialist German Workers' Party|Nazi Party]]. During this time, Jewish people were often scapegoated for various social and economic problems, and were subjected to discriminatory laws and policies. Jewish people continue to face discrimination, violence, and persecution in some countries. In recent years, there has been a rise in hate crimes against Jewish people, particularly in the form of vandalism and attacks on synagogues and other Jewish institutions.

Contrary to its purported ideals of equality, antisemitism was a key part of [[Enlightenment]] [[liberalism]]. Because [[capitalism]] and [[colonialism]], the basis of liberalism, could not create equality and in fact worsened inequality, [[proletarian revolution]] was a source of constant anxiety for the new bourgeoisie. Since liberalism's proponents ruled out capitalism ''a priori'' as the source of the problem, they instead had to look for a subversive element in society causing unrest. Concurrent with colonialism was [[race science]], which portrayed Jews as an alien "Semitic" race lodged in Western society.<ref>{{Citation|author=Domenico Losurdo|year=2014|title=Liberalism: A Counter-History|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Liberalism:_A_Counter-History|chapter=Chapter eight|chapter-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Liberalism:_A_Counter-History#CHAPTER_EIGHT|section=11. The repression of conflict, the search for the pathogenic element, and conspiracy theory|publisher=Verso Books|isbn=978-1-78168-166-4|lg=http://library.lol/main/64e8f86a9a8046e29fd73af3ab6e46a2}}</ref>

[[Friedrich Engels]] considered antisemitism a holdover from feudalism, which was why it was particularly strong in [[Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918)|Prussia]], [[Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1867–1918)|Austria]], and [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|Russia]] and comparatively weaker in the advanced capitalist countries in the late 19th century.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Friedrich Engels|newspaper=Arbeiter-Zeitung|title=On Anti-Semitism|date=1890-04-19|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1890/04/19.htm|retrieved=2025-10-30}}</ref>

=== Soviet Union ===
The [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolsheviks]] banned antisemitism as soon as they came to power, and the [[Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union|Sovnarkom]] called for the destruction of the antisemitic movement in July 1918 by forbidding pogroms. A 1922 law banned national hatred with a punishment of at least a year of imprisonment or death during wartime. In 1927, [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|Russia]] banned literature promoting religious or national hostility. In 1931, [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] wrote a letter to the Jewish News Agency in the [[United States of America|United States]] which called antisemitism "the most dangerous vestige of [[cannibalism]]".<ref name=":0" /> ''[[Pravda]]'' published this letter in 1936. This Article 74 of the Russian Criminal Code from 1961 punished antisemitism with six months to three years of imprisonment or two to five years of exile.'''<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=Albert Szymanski|year=1984|title=Human Rights in the Soviet Union|chapter=The European Nationalities in the USSR|page=88|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceazdmtb2y3qq27fve5ib3gk7uv2unt6ae2xss74xmfpur7k5uhl5m?filename=Albert%20Szymanski%20-%20Human%20Rights%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union_%20Including%20Comparisons%20with%20the%20U.S.A.-Zed%20Books%20Ltd.%20%281984%29.pdf|city=London|publisher=Zed Books Ltd|isbn=0862320186|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=C597B1232D9EA6B0F3DCB438D7E15A81}}</ref>'''

Of the 1,750,000 Jewish people who successfully escaped fascism after the beginning of the Second World War, the vast majority were the approximately 1,600,000 Jews who were evacuated by the Soviet Union, mostly from the Soviet half of [[Republic of Poland (1918–1939)|Poland]] and areas that were subsequently occupied.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|title=Russia Helped 1,750,000 Jews to Escape Nazis, Says James N. Rosenberg|date=1943-07-02|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/russia-helped-1750000-jews-to-escape-nazis-says-james-n-rosenberg|quote=Mr. Rosenberg quoted the [Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]’s journal as reporting that “of some 1,750,000 Jews who succeeded in escaping the Axis since the outbreak of hostilities, about 1,600,000 were evacuated by the Soviet Government from Eastern Poland and subsequently occupied Soviet territory and transported far into the Russian interior and beyond the Urals.”}}</ref> A 1945 estimate of the number of Jewish evacuees (i.e., those who escaped to the Soviet Union), immigrants (who escaped overseas), and refugees (who escaped to other European countries) between 1933 and 1943 put the total number of evacuees in the Soviet Union at 1,930,000:<ref name=":1">{{Citation|author=S. Adler-Rudel|year=1945|title=The Future of the Jews: A Symposium|title-url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.242583/2015.242583.The-Future_djvu.txt|chapter=The Agony of a People|page=38}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+Estimated Number of Jewish Immigrants, Refugees and Evacuees, 1933-43, who Escaped from the Nazis and were Accepted in Various Countries.<ref name=":1" />
!Country
!Estimated number of accepted Jews
|-
|U.S.S.R.
|1,930,000
|-
|U.S.A.
|170,000
|-
|Palestine
|220,000
|-
|South American Republics
|52,000
|-
|Canada
|9,000
|-
|South Africa
|8,000
|-
|Other overseas countries
|50,000
|-
|Great Britain
|50,000
|-
|Switzerland
|30,000
|-
|Sweden
|12,000
|-
|Portugal, Spain, Morocco
|2,000
|-
|Liberated Italy
|4,000
|-
|Other Refugee countries
|25,000
|-
|Total
|2,562,000
|}

== Conflation with anti-Zionism ==
[[Zionism|Zionists]] often try to conflate opposition towards the [[State of Israel|State of "Israel"]] and its [[apartheid]] policies with antisemitism,<ref>{{Web citation|author=Miko Peled|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=American Officials Are Trying to Change the Definition of Antisemitism to Shield Israel from Criticism|date=2022-10-12|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/american-officials-change-definition-antisemitism-shield-israel-criticism/282188/|retrieved=2022-10-12}}</ref> even though most Zionists are not Jewish, many Jews oppose Zionism,<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Whitney Webb|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=The Untold Story of Christian Zionism's Rise to Power in the United States|date=2019-07-12|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/untold-story-christian-zionists-power-united-states-israel/260532/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615155410/https://www.mintpressnews.com/untold-story-christian-zionists-power-united-states-israel/260532/|archive-date=2022-06-15|retrieved=2022-09-17}}</ref> and [[State of Palestine|Palestinians]] (who have suffered greatly from Zionism) are themselves a [[Semites|Semitic]] people. Furthermore, it conflates Jews with "Israel," which is itself antisemitic.

=== "New antisemitism" ===
The concept of "new antisemitism" appeared during the [[State of Israel|Six Day War]] in 1967. This redefinition of antisemitism explicitly identified antisemitism with anti-Zionism, a conflation which had far-reaching consequences. Because "Israel" is a racist, anticommunist, and colonial project, proponents of "new antisemitism" placed the blame for antisemitism on black people, Arabs, leftists (particularly Marxists), the Soviet Union and other socialist states, African countries, and anti-imperialists. Younger Jewish leftists were sometimes singled out too.<ref>{{Library citation|link=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Zionism:_Its_Role_in_World_Politics}}</ref> The problems of this definition can be seen when, for example, the [[Heritage Foundation]] targets several of those groups, including prominent Jews, as parts of "antisemitism's ecosystem."<ref>{{Web citation|author=Arno Rosenfeld|newspaper=The Forward|title=Scoop: Internal Project Esther documents describe conspiracy of Jewish ‘masterminds’ seeking to dismantle Western values|date=2024-12-06|url=https://forward.com/news/680626/project-esther-heritage-jewish-conspiracy-antisemitism/}}</ref>

== References ==
[[Category:Antisemitism]]

Police

2026-01-07T13:15:40Z

97.242.136.127:

[[File:Minneapolis George Floyd protests.png|thumb|Police in Minneapolis during the [[George Floyd protests]]]]
The '''police''' are a state body that has the monopoly on the legal use of force. Under [[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|bourgeois governments]], they are used to repress the [[working class]] and protect the profits of the [[bourgeoisie]]. They break [[Strike action|strikes]] and carry out evictions.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Liberation School]]|title=Cops: enforcers for the capitalist class|date=2014-08-12|url=https://www.liberationschool.org/cops-enforcers-for-the-capitalist-class/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414233420/https://www.liberationschool.org/cops-enforcers-for-the-capitalist-class/|archive-date=2021-04-14|retrieved=2022-09-17}}</ref>

== Origins ==
In the early stages of [[capitalism]], when the [[bourgeoisie]] and [[proletariat]] were beginning to grow and entrench themselves as [[Social class|classes]], the bourgeoisie needed a way to keep the proletariat under control. Previously, individual employers such as [[guild]] masters were able to deal with individual employees on their own because of the close relationship between the two parties, who often lived in the same building for years. In contrast, the new proletarian class could not be managed on an individual level because it organized itself — and therefore acted — collectively.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=David Whitehouse|newspaper=Works in Theory|title=Origins of the police|date=2014-12-07|url=https://worxintheory.wordpress.com/2014/12/07/origins-of-the-police/|retrieved=2025-06-21}}</ref>

When the [[England|English]] proletariat reacted to its worsening living and working conditions with mass demonstrations in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the English bourgeoisie originally deployed the army to attack them, but killing demonstrators backfired by creating martyrs and further angering workers. Instructing the army to control crowds through nonviolent means was also ineffective, so a new institution had to be created to control the working class that would be violent, but ideally nonlethal. In 1829, [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] passed the Metropolitan Police Act and the first modern police force was formed.<ref name=":0" />

== Role of the police ==
The police exist to protect the [[class character]] of the [[state]]. Everyday police work involves patrolling: monitoring a specific area, where police become used to the area, gain experience using force, and identify local radicals. Patrolling, in other words, is a means of gathering intelligence. Patrolling lays the groundwork for suppressing uprisings.<ref name=":0" />

=== Crime ===
{{Main article|Crime}}
[[Statesian]] police never solve most crimes and spend the vast majority of their time on officer-initiated traffic stops and other minor issues.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Hassan Kanu|newspaper=Reuters|title=Police are not primarily crime fighters, according to the data|date=2022-11-02|url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/police-are-not-primarily-crime-fighters-according-data-2022-11-02/|retrieved=2025-06-21}}</ref>

== Firearm use ==
[[File:Police firearm use by country.png|thumb|Countries with unarmed police]]

=== Unarmed police ===
The vast majority of police forces worldwide routinely carry firearms, usually to better suppress the proletariat, but some police forces do not regularly carry firearms except in exceptional circumstances, often in order to maintain the pretence they are "ethical". These countries and territories are: [[Kingdom of Bhutan|Bhutan]], [[Republic of Botswana|Botswana]], [[Cook Islands]], [[Republic of Fiji|Fiji]], [[Iceland]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Republic of Kiribati|Kiribati]], [[Republic of Malawi|Malawi]], [[Republic of the Marshall Islands|Marshall Islands]], [[Republic of Nauru|Nauru]], [[New Zealand]], [[Niue]], [[Kingdom of Norway|Norway]], [[Independent State of Samoa|Samoa]], [[Solomon Islands]], [[Kingdom of Tonga|Tonga]], [[Tuvalu]], the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|United Kingdom]] (excluding [[Occupied Ireland]]), the [[Virgin Islands of the United States|U.S. Virgin Islands]] and [[Republic of Vanuatu|Vanuatu]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=World Population Review|title=Countries Where Police Don't Carry Guns 2024|date=2024|url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-where-police-dont-carry-guns}}</ref>

== By country ==

=== People's Republic of China ===
In ''Revolutionary Suicide'', [[Huey P. Newton]] notes with surprise that during his visit to the [[People's Republic of China]], the police there actually existed to support the people, unlike the "occupying, repressive force" they represented back home in the United States:

<blockquote>"[The] behaviour of the police in China was a revelation to me. They are there to protect and help the people, not to oppress them. Their courtesy was genuine; no division or suspicion exists between them and the citizens."<ref>{{Citation|author=Huey P. Newton|year=1973|title=Revolutionary Suicide|chapter=Chapter 32|chapter-url=https://blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/2015/10/from-archives-black-panthers-in-china.html|quote=For instance, the behaviour of the police in China was a revelation to me. They are there to protect and help the people, not to oppress them. Their courtesy was genuine; no division or suspicion exists between them and the citizens. This impressed me so much that when I returned to the United States and was met by the Tactical Squad at the San Francisco airport(they had been called out because nearly a thousand people came to the airport to welcome us back), it was brought home to me all over again that the police in our country are an occupying, repressive force. I pointed this out to a customs officer in San Francisco, a Black man who was armed, explaining to him that I felt intimidated seeing all the guns around. I had just left a country, I told him, where the army and the police are not in opposition to the people but are their servants.}}</ref></blockquote>

=== United Kingdom ===
[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] police have infiltrated over 1,000 political, environmental, and social justice groups. They maintain a secret blacklist of radicals who are barred from jobs.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Lowkey|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=SpyCops: How the UK Police Infiltrated Over 1,000 Political Groups|date=2021-08-05|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/spycops-how-the-uk-police-infiltrated-1000-activists-groups/278164/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125080142/https://www.mintpressnews.com/spycops-how-the-uk-police-infiltrated-1000-activists-groups/278164/|archive-date=2022-01-25|retrieved=2022-10-09}}</ref>

=== United States ===
The police in the [[United States of America|United States]] were created to put down resistance to [[settler colonialism]] and [[slavery]] and repress urban workers, mostly immigrants. U.S. Police have killed 1,000 or more people every year from 2013-2022.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Mapping Police Violence|title=Police Killed (#) People in the US in (year)|date=2023-03-08|url=https://mappingpoliceviolence.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307134851/https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/|archive-date=2023-03-07|retrieved=2023-03-08}}</ref>Police in [[African diaspora in the United States|Black]], Latino, or indigenous communities act as an occupying army.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Liberation School]]|title=How can police brutality be stopped?|date=2005-06-02|url=https://www.liberationschool.org/how-can-police-brutality-be-stopped/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303054351/https://www.liberationschool.org/how-can-police-brutality-be-stopped/|archive-date=2022-03-03|retrieved=2022-09-17}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|date=2020-07-11|title=How will the police be abolished? A Marxist perspective|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/how-will-the-police-be-abolished-a-marxist-perspective/|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704215211/https://www.liberationnews.org/how-will-the-police-be-abolished-a-marxist-perspective/|archive-date=2022-07-04|retrieved=2022-12-24}}</ref> Black people are 2.9 times as likely to be killed by police as white people,<ref>{{Web citation|author=|newspaper=Mapping Police Violence|title=Police killings per 1 million people in the U.S., 2013–2022|date=2023-03-08|url=https://mappingpoliceviolence.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307134851/https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/|archive-date=2023-03-07|retrieved=2023-03-08}}</ref> and murders by police are a leading cause of death for Black men.<ref>{{Web citation|author=[[Alan MacLeod]]|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=Killer Cops: Police Killed Over 1,000 Americans in 2020|date=2020-12-28|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/killer-cops-police-killed-1000-americans-2020/273942/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023104355/https://www.mintpressnews.com/killer-cops-police-killed-1000-americans-2020/273942/|archive-date=2021-10-23|retrieved=2022-10-09}}</ref> Police brutality was the main cause of the [[George Floyd protests|2020 George Floyd protests]]. U.S. police also work with far-right groups such as the [[Oath Keepers]], [[Project Veritas]], and [[Traditionalist Worker Party]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ted Rall|newspaper=[[Counterpunch]]|title=The Awful Reason Police Don’t Go After Right-Wing Extremists|date=2018-11-08|url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/08/the-awful-reason-police-dont-go-after-right-wing-extremists/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125123400/https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/08/the-awful-reason-police-dont-go-after-right-wing-extremists/|archive-date=2021-11-25|retrieved=2022-09-25}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Police]]
[[Category:Suppression of dissent]]

Donald Trump

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{{Infobox politician|image=Trump image.png|name=Donald John Trump|political_line=[[Imperialism]] [[Conservatism]] Right-wing [[populism]] [[Fascism]] |birth_date=14 June 1946|nationality=[[Statesian]]|political_party=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]|birth_place=[[Queens]], [[New York City]], [[State of New York]], [[United States of America]]}}'''Donald John Trump''' (born 14 June 1946) is a [[United States of America|Statesian]] [[Bourgeoisie|billionaire]] and serial rapist who is currently serving as President of the United States since January 20, 2025. He also served as the 45th [[President of the United States]] from 2017 to 2021. Trump is the only U.S. president to serve two non-consecutive terms since [[Grover Cleveland]].

Trump claims to be a pro-[[Proletariat|worker]] politician despite cutting taxes on billionaires and corporations.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=PSL Statement – Workers shouldn’t be fooled: Trump is a tool of the ultra-rich|date=2022-11-15|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-workers-shouldnt-be-fooled-trump-is-a-tool-of-the-ultra-rich/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118034739/https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-workers-shouldnt-be-fooled-trump-is-a-tool-of-the-ultra-rich/|archive-date=2022-11-18|retrieved=2022-11-19}}</ref> Trump is a member of the [[America First]] movement, which believes the USA should be able to act unilaterally without limits from international law and treaties. Contrary to popular belief, the movement is not isolationist.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Bill Fletcher Jr.|newspaper=[[Monthly Review]]|title=Race Is About More Than Discrimination|date=2020-07-01|url=https://monthlyreview.org/2020/07/01/race-is-about-more-than-discrimination/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323205358/https://monthlyreview.org/2020/07/01/race-is-about-more-than-discrimination/|archive-date=2023-03-23}}</ref> Likewise, Trump is not a "peace president."<ref>{{Web citation|author=Eric Draitser|newspaper=New Eastern Outlook|title=President Trump? US War Machine Rolls On|date=2016-03-26|url=http://journal-neo.org/2016/03/26/president-trump-us-war-machine-rolls-on/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829185750/http://journal-neo.org/2016/03/26/president-trump-us-war-machine-rolls-on/|archive-date=2016-08-29|retrieved=2026-01-06}}</ref>

== Pre-presidency ==
In 1968, while still in college, Donald Trump started getting involved in his father's New York City real estate business.<ref name="ArtOfDeal">{{Citation|author=Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz|year=2004|title=Trump: The Art of the Deal|publisher=Ballantine Books|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=B3CD9D3C47EC1F58C3833D050C888B38}}</ref>:78, 93 In 1971, Donald Trump inherited control over the business,<ref name="ArtOfDeal"/>:93–94 and in 1973, he renamed it to the "Trump Organization."<ref name="ArtOfDeal"/>:104–105

Also in 1973, the Trump Organization was charged by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) with discrimination against [[Black (race)|black people]]. Trump and the DOJ battled in court until the DOJ agreed to drop the discrimination charges and Trump agreed to make some concessions.<ref name="ArtOfDeal"/>:98–99<ref>{{Web citation|author=Wayne Barrett and Jon Campbell|newspaper=Village Voice|title=How a Young Donald Trump Forced His Way From Avenue Z to Manhattan|date=2015-07-20|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/news/how-a-young-donald-trump-forced-his-way-from-avenue-z-to-manhattan-7380462|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905212408/http://www.villagevoice.com/news/how-a-young-donald-trump-forced-his-way-from-avenue-z-to-manhattan-7380462|archive-date=2015-09-05}}</ref>

In November 2015, Donald Trump mocked [[Serge Kovaleski]]'s [[disability]], arthrogryposis, in response to Serge stating that they never claimed many Muslims support the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/donald-trump-criticized-after-he-appears-mock-reporter-serge-kovaleski-n470016|title=Donald Trump Criticized After He Appears to Mock Reporter Serge Kovaleski}}</ref>

== First presidential term (2017–2021) ==
In 2017, Donald Trump passed a tax cut that decreased corporate taxes to only 11.3% of profits. He also made a $45 billion cut in food stamp benefits.<ref>{{News citation|author=Robert Reich|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|title=How Trump has betrayed the working class|date=2019-12-22|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/22/trump-wants-to-be-champion-of-the-working-class-but-with-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-it-doesnt-add-up|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416230953/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/22/trump-wants-to-be-champion-of-the-working-class-but-with-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-it-doesnt-add-up|archive-date=2022-04-16|retrieved=2022-05-20}}</ref>

The first Trump administration's nationalist and populist rhetoric bore "no relation to its actual policies."<ref name=":2" /> In 2018, Trump attended the [[World Economic Forum]] in Davos and declared "America is open for business" before an audience of global elites, in stark contrast to his nominal protectionist, anti-"globalist" rhetoric.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|author=William I. Robinson|year=2019|title=Global capitalist crisis and twenty-first century fascism: beyond the Trump hype|publisher=Science & Society, 83(2), 155–183|doi=10.1521/siso.2019.83.2.155|quote=In the regard, the ideology of 21st-century fascism rests on irrationality — a promise to deliver security and restore stability that is emotive, not rational. It is a project that does not and need not distinguish between the truth and the lie. The Trump regime’s public discourse of populism and nationalism, for example, bears no relation to its actual policies. In its first year, Trumponomics involved deregulation — the virtual smashing of the regulatory state — slashing social spending, dismantling what remained of the welfare state, privatizations, tax breaks to corporations and the rich, and an expansion of state subsidies to capital — in short, neoliberalism on steroids.

This is a distinction lost on many commentators. German monopoly capitalists turned to the Nazis to crush the powerful trade unions, socialist and communist movements. But they also turned to the Nazi state to open up vast new opportunities for accumulation and to compete, including through territorial expansion, against capitalist groups from other countries. In sharp distinction to this fusion of German national capital with the fascist state, Trumpism has sought to open up vast new opportunities for profit-making inside the United States (and around the world) for transnational capital. The Trump White House has called for transnational investors from around the world to invest in the United States, enticed by a regressive tax reform, unprecedented deregulation, and some limited tariff walls that would benefit groups from anywhere in the world that establish operations behind them. “America is open for business,” Trump declared at the 2018 meeting of the global elite gathered for the 2018 annual conclave of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Now is the perfect time to bring your business, your jobs and your investments to the United States” (Bierman, 2018, A3).}}</ref>

In 2020, the United States withdrew from the [[Paris Climate Agreement]].<ref>{{News citation|author=Tyler Clevenger, Dan Lashof|newspaper=World Resources Institute|title=7 Ways the Biden Administration Can Reverse Climate Rollbacks|date=2021-01-19|url=https://www.wri.org/insights/7-ways-biden-administration-can-reverse-climate-rollbacks|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309070958/https://www.wri.org/insights/7-ways-biden-administration-can-reverse-climate-rollbacks|archive-date=2022-03-09|retrieved=2022-05-20}}</ref>

Under Trump's presidency, civilian deaths caused by the U.S. military increased greatly.<ref>{{News citation|author=Murtaza Hussain|newspaper=The Intercept|title=Civilian Deaths in U.S. Wars Are Skyrocketing Under Trump. It May Not Be Impeachable, but It’s a Crime.|date=2019-10-02|url=https://theintercept.com/2019/10/02/trump-impeachment-civilian-casualties-war/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507031915/https://theintercept.com/2019/10/02/trump-impeachment-civilian-casualties-war/|archive-date=2022-05-07|retrieved=2022-05-20}}</ref>

Trump also vastly expanded concentration camps at the US-Mexico border, where asylum-seeking immigrants are kept in inhumane conditions.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Andi Zeisler|newspaper=NBC|title=AOC was right to compare Trump's border internment camps to concentration camps|date=2019-06-19|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/aoc-was-right-compare-trump-s-border-internment-camps-concentration-ncna1019381|retrieved=30/06/2024}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Ben Norton|newspaper=Geopolitical Economy Report|title=Weaponization of immigration policy: Ukrainians welcomed, refugees of US wars abused|date=2022-04-08|url=https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/04/08/immigration-policy-ukrainians-victims-us-wars/|retrieved=30/06/2024}}</ref> During his presidential term, nearly half a million children were separated from their families and kept in cages for extended periods of time.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Anna Flagg and Andrew Rodriguez Calderón|newspaper=The Marshall Project|title=500,000 Kids, 30 Million Hours: Trump’s Vast Expansion of Child Detention|date=2020-10-30|url=https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/10/30/500-000-kids-30-million-hours-trump-s-vast-expansion-of-child-detention|retrieved=30/06/2024}}</ref>

=== Involvement in the Capitol insurrection ===
{{Main article|2021 United States Capitol insurrection}}
On 6 January 2021, near the end of his presidential term, Trump rallied his supporters to [[2021 United States Capitol insurrection|storm the United States Capitol]] in an attempt to reconsolidate his power. The attack ultimately failed and Trump's term came to a close.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWJVMoe7OY0&t Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations]</ref>

== Post-first presidency ==
On 8 August 2022, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] raided Trump's home in the [[State of Florida]].<ref>[https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/08/09/guda-a09.html FBI raids Trump estate at Mar-a-Lago]</ref> In November 2022, Trump announced he would run for president again in 2024.<ref name=":0" />

During a rally in Butler, [[Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]] on July 13, 2024, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt by the 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot dead by Secret Service members just moments after. Having been grazed at his ear by one of the bullets, Trump bumped his fist in the air while being rushed off the stage as the crowd chanted U.S.A.<ref name=":1" /> One attendee of the rally died and two others were critically injured because of this attempted assassination.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Democracy Now!|title=Long Legacy of U.S. Political Violence: RNC Begins in Milwaukee in Wake of Trump Assassination Attempt|date=2024-07-15|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2024/7/15/trump_shot_john_nichols|retrieved=July 15, 2024}}</ref> [[President of the United States|President]] [[Joe Biden]] denounced the attack during an address to the nation on the following day.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=Democracy Now!|title=FBI Seeks Motive in Trump Assassination Attempt; President Biden Calls for “Cooling Down” Rhetoric|date=2024-07-15|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2024/7/15/headlines/fbi_seeks_motive_in_trump_assassination_attempt_president_biden_calls_for_cooling_down_rhetoric|retrieved=15.07.2024}}</ref>

== Second presidential term (2025–present) ==
Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election with 312 electoral votes against [[Kamala Harris]]' 226 electoral votes, making him the first president since Grover Cleveland to be re-elected non-consecutively.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=People|title=Donald Trump Is the Second President in History Elected to 2 Non-Consecutive Terms — Here's the Other|date=2025-1-20|url=https://people.com/donald-trump-second-president-nonconsecutive-terms-after-grover-cleveland-8735726|quote=More than a century before Donald Trump was reelected in 2024, a similarly embattled Grover Cleveland became the first ex-president to be restored to the office}}</ref> On his first day of his second term, Trump signed 26 executive orders. He rewithdrew the US from [[Paris Agreement|Paris Climate Accords]],<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Office of the Press Secretary|title=Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements|date=2025-1-20|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/putting-america-first-in-international-environmental-agreements}}</ref> then withdrew the US from [[World Health Organization|WHO]],<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Office of the Press Secretary|title=Withdrawing The United States From The World Health Organization|date=2025-1-20|url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-the-worldhealth-organization}}</ref> and pardoned about 1,500 insurrectionists of the [[2021 United States Capitol insurrection|January 6th coup d'etat attempt]]<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=NBC News|title=Trump pardons roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack|date=2025-1-21|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna187735}}</ref> (many of whom had prior convictions for sex crimes<ref>{{Web citation|author=Tom Dreisbach|newspaper=NPR|title=Criminal records of Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence|date=2025-1-30|url=https://www.npr.org/2025/01/30/nx-s1-5276336/donald-trump-jan-6-rape-assault-pardons-rioters}}</ref>). He granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who operated a dark web market website Silk Road,<ref>{{Web citation|author=Brian Doherty|newspaper=Reason.com|title=President Donald Trump pardons Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht|date=2025-1-21|url=https://reason.com/2025/01/21/president-donald-trump-pardons-silk-road-founder-ross-ulbricht/}}</ref> and reversed an executive order issued by [[Joe Biden]] to reduce the cost of medicine.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Alexandra Gerlach|newspaper=Pharmacy Times|title=Reversal of Executive Order 14087 Raises Questions About Future Drug Pricing Reforms|date=2025-1-22|url=https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/reversal-of-executive-order-14087-raises-questions-about-future-drug-pricing-reforms}}</ref> Trump also threatened to impose 25% tariffs on [[Mexican United States|Mexico]] and [[Canada]] on February 1st, 2025.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=CNN|title=Trump threatens 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Feb. 1, punting Day 1 pledge|date=2025-1-20|url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/20/economy/tariffs-trump-executive-order/index.html}}</ref>

Starting in January 2025, Trump began a campaign of mass deportations, which saw (among other things) [[United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]] agents detaining legal immigrants who broke no US law,<ref>{{Web citation|author=Billal Rahman|newspaper=Newsweek|title=Multiple Legal Migrants Detained by ICE Amid Trump Blitz|date=2025-01-31|url=https://www.newsweek.com/immigration-legal-migrant-detained-ice-raids-trump-2024014}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Alex Woodward|newspaper=Independent|title=New Jersey officials condemn ‘egregious’ ICE raid that detained U.S. citizens and military veteran|date=2025-01-24|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-raid-newark-new-jersey-trump-b2685888.html}}</ref> indigenous people of the [[Navajo Nation|Navajo]] and other nations facing ICE raids,<ref>{{Web citation|author=Erin Alberty and Russell Contreras|newspaper=Axios|title=Native American tribes say ICE harassing members amid raids|date=2025-01-29|url=https://www.axios.com/2025/01/29/native-american-immigration-raids-navajo-nation}}</ref> and public schools being raided by US agents.<ref>{{Web citation|author= Adam Edelman and Daniella Silva|newspaper=NBC News|title=Public schools try to protect undocumented students from Trump immigration raids|date=2025-01-28|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/public-schools-undocumented-students-trump-immigration-raids-rcna189466}}</ref> In April 2025, when Trump was in office, the United States killed at least 80 civilians (including 5 paramedics) when bombing [[Yemen]]'s Ras Isa fuel port.<ref>{{News citation|author=Dave DeCamp|date=2025-04-17|title=US Massacres Civilian Workers and Paramedics in Attack on Yemen Fuel Port|url=https://news.antiwar.com/2025/04/17/us-massacres-civilian-workers-and-paramedics-in-attack-on-yemen-fuel-port/|newspaper=Antiwar.com}}</ref> Later, on June 22, 2025, the U.S. Army under the Trump Administration illegally bombed what they described as three nuclear weapon development sites in [[Islamic Republic of Iran|Iran]] (which the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] has visited and validated as being civilian nuclear research facilities) as part of their involvement in the [[June 2025 Iran-"Israel" strikes]]. It has been reported that the strikes likely failed to hit any operational facility and nuclear research in Iran continues.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Natasha Bertrand|newspaper=CNN|title=Exclusive: Early US intel assessment suggests strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, sources say|date=2025-06-29|url=https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/24/politics/intel-assessment-us-strikes-iran-nuclear-sites|quote=“The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program“}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Billionaires]]
[[Category:Capitalists]]
[[Category:Criminals]]
[[Category:Imperialists]]
[[Category:Neoliberals]]
[[Category:People on Epstein flight logs]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Reactionaries]]
[[Category:Statesians of German descent]]
[[Category:Statesians of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Zionists]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Donald}}
[[Category:Current heads of state]]

Wikipedia

2025-12-20T20:35:54Z

97.242.136.127: New section - Settler colonialism apologia - C:

[[File:Wikipedia logo.png|226x226px|Wikipedia - ''the free encyclopedia''|right|frameless]]
'''Wikipedia''' is an [[Bourgeois media|imperialist propaganda outlet]] and [[Misinformation|disinformation]] website presenting itself as an encyclopedia launched in 2001 by [[bourgeois]] [[Libertarianism|libertarians]] [[Jimmy Wales]] and [[Larry Sanger]]. Wikipedia is maintained by a predominantly white male population, of which about 1% are responsible for 80% of edits. It has also been linked to corporate and governmental manipulation and [[Imperialism|imperialist]] agendas, including the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]], [[The World Bank|World Bank]],<ref name=":5">{{Web citation|author=[[Ben Norton]], [[Max Blumenthal]]|newspaper=[[The Grayzone]]|title=Meet Wikipedia’s Ayn Rand-loving founder and Wikimedia Foundation’s regime-change operative CEO|date=2020-06-11|url=https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/11/meet-wikipedias-ayn-rand-loving-founder-and-wikimedia-foundations-regime-change-operative-ceo/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816135825/https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/11/meet-wikipedias-ayn-rand-loving-founder-and-wikimedia-foundations-regime-change-operative-ceo/|archive-date=2022-08-16|retrieved=2022-09-10}}</ref> [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], and New York Police Department.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Stansfield Smith|newspaper=[[Multipolarista]]|title=US national security state censoring anti-imperialists to control ‘compatible left’|date=2022-07-02|url=https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/02/censorship-anti-imperialists-compatible-left/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830195608/https://multipolarista.com/2022/07/02/censorship-anti-imperialists-compatible-left/|archive-date=2022-08-30|retrieved=2022-09-10}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Jari Bakken|newspaper=GitHub|title=Anonymous Wikipedia edits from around the world|url=https://jarib.github.io/anon-history/|retrieved=2025-08-08}}</ref>

Its popularity means that it is a prime target for misinformation campaigns by state actors or corporate interests. This was, in part, the reasoning behind starting [[ProleWiki]].

Wikipedia uses the same software that ProleWiki and [[EcuRed]] use, called [[MediaWiki]].

== History ==
[[File:2005 October 28 Jimbo Wales edits Jimmy Wales article to remove Larry Sanger from history of Wikipedia section.jpg|thumb|Picture of the edit made by Jimmy Wales (user Jimbo Wales) removing mentions of Larry Sanger from Wikipedia.]]
Wiki websites were created in 1995 by Ward Cunningham, who started WikiWikiWeb<ref>[https://wiki.c2.com/ WikiWikiWeb] website</ref> as a collaborative repository for developers. In 2001, hedge fund manager Jimmy Wales had the idea of creating his own online encyclopedia. He hired programmer Larry Sanger for the task, who was inspired by WikiWikiWeb for the functioning of this new encyclopedia. In 2005, Wales edited Wikipedia's own pages to delete Sanger's contributions and cofounder status (despite being instrumental in the founding) as he was only an employee according to Wales.

== Concept ==
Wikipedia claims its main purpose is to:<blockquote>"benefit readers by acting as a '''widely accessible and free encyclopedia'''; a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge."<ref name=":3">{{News citation|newspaper=Wikipedia|title=Wikipedia:Purpose|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Purpose|retrieved=2022-7-16}}</ref></blockquote>Wikipedia further claims that:<blockquote>"The goal of a Wikipedia article is to present a neutrally written summary of existing mainstream knowledge in a fair and accurate manner with a straightforward, "just-the-facts style". Articles should have an encyclopedic style with a formal tone instead of essay-like, argumentative, promotional or opinionated writing."<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>It also claims that:<blockquote>"Wikipedia's content is governed by three principal core content policies - neutral point of view, verifiability, and no original research."<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>In practice, these principles push Wikipedia editorship towards being [[Liberalism|liberal]] (pro-capitalism and pro-[[imperialism]]) and using [[bourgeois media]] as infallible sources. With time (over 20 years of Wikipedia existing), this created a self-reproducing culture of liberalism within Wikipedia which is heavily punished if one deviates from it.

Additionally, Wikipedia doesn't prevent lobbyists from paying people to edit pages.<ref name=":4">{{News citation|newspaper=Wikipedia|title=Wikipedia:Paid-contribution disclosure|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Paid-contribution_disclosure|retrieved=2022-6-28}}</ref>

== Criticism ==
[[File:Wikipedia-biased-sources.png|alt=Screenshot of wikipedia sources many of which are anti-communist|thumb|Western [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] sources are prevalently used on English Wikipedia. ]]

=== Administration and users ===

==== Founder Jimmy Wales ====
Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, is a self-described [[Ayn Rand]] [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] and [[Anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalist]]<ref name=":5" /> who also wilfully participates in imperialist operations at the request of the US government. In a 2007 US Senate Committee, Wales stated:
:I am grateful to be here today to testify about the potential for the Wikipedia model of collaboration and information sharing which may be helpful to government operations and homeland security.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Wikisource|title=2007 Testimony by Jimmy Wales to United States Senate|url=https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=2007_Testimony_by_Jimmy_Wales_to_United_States_Senate&oldid=12776340}}</ref>
In addition to [[United States imperialism|U.S. imperialism]], Wales supported [[State of Israel|Israel]]'s bombing of [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]] in 2018.<ref name=":5" /> In 2025, Wales voiced his disapproval of the "[[Israel-Gaza war and genocide|Gaza genocide]]" article name to Wikipedia editors. He further told them that "the lede and the overall presentation state, in Wikipedia’s voice, that Israel is committing genocide, although that claim is highly contested" despite the fact that several associations and international bodies have ruled that Israel is committing genocide.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Emma Roth|newspaper=The Verge|title=Wikipedia co-founder joins editing conflict over the Gaza genocide page|url=https://www.theverge.com/news/813245/wikipedia-co-founder-jimmy-wales-gaza-genocide|retrieved=2025-11-05}}</ref>

While the website is technically managed by the Wikimedia foundation, it was created by Wales himself who remains on the board of trustees<ref>[https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/jimmy-wales/ Jimmy Wales profile]. Wikimedia Foundation.</ref> and is still seen as a "benevolent dictator, constitutional monarch, digital evangelist and spiritual leader".<ref>Noam Cohen. “[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/technology/17wikipedia.html Open-Source Troubles in Wiki World]”. ''New York Times'', 17 March 2008.</ref>

====CEO Katherine Maher====
Katherine Maher, the former CEO of the foundation, previously worked for the [[The World Bank|World Bank]], specifically in the African and Middle-East divisions.<ref>[https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/katherine-maher/ Katherine Maher profile]. Wikimedia Foundation.</ref> She also worked at the [[National Democratic Institute]] (an [[National Endowment for Democracy|NED]] front group)<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|newspaper=Qiuwen Baike|title=What is an "objective view based on Chinese values"? A brief discussion on the hypocrisy of Wikipedia's "neutrality"|url=https://www.qiuwenbaike.cn/wiki/Qiuwen:%E4%BD%95%E8%B0%93%E2%80%9C%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E4%BB%B7%E5%80%BC%E8%A7%82%E5%9F%BA%E7%A1%80%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E5%AE%A2%E8%A7%82%E8%A7%82%E7%82%B9%E2%80%9D%EF%BC%9F%E7%AE%80%E8%B0%88%E7%BB%B4%E5%9F%BA%E5%BC%8F%E2%80%9C%E4%B8%AD%E7%AB%8B%E2%80%9D%E7%9A%84%E8%99%9A%E4%BC%AA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426120219/https://www.qiuwenbaike.cn/wiki/Qiuwen:%E4%BD%95%E8%B0%93%E2%80%9C%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E4%BB%B7%E5%80%BC%E8%A7%82%E5%9F%BA%E7%A1%80%E4%B8%8A%E7%9A%84%E5%AE%A2%E8%A7%82%E8%A7%82%E7%82%B9%E2%80%9D%EF%BC%9F%E7%AE%80%E8%B0%88%E7%BB%B4%E5%9F%BA%E5%BC%8F%E2%80%9C%E4%B8%AD%E7%AB%8B%E2%80%9D%E7%9A%84%E8%99%9A%E4%BC%AA|archive-date=2024-04-26}}</ref> and is a fellow at the Truman National Security Project. In a June 2020 article from ''[[The Grayzone]]'', authors [[Ben Norton]] and [[Max Blumenthal]] delved deeper into Maher's connections to regime-change operatives and unearthed her whole résumé which linked her to more imperialist organisations and institutes.<ref name=":5" /> In particular, Maher went to [[Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011)|Libya]] in early 2011, right before the Arab Spring began.

In April 2017, she participated in a briefing for the U.S. State Department and appeared in a panel with the former director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and NSA in 2018. She is now on the advisory board of the [[Open Technology Fund]], which was created by CIA propaganda outlet [[Radio Free Asia]].<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Open Technology Fund|title=OTF's History|url=https://www.opentech.fund/about/our-history/|quote=... the Open Technology Fund (OTF) was created in 2012 as a program of Radio Free Asia.}}</ref>

In 2021, Maher left Wikipedia to join the State Department. She is also the current CEO of [[National Public Radio|NPR]], a US state media outlet.<ref name=":0" />

====User demographics====
While Wikipedia boasts that anyone can contribute, in reality only 1% of accounts are responsible for 80% of all edits.<ref>Grace Lisa Scott. [https://www.inverse.com/article/38302-wikipedia-one-percent “Wikipedia Study Reveals a Surprising Stat About Who Edits It”]. ''Inverse,'' 9 August 2017.</ref> Famously, the most prolific editor on Wikipedia (Steven Pruitt), who has edited 1/3rd of all articles, currently works for the US department of border control with previous employment at the [[United States Transportation Security Administration|TSA]] and [[United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement|ICE]].<ref>http://archive.ph/ix7kx</ref>

Other accounts in this 1% figure are people such as [[Philip Cross]], who posts without fail every single day from 6AM to 10PM<ref>Craig Murray. [https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/05/the-philip-cross-affair/ “The Philip Cross Affair”], 18 May 2018.</ref> and has over 100,000 edits.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=Phillip Cross: The Mystery Wikipedia Editor Targeting Anti-War Sites|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/phillip-cross-the-mystery-wikipedia-editor-targeting-anti-war-sites/250824/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816135847/https://www.mintpressnews.com/phillip-cross-the-mystery-wikipedia-editor-targeting-anti-war-sites/250824/|archive-date=2022-08-16|retrieved=2022-09-10}}</ref> This user makes and pro-war, [[Zionism|Zionist]], and [[climate change]] denial edits,<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Proletarian (newspaper)|Proletarian]]|title=How Wikipedia is used to prop up the imperialist lie machine|date=2018-08-20|url=https://thecommunists.org/2018/08/20/news/how-wikipedia-is-used-to-prop-up-imperialist-lie-machine/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519031628/https://thecommunists.org/2018/08/20/news/how-wikipedia-is-used-to-prop-up-imperialist-lie-machine/|archive-date=2022-05-19|retrieved=2022-12-18}}</ref> which highly suggests that the account is a [[sockpuppet]] managed by a whole governmental team, likely the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]].<ref name=":2">Media Lens. [https://www.mintpressnews.com/phillip-cross-the-mystery-wikipedia-editor-targeting-anti-war-sites/250824/ “Phillip Cross: The Mystery Wikipedia Editor Targeting Anti-War Sites”]. ''Mint Press News,'' 17 October 2018.</ref>

====Administrators====
Administrators on the site are editors with user-management powers (such as banning people, or preventing articles from being edited). In 2020, it was discovered that the Scots language Wikipedia was almost solely edited and managed by a 19-year-old [[United States of America|US]] citizen who did not speak a word of Scots from the time he was 12. He also used his administrative powers to block others from correcting his vandalism.<ref>Libby Brooks, Alex Hern. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/26/shock-an-aw-us-teenager-wrote-huge-slice-of-scots-wikipedia “Shock an aw: US teenager wrote huge slice of Scots Wikipedia”]. ''The Guardian,'' 26 August 2020.</ref>

He was responsible for defacing almost half of Scots Wikipedia, and it is interesting to see here how easily administrator privileges are given to random users by other administrators, suggesting a widespread problem in the hierarchy. There have been various examples in the past of administrators who used their privileges to prevent their articles from being edited (therefore presenting their biased opinion as fact), or even asking for payment to let an edit through.

Wikipedia is purposely kept difficult to edit (providing only a plain-text markup editor, resolving conflicts through talk pages that have been filling up since 2010, etc.) so that administrators, most of whom have been editing Wikipedia since it became famous in 2003, can keep problematic users out citing technicalities and preventing them from defending themselves.

Administrators are the supreme decision-making authority, making them very worthwhile friends to have. They are also not accountable to anyone and can freely pick new people to join their ranks. It is not rare for users going against the agenda set out by the administrators to simply be banned on frivolous grounds. Around 1,000 IP addresses are banned by Wikipedia administrators every day. There is little privacy and users may be traced and tracked by Wikipedia administrators.<ref>[http://fullmeasure.news/news/cover-story/the-dark-side-of-wikipedia “The Dark Side of Wikipedia”]. ''Full Measure,'' 21 August 2016.</ref>

====Anonymous or non-prolific users====
New users who do not take time to learn of the obscure templates, navigate through the very strict (and sometimes absurd) editorial guidelines or do not socialize with other users will often see their edits reverted in mere minutes, no matter how accurate or labour-intensive their edits were.

The Wikimedia foundation will still claim that their encyclopedia is "community-created". This is mainly a convenient lie for Wales to make it seem like his libertarian principles can work on a large scale. This has prompted Ben Norton to call Wikipedia a scam<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ben Norton|newspaper=Twitter|title=It has been known for well over a decade (this report is from 2007) that Wikipedia is heavily edited by corporations and governments and PR flacks they hire to spread propaganda. Enough with this absurd techno-"libertarian" nonsense. It was always a scam|date=2020-02-12|url=https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1227725961975803905}}</ref> (in the interest of Jimmy Wales's bourgeois, libertarian interests). In truth, much like [[libertarianism]] itself, it remains controlled by corporate elites and imperialist organisations.

===="Name and shame" pages====
On Wikipedia, there are publicly-visible "name and shame" pages such as "Sockpuppet investigation" casepages (SPI) and Long-term abuse pages (LTA) whose ostensible aims are for assisting anti-vandalism purposes.<ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations |website=Wikipedia |access-date=21 November 2025 |language=en |date=7 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse |website=Wikipedia |access-date=21 November 2025 |language=en |date=20 October 2025}}</ref> Pages in the latter category often contain personally-identifiable attributes of users who're branded as "long term abusers" (LTA) for supposedly engaging in disruptions against the Wikipedia over a long period, including IP addresses, full legal names.<ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia talk:Long-term abuse/Archive 6 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Long-term_abuse/Archive_6#Should_we_really_be_including_personal_information_in_LTA_reports? |website=Wikipedia |language=en |date=15 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Ananny |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/Ananny |website=Wikipedia |access-date=21 November 2025 |language=en |date=3 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Bambifan101 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/Bambifan101 |website=Wikipedia |language=en |date=21 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Tirgil34 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/Tirgil34 |website=Wikipedia |access-date=21 November 2025 |language=en |date=23 September 2024}}</ref> In at least one case where a user accused of being an LTA is an apparent juvenile, no special measures to consider their privacy rights (i.e. hiding LTA pages to only audiences with Wikipedia accounts) are apparently observed. <ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia talk:Long-term abuse/Archive 6 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Long-term_abuse/Archive_6#Should_we_really_be_including_personal_information_in_LTA_reports? |website=Wikipedia |language=en |date=15 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Ananny |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/Ananny |website=Wikipedia |access-date=21 November 2025 |language=en |date=3 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Bambifan101 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/Bambifan101 |website=Wikipedia |language=en |date=21 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Tirgil34 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/Tirgil34 |website=Wikipedia |access-date=21 November 2025 |language=en |date=23 September 2024}}</ref> Such practices may risk violating GDPR as there's also a case where scientific researchers based in Czech Republic and Slovakia were doxxed that way due to accusations that they had engaged in self-promoting edits on Wikipedia. At a glance, little to no fact-checking and quality checking processes were observed in the LTA page creation process, which may mean that some or all accusations in some if not all of LTA pages may be inaccurate and could therefore constitute defamation/libel.<ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/Europeanhematology |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/Europeanhematology |website=Wikipedia |access-date=21 November 2025 |language=en |date=24 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation |title=Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/DEATH TO COVID |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/DEATH_TO_COVID |website=Wikipedia |access-date=21 November 2025 |language=en |date=4 May 2024}}</ref>

=== Racism and genocide denial===

==== Distortion of Polish involvement in the Holocaust ====
In the last decade, a group of committed Wikipedia editors on the English instance have been promoting a skewed version of the history of the [[Holocaust]] that is touted by right-wing [[Republic of Poland|Polish]] [[Nationalism|nationalists]], whitewashes the role of Polish society in the Holocaust, and bolsters stereotypes about [[Judaism|Jews]]. Due to this group's work, Wikipedia's articles on the Holocaust in [[Republic of Poland (1918–1939)|Poland]] minimize Polish [[antisemitism]], exaggerate the Poles' role in saving Jews, insinuate that most Jews supported [[Communism]] and conspired with Communists to betray Poles (''Żydokomuna'' or [[Cultural Marxism|Judeo-Bolshevism]]), blame Jews for their own persecution, and inflate Jewish collaboration with the [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazis]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Jan Grabowski, Shira Klein|newspaper=Taylor&Francis Online|title=Wikipedia’s Intentional Distortion of the History of the Holocaust|date=2023-02-09|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25785648.2023.2168939|archive-url=https://archive.ph/OIY9Z}}</ref>

====Congolese genocide denial====
The article on the [[genocide]] that happened in the [[Congo Free State (1885–1909)|Congo Free State]]<ref name=":1">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State&oldid=986289478 Quoting the article in question:<blockquote>''"The significant number of deaths under the Free State regime has led some scholars to relate the atrocities to later genocides, though understanding of the losses under the colonial administration's rule as the result of harsh economic exploitation rather than a policy of deliberate extermination has led others to dispute the comparison; '''there is an open debate as to whether the atrocities constitute genocide'''."''</blockquote>We have also a [https://prolewiki.org/images/6/61/Wikipedia_Congolese_genocide_denial.png full page print] if Wikipedia ever decides to take the article down. This cited quote was taken from the section ''Historiography and the term "genocide"''.</ref> (the [[Kingdom of Belgium|Belgian]] colony of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]]), is now called "Atrocities in the Congo Free State" following a dispute between [[White people|white]] and African users over the previous name of "Congolese Genocide."

User Brigade Piron,<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Brigade_Piron</ref> a white [[Kingdom of Belgium|Belgian]] nationalist editor, claims that the term genocide is contested and at this time the article contradicts itself: first making it seem like the Congolese Genocide was caused mainly by disease, later saying it was caused by "harsh economic [[exploitation]], rather than a policy of deliberate extermination".<ref name=":1" /> Most edits of the article come from another white European, user Indy Beetle, from [[Swiss Confederation|Switzerland]].<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State&offset=&limit=500&action=history Contains more than 160 edits by Wikipedia user Indy Beetle.</ref>

==== Nanjing Massacre denial ====
Japanese Wikipedia uses the title "Nanjing Incident" (南京事件) to refer to the [[Nanjing Massacre]] and does not include photos of [[Empire of Japan (1868–1947)|Japanese]] war crimes that are included in the Chinese and English instances.<ref name=":0" />

==== White genocide conspiracy theory ====
Wikipedia accuses the [[Republic of Haiti|Haitian]] revolutionary [[Jean-Jacques Dessalines]], who overthrew [[French]] [[colonialism]] and ended [[slavery]] in his country, of committing genocide against white colonists.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Wikipedia|title=Jean-Jacques Dessalines|date=2023-02-05|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jean-Jacques_Dessalines&oldid=1141432955|retrieved=2023-02-26}}</ref>

==== Settler colonialism apologia ====
Wikipedia pages related to [[United States of America|Statesian]] [[settler colonialism]] tend to downplay or outright deny the genocide of indigenous people in the United States. Settler nationalist editors have the monopoly on editing these pages and maintain it by banning or harassing indigenous or allied editors off the site.<ref>{{Citation|author=Kyle Keeler|year=2024|title=Wikipedia’s Indian problem: settler colonial erasure of native American knowledge and history on the world’s largest encyclopedia|title-url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2201473X.2024.2358697|pdf=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/2201473X.2024.2358697?needAccess=true|doi=10.1080/2201473X.2024.2358697|series=Settler Colonial Studies}}</ref>

===Sexism===
Women have been speaking about the [[sexism]] they faced on Wikipedia for many years, as about 90% of the user base is male according to Wikipedia's own study.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Wikimedia|title=Gender across Wikimedia project contributors in 2018, weighted|date=2018|url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/LE15_Gender_overall_in_2018.png}}</ref>

Women are generally discouraged from participating through widespread bullying and harassment.<ref>Emma Paling. [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/how-wikipedia-is-hostile-to-women/411619/ “Wikipedia's hostility to women”]. ''The Atlantic,'' 21 October 2015.</ref> Notably, several women were brought on board various projects aimed at reducing "gender bias" (Wikipedia's technical term for its sexist atmosphere), and all left after facing repeated harassment. This issue has been brought to the Wikimedia foundation's attention, to which founder Jimmy Wales responded, in one case:<blockquote>I'm afraid I don't know enough about the specific details here to be able to make a meaningful comment.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_178#Said_at_GGTF_arbitration</ref></blockquote>Articles about famous women are often deleted or see their edits reverted, rendering them invisible. Edits by women themselves are often reverted as well, no matter how good the quality may be.

=== Censorship ===
Wikipedia blocks the IP addresses of VPNs and other proxies, preventing users from mainland [[People's Republic of China|China]] from editing. They can apply for an account, but it takes an average of 41 days to receive a response. On 13 September 2021, Wikipedia purged many Chinese users, leading them to create [[Qiuwen Baike]] as an alternative.<ref name=":0" />

Wikipedia often deletes articles about topics outside of the [[Imperial core|West]]. For example, Chinese Wikipedia deleted an article about the Xuzhou urban expressway while keeping an article about a 200-meter-long street in [[Hong Kong Special Administrative Region|Hong Kong]].<ref name=":0" />

===Corruption and paid editing===
[[File:Wikipedia paid-editor policy example..png|thumb|366x366px|Wikipedia permits people paid by pro-capitalist organizations to edit on their articles.<ref name=":4" />]]
Although Wikipedia purports to be a reliable and neutral source of knowledge, it has been mangled by several known cases of corruption, involving paid editors hired to whitewash their clients' reputation. A former lawyer, user edsussman, has been hired by [[Meta Platforms, Inc.|Facebook]] PR, news companies Axios and [[National Broadcasting Company|NBC]] to tweak pages related to the respective client in a favorable manner, all while adhering to the rules of the site.<ref>Ashley Feinberg. [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wikipedia-paid-editing-pr-facebook-nbc-axios_n_5c63321be4b03de942967225 “Facebook, Axios And NBC paid this guy to whitewash Wikipedia pages”]. ''The Huffpost,'' 14 March 2019.</ref>

The Wikimedia Foundation collects over $100 million per year even though only $10 million is needed to keep Wikipedia running. It raises money by lying that Wikipedia needs more money to avoid shutting down.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Wikipedia imperialist censorship.png|alt=Wikipedia censorship of trustworthy news media.|thumb|These are news sources which Wikipedia considers unreliable. Highlighted in yellow are actually trustworthy sources of information which disputes the US imperialist propaganda narrative.]]

==Ties to imperialist organizations==
The Wikiscanner tracing program has revealed that the CIA and FBI edited Wikipedia articles on the [[Iraq War]] and [[Guantánamo Bay detention camp|Guantánamo Bay]] prison.<ref>{{News citation|author=Randall Mikkelsen|newspaper=[[Reuters]]|title=CIA, FBI computers used for Wikipedia edits|date=2007-08-16|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-security-wikipedia/cia-fbi-computers-used-for-wikipedia-edits-idUSN1642896020070816|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411092828/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-security-wikipedia/cia-fbi-computers-used-for-wikipedia-edits-idUSN1642896020070816|archive-date=2022-04-11|retrieved=2022-05-24}}</ref>

===Funding===
In spite of Wikipedia systematically and regularly requesting its readers to donate money, Wikipedia, along with its parent organisations, makes over $100 million USD each year, far more than the amount needed for its upkeep.<ref name=":5" /> Furthermore, the Wikimedia Foundation has ties with Western corporations such as [[Amazon.com, Inc.|Amazon]],<ref>{{News citation|author=Andreas Kolbe|newspaper=Daliy Dot|title=Wikipedia is swimming in money—why is it begging people to donate?|date=2021-5-24|url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-endownemnt-fundraising/|retrieved=2022-7-30|quote=Just five years later, the endowment passed $90 million, and the $100 million mark, now described as an “initial goal,” will be reached this year. Major donations from Amazon, Google, Facebook, and others have been supplemented by legacy gifts—and $25 million from the WMF itself.

It’s noteworthy that money donated to the endowment is not included in the WMF’s reported net assets ($180 million as of last June) or annual revenue ($130 million). Money the WMF pays into the endowment, however, is recorded under expenditures (“Awards and Grants”). These two facts disguise that the WMF has effectively operated with a far larger surplus for the past five years than its financial statements indicate—they “only” show a $100 million increase in net assets over that time period. In reality, the WMF’s total funds have increased by twice as much.

The endowment is not the only money Wikimedia funnels to the Tides Foundation. Last year, when the WMF literally had more money than it knew what to do with, with community events canceled due to the pandemic, it transferred another $8.7 million to a new “Tides Advocacy” fund.}}</ref> and some of its largest donors are [[Google Inc.|Google]], [[Microsoft Corporation|Microsoft]], and [[Apple Inc.|Apple]].<ref name=":5" />

==External links==

=== Alternatives ===

* [https://baike.baidu.com/ Baidu Baike] (Chinese)
* [https://www.ecured.cu/EcuRed EcuRed] (Spanish)
* [https://wiki.leftypol.org/wiki/Main_Page Leftypedia] (English)
* [https://prolewiki.org/ ProleWiki] (multilingual)
* [https://ru.ruwiki.ru/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0 Ruwiki] (multilingual)
* [https://www.qiuwenbaike.cn/wiki/Qiuwen:%E9%A6%96%E9%A1%B5 Qiuwen Baike] (Chinese)

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Wikis]]
[[Category:Online encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Capitalist progaganda]]
[[Category:Bourgeois media]]
[[Category:Disinformation]]
[[Category:Imperialist propaganda]]

LGBT rights and issues in AES countries

2025-12-08T04:09:22Z

97.242.136.127: Mentioned Bebel's early pro-gay stance -C:

<blockquote>'''''Note:''' This article is about [[LGBT+|lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender]] rights in [[Actually Existing Socialism|current socialist]] countries. Due to the widespread use of the term LGBT in the Anglosphere, this article has primarily been written using this term and its variants. However, the U.S.-originated term LGBT in this article should be regarded as provisional, as the countries discussed in the article do not themselves originate in U.S. culture and their own local conceptions and histories of gender and sexuality must be considered.''</blockquote>[[File:LGBT rights demonstrators in Vietnam thank the National Assembly.png|thumb|LGBT rights demonstrators in [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] thank the National Assembly following the approval of a bill for legal gender change in 2015.<ref>[https://kenh14.vn/xa-hoi/ngay-hop-phap-hoa-chuyen-gioi-ban-tre-ra-duong-voi-bang-chu-cam-on-quoc-hoi-20151124112259576.chn "Ngày hợp pháp hóa chuyển giới: Bạn trẻ ra đường với bảng chữ "Cảm ơn Quốc hội""] (Transgender legalization day: Young people take to the streets with the sign "Thank you to the National Assembly") 25-11-2015. Kenh 14 VN.</ref>|362x362px]]
The nature and status of [[LGBT+]] rights in current and former [[Actually Existing Socialism|actually existing socialist]] (AES) countries is a common subject of inquiry and debate throughout the political sphere, chiefly among LGBT [[Communism|communists]] looking for truth and answers regarding the actual rights enjoyed and issues faced by LGBT people under AES, among reactionary and anti-communist individuals and organizations seeking to utilize or misconstrue LGBT rights violations and policy failures under AES as a way to discredit and undermine AES countries, and by communists with anti-LGBT lines seeking precedent to uphold their anti-LGBT stances. Given these intersecting desires and aims, and in some cases, concerted [[reactionary]] and/or [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] propaganda campaigns, as well as the co-optation and weaponization of LGBT struggle by [[Liberalism|liberal]], [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]], and [[Imperialism|imperialist]] organizations for destabilization of AES countries through [[color revolution]], the subject of LGBT rights in AES countries is often surrounded with difficulty and controversy.

Distinguishing between real problems faced by LGBT communities under AES, vs. anti-communist propaganda that seeks to use LGBT rights as a cover or vehicle for spreading misinformation and [[atrocity propaganda]] about AES countries, is a persistent issue in the discourse around this subject.

It should be noted that many issues faced by LGBT communities in AES countries are not issues found uniquely under socialism, but may be faced by LGBT individuals and communities under various modes of production, including in capitalist societies, and a dialectical materialist analysis must be maintained to understand the development of LGBT rights worldwide. Always keep in mind the [[Historical materialism|historical materialist]] attitude: collective discrimination of the LGBT community existed before [[Capitalism|capitalist society]] and will persist in a different form after those societies have been replaced by [[Socialism|socialist societies]]. Due to capitalist society's incessant need to [[Commodification|commodify]] and thereby further [[Exploitation|exploit]] working people, LGBT communities are commonly used as a source of new commodities to counter the [[tendency of the rate of profit to fall]] as well to confuse the working class via the [[divide and conquer]] strategies of the bourgeoise in modern [[class struggle]].

== Background information, context, and terminology ==

=== Use and meaning of LGBT terminology ===
<blockquote>''See also: [[LGBT+]]''</blockquote>LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s and originating in the United States, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity and has since come into international and cross-linguistic usage.

Despite the fact that the four-letter LGBT initialism does not explicitly encompass all individuals in smaller communities, the term is generally accepted to implicitly include those not specifically identified in the four-letter initialism.

Sukrita Lahiri, writing on the issue of terminology in international politics, says of the term "LGBT":<blockquote>LGBT remains the most commonly used umbrella term in the global framework of gender and sexuality, even though it has its reductionist problems as it leaves out a host of identities like intersex, queer, and questioning.<ref name=":11">{{Citation|author=Sukrita Lahiri|year=2020|title=Anti-Pinkwashing as Emerging Hope: Queering the Palestinian Liberation Movement in the Context of Institutionalised Neoliberalism|title-url=https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/intecritdivestud.3.2.0053|publisher=International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies, Pluto Journals.}}</ref></blockquote>

===== Other terminology for gender and sexual minorities =====
Another commonly used term is gender and sexual minorities, under the initials GSM. Finally, another common term is the word queer, which is often used as another umbrella term for LGBT people, or gender and sexual minorities. Many people self-identify with this term, but others regard this term to be offensive and prefer not to use it. Sukrita Lahiri says of the term "queer" that it "opens up innumerable possibilities" due to the term being "intrinsically one that challenges any form of determinism" however, it "only exists in the English language and therefore it is important to be critical of the use."<ref name=":11" /> However, the term "queer" has been at least partially borrowed into some other languages.

These various terms are not universally agreed to or used by everyone that they attempt to encompass, and differences in usage may be found throughout various times in history, various communities, or in various contexts. In addition, local terminology in various countries and languages describing their own local sociocultural conceptions of gender and sexual minorities may be more commonly or more suitably used in a given location or context.

On the issue of translating topics regarding sexuality, Sukrita Lahiri writes:<blockquote>The politics of sexuality is thoroughly altered in the process of translation [...] translating sexualities in international politics pushes one to confront notions of emancipation–colonisation, sovereignty–interference, among which global narratives are locally welcomed or repelled.<ref name=":11" /></blockquote>

=== Real problems faced by LGBT communities under AES vs. anti-communist misinformation ===
Real problems facing the LGBT communities of AES countries coexist alongside anti-communist propaganda designed to malign these countries or incite color revolution in them, making the topic difficult to analyze, as reliable sources may be hard to come by, not only due to LGBT rights being a minority issue that often receives limited coverage, but also to the rampant intentional spread of misinformation on the subject.

In attempting to navigate through ever-present misinformation regarding AES countries, the actual problems faced by LGBT communities in AES countries, currently or historically, may at times be hard to accurately assess. Additionally, many problems faced by LGBT communities in AES countries are not problems found uniquely under socialism, but may be faced by LGBT individuals and communities under various modes of production, including in capitalist societies.

=== Rainbow capitalism, rainbow imperialism, and pinkwashing ===
[[Rainbow capitalism]] (sometimes called pink capitalism) refers to the involvement of capitalism and consumerism in the LGBT movement and the co-optation and weaponization of the LGBT movement by capitalist interests. Rainbow imperialism (or pink imperialism) refers to the whitewashing (also called ''pinkwashing'', see below) of imperialism through the promotion of so-called "LGBT-friendly" imperialist interests and organizations, such as promotion of LGBT inclusivity into the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Thom Waite|newspaper=Dazed|title=The CIA’s latest ‘woke washing’ recruitment ad stars a gay agency librarian|date=2021-05-12|url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/52759/1/the-cia-latest-woke-washing-recruitment-ad-stars-a-gay-agency-librarian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229162030/https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/52759/1/the-cia-latest-woke-washing-recruitment-ad-stars-a-gay-agency-librarian|archive-date=2022-12-29|retrieved=2025-05-16}}</ref>

Another related term is "pinkwashing" (similar to terms like whitewashing and [[greenwashing]]). Pinkwashing is the strategy of promoting LGBT rights protections as evidence of liberalism and democracy, especially to distract from or legitimize violence against other countries or communities. Pinkwashing is a continuation of the political rationale used to justify [[colonialism]] on the basis of LGBT rights.

In 2011, Sarah Schulman used the term ''pinkwashing'' in a widely read editorial in [[The New York Times|''The New York Times'']] citing [[State of Israel|Israel]] as an example of the use of the tactic of pinkwashing in public relations. Schulman states that after "generations of sacrifice and organization, gay people in parts of the world have won protection from discrimination and relationship recognition. But these changes have given rise to a nefarious phenomenon: the co-opting of white gay people by anti-immigrant and anti-[[Islam|Muslim]] political forces in Western Europe and Israel." Schulman says that an opportunistically selective depiction of usually Arab, South Asian, Turkish or African Muslim immigrants as "homophobic fanatics" is strategically contrasted against the "relevant and modern" marketing image of Israel, harnessing the gay community to reposition Israel's global image, summarizing the situation by saying that the "growing global gay movement against the Israeli occupation has named these tactics 'pinkwashing': a deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of [[State of Palestine|Palestinians]]' human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life."<ref>{{News citation|author=By Sarah Schulman|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Israel and ‘Pinkwashing’|date=Nov. 22, 2011|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/opinion/pinkwashing-and-israels-use-of-gays-as-a-messaging-tool.html|quote=After generations of sacrifice and organization, gay people in parts of the world have won protection from discrimination and relationship recognition. But these changes have given rise to a nefarious phenomenon: the co-opting of white gay people by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim political forces in Western Europe and Israel.}}</ref>

In ''Anti-Pinkwashing as Emerging Hope,'' Sukrita Lahiri writes of the relationship between pinkwashing and imperial violence:<blockquote>Historically speaking, [[settler colonialism]] has a long history of articulating its violence through the protection of certain figures such as women and children (Moghadam, 1994), and now homosexuals. Pinkwashing is just one more justification for imperial violence within this long tradition which works in part by tapping into the discursive and structural circuits produced by the West against the danger of “Islamic extremism.” In persistence of this imperial tradition, Gayatri Spivak’s (2010) well-known precept “white men saving brown women from brown men” (p. 57) gets modified with the trope of white homosexuals saving brown homosexuals from brown heterosexuals (Morris, 2010). Further, the neoliberal economic structure comfortably stretches itself to induce a compartmentalised sort of marketing of various ethnic and minoritised groups (Fraser, 2013). Thus it normalises the production of, for example, a gay and lesbian tourism industry built on the distinction between “gay-friendly” and homophobic destinations. The human rights groups voicing homosexual concerns continue to proliferate Western constructs of identity that privilege identity politics, “coming out”, increased visibility, and legislative measures as the dominant scales of social inclusion and progress.<ref name=":11" /></blockquote>

=== Destabilization of AES countries via imperialist-backed NGOs ===
Closely related to the issues of rainbow imperialism and rainbow capitalism is the practice of capitalist and imperialist powers of using a guise of "LGBT rights" to engage in foreign meddling or to manufacture atrocity propaganda to undermine the sovereignty of AES or anti-imperialist countries.

The existence of such developments and co-optations in liberal LGBT movements and capitalist and imperialist societies can lead to or inflame preexisting anti-LGBT sentiment in countries targeted by these tactics, or cause people to see LGBT movements as unwelcome foreign or bourgeois elements. This in turn can lead to persecution or suspicion of the local LGBT community. Local, grassroots, genuine proletarian LGBT movements and communities may exist alongside opportunistic meddling by imperialists and become subject to co-optation, leading to confusion and tensions around the issue.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=A Million Tiny Fleas|title="LGBTQ Rights" as Unconventional Warfare|date=2022-12-22|url=https://fleawar.substack.com/p/lgbtq-rights-as-unconventional-warfare|quote=Concretely, it is a psyop designed to fracture communities and split nations.

• They target gays and marginalized genders with a narrative: “Actually your nation is the REAL oppressor, life is better over here in the global village.” This narrative is backed by the enforced poverty of economic warfare. Why else would someone, whose is country under siege from the empire, be convinced that “LGBT asylum” in ‘israel’ or amerika is actually an acceptable choice?

• Heightening pre-existing social contradictions to promote distrust and suspicion is an old tactic of imperialist psychological operations. The imperialists know that their campaigns push masses of people towards hating anyone associated with “Feminism” and “LGBT”—indeed this is partially the point.}}</ref>

A group called [[NonLa Collective]], a digital front of Vietnamese communists, spoke on this issue by saying:<blockquote>Ultimately, it’s true that our society has many problems when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues. It’s also true that the Vietnamese revolutionary government can and should do more, and more quickly, to address the needs and concerns of LGBTQ+ citizens. But, speaking as LGBTQ+ Vietnamese ourselves, we do not feel as if we need to be “rescued” by foreign-imperialist organizations like USAID, nor do we see how dismantling our revolutionary government would ''help'' our LGBTQ+ movement in any way. Vietnam has our own vibrant, strong, and growing LGBTQ+ liberation movement. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, in 2019, thousands of people showed up to the most recent pride event before COVID-19 broke out, and activism continues even through the pandemic. The government does not restrict or limit our voices in any way, on the contrary, LGBTQ+ stories are shared positively on state media [...] Again, we ask, how would immediately dismantling our revolutionary government help LGBTQ+ people in any way?<ref name=":27" /></blockquote>

A criticism of such tactics is put forth by Yi Zhi in a Global Times article titled "Politicizing LGBTQI issues in China could backfire on West":<blockquote>The truth is, those [Western] media outlets know very well what the issue is all about. They do not really care about the group, but rather treat it as a tool to infiltrate China, pushing their values like the so-called human rights in China. Some foreign political forces have been playing tricks over issues like feminism, AIDS, animal protection, and so on. LGBTQI has become their latest contrivance.

Controversies over the above-mentioned topics do exist and there is room for improvement in China. But what the foreign forces have been doing is cultivating their own version of the so-called civil society in China.

[...] As long as the foreign forces which support LGBTQI groups in China respect China's sovereignty and the rule of law, China will surely have their back. There will be no problem as long as the foreign forces which support LGBTQI groups in China respect China's sovereignty and the rule of law. Unfortunately, those foreign forces often have ulterior motives. Imagine if the LGBTQI groups in the West are supported by other forces which aim at overthrowing the capitalist system, will the countries turn a blind eye to them? [...] [The West] should be careful not to habitually politicize social issues, cozying up to certain groups too much and intensifying contradictions. Otherwise, they will only cause greater social injustice, triggering fierce counterattacks by right-wing populists.<ref>Yi Zhi. Dec 02, 2021."Politicizing LGBTQI issues in China could backfire on West." Global Times. URL: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202112/1240533.shtml</ref></blockquote>According to an article entitled "West-backed color revolution a ‘top threat’ to China’s national, political security" appearing in People's Daily, "Experts on international intelligence and security said under the intensifying China-US competition, foreign hostile forces have increased efforts to target the political security of China rather than merely conducting regular espionage activities. [...] Apart from targeting Xinjiang and Hong Kong which are traditional geopolitical hotspots, foreign hostile forces are also keen to use issues like LGBT, feminism and environmentalism which are easy to stir heated discussions on social media via disinformation and rumors to create problems by instigating conflicts between specific groups in China" and continues by saying, "Fortunately, this kind of practice is unable to cause a significant impact or escalate into a massive color revolution, since with the modernization and development of China, the majority of Chinese netizens are able to discuss these issues with a mature and reasonable attitude, and legal civil organizations on LGBT or environment protection will distance themselves from hostile foreign intervention."<ref name=":0">''West-backed color revolution a ‘top threat’ to China’s national, political security - People’s Daily Online''. People’s Daily. April 16, 2021. URL: <nowiki>http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/0416/c90000-9840004.html</nowiki></ref>

In the text ''Understanding Korea No. 9: Human Rights'', a book discussing The [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea|DPRK's]] views on human rights, the following commentary is provided on the U.S. and Western use of "human rights" as a tool for suppression of DPRK and other countries: <blockquote>At present, in many cases the US and the Western countries abuse the international human rights instruments as a means to justify their suppression of the rights of their people, and their invasion, intervention and human rights violations against other countries and nations. [...] The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights had been abused as a tool for imposing political pressure and interfering in the internal affairs of the progressive and developing countries by the US and other Western countries after the Cold War, which attempted to pick a quarrel with the human rights situations in these countries and impose their own “human rights standards” on them.<ref name=":24">{{Citation|author=Kim Ji Ho|year=2017|title=Understanding Korea 9: Human Rights|city=Pyongyang|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref></blockquote>The work further clarifies:<blockquote>The US and its followers conduct the anti-DPRK human rights campaign with an intention to mislead the public opinion and raise the non-existent “human rights issue” in the DPRK as an international issue, thus defaming the prestige of the DPRK in the international arena and toppling its socialist system under the veil of “defending human rights.” As it has learned that military threats are helpless in bringing down the socialist system of the DPRK, the US is trying to internationalize the anti-DPRK human rights campaign by instigating its followers. The smear campaign conducted by the US is, in nature, an acme of high-handedness and arbitrariness aimed at ignoring the political mode and social system established in the DPRK and changing them at any cost. It is also a brigandish act of destroying the very foundation of international human rights mechanisms.<ref name=":24" /></blockquote>In the work, the hostile U.S. policy of using human rights as a destabilization tool is described as a major obstacle to human rights in DPRK:<blockquote>The major obstacles to the protection and promotion of human rights in the DPRK are the hostile policy pursued by the United States and other Western countries against the DPRK and their “human rights” racket. In other words, they are their moves to stamp out the country politically, blackmail it militarily and isolate and stifle it economically. [...] Despite the continued moves of the US and its followers to isolate and stifle the DPRK, the government advances policies for the protection and promotion of human rights of the people and is making every effort to bring them into effect. Thanks to the steadfast people-oriented policies advanced by the government and its continued efforts to perfect the human rights instruments, human rights will be guaranteed on a higher plane in the DPRK.<ref name=":24" /></blockquote>Such articles as those cited above illustrate one of the main causes of rejection or suspicion of certain elements of Western-influenced or Western-led LGBT rights movements in AES countries.

=== Anti-LGBT sentiments among communists ===
Along with pro-LGBT positions among communists, anti-LGBT positions among communists and communist organizations are a reality. In past and present AES, both pro- and anti-LGBT positions and policies can be found. Anti-LGBT positions among communists often stem from a perceived association of LGBT movements with "bourgeois decadence" or "degeneracy", or with extreme individualism. Other anti-LGBT positions among communists may be traced to their opposition to the usage of "rainbow imperialism" to undermine and attack AES countries and communist movements, or infiltrate them with liberal-bourgeois LGBT rights organizations.

The 1975 Marxist-Leninist work, "Toward A Scientific Analysis of the Gay Question" composed by the Los Angeles Research Group,<ref name=":1">Los Angeles Research Group. "Toward A Scientific Analysis of the Gay Question." 1975. URL: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-8/gay-question/index.htm</ref> a group of gay communist women, seeks to provide dialectical materialist explanations and criticisms of a variety of anti-LGBT positions and lines put forth by U.S. communist organizations of the time. As the term "LGBT" itself originates in the U.S., and U.S. imperialists use of "rainbow capitalism" and "rainbow imperialism" as tools against AES countries are among the main reasons for anti-LGBT sentiments among some communists, an understanding of the contradictions within the U.S. LGBT movement is relevant to understanding international LGBT struggle.

Regarding the origin of bourgeois, [[Opportunism|opportunist]], and [[Reformism|reformist]] currents arising as contradictions in the U.S. LGBT movement, the Los Angeles Research Group writes:<blockquote>The gay movement operated in the same context as [...] other progressive struggles. Chief among the contradictions within the gay movement, as in other groups, was the predominance of petty-bourgeois elements. The communist forces in the gay movement were also small in number and still primitive, and got very little support for their work from other communists. Many gay communists saw anti-war work and the working class movement as more important; gay women communists saw the women’s movement as a higher priority than the gay movement. As a practical result, the gay movement was abandoned by communists to the leadership of the petty-bourgeoisie to where it is now dominated, on the one hand, by a few opportunists and reformists, [...] who are bought off by government and foundation grants. [...] The fact that anti-gay communists take the most conspicuous gay people for the whole points again to their one-sided, superficial and subjective approach.<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>Among the conclusions of the Los Angeles Group is the following assertion: "The contradiction between homosexuals and heterosexuals is non-antagonistic; it can be worked out through principled struggle. Communists, gays and heterosexuals alike, must unite with the progressive aspects raised by the gay movement and struggle against those bourgeois elements which exist." The work continues:<blockquote>Just as men, women, heterosexuals, gays and minorities cross all class lines, any organization of these groups will reflect one or another class line at any given historical period depending on the strength and development of the different class forces. Gays are not inherently revolutionary (as some gay groups would say), nor inherently reactionary (as some “communist” groups would say). The class nature of gay liberation will change only when it is given revolutionary working class leadership. Until then, like all other groups, bourgeois ideology will fill the political vacuum. Even the working class, left to itself, can only develop trade union consciousness, which in the last analysis is bourgeois. To expect the gay movement to be any different when left without proletarian leadership is pure idealism. Gay people, particularly working class gays, are perfectly capable of enthusiastically grasping the science of Marxism Leninism and of being disciplined revolutionary fighters. To make enemies of potential allies is to abandon the working class and its interests.<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>On the other hand, one of the earliest open allies of LGBT+ people was the Marxist [[August Bebel]], who gave a speech at the [[Reichstag]] in 1898 against Germany's homophobic Paragraph 175.<ref>{{Web citation|author=August Bebel|newspaper=|title=On Homosexuality and the Penal Code|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/bebel/1898/01/13.htm}}</ref>

=== Existence of non-heterosexual and gender-variant identities and practices in societies worldwide ===
It must be remembered that the LGBT movement that arose in the modern West is only one manifestation of a worldwide phenomenon of non-heterosexual and gender-variant identities and practices throughout history. As the majority of current and former AES countries exist outside of the West, or only on its periphery, an understanding of the local histories and conceptions of each country's own gender and sexual minorities must be investigated for a dialectical materialist understanding of their situations to be formed. As all of the AES countries have also existed in a time where the Western LGBT movement was already forming and developing, an understanding of that movement and its contradictions in conjunction with local movements and traditions would be necessary to form a nuanced understanding of the nature of gender and sexual minority cultures, histories, rights, and issues unique to each country.
On the topic of pre-modern transgender identities and spiritual traditions in Asia and the Pacific and their relationship to contemporary LGBT identities, Pauline Park writes:<blockquote>There is a very wide misconception that ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender’ (LGBT) constitutes a purely modern phenomenon created by late nineteenth and early twentieth century sexologists and activists. In fact, every pre-modern Asian and Pacific Islander society had what could be termed ‘proto-transgenderal’ and homoerotic traditions which anticipate these contemporary LGBT identities, even if there are significant differences between the pre-modern and the contemporary identity formations. [...] In examining the entire history of homoerotic and proto-transgenderal traditions in pre-modern Asian and Pacific Islander societies, we must not make the mistake of romanticizing such traditions or failing to recognize the significant differences between ‘them’ and ‘us’ — meaning contemporary queer LGBT/queer APIs [Asian and Pacific Islanders], especially those of us in the diaspora. Those ancient traditions are embedded in societies which were not characterized by equality of age, gender or class relations, and many of the forms that homoeroticism and transgenderal identity took would offend our egalitarian sensibilities.<ref name=":10">{{News citation|author=Pauline Park|title=Transgender Identities & Spiritual Traditions in Asia & the Pacific: Lessons for LGBT/Queer APIs (Pacific School of Religion, 4.2.13)|date=03-31-2013|url=https://paulinepark.com/2013/03/31/transgender-identities-spiritual-traditions-in-asia-the-pacific-lessons-for-lgbtqueer-apis-pacific-school-of-religion-4-2-13/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801085500/https://paulinepark.com/2013/03/31/transgender-identities-spiritual-traditions-in-asia-the-pacific-lessons-for-lgbtqueer-apis-pacific-school-of-religion-4-2-13/}}</ref></blockquote>Park continues by saying that the examination of such pre-modern "proto-transgenderal" and homoerotic figures and images can have implications for political action "by challenging and disarming the false discourse of reactionary elements in the Asia/Pacific region today and in API immigrant communities that attempt to label LGBT identities as false and foreign, the fabrication of white, Western and even specifically American influence."<ref name=":10" />[[File:Colonial and imperial spheres of influence in Asia.jpg|thumb|A map depicting colonial and imperial spheres of influence in Asia from 1850-1914.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Facing History|title=Western Imperialism in East Asia|url=https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-nanjing-atrocities/western-imperialism-east-asia}}</ref>]]

=== Influence of colonialism, religion, and local tradition in views and practices of gender and sexuality ===
In addition to local and indigenous views and practices that may be found in various societies in the world, [[colonialism]] also has left a cultural impact on many societies in regard to their views on gender and sexuality. For example, in some regions, concepts of gender or sexuality may have been more or less broad, fluid, or permissive than what was introduced or imposed on those societies through colonialism. Colonialism may also impose new religious doctrines on populations, or introduce concepts that become blended with traditional, local concepts.

==== Western colonialism ====
In particular, the current AES countries have been impacted in varying ways by Western colonialism, which typically brought [[Christianity|Christian]] religious values and imposed European laws, social norms, and standards onto the issues of gender and sexuality in the countries they colonized. Depending on a variety of factors, such as the pre-existing local attitudes about gender and sexuality in a given location, the particular Western power(s) that held the most colonial influence in a region, the time period of the colonization, etc., the resulting effect on the social fabric of each society will have its own characteristics that must be uniquely considered for a proper dialectical materialist analysis.

In the AES [[Republic of Cuba]], there is a majority Christian population, primarily [[Catholicism|Catholic]]. Cuba also has a significant population practicing [[Santería]], an African diasporic religion that arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa, the Roman Catholic form of Christianity, and Spiritism. The religious situation of Cuba is illustrative of the complex overlapping cultural currents that exist in colonized nations, such as the displacement, destruction, or transformation of indigenous culture, the imposition of the colonizer's culture, and the effects of the [[Slavery|slave trade]]. The complexity of this historical and cultural situation must be considered when analyzing the history and modern status of LGBT population in Cuba.

==== East Asian cultural sphere ====
The East Asian cultural sphere, also known as the Sinosphere, encompasses multiple countries in East and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Chinese culture. The current AES countries who have historically been part of this cultural sphere of influence are the [[People's Republic of China]], [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea]], and the [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam]]. Imperial China was a regional power and exerted influence on tributary states and neighboring states, among which were Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. These interactions brought ideological and cultural influences rooted in [[Confucianism]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Taoism]]. In the 21st century, ideological and cultural influences of Confucianism and Buddhism remain in various forms in these countries.

An ILGA Asia report from 2021 states that Confucian culture "strongly supports heterosexual and traditional family models of straight men and women."<ref name=":14">N.A. [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/526c21b5e4b0d43e45f6c4c2/t/60cc1b25ff2943704dad091e/1623989084760/Country%2BReport_Vietnam%2B%281%29-compressed.pdf Dare to Dream: The Ongoing Voyage from Invisibility to Community Empowerment, and Foray into the Region for LGBTIQ in Vietnam]. ILGA Asia, 2021.</ref> According to a study on the influence of Confucianism on modern (hetero-)sexual relationships among youths in China and Vietnam, "Traditional Confucian culture, the common base of social culture in the mainland of China, Taiwan and Vietnam, is a complex system of moral, social, political, and religious thought with regard to individual’s relationships with others and appropriate conduct." The study found that "different aspects of Confucian culture eroded unevenly and might have different association with adolescent and youth's sexual behaviors in Hanoi, Shanghai, and Taipei undergoing rapid socio-economic change."<ref>Gao E, Zuo X, Wang L, Lou C, Cheng Y, Zabin LS. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4235616/ How does traditional Confucian culture influence adolescents' sexual behavior in three Asian cities?] J Adolesc Health. 2012 Mar;50(3 Suppl):S12-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.12.002. PMID: 22340851; PMCID: PMC4235616.</ref>

According to City Pass Guide, sexual orientation and gender identity throughout Asia "is a complex terrain from which cultural values, family intradependence, religion, and the tumultuous legacy of colonialism grow and intertwine. As a result, LGBTQ rights vary widely in this part of the world."<ref name=":9">{{News citation|author=John Mark Harrell|newspaper=City Pass Guide|title=PRIDE AND PROMISE FOR VIETNAM’S LGBTQI+ COMMUNITY|url=https://www.citypassguide.com/blog/pride-and-promise-for-vietnams-lgbtqi-community}}</ref>

== LGBT rights in current AES countries ==
The five current AES states are China, Cuba, DPRK, Laos, and Vietnam. As is clarified in the previous sections of this article, each of these countries comes with their own unique histories, experiences with colonization, and their own traditional and modern cultures which all affect their outlook and present status in regard to LGBT rights. Same-sex relations are not illegal in any AES state, nor do any of them criminalize forms of gender expression such as "imitating the opposite sex" in their constitutions.<ref>[https://internap.hrw.org/features/features/lgbt_laws/ “#OUTLAWED: ‘the Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name.’”] [[Human Rights Watch]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220922151200/http://internap.hrw.org/features/features/lgbt_laws/ Archived] 2022-09-30. Accessed 2022-09-30.</ref>

In China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam, there are LGBT advocacy organizations that are working within their countries' legal systems to expand protections of LGBT individuals, increase the quality of healthcare for the LGBT community, and spread increased awareness in society, in a similar fashion to LGBT advocacy groups anywhere else in the world. Individuals from DPRK and individuals who have visited there have stated that LGBT issues are not highly well-known in DPRK, but that LGBT people are not legally persecuted.<ref name=":19" /><ref name=":25" /><ref name=":17" /><ref name=":32" /> In a 2017 work regarding human rights in general in DPRK, Kim Ji Ho writes that "Despite the continued moves of the US and its followers to isolate and stifle the DPRK, the government advances policies for the protection and promotion of human rights of the people and is making every effort to bring them into effect" and explains that DPRK focuses on economic development in order to improve and secure human rights.<ref name=":242">{{Citation|author=Kim Ji Ho|year=2017|title=Understanding Korea 9: Human Rights|city=Pyongyang|publisher=Foreign Languages Publishing House}}</ref>

A 2020 report from China observed that tolerance towards the LGBT community was positively associated with economic growth, and that "a higher level of economic development in provinces was associated with a decrease in discrimination" against LGBT individuals, stating that "every 100 thousand RMB increase in per capita GDP lead to a 6.4% decrease in discriminatory events perpetrated by heterosexuals." The authors observed that reductions in LGBT discrimination and development of the economy are "closely linked" and can be regarded as "harmonious processes."<ref name=":21" />

Currently, Cuba offers the most expansive and explicit legal protections for LGBT rights among the AES countries. Cuba's 2022 amendments to the [[Family Code]] of its constitution offers a high degree of explicit legal protections for LGBT persons and non-traditional family structures. The code guarantees the right of all people to form a family without discrimination, legalizing same sex marriage and allowing same sex couples to adopt children.<ref>[https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/09/26/cubans-just-ratified-the-worlds-most-progressive-family-code/ “Cubans Just Ratified the World’s Most Progressive Family Code”] Peoples Dispatch. September 26, 2022. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220930032053/https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/09/26/cubans-just-ratified-the-worlds-most-progressive-family-code/ Archived] 2022-09-30.</ref> Additionally, since 2008, gender reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy have been available free of charge under Cuba’s national healthcare system.<ref name=":31">''The Independent''. 2018. “Inside Cuba’s LGBT Revolution: How the Island’s Attitudes to Sexuality and Gender Were Transformed,” January 4, 2018. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cuba-lgbt-revolution-gay-lesbian-transgender-rights-havana-raul-castro-a8122591.html</ref>

In general, a trend of increased awareness of LGBT issues in society is progressing in the AES countries, along with an increase in explicit legal protections and improved access to quality healthcare for the LGBT community. In general, many of the social issues faced by the LGBT communities of the AES countries are similar to issues faced by the LGBT communities in other countries in their respective regions. Cuba serves as an example of highly progressive protections for LGBT individuals. In China, Laos, and Vietnam, LGBT advocates are organized and freely seeking expansions of their rights and increased awareness in society, and the expansion of protections in the workplace and improvements in healthcare are increasing. This can be seen in China with the opening of various trans healthcare clinics and with trans people successfully winning lawsuits to prevent workplace discrimination,<ref name=":33" /> in Vietnam with the discussion of Article 37 of the Civil Code and improvements in trans healthcare, and in Laos with the presence elected transgender, lesbian and gay public officials,<ref name=":30" /> the Lao Youth and Adolescent Development Strategy and the government's willingness to work with LGBT rights organizations such as Proud to Be Us Laos and LGBT advocates within the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union. In DPRK, the human rights focus remains primarily on economic improvements meant to increase the quality of life of all citizens.

=== People's Republic of China ===
Xin Ying, executive director of the Beijing LGBTQ Centre, characterizes the status of LGBT rights in [[People's Republic of China|China]] is quoted in a 2021 article as saying that "China’s situation isn’t the worst in Asia, but it still has room for improvement."<ref name=":2">{{News citation|author=Phoebe Zhang|newspaper=South China Morning Post|title=For LGBTQ people in China the picture is mixed, global report finds, with some legal protections but barriers to freedom of expression|date=2021-12-21|url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3114633/lgbtq-people-china-picture-mixed-global-report-finds}}</ref>

According to a 2018 CGTN article,<ref name=":16">{{Web citation|newspaper=CGTN|title=LGBT in China: Changes and Challenges|date=22-Jan-2018|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/3163444d7a677a6333566d54/index.html}}</ref> "Homosexuality in China has a complex history. Unlike homosexuality in the West where religious attitudes prevailed, homosexuality has long existed in Chinese history and culture and there have been art and literary works about it. Nonetheless, disdain and discrimination have often been the rule, understanding and compassion the exception."

The article quotes Professor Li Yinhe of the Institute of Sociology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as saying:<blockquote>I think the biggest challenge for homosexuals is not about the ban of their activities. Governments don’t do such things any more. Their biggest problem is the deep-rooted culture of oppression in China that over-emphasizes so-called 'family values.' We refer to the phenomena as being family-oriented whereas western countries are more individual-oriented. This means in China, you should always prioritize your family value in life. When there are conflicts between family values and personal joy, personal joy should also give way.<ref name=":16" /></blockquote>
==== Role of NGOs in destabilization efforts in China ====
According to an article entitled "West-backed color revolution a ‘top threat’ to China’s national, political security" appearing in People's Daily, "Experts on international intelligence and security said under the intensifying China-US competition, foreign hostile forces have increased efforts to target the political security of China rather than merely conducting regular espionage activities. [...] Apart from targeting Xinjiang and Hong Kong which are traditional geopolitical hotspots, foreign hostile forces are also keen to use issues like LGBT, feminism and environmentalism which are easy to stir heated discussions on social media via disinformation and rumors to create problems by instigating conflicts between specific groups in China" and continues by saying, "Fortunately, this kind of practice is unable to cause a significant impact or escalate into a massive color revolution, since with the modernization and development of China, the majority of Chinese netizens are able to discuss these issues with a mature and reasonable attitude, and legal civil organizations on LGBT or environment protection will distance themselves from hostile foreign intervention."<ref name=":0" />
==== Legal status of LGBT issues ====
China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and officially removed it from the white book of mental disorders, the Chinese Mental Disorder Classification and Diagnosis Standard (CCMD-3) published by China’s Ministry of Health in 2001.<ref>The Diplomat. (2018, June 5). ''China’s Complicated LGBT Movement''. <nowiki>https://thediplomat.com/2018/06/chinas-complicated-lgbt-movement/</nowiki></ref>

Same-sex relationships are legal in China, although same-sex marriage and adoption are not currently legal. Although same-sex marriage is not legal, Chinese LGBT couples have found other ways to gain some legal protection. For example, same-sex couple married overseas can be named as each other’s “legal guardians”, a status considered fairly similar to a civil union.<ref name=":2" />

Transgender individuals are legally allowed to receive healthcare and may legally change their gender marker after receiving sexual reassignment surgery. In recent years, transgender treatment facilities have become more available in China, including the opening of a clinic for the treatment of transgender minors in 2021, where both psychological help and hormone treatment will be available.<ref name=":3">Zhang Wanqing and Li Jiaru. (2021-11-08) "China’s First Clinic for Trans Youth a ‘Good Step,’ Advocates Say." Sixth Tone. URL: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008904/chinas-first-clinic-for-trans-youth-a-good-step%2C-advocates-say-</ref>
==== Attitudes toward LGBT community ====
[[File:National Survey Results about LGBT descrimination in China, BMC Public Health 2020.png|thumb|Findings of a BMC Public Health survey about public attitudes toward LGBT people in China, conducted in 2015.<ref name=":21">Wang, Yuanyuan, Zhishan Hu, Ke Peng, Joanne Rechdan, Yuan Yang, Lijuan Wu, Ying Xin, et al. [https://d-nb.info/1214031323/34 “Mapping out a Spectrum of the Chinese Public’s Discrimination toward the LGBT Community: Results from a National Survey.”] ''BMC Public Health'' 20, no. 1 (May 12, 2020). <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08834-y</nowiki>.</ref>]]According to a 2020 report published in BMC Public Health, "Chinese people’s view of the LGBT community is strongly impacted by the distinctive Chinese cultural context. It is likely that LGBT individuals’ experiences pronounced negative feelings, psychological distress and perceive severe discrimination within the traditional Chinese cultural context" and "Although there have been many public policies developed for improving the rights of stigmatized and marginalized LGBT individuals, they still face a great deal of discrimination in various contexts."<ref name=":21" />

From the report's data, collected in 2015, the authors conclude that "a higher level of economic development in provinces was associated with a decrease in discrimination, and we identified that every 100 thousand RMB increase in per capita GDP lead to a 6.4% decrease in discriminatory events perpetrated by heterosexuals." Additionally, "Chinese LGBT groups consistently experience discrimination in various aspects of their daily lives. The prevalence of this discrimination is associated with the economic development of the province in which it occurs."<ref name=":21" />

According to the BMC report:<blockquote>We mapped perceived discrimination against LGBT persons separately for each of the seven environments. As shown in Fig. 1c, of the seven settings, the highest level of self-perceived discrimination was reported for social services (Mean = 57.1, SD = 5.7), and discrimination was higher in the north of China. LGBT participants also reported relatively higher levels of self-perceived discrimination in religious settings, with a mean score of 53.5, with a noticeably high incidence among lesbians living in Hainan (Mean = 70.6) and Xinjiang (Mean = 69.2), and transgender persons living in Gansu (Mean = 68.1). Self-perceived discrimination was generally lower in medical service settings (mean = 36.7, SD =3.8), with the exception of transgender participants, who reported an elevated rate (mean = 39.6, SD = 2.7). In school settings, LGBT participants reported a moderate to high level of discriminatory behaviors by peers or teachers (mean = 52.9, SD =3.9), with a relatively lower level of discrimination found among the lesbian group (mean = 48.9, SD =3.1). LGBT participants reported less attention and biased reporting on their community by Chinese media (mean = 56.3, SD =2.7). In family (mean = 47.5, SD =2.3) and workplace settings (mean = 48.4, SD =3.1), a moderate rate of perceived discrimination was reported by LGBT participants.<ref name=":21" /></blockquote>The report also states that "In terms of heterosexuals’ acceptance towards the LGBT community, heterosexual participants reported a high level of acceptance of social relationships with LGBT individuals, such as having LGBT friends or colleagues. However, heterosexual participants reported that it was hard to accept their own children identifying as LGBT. [...] For member of the Chinese LGBT community, the greatest source of pressure to conform to societal norms of sexuality and identity comes from family members—particularly parents."<ref name=":21" />
==== Status of transgender social issues ====
[[File:Findings of 2017 Survey Report on the Survival of the Transgender Community in China, published by the Beijing LGBT Center and the Department of Sociology at Peking University.png|thumb|Some of the findings of the 2017 Survey Report on the Survival of the Transgender Community in China, published by the Beijing LGBT Center and the Department of Sociology at Peking University, regarding perceived levels of "friendliness" towards trans individuals in different work environments.<ref name=":4">Xin Ying, Qi Ji, Wu Lĳuan, et. al. "2017 Chinese Transgender Population General Survey Report." November 2017. Beijing LGBT Center. URL: https://chinadevelopmentbrief.org/publications/2017-chinese-transgender-population-general-survey-report/ PDF: https://chinadevelopmentbrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2017-Chinese-Transgender-Population-General-Survey-Report.pdf</ref>]]According to the 2017 Survey Report on the Survival of the Transgender Community in China, published by the Beijing LGBT Center and the Department of Sociology at Peking University,<ref name=":4" /> China's policy and attitude towards transgender people is "improving", citing regulation about transgender SRS in China becoming more friendly in 2017. Among the report's recommendations were to eliminate SRS as a prerequisite for change of gender markers and names on identity documents, a recommendation to add a “third gender” category on official identity documents, to strengthen provisions in existing legislation to prohibit discrimination against transgender people, and to better respect and protect the gender identity and expression of transgender people, de-pathologize transgender people in the mental health system, to advocate for the bodily autonomy of transgender people within the medical system, and include transgender-specific topics in mandatory sex education curricula.

However, although transgender issues in China can be said to be improving, the report also found there are current significant challenges faced by the community, such as unreliable access to healthcare, widespread depression, rejection from family, and disadvantages in employment, issues which are presented in further detail in the report. For example, the report found that most responds thought that the requirements for SRS candidates in various regulations were "unreasonable." Additionally, transgender women reported the highest levels of discomfort in public spaces, with public restrooms causing the highest anxiety among respondents.

Social rejection was included in the study:<blockquote>Nearly 90% of natal families cannot fully accept their transgender children. Of the 835 respondents that reported that they had disclosed their gender identity to their parents or guardians, four times as many respondents said that they had been totally rejected by their parents or guardians (38.9%) than those who said they had been totally accepted (10.9%). Of these, those most likely to experience rejection were transgender women. Nearly half (48.5%)of who totally being rejected by their parents or guardians were transgender women.<ref name=":4" /></blockquote>

==== Status of transgender healthcare ====
According to Dr. Pan Bolin of the Department of Transformative Surgery at Peking University Third Hospital, close to 80% of the transgender community require hormone treatment.<ref name=":5">Tong Xiaoyu. Oct 05, 2021. "At This Niche Clinic, No Stares, Smirks, or Stigma." Sixth Tone. URL: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008624/at-this-niche-clinic%2C-no-stares%2C-smirks%2C-or-stigma [[https://archive.is/20220115190841/https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008904/chinas-first-clinic-for-trans-youth-a-good-step,-advocates-say- Archive]]</ref>

According to the 2017 Survey Report on the Survival of the Transgender Community in China, published by the Beijing LGBT Center and the Department of Sociology at Peking University, although 71.2% of respondents who had had SRS did so in a domestic hospital, approximately one in five of these respondents reported experiencing some form of discrimination, invasion of privacy, medical accident, or complications while a patient at a domestic hospital.

Regarding hormone therapy, the report states:<blockquote>Transgender people who reported using or having used hormone therapy in the past reported that the main channel through which they obtained hormone therapy drugs had been through “online pharmacies” (66%) or “obtained from friends” (51%). The most commonly reported method of using the drugs was “independently reading the directions for use or looking for information” (72%) and “consulting the opinions of friends” (66%).</blockquote>The report is intended "to provide government departments, international groups, and non-profit and for-profit organizations with a statistical foundation for an up-to-date understanding of China’s transgender population."<ref name=":4" />

In 2017, the Comprehensive Gender Dysphoria Clinic was opened.<ref name=":5" />

In 2021, The Children’s Hospital of Fudan University opened a clinic serving transgender children and teenagers in Shanghai.<ref name=":6">Cai Wenjun. 2021-11-05. "Nation's first transgender clinic opens in Shanghai." Shine. https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2111057625/</ref> According to Xin Ying, director of the Beijing LGBT Center, the hospital's move was in line with World Health Organization’s 2019 guidelines on gender-identity related health.<ref name=":3" /> According to an article by Shine, "Professionals will conduct evaluations, diagnoses, psychological treatments and medication" to reduce the negative emotions of transgender minors and help improve their academic performances and family relationships, noting that hospital officials "said the clinic will serve as a bridge to connect transgender children with their families, doctors and society."<ref name=":6" />

According to a Global Times article about the clinic, Luo Feihong, director of the endocrine and genetic metabolic department of the Children's Hospital explained that the professional assessment, diagnosis, psychological treatment and necessary medicine intervention by doctors of multidisciplinary professions are of great help to reduce the negative emotions of transgender children and adolescents. Treatment improves their academic performance, their family relations, and builds a harmonious society.<ref>Nov 04, 2021. "China's first clinic for transgender children and adolescents set up in Shanghai." Global Times. URL: <nowiki>https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202111/1238161.shtml</nowiki></ref>

==== Media ====
The 2021 short documentary film "A Day of Trans" (Chinese: 跨越性别的一天) explores the lived experiences of four Chinese transgender individuals across three generations, exploring their professional career paths, community involvement, social barriers, and their unique approaches to life as transgender individuals across the generations. It is directed by Yennefer Fang, a Chinese transgender independent filmmaker. It follows Liu Peilin, who was born male in 1956 and was raised as a man by a foster family but she always felt like a woman, and started identify as a woman in her 40s. It also follows Mr. C, a 35-year-old transgender man, who became the public face in the fight for job equality in China in 2016 and who won a court case against his employer for discrimination for his gender identity. Finally, it follows two transgender artists who grew up during China's rapid economic growth, who talk about the greater chances they had to express themselves. They work at institutions that offer support to the transgender community. Fang, as a member of the community, said that she tries to observe the status of transgender people from an internal perspective and tries to dispel misconceptions through the documentary, including the perception that "transgenderism" is a contemporary or white, middle-class western term.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY1L1p29vuc "A Day of Trans 跨越性别的一天"]. Yennefer Fang, Yennefer Fang Studios. YouTube. </ref><ref name=":33">Ji Yuqiao. [https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202111/1239389.shtml “New Documentary ‘a Day of Trans’ Explores Experiences of Three Generations of Chinese Transgender Persons."] Global Times. November 19, 2021. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220927204956/https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202111/1239389.shtml Archived] 2022-09-17.</ref>

=== Republic of Cuba ===
[[File:The Conga Against Homophobia and Transphobia, part of the awareness campaign organized by CENESEX.png|thumb|303x303px|The Conga Against Homophobia and Transphobia is held every May in Havana, as part of the awareness campaign organized by CENESEX. The sign reads, "I am part of the Revolution, I too am Fidel."<ref name=":22">Nuria Barbosa León. 2018. “Defending Sexual Diversity.” Granma.cu. December 13, 2018. <nowiki>https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2018-12-13/defending-sexual-diversity</nowiki>.

‌</ref>]]On September 25, 2022 a referendum was held to approve amendments to the Family Code of the Cuban constitution. The referendum passed, legalizing same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption in Cuba, along with other changes such as greater protections provided for children and women's rights, and recognition of diverse family structures and bonds.<ref name=":28">Yeilén Delgado Calvo. [https://www.granma.cu/codigo-de-las-familias/2022-09-26/cuba-dijo-si-al-codigo-de-las-familias “Cuba Dijo Sí.”] [[Granma]]. September 26, 2022. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220928124824/https://www.granma.cu/codigo-de-las-familias/2022-09-26/cuba-dijo-si-al-codigo-de-las-familias Archived] 2022-09-28.</ref><ref name=":29">Labrador, Maria. [https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2022-09-22/love-also-generates-kinship “Love Also Generates Kinship.”] Granma. September 22, 2022. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220928125838/https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2022-09-22/love-also-generates-kinship Archived] 2022-09-28.</ref>

In 1979, laws criminalizing gays were eliminated in [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=COHA|newspaper=Council on Hemispheric Affairs|title=From Persecution to Acceptance? The History of LGBT Rights in Cuba|date=2012-10-24|url=https://coha.org/from-persecution-to-acceptance-history-of-lgbt-in-cuba/|archive-url=https://archive.is/DsVL0|archive-date=2025-06-09|retrieved=2025-06-09|quote=In 1979 the Cuban government finally removed homosexual acts among consenting adults from the Penal Code as a criminal offense.}}</ref> In 1986 the National Commission on Sex Education introduced a program on homosexuality and bisexuality as healthy and positive. Prominent leaders like Cuban president Fidel Castro and Cuban Federation of Women president Vilma Espín began to speak out against anti-gay attitudes.<ref name=":23">Kanowitz, Saul. 2006. “Solidarity Is the Key to Advancing LGBT Rights – Liberation School.” Liberation School – Revolutionary Marxism for a New Generation of Fighters. May 31, 2006. https://www.liberationschool.org/06-05-31-solidarity-is-key-to-advancing-l-html/.

‌</ref> Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), founded in 1988, "promotes sex education based on a socialist, emancipatory paradigm, recognizing the right to sexuality as inalienable" and is attached to the Ministry of Public Health.<ref name=":22" /> In 1997 all anti-gay references in Cuban laws were eliminated.<ref name=":23" /> The Cuban Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia has taken place annually since 2007.<ref name=":22" />

Since 2008, gender reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy have been available free of charge under Cuba’s national healthcare system. In regard to HIV-related issues, condoms are distributed, and sex education and access to antiretroviral drugs have increased.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Lydia Smith|newspaper=The Independent|title=Inside Cuba's LGBT revolution: How the island's attitudes to sexuality and gender were transformed|date=2018-01-04|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cuba-lgbt-revolution-gay-lesbian-transgender-rights-havana-raul-castro-a8122591.html|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/w9vOD|archive-date=2025-06-09|retrieved=2025-06-09}}</ref>

Historically, discriminatory laws existed for the LGBT community in Cuba, although modern efforts have been made to raise awareness and promote LGBT rights. It should be noted that bourgeois media has repeatedly taken advantage of the real, historical persecution of Cuba's LGBT community as an opportunity for inciting public opinion against Cuba and manufacturing consent for Cuba's destabilization. Meanwhile, the LGBT legal and social situation in Cuba continues to develop through the efforts of the Cuban people themselves, with LGBT rights and protections gradually expanding and being debated as education on the subject is promoted by activists and parts of the government in the context of Cuba's own history and culture.[[File:Conversation on cubadebate.cu about the 2022 family code.png|thumb|Users of cubadebate.cu hold a comment section discussion prior to the referendum about Cuba's Family Code (Código de las Familias), voicing their opinions for and against aspects of the change in law which includes the subject of same-sex marriage and parental rights.<ref>{{News citation|author=Yaima Puig Meneses|newspaper=CubaDebate|title=Código de las Familias: Una ley digna y construida por los cubanos (Family Code: A dignified law built by Cubans)|date=6 junio 2022|url=http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2022/06/06/codigo-de-las-familias-una-ley-digna-y-construida-por-los-cubanos/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802120720/http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2022/06/06/codigo-de-las-familias-una-ley-digna-y-construida-por-los-cubanos/|archive-date=2022-08-02}}</ref>]]

==== 2022 Family Code ====
On September 25, 2022 amendments to the Family Code of the Cuban constitution were passed, legalizing same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption in Cuba, along with other changes such as greater protections provided for children and women's rights and recognition of diverse family structures and bonds.<ref name=":28" /><ref name=":29" />

A September 22, 2022 article in [[Granma]], the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the [[Communist Party of Cuba]], described the code prior to its adoption by saying, "For the first time ever, the Family Code recognizes diversity and the value of affection," and continues, "As never before, the Family Code provides the opportunity to strengthen family ties, to access collegiate conflict resolution, to open space for all members of a family to be heard, cared for and respected; it recognizes diversity and the value of affection. Each of the chapters of the Code is a door to inclusion, understanding and, logically, love."<ref name=":29" />

In a July 2022 article, Gay Community News wrote about Cuba's announcement to hold the landmark ‘Family Code’ referendum. The article notes:<blockquote>The consultations showed that approximately 62% of Cuban citizens are in favour of updating the constitution to provide for more inclusive legislation.

Tweeting the news of the assembly’s vote in favour of holding the referendum, Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of Cuba said “The deputies have just approved the #CódigoDeLasFamilias.”

Showing his support for a yes vote he continued “They do well to call it ‘Code of affections’ because it has developed something really new: affection as a legal value.”<ref name=":7">{{News citation|author=Han Tiernan|newspaper=GCN (Gay Community News)|title=Cuba to hold momentous referendum on same-sex marriage|date=25 JULY, 2022|url=https://gcn.ie/cuba-momentous-referendum-same-sex-marriage/}}</ref></blockquote>The article stated that, as well as improving the lives of same-sex couples and their families, the proposed changes to the legislation "would also see greater protections being provided for children as well as guaranteeing improved rights for women" and mentioned that if the referendum were to pass, Cuba would become the eighth country in South America to legalize same-sex marriage.<ref name=":7" />

==== LGBT rights education efforts and CENESEX ====

In regard to Cuba's cultural context as a formerly colonized society with a patriarchal and homophobic influence, a 2020 article on the English version of the CubaDebate website addresses Cuba's past persecution of the LGBT community and its modern efforts to promote education and acceptance about LGBT rights, placing this struggle in the context of global politics:<blockquote>Cuban culture has a strong patriarchal Hispanic-African heritage, with a long homophobic tradition, a model of domination imposed by the Spanish colonial system and its official religion, along with a worldwide scientific approach that stigmatized homosexuality.

When the Revolution triumphed, medical, psychological, social and legal sciences around the world took positions against homosexuality, and considered it an example of illness, insanity, moral decadence and deviation from social norms.

Unfortunately, the permanence of institutionalized homophobia in the first decades of the Revolution has not been analyzed in all its complexity. This situation is exploited by those who only see it as an opportunity to profit from the well-funded market of attacks on Cuba. Given this reality, it is essential that our institutions critically analyze practices that are inconsistent with the humanist spirit of the revolutionary process.<ref name=":15">{{News citation|newspaper=CubaDebate|title=Sexual rights and emancipation in Cuba|date=May 18th, 2020|url=http://en.cubadebate.cu/news/2020/05/18/sexual-rights-and-emancipation-cuba/}}</ref></blockquote>The article goes on to say that the initiative to celebrate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, beginning May 17, 2007, has had "significant impact on the mobilization of the Cuban population’s social conscience" and furthermore, since 2008, "we have dedicated the entire month of May to developing educational and communication activities that promote respect for free sexual orientation and gender identities, as an exercise in justice and social equity, under the name of Cuban Days against Homophobia and Transphobia." According to the article, these days are coordinated by CENESEX, through the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), along with other state institutions, the government, and the support of the Party at all levels. Campaigns have been focused on the family, school, work and, more recently, recognition of all rights for all people, without discrimination due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.<ref name=":15" />

Commenting on the state of the LGBT education campaign and legal status, the article says:<blockquote>In total harmony with these decisions, since 2019, our Constitution textually recognizes sexual and reproductive rights, prohibits discrimination against persons with non-homonormative sexualities, protects family diversity and clearly regulates marriage as a legal institution accessible to all persons without discrimination of any kind.

Of course, we still have a long way to go. That is why we educate for love and respectful coexistence, not for the perpetuation of relationships of domination or violence. We educate in the humanist and democratic principles that are inspired by the emancipatory paradigm of socialism, in freedom as a complex individual and collective responsibility. We will continue working until all justice is achieved.<ref name=":15" /></blockquote>Vázquez Seijido, assistant director of CENESEX, was quoted in a Granma International in a 2018 article as saying:<blockquote>Our institution is very diverse in terms of the activities undertaken. On the one hand, it dedicates important efforts to scientific research in order to obtain the grounds that support undergraduate and postgraduate training processes. We have diploma and masters programs, and we are working on a PhD program. We also teach several short and training courses, which we offer nationally and internationally. We also undertake various actions at the community level, visualized in the four major events held throughout the year, with a vast social and media impact.<ref name=":22" /></blockquote>According to Mariela Castro Espín, Director of the National Sex Education Center (CENESEX), on the topic of homophobia in the cultural and historical context of Cuba and the LGBT education efforts in a 2014 interview:<blockquote>This is a problem the world over. We have inherited a Spanish culture which is strongly patriarchal, homophobic, and highly discriminative. Such a long period of prejudices cannot be eliminated immediately. But, are we going to continue reproducing the oppressive, exploitative past, the past which invents prejudices in order to dominate persons? This is a society in search of socialism; we are fighting to articulate revolutionary ideas which will guarantee a society where the genuine emancipation of human beings is attained.

For that reason, we must go on working, with the support of the media, in different actions which invite reflection. When we talk about an educative strategy, we are talking about education with a bio-ethical viewpoint, which invites dialogue and reflection. We do not want to impose our viewpoints. [...] The most important thing we have achieved is dialogue. The Cuban population is discussing these issues. We receive many letters of thanks, telephone calls, messages on our webpage [...] Many people approach us and tell us very gratifying things, like “now I’m a better person,” “thanks to your work I no longer discriminate against my children,” or “I no longer feel afraid of homosexuality.”<ref>Liberation School. 2014. “Cuba: ‘for Families Free of Homophobia’ – Liberation School.” Liberation School – Revolutionary Marxism for a New Generation of Fighters. August 12, 2014. <nowiki>https://www.liberationschool.org/cuba-for-families-free-of-homophobia/</nowiki>.

‌</ref></blockquote>Liberation News provides a brief overview of Cuba's legal history regarding LGBT matters, saying that in the early years of the revolution, the attitudes and policies in Cuba were similar to the prevailing ideas elsewhere in the world, and that as the revolution developed, "the impact of the international LGBT struggle began to be felt" and was followed by a removal of anti-LGBT laws in 1979, and a growing public awareness and legal protections for the LGBT community.<ref name=":23" />

=== Democratic People's Republic of Korea ===
Information about the [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] (DPRK) is hampered by a lack of reliable information and a preponderance of deliberate disinformation. A commonly used source of information about DPRK is the testimony of defectors, but the defectors are not necessarily reliable sources for several reasons, such as cash incentives that encourage more sensational testimonies, and the mediation of testimonies through U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies. In an article of the South Korean publication [[Hankyoreh]], an analysis is made of the media situation surrounding DPRK: "Time and time again, conservative outlets and foreign media circulate and reproduce rumors based on questionable sources [...] Notably, retractions and apologies are rarely ever provided when the reports are shown to be false."<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Hankyoreh|title=[News analysis] The insidious threat of fake news surrounding North Korea|date=May.5,2020|url=https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/943697.html}}</ref> It is important to keep in mind this situation when seeking information about DPRK. Due to the lack of information and the questionability of information about DPRK, an analysis of LGBT rights in the country will be generally permeated with these problems.

==== LGBT legal situation ====
The Constitution of North Korea does not explicitly address discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Homosexuality and transgender issues are not formally addressed in the penal code of DPRK.

[[Dermot Hudson]], who is associated with the [[Korean Friendship Association]], stated in an interview with Vice that "The DPRK has not legalized gay marriage, but it does not have laws prohibiting homosexuality. In the past, DPRK publications have made critical remarks about homosexuality, but it is not seen as a big priority either way."<ref>Angus Blair. [https://www.vice.com/en/article/yvqpk5/an-interview-with-north-koreas-uk-spokesman "An Interview with North Korea’s UK Spokesman."] Vice.com. March 6, 2014.

</ref>

According to the website of [[Young Pioneer Tours]], a tour company that operates in DPRK, "homosexuality is not against the law in North Korea, and people from the LGBT community are more than welcome to travel here – in fact, openly gay tour guides have frequently led tours here without issue. That being said, North Korea is a sexually conservative country, and this applies to sexuality anywhere on the spectrum," adding that "Overt shows of affection by anyone of any sexual orientation tend to be frowned upon" in DPRK.<ref name=":25">[https://www.youngpioneertours.com/lgbt-north-korea/ “Can LGBT People Travel to North Korea? — Young Pioneer Tours.”] 2019. Young Pioneer Tours. May 10, 2019. [https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.youngpioneertours.com/lgbt-north-korea/ Archive URL].

‌</ref>

A defector named Lee Je-sun, interviewed in 2015, gave an example of a situation in which parents tried to prevent their daughter from being in a lesbian relationship. Although they would try to call the police to break up the relationship, Lee explains that the police have no power to arrest her because homosexuality is not illegal in DPRK. Lee explains that "even if the police wanted to play hardball," the same-sex couple couldn't be arrested, and all the police could do to enforce the parents' wishes was "make them write a letter in which they promise not to cross-dress" after which the daughter would be free to go.<ref name=":17" />

Regarding DPRK's views on human rights in general, the ''Understanding Korea'' by Kim Ji Ho states: <blockquote>The DPRK government will make constant efforts to perfect the system of human rights laws to give fuller play to the advantages of the people-centred socialism of the Korean style, on the basis of the experience and lessons gained in establishing human rights mechanisms so far. It will develop the system of socialist human rights laws by stipulating afresh the omitted parts of the system, amending and supplementing the existing ones and formulating new rights in the direction of raising the effectiveness of human rights legislation to the maximum and fully reflecting the demands of norms of international human rights laws. It will fully reflect the people’s demands and interests in working out human rights laws and encourage them to actively participate in this undertaking. Officials in the legislation of human rights laws will be encouraged to have consultation with the masses, give an ear to their voice and accept their good opinions. The system of petition will be used more effectively so that everyone can present his or her opinion on the work of formulating new human rights laws or amending and supplementing the existing ones. <ref name=":24" /> </blockquote>Regarding prospects for the rights of "special groups", ''Understanding Korea'' states: "Regarding the protection and promotion of the rights of special groups, including children, women, the elderly and people with disabilities, as an important task, the DPRK government is making strenuous efforts for its implementation." Kim Ji Ho also calls attention to the aggressive U.S. and Western policies towards DPRK that aim to stifle and destabilize the country, which causes a great negative impact on the Korean people's ability to enjoy their rights:<blockquote>The economic sanctions and blockade the US, in collusion with its vassal states, has imposed on the DPRK have been unprecedented in their viciousness and tenacity. These moves are aimed, in essence, at isolating and stifling the country and destabilizing it so as to overthrow its system. The moves the US resorts to by enlisting even its vassal states are a crime against human rights and humanity, which check the sovereign state’s right to development and exert a great negative impact on its people’s enjoying of their rights, a crime as serious as wartime genocide.<ref name=":24" /></blockquote>Kim states that DPRK places a focus on economic development as a way of promoting human rights, contrasting it with U.S. and western efforts to stifle and destabilize DPRK by raising concern about "human rights" in DPRK, and states that DPRK "attaches importance to the development of the sectors that are directly linked to improving the people’s living standards, provides the working people with wonderful conditions for labour and material life, and steadily improves the people’s living standards through the expansion of the people-oriented policies of the ruling party and the government." Kim adds that "Despite the continued moves of the US and its followers to isolate and stifle the DPRK, the government advances policies for the protection and promotion of human rights of the people and is making every effort to bring them into effect."<ref name=":24" />

==== LGBT social situation ====
According to various defector testimonies and anecdotal stories of tourists to DPRK, the Western conceptualization of LGBT identities is not widespread in DPRK.<ref name=":19">Oliver Hotham. November 13, 2013. "Being Gay in the DPRK". NK News. URL: https://www.nknews.org/2013/11/being-gay-in-the-dprk/</ref><ref name=":26" /><ref name=":17" /> Although the Western framework of LGBT identity is not widespread in DPRK, defectors who have later encountered the Western conceptualization of LGBT identities have later described themselves or others as being gay, lesbians, or bisexuals, and described gender non-conforming people, as well as describing situational homosexuality in the military.<ref name=":26" /><ref name=":17" /> Accounts of former DPRK citizens as well as of visitors to DPRK have described varying attitudes and levels of awareness about LGBT issues among individual people in DPRK.<ref name=":17" /><ref name=":19" /> An article by ''NK News'' states that "Korean culture is traditionally conservative and any displays of open sexuality are frowned upon" and suggests that north Korean attitudes toward homosexuality can be compared to those of south Korea in the recent past.<ref name=":19" />

Jang Yeong-jin (장영진), an openly gay North Korean defector, wrote a semi-autobiographical book titled ''A Mark of Red Honor'' (Korean title: ''붉은 넥타이'') about his experience of defecting due to his unfulfilling relationship with his wife, and his later discovery of and identification with the gay identity after his defection.<ref name=":32">{{Web citation|newspaper=서울신문|title=동성애 탈북자 장영진씨 “북한 떠난 지 25년 만에 짝 찾아 결혼 계획” (Homosexual defector Jang Young-jin "plans to find a mate and marry him after 25 years of leaving North Korea")|date=2021-03-21|url=https://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20210321500086}}</ref> In an interview, he describes how in DPRK he never encountered the concept of homosexuality and sought out doctors to find out why we was not attracted to his wife, but found no conclusive reasons. He also states that homosexual behaviors are common in the military, but that this is more due to the long celibacy policy of the military service, saying "there is almost no awareness of homosexuality in the North" and that "it is very common for men to hug and kiss each other in the military". He adds that "there is no concept of homosexuality, or any problem with it."<ref name=":26">{{Web citation|author=최재봉|newspaper=Hankyoreh|title=탈북자이자 성소수자 작가, 이중의 장벽에 맞서다 (North Korean defector and LGBT writer confronting the double barrier)|date=2015-04-16|url=https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/culture/book/687207.html}}</ref>

In a panel discussion hosted by [[Nodutdol]], participants of the [[Korea Education and Exposure Program]] (KEEP), who travelled to DPRK with delegations of people of the Korean diaspora, discussed their experiences in north Korea. One panelist stated that two members of their delegation identified as queer and were interested in discussing the topic of queerness and queer politics with north Koreans if they got the chance to, noting that although "queerness" may be regarded as a Western construct, they were still interested in discussing the topic. Toward the end of their trip, they gave their translators a brief glossary of LGBT terminology. They explained, "we created a brief list, a glossary of terms related to LGBT communities, and we just handed it to them. And the following delegation after us, in 2013 I believe--this is what I heard from them--they found out that the interpreters really studied the words, the language exchange that we did, and they integrated these new words into their work." The panelist concluded, "it's not a homophobic country. It's like, we can't make that kind of assumptions, either." Another panelist commented, "We were queer, we were bi-racial, bi-ethnic, you know, and there was this really overwhelming embracing of us as Koreans".<ref>[https://eastisapodcast.libsyn.com/keep-stories-from-north-korea "KEEP: Stories from North Korea."] Panel discussion hosted by Nodutdol. [[The East is a Podcast]], March 7, 2022.</ref>

According to The Korean Friendship Association, quoted in ''NK News'': <blockquote>The Korean Friendship Association, the leading international organization promoting North Korea, insists that even more liberal treatment takes place, claiming that “the DPRK recognizes that many individuals are born with homosexuality as a genetic trait and treats them with due respect…Homosexuals in the DPRK have never been subject to repression, as in many capitalist regimes around the world.”<ref name=":19" /></blockquote>The ''NK News'' article comments that "North Korean propaganda has referred to homosexuality as something foreign and un-Korean, a product of western imperialism and vice. [...] A cursory look through KCNA archives brings up little mention of homosexuality in the DPRK; any mentions of it are devoted to criticizing either the United States or Japanese imperialism. Homosexuality is often portrayed as a form of imperialist humiliation –in the same category as the sexual enslavement of Korean women during the Japanese occupation." Hazel Smith, described as a "North Korea watcher" at the Wilson Institute, was reported in the article as saying that homosexuality as it is conceived of in the West does not exist conceptually in DPRK. The article also talks about the experiences of gay tourists in DPRK:<blockquote>Simon Cockerell, who runs North Korea travel service Koryo Tours, says he frequently takes gay western tourists to North Korea, and the responses are often surprising.

“When (North Koreans) meet gay tourists (of which there are many) they often think it is quite funny,” he said, “a little bit of a playground attitude, basically.”

“I wouldn’t say I have seen much in the way of homophobia from any North Koreans at all,” Cockerell said. “After all, you may hate that which you don’t understand, but its hard to be anti-something that you have no real conception of at all.”

[...] A gay tourist who has visited the DPRK several times who chose to remain anonymous, told ''NK News'' that during his last visit he had been escorted around the country by two very different tour guides. One, a girl from an elite Pyongyang family, exhibited an awareness of homosexuality and the other, a male who had never left the country, seemed unaware of it even as an idea.

When the tour concluded the source noted that: “the female guide even said something approving of the couple being together, and how nice it was that they had decided to be ‘best friends’ for life”. Not a remarkably progressive statement, certainly, but in a country where homosexuality seems to barely be recognized, this tour guide’s acceptance of a gay couple is certainly noticeable.<ref name=":19" /></blockquote>Young Pioneer Tours answers questions on their website about LGBT travelers to DPRK, saying that, "anything outside heteronormativity" is not something to which people in DPRK are accustomed, and state that the most that a LGBT traveler to DPRK can expect in terms of scrutiny is curiosity about their sexual orientation. However, the tour company also notes that asking people from DPRK questions of a sexual nature may cause offense, and should be avoided. They state that LGBT visitors to DPRK "will be accommodated and made to feel welcome in the country".<ref name=":25" />

A defector named Lee Je-sun, interviewed in 2015, stated that "transgender people do exist in North Korea" but that they do not receive sexual reassignment surgery, noting limitations in the medical infrastructure and the cost of such procedures. Lee also states that while in DPRK, they had never come across the terms "gay" and "lesbian" but that they had noticed people with a "different sexual preference" and said "as long as they were good people, we didn’t have any problem being friends with them regardless of their sexual preference" and also says later in the interview that they had met many lesbians in DPRK and that many of them wore men's clothes, kept their hair short, and "acted like men" and liked to date women. In regard to discrimination, Lee said "people would gossip from time to time because they didn’t have anything else to do in their free time. People didn’t treat them with contempt and the LGBTs were never shunned or excluded from the society" but also notes that same-sex relationships have a "bad reputation" among some people, such as parents who try to prevent their daughters from being in lesbian relationships. Lee remarked on lesbian relationships, saying that "adults used to say that they’re so sweet to their girlfriends. Once you fall in love with them, you’re not likely to be attracted to men again. [...] Parents of girls would do anything to keep their daughters from lesbian girlfriends." Lee mentions that although some parents would try to get legal authorities involved to split up their daughters' same-sex relationships, the police had no legal ability to arrest them for homosexuality, and after writing a letter promising not to cross-dress, they would be free to go.<ref name=":17" />

===== Interview of a defector on LGBT social situation =====
[[File:NK News article about LGBT.png|thumb|774x774px|A screenshot of the interview about LGBT issues in DPRK appearing in NK News.]]
'''''Note:''' There are some apparent editorial comments/questions in parentheses in the original article, and they are preserved here in translation. Additionally, the Korean language often uses gender-neutral pronouns, as well as leaving pronouns out of sentences, although gendered forms of pronouns do exist and may be used. Therefore, the use of pronouns below may be ambiguous or inconsistent with English language conventions.''

In a 2015 Korean-language article titled "Are there gays in North Korea? I asked a North Korean!"<ref name=":17">NK News. 2015-02-08. [https://kr.nknews.org/%EB%B6%81%ED%95%9C%EC%97%90%EB%8F%84-%EA%B2%8C%EC%9D%B4%EA%B0%80-%EC%9E%88%EB%82%98%EC%9A%94-%EB%B6%81%ED%95%9C-%EC%82%AC%EB%9E%8C%EC%97%90%EA%B2%8C-%EB%AC%BC%EC%96%B4%EB%B4%A4%EC%8A%B5%EB%8B%88/ "북한에도 게이가 있나요? 북한 사람에게 물어봤습니다!"] ("Are there gays in North Korea? I asked a North Korean!") NK News. [https://kr.nknews.org/%EB%B6%81%ED%95%9C%EC%97%90%EB%8F%84-%EA%B2%8C%EC%9D%B4%EA%B0%80-%EC%9E%88%EB%82%98%EC%9A%94-%EB%B6%81%ED%95%9C-%EC%82%AC%EB%9E%8C%EC%97%90%EA%B2%8C-%EB%AC%BC%EC%96%B4%EB%B4%A4%EC%8A%B5%EB%8B%88/ URL]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220803063529/https://kr.nknews.org/%EB%B6%81%ED%95%9C%EC%97%90%EB%8F%84-%EA%B2%8C%EC%9D%B4%EA%B0%80-%EC%9E%88%EB%82%98%EC%9A%94-%EB%B6%81%ED%95%9C-%EC%82%AC%EB%9E%8C%EC%97%90%EA%B2%8C-%EB%AC%BC%EC%96%B4%EB%B4%A4%EC%8A%B5%EB%8B%88/ Archive URL]. [https://archive.md/sOwSw Archived English Version].</ref> the following descriptions are given, identified in the article as being provided by Lee Je-sun (이제선), their age stated as "late 20s" and who defected in 2011.

Commenting on their own attitude toward apparently LGBT individuals:<blockquote>Actually, it was in a South Korean school, while listening to a lecture about women's studies, that I learned about LGBT, since in North Korea I never heard anything about the concept of lesbians or gays. While I was listening to that lecture, I started to piece together [...] things I had experienced in North Korea. When I lived in North Korea, I didn't really think anything about them other than thinking of them as unusual people with unusual tastes. That's because whatever someone's sexual orientation may be, if they like people, we can become friends without any issue. People around would talk behind their back, but they were busy earning a living, so it was just the chatter of older ladies in their free time, and it wasn't contempt or exclusion. [...] I believe that understanding, consideration, and social concern for sexual minorities are necessary. </blockquote>On the topic of male homosexuality, the interviewee stated:<blockquote>I have not personally seen gays directly. I've only heard that that kind of behavior comes up a lot in the military, according to what adults said. [...] However, as this could just be an alternative way of relieving the desire for women, it's a bit difficult to conclude that it's gay (homosexuality).</blockquote>Describing an apparently gender non-conforming individual, the interviewee said:<blockquote>When I was younger, I once went on a mobilization out to a rural farming village. In North Korea, each year in autumn the first through third-year high school students are sent out to a farming village for a month in order to provide support. At that time, in a very remote country village, I saw an unusual person.

They definitely looked like a man, but they wore heavy makeup, and every day they would sit on the stepping stones by the stream. I was quite curious, so I asked the townspeople, and they said that the person was a man but they kept on wearing women's clothing and putting on makeup, so their parents--who were in the city--sent them to go live in the village. I would secretly look at this person with my friends. I found them odd but also fascinating.</blockquote>Regarding lesbian relationships, the interviewee stated:<blockquote>I actually saw a lot of lesbians, and even hung out with them. I don't know if it's because I'm a woman, but there were a number of lesbians around. The majority of the lesbians liked wearing mens' clothing. They also would have their hair in a short, sporty style and wear mens' clothing, and would have masculine behaviors. They all liked dating women. According to what adults would say, if a women got involved with one of them, it would be difficult to break up, because it's better than being with a man. They themselves would like it, but the people around them wouldn't. There is also one's social image, and especially the sentiment that one's parents would never give permission.</blockquote>Regarding the disapproving response of parents to lesbian couples, and the attitude of the police:<blockquote>People naturally like talking behind others' backs, don't they? The people around them (the lesbian couple) would guess about things they weren't even doing, which would spread rumors. The lesbian's parents had already given up (?) their daughter, so it didn't matter, but the heterosexual girl's parents' stance was different.

In order to find some way to get their daughter out of it, they even made a report to the police and hit her. However, even though the police went to get the lesbian, there was no law for punishing her. At most, the police could only scold her for public indecency, and as it would also be difficult for them to hold her accountable for a serious offense, they had her write a pledge to not wear men's' clothes again. The important thing is that even though people would laugh or talk about the lesbians, people didn't despise or exclude them.</blockquote>Regarding an apparently gender non-conforming and/or possibly intersex and/or bisexual individual, the interviewee said:<blockquote>There was one unusual person living the next neighborhood over. They were neither a woman nor a man. Thanks to this, the people in that neighborhood were never bored. I didn't know whether I should call them ajimi (big sister?) or uncle, to the point that I would even hesitate because I couldn't distinguish. That person even had a husband and a pair of kids. Even so, they were having an affair with a woman so there was always gossip about them.

This person was masculine to the extent that on first glance, anyone would think they were a man. They had a fuller chest than anyone else, but people took this person to be a man. In North Korea, women can't ride bikes but she alone could ride one.

This was because even the traffic police couldn't distinguish their gender. While they were trying to determine whether they were a woman or a man, they would already have passed by. They also had a good personality and a kind heart, so I liked them a lot. [...]

Whenever I went to my friend's house, they always came there, and they would do all of the house chores that a man does. Of course they maintained a good relationship with their husband and took care of their kids and financial parts, they were responsible for all of these things. Something people were very curious about regarding this person was actually, more so than about them being bisexual, that they earned money well and maintained the house well, maybe they were jealous of her diligence. </blockquote>The interviewee addresses sexual reassignment surgery procedures, speaking on both intersex-related and gender-affirming reassignment surgery:<blockquote>In regards to sex reassignment, rather than by individual inclination, it is handled by the government. For example I have heard that if someone is born and they physically don't have male or female genitalia, in the hospital where they are born, after a consultation is done with their parents, they will perform a sex reassignment surgery. However, I haven't experienced this personally and neither has anyone I know, so this is just hearsay.

I can confidently say that it is completely impossible in North Korea to change sex based on one's own sexual orientation, regardless of physiological issues. That's because medical facilities aren't developed enough, and there aren't wealthy people to pay the huge expenses in order to support their sexual orientation.<ref name=":17" /></blockquote>

==== Unreliability of defector testimonies ====
''See also: [[Library:DPRK Study Guide|DPRK Study Guide]]''

Jiyoung Song, former UN Consultant for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights who has interviewed North Korean defectors since 1999, wrote in a 2015 article for the Asia and Pacific Policy Society, that "numerous" testimonies by North Korean defectors "are later found unreliable" and that there is "a fundamental question about heavily relying on defectors’ testimonies as credible evidence" adding, "there are issues with the current methodologies used in investigating North Korean human rights and serious ethical dilemmas many researchers have to deal with."<ref name=":18">{{Web citation|author=Jiyoung Song|newspaper=Asia and the Pacific Policy Society|title=Unreliable witnesses: The challenge of separating truth from fiction when it comes to North Korea|date=2015-08-02|url=https://www.policyforum.net/unreliable-witnesses/}}</ref>

Among the issues with the current methods of obtaining defector testimonies, Song includes that cash payments have been "standard practice" in the field, paying up to $200 USD per hour as of 2014, and that in South Korea, defectors are paid between $50 to $500 USD per hour, "depending on the quality of information s/he had." Regarding this, Song states that this practice "raises serious questions about the payment as ethical research: What is the impact of payment on interviewees’ stories? How does the payment change the relation between a researcher and an interviewee? The more exclusive stories they have, the higher the fees are." According to Song, "North Korean refugees are well aware of what the interviewer wants to hear" and "The more terrible their stories are, the more attention they receive. The more international invitations they receive, the more cash comes in. It is how the capitalist system works: competition for more tragic and shocking stories."<ref name=":18" />

On her personal experience with interviewing North Korean defectors, former UN Consultant Jiyoung Song states:<blockquote>In my 16 years of studying North Korean refugees, I have experienced numerous inconsistent stories, intentional omission and lies. I have also witnessed some involved in fraud and other illicit activities. In one case the breach of trust was so significant that I could not continue research. It affected my professional capacity to analyse and deliver credible stories in an ethical manner but also had a deep impact on personal trust I invested in the human subjects I sincerely cared about.<ref name=":18" /></blockquote>Song also speaks on the role of intelligence agencies in mediating such testimonies:<blockquote>Behind all these challenges in studying North Korean refugees, there has been a lingering question about the role of the South Korean National Intelligence Service in the making of North Korean defector-activists. The sudden rise and disappearance of certain North Korean defectors, their testimonies before foreign parliaments and the UN or the spread of unverifiable sources of information through major news outlets seem to be facilitated by a combination of various individual and institutional forces.<ref name=":18" /></blockquote>
=== Lao People's Democratic Republic ===
[[File:Proud to Be Us (Laos).png|thumb|A photo from the organization Proud to be Us (Laos), a LGBT civil society organization in Laos.<ref name=":20">{{Web citation|newspaper=Civil Society Laos|title=Proud to Be Us (Laos)|url=https://www.laocivilsociety.org/en/business/proud-to-be-us-laos/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803082338/https://www.laocivilsociety.org/en/business/proud-to-be-us-laos/}}</ref>]]Same-sex sexual activity is legal in [[Lao People's Democratic Republic|Laos]], and is not believed to have ever been criminalized. Currently, there are no laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the national Constitution of Laos does not expressly address sexual orientation or gender identity issues. Regarding citizens' rights in relation to gender, Article 35 states "Lao citizens are all equal before the law irrespective of their gender, social status, education, beliefs and ethnic group" and Article 37 states "Citizens of both genders enjoy equal rights in the political, economic, cultural and social fields and in family affairs."<ref>{{Web citation|author=Translated by Khamphaeng Phochanthilath|newspaper=Constitutions Project|title=Lao People's Democratic Republic's Constitution of 1991 with Amendments through 2015|url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Laos_2015.pdf?lang=en}}</ref>

According to a study by APCOM published in 2020, "LGBTQI people in Laos are living in a relatively tolerant society. While it is observed that the LGBTQI community in Lao can express themselves, there are challenges to being LGBTQI in Lao society. Some of the social, cultural and religious beliefs and norms are connected to LGBTQI people experiencing stigma, discrimination and marginalization." The report notes that although Lao culture is "for the most part" "rather tolerant" of homosexuality, lesbians are particularly misunderstood in Laos.<ref name=":30">[https://www.apcom.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-11-26_Report_APCOM_FinanceInc_LaoPDR_Rev_2-withLogos.pdf "The State of LGBTQI People’s Economic Inclusion: Lao PDR."] APCOM. 2020. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220929030759/https://www.apcom.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2020-11-26_Report_APCOM_FinanceInc_LaoPDR_Rev_2-withLogos.pdf Archived] 2022-09-29.</ref>

The report also states, "The government is more open to opening and expanding space for civil society organizations to work on LGBTQI issues; there are now elected transgender, lesbian and gay public officials; many LGBTQI people can access information through social media, and more and more people seem to be coming out. On the other hand, there are still many forms of violence and discrimination happening every day to LGBT people in Laos. Society’s structural focus on binary gender norms and the heterosexual unit of the family prevents people from having a better understanding of LGBT issues."

The APCOM study described the most significant forms of LGBT discrimination in Laos as a significant lack of recognition as individuals with aspirations, potential and agency because of traditional societal and family structures, in addition to stigma, discrimination and misunderstanding of LGBTQI identities by society at large, particularly towards lesbians, as well as discrimination in educational institutions and in the workplace and health facilities, and a lack of mechanisms to report violence and discrimination.<ref name=":30" />

The Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic, health workers, teachers, parents, and community leaders has worked to design programs supported by the The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The goal is to promote the rights of young people and encourage them to access information, care, and assistance. One example of such activity was a mobile clinic which reached youth, including LGBTQI youth, in remote areas and equipped them with sexual and reproductive health resources.<ref>[https://www.friendsofunfpa.org/unfpa-helps-laotian-lgbtqi-youth-find-peace-purpose-and-community/ “UNFPA Helps Laotian LGBTQI Youth Find Peace, Purpose, and Community.”] Friends of UNFPA. May 19, 2021. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220119132732/https://www.friendsofunfpa.org/unfpa-helps-laotian-lgbtqi-youth-find-peace-purpose-and-community/ Archived] 2022-01-19.</ref>

According to a 2008 U.S. Department of State "Human Rights Report": "Within lowland Lao society, despite wide and growing tolerance of homosexual practices, societal discrimination persisted against such practices. There was no official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, but social discrimination existed. The government actively promoted tolerance of those with HIV/AIDS, and it conducted awareness campaigns to educate the population and promote understanding toward such persons."<ref>[https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eap/119045.htm "2008 Human Rights Report: Laos."] U.S. Department of State. 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. February 25, 2009. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090226175604/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eap/119045.htm Archive] URL.</ref>

==== Lao Youth and Adolescent Development Strategy ====
According to the Lao Youth and Adolescent Development Strategy for 2021-2030, published by the Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union in August 2021, "Diverse groups of adolescents and youth, such as out of school, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex, and adolescents and youth with disabilities, were consulted" in the strategy formulation process.<ref>[https://lao.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/lao_youth_and_adolescent_development_strategy_2021-2030_eng_26nov21-final.pdf "Lao Youth and Adolescent Development Strategy 2021-2030."] The Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union. August 2021. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220430034558/https://lao.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/lao_youth_and_adolescent_development_strategy_2021-2030_eng_26nov21-final.pdf Archived] 2022-04-30.</ref> The APCOM study mentions the Lao People’s Democratic Republic National Adolescent and Youth Policy includes affirmative action for vulnerable adolescents and youth which includes LGBTQI people. Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union which is one of the mass youth organizations in Laos and has been lobbying to put emphasis on vulnerable adolescents and youth.<ref name=":30" />

==== Proud to Be Us Laos ====
According to the website Civil Society Laos, the LGBT organization Proud to Be Us Laos (PTBUL) is directed by Anan Bouapha was established in 2012, operates in Vientiane, and has the stated goal to "Support people with sexual and gender diversity (LGBTIQ) to participate in national development affairs and be the spokesperson/representative of people of sexual and gender diversity in the Lao PDR in order to work with the government to address issues related to this community."<ref name=":20" />

According to Bouapha, PTBUL's director, in a 2015 article: "LGBT’ is still abstract terminology, yet to be clearly identified to the eyes and ears of the public." Additionally, Bouapha is quoted as saying that "Many people might think that Laos is conservative and extremely close-minded when it comes to LGBT issues. Realistically, our culture and mentality seem to be quite open-minded to people from all walks of life [...] I have seen many transgender people wearing traditional costumes to temples, attending traditional ceremonies and some gay students expressing his identity among his peers and teachers."<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=J&C Group|title=In Laos, An Invisible Minority Is Finding Its Voice|date=2015-10-20|url=https://jclao.com/in-laos-an-invisible-minority-is-finding-its-voice/}}</ref>

In 2019, members of PTBUL participated in an event for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which a 2019 UNESCO article states "was a chance for them to show society at home and the international community that LGBTI people in Laos not only exist, but are ready to be seen and heard" and states that with "around 150 participants, mostly Lao government officials, foreign diplomats and members of civil society organizations, it was the biggest IDAHOT celebration to occur in the country to date."<ref>{{Web citation|author=David Young|newspaper=UNESCO|title=Being LGBTI in Laos: Increasing visibility and support of a growing movement|date=29 May 2019|url=https://bangkok.unesco.org/content/being-lgbti-laos-increasing-visibility-and-support-growing-movement}}</ref>

==== Community Health and Inclusion Association (CHIAs) ====
CHIAs is a non profit organization established in 2012, which aims to promote and ensure that empowerment, rights and gender approaches are integrated in all new and revised programmes, policies, and frameworks on health and development that affect the key, vulnerable and marginalized groups. They describe their target group as "Young key, vulnerable population (KVP) who are living and affected by diseases including people Who Use and Inject Drug (PWUD-PWID), LGBTIQ, Sex Workers, Mobile & Migrant including ethnic and disability."<ref>[https://www.laocivilsociety.org/en/business/community-health-and-inclusion-association-chias/ “Community Health and Inclusion Association (CHIAs).”] Lao Civil Society. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220929040532/https://www.laocivilsociety.org/en/business/community-health-and-inclusion-association-chias/ Archived] 2022-09-29.</ref>

==== Health services for LGBTQI people in Laos ====
According to the 2020 APCOM study, when participants were asked about ordinary health services they have access to, the most common answers were sexual health services. Gay male participants reported they had access to HIV tests, sexual transmitted disease (STIs) treatment, primary healthcare. Some of them had access to cosmetic/plastic surgery in [[Thailand]]; Lesbian participants had access to general health care but there is no specific HIV and STIs services; Trans men participants had access to general health care but there is no specific HIV and STIs services; Trans women participants all had access to HIV and STD treatment and general health services. Some of them also undertook plastic surgeries in Thailand. Hormone injections were available in Laos but had not been administered by medical doctors; Bisexuals were able to access HIV treatment, STIs and general health care. All the participants reported dissatisfaction with the medical environment in terms of encountering discriminatory attitudes. Trans women also seem to face higher incidences of discrimination from health service providers. The report recommends that health professionals should receive training on LGBTQI people’s mental and sexual health; and specifically, on mental and sexual health for trans people, including hormonal counselling.<ref name=":30" />

==== Media ====
The 2019 short film "Let's Love" explores the struggles of its main subject, Mai, a lesbian in Laos and her complex relationships with her family, friends and wider society as she navigates her identity.<ref>[http://seajunction.org/lets-love-on-lesbian-invisibility-in-laos-thanita/ “Let’s Love: On Lesbian Invisibility in Laos - SEA Junction.”] SEA Junction. February 21, 2019. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220929025117/http://seajunction.org/lets-love-on-lesbian-invisibility-in-laos-thanita/ Archived] 2022-09-29.</ref>

=== Socialist Republic of Vietnam ===
[[File:PFLAG Vietnam Photo.jpg|thumb|A photo of from the PFLAG Vietnam Facebook Group. PFLAG is an organization for supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and their families.]]According to a 2022 article by Vietnam Investment Review, "[[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]] has implemented some legislative protections for the LGBTI+ population. In 2014, the new Marriage and Family Law lifted the restriction on same-sex marriage; while Article 37 of the 2015 Civil Code, which went into effect in 2017, permits gender reassignment surgery."<ref name=":12">{{News citation|author=Hue Anh|newspaper=Vietnam Investment Review|title=Vietnamese LGBTI+ people paint their own identities|date=July 06, 2022|url=https://vir.com.vn/vietnamese-lgbti-people-paint-their-own-identities-94707.html}}</ref>

According to an ILGA Asia report from 2021, "In general, there is more social and cultural tolerance toward LGBTIQ people in the larger cities than that in rural areas. Politically, LGBTIQ activists in Vietnam perceived that they can be more focused when they have to deal with only one single party government."<ref name=":14" />

The ILGA report, quoting one of its members, says the following regarding the relationship between activists and the single party government in Vietnam:<blockquote>Lawmakers do not know about LGBTIQ and we [activists] provide them with information. Gradually, this has become a peaceful relationship…. Ministries consulted with us about LGBTIQ related issues and vice versa. I think by acting as government’s ally, we can achieve more …and we tactfully advocate for more “space” for our movements and for other human rights CSOs in Vietnam… A vivid example is that we can prove to the world that parades [VietPride events] can be conducted in this country…. The interesting thing is that in Vietnam, human rights can lean on LGBTIQ rights to sustain, that is totally different in many contexts in the world that I would know.<ref name=":14" /></blockquote>A 2021 article published by [[NonLa Collective]], who describe themselves as a "digital front of Vietnamese communists", speaks on the topic of LGBT issues in Vietnamese politics and history:<blockquote>As we see it, gender and sexuality liberation has a different character in Vietnam as opposed to capitalist countries precisely because of it NOT being driven by economics. We agree [...] that bourgeois-liberal identity politics constitute little more than marketing ploys and cynical co-opting of LGBTQ+ issues.

Vietnam’s traditional culture was quite open in many ways in terms of gender and sexual liberty, especially compared to contemporary cultures. For instance, being gay has ''never'' been criminalized in Vietnam at any point in recorded history, and we have rich traditions such as the Lên đồng, which allowed trans people to live openly in our society.

Prejudices against gay and trans people in Vietnam were heavily exacerbated by foreign influences: first by feudalism, as Neo-Confucianism imposed upon our society the idea that we must be “breeders” (that we are not patriotic or socially subservient if we do not get married and produced children), and next by colonialism, as the French imposed Western prejudices and intolerances on us for many decades.

Therefore, our LGBTQ+ liberation movement has a much different character than Western countries and must be viewed as such. At a grassroots level, Vietnam has native access and traditional experiences to draw from in our struggle for equivalence and liberation in society. We do not have to have access to capitalist wealth and media influence to spread our messaging, as is necessary in capitalist nations (though we do have extremely popular LGBTQ+ celebrities and significant media representation for gay, trans, bisexual, and queer people on national television [...]

With all this being said, we must recognize that LGBTQ+ rights in Vietnam still remain an important issue, and much more progress needs to be made. Fortunately, LGBTQ+ community members have been fighting for our rights publicly, with much more activity ramping up over the last decade. And although we have a long way to go, we still have made achievements which should be recognized, especially in terms of social awareness of LGBTQ+ community, increasing acceptance, and relatively low violence towards LGBTQ+ people compared to most other countries on Earth. In addition, the Ministry of Health has officially announced an intention to provide healthcare services for the LGBTQ+ community in its goals for 2021–2030. [...]

Ultimately, it’s true that our society has many problems when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues. It’s also true that the Vietnamese revolutionary government can and should do more, and more quickly, to address the needs and concerns of LGBTQ+ citizens. But, speaking as LGBTQ+ Vietnamese ourselves, we do not feel as if we need to be “rescued” by foreign-imperialist organizations like USAID, nor do we see how dismantling our revolutionary government would ''help'' our LGBTQ+ movement in any way.<ref name=":27">{{Web citation|author=NonLa Collective|newspaper=Medium|title=Debunking Meo Mun’s Lies About Vietnam|date=November 10, 2021|url=https://nonla.medium.com/debunking-meo-muns-lies-about-vietnam-ddcdccbdcaec|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815041811/https://nonla.medium.com/debunking-meo-muns-lies-about-vietnam-ddcdccbdcaec|archive-date=2022-08-15|retrieved=2022-08-15}}</ref></blockquote>In a 2020 article by the Asahi Shimbun entitled, "Vietnam’s ‘first trans dad’ shows LGBT+ openness and challenges", the birth of a child to a transgender couple "highlighted Vietnam’s position as one of the most progressive countries on LGBT+ rights in Asia" and stated that "Vietnam has quietly become a trailblazer on LGBT+ rights in Asia in recent years, with laws to decriminalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to live together, although it stopped short of a full legal recognition of such unions."<ref name=":8">"Vietnam’s ‘first trans dad’ shows LGBT+ openness and challenges" Thomson Reuters Foundation. The Asahi Shimbun. July 3, 2020. URL: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13512489</ref>

Grete Lochen, Ambassador of Norway to Vietnam has been quoted as saying, “Vietnam has a youthful, diverse, and proud LGBTI+ community with increasing acceptance from society. Being a lesbian myself, I have personally experienced this advancement very clearly. The country can serve as an example of inclusiveness for other nations in the area, albeit considerable work remains.”<ref name=":12" />

In a 2014 article published by Thanh Nien News, it was stated that the law in Vietnam no longer specifically prohibits same-sex marriages, but says they aren't recognized by the government, saying that it does not allow same-sex partnership either, but noted that "the issue has been open for discussion during many house meetings." The article also mentions that a nationwide survey conducted by iSEE in 2013 found that 57 percent of people supported same sex couples to raise children together and 51 percent supported their rights to legally share assets.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Thanh Nien News|title=Vietnam allows surrogacy within families, denies same-sex marriage|date=June 20, 2014|url=http://www.thanhniennews.com/politics/vietnam-allows-surrogacy-within-families-denies-samesex-marriage-27502.html}}</ref>

A 2019 article states that "Quality health care services at the public Binh Dan Hospital in HCM City’s District 3 is now being offered to people in the LGBT community." Nguyen Tan Thu, a doctor specializing in serving LGBT people, said the service at a public hospital was especially important because patients had often complained about discriminatory attitudes at public hospital facilities. To meet the high demand of LGBT individuals, the hospital provides counselling about sexual and reproductive health for them and their relatives. The hospital also provides screening, prevention and treatment for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as general counselling. They are also provide counselling about hormone therapy before, during and after transition, and receive treatment for complications after transgender surgery. The article says that Binh Dan Hospital is one of several health facilities in the city providing health care services for LGBT people.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=Vietnam Plus|title=HCM City: Quality health care services offered for LGBT community|date=January 15, 2019|url=https://en.vietnamplus.vn/hcm-city-quality-health-care-services-offered-for-lgbt-community/145157.vnp}}</ref>

==== Civil Social Organizations ====
Civil Social Organisations (CSO) have "closely been controlled by the single party government in Vietnam," according to a 2021 ILGA Asia report on Vietnam. The main reason is that the government is cautious of CSOs, especially those working on human rights, who may do harm to the Communist party and the government. In the past, CSO "was a very sensitive and contentious term in the government’s official documents." However, at the present time, the government is "more open to CSOs working on health and LGBTIQ matters," and the ILGA report quotes an ILGA member as saying that "Not all CSOs working on human rights will have to face tight control from the government… It depends…. If you are working on human rights related to the environment, land or freedom of speech issues, you will be tightly controlled by the government… If you are working on human rights of women or children, you will be given more space for operation.”<ref name=":14" />

==== Influence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Catholicism ====
According to a 2021 ILGA Asia report, Vietnam is heavily influenced by the Confucian culture originating from China that "strongly supports heterosexual and traditional family models of straight men and women. That, in turn, has had significant influence on social perceptions and attitudes toward LGBTIQ people." Additionally, the report states that Buddhism and Catholicism are the major religions in Vietnam, and notes that "there has been no apparent evidence of stigma and discrimination towards the LGBTIQ community in the country from organized religious groups." Under the observation of the researcher, Buddhist philosophy in Vietnam has peaceful and tolerant approaches in embracing LGBTIQ people. Meanwhile, Catholics in Vietnam are believed to be more conservative about LGBTIQ people, although according to the report they "do not inflict harm on the LGBTIQ movement as a whole."<ref name=":14" />

==== Article 37 of the Civil Code ====
[[File:Many LGBT activists flock to the streets in Hanoi to applaud the new legislation. They raise flags and boards, some of which read “Cam on Quoc hoi” (Thank you, National Assembly). .jpg|thumb|371x371px|LGBT activists gather in Hanoi to applaud the National Assembly's approval of a bill for legal gender change legislation in 2015.]]In 2015, the Vietnamese National Assembly approved a bill to legalize sex reassignment surgery and to introduce the right to legal gender recognition for transgender people who have undergone such surgery.<ref>"Vietnam: Positive Step for Transgender Rights." Human Rights Watch. URL: https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/11/30/vietnam-positive-step-transgender-rights</ref> The National Assembly, having agreed in principle that this law should be made in 2015, have since given a mandate to the Ministry of Health to work out the specifics of that law, as well as how it should be implemented.<ref name=":9" />

Regarding the slow progress of the bill, the director of the ICS Center, a nationwide legal advocacy group, stated:<blockquote>“Though the transgender law is still debated within the transgender community, the main reason that hasn’t been passed is because there have been a lot of new laws proposed in the last two years,” says Linh. “At present, the transgender law is not the Health Ministry's priority. The draft bill has been proposed eight times from 2017 until now but it still hasn’t been prioritised, most likely because this law only affects a small minority of the population.”

Despite this challenge, there is a palpable sense of hope and anticipation within the local community that major progress could be made in the next few years. “I don’t think we’ll never be prioritised just because we're a minority,” says Linh. “It just means we need stronger visibility, to raise our voices and express our needs.” [...] “We hope to achieve same sex marriage, hopefully in the next 6 years,” says Linh. “I hope that the transgender law will be resolved sooner, since it’s achieved more progress than the same-sex marriage law.” <ref name=":9" /></blockquote>

==== Transgender community ====
According to a 2012 report on the transgender community in Vietnam by the Institute for Studies of Economy, Society, and Environment (ISEE), In Vietnam, the term “transgender” is relatively new, thus the usage of the term may be tricky. A number of Vietnamese terms are currently used to imply “transgender,” such as “người chuyển giới”,“người xuyên giới” or “người vượt giới.” On the other hand, the term “transsexual” is more or less unanimously understood as people who desire to have their bodies changed or have undergone surgeries for sex change. The report states that in practice, "people usually use the term “người chuyển giới”, which causes confusion in both understanding the actual meaning and the subject being referred to. This is because many transgender people do not completely “switch” to the opposite biological sex. Instead, they often have a sense of a vague gender identity, or may change between forms and genders, depending on specific time and circumstances. These individuals are commonly categorized into two groups, namely Male to Female Transgender (MtF) and Female to Male Transgender (FtM)." MTF transgender people in Ho Chi Minh City often call each other “bóng” (shadow), “bóng lộ” (open shadow). In Hanoi, they often use the word “Tigi” (Vietnamese pronunciation of the acronym TG for transgender). FTM transgender people often refer to others and themselves as “trans” and “trans guy”.<ref name=":13">{{News citation|author=Phạm Quỳnh Phương, Lê Quang Bình, Mai Thanh Tú|newspaper=Institute for Studies of the Economy, Society, and the Environment|title=Aspiration to be Myself: Transgender people in Vietnam: realities and legal aspects|date=2012|url=https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/images/Ausland/Suedostasien/Transgenders_report.pdf|Publishing location=Hanoi}}</ref>

The 2012 ISEE report states, "It is obvious that the transgender group is one of the most vulnerable and stigmatised in society" and provides several examples of challenges faced by transgender people both worldwide and within Vietnam, listing examples such as prejudiced and inaccurate messages in media, violence, rape, robbery, bullying at school and lack of support from family, and difficulties in finding employment. The report also notes that transgender people in Vietnam "face prejudices also from the gay and lesbian community, who think that transgender people are the reason for social stigmas against the LGBT community as a whole."<ref name=":13" />

Providing examples of problems faced by the transgender community of Vietnam, a 2020 Asashi Shimbun article quotes Mai Như Thiên Ân, a transgender man and founder of the Female-to-Male (FTM) Vietnam Organization:<blockquote>“When trans people go for a checkup at the hospital, they would be denied because their gender on paper doesn’t match their appearance," [...] The biggest problem is health care. Trans people still buy and inject hormones on their own and go to ‘underground’ places for (reassignment) surgery,” said An, 26, who since 2015 has run a Facebook transgender support group with over 5,500 members.<ref name=":8" /></blockquote>

==== Media ====

The director of the ICS center, a legal advocacy group, spoke on LGBT representation in media:<blockquote>“In the past 2-3 years, there has been a lot of LGBTQ representation,” says Linh. “Talk shows and reality shows create a lot of positive influence, although most of them are not perfect, and there are still stereotypes and bias. But it does bring different stories to the general public. That is something we appreciate about the media. And we will need all this visibility and much more in order to pass the transgender law in Vietnam.”<ref name=":9" /></blockquote>The article notes that though stigma and harmful stereotypes certainly remain in pop culture, LGBTQI+ representation seems to be steadily increasing and improving in Vietnam. Citing examples, the article says that in the Spring of 2019, popular TV game show Người Ấy Là Ai featured a young gay male contestant who shared his story on national television. His parents later joined him onstage and talked about how they had come to love, accept, and celebrate their son for who he is, and former Vietnam Idol singer and transgender pop icon, Huong Giang, is also a regular judge on this show, which has subsequently featured a handful of other LGBTQI+ contestants.<ref name=":9" />

In contrast to these recent increases of positive representation in media, a 2012 study on challenges faced by the transgender community in Vietnam, by ISEE, describes the state of LGBT representation in media back in 2012: "Prejudiced and inaccurate messages in the media and telecommunication channels have created and enforced misleading perceptions and social stigmas. Transgender people are described as 'homosexual', 'ridiculous' or 'sick'. They are not even regarded as a community" and adds that "the media often mistakenly regards transgenderism and homosexuality as the same, which causes the homosexual community to distance itself from the transgender community."<ref name=":13" />

As of mid-2022, the Vietnamese LGBT+ YouTube Channel "Come Out - LGBT Việt Nam" had 328.6K subscribers and features interviews of LGBT individuals in Vietnam.

In 2015, a biographical documentary film called ''Finding Phong'' (Vietnamese: ''Đi Tìm Phong'') was released, following the journey of a Vietnamese trans person seeking to transition and receive sexual reassignment surgery. According to VN Express, it was the first independent Vietnamese documentary to be screened in the country's top cinema chains, and Vietnamese film authorities gave it a rating of "suitable for all ages."<ref>{{News citation|author=Dat Nguyen, Bao Ngoc|newspaper=VN Express International|title=Finding Phong finds a paying audience in Vietnam|date=2018-10-31|url=https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel-life/finding-phong-finds-a-paying-audience-in-vietnam-3831289.html|quote=The applause was not for a sold-out Hollywood blockbuster, a Vietnamese action movie or a tear-jerking romance. This time, the audience was cheering for Finding Phong, the first independent Vietnamese documentary to be screened in the country's top cinema chains.}}</ref>

According to an article titled, "Founding A Community For Transgender Men in Vietnam" from Trans World View, there was "practically no visibility" for transgender men in Vietnam in 2009. However, in that year, "a young transgender man named Nguyễn Thiện Trí Phong, who goes by Aki, began sharing his experience of being transgender through newspapers, television, and other media." This increased visibility helped the community of transgender men in Vietnam become more visible and grow. According to Mai Như Thiên Ân, the founder of FTM Vietnam, "[Before him], if transgender men took hormones, they went ‘stealth’ and tried to live like cisgender men. Young transgender men who were not taking hormones were afraid and said they were lesbians. Aki’s visibility helped create a safe zone." According to the article, the website LesKing also gradually began expanding to include transgender men. In 2011, it featured an article that helped its readers understand the differences between identifying as “SB,” a tom/tomboy (another identity for a masculine woman), and a transgender man. The article states: "it was an “aha” moment for hundreds, if not thousands, of transgender men like Ân who finally felt they had a way to explain their identity."<ref>''Founding A Community For Transgender Men in Vietnam: Interview with Mai Như Thiên Ân, the Founder of FTM Vietnam''. August 20, 2019. URL: https://transworldview.com/ftm-vietnam-founding-a-community-for-transgender-men-in-vietnam/</ref>

== LGBT rights in former AES countries ==

=== Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) ===
After the [[Russian revolution of 1917|October Revolution]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|Russia]] repealed old [[Russian Empire (1721–1917)|tsarist]] laws against homosexuality.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Olga Khoroshilova|newspaper=BBC|title=1917 Russian Revolution: The gay community's brief window of freedom|date=2017-11-09|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41737330|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250428130519/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41737330|archive-date=2025-04-28|retrieved=2025-05-16|quote=After the October Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks scrapped and rewrote the country's laws. They produced two Criminal Codes - in 1922 and 1926 - and an article prohibiting gay sex was left off both.}}</ref> The 1922 and 1926 criminal codes of the RSFSR did not mention homosexuality, but some other republics ([[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–1991)|Azerbaijan]], [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1921–1991)|Georgia]], [[Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1925–1991)|Turkmenistan]], and [[Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (1924–1991)|Uzbekistan]]) did ban homosexual relationships.<ref>{{Citation|author=Dan Healey|year=2017|title=Masculine Purity and “Gentlemen's Mischief”: Sexual Exchange and Prostitution between Russian Men, 1861-1941|title-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/abs/masculine-purity-and-gentlemens-mischief-sexual-exchange-and-prostitution-between-russian-men-18611941/30CD22517A4CEBE83F7D12C5EF9D910F|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.2307/2697270}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=Dan Healey|year=2002|title=Homosexual Existence and Existing Socialism: New Light on the Repression of Male Homosexuality in Stalin's Russia|title-url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article-abstract/8/3/349/65019/HOMOSEXUAL-EXISTENCE-AND-EXISTING-SOCIALISMNew|publisher=Duke University Press|doi=10.1215/10642684-8-3-349}}</ref> In the 1930s, Soviet policy towards LGBT people regressed for a combination of reasons identified by [[Leslie Feinberg]]. During the second five-year plan, which ran from 1932 to 1937, more women than ever entered the workplace. Likely as a result of this, birth rates dropped from 43.36 live births per thousand people in 1930 to 29.78 in 1935, with a partial recovery by 1940 that was then erased by the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Aaron O'Neill|newspaper=Statista|title=Crude birth rate of Russia 1840-2020|date=2024-08-09|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1038013/crude-birth-rate-russia-1840-2020/|retrieved=2025-07-31}}</ref> Additionally, peasants with more conservative views began to flow in to the cities from the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1991)|Ukrainian SSR]] to avoid the [[Soviet famine of 1931–1933|famine]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Leslie Feinberg|year=2004-2008|title=Lavender & Red|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Lavender_%26_Red|pdf=https://www.workers.org/books2016/Lavender_and_Red.pdf|publisher=Workers World}}</ref> Like most countries at the time, the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|USSR]] considered homosexuality to be a mental disorder but usually used therapeutic or medical treatment instead of legal punishments against gay people. Article 121 of the criminal code prosecuted about 1,000 men each year and was almost only enforced in cases of pedophilia.<ref name=":35">{{Web citation|author=[[Alfonso Casal]]|newspaper=[[The Red Phoenix]]|title=On homosexuality in the USSR|date=2023-05-08|url=https://redphoenixnews.com/2023/05/08/on-homosexuality-in-the-ussr/}}</ref>

=== Mongolian People’s Republic ===
In 1961, under the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, consensual same-sex sexual acts were decriminalized. This position remained through the new Criminal Code (2002).<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=ILGA Database|title=Mongolia|date=2025-06-09|url=https://database.ilga.org/mongolia-lgbti|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241224083218/https://database.ilga.org/mongolia-lgbti|archive-date=2024-12-24|retrieved=2025-06-09|quote=In 1961, under the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, consensual same-sex sexual acts were decriminalised. This position remained through the new Criminal Code (2002).}}</ref>

=== People's Socialist Republic of Albania ===
During the communist era of Albania, Article 137 of the 1952 Penal Code, as amended in 1958, preserved the criminalization of sexual intercourse between men that was brought upon by the leadership of Ahmet Zog, though same-sex conduct between females wasn't criminalized as the article only targeted gay men.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Kristina Millona|newspaper=Kosovo 2.0|title=Albania’s communist regime targeted gay men|date=2024-08-10|url=https://kosovotwopointzero.com/en/albanias-communist-regime-targeted-gay-men/|archive-url=https://archive.is/bsYb9|archive-date=2025-06-09|retrieved=2025-06-09|quote=During communism, Article 137 of the 1952 Penal Code, as amended in 1958, preserved the criminalization of sexual intercourse between men.}}</ref> Albania legalized homosexuality on paper in 1977, but at the same time prosecuted it through other legal means until the 1990s.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Cäcilia Wosnitzka|newspaper=Copernico|title=A gay 'information office for the Eastern Bloc'?|date=2024-09-18|url=https://www.copernico.eu/en/articles/gay-information-office-eastern-bloc-transnational-activism-and-creation-queer-knowledge-during-cold-war|archive-url=https://archive.is/3Ykn|archive-date=2025-06-09|retrieved=2025-06-09|quote=Albania legalized homosexuality on paper in 1977, but at the same time prosecuted it through other legal means until the 1990s}}</ref>

=== People's Republic of Bulgaria ===
Bulgaria's first Criminal Code (1896) criminalized sodomy. In 1951, penalties were aggravated to up to three years of imprisonment with the enactment of the new Criminal Code (1951). Though, finally in 1968, Article 420 of the new Criminal Code (1968) repealed the previous Criminal Code and did not incorporate new sodomy provisions, thereby decriminalizing consensual same-sex sexual acts.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=ILGA Database|title=Bulgaria|url=https://database.ilga.org/bulgaria-lgbti|archive-url=https://archive.is/2o95v|archive-date=2025-06-09|retrieved=2025-06-09|quote=Finally, in 1968, Article 420 of the new Criminal Code (1968) repealed the previous Criminal Code and did not incorporate new sodomy provisions, thereby decriminalising consensual same-sex sexual acts.}}</ref>

=== Czechoslovakia ===
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Czechoslovakia in 1961,<ref>{{Web citation|author=Libor Kukal|newspaper=Radio Prague International|title=Why did Czechoslovakia decriminalise homosexuality relatively early?|date=2023-06-22|url=https://english.radio.cz/why-did-czechoslovakia-decriminalise-homosexuality-relatively-early-8786664|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414193411/https://english.radio.cz/why-did-czechoslovakia-decriminalise-homosexuality-relatively-early-8786664|archive-date=2024-04-14|retrieved=2025-06-09|quote=Czechoslovakia decriminalised homosexuality in 1961}}</ref> and went into effect on January 1st, 1962.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Equaldex|title=1960s in LGBT Rights|url=https://www.equaldex.com/timeline/1960s|archive-url=https://archive.is/PPG0Z|archive-date=2025-06-09|retrieved=2025-06-09|quote=In 1962, provisions against homosexuality were removed from the penal code and homosexuality was decriminalised.}}</ref>

=== German Democratic Republic ===
The [[German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)|German Democratic Republic]] (GDR) is widely regarded, even by some liberal anti-communist news outlets<ref>{{Web citation|author=Samuel Huneke|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Communist states have sometimes been havens for LGBTQ rights|date=2022-02-22|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/22/communist-states-have-sometimes-been-havens-lgbtq-rights/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819143809/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/22/communist-states-have-sometimes-been-havens-lgbtq-rights/|archive-date=2022-08-19|retrieved=2025-05-16}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Samuel Clowes Huneke|newspaper=Boston Review|title=Gay Liberation Behind the Iron Curtain|date=2019-04-18|url=https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/gay-liberation-behind-iron-curtain/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250415104606/https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/gay-liberation-behind-iron-curtain/|archive-date=2025-04-15|retrieved=2025-05-16}}</ref> as the most progressive 20th century socialist state where the subject of LGBT rights was concerned.

The GDR officially decriminalized homosexuality in 1968, although gay people had already been exempt from legal prosecution since the 1950s.<ref name=":34">{{Web citation|author=Victor Grossman|newspaper=[[Monthly Review]]|title=My seventy years and the departed GDR|date=2022-08-24|url=https://mronline.org/2022/08/24/my-seventy-years-and-the-departed-gdr/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825143732/https://mronline.org/2022/08/24/my-seventy-years-and-the-departed-gdr/|archive-date=2022-08-25|retrieved=2022-08-26}}</ref> The judge presiding over the decriminalization by law stated:<ref>{{Citation|author=Raelynn J. Hillhouse|year=1990|title=Out of the Closet behind the Wall: Sexual Politics and Social Change in the GDR|title-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2500548|page=588|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.2307/2500548}}</ref>

<blockquote> “Homosexual persons are thus not excluded from the socialist society and civil rights are guaranteed to them as to all other citizens. Their discrimination and moral devaluation is to be rejected accordingly and they are to be protected from all attacks on their integrity (e.g., through defamation, bodily injury, hooliganism) through civil as well as criminal proceedings.” </blockquote>

By 1987, the GDR guaranteed equal rights for LGBT citizens.<ref name=":35" /> The state allowed for transgender people to adopt children and sponsored sex-reassignment surgery for people in adulthood. Notably, after the GDR's illegal annexation by West Germany in 1990, international queer publications suggested that trans rights might be set back by decades.<ref>Sullivan, Louis. Will German Reunification Hurt Transsexual Rights?, FTM Newsletter, June 1990.</ref>

=== Hungarian People's Republic ===
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Hungary in 1961, but until 1978 the age of consent for homosexual sex was 20 as opposed to 14 for heterosexual sex.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Linda Rapp|newspaper=GLBTQ Archive|title=Hungary|url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/hungary_S.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250605032429/http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/hungary_S.pdf|archive-date=2025-06-05|retrieved=2025-06-09|quote=Homosexuality was decriminalized in Hungary in 1961, but until 1978 the age of consent for homosexual sex was 20 as opposed to 14 for heterosexual sex.}}</ref>

=== Polish People's Republic ===
In 1948, the [[Polish People's Republic (1947–1989)|Polish People's Republic]] made 15 the age of consent for all sexual acts, whether homosexual or heterosexual.<ref>{{Web citation|author=John D. Stanley|newspaper=GLBTQ Archive|title=Poland|url=http://www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/poland_S.pdf|archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2025-0801-2333-54/www.glbtqarchive.com/ssh/poland_S.pdf|archive-date=2025-08-01|retrieved=2025-08-01|quote=In 1948, the Communist regime made age 15 the age of consent for all sexual acts, homosexual or heterosexual.}}</ref>

=== Socialist Republic of Romania ===
Under [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], Article 200 was introduced as a section of the Penal Code of Romania that criminalized homosexual relationships.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Human Rights Watch|newspaper=Refworld|title=Public Scandals: Sexual Orientation and Criminal Law in Romania|date=1998-01-01|url=https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/hrw/1998/en/40605|archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2025-0906-0856-49/https://www.refworld.org:443/reference/countryrep/hrw/1998/en/40605|archive-date=2025-09-05|retrieved=2025-09-05|quote=Most significantly, Article 200, paragraph 1, of the 1968 Romanian criminal code stated: "Sexual relations between persons of the same sex are punishable by imprisonment of one to five years."}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Social issues]]
[[Category:LGBT+]]
[[Category:Pages to be protected]]

Conspiracy theory

2025-11-22T04:31:23Z

97.242.136.127: Added two new sources, rearranged some sentences, expanded text with two examples of reactionary conspiracy theories -C:

[[File:White-Genocide paper..png|thumb|391x391px|A person promoting the "[[White genocide|Great Replacement"]] conspiracy theory.]]
A '''conspiracy theory''' is an attempted rationalization of an event or pattern of events through which a small yet powerful group of people coordinate to propagate a lie or act maliciously, often for the purpose of keeping their power. Conspiracy theories often reject commonly held knowledge or empirical data and rely on a number of cognitive biases to be believed in. Technically, whether or not something is a "conspiracy theory" has little bearing on whether or not it is true, as actual conspiracies can and do happen; however, the methodology of conspiracy theories is still flawed by their nature.<ref>{{Citation|author=Harambam, J., & Aupers, S.|year=2021|title=From the unbelievable to the undeniable: Epistemological pluralism, or how conspiracy theorists legitimate their extraordinary truth claims.|title-url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367549419886045|pdf=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1367549419886045|doi=10.1177/1367549419886045|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Conspiracy theories have been used to justify large atrocities, such as [[genocide]].<ref name=":2">{{Citation|author=Douglas, Karen M.; Uscinski, Joseph E.; Sutton, Robbie M.; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Nefes, Turkay; Ang, Chee Siang; Deravi, Farzin|year=2019|title=Understanding Conspiracy Theories|title-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pops.12568|pdf=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/pops.12568|isbn=0162-895X|doi=10.1111/pops.12568|trans-lang=English}}</ref>

[[Fascism|Fascists]] and [[reactionaries]] are the biggest believers in conspiracy theories (of any kind) which is a way of blaming the difficulties of [[capitalism]] on other causes, usually minority groups.<ref name=":2" /> This kind of theorizing is exemplified by the anxiety over the [[World Economic Forum|World Economic Forum's]] "Great Reset"; while the Reset itself focused on concessions to prevent "violent shocks like conflicts and even [[Revolution|revolutions]]" in the words of its creators, conservative and libertarian groups funded by oil companies accused the Reset of being a "socialist" plot to destroy capitalism.<ref>{{Video citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0enOIccHPg|channel=Bes D. Marx|title=What is the World Economic Forum really planning? {{!}} Conspiracy Myth vs. Capitalist Reality|date=2023-01-17}}</ref> These conspiracy theories often attempt to give the government/state a character independent from [[class struggle]], as in the case of a hacker who accessed [[United States Department of State|US State Department]] messages about [[Imperialism|regime change]] in [[State of Libya|Libya]], but only because he was looking for evidence within them that the [[Illuminati]] controlled the [[Government of the United States of America|US government]].<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Lorenzo|newspaper=Popaganda|title=Chomsky vs. Parenti, part 2: "Conspiracy Theorism"|date=2016-05-31|url=https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/part-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531193908/https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/part-2/|archive-date=2016-05-31|retrieved=2025-11-12|quote=[I]t’s possible for investigations rooting out “conspiracies” to go wildly wrong. This is what happened in the case of Marcel Lehel, the Romanian better known as the hacker “Guccifer.” Guccifer gained illicit access to the private online accounts of Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, and George W. Bush, amongst many others. As he was reading then-Secretary of State Clinton’s personal emails, many exchanged with the CIA on the subject of Libya, Guccifer was looking for evidence of Illuminati connections. In Guccifer’s case, the bad conspiracism was blinding him to the valid conspiracism—he was watching the regime change-sausage get made, and all he could see was a non-existent cabal. This is an object lesson in the dangers of attributing blame to one set of actors in contravention of existing evidence. The most insidious such theory in history is likely anti-Semitism: an idea that attributes the predatory behavior of a capitalist ruling class to a group that has been victimized throughout history, namely Jews. The perversion of class-based analysis earned anti-Semitism the nickname “the socialism of fools,” and similar tropes pop up in many instances. Any time that blame is taken off the ruling class and diverted onto a set of bad apples is an example of bad theorizing[.]}}</ref> As noted by [[Lenin]] in his seminal work, [[Library:Vladimir Lenin/The state and revolution|The State and Revolution]], governments do not have independent character or agency. They are byproducts of the conflict in-between and [[Contradiction|inability]] to [[Harmony(chinese philosophy)|harmonize]] the differences of the [[Class|classes]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Lenin|title=The State and Revolution|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Vladimir_Lenin/The_state_and_revolution|quote=On the one hand, the bourgeois, and particularly the petty-bourgeois, ideologists, compelled under the weight of indisputable historical facts to admit that the state only exists where there are class antagonisms and a class struggle, “correct” Marx in such a way as to make it appear that the state is an organ for the reconciliation of classes. According to Marx, the state could neither have arisen nor maintained itself had it been possible to reconcile classes. From what the petty-bourgeois and philistine professors and publicists say, with quite frequent and benevolent references to Marx, it appears that the state does reconcile classes. According to Marx, the state is an organ of class rule, an organ for the oppression of one class by another; it is the creation of “order”, which legalizes and perpetuates this oppression by moderating the conflict between classes. In the opinion of the petty-bourgeois politicians, however, order means the reconciliation of classes, and not the oppression of one class by another; to alleviate the conflict means reconciling classes and not depriving the oppressed classes of definite means and methods of struggle to overthrow the oppressors.}}</ref>

One reason why right-wingers are prone to conspiracy theories is because they have an [[Elite theory|elitist]] view of history, where events are caused by autonomous human agents with power, and therefore write off mass movements as having some kind of secret elite origin.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Michael E. Acuña|newspaper=Common Ruin|title=The Origins and Ideological Function of Cultural Marxism|date=2015-01-13|url=https://commonruin.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/the-origins-and-ideological-function-of-cultural-marxism-revised.pdf|quote=As a consequence of the right’s elitist conception of history, conspiracy theories abound in conservative historiography and social analyses when events develop in a manner contrary to their economic and/or cultural preferences. This is especially so on the fringes of the right, among its various fascistic and religious fundamentalist sects. Whether it be a cabal of malicious Zionists seeking to subvert gentile societies in order to achieve racial hegemony, or secular humanists unwittingly fulfilling the antichrist’s unholy objectives through the promotion of nonreligious educational curricula, conservative sociology is fundamentally based upon autonomous human agents directing the course of history. This applies equally to when society happens to be in accord with the values conservatives espouse: the institutional hierarchy is thought to be occupied by men of principle in these instances.}}</ref> On the other hand, as [[Michael Parenti]] points out, the denial by some on the [[compatible left]] such as [[Noam Chomsky]] of any conspiring by the [[bourgeoisie]] is also undialectical because it assumes that the bourgeois class behaves completely [[Spontaneous|spontaneously]] and lacks any [[class consciousness]] or organization. In reality, just like [[Proletariat|workers]] [[Unionization|unionize]] or form [[Vanguard party|parties]], the bourgeoisie must cooperate to defend its continued existence as a class, which at times requires secrecy because bourgeois interests conflict with the class interests of the majority of the population.<ref>{{Video citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t21UZxRYYA4|channel=Alternate Analysis|title=Michael Parenti, Conspiracy and Class Power|date=2020-04-20}}</ref> Accusations of conspiracy theorism may be used against those on the left and/or outside the [[imperial core]] who use inductive reasoning to discuss [[covert action]] or make systemic critiques, which cannot be done without the use of some induction, categorically excluding them from "reasonable" and "moderate" discussion.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Web citation|author=Lorenzo|newspaper=Popaganda|title=Conspiracy Facts|date=2014-12-26|url=https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2014/12/26/conspiracy-facts/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919191033/https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2014/12/26/conspiracy-facts/|archive-date=2015-09-19|retrieved=2025-11-12}}</ref>

== History ==
The term "conspiracy theory" has been in use since the 1860s but was largely revived after [[United States of America|Statesian]] President [[John F. Kennedy]]'s assasination.<ref>{{Web citation|author=GRAPH MASSARA|newspaper=Associated Press|title=‘Conspiracy theory’ coined long before JFK assassination|date=2023-01-06|url=https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-conspiracy-theory-jfk-941578119864}}</ref> Conspiracies have existed throughout history, e.g. when the tobacco industry conspired to downplay or even cover the effects of their products on health.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Neil Francey, Simon Chapman|newspaper=National Library of Medicine|title=“Operation Berkshire”: the international tobacco companies' conspiracy|date=2000-08-05|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118337/}}</ref> The difference between a conspiracy and a conspiracy ''theory'' is that the latter requires someone to spread the rumor. As such, a conspiracy theory may very well turn out to be true eventually.

== List of false conspiracy theories ==

=== Flat Earth ===
[[Flat Earth|Flat earth]] is the disproved idea that the Earth is in the shape of a flat disk with a ring of ice on its exterior. Furthermore, they believe that gravity is merely caused by the earth constantly accelerating upwards. Those who believe in this idea often also believe other conspiracy theories such as the idea of the [[Moon landing conspiracy theories|Moon landing hoax]] due to the fact that should the Earth be flat, the pictures of the Earth from the Moon would have to have been falsified.{{Citation needed}}

=== Fluoridation ===
Fluoridation refers to the conspiracy theory that the addition of fluoride to the public water supply is intended for mind control purposes or for the benefit of pharmaceutical companies as fluoride makes people sick.{{Citation needed}} The reason some cities add fluoride to their water is because of its health benefits on teeth,<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=American Cancer Society|title=Water Fluoridation and Cancer Risk|url=https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/water-fluoridation-and-cancer-risk.html}}</ref> though some countries have stopped adding fluoride as the delivery mechanism (ingestion in the body) may not provide the desired effects as revealed by later studies.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Maitreyee P. Unde, Raju Umaji Patil, Persis P. Dastoor|newspaper=National Library of Medicine|title=The Untold Story of Fluoridation: Revisiting the Changing Perspectives|date=2018-12-22|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6309358/}}</ref>

=== Great Replacement ===
{{Main article|Great Replacement}}
The Great Replacement is a conspiracy theory claiming that immigrants from [[Latin America]] and [[Africa]] will replace white people as the majority of the population in the [[imperial core]]. [[Fox News Channel|Fox News]] host [[Tucker Carlson]] has promoted this conspiracy theory.<ref>{{Web citation|author=[[Brian Becker]]|newspaper=[[BreakThrough News]]|title=Buffalo Massacre Aftermath: Mainstream Media Still Validating Racist 'Replacement Theory'|date=2022-05-20|url=https://breakthroughnews.org/buffalo-massacre-aftermath-mainstream-media-still-validating-racist-replacement-theory-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930043804/https://breakthroughnews.org/buffalo-massacre-aftermath-mainstream-media-still-validating-racist-replacement-theory-2/|archive-date=2022-09-30|retrieved=2022-11-23}}</ref>

=== New World Order ===
The New World Order is an umbrella term for many conspiracy theories which surround a 'secret powerful government'. This correlates with the term 'deep state'. A popular conspiracy theory is the Illuminati, which was the name of a real secret society in the 18th century, but which conspiracy theorists wrongly claim still exists.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Fred Kelly|newspaper=The Week|title=What is the Illuminati conspiracy theory?|date=2024-09-26|url=https://theweek.com/62399/what-is-the-illuminati-and-what-does-it-control|retrieved=2024-10-21}}</ref>

=== QAnon ===
[[QAnon]] is a [[4chan]]-based conspiracy theory claiming that Statesian billionaire [[Donald Trump]] is saving the [[United States of America|USA]] from a cabal of Satanic pedophiles led by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]].<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|author=Raul Diego|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=From British Israelism to the Miami Model: What’s Behind QAnon’s 2020 Resurgence?|date=2020-10-06|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/israelism-police-miami-model-qanon-2020-resurgence/271785/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016233224/https://www.mintpressnews.com/israelism-police-miami-model-qanon-2020-resurgence/271785/|archive-date=2021-10-16|retrieved=2022-08-08}}</ref>

=== Russiagate ===
{{main article|Russiagate}}
Russiagate is a conspiracy theory that the [[Russian Federation]] was responsible for Trump's victory over [[Hillary Clinton]] in the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 U.S. presidential election]] when it was actually caused by the [[slavery]]-based electoral college.<ref>{{Web citation|author=[[Brian Becker]]|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=Past a point of no return: “Russiagate” and the reorientation of U.S. imperialism|date=2018-04-07|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/past-point-no-return-russiagate-reorientation-u-s-imperialism/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518233640/https://www.liberationnews.org/past-point-no-return-russiagate-reorientation-u-s-imperialism/|archive-date=2022-05-18|retrieved=2022-10-30}}</ref>

=== Reptilians ===
Antisemite and fascist [[David Icke]] in his book ''Children of the Matrix'' was the first to promote the theory that some of the world's leaders and celebrities are actually shape-shifting reptilians, or lizard people, taking the shape of humans so as to embed themselves in society and direct it from these positions of power. His theory has parallels with older antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as that Jewish people control banks, entertainment etc. forming a shadowy cabal, or that they were depicted in propaganda posters as having lizard-like features (likely itself originating from the original sin in the [[Bible]]).

=== Staged moon landing ===

== List of conspiracy theories that may be true ==

=== JFK assassination ===
{{Main article|John F. Kennedy#Assassination}}
According to the documentary ''JFK: Destiny Betrayed'', the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] assassinated [[John F. Kennedy]] as part of a coup to reassert the rule of the [[Imperialism|imperialist]] [[ruling class]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=John Potash|newspaper=[[CovertAction Magazine]]|title=New Four-Part Documentary “JFK: Destiny Betrayed” Leaves No Doubt That JFK Was Assassinated as Part of CIA Coup|date=2022-07-26|url=https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/26/new-four-part-documentary-jfk-destiny-betrayed-leaves-no-doubt-that-jfk-was-assassinated-as-part-of-cia-coup/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623164517/https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/26/new-four-part-documentary-jfk-destiny-betrayed-leaves-no-doubt-that-jfk-was-assassinated-as-part-of-cia-coup/|archive-date=2023-06-23}}</ref>

=== 9/11 ===
{{Main article|September 11 attacks#Alleged U.S. government involvement}}

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Outline needs additional content]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]