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#EPWConversations: Today, @vijayprashad is going to discuss his article, "A Socialist Cry for Civilisational Change: COVID-19 and the Failure of Neo-liberalism" from
@epw_in's handle. We invite you to join the conversation and ask questions.
@epw_in's handle. We invite you to join the conversation and ask questions.
We are near the 3 million mark for people infected by #COVID19. Underestimating the gravity of this virus is foolish. But, as Silverman & Tinker Salas write, "the virus is a product of nature, the crisis is a product of neoliberalism." | @vijayprashad
Neoliberal policy hollowed out institutions of the public good, particularly institutions that provide health for the public. In the bourgeois order, the hemorrhaging of public health over the past decade has been startling.
In 2008, WHO head Margaret Chan warned against the attrition of state spending for health care. This would be devastating ( https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2008/s12/en/).
State health care spending is a "marker of civilized society"; the bourgeois order had slipped below the level of civilization.
State health care spending is a "marker of civilized society"; the bourgeois order had slipped below the level of civilization.
This is why I told Frank Barat earlier this month that the "ruing elites have boycotted humanity" ( https://mayday.leftword.com/blog/post/frank-barat-in-conversation-with-vijay-prashad/).
They make money off our labour, refuse to pay taxes and leave a society in ruins.
They make money off our labour, refuse to pay taxes and leave a society in ruins.
Whether people’s movements will be able to make the case that we reject a return to normal, because normal was the problem, remains to be seen. | @vijayprashad
In a pandemic, a rational person would much rather live in a society governed by the norms of socialism than of capitalism—a society where people rally together to overcome a virus. | @vijayprashad
A society where fear pervades, and where stigmatisation becomes the antidote to collective action cannot be the norm. | @vijayprashad
@vijayprashad: We don't need to imagine a socialist response to the crisis. It is before us - in China, in Vietnam, in Kerala, in Cuba, in Venezuela. The response in these countries followed four key areas:
First, a science-based response. The political leadership did not respond with anti-science hallucinations, but studied the disease and formed procedures to deal with it effectively.
Second, the state mobilised massive resources to build medical infrastructure and to take care of the well-being of the public. On China: https://peoplesdispatch.org/2020/04/14/how-china-broke-the-chain-of-infection/.
Third, public action – built by decades of socialistic struggles – emerged to bring millions of volunteers into action alongside the state. On Kerala, https://peoplesdispatch.org/2020/03/24/an-often-overlooked-region-of-india-is-a-beacon-to-the-world-for-taking-on-the-coronavirus/.
Fourth, internationalism. The state response was not within its own boundaries, but was capable of offering full solidarity with others. Solidarity, not stigma as the WHO said. No xenophobia, only internationalism. | @vijayprashad
Vietnam's response was remarkable, and the work of its government needs to be studied and emulated. There have been - till date - no deaths from COVID19 there. https://www.thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/17-2020-socialism-and-coronavirus/.
Hunger is a key aspect of the collapse of the bourgeois order. At @NewFrame_News, Richard Pithouse, P Sainath and I have an essay coming out with a set of proposals to stem the hunger crisis occasioned by COVID-19.
See the @PARInetwork stories on how COVID-19 has exacerbated the agrarian crisis; also this superb website. https://coronapolicyimpact.org/ .
At @tri_continental, we are working with the concept CoronaShock. CoronaShock is a term that refers to how a virus struck the world with such gripping force; it refers to how the social order in the bourgeois state crumbled ...
... while the social order in the socialist parts of the world – and its capacity to take care of the people in the face of the coronavirus pandemic – appeared more resilient. | @vijayprashad
I hope that people look closely at Vietnam. Vietnam shipped 450,000 protective suits to the United States and 750,000 masks to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Within living memory, the United States, with assistance from its European allies, dropped seven and a half million tonnes of explosives, including chemical weapons (napalm and Agent Orange), which devastated Vietnam’s society and poisoned its agricultural land for generations;
... this is 100 times greater than the power of the atom bombs that the US dropped on Japan. Yet, it is Vietnam whose government and people have used science and public action to tackle the virus ...
... and who sent – in solidarity – equipment to the US, where the absence of science and public actions has paralysed society. | @vijayprashad
