“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” – Carl Sagan
Production for Use in a Pandemic
Profit Vs Human Solidarity
Memories are short and most people worry about one problem at a time. So we are not surprised that lessons are not being learned quick enough from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those of us in the Socialist Party have been often asked the question, how quickly can we transition to a system of production-for-use from the existing one of production-for-profit.
Well we can see quite clearly now from the COVID-19 pandemic and the experiences of those around the world have been suffering from shortages in medical equipment such as ventilators and even hospital beds that the answer is very quickly.
In Wuhan, the Chinese built a fully functioning hospital in two weeks.
While in the UK, the Ineos corporation said it would build two hand sanitiser factories in ten days.
Many public buildings have been transformed into make-shift hospitals. The armies of many countries have set up emergency field-hospitals.
Then there are manufacturers who are re-tooling their production processes to make ventilators and face masks. In Italy, the UK and the US, car manufacturers have offered to use their manufacturing and design expertise to boost the production of ventilators.
Britain has placed an emergency order of 10,000 ventilators designed at breakneck speed by bagless vacuum cleaner company Dyson. Rolls-Royce, BAE, Airbus and Siemens UK which will help existing medical device makers such as Penlon and Smiths Group to ramp up production. British engineer Babcock has also joined forces with a leading medical equipment company and experts from London’s Royal Brompton Hospital.
A medical tech firm that specialises in 3D printing is now developing products to help tackle Covid-19. Axial3D creates models of the human anatomy to assist surgeons in critical operations. But the firm is now working on parts that will be used in new ventilators being built for the NHS. The company is now manufacturing valves and splitters for ventilators
Designer label, Ralph Lauren is to start making medical masks and gowns. Luxury coat brand Canada Goose said it would begin making surgical gowns.
So we now know that the capitalist production system can rapidly transform itself into one that is devoted satisfying people’s needs. It shows just quickly socialist society will be able to clear up the mess inherited from capitalism. And how the disarmed military, in the early days of socialism could have a useful role in quickly building airfields and using their drones to deliver medical supplies instead of bombs.
Poverty in the UK Grows
100,000 more children are living in poverty and it has been branded “shocking”, even before the coronavirus lockdown of the economy bites.
The increase, part of a 600,000 surge since the Conservatives came to power a decade ago, means 4.2 million youngsters in the UK – or 30 per cent – are living below the breadline.
Overall, the number of people living in poverty soared by 500,000 to 14.5 million in 2018-19, the highest total since the statistics were first collected in 2002.
Sam Royston, director of policy at the Children’s Society, warned the figures showed poverty was “not just rising, but deepening” with two-thirds if children now in severe hardship.
“The current coronavirus crisis is likely to see this number continue to rise as parents face job losses and falls in earnings.”
“We are facing a child poverty crisis,” warned Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, “Unless concerted action is taken now, this week’s laid-off workers and their children will be adding to next year’s poverty statistics.”
Becca Lyon, head of child poverty at Save the Children, said: “Even before coronavirus, our country’s safety net was failing too many children. Now there’s a danger that even more children will fall through the net.”
The year 2020 was the target of the Tony Blair’s government pledged to abolish child poverty altogether, a vow put into legislation in 2010.
However, it was abolished by Iain Duncan Smith who called it an “unsustainable” commitment
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/child-poverty-uk-austerity-conservatives-economy-coronavirus-a9428531.html
People Aren’t Disposable
These are scary times. The COVID-19 is revealing the true nature of our society. Politicians are weighing up how many lives a point on the stock exchange is worth. We’re seeing how governments will only suspend profit-making activities when they have the proverbial gun at their heads. We’re seeing the well–being of Big Business placed above that of ordinary people. Nothing that threatens their profits will get done if there is any way to avoid it. Don’t be fooled by the ruling class’s concern for ordinary people who will die because of COVID-19 and the expected recession. For the capitalist, workers are expendable people. Workers are to be made into sacrificial lambs on the altar of the blessed marketplace. This is the savage class rule of capitalism.
COVID-19 is exposing the capitalist system for what it is – the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on humankind. This economic system cannot suspend its activities for even a few weeks without going into visible signs of collapse exposes it for what it is. It is showing us how we need to live if we are to have any hope of progressing as a civilisation. Now is the time for socialists to present the ideal of a society ordered to human well-being to our family, friends fellow-workers and neighbours.
What we must do is insist that production be devoted to the people. Are we capable of imagining such a thing? Can we envision building a totally new world? It could be ours, if only we insist on it. Can we imagine a world of automation that serves people rather than displaces them? Can we picture our roads free of traffic around the clock. Imagine air cleansed of the CO2 and pollution of those factories producing unnecessary products that only end up in land-fill. Now is our chance to change things and demand better. We deserve much better. We are worth much more.
Hiring Filipina Nurses
Inadequate salaries and bad working conditions drive Filipino nurses to seek employment in other countries, including Europe, the Middle East and the US. In 2013, the Philippines and Germany signed an agreement that allows Filipino health workers to get an employment in Germany.
The average salary for nurses in a government hospital is around $250 (€228) to $350 (€319) per month. In private hospitals, it ranges from $200 to $250 per month. Last year, the Supreme Court set the minimum monthly salary for nurses in public hospitals at $600 per month. It has not been implemented.
“You can’t blame our nurses for leaving the county. The government needs to improve their working conditions and increase their salaries so that they can stay,” said Maristela Abenojar, president of the Filipino Nurses United (FNU) association.
The average salary for nurses in a government hospital is around $250 (€228) to $350 (€319) per month. In private hospitals, it ranges from $200 to $250 per month. Last year, the Supreme Court set the minimum monthly salary for nurses in public hospitals at $600 per month. It has not been implemented.
“You can’t blame our nurses for leaving the county. The government needs to improve their working conditions and increase their salaries so that they can stay,” said Maristela Abenojar, president of the Filipino Nurses United (FNU) association.
Germany plans to bring in at least 75 Filipino nurses to Germany to assist in the country’s fight against the novel coronavirus. The “Hessische Krankenhausgesellschaft,” an association of over 150 hospitals in the German state of Hesse, reportedly said they “received a special permit” to fly in the Filipino nurses.
The Philippines Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello told DW that the move had been put on hold until further notice.
“Our nurses are needed more at home.”
The Philippines has recorded over 550 coronavirus cases so far, but health experts say the number could be much higher due to limited testing facilities in the country. The virus could spread exponentially in the country in the coming weeks, they warn. The Philippines has only conducted about 12 COVID-19 tests for every million people, falling far behind regional neighbors like Malaysia — 422 people per million — and Vietnam — 159 people per million. Philippine authorities are bracing for a spike in coronavirus cases following a scheduled increased testing after the country procured 100,000 testing kits last Saturday. Earlier this week, private hospitals in Manila announced they couldn’t take in more coronavirus patients as they had reached full capacity.
Coronavirus and the Class Divide
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall left London for the Balmoral estate only hours before the government instructed everyone else not to flee to the country, for fear of spreading infection or overloading rural health services – aren’t alone in hightailing it out of town. His mother, the Queen, is safely ensconced behind the thick walls of Windsor Castle.
While some of the super-rich seek to ride out the epidemic in hastily rented moated mansions, or on deserted tropical islands, the weekending affluent have quietly decamped to second homes in Devon or Norfolk or Cumbria.
Houses that normally sit shuttered and forlorn until Easter started opening up again the minute the schools shut – and so many people have been trying to book hideaway cottages on remote Scottish islands that ferry crossings are being restricted.
This virus is mainly exposing the class divisions that we already knew existed. We hardly needed a virus to tell us that the royals are privileged, work is precarious for many, and some families have resources others don’t – whether that’s a cottage by the sea or a garden to play in.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-prince-charles-covid-19-test-old-divisions
While some of the super-rich seek to ride out the epidemic in hastily rented moated mansions, or on deserted tropical islands, the weekending affluent have quietly decamped to second homes in Devon or Norfolk or Cumbria.
Houses that normally sit shuttered and forlorn until Easter started opening up again the minute the schools shut – and so many people have been trying to book hideaway cottages on remote Scottish islands that ferry crossings are being restricted.
This virus is mainly exposing the class divisions that we already knew existed. We hardly needed a virus to tell us that the royals are privileged, work is precarious for many, and some families have resources others don’t – whether that’s a cottage by the sea or a garden to play in.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-prince-charles-covid-19-test-old-divisions
What’s happening elsewhere
France
As the number of cases of the virus began to rise, the French government extended its system of chômage partiel, or partial unemployment.
When a company is forced to reduce or suspend work, it can apply for state funding of 70 percent of an employee’s gross salary, to a maximum of €6,927 per month.
As of March 24, 730,000 workers were being paid under this scheme. The finance ministry has already set aside €8.5 billion in funding but that amount is expected to rise.
With schools and crèches (nurseries) closed, the French government is also giving paid leave to parents who cannot work from home and who are responsible for children younger than 16.
The annual winter embargo on evicting tenants from residential properties has also been extended to May 31.
Germany
Berlin has expanded its short-time allowance, or Kurzarbeitergeld, to include companies that cut working hours as a result of the coronavirus.
It pays at the same level as unemployment benefits: Up to 67 percent of net wages lost due to shorter hours, to a maximum of €6,700 per month.
Tenants who are unable to pay their rent will be protected from eviction until September 30, although back rent will be owed when the economic situation improves.
Ireland
A new temporary wage subsidy will allow affected companies to recoup up to 70 percent of salaries from the Irish government to maintain current employment levels, with a maximum of €410 per week (€1,777 net per month).
Special arrangements have been made for the childcare sector, which include the state paying all the wages of crèche workers as well as contributing to other running costs. The aim is for parents to be able to stop paying fees and still be guaranteed a place when the crèche reopens.
Italy
As part of the economic package adopted on March 16, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government extended a series of “social shock absorbers”.
They include paying up to 80 percent of an employee’s salary for a period of nine weeks to a maximum of €1,130 net per month.
Self-employed people have also been awarded a one-off payment of €600.
Spain
The existing provision for temporary layoffs, known as ERTE, has been expanded to cover businesses affected by the virus. Up to 70 percent of salaries will be paid, with a maximum of €1,412 per month.
The Spanish government has also ordered utility companies to maintain services to all “vulnerable” households, even if they are unable to pay their bills.
Steven Bell, of BMO Global Asset Management, wrote in an economic update that government measures “will do no more than blunt the blow to economies and families”.
https://www.france24.com/en/20200325-the-race-to-save-jobs-european-governments-step-in-to-pay-wages
The Rise of the Right
The rise of far-right terrorism in Britain has been driven by years of austerity, the former head of MI5 has said.
He warned that organisations who have “explicitly decided that terrorism was part of the way forward” were on the rise, adding: “Partly I suspect it is a reflection of the social pressures on communities as a result of austerity measures. There seems to be a constituency of disaffected males who find extreme right-wing beliefs attractive, and they have started to get their acts together to organise into groups and plot.”
The number of white terror suspects being arrested in the UK has outstripped those of Asian appearance for two years in a row.
“There was a significant alienated and disenfranchised group out there who didn’t think the system was taking any notice of them,” Lord Evans said. “Attention still needs to be paid to this group, as it is not clear that they will feel entirely assuaged as a result of the fact that people are paying wider attention to them now. Terrorist problems emerge when you have a significant population who feel alienated and nobody takes notice of them, causing frustration and anger.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/far-right-terrorism-uk-austerity-cuts-mi5-a9424596.html
The Plight of the Undocumented
Some 10 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants are believed to live in the US. Many earn their living as domestic workers, or in the restaurant, service or construction industries – sectors of the economy that have ground to a halt as mandatory stay-at-home orders have taken effect. It is unclear what, if any, government support tax-paying undocumented immigrants might receive to help them cope with the fallout from coronavirus.
Since coming to the United States from Bolivia 20 years ago, Ingrid has eked out a living cleaning houses in the Washington DC area to support herself and her son and to send money to her mother back home. The 57-year-old usually earns around $1,500 per month. Even in a good month, Ingrid has very little money to spend on food, utilities and remittances to her family. So when she suffers a health setback, the blow is both physical and financial. Ingrid said eight of her 12 regular clients have cancelled her cleaning services for the month of March without paying her. Nor did they say if they will hire her back in April.
“We, more than anything, fear this because we don’t have health insurance, we don’t have paid sick days as domestic workers,” Ingrid, who asked to use only her first name because she is undocumented, told Al Jazeera. “Like any human being, we count on having our pay to survive.”
For undocumented people like Ingrid, that means contracting coronavirus could be financially ruinous.
“Because we don’t have health insurance, we take care of ourselves at home with the medicines we can buy in the pharmacy without a prescription,” she said. “Or we have to go to medical centres that charge us a lot. I wish people would have a little more consideration for us, because we are the people, in reality, who help them with their children, with their older people, with their homes,” she said. “We are the people who help them live their lives.”
The anti-immigrant rhetoric and climate of fear created by Trump could make undocumented people less likely to seek testing or treatment for fear of being arrested or deported, potentially accelerating the virus’s spread.
“Immigrants who are undocumented are really scared, and rightfully so,” Julie Kashen, senior policy adviser for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, told Al Jazeera. “That means that they are less likely to seek healthcare when they need it, and it means that they are less likely to be able to do what they would need to care for themselves and their family. The coronavirus is really hitting home the ways that we’re all so interconnected and living in such a community, no matter who we are – whether we’re somebody who moved to the United States with papers or without,” said Kashen. “Public health requires that we all care about each other to save lives.”
Even if there are provisions in place to make sure that they’re not supposed to be legally retaliated against or that Immigration and Customs Enforcement isn’t supposed to be called, there’s no reason for them to trust that in this moment, when there’s been such an unfair and unsafe situation,” she added.
ICE agents are still making arrests. Concerns are also growing about the health and safety of people being held in immigration detention facilities. Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights First have urged government authorities to “release immigrants and asylum seekers held in administrative detention by ICE” due to the “documented inadequacies of medical care and basic hygiene in immigration detention facilities”. The groups also warned that infections in facilities could easily spread beyond them.
The Pain of Coronavirus
The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down countries and led financial markets to crash, bringing losses for businesses and investors. But it has left millions of poor people around the world particularly exposed. 31% of people in finance, insurance and business are able to work from home, fewer than one in ten in the bottom half of the earnings table can. So far no provision for the nearly seven million workers who do not qualify for statutory sick pay because they are self-employed or don’t meet the earnings threshold of 118 pounds per week.
Melissa Preston has a choice: go to work for the money to pay her rent or stay at home to keep her family safe from the coronavirus outbreak. Before the pandemic, Preston earned around 250 pounds a week as a cleaner. Now she is worried about putting herself and her family at risk by going in and out of other people’s homes.
Like some 5 million Britons, she is self-employed, so does not get sick pay. Government benefits alone would not be enough to pay the 800 pounds monthly rent for her house where she lives with her two daughters.
“It’s a choice between: do I go and put myself at risk and then bring that in to my children? … Or do I just, you know, bite the bullet?” Melissa, who is 42, told Reuters.
She has bought protective clothing and even goggles to wear while she cleans. Melissa has spent hours calling government phone numbers and looking online for answers. She watches the government’s daily news conferences on TV to see if any measures to help people like her will be announced.
“I’ve been watching that every day. I’m glued to it … watching it, just sort of waiting.”
Melissa Preston has a choice: go to work for the money to pay her rent or stay at home to keep her family safe from the coronavirus outbreak. Before the pandemic, Preston earned around 250 pounds a week as a cleaner. Now she is worried about putting herself and her family at risk by going in and out of other people’s homes.
Like some 5 million Britons, she is self-employed, so does not get sick pay. Government benefits alone would not be enough to pay the 800 pounds monthly rent for her house where she lives with her two daughters.
“It’s a choice between: do I go and put myself at risk and then bring that in to my children? … Or do I just, you know, bite the bullet?” Melissa, who is 42, told Reuters.
She has bought protective clothing and even goggles to wear while she cleans. Melissa has spent hours calling government phone numbers and looking online for answers. She watches the government’s daily news conferences on TV to see if any measures to help people like her will be announced.
“I’ve been watching that every day. I’m glued to it … watching it, just sort of waiting.”