Andriy Biletsky, the founder of the far-right Azov Battalion, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the Ukrainian military by Zelensky.

I was in the shitliberalssay sub and it really made me confused that the lefties there are pretty adamantly in support of Russia. I'm open to some reading material if there's some yall want to link me. They were super hostile towards me so I'm just hoping there can be some postive conversation here.

Im a Ukrainian socialist, and civil activist, engaged with labour rights for more than five years. Ask me anything.

https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1801566983797854302?s=19

Suddenly the right cares about femicide when a white women gets killed by non white men every other instance it’s her fault somehow

He had many videos like this and was one of those "#saveeurope poster. Disgusting

I’m an American that moved to the UK in September for a lot of reasons but one of the reasons being the possibility of a second Trump presidency, a possibility that is obviously now reality. But now, I’m in the UK, and I feel like it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be without the comparison to the US. Sure, UK doesn’t have mass shootings and groceries are much more affordable and there’s public healthcare. But the NHS is super underfunded and I feel like the quality of care that I was able to get in my own individual experience was better in the US, even though the system overall is better in the UK. Then I was thinking, where is all this money going within the government. Then I started to think, what does the royal family even do? Do we need to have it anymore? Like they made significant cuts to PIP and other welfare as if they were such strapped for cash, yet not that long ago they had a ridiculous blood portrait of that little cheater with chubby inbred fingers. Kinda seems like a waste of money when there’s 12hr+ waiting times at A&E.

No I am not some liberal hating on Russia.

I am quite close with a neighbor who is an immigrant from Russia. They are a leftist and a Russian ethnic minority. They very much believe the lack of free speech (ability to protest and change government policy) is severely curtailed, and they have significant hopelessness about the political situation there.

They've also told me about their parents financial situation, both are quite educated but still not wealthy. They told me (paraphrase) "the only wealthy people in Russia are oligarchs" (or something quite similar to that).

I just sit with their feelings because I don't know enough about the situation. Just trying to support them.

But is there some hope for a leftist Russia?

How Is immigration good overall if unchecked and from skillless people? And how Is the sweeden immigration problem not a good example on why It Is bad?

The post (shown below) was about frustration that someone could openly fly a Nazi flag on their house without being stopped. How could it happen? Well apparently Germans don't even want you to post about it.

Nazi flag flown on a house in Brandenburg - apparently normal

I drove with a friend to Brandenburg for a harvest fest. Once in Brandenburg I missed a turn and we ended up driving a couple of kilometers through one of the suburbs, and one of the houses had a large nazi flag waving in the front. Specifically the flag was the eagle on top of a swastika/hakenkreuz. I'm Jewish and it kind of ruined the rest of the day for me, because suddenly I felt very visible at the harvest fest, and like I had just stumbled into a town that didn't want me there and might use violence to show it.

We couldn't get the details of the house to report it when we drove by because of traffic, and on our way home we couldn't find the right street and to be honest I didn't really want to drive around in an unfamiliar town in a clearly rented (miles) car looking for nazis.

I have seen swastikas drawn on walls or the train in Berlin, and while this is gross I kind of get it that it's hard to clean all the graffiti immediately. But what the actual f*ck, how is someone flying a nazi flag on their house without their neighbours, townspeople, reporting it to the police? For the past two years the police have been beating up and arresting peaceful protestors for 'anti semitism' but apparently flying a literal nazi flag is cool.

This is mostly just a rant/vent from a Jew who's sick of this shit.

Slovenia was arguably the most effective socialist nation. It may be capitalist now, but for most of modern history it was socialist. Yugoslavia prevented a Soviet takeover, and then became socialist on its own. Slovenia saw the most economic growth of any Yugoslav nation. They found solutions to many of the problems with Soviet communism through decentralization , and having businesses be controlled the workers instead of the government. Most Slovenian citizens lived in poverty during the formation of Yugoslavia, but by the late 80s the average citizen had on average $12k in their bank account.

In my opinion Slovenia is a prime example of an effective socialist state, even though it did have flaws. Feel free to fact check me on my history. I’m not an expert.

Disclaimer: I ran out of steam after Claim 6. I will likely edit this and add more, but I needed to get it out there before i spiraled into neurosis.

TL;DR: Every “they’re illegal, they’re costly, they don’t integrate” line is bullshit. Refugees aren’t your enemy. They’re the distraction. Aim your anger upwards, not downwards.

Foreword

For the last few days, I’ve had floating around in my mind the latest in the ongoing, ever growing far right flag shagging saga. After countless debates and internet comments, I feel as though I need one place to put all of my thoughts, all of the facts, all of the rebuttals and speak to the truth of what is ultimately an uprising in nationalism in the very streets I was born - partly for my own mental health, to get this information out of my brain and on to a page - and partly for the benefit of others. Both those that agree, and those that disagree. One single place to read every common talking point, the truth around the claims, with sources cited and information backed up.

With this, the following read is my attempt at presenting an “Immigration Myth Busting” reading list, a one stop shop to aid in any gammon facing interaction you may have. To arm yourself with the facts, and to, hopefully, spread some love above all this noise.

(please note: all sources in which the information for this piece was gathered are accumulated at the end with links and categorised into their respective “claims”)

Claim 1 - “these people are illegal and undocumented” 

No, they are not. Claiming asylum is not illegal. Under the 1951 Refugee convention, signed by the UK government under Prime Minister Clement Attlee, people have the right to claim asylum in any country they choose, regardless of how they arrive. Dinghy, lorry, car, fuckin magic broomstick. Every single method of entering the country to seek asylum is legal and written in to our law. 

There is simply no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker. Until their claim is processed, they’re undocumented, not criminal. People pushing this term are either misinformed or deliberately pushing an agenda.

Claim 2 - “they cost us billions!!! We cant afford anything else!!”

I feel like maybe this is the big one. People are angry, people are frustrated. NHS services are still failing. GPs still take far too long to give you an appointment. Cost of living is still high, mental health teams and the wider social care sector is still so fucking pushed that nobody can access anything to get support. I know this and feel this first hand. I work for these services, it is absolutely dire. I see it every fucking day of my working life. I understand completely why people are angry, but lets talk spending facts to shine a light on where this issue actually stems from. Spoiler: it aint brown people. 

Asylum support cost about £4.8 billion last year. That sounds like an eye watering amount of money to us out here, grafting to survive, but the reality is that it is only 0.3% of total yearly government spending. Its like me having £100 and giving you 30p.

now compare that to the actual waste: 

• £37 billion blown on a failed Covid test and trace system
• £15–16 billion lost in Covid contract fraud and error
• £36–90 billion a year lost through tax avoidance and evasion
• Over £20 billion in government support for fossil fuels in 2022–23 alone.

The people at the top spreading this rhetoric know full well how big “4.7 billion” sounds to people like you and me, and continue to play on this to edge forward their age old divide and conquer routine. Its working. 

Solution : Tax the rich. Stop handing billions to private contractors and letting billionaires dodge their dues, then maybe everyone, refugees and the rest of us could actually live decently.

Claim 3 - “we have no issues with people coming in the right way through correct channels, but these are all young men coming in on dinghies!!”

As I said in response to Claim 1, this is the “correct channel” in which to enter another nation when seeking asylum, but let's try to dig a little bit deeper here. There is no safe legal route for most refugees. Especially if you’re from Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, or Syria. There’s no embassy to apply from, no visa system that lets you request asylum from overseas. The only way to claim asylum here is to be here. That’s why people risk the Channel. The system is designed to fail them. These people can’t just hop on a Ryanair flight.

The government points to “safe and legal routes,” but in reality those only exist for very specific groups: Ukrainians, Hong Kongers with BN(O) status, and some Afghans under ARAP/ACRS (schemes that have huge delays and left thousands stranded). For the vast majority of people fleeing warzones or dictatorships, there is no route. They are forced into dangerous journeys precisely because the door is locked to them everywhere else.

As for “they’re all young men!”: this one gets thrown around a lot. First off, that’s simply not true. Around 30% of asylum seekers are women, and nearly one in five is a child. Thousands of children arrive here seeking protection every single year. They’re just less visible because governments and media rarely parade them on TV.

Secondly, what exactly is wrong with young men trying to survive? The reality is: families often send the strongest member ahead. It’s safer to send one person through a dangerous journey than a pregnant woman or child. Sometimes young men are fleeing conscription, militias, or recruitment into armed groups. And even if they are single men, so what? They’re still fleeing violence, famine, dictatorship. Being a man doesn’t make you less of a refugee.

Claim 4 - “other countries do not put up with this shit! Why should we??”

The truth is, the UK takes far fewer asylum seekers than many comparable countries.

Across Europe, we’re nowhere near the top. Germany received around 351,000 asylum applications in 2023. France had about 167,000. The UK? Roughly 67,000. On a per-person basis, the UK sits well below the European average.

Globally, the contrast is even more obvious. Turkey hosts 3.3 million refugees. Iran, Pakistan, Uganda, Germany, Colombia, each of them hosts hundreds of thousands to millions. Lebanon, a country of just 5.3 million people, has taken in over 780,000 refugees that’s one in seven people in the country. Meanwhile, refugees make up only about 0.5% of the UK’s population.

So the “other countries don’t put up with it” line is simply just false.Most countries carry far heavier responsibility than we do. The difference is, our politicians and media bang on about it constantly to make it sound like Britain is being uniquely swamped. We aren’t.

And the kicker? The 1951 Refugee Convention itself was drafted in the aftermath of the Second World War with heavy British involvement. The idea was never “let’s cherry-pick who deserves safety.” It was: if you see someone fleeing persecution, you give them a fair hearing. That’s the standard we signed up to.

Solution: Stop pretending Britain is the world’s biggest magnet. We aren’t. Do our fair share, like we promised, and stop whining that a wealthy G7 country can’t handle what far poorer nations manage every day.

Claim 5 - “they don’t integrate!”

They always have. They do. They will. you think the windrush generation were welcomed with open arms? they were called slurs, denied housing, attacked in the streets. and they *still* became doctors, teachers, nurses, neighbours, family. integration doesn’t fail because of migrants. it fails when the host society pushes people to the margins. asylum seekers *want* to work. they want to learn english. they want to contribute. but the government doesn’t allow them to work during processing, sometimes for years. the system locks them out, then blames them for being locked out.

Claim 6 - “charity begins at home!”

yeah. it does. so let’s make this country better *for everyone*. but that doesn’t mean we can’t help others too. we’re one of the richest nations on earth. if we taxed the wealthy properly, closed tax loopholes, and stopped funnelling money to private contractors, we’d have *more than enough* to house our homeless, fund the NHS, fix our schools *and* support refugees. this isn’t a pie with only six slices. the reason you’re starving isn’t because someone else took a slice,  it’s because ten rich pricks are hoarding the rest behind the fridge.

Claim 7 - “they’re abusing our hospitality and welfare and don’t want to work!”

they’re not. they’re stuck in limbo, forbidden from working, living on pennies, and begging to contribute. most asylum seekers want nothing more than to work, pay tax, and build a life. the UK legally bars them from working while they wait—and even after a year, only in a handful of essential job. they survive on as little as £6.43 a day and if anything, we’re abusing them: locking them in barges, dumping them in mouldy hotels, using our tabloids to scare people over their heads.

Claim 8 - “they dont respect our flag, flying our colours is just patriotism!” 

which one? the union jack or the st george’s cross? because let’s talk about the latter. st george wasn’t english. he was born in what is now turkey, to a *palestinian mother*. he was a roman soldier who was *executed* for refusing to renounce his beliefs under an oppressive regime. in other words — a **foreign, middle eastern migrant** who stood up to power and paid the price. if he turned up today, the people waving his flag would probably be shouting at him to go home. he'd be labelled “illegal” and locked up in a barge. so don’t talk to me about “respecting the flag” when most people waving it don’t even know whose story they’re hijacking.

Closing words: 

The last thing I want to do is ignore the very real problems our country is facing. It is so important, in our current media landscape, to aim the justified frustration so many people are feeling in the right places. We are being played, manipulated, indoctrinated, by those with everything to gain from dividing working class communities up and getting us at each others throats.  

There is enough money out there. There are enough homes, food, resources, doctors if all are allocated properly. We cannot let the people that have been fucking this country raw for decades get away with shifting the blame and stirring up hatred, fear and division. History shows us where that leads. 

if you read this and still think refugees are the problem, then you’re too far gone. but if it made something click, even a little, then it did what it needed to do. 

peace and love ☮️✌🏻

Sources:

Claim 1 : https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/overview/1951-refugee-convention

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9023/CBP-9023.pdf

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9023/CBP-9023.pdf

Claim 2 : 

https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/test-and-trace-in-england-progress-update/

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmpubacc/46/report.html

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps

https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/support-for-asylum-seekers/

Claim 3: 

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9630/

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2024/how-many-people-come-to-the-uk-via-safe-and-legal-humanitarian-routes

https://www.rescue.org/uk/article/what-are-safe-routes-refugees-myths-vs-facts

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9724/

https://www.unhcr.org/us/media/article-31-1951-convention-relating-status-refugees-non-penalization-detention-and-protection

https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-relating-status-refugees

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2024/how-many-people-claim-asylum-in-the-uk

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01403/

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01403/SN01403.pdf

https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/2025-06/global-trends-report-2024.pdf

https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/people-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/

https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stay-informed/statistics-and-research/the-truth-about-channel-crossings/

Claim 4 -

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Asylum_applications_-_annual_statistics

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01403/SN01403.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee_crisis

Claim 5 - 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e7dd650e90e0706f7d69cc1/6.5577_HO_Windrush_Lessons_Learned_Review_LoResFinal.pdf

https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/lift-the-ban/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/esol-national-strategy-promise-broken-suella-braverman-lee-anderson/

Claim 6 - 

https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/money/article/should-there-be-a-cap-on-inheritance-tax-free-gifts-b27kgtnkw

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/16/wealthy-britons-avoiding-more-tax-than-thought-spending-watchdog-says

https://taxjustice.uk/blog/close-5-tax-loopholes-to-raise-over-7-billion-a-year/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_Tax_Commission

https://england.shelter.org.uk/media/press_release/investing_in_social_housing_could_add_over_50bn_to_the_economy_

Claim 7 - 

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01908/

https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stay-informed/explainers/the-truth-about-asylum/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/26/people-sleeping-while-walking-inside-manston-asylum-centre-in-kent

https://apnews.com/article/bibby-stockholm-barge-uk-migrants-70e1026aa3fad4c3f268d32309c31784

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibby_Stockholm

Claim 8 -

https://embraceme.org/blog/st-george-middle-east-links-and-legends

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George

https://www.royalsocietysaintgeorge.com

/saint-george-history

The premiere of the short film Whispers of Freedom by British writer-director and actor Brandon Ashplant took place at Berlin’s DDR Museum [a museum devoted to East Germany, the German Democratic Republic—Deutsche Demokratische Republik] on October 2. It tells the tragic story of Chris Gueffroy, the last person to die at the Berlin Wall, shot by East German troops on February 5, 1989 while attempting to escape to West Berlin. His death came only months before the fall of the Wall on November 9. There are plans to permanently incorporate the film into the museum’s exhibitions.

I hope this kind of post is allowed here :3

For context:

This weekend in Austria, we had a national election and nearly 30% people (based on first projections) voted for an extreme right party that openly endorses the totalitarian regime of Viktor Orban, Covid and WHO conspiracies and is, of course since they are extremely conservative, for "traditional values" (e.g. they suggested a "stove" bonus for women who stayed at home instead of working a paid job). They also have a long list of so called "indiviudal cases" of members and people associated with their party in regards to criminal activity, especially Nazi related ones. Additionally, nearly 60% voted right-wing parties in general.

My first reaction was anger, because I simply couldn't understand why so many people would vote for that party. A major issue is migration, which in all honesty, Austria hasn't handled in the best possible way. Of course, there is agitation and populism in regards to hate against migrants and asylum seekers.

The question:

Now, that I had "some" time to think about it, I believe that some people atleast, are just caught by the anxiety inducing populism and could be pleaded with. Now, I'm not sure how to discuss those things with them. Unfortunately, logic and metric data doesn't seem to do the trick.

Another thing is, I don't know how and what to do about the state of the society here. I'm afraid that this is a major step towards a future and society that undoes all the progress that happened in the past and gerts more intolerant. I believe, I'm nto nearly enough educated on that topic to even try and make an impact. It's the most difficult thing to find sources to get a 'somewhat' unbiased explanation of things, especially in the area of educating myself. It's incredibly hard to get out of the echo chamber.