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ckjong.bsky.social
C ✊ UVW-CWA
@ckjong.bsky.social
290 followers 110 following 150 posts
Pixel artist + game designer. Art for Dwarf Fortress, Fraymakers, and other mysterious projects. Proud member of UVW-CWA https://uvw-cwa.org/

Portfolio: https://ckjong.artstation.com/
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ckjong.bsky.social
Shoutout to this low-poly mockup I did for an unreleased management sim a few years ago. You were a real one 🥲
Art mockup of a warehouse in low-poly 3D with pixel art textures. There are conveyor belts and shelves with yellow containers and cardboard packages on them. In the background a worker helps another worker who has fallen on the ground. In the center of the image is a group of workers standing together and holding multicolored protest signs with symbols like a raised red fist, and people > money.
November 25, 2025 at 12:36 AM
ckjong.bsky.social
A statement by David Adler from the Sumud flotilla.
"collective action really is a beautiful thing. When we refuse to accept the unacceptable, when we put our bodies between injustice and its victims, we really can alter the course of history, however modestly."
Screenshot of a statement on X by David Adler, the text reads: "Dear friends, I fear this will be the final letter that I write to you from the Global Sumud Flotilla — now just 120 NM from the shores of Gaza. Last night, several Israeli naval ships menaced our convoy. They attacked our vessels, intimidated our crew, and disabled our communications. We recognize these tactics from previous flotilla missions. We know that they are the precursor to what we have long feared: illegal Israeli abduction in international waters. As I write this, we are preparing ourselves for such an imminent attack. We know the procedures. We know the protocols. When they board our boats, we will not resist. We are ready. From our cell phones and our CCTVs, we will do our best to document everything. We will transmit it to the world. And we will rely on you to spread the word about this criminal attack. But before they intercept us, I want to say something — corny, I know; copium, possibly — but that I truly believe nonetheless: that even if we do not complete our mission this time, the Sumud flotilla has already achieved so much." "The flotilla has rallied the world's attention once again to the suffering of the people of Gaza. The flotilla has joined land and sea in the mass mobilization of millions. And the flotilla has forced reluctant states into active confrontation with the illegal siege that has starved the people of Palestine and robbed them of their right to self-determination. Above all, the flotilla has proven that ordinary people – doctors, fishermen, students, journalists, lawyers, clergymen, and retirees from 44 countries – can not only unite around a sense moral outrage, but also take matters into their own hands to do something about it. We set sail from Barcelona not just as a symbolic gesture of solidarity — but as an act of construction: to build a permanent humanitarian corridor to reach the people of Gaza by sea. And while our boats may be intercepted, that idea cannot detained. The demand for a corridor will outlive this flotilla; a new fleet of ships is already on its way from Corsica to break the siege. Our movement only grows. When Israeli authorities forcibly board our vessels in the coming hours, please know that they will be committing an act of piracy. They will be violating the sovereignty of the seas. They will be obstructing a peaceful humanitarian mission witnessed by the entire world. Let them try to justify it. Let them explain to the international community why our humble effort to feed the starving people of Gaza represents some threat to their national security. No one will believe them. The Hasbara simply doesn’t hit anymore." "From here on the Ohwayla, I can say that we are not afraid of interception, interrogation, or incarceration. What we fear is a world where such abductions become routine. Where humanitarians are treated as criminals. Where bringing food to hungry children is called terrorism. So when you hear that we have been intercepted – and you will hear it, within the coming hours – please do not fear for us. We knew what we were sailing toward. We made this choice with open eyes and full hearts. Instead, let’s raise hell! 😈 Make those Insta posts, yell at our pathetic representatives, and join our demand for a corridor now. Not as a dream, but as a concrete policy. The infrastructure we could not complete, states must build. The siege we came to break, they must end once and for all. If there is one thing I have learned on this journey, surrounded by these extraordinary new friends from every corner of the earth, it is this: that collective action really is a beautiful thing. When we refuse to accept the unacceptable, when we put our bodies between injustice and its victims, we really can alter the course of history, however modestly. I guess more than anything, I want to thank you all for your support, your love, and your company on this mission. I hope it is not too long before I see you on the other side. Yours with love, David"
October 1, 2025 at 1:57 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
👀👀👀
www.readthemaple.com/unions-impro...
Excerpt from the linked article. The text reads "Across all measures, the study controls for the influence of other factors that may influence inequality and poverty, GHG and TPM emissions, and mortality. In this way, the authors are able to single out the influence that unionization has. As they conclude, 'The evidence presented here suggests that when unionization rates are higher in Canadian provinces, the environment is cleaner, inequality is lower, and health is better.'"
September 24, 2025 at 2:15 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
Screenshot from Disco Elysium dialogue with a character called "The Deserter". The text reads: "You: Seen *what*? The Deserter: The mask of humanity fall from capital. It has to take it off to kill everyone — everything you love; all the hope and tenderness in the world. It has to take it off, just for one second. To do the deed. And then you see it. As it strangles and beats your friends to death... the sweetest, most courageous people in the world... _(he's silent for a second)_ You see the fear and power in its eyes. Then you *know*. You: What? The Deserter: That the bourgeois are not human."
July 2, 2025 at 4:44 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
Feels like an appropriate time to be re-reading chapter 1 of Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, “On Violence”
Screenshot of a page from Wretched of the Earth, the highlighted text reads: “ In colonial regions, however, the proximity and frequent, direct intervention by the police and the military ensure the colonized are kept under close scrutiny, and contained by rifle butts and napalm. We have seen how the government’s agent uses a language of pure violence. … The colonist’s sector is a sated, sluggish sector, its belly is permanently full of good things. … The colonized’s sector, or at least the “native” quarters, the shanty town, the Medina, the reservation, is a disreputable place inhabited by disreputable people. You are born anywhere, anyhow. You die anywhere, from anything.“ Screenshot of a page from Wretched of the Earth, the highlighted text reads: “ The violence which governed the ordering of the colonial world, which tirelessly punctuated the destruction of the indigenous social fabric, and demolished unchecked the systems of reference of the country’s economy, lifestyles, and modes of dress, this same violence will be vindicated and appropriated when, taking history into their own hands, the colonized swarm into the forbidden cities. … As if to illustrate the totalitarian nature of colonial exploitation, the colonist turns the colonized into a kind of quintessence of evil.1 Colonized society is not merely portrayed as a society without values. The colonist is not content with stating that the colonized world has lost its values or worse never possessed any. The “native” is declared impervious to ethics, representing not only the absence of values but also the negation of values.“
June 8, 2025 at 1:27 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
you know andor is great because it has memes like this
www.reddit.com/r/okbuddyima...
May 28, 2025 at 6:11 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
This is exactly what's happening to the games industry with AI and other "labour-saving" technologies right now.
Screenshot from chapter 12 of Socialism or Extinction: Climate Automation and War in the Final Capitalist Breakdown by Ted Reese. The text reads: "In an article in January 2018 headlined “When the next recession hits, the robots will be ready”, the Washington Post pointed out that innovations happen quickest “when employers slash payrolls going into a downturn and, out of necessity, turn to software or machinery to take over the tasks once performed by their laid-off workers”. Pointing to growing expectations by economists of a financial crisis in 2020, the paper adds that the “next wave of automation won’t just be sleek robotic arms on factory floors. It will be ordering kiosks, self-service apps and software smart enough to perfect schedules and cut down on the workers needed to cover a shift. Employers are already testing these systems. A recession will force them into the mainstream."
April 13, 2025 at 6:43 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
Btw if you're wondering "but what do we do about it?" the answer is rebuild the labour movement and prepare for a full-on assault by the capitalist class. At some point the future will be decided by which class is strongest and better organized, and personally I hope it's us!
Screenshot from chapter 12 of the book Socialism or Extinction: Climate Automation and War in the Final Capitalist Breakdown by Ted Reese. The text reads: "Those who are lucky enough to find or remain in work as the capitalist crisis deepens will see their pay and conditions savagely forced down. In April 2018, the World Bank recommended yet more deregulation in a report that said “high minimum wages, undue restrictions on hiring and firing and strict contract forms all make workers more expensive vis-à-vis technology”. International capital is preparing a major assault on international labour in order to accelerate moves towards automation. Capitalists could be forced to slow down or stop the introduction of new automation by, say, a strong and militant neo-Luddite or trade union movement and – the usual driver for concessions – the desire for social peace. But the contradiction persists: capital accumulation, and staying ahead of or keeping up with competitors, requires higher productivity and therefore labour-saving innovation. The deeper capitalism sinks into crisis the more necessary it becomes to raise productivity. That is, the more workers are replaced by robots, the greater the underproduction of surplus value becomes, and yet the system needs to respond by replacing more workers with robots. If it cannot do this then capital goes unvalorised and the economy crashes. From the perspective of the bourgeoisie, a strong neo-Luddite or trade union movement would sooner or later have to be crushed."
April 13, 2025 at 6:34 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
The Marxist argument for why capitalism is a dead end is that competition drives capitalists to automate to cut costs, which then puts more people out of work, reduces the source of surplus value (and the market for the goods they produce), which further accelerates the decline in the rate of profit
Screenshot of an excerpt from the 6th chapter of Socialism or Extinction: Climate Automation and War in the Final Capitalist Breakdown by Ted Reese. It reads "6. The final contradiction? 'The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion the devaluation of the world of men.' Marx A report by a Canadian investment bank, Macquarie, goes so far as to say that, unlike what it calls the first three industrial revolutions, which “aimed to supplement” human workers, the fourth “aims to replace humans completely”, making it “intrinsically far more disruptive”. In a seemingly Marxist explanation, the report puts the global economic crisis down to “declining returns on humans”, warning investors of “deglobalisation”, intensifying trade wars and a booming “lumpenproletariat”. If it is possible and true that the automation revolution aims to “replace human workers completely”, then it inadvertently aims to cut off the key social relation in the process of capital accumulation, ie the exploited human labour that goes into commodity production. Machinery cannot produce surplus value because, unlike workers, it cannot sell labour power – it cannot be exploited. “Declining returns on humans” is therefore an apt diagnosis, and once again shows, to the chagrin of all its would-be grave-diggers both on the Left as well as the Right, that the labour theory of value remains correct and, indeed, more relevant than ever."
April 13, 2025 at 6:02 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
This is the Marxist way of saying capitalism is cooked.

(Screenshot from Socialism or Extinction: Climate Automation and War in the Final Capitalist Breakdown by Ted Reese)
Screenshot of a section of a book. The section title is "Senile imperialism" in bold. The rest of the text reads: "What we are seeing then is this: the highest stage of capitalism has gone past its own high point and is elapsing as a historical epoch – automation is undoing the economic relations that underpin the system. The productive forces now demand a higher mode of production altogether. Monopoly capitalism could survive despite the turmoil it wrought 100 years ago because it was still in its infancy and full automation was a distant reality. Today imperialism is old and senile with nowhere left to go but ‘home’, and highly developed automation has brought the expiration of the law of value into view."
April 13, 2025 at 2:59 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
Day 2 at the CODE-CWA booth! Come talk to us about building worker power in games! #weredoneplaying #uvwcwa #codecwa #gdc2025
March 20, 2025 at 6:47 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
Having fun at the CODE-CWA booth #weredoneplaying #uvwcwa #codecwa #gdc2025
March 19, 2025 at 6:44 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
Made it to level 12! anyone able to beat me? (I am very bad at weiqi so it shouldn't be too hard)
Screenshot of the victory screen from the game Weiqi Dungeon. The first line reads "Enemy Defeated" in yellow text. The second and third lines say "You are now level 12. Click to advance deeper" in white text.
March 12, 2025 at 2:53 AM
ckjong.bsky.social
When people say the tariffs make no sense or are self-defeating, consider that this might be the best the US can do in the context of widespread imperialist crisis and decline. Here in Canada we’re in for a painful reckoning with reality, but overall I have hope for the future.
Screenshot of a long post by Arnaud Bertrand on X. The post reads: "It's becoming clearer and clearer that we're looking at a seismic shift in the US's relationship with the world, between: 1) The US dismantling its foreign interference apparatuses (like USAID 👇) 2) Marco Rubio stating that we're now in a multipolar world with "multi-great powers in different parts of the planet" (https://state.gov/secretary-marco-rubio-with-megyn-kelly-of-the-megyn-kelly-show/) and that "the postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us" (https://foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/6df93f4b-a83c-89ac-0fac-9b586715afd8/011525_Rubio_Testimony.pdf) 3) The tariffs on supposed "allies" like Mexico, Canada or the EU This is the US effectively saying "our attempt at running the world is over, to each his own, we're now just another great power, not the 'indispensable nation'." It looks "dumb" (as the WSJ just wrote) if you are still mentally in the old paradigm but it's always a mistake to think that what the US (or any country) does is dumb. Hegemony was going to end sooner or later, and now the U.S. is basically choosing to end it on its own terms. It is the post-American world order - brought to you by America itself." Screenshot of the second part of a long post by Arnaud Bertrand on X. It reads: "Even the tariffs on allies, viewed under this angle, make sense, as it redefines the concept of "allies": they don't want - or maybe rather can't afford - vassals anymore, but rather relationships that evolve based on current interests. You can either view it as decline - because it does unquestionably look like the end of the American empire - or as avoiding further decline: controlled withdrawal from imperial commitments in order to focus resources on core national interests rather than being forced into an even messier retreat at a later stage. In any case it is the end of an era and, while the Trump administration looks like chaos to many observers, they're probably much more attuned to the changing realities of the world and their own country's predicament than their predecessors. Acknowledging the existence of a multipolar world and choosing to operate within it rather than trying to maintain an increasingly costly global hegemony couldn't be delayed much further. It looks messy but it is probably better than maintaining the fiction of American primacy until it eventually collapses under its own weight." Screenshot of the second part of a long post by Arnaud Bertrand on X. It reads: "This is not to say that the U.S. won't continue to wreak havoc on the world, and in fact we might be seeing it become even more aggressive than before. Because when it previously was (badly, and very hypocritically) trying to maintain some semblance of self-proclaimed "rules-based order", it now doesn't even have to pretend it is under any constraint, not even the constraint of playing nice with allies. It's the end of the U.S. empire, but definitely not the end of the U.S. as a major disruptive force in world affairs. All in all this transformation may mark one of the most significant shifts in international relations since the fall of the Soviet Union. And those most unprepared for it, as is already painfully obvious, are America's vassals caught completely flat-footed by the realization that the patron they've relied on for decades is now treating them as just another set of countries to negotiate with." At the bottom is a screenshot of another post that states that USAID has deleted its X account.
February 2, 2025 at 5:27 PM
ckjong.bsky.social
Luigi fan posts are everywhere on xiaohongshu (Chinese social
media platform aka Little Red Book) and someone asked why. Here are some of my favourite responses.
January 15, 2025 at 4:22 AM
ckjong.bsky.social
Some important context laid out in the comments on the PMG video. Not only are western capitalists profiting from the abuse and exploitation of workers in Indonesia, but western imperialism destroyed their local labour movement and created the conditions for the abuse to persist.
Screenshot of a comment on the YouTube video "100 Slaps: The Breaking News The Games Industry Ignored in 2024." The comment reads: "Also remember: in the 1950s and 1960s, Indonesia was a progressive society with a strong union movement, and workplace rights and laws. Compared to their neighbours, Indonesian factory workers had better rights, protections and pay. The President of the time wanted to tax oil and gas extraction (just like Norway does). The US government didn't like this, so the CIA funded, weaponised and backed the far-right coup that would result in a brutal dictatorship that lasted until 1998. The coup resulted in over a million Indonesians butchered in the streets. Over a million more placed in concentration camps. Communists, unionists, feminists, and social progressives were targeted in particular. Women's rights, worker's rights, fairly taxing foreign corporations: all things of the past under this new regime. As late as the 1990s, Indonesian schoolchildren would walk past the mutilated corpses of political dissidents as they walked to school. That's the regime that the CIA put in power. That's why a story like this one is even possible.
January 12, 2025 at 11:41 PM