• rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No, the Global North and Global South are not strictly defined by hemisphere, though that is how the names came about. They are useful terms to describe the relationship of power imbalance through imperialism. The Global North includes the US, Canada, Australia, and Western Europe. The Global South includes countries in Africa, Latin America, South America, and Eastern Europe.

      • goat@sh.itjust.worksOPM
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        1 year ago

        So every country except a few in the Global North serves class interests rather than the working class? What country in the Global South is serving the working class?

        • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No, every single country in the Global North is a bourgeois democracy. Socdem governments in Europe are still bourgeois democracies. The countries that are actually benefiting the working class include Vietnam and Cuba, where the QoL is very impressive for the Global South. I already know what your reaction will be, so just know I’m only interested in continuing this angle of discussion if you respond in good faith.

            • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I’ll get to those declarations in a little bit. Instead let’s talk about their quality of life. They have a higher life expectancy, virtually no homelessness, healthcare is a right, people are more free to persue passions like healthcare, science, and mathematics, among several other similarities. Cuba in particular has a longer life expectancy, higher literacy rates, better healthcare outcomes, and lower infant mortality when compared to the US. The minimum wage in Cuba is equivalent to USD$17.50/hr, and the median wage is USD$33/hr. Cuba and Vietnam outperform comparable countries in most socioeconomic indicators. That is what I mean by proletarian democracy, even if I’d call the economies in those countries “state capitalism”. There’s a youtuber from Vietnam called Luna oi! that discusses what it’s actually like to live in Vietnam as a citizen, she provides valuable insight into the political life of citizens.

              • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                Median wage is $33/hr

                Isn’t that super close to the US median wage? It was way higher than I had presumed, last I checked.

                • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  No, it’s close to the mean wage that includes data for billionaires. The median wage in the US is roughly $54000 or $25.96/hr. As we all know, the federal minimum wage is still $7.25/hr as set in 2009. This is the longest time in US history since the minimum wage was changed.

                • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago
                  • Cuba has historically—both before and especially during communist rule—performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy, infant mortality and life expectancy. Cuba has a universal health care system which provides free medical treatment to all Cuban citizens.”
                  • World Bank data on Vietnam
                  • goat@sh.itjust.worksOPM
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                    1 year ago

                    Thank you!

                    Though your sources on Cuba’s infant morality and life expectancy both point out that even before communism, Cuba was already ahead of the US.

                    My main worries are the lack of freedoms that first world nations have. Mind you, I personally don’t consider the US a First-World Nation.