There's a reform of traffic laws where I live. A major talking point is that the penalties for offences will follow a scaling system, where if you keep committing them, the penalty increases. Penalties scale based on the severity of the crime. For example, parking on an illegal spot where you block public transport will net you a 350€ fine plus confiscation of your license for 70 days. Meanwhile, driving with over 1.1 g/l of alcohol in your blood will result in a 1200€ fine, losing your license for 180 days, plus 2 months to 5 years of prison time. If you get caught for that a second time, you lose your license for 7 years, and 10 more years if you do it a third time.

Some listed offences:

• Not respecting a stop sign

• Driving 50km/h over the limit

• Parking on a spot reserved for people with special needs

• Driving on a bus lane

• Using your phone while driving

• Driving under the influence (higher BAC leads to a higher fine)

• Driving without a seat belt (cars) or helmet (motorcycles)

Also, the default speed limit in residential areas will decrease to 30 km/h from 50 km/h, except in roads with at least two lanes per direction (or two lanes for one-way streets).

Yesterday, while walking, I saw a poster from an anarchist group bashing these reforms, saying that the new traffic laws are only focused on penalties and that the police will only enforce them on poor people. I will also quote one of their closing statements: "it's true that if the traffic laws were to be enforced for even some hours, cities would 'freeze'"

I hadn't given much thought to the changes to the laws, with my general idea being that they were a good change, but the poster got me thinking. Of course, penalties like these will disproportionately target poor people. Also, as leftists, we should be weary of excessively penalizing some crimes, focusing on the root cause instead. Year-long sentences for stealing food will not decrease similar thefts, but feeding people will.

However, there are no material conditions that cause someone to ignore a stop sign, scroll TikTok while waiting for the traffic lights, speak on the phone while driving or driving without a seat belt. At best you can make contrived arguments about people being on a rush to get to their jobs, but that's what it is; a contrived argument that probably applies to less than 1% of the offenses.

Drunk driving is also a big issue. I acknowledge that some people feel forced to do it because of the lack of good nightly public transport. However, no one is forcing them to drink over the limit and drive back, or stay up so late that they can't catch public transport on their way home, or not have a designated driver. Is wanting to have fun in a specific way a valid argument for risking your life, and worse, risking the life of other innocent bystanders?

Finally, their closing statement makes them sound like people that break traffic laws because "they know better" or "it's better this way" even when it's not and they're excessively selfish. It feels weird to side with the increased penalties and surveillance, but I've come to believe it is a broken clock moment.

What do you think?

source (twitter)

I'd like something that goes over the American interference in the region, debunks myths about the Shah's government (for example, I've seen people here mention that only the wealthy dressed like westerners) and explains how the Iranian revolution happened.

Is Targeting Iran any good? I know Chomsky has some shit takes but he usually does a good job dismantling US narrative & propaganda

If someone doesn't know what I'm referring to, 996 refers to working 9am-9pm 6 days a week, which some Chinese companies enforce (or enforced) on their employee. Jack Ma, for example, has spoken in support of it.

Wikipedia says that the Supreme People's Court deemed it illegal in 2021. I don't know about China's court system in detail (or any country's, really) but my understanding is that cases go to a higher court if someone successfully appeals the decision of a lower court. Shouldn't something like a 72 hour workweek be stricken down before reaching the supreme court?

I've heard that Huawei still enforces this, for example. I don't have sources because I've heard it from someone with Chinese acquaintances, so some fact-checking is appreciated.

edit for clarification: https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/1488

Do you play any games on your smartphone? I'm looking for single player ones to kill some time when waiting for the bus. Ideally they should work without an internet connection, so I can disable network access for that app and play without ads.

I'm currently playing Words of Wonder, but it gets repetitive after a while.

In The State and Revolution, Lenin (and Engels, whom he is quoting) disagrees with communists using "People's State" or "Free People's State" as a programme goal.

If I understand correctly, this is because a) it creates a misunderstanding on the final phase of communism, which is stateless and b) it goes against the Marxist understanding of states as forces of oppression. On the other hand, it seems logical to me that a state following the dictatorship of the proletariat principle would call itself "People's", since the proletariat is the majority.

So, I've been wondering if the existing socialist states have an official line about this, or if there's a consensus amongst M-Ls.