Someone mentioned this in another Roo thread. They claim from 2011-early 2014 Roo's videos primarily dealt with Marxist theory. However, all of these videos in question were not written by Roo himself but by a ghostwriter, which the user pinpointed as a member of RAIM.
Here are the three "good" videos from Roo which the user pointed to:
Now compare the way Roo speaks and his vocabulary with his more recent vids, or any video made after spring 2014. Take his most recent rant for instance:
He flubs several times, he presents a wishy-washy case with no hints of theory except for the usual "IMPERIALISM IS THE PRIMARY CONTRADICTION DON'T YOU GET IT???" mantra.
All of this is highly suspicious. Even more so when you realize Roo came under major fire from the WSWS in his early days for plagiarizing their articles whole cloth.
Is this why Roo hates RAIM so much, because they ditched him?
Gabriel Foster
I dont know and I honestly dont care too much tbh.
John Bell
Yes. He mentions this in his debate with /r/soc, that he used to have a lot of close online friends who joined RAIM and then immediately dumped him.
John Cook
I've actually written scrips for several of Jason's videos - particularly on the Philippines and current events in the third world, and a couple on "TWism". Was also previously a "member" of "RAIM" (Embarrassed to admit that, because anybody who knows anything about them knows they are just a facebook/internet club)
RAIM are massively exaggerating. They have a culty tendancy to rewrite their history with anybody who passes through their circles. Most people who leave their group are labeled as mentally ill, transphobes, white supremacists, etc, to defame their character. Long narratives are invented to create a myth that they're surrounded by enemies, and there is some kind of conspiracy against them - thus, anybody who leaves is labeled an enemy. Jason is no exception. When they say they "shadow wrote" Jason's videos, they mean that the idea behind a handful of Jason's videos from around 2013 come from discussions that took place in group chats that involved him & some people who went on to join RAIM (including myself).
Any info about Jason, or really any other group or individual else that comes from the "raim" cult should be taken with a cup of salt.
Jaxon Myers
Same poster
TL;DR - I'm the only person who has really ghostwritten for Junruhe, and I have no issue with him using my material. I haven't done it in a while though (Probably 6 months or more..)
Regarding the WSWS drama - IIRC, Jason included the original article in the descriptions of the videos, along with a disclaimer. It was arguably kind of dodgy for him not to get their permission first, but he made it pretty clear they weren't his works. I think he may have done videos on other articles as well. LL ordered him to take down a few videos based on articles on the LLCO webpage (Movie Reviews) but I'm not aware of any intentional plagiarism on his behalf.
Matthew King
Both RAIM and the LLCO come off as religious cults moreso than legit communist organizations TBH.
Lucas Diaz
- person you are responding to. Since purging PF, LLCO has been trying to scrub itself of his style of cultism and moving towards a lot more transparency with the public. PF's rightward turn - which included the culty vibe did us a lot of harm.
Cooper Allen
I'm not just talking about PF. Yeah he is sketchy as fuck (isn't he in jail right now?) but I'm speaking more to things like the ways in which these groups police their members' personal behaviors, get obsessed with their members' use of language, friendships, romantic lives, consumer activities, etc. I've also seen them do things like harass their former members or anyone remotely critical of them. For instance, I know a young woman who went after RAIM and was subsequently cyberstalked by them. They also started attacking her mother and her boss, both of whom have nothing to do with her political activism.
Are you a member of the LLCO by chance?
Jeremiah Edwards
I'm a member of LLCO and a former member of RAIM, yes. The problems you described are exactly what drove me away from RAIM. That's why I say that group is basically a dysfunctional cult. When you get involved, the group think tries to control every aspect of your life. You're not outright told what to do, but it's clear that if you don't tow line and cut contact with anybody "problematic", you'll be shunned. It gets to a point with most people that they end up isolated from family and friends. RAIM becomes their life. I noped out of RAIM soon after the language policing became big, and immediately after, the group ordered all its people to cut contact with me. When I came into LLCO I was shocked by how chill everybody was. The narrative i was fed is that LLCO is some kind of pervasive controlling cult, but it was apparent pretty quick that wasn't the case. Even during the height of PF's degeneration, it was nothing like the mindfuck that is RAIM. We actually a dozen or so former RAIM cadre in LL, and we all have the same conclusion on the issue.
Hunter Adams
I see.
Is there any evidence the LLCO has liberated zones in Bangladesh? I can't find anything about it on any Bangladeshi or South Asian news source.
Jacob Bennett
(Cont) one of the big issues regarding the cult perception about ll has been a real lack of transparency on the orgs end,. That is something we're in the process of rectifying, along with tossing the degenerate PF's BS out the door.
Colton Murphy
Can you provide any evidence that the "Bangla Zone" is real?
Liam Martinez
LLCO has never actually claimed to have "liberated zones" in Bangladesh, or to be fighting any kind of guerrilla war. I don't even know how that rumour originated. We did, for a time, have a section in Bangladesh - maybe 100 or so people, mostly students, who were a part of what we called the "Bangla Zone". The term zone doesn't refer to any kind of military presence or base area - that's just the a term we use to describe an autonomous section.. eg, chapter. 1 cell = 10 or so people, 1 section = 3 or more cells, 1 zone = 2 or more sections. Earlier this year, the Bangla zone split, and our primary focus has been on building our movement in west Africa (specifically Ghana and Togo).
Christian Thomas
What proof do you have that the LLCO has an actual presence in Ghana and Togo?
I ask because I'm highly suspicious of groups which just claim to have shitloads of members, or a "huge base internationally". LLCO compared to other Marxist groups doesn't have much as far as theory is concerned.
Nathan Roberts
The Bangla Zone isn't a part of the org since the may split, aside from a small handful of people. We're primarily focused on building up our org in west Africa now. As mentioned, we are trying to build up a lot more transparency with the public, including reports on where funding is going, activities, etc. Adide from reports, we are going to begin regular video documentation of our mass work in Ghana and Togo, live streams with our cadre/leaders, in the TW, etc.
Connor Ward
Right now, I can show you pictures. In the near future we are going to produce regular video content from our Ghana and Togo sections, live streams, articles of our mass work, etc.
Austin Mitchell
So wait, these people are the TW's poor yet have access to cell phones and/or computers and internet?
Are you sure you aren't just talking to a bunch of national porkies?
Camden Bennett
Explain how the LLCO got "so big" in Ghana, Togo, and Bangladesh. What are your connections to comrades in those places?
Matthew Martin
You'd be surprised how many TW people have access to smart phones and the internet. You can find malnourished slum dwellers in many TW cities with FB accounts. Our TW leaders are mostly from the middle class (as is the case with most TW parties) and we supply them with funding for equipment, as well as their usual work. In Ghana, LL is involved in farm work, and we are trying to build up funds to set up a small clinic and a school in a rural part of the country. More immediately, in one village, we are helping to create a football club & a dance/cultural club for rural youth, combining political education.
Adrian Hughes
How are they getting on the internet? Do they pay for wifi?
So you're sending your people over to Ghana? How much is that costing you?
Tyler Martin
We aren't that big. In Bangladesh we had maybe 100 people. In Ghana we started to ugh 9 people (former cadre of the AAPRP$ who reached out to us through our website, and we currently have cadre/support in the low hundreds. We are a very long way from "liberated zones" of any kind.
Daniel James
No, our org in Ghana was granted use of a plot of land by a local village, and we are growing fruit for distribution in rural areas via mass programs. This is being funded by dues/donations from LL cadre in the first world.
Chase Nguyen
Seems like an awfully big project to fund on donations.
Any proof of this? Any screencaps of correspondence with Ghanians?
Logan Gutierrez
Regarding how TW people use the internet - they buy it in packages. In Asia, a 50 cent package will get you about 100mb of mobile data if memory serves. Some ISPs , eg, in India run special subscription packages which allows a you to access oya ha evil of websites for a relatively low price. Even in TW slums, a lot of people have internet access. In the Philippines, where most people speak English, you can find peasant kids, slum dwelling kids, people who live in literal slums calling each other "normie" and using internet lingo!
Luis Parker
For the farm? Not really. It is run voluntarily by cadre & supporters, and the land was given to the org for free. That costs us in the low hundreds p/ month at most. The clinic and school are longer term projects, hence the emphasis on saving up for them. I'm not personally aware of financial costs in regards to that. By "dance club" I mean a cultural group - not a nightclub or anything of the sort. Again, I can show you pictures of some of our work. We recently released photos sent to us from one of our cells. Right now, I can't do much more than that without violating security. In the next few months, we are going to be putting out a lot more.
Leo Evans
Not sure if I believe this. I'd like to see some actual proof of it.
It also seems far-fetched to assume people who are in constant need of basic shit like food would be wasting their days on the internet.
For those who are interested - first pic is following a study session with one of our Ghana cells. 2nd pic are ll cadre in a small town in the Ashanti region. 3rd pic is of some of our supporters who attend a church whose pastor is involved with us.
Tyler Anderson
These videos linked by OP seem far too sophisticated to be only the products of skype chats. Roo is citing actual theoretical works, alludes to people like Rousseau (doubt he could name a single one of Rousseau's ideas off the bat), and are written much better than his usual works. In the Pope vid he cites entire paragraphs from Barbara Tuchman whom I doubt he has ever actually read.
Why was PF expelled from the LLCO? Is it because he's in jail?
Landon Diaz
JFC man.
John Parker
He expelled following a protracted personal/political degeneration. Essentially, years of heavy drug use scrambled his mind and he went nuts. He became obsessed with bizarre conspiracy theories ( particularly involving transsexuals and Mossad ) and was convinced everybody was out to get him, brought the image of the org down with his attempted push towards cultishness, ect. It got to a point where it was decided he was beyond our ability to help him, so he got the boot and has been chucking a public tantrum since then.
Levi Wright
The pics were sent to us by our TW comrades for public display to help in fund raising. They are the ones who decide how much of their work is shown. See, this is kind of a paradox. We get accused of faking our org presence in the global south, people demand evidence.. and when we present evidence, we get attacked for supposedly endangering people, and generally by the same people who hound us for more evidence of our work.
Elijah Bailey
Its almost as if theres more than one person in the world.
Jaxson Bell
You shoudl do the responsible thing and hide your comrades' faces.
Most online anarchists don't use their real names online for fear of being hunted down by the pigs. Take into account these anarchists are residing in Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Spain, countries which are far less repressive than Bangladesh (where union organizers are frequently killed) or Ghana (where death squads attack chocolate farmers).
Your organization is the real one doing "pig work".
Oliver Harris
Well yeah. Depending on who you ask, we are deeply triggering and problematic or we are white supremacists. We are homophobes or we are a secure transsexual/homosexual cult. We are a massive well funded front group of a drug cartel, or we are secret Islamists, or just a handful of people sitting in a basement. We are supposedly CIA, FBI, Denver Police, Mossad, and also Russian and Iranian intelligence. We are crypto trots and secret duginists, a massive percasive cult which draws in massive money and also only 2 people.. We are SJW's and we also supposedly kidnap women for a secret super army breeding program in a secret cartel farm base in the mid west. There are just a handful of the contradictory rumours that float around. Everybody has a different, bizarre narrative on who we are, what we are trying to do, etc.. its "Stalin eats babies" level batshit most of the time.
Jace James
Again, we (fw LLCO cadre) don't take the photos. Our TW coms understand the risk involved better than people in the FW could. They choose to put these photos ou there.
Owen Morgan
You post the photos on your website. You could at least take two minutes to blot out their faces on Photoshop.
Angel Butler
So what do these people do aside from hold English-language banners?
James Adams
What do you do? Mastrubate to trap porn?
Jose Cooper
I don't have to be an award-winning film director to tell you why a particular movie sucks.
Likewise, I don't have to be a successful revolutionary to tell you why the LLCO is suspicious.
Nolan Wright
Actual Maoist here. AMA as to why Roo isn't a real Maoist.
Christopher Price
Most of these "suspicions" come from the fact that MTW is one of the most hated tendencies amongst the left and therefore its organizations are being smeared all the time. They often have to use illegal, secret channels to organize (involvement with Third World guerrilla movements gets you into jail in the First World) so people accuse them of the most ridiculous shit.
You have no idea how hard governments crack down on people supporting Third World struggles. In my country, Germany, comrades of mine got SWAT teams raiding their apartment and confiscating their computer for as much as posting YPG-flags on Facebook.
Anthony Sullivan
Which is why the LLCO are a bunch of fucking retards for showing their comrades' faces.
And Roo is a bigger retard for admitting he donated money to the LLCO Bangla Zone in a video.
Nolan Hughes
Deutschland Ja.
Michael Moore
According to the LLCO user, these pictures were specifically sent to them by the people there for publication. I think the people actually living in these countries have a much better assessment about what they can publish and what not. If somebody politicially active from Ghana tells me that doing X is okay but doing Y is not, I don't pretend to have a better insight on this matter.
Jason Taylor
They should still be responsible. They could get comrades killed.
Asher Powell
Rizal we know this is you. Fake-ass "Filipino". Get off this board, settler.
Brody Young
This is what all of us former "raimers" are talking about when we bring up "raims" creepy cultyness. They keep files on, and cyberstalk/gangstalk and try to to harass anybody who criticizes them. Anybody who resigns from their group, they order their people to shun.
Thankfully, these weirdos only exist on the internet, so they're not really any kind of physical threat, outside their ability to harass families/workplaces of people they don't like. Worst case scenario is that label people rapists/transphobes/white supremacists/state agents, and try to spread fake info on them.
Isaac Sullivan
You've got kind of a paternalistic attitude. Actual revolutionaries in the third world are a much better judge of what is/isn't safe to be shared than people in the first world. These people aren't children - they are veterans of the movement. They are more than capable of deciding for themselves what is/isn't safe to be shared.
As said, everything that is uploaded is sent to us by our comrades in the third world specifically to be shared on social media.
Henry Russell
I'm not from RAIM.
The LLCO does the same thing to its former members, or any of their critics. Don't lie and pretend like your own org doesn't have its own shit to pick up.
Yeah, the fact that you immediately yelled "settler!" (which is go-to insult for Sakaists) makes clear that you are a RAIMer. You also referred to yourselves as "we". If you weren't referring to RAIM, who is "we"? This is probably one of the RAIM heads trying to detract from the conversation & spread fake info. The funny thing is, my criticism of "raim" wasn't even a central part of the thread. It was a side-note, but that is still enough to warrant them creeping.
Camden Adams
Nice gaslighting. You do this with every one of your organization's critics, claiming everyone is out to "get" you when all you're known for is pasting a bunch of fake images all over FB and begging other comrades for money. So why did the pigs arrest PF? I take it his time in the slammer isn't for revolutionary activity, no?
Grow the fuck up.
Kevin Hernandez
Also notice how the RAIMer accuses us of "doing the same" after referring to themselves as "we" and trying to thrown down the white guilt idpol. So they're literally confirming that they cyber stalk their critics.
You're a weirdo, and you need help.
Gavin Collins
literally who are these people and why does anyone on Holla Forums give a shit?
I had never seen the acronym RAIM until this thread, and LLCO is hardly ever mentioned. Neither of these organizations are shit, this is worse than chan style do-nothingism.
Brandon Nelson
As a Brit I just want you creepy American fucks to know that if I catch wind of any of you weirdos existing on my patch when shit hits the fan I will be liquidating you faster than the Nazis.
Henry Mitchell
You cyberstalk your critics. Don't lie.
Elijah Perez
You are correct that he was not arrested for revolutionary activity. He was arrested for possession of drugs. Shortly after, he was booted from the org due to his drug-fueled degeneration. Screwball "PF's" condition was so bad that the Judge at the drug court labeled him the worst heroin addicts she had ever seen. Shortly after, he was booted from the org, and LLCO has never been healthier since then.
Give a concrete example. We have several former "raim" people involved in our org in the FW who can attest to RAIM's cultiness. Another "user" in this thread gave an example of a comrade of his being harassed. Non unverifiable, unnamed sources; provide evidence, or GTFO.
William White
Wow, that was the one thing that would make me consider joining your movement. I'm a little bit depressed now tbh
Justin Baker
Somebody claiming to be "former cadre" (who nobody in the org recognizes) put out a post claiming exactly that.
Supposedly, LLCO kidnaps random women in the US, we bring them out to a secret Sinaloa cartel farm base in the midwest, force them to have children, then raise the children on LSD & brainwashing to create an army to conquer India so we can nuke the USA.
Propaganda against LLCO has gone well beyond "Marx killed millions" straight into "Stalin's gorilla army literally eats babies" tier propaganda. Basically, according to our critics, we are supervillains.
Jaxon Bell
is PF really linked to a mexican cartel?
Jack Bell
Around 2012, during the start of PF's degeneration, he became obsessed with lumpen/gangster lifestyle, drug cartels, etc.. He invented a backstory behind himself that he was supposedly involved with Mexican drug cartels, trying to spin this narrative that he was some kind of White El Chapo who got into shootouts with the police, and partied with hot, barely legal women, etc.. In reality, the whole mythology was a largely mid-life crisis tier fantasy. The guy was never anything more than a low level drug dealer - the kind you'd find standing on a street corner trying to sling to kids. And he was shitty, incompetent one at that. He tried to tie his activities to justify his lifestylist BS, and to build respect around himself in the org & prop himself up in the leadership. In reality, his activities were entirely based around himself - everybody else in the org did our best to distance ourselves, and the org itself from his "work".
Hudson Morales
(Cont) -
In short, no. His supposed "ties to mexican drug cartels" were fantasy that he invented to try to make himself sound cool & to try to build up a "white el chapo" kind of cult around himself (which proved unsuccessful).
Anybody who actually knows him way back knows he is full of shit.
Benjamin Walker
How does PF update his facebook from prison?
Hudson Myers
He isn't in prison. He spent about 4 months in prison before being released. He's in a halfway house, which is a kind of rehab facility, where he is allowed to leave during the day, use the internet freely, etc.
Pretty disgusting. Comes off as another moralist identity group leader. They rule out any possibility of a revolution at home. Don't even attempt at building a mass party here, let's fetishize those poor niggas in a far away wonder land of REAL oppression where REAL revolutions can happen! We, the chosen few, will send them moneys!
Looks to me you are just pointing out the difference between the passionate and loving labor of a man who just started his dream project, against the forced by circumstances and reluctant labor of a man trying to make a living selling his thoughts.