Capitalism fails in Covid-19 vaccination

The capitalist system has proven to be unable to solve the Covid-19 crisis. Instead its is bleeding the working class to death with not only a dangerous virus but also competing to get numerous vaccines produced at the same time. Profiteering is part of the capitalist system and therefore there is a race going on who will produce the most efficient vaccination. Meanwhile it has become clear that only the rich countries will get the vaccine first. The third world (poor nations) will have to wait until at least 2023 or even later. Under a socialist society we would not have capitalists competing over vaccines. We would have put all resources and minds together to produce one free vaccine for all humans. But we do not live under socialism. In our world, healthcare is a profit thing and millions die each years because they do not have access to it.

Around 3.000.000 humans have died of Covid-19 since December 2019. 139.645.558 have been confirmed to have got the virus. For over one year and five months, the world is in the grip of this pandemic. Billions have been lost in the stock markets and the capitalist class is about to fire millions of workers to save their profits and companies. At the same time the (capitalist) governments are spending tax money to save important companies from bankruptcy. Even with public money the capitalists keep on exploiting workers and enriching themselves. The chairman of Air France-KLM got two million dollars in bonus from the capitalists, because he secured billions in tax money from France and the Netherlands.

In countries with a low or not functioning social security system (like the USA) the poverty rate could increase dramatically. Its reported that by now 60 million Americans are living in relative poverty including those with (low paid) jobs. It has been now a year since the pandemic began and still there is no single vaccination program that is working effectively. There are ten Covid-19 vaccines, all produced independently and with different motivations. Pfizer–BioNTech is produced by the pharmaceutical sector of Germany and the USA. They first demanded 54 euro’s for their vaccine. After a massive outrage, the price was dropped to 16 euro’s per vaccine.

Moderna is produced by the government of the USA (the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases). Sputnik V is the Russian vaccine, created by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. The price for Moderna is around 30 dollars and the Sputnik V is priced around 10 dollars. The most cheapest vaccine is the AstraZeneca vaccine designed by the University of Oxford. Their vaccine is priced at only two dollars. However in April 2021 it was reported that there are some serious side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This has caused some governments to stop using the vaccine while others keep using it.

There is no unity in the production and distribution of the Covid-19 vaccination. Russia and China are using their vaccines to gain political capital around the world. The European Union is debating if they too should use the vaccines to win over political allies against Russia and China. Now the healthcare of humanity has become a political tool in the new cold war between western imperialism and eastern imperialism. Meanwhile the working class is suffering as millions are forced to remain in lockdowns. Some capitalists demand that workers come work and do not uphold the social distancing rules.

In poorer countries workers have never been given social security or government production. Around the planet, the government’s are there to protect the capitalist class not the working class. Labour laws are often ignored (specially in Africa and Asia) or broken. Capitalists are free to do whatever they desire and millions of working men and women suffer. The lack of a socialist alternative is why this is possible. Social democratic and communist (Stalinist) parties have betrayed the working class and do not offer any resistance to the massive exploitation and abuse of workers rights. The established left-wing has failed and it is therefore that far-right populism (like Trump) has grown so strong.

The lack of a single world wide vaccine and capitalist greed has already killed three million people. Many more will die because of Covid-19. Revolutionary socialists call for the complete nationalization of all pharmaceutical companies that dominate the healthcare and drug industry. We need democratic control over them in order to prevent profiteering. In this we cannot trust governments, because all of them are in the service of companies like Pfizer and BioNTech. Capitalism does not want to solve the pandemic because it is profiting off it. Billions are to be made by selling different vaccines. Governments also use the vaccine as a political weapon to win support for their imperialist plans.

As Socialist Alternative (ISA in the USA) points out:

Profit-driven big pharmaceutical companies, with the blessing of the Biden Administration, are blocking Intellectual Property (IP) waivers that would allow poor countries (formerly colonized countries) to produce the Covid-19 vaccine. In poor countries, only 1 out of every 500 people have received the Covid-19 vaccine. A Covid-19 vaccine must be seen as a global public good, a people’s vaccine for all. The laws under capitalism – including global trade laws – are set up for profit maximization for the elite in all countries.

Donald Trump has Covid-19

Donald Trump, the idiot president of the USA who once denied that Covid-19 was a serious problem, is now infected with the virus that killed 1,026,717 people worldwide since December 2019. Since he is an old man, the health risks are far higher. This year another conservative icon, Herman Cain died because of the virus. Cain was a black conservative icon and he too denounced the seriousness of Covid-19, until he died of it. Now the big man himself is infected with his wife. The irony is great because it was president Trump who was unwilling to see the danger at first. Because of his lack of awareness in early 2020, over 7,078,089 Americans are now infected with 204,490 death.

Swedish government fails

Officially the Kingdom of Sweden has a leftist government. A coalition of the social-democratic party and the green party rule the Scandinavian country. Praised by Bernie Sanders and many American leftists, Sweden however is no role model. In fact, Scandinavian social democracy is no less capitalistic compared to other European governments. As Swedish socialists explain: ”The government has failed in protecting working class people from the pandemic that is Covid-19”. The right-wing opposition in Sweden will abuse this fact, while they share blame also. Because both social democratic and conservative governments have carried out austerity cuts, resulting in fewer beds in hospitals and no basic face masks to protect staff from the infected.

State nationalism has kept the government out of massive criticism yet. The Swedish media is saying that all should stand together. This we see across Europe with governments calling on people of all classes to stand together. Reality is that the ruling class can afford crisis, working class people cannot. The rich have enough money to outlive the pandemic, workers however rely on a monthly pay check. Sweden is a country with high living costs. Although wages are high, taxes and prices are also much higher. Conservative governments have cut social services and lowered taxes for the rich, but working class people have not benefited. Social democratic governments kept things as they are, not improving anything.

Independent trade union initiatives saved more lives then government action. Because many workers realized early that they needed to take action when Covid-19 was not yet a major issue. Thanks to the trade union struggle by bus drivers in Stockholm, front doors of buses were closed early on during the epidemic. Passengers were told to entered at the rear, which probably saved many lives. Also due to trade union work, the provision of face masks was possible. However in protecting the elderly, the state health sector has failed completely. 4.891 Swedish people have died since March 2020 due to Covid-19. The Socialist Justice Party – ISA Sweden has reported that:

The chaos in elderly care has been devastating during the pandemic. Elderly people who have been infected have not been separated from healthy people and staff have been forced to work despite being ill. Others have been forced to care for the sick without protective equipment, a large proportion of staff are paid by the hour and could not afford to stay at home. Nevertheless, sick leave has made staff shortages even more significant. Unskilled substitutes have been forced to run between healthy and sick service users. No consideration has been given to risk groups who are forced to work as usual, despite the lack of protective equipment.

Statement of ISA Sweden

When reading the statement you would think this is something out of a south European nation or a third world country. No, this is Sweden, the role model of many social democrats in America. Sweden, one of the most ”equal” countries on the planet and yet due to austerity and cuts carried out by social democrats and conservatives resulted in this disaster. Covid-19 proofs that the healthcare sector was not ready for a pandemic, despite that it should have. Workers in Sweden pay high taxes and yet the government choose not to invest in health care. The elderly have paid the price with most of the 4.891 deaths are above the age of 70.

Prime Minister Stefan Lövfén tries to boost nationalism with waves of Swedish flags. This social democrat is now using the very nationalism that any leftist should reject. Praising a nation above anything while failing to protect the most vulnerable. However with Scandinavian social democracy abandoning its socialist roots, there is little left then using nationalism when things go bad. Reality is that the Swedish government is not leftist, despite that the established left-wing is in power. The politics of Stefan Lövfén are not an improvement over the previous conservative government. This is why there is a possibility that the right-wing Moderate Coalition Party will return to govern. Because the conservatives are already using the failed Covid-19 strategy as a propaganda weapon against the whole Swedish left.

The Swedish Public Health Authority (FHM) first claimed that the virus would not leave China. This was the first mistake made, because Covid-19 was already out of China by February. Then when it spread, the government reported that only 1% would be infected. As the virus spread the Swedish government kept on saying that it was not a pandemic. Traveling on public transport was not discouraged, despite calling for a ban later on. People were also not told that it was a highly contagiousness virus. All in all the FHM failed and this in a country that is praised by so many. If one of the best countries is failing, then what will happen to people in countries that have worse health care systems? Spain and Italy have shown us that. In both countries: 61,507 have died as of 16 June 2020. These people were alive around February this year!

Capitalist governments did not act fast because they would not dare to hinder the economic activities of the class they service. Western governments are servants to their ruling class and by restricting the capitalists, they would risk harsh criticism if the virus was not that deathly. The capitalist media would vilify any government that called for a the shutdown of businesses, a ban on air travel and closure of public spaces. This is why governments are afraid of losing credit with the capitalist class! They would rather risk the safety of workers then being embarrassed by sensationalist tabloids. Sweden is no exception in this. They are after all led by a capitalist government that is supportive of the market dictatorship.

It is not like that healthcare workers did not warn the government. For years, working class people have warned about the unsustainable situation in the health care sector. Alarms were raised that a virus could spread very fast among the elderly in care homes due to not enough protective equipment. Social democratic and conservative governments claimed that “basic healthcare hygiene” was sufficient and dismissed all warnings by healthcare workers. Even now in the midst of the pandemic, those who work with elderly have no basic face masks to protect them from the infected. The Swedish government is hiding behind ”expert opinions” we have seen this also with the Dutch government, who also failed in protecting its elderly. Over 6.000 died in the Netherlands!

Capitalist failure have been exposed by Covid-19. Although the established left-wing is in power in Sweden, they have not broken with the capitalist system. Worse, the social democrats have carried out the same austerity. This proofs that conservatives, greens, nationalists, social democrats and other capitalist political parties are no improvement. Even the moderate Left Party has agreed on a supplementary agreement, despite not having any influence on government politics. This leaves the working class of Sweden with no parliamentary force that works in their interests. The Socialist Justice Party – ISA Sweden calls for socialist politics to fight the pandemic. Socialism is not build in Sweden as many in America think. Covid-19 has shown us this fact.

 

Massive poverty expected

Capitalist governments do not hesitate to subsidence many big companies with billions of dollars and euro’s. Both American and European governments are now spending massive to help struggling companies during the Covid-19 crisis. Billions in tax money is wasted on saving capitalists, who are already saying that they will lay off millions of workers across the western world. Although the situation is not good in Europe, in the USA millions not only lose their work and incomes, they are also at risk of hunger. It is estimated that 1/3 of all Americans will not have enough money to buy basic products like food!

41% of all American households could end up in poverty, meaning that they will not have the money to buy food. Before the Covid-19 crisis, the United States of America was already a deeply unequal nation, with a huge number of  its population living below the poverty line. In 2019, it was said that 39,7 million Americans lived on less then $12,140 a year. Now with massive job loses due to Covid-19, the number of workers living in poverty will increase in 2020. How many will end up with not enough money is hard to say. But some estimate that 109 million could be affected. This crisis has exposed the capitalist system and its governments for what it is.Working class people cannot trust Donald Trump or any national government as it will only help those who own the economy, not the workers!

Revolutionary socialists have been fighting against this injustice long before Covid-19. The main problem remains the lack of workers parties and the inability of the established left-wing to brake free from the reformist/social democratic mentality. Never before have been conditions been right for the established of socialism. What is lacking is the political will of supposed left-wing leaders to brake with the system. Bernie Sanders has proven why we cannot trust reformists like himself. At the peak of the struggle he capitulated again, just has he and others did to Hillary Clinton in 2016. In Europe, social democracy betrayed and abandoned the working class over 40 years ago. Today they are only a shadow of what leftism used to be.

Across the planet, right-wing regimes use the fear of Covid-19 to increase their authoritarian control. In the State of Israel, mass-murderer Benjamin Netanyahu has been given the power to rule by decree without reference to the courts or parliament. Viktor Orban of Hungary is also given the right to rule by degree. This is possible because the Hungarian parliament is fully under control of conservatives and far-right nationalists, both they own 3/4 of all seats. The majority of people think that by given governments more power it will stop the spreading of the virus. But working-class people, trade union activists, and socialists must all be alert to its dangers. Because authoritarian control can also lead to government abuse as we have often seen.

Since right-wing leaders like Netanyahu and Orban do not care about freedoms, they will not hesitate to abuse their power to silence political opposition. Israel is already saying that any criticism of its illegal occupation of Palestine is equal to antisemitism. Hungary claims that standing against Orban means siding with illegals and foreigners. This nationalist poison is only effective because the left-wing failed to provide a socialist alternative in the past. In Hungary, the supposed ”left-wing” (Hungarian Socialist Party) followed the demands of European capitalism, meaning privatization and deregulation. Economically, the so called ”liberals and socialists” carried out a free market program, while the conservatives and nationalists rejected it.

To stop the abuse and growing poverty, we need a movement to stands against the betrayals of social democrats and the typical right-wing. It is difficult however to fight when leaders capitulate to the might of capitalism. Let us not fool ourselves. The ruling class is very powerful. They own the government, economy, media and control the incomes of all people on this planet. Bernie Sanders lost the Democratic Party nomination, because the media suddenly portrayed Joe Biden as the ”most electable” candidate to beat Donald Trump, despite the polls saying that Sanders could easily defeat that old sexist in the White House. What also hinders the fight for socialism is the inability of trade unions to move beyond the capitalist power structures. Even in Europe, no big trade unions claims to fight socialism anymore.

1,2 million British workers have asked for Universal Credit since the start of the lock-down. Some say that 3,5 million workers in the United Kingdom will end up win-out work. Now it is estimated that a total of 30 million British need government support in order to survive each month. In the 1970’s, both Britain and the USA had the lowest number of people living in poverty. Then in the early 1980’s, inequality grew due to the rise of neoliberalism and the deregulation of the economy. The increase in poverty after 1980 shows that there is a clear link between the introduction of free market fundamentalism and the number of people living on less income. Today over 40% of all British ask for government support, this was under 25% from 1975 until 1980.

12,000 workers at British Airways have been fired, despite a profit of 3,2 billion British pounds. The capitalists abuse the Covid-19 crisis to lay off workers and save money for themselves. At the same time they dare to demand tax payer money. We therefore demand the complete nationalization of British Airways. Unlike the state owned British Airways in the past, we demand a British airliner that is democratic and run by its workers. However no capitalist government will nationalize anything unless they do it to pay losses with our tax money. This is why socialists do not call for the nationalization of loses and privatization of profits. The capitalist media often claims that companies cannot survive win-out tax money, the opposite however is true as Socialist Alternative in England, Wales and Scotland noted.

It is often suggested that under capitalism, companies are left to sink or swim by themselves. This is not the case at all. Capitalist governments are constantly propping up businesses and allowing them to make profit at the expense of taxpayers. Corporations are offered vast subsidies in a whole range of sectors.

Socialist Alternative (ISA in England, Scotland and Wales)

Working class people are paying the price for Covid-19 as governments only help the class who pays them. This is why Revolutionary Socialist Media calls on all workers to reject their leaders. We cannot trust any government that spends billions of our tax money and later will claim that austerity is needed because of government debt. Capitalist governments must be replaced by socialist one. This can only happen when workers understand that the current system is not build for them. A socialist alternative is the only way out. Our fight must be not only against the ruling class and their political puppets, but also against the established left-wing who refuses to brake with capitalism due to their inability to look further!

 

  Remember 1930?

This is 2020!

 

Spain’s poor are left to die

The poor of this planet are left to die, because the ruling class does not care. They never cared before the Covid-19 crisis and will not care now. Billions of lives are at risk, especially in the slums of Africa, a continent fully controlled by western imperialist interests. But even in rich western countries like Spain, poor people are just abandoned by the state. There are stories of elderly just left alone to die in their houses. This is because Spain cannot handle the numbers of infected. After years of austerity under previous conservative governments, the coalition between social democrats, left populists and the communist party is facing a massive crisis which they cannot resolve. The reason for that is very clear, the Spanish government remains bourgeois and does not dare to brake up the power-structures of capitalism!

Spain is ruled by a coalition government between the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), United Left (led by the Spanish Communist Party) and Podemos (Yes We Can). Although capitalist media outlets will call the government left-wing, we do not agree with that. Spain is not led by a government that works in the interests of workers. The PSOE is not a leftist party and by joining it, United Left and Podemos have surrendered themselves to ruling a capitalist state and legitimizing the politics that have harmed so many. Because the social democrats will not limit capitalist greed, they will not choose ordinary people over capitalists. We know this from experience, PSOE led governments have always been supportive of the ruling class!

The Spanish healthcare sector is not able to handle the many calls for help. Covid-19 has exposed what a pandemic can do to a country that has enforced austerity on healthcare services for years. Both the right-wing People’s Party (PP) and the Spanish ”Socialist Workers” Party are to blame for this. Because both have enforced cuts to social services in the name of balancing the budget. Now that over 124,736 Spanish have been infected (as of 4 April), the Covid-19 crisis is showing what can happen when a nation is cutting funding for hospitals and healthcare centers!

Because healthcare is decentralized in the Spanish state, the quality of it can differ. The capital Madrid suffered many cuts to public healthcare under the last right-wing government, led by Mariano Rajoy who ruled from 2011 until 2018. Rajoy is the same right-winger who enforced Spanish imperialism on the Catalonia region by dissolving its democratic elected parliament. Catalonia has fallen back in line, despite that the independence camp holds a majority in the Catalan parliament. Current prime minister Pedro Sánchez is a neoliberal, who only used a leftist facade to win the last elections. There is still this general idea that the PSOE is a leftist party, millions voted for Sánchez in order to keep the hated conservatives out of government!

Despite Pedro Sánchez’s call for a restoration of social democracy, no genuine socialist should believe him. The fact that United Left and Podemos have joined his capitalist government is unacceptable. Spain needs a socialist direction and neither the PSOE, United Left or Podemos will go this road. This is because all three are not willing to brake with capitalism. The social democrats have accepted the market dictatorship years ago, but United Left and Podemos claimed to be different. However its leaders decided to support the PSOE between 2018/2019. This alienated many and in the last election Podemos lost -8,3% of its voters!

After this disastrous lose, the leaders of United Left and Podemos refused to learn. They embraced the social democratic PSOE and joined them in government. Now the conservatives of the People’s Party (PP) and the far-right led by VOX can use that to their advantage. VOX itself grew from nothing into the third largest political force in Spain. 3.6 million people voted for the far-right, despite that in 2016 only 47,182 did. VOX portrays itself as a force of opposition and now it won the vote of many who used to vote Podemos in 2016. The leftist populists simply lost their electorate because they choose to support a party and prime minister that is part of the establishment!

Spain has 124,736 people infected with the Covid-19 virus. A clear result of privatization and the profit system. Because this disaster was waiting to happen and at fault are the right-wing politicians of the PP and their capitalist masters. Under the right-wing government of Mariano Rajoy, many healthcare capitalists grew rich while working class people were forced to pay high prices for medicines. All this is because of free market capitalism. There is a high demand for medicines and because of the capitalist system the prices are high. Billions in profits are made and yet workers are now suffers due to a lack of protective materials and oxygen breathing machines!

The stories of Spanish healthcare workers is terrible. Ambulances are told not to visit elderly homes. The choice is made to abandon them to their fate, to die alone and in isolation with no medical support. Spain’s healthcare service is one big profiteering sector, filled with corruption, poor standards and terrible conditions for mostly immigrant workers. To blame is not only the previous conservative government, but also the current one who refuses to stop healthcare capitalists from exploiting the elderly. The Sánchez government is more interesting in keeping the capitalist system intact, all with the support from the established left-wing (communist party and Podemos)!

Doctors and nursers have rightfully criticized the PP and PSOE for cutting funds. There are many videos online about brave healthcare workers attacking conservative and social democratic politicians. One young nurse rightfully said to a government representative: ”You never listened when we demonstrated and went on strike. This crisis is worse because of you”.. The conservative PP enforced the cuts and the PSOE refused to end them. Now there are over 11,814 people death (as of 4 April) in Spain because of the Covid-19 virus, people who could have been saved if the system was not designed to profit of the sick!

Millions will be angered, that their loved ones could not be saved. They will blame the PSOE, United Left and Podemos, who did not changed the unjust system in time. Who will profit from their anger? The right-wing and far-right! Conservatives and far-right nationalists will direct the anger towards the ruling parties, while ignoring the fact that the austerity started with the first conservative government in 2011. With the established Spanish left-wing in power, all faults resulting from austerity and capitalist injustice is now directed towards them. This is why revolutionary socialists always say that the left-wing must not govern under capitalism!

International Socialist Alternative in the Spanish state has made the following demands to end this injustice, that is caused by capitalism!

1. Medicalise all nursing homes!

2. Nationalize, without compensation and under workers’, residents’ and families’ control, all private homes for the elderly and put an immediate end to the private management of those that are publicly owned.

3. End the racket and let our senior citizens live in dignity!

4. Immediately provide emergency health resources, both material and human, so that nursing homes are not tuned into cemeteries!

5. After the COVID-19 crisis is over there should be an open and democratic investigation which could lead to prosecution of all bosses and politicians involved in the privatization of social services which have led to the deaths of older people during this COVID-19 crisis.

6. Nationalization without compensation of all their assets. Use their assets to fight the virus and for the health care of the elderly!

7. Defend and expand the public health service. Reverse all cuts and privatizations immediately and bring private hospitals, suppliers and resources into the public system.

8. Nationalize all private subtracting services such as cleaning. Decent pay and contracts for cleaners!

9. Nationalize all private healthcare facilities to aid the public system in coping with the crisis. Health before profit!

10. Immediate recruitment of the necessary number of health professionals to tackle this crisis.

11. All material resources and safety equipment needed for health workers and other essential workers to be made available immediately.

12. Immediate halt to all manufacturing activity not essential to the fight against the pandemic.

13. Nationalization of the pharmaceutical sector.

14. Nationalization of the banks and multinationals under democratic worker’. Establish a plan of production that puts the rights of the people and their health first.

15. No job losses due to the COVID-19 crisis

16. Cancel all mortgage and rent payments for the duration of the crisis for workers who have no or reduced pay

17. Cancel all social security payments for the self employed and small businesses such as bar owners

18. Reduce the prices of essential products that are fundamental to the daily life of working families. No to profiteering and speculations!

Largest market collapse since 2008

Capitalism is once again in crisis, because of the COVID-19 virus and an oil war started by Saudi-Arabia. The markets are in panic and trading on the U.S stock market ended after only five minutes of trading. The massive crash is because of production stagnation, caused by the fact that China has closed off many factories that produce many products. Since most plastic and electronic products are all made in China, the halting of production is very bad for stock markets. To make matters worse, the Saudi’s have decided to start a oil war with Russia. They have dropped the price of crude oil, which forces the Russians to lower their prices as well. Oil price is now at its lowest point since 1991!

Workers will be hit hard by another economic crisis. After all the capitalists will not pay for the damage. They will close companies and fire most workers while taking the profits with them. Because of the COVID-19 virus, the second largest economy has now stopped working. China is more or less paralyzed because of the virus which has infected 113,584 people world wide as of 10 March 2020. 2/3 of all infected are living inside the People’s Republic of China. Now that the virus has spread to other countries, products made in China are now seen as dangerous and often not shipped out!

The masseurs taken by the state-capitalist dictatorship inside China are what is causing the economy to stand still. Fear of the virus is at a record high now that capitalist bosses are forcing workers back to work, despite the risk of contamination. Although some production has restarted most economic output remains low. The export of China in the last two months has been sharply reduced compared to the last months of 2019. Meanwhile the capitalists who produce surgical masks are making a record profit. They profiteer off the fear and make big money. This profiteering is not opposed nor banned by the criminals who rule China!

Since 2007/2008, China has become the main producer of all plastic and electronic products. This is because Chinese workers are cheap and have no means of fighting for better wages. State-capitalism is enforced by the Chinese ”Communist” Party with their police forces working side by side with local and foreign capitalists, in order to suppress any dissent. Now that the Chinese economy is shutting down, world capitalism starts to feel the effects. China is the second largest economy and the main producer of many basic products. Now all this is slowing down, which is causing panic as stock prices fall. Capitalist governments might again use tax payer money to save big business, at the expense of workers!

For workers and young people, time is essential. They need to get organized in order to fight back against the cuts and austerity the ruling class will demand of politicians. 40 years of austerity has already created a huge gap between working class people and billionaire capitalists like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Bernard Arnault. These four white men own 386 billion U.S dollars in personal wealth. Wealth that does not belong to them. It is stolen from the workers who work at enterprises like: Amazon (798,000), Microsoft (148,465), Berkshire Hathaway (389,300) and LVMH (145,247). In total: 1,472 million workers are responsible for the 386 billion U.S dollars owned by these four capitalist exploiters!

Workers must demand from their government:

1. Protection and preventative measures against the COVID-19 virus
2. Full compensation for those who cannot fully or partially work
3. Free medical care
4. General health insurance and a rapid expansion in public health care
5. Allocations for the development of vaccines
6. Improvement of the conditions of healthcare workers
7. The right to work from home
8. All risk environments are to be immediately closed

We known that no capitalist government is going to put workers above the needs of capitalist enterprises. Therefore it is essential that we stand for a socialist alternative to the injustice that austerity governments enforce. Socialism is the only way for workers not to be forced to pay the price again. Capitalism works, for the four billionaires listen above. It works for those millionaires and billionaires who buy politicians and media outlets to spread their capitalist propaganda!

For working class people it works not. The system is not build for them, it very essence is to create inequality, racism and exploitation. Therefore we need political vehicles that brake with the capitalist system. Bernie Sanders is calling for a revolution. He might not wish to abolish capitalism, but his program will put ordinary workers first and big capitalists second. This is a start and all socialists should support him over Joe Biden, who worked with Obama in CHANGE NOTHING!!

Racism and the COVID-19 virus are spreading

As if one toxic virus is not bad enough, another poison is growing with it: racism. As the COVID-19 virus spreads across the planet, many people start to see Chinese as guilty. Despite that China is not a democracy and not a free society, racists use the COVID-19 virus to spread hate and fear about the Chinese. This racism is not new as the western world used to see the people from China as inferior to whites. Now in 2020, ethnic Chinese are the target of discrimination, bullying and intimidation. Fueled by ancient hatred of the ”yellow” race, these racists now use the fear of the COVID-19 virus to spread their racism!

If a Asian looking person is coughing in public, then whites seem to assume this person has the virus. The same is happening in schools were Asian students are looked at in panic, if the cough. Because of the growing fear, the racists can spread their poison against Asian people at a alarming rate. White people are not targeted by bullies and racists when they cough in public, only the Asians are. This proofs that racism is growing side by side with the COVID-19 virus, the far-right is using the fear and panic among people to bully and intimidate people on the bases of their skin colour. In the USA are is growing racism against Asian Americans, who have to face racist jokes and daily fears of others regarding the virus!

In Ukraine, the panic is targeted against their own. A bus filled with ethnic Ukrainians who returned from China was assaulted by a group of people, who believed the bus was full of infected. The group was guided by fear of the virus as the capitalist government in Kiev did nothing to prepare them. Nothing was said about the arrival of the bus and no preparatory explanations were given. Right-wing groups used the fear and anger to rally the people in a sectarian attack on the innocents in the bus. This sectarianism is carried out by nationalist supporters of oligarch Poroshenko, who was defeated in the last election to comedian Zelenskiy!

Italy has now started to close down towns and cities due to the outbreak. This has fueled panic as there are no more masks available. The capitalist governments of China, Ukraine and Italy cannot solve the crisis as they are build on a system that only looks after the ruling elites. Workers and the families are left to rot, although the capitalist media would never say that openly. China does it already, poor working class infected are left to die in so called Red Zones. This is the result of a healthcare system run on the bases of profiteering as is the case in China. Healthcare should be free and available to all. This was the case in Maoist China until Deng Xiaoping privatized the system after 1983!

As of February 2020, the virus has infected 79,574 people across the planet. The state-capitalist leaders of China were slow in accepting and fighting the COVID-19 virus. This is because the leaders of the Chinese ”Communist” Party (CCP) love to keep things that go bad silent. They suppress critical information, including warning signs from their own. Stalinist Russia did the same during the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986. Back then it took the Soviet-Union two weeks before accepting that there was a nuclear disaster. Dictatorships tend to hide their failures, therefore the CCP regime tried to silence early warnings about the new virus!

A virus like COVID-19 is not new and it will not be the last. What is needed is a system change and a healthcare run by the needs not for profit. The pharmaceutical industry does not care about finding genuine cures. They are a for profit sector and only care about making as much money possible by selling ”medicines” and medical related materials. We call for the complete expropriation of pharmaceutical capitalists and the nationalization of their companies under democratic control of patients, healthcare professionals and society. Only when those in power (who protect the profiteers) are replaced by governments made for workers by workers, can we be confident that outbreaks like the COVID-19 virus will be dealt with effectively!