Update:
The comments from this post will not be removed as to preserve the discussion around the announcement. Any continued discussions outside of this thread that violate server rules will be removed. We feel that everyone that has an opinion, and wanted to vent, has been heard.

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Original post:
Yesterday, we received information about the planned federation by Hexbear. The announcement thread can be found here: https://www.hexbear.net/post/280770. After reviewing the thread and the comments, it became evident that allowing Hexbear to federate would violate our rules.

Our code of conduct and server rules can be found here.

The announcement included several concerning statements, as highlighted below:

  • “Please try to keep the dirtbag lib-dunking to hexbear itself. Do not follow the Chapo Rules of Posting, instead try to engage utilizing informed rhetoric with sources to dismantle western propaganda. Posting the western atrocity propaganda and pig poop balls is hilarious but will pretty quickly get you banned and if enough of us do it defederated.”
  • “The West’s role in the world, through organizations such as NATO, the IMF, and the World Bank - among many others - are deeply harmful to the billions of people living both inside and outside of their imperial core.”
  • “These organizations constitute the modern imperial order, with the United States at its heart - we are not fooled by the term “rules-based international order.” It is in the Left’s interest for these organizations to be demolished. When and how this will occur, and what precisely comes after, is the cause of great debate and discussion on this site, but it is necessary for a better world.”

The rhetoric and goal of Hexbar are clear based on their announcement: to “dismantle western propaganda” and "demolish organizations such as NATO” shows that Hexbar has no intention of "respecting the rules of the community instance in which they are posting/commenting.” It’s to push their beliefs and ideology.

In addition, several comments from a Hexbear admin, demonstrate that instance rules will not be respected.

Here are some examples:

“I can assure you there will be no lemmygrad brigades, that energy would be better funneled into the current war against liberalism on the wider fediverse.”

“All loyal, honest, active and upright Communists must unite to oppose the liberal tendencies shown by certain people among us, and set them on the right path. This is one of the tasks on our ideological front.”

Overall community comments:

To clarify, for those who have inquired about why Hexbear versus Lemmygrad, it should be noted that we are currently exploring the possibility of defederating from Lemmygrad as well based on similar comments Hexbear has made.

Defederation should only be considered as a last resort. However, based on their comments and behavior, no positive outcomes can be expected.

We made the decision to preemptively defederate from Hexbear for these reasons. While we understand that not everyone may agree with our decision, we believe it is important to prioritize the best interests of our community.

  • alonouz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    128·
    1 year ago

    I’m some sort of Classical / Moderate Liberal and occasionally “talk against” NATO but there’s a wide difference between that and actively pushing to see it disbanded which is tantamount to Pro-Russian propaganda…especially right now.

    You see, the problem is that I disagree that it is a bastion of Western European freedom. I do think that the West, and NATO, have played a negative role in recent history (or the history of many countries in the world). And, by the way, so have Russia and the USSR.

    But this is beyond the topic. Which is the rule of lemmy.world that protects NATO as a bastion of Western European freedom? And, if such rule exists, is it a fair one? Are political discussions beyond centrism banned on lemmy.world?

    And I will switch instance. Unfortunately Lemmy doesn’t make it as easy as Mastodon to switch account. I’ll gather a list of the communities I follow, and then eventually switch. I won’t go to Hexbear or similar instances, as I don’t want to be on instances that are ONLY about politics. But I’ll certainly look for one whose admins are calmer.

    Peace!

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.world
      53·
      1 year ago

      Which is the rule of lemmy.world that protects NATO as a bastion of Western European freedom?

      There isn’t one and there’s plenty of anti-NATO / anti-western / anti-capitalist sentiment here on lemmy.world.

      Are political discussions beyond centrism banned on lemmy.world?

      Obviously not, we’re still federated with lemmygrad and lemmy.ml.

      Feel free to do what you feel is best for yourself but I think this situation with hexbear is being blown way out of proportion, mostly by people who seem to have a vested interest in that instance being able to participate here but not the other way around.