Once again, Germany appears in this crisis as the good European pupil: a relatively low number of deaths despite a higher number of official cases than in France, without “hard” confinement, and a government which appears to be a rather good manager. Its Austrian neighbour has even managed in recent days to “flatten” the famous curve and is considering the first measures of deconfinement. So can they claim to be “top of the class” in Europe?
A Crisis of Vast Unknowns
19 April 2020, byTwo realities confront the United States — now the world leader in confirmed Covid-19 cases, even while emerging conditions are incomparably more horrific in much of the Global South — during the coronavirus pandemic and associated economic meltdown. First, this is a crisis that would seriously challenge the most competent, clear-sighted, effective and well-prepared national political leadership. Second, that’s not the political leadership we’ve got, by a long shot.
Slovakia: panic and discipline at the edge of the EU
18 April 2020, byWith only 11 deaths for 5.45 million inhabitants, and only 10 Covid-19 victims in intensive care, Slovakia has been much more successful than West European countries in containing the pandemic. Citizens ask themselves how long a landlocked country can resist the pandemic. Economically, the country is vulnerable. The export-oriented economy is heading into deep recession, including the auto industry that dominates industrial production. Shops are closed except for food and pharmacies. Schools won’t reopen until September. Slovaks working in Western Europe are flocking home jobless.
Bolsonaro’s necropolitical solution
18 April 2020, by“Will some die? Yes, some people will die, I am sorry, this is life. Nor are we going to close the car factories due to the fact that there are traffic accidents.” These were the most controversial statements regarding the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, made by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro on 21 March 2020.
Pandemic lays bare Israel’s systemic racism
17 April 2020, byIsraeli racism guides policy on coronavirus. Since the start of the outbreak, Israel has both promoted an image of equality by showing Palestinian doctors on the frontlines of treating coronavirus-infected patients to mask its bigotry. Simultaneously it has castigated only Palestinians for not “following the rules,” at least at first, even while the majority of those who have tested positive to date hail from religious Jewish communities.
Let’s build the transition to ecosocialism now!
16 April 2020, byThis statement was issued by the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International on 16 April 2020.
Fighting COVID-19: Why and How to Suspend Debt Repayment Immediately
16 April 2020, byThe territorial spread of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a global health crisis which has created a completely new situation. The human suffering caused by the spread of the virus is enormous. It adds to other public health tragedies that affect, more particularly, countries dominated by major powers and big capital, with the complicity of their dominant classes. Significant amounts of financial resources must be made available urgently, incurring new debts as little as possible.
Danish government reopens schools, immigrants left out
15 April 2020, byAs of April 15, Denmark has registered 6,511 coronavirus infections and 299 Covid-19 deaths, among the lowest rates thus far in northern Europe after the early adoption of social distancing and salary supports. This relative success is being put to the test this week as Denmark began “reopening schools on Wednesday after a month-long closure over the coronavirus, becoming the first country in Europe to do so,” according to the Guardian. “Nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools were reopening, according to an AFP correspondent, after they were closed on 12 March in an effort to curb the Covid-19 epidemic. However, classes are only resuming in about half of Denmark’s municipalities and in about 35% of Copenhagen’s schools, as some have requested more time to adjust to health protocols still in place.”
Denmark’s healthcare system has been weakened by years of budget cuts and some worry that the push to reopen parts of the economy will needlessly put the public at risk as testing remains limited. Meanwhile, the Social Democrats under Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, along with the majority in parliament, approved a plan to pay 75 percent of workers’ wages on behalf of businesses, costs that will pressurize the Danish budget in the coming months and open up a political fight over taxation and how to deal with the emerging recession.
Class and Race Inequality, Health, and COVID-19
15 April 2020, byThe demographic data collected and reported in the media for sickness and mortality rates due to COVID-19 has focused on age and to a certain extent gender. While mass hardship from unemployment has been widely reported, we have heard little about sickness or mortality rates by class or race for the coronavirus. There is nonetheless, clear evidence that class and race, and health and disease in general are closely linked. It is very likely therefore that sickness, recovery, and mortality rates for the Coronavirus pandemic will closely mirror class divides within countries and between rich and poor countries. Individual and household incomes, which reflects the class structure in a general way will be a key factor in how different classes experience the pandemic and its aftermath. Workers and the poor and people of color will likely suffer at greater rates than more privileged class and racial groups.
Murder by Sanctions
14 April 2020, byAS THE GLOBAL death toll from the coronavirus stretches deep into the hundreds of thousands — and while Donald Trump continues his daily grandstanding misleadership, political manipulation and piracy of critical medical supplies, false claims of miracle cures (in which he has personal financial interests), sabotaging his own public health experts, absurdities about “reopening the economy” by May 1, and retaliatory firing of officials who exposed his criminal extortion of Ukraine — other crises haven’t gone away. Quite the contrary.