Tag: COVID19

  • An ideological war

    Amazon workers in NYC revolt over lack of coronavirus safety protections I believe that there is an ideological war going on right now and that the left needs to be prepared to do battle. In the very first days of this crisis, we saw moratoriums on evictions, expedited unemployment benefits, CA housing the homeless in…

  • Covid-19 pandemic: let’s protect our lives not their profits!

    Capitalism obstructs fight against Covid-19 (Illustration of the SARS-CoV-2 virus by Alissa Eckert, Dan Higgins/CDC) The coronavirus pandemic is a dramatic public health problem and the human suffering caused will be enormous. Already, in Western Europe, health systems are on the edge of asphyxia. If it spreads massively in countries in the Global South whose…

  • Epidemics, working-class self-organization and socialism

    1946 Oakland general strike The COVD-19 pandemic and the attendant economic crisis raise big-picture questions of great importance to socialists. Disasters, natural, human-made or a combination of both, such as wars, famines, economic depressions and epidemics, often trigger great political and social crises affecting all areas of life. This brief article offers reflections on the…

  • C-19 menaces Antigua and Barbuda

    Government dithers, people act Cruise ships bring poverty and now C-19 to Antigua and Barbuda The situation in Antigua and Barbuda is marked by palpable uncertainty and tension ever since the first confirmed case was announced two weeks ago, and the Antiguan government announced on Friday, March 13 that schools and some other institutions would…

  • A Medical, Economic and Social Crisis

    A Medical, Economic and Social Crisis

    New York Times, March 18, 2020 The global coronavirus outbreak is not (fortunately) the end of civilization, nor is it (unfortunately) the end of capitalism. It is, however, a very deep systemic crisis with interlocking public health, environmental and economic dimensions — and reveals the need for a profound social transformation both in the United…

  • Covid-19 pandemic shows the need for public health that includes everyone

    Covid-19 pandemic shows the need for public health that includes everyone

    Demonstration against Detroit water shutoffs, 2014 (Photo: Jim West) What the global pandemic clearly shows is the need for public health that includes everyone — not just those who can afford to pay. The refusal of public officials to prioritize health, citing the cost, along with the shutdown of public research into infectious diseases, has…

  • Statement on Governor Whitmer Inaction on Water Shutoffs, Public Health Safety

    Statement on Governor Whitmer Inaction on Water Shutoffs, Public Health Safety

    Public health endangered by depriving thousands of clean water DETROIT — Today, a large coalition of social justice groups released a statement which serves as the basis for a letter and a petition to Governor Gretchen Whitmer. In the document, they call on Governor Whitmer to use her executive authority to declare a moratorium on…

  • No, the coronavirus is not responsible for the fall of stock prices

    No, the coronavirus is not responsible for the fall of stock prices

    (CC – pixabay) We are witnessing a big crisis in the stock markets of the Wall Street, Europe, Japan and Shanghai, and many blame the coronavirus for it. In the last week of February 2020, the worst week since October 2008, the Dow Jones fell 12.4%, the S&P 500 fell 11.5% and the Nasdaq Composite…