Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

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blindpig
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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 17, 2020 1:08 pm

Poem: Now’s the time

By Raymond Nat turner

coronavirus is coming
across treacherous
food deserts—their Red
Lined decades of diabetes—
over hills of hypertension;
steep mountains of medical
neglect; over shattered ruins
of poverty like a good traveler:
simple and silent; appreciative
of hosts beneath stars and bars
Below the Canadian Border.

coronavirus is coming
untested in pallbearer perfect
Nazi responses
Hiding, spreading—then
strangling
those we know and love;
those we’d love to ‘know…’
Leaving us bereft of
bent note goodbyes
Gospel release, sermonized
hugs; and second-line send-
offs on tsunamis of tears…

coronavirus is coming
on nightmarish memories.
Taunting winds. Hovering
helicopters. Flying over and past
rooftops of dehydrated,white
towel-waving families and
Exposing emaciated capitalism’s
cruel curve. Its toxic tendency to
Kill us—again and again and
again… We charge genocide—
Again—shattering the champagne-
caviar crowd’s fractured fairytale:
“We’re All In This Together!“

coronavirus is coming
pulling puny payoffs—rent-short and
smelling like $election hush money—
Downwind of Trillions to Bailout Artists
Working Capitalist Hill like their ATM…
coronavirus is also coming
Questioning: if not now—When?
When will we stop 2/4 dances of death,
whirling in infantile fear—clinging
to trousered legs of Saviors?

coronavirus is also coming
in parked car demonstrations; and
7PM serenades to the Essential
Class!
Coming in balconies of banging pots
and pans—wordless droplets of the
“Internationale“
in a thousand tongues—
Infecting us with solidarity
in four-part harmony!

coronavirus is also coming
Salt of the Earth—
With wildcat strike, sickout
Militance!
Coming with Arab Spring Fever and
General Strike coughs! Coming expelling
green TINA (There Is No Alternative)phlegm!
And capitalism has no vaccine
for ‘30s-‘60s syndrome

No antidote for fierce symptoms:
closed eyes—Woke—dreaming
wild, humongous dreams—Life
over death! People over profit—
Owning those machines—
Planning production
According to need: ’cause the
‘impossible’s’ all that’s
Realistic… right now…

https://oaklandsocialist.com/2020/04/17 ... -the-time/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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blindpig
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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 17, 2020 1:30 pm

Essential worker strike wave: ‘We fight for ourselves and for the public’
By Paul WilcoxApr 16, 2020

Image
Poultry workers. Photo: Oxfam America.

Walkouts, sickouts, sit-ins, picket lines and other forms of protest are sweeping the country from New York to Alabama to California. Essential workers are taking the initiative to demand the on-the-job protective equipment and support necessary to protect themselves against the COVID-19 virus and survive.

The strike wave is an angry response to a corporate establishment that has shown no social obligation to them during the pandemic, and to a federal government which has given trillions of dollars to the banks, but has instituted no regulations for workplace safety against COVID-19.

The following is just a sample of the wave of struggle that many feel may be just beginning.

Factory worker: Hey GE, ‘we can make ventilators’

GE workers in Schenectady, New York, Dallas, Tx, Lynn, Ma. and Salem, Va. have staged protests to demand that the company refit the plants to make desperately needed ventilators and other medical equipment. The protestors explained that added production would be a win-win because it would not only supply hospitals but save jobs. GE has already proceeded with layoffs, and is threatening to furlough a large part of its work force.

“Instead of laying workers off, GE should be stepping up to the plate with us to build the ventilators this country needs,” said Carl Kennebrew, president of the Industrial Division of the Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA ), which represents the workers. “In the plants that are up and running, GE also needs to keep workers safe on the job.”

Nurse: Lack of PPE is like ‘fighting a war with plastic guns’

As of April 14, over 9,000 health care workers have tested positive for COVID-19, with at least 27 deaths, according to the Center for Disease Control, which calls this number “understated.”

Health care workers everywhere are on the front lines not only in the struggle against COVID-19, they must also struggle to get their own management to give them personal protective equipment to keep them safe.

At the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY, nurses protested outside to say they’re frightened for their lives, holding signs demanding more PPE. One health care worker explained: “This is outrageous that we have people coming and sewing things for us, sewing masks, sewing shields, making things out of plastics…[T]hat would be like a soldier going to war and making a plastic gun to bring with him…This is the situation. And the public needs to know because they have to demand that we get the things that we need so that we can take care of people.”

They not only have to worry about catching the disease, they risk losing their jobs if they speak out about the gross lack of safety procedures. Across the country doctors, nurses, hospital staff have been threatened with, or have been fired for speaking out or protesting lack of safety procedures and equipment.

Workers at two healthcare systems in New York City — NYU Langone and Montefiore Health System — were sent a memo obligating them to run all media requests by their public relations department. Failing to do so would subject them to “disciplinary action, including termination,” said the memo.

A nurse at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital even lost her job for sending an email to colleagues urging them to wear more protective gear! The nurse has since filed a lawsuit against the hospital.

Poultry worker: Unsanitary conditions hurt us & the public

At food processing plants in Illinois, Virginia, Colorado, Georgia, including thousands of immigrant workers, walked out in late March to protest unsafe working conditions.

At the Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant In Timbersville, VA, workers demanded that the company shut down to sanitize the plant allow workers exposed to COVID-19 to self-quarantine for two weeks. These actions highlight not only the dangers the workers are exposed to, but the public as well, as the company tried to continue food processing in an unsanitary environment.

“Workers in poultry plants, where there may be over 1,000 workers a day, work very close together, sometimes shoulder to shoulder with knives and scissors, making thousands of cuts a day to produce the chicken pieces we buy in the supermarkets,” says former Obama-era OSHA Chief of Staff Debbie Berkowitz.

On March 23, workers at the Perdue Farms in Perry, Georgia, walked out of the plant after being told by management to work more hours without a pay increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for increased worker protection after several workers tested positive. They won from Perdue a promise to: sanitize the factory every 24 hours; increase cleaning protocols; increase paid sick time to four weeks and the right for workers with COVID-19 to quarantine for 14 days with pay.

Fast food worker: ‘We won’t put our lives on the line for pizza’

Other fast-food workers, delivery people, warehouse workers and other food-service related workers have spontaneously organized protests across the country, demanding PPE, hazard pay, sick pay and other needed services.

At least 30 supermarket employees have died as a result of COVID-19, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Another 3,000 have called out of work after showing signs of virus-related illness. These figures are understated because they don’t include the many thousands of non-union grocery workers, who lack health insurance. Thousands have protested, taken off work, organized “sick-outs” to press the companies to institute safety procedures. Among these are Whole Foods and Instacart.

The long list of protests across the country of fast-food workers demanding PPE, hazard pay and paid medical leave is a tribute to their fighting spirit. In California alone, 30 fast food restaurants walked out on April 9. Their work is considered “essential” by the corporate world but their lives are not. The strike has hit McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Subway, Popeye’, Domino’s, Target delivery service, Walmart, Food Lion, Whole Foods, Instacart and others.

As one Domino’s Pizza worker in Los Angeles explained: “We have no masks and no gloves and will no longer put our lives at risk for pizza,” he said. “I’m joining our colleagues at McDonald’s in demanding two weeks of self-quarantine, with full pay, and for Domino’s to pay health care costs if I, or any of my immediate family members, get sick with the coronavirus.”

Currier: ‘All bosses care about is money’

Many Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, NY, and Instacart’s grocery delivery workers nationwide walked off their jobs on March 30, demanding more PPE and pay as they continue to work. Other Amazon actions took place in Detroit and Chicago.

Several workers at Amazon’s Staten Island facility have been diagnosed with COVID-19. In response Amazon stated that it was “tripling down on deep cleaning, procuring safety supplies that are available … and in Staten Island we are now temperature checking everyone entering the facility.”

It took a fight for Instacart to say it would begin distributing hand sanitizers to workers. The struggle for worker safety continues.

On April 8 hospital couriers in Northern Colorado held a protest and a sick out over lack of protective equipment while transporting COVID-19 samples to hospitals for testing, and delivering medicine to homes of people who have tested positive. A letter to management explaining the dangers of the job and demanding an additional $4 per hour in hazard pay said, “It’s very upsetting to be on the dock at a hospital picking up packages and having a funeral director wheeling out the deceased past you.”

The company has been unwilling to meet any of the demands, and has threatened firings. “They say we’re essential, but we’re really not,” one worker said. “They don’t care about us. All they care about is making money.”

On March 27, after two workers tested positive, 40 percent of the workers at the North Texas mail processing facility walked out over safety measures; the following day 60 percent called in sick. Management subsequently promised to follow safety guidelines and alter work procedures.

Government unresponsive

After many weeks of massive layoffs and thousands of COVID-19 deaths, Congress finally passed the “Corona Virus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act” on March 27. While granting a massive gift to Wall St. and the banks, this act did promise some financial relief to working people. Additionally, Congress has mandated two weeks paid sick leave, but restricted it to those who test positive and exempts companies with over 500 workers.

This bill, backed by both the Republican and Democratic party establishments, doesn’t address the crying need for the millions of essential workers to be immediately protected from the deadly virus. Instead of mandating clear on-the-job procedures and supports, the bill limits the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issuing an “Emergency Temporary Standard within 30 days” to protect only health care workers from viral exposure. And even then, a permanent set of standards won’t have to be in place until six months later. Many will die in that period.

The Democrat and Republican politicians argue over issues, each eager to place the blame on each other. But like the corporations, they are leaving essential workers to fend for themselves. The message from both the halls of Congress and the caverns of Wall Street is that these workers’ jobs may be essential, but their lives are not.

The struggle will continue and intensify. The coronavirus crisis is revealing that the profit-driven capitalist system does not work for the working people.

https://www.liberationnews.org/essentia ... rationnews
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

chlamor
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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by chlamor » Fri Apr 17, 2020 2:55 pm

blindpig wrote:
Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:40 am
chlamor wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 5:53 pm
blindpig wrote:
Thu Apr 16, 2020 4:01 pm


Chinese numbers will be adjusted, up, as the dust settles. They are also predicting an upsurge in the late Fall, not as great but significant. You think the Chinese are lying? Are spending billions, disrupting their economy for who knows what motivation? I find that absurd.

Yes we can expect the administration to fudge the numbers, down. Every hour of labor unexploited is a loss in their book. Likewise the loss of profit realized in sales. This outweighs the motivation of social conditioning, they can seldom see past the next quarter.

And where did I say that it didn't make sense for the bosses to perpetrate a scam like this? I cannot see in the above post. But what certainly does not make sense is that the socialist governments of China and Cuba would collude with the US Empire in making a mountain out of a molehill in order that the US ruling class might tighten it's chains on the working class and that is where your argument falls apart and why I used the dismissive term 'gaggle'.

Yeah, fuck those people in nursing homes, gonna die anyways.
First off not sure what you are implying there with that last quote of yours. If you're implying that that is my sentiment then I can only respond that you would be wrong and a foolish reactionary. That's a dead giveaway you're not able to think clearly on this.

Don't see anywhere where I even hinted at the possibility of US/China/Cuba in collusion. Further illustrative of you just making shit up.

There is no place where my argument falls apart- maybe cite your own if you have one.

If you're falling for this transparently and painfully obviously contrived COVID narrative you have in this case taken leave of your senses.
The point is that if China, Cuba and the rest of the anti-imperialist nations are treating this as the real thing then we should too. If the most nakedly aggressive portion of the ruling class is trying to blow this off then we should be mighty suspicious of that position. I do not know how you could think otherwise.
Virtually the entirety of the ruling class has parroted your argument that COVID is an actual "killer virus" that requires some forms of lockdown, global response and they have praised the CDC and the WHO and...even if they have slight disagreements on the narrative and how we need to "come out" of the lockdowns and what life will look like when things return to "normal." Not sure how you are missing this.

As for my position which I will go into in more detail next week what I am saying unequivocally is- as was the case in 2009 and other pandemic scares- this is another cooked up fraud and the virus itself is at worst nothing more than a bad flu season and even that notion is starting to crumble.

Virtually all the stats are cooked, the tests are inaccurate, the conditions in the "worst" places are ignored, the media is grossly exaggerating everything and lying about cases, the "experts" that are allowed to be heard have financial stakes in the matter, the way COVID deaths are tallied is a lie where decades long protocols have been changed overnight, the institutions which set the tone for all policies and reportage are thoroughly corrupt and on and on. How are you ignoring all of this?

I will also be quite brazen on this matter- on every single "pandemic scare" over the last decade I have been correct in my assessment- without exception.

Somehow as far as I can tell you have bought this phony narrative hook, line and sinker and are in line with the most rapacious elements of the ruling class. Not sure how you can think like this. Where have your critical thinking skills gone.

Your final point is quite weak- in fact throughout this discussion you have presented very few, if any, details or specifics whatsoever.

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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:31 pm

All the recent pandemics scares have been that I agree. Initially I took a similar position to yours in private conversation. China & Cuba convince me otherwise.

"Lies, damn lies & statistics"....

You still haven't addressed the actions and responses of socialist states to this thing. Are they part of the ruling class too? Their statements and action far outweigh what you are saying. I do not see how you can ignore them. Of course the ruling class is gonna leverage this for all it's worth, that's a given and it is their avarice which amplifies the dying.

JFC man, I've been posting on this for a couple weeks with sources from all over the place, socialist governments & parties all seem to agree. Everybody but you. Wtf is that? If you're not reading the material I'm putting up I suppose no one else is either. Fuck.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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kidoftheblackhole
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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Fri Apr 17, 2020 4:01 pm

blindpig wrote:
Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:31 pm
All the recent pandemics scares have been that I agree. Initially I took a similar position to yours in private conversation. China & Cuba convince me otherwise.

"Lies, damn lies & statistics"....

You still haven't addressed the actions and responses of socialist states to this thing. Are they part of the ruling class too? Their statements and action far outweigh what you are saying. I do not see how you can ignore them. Of course the ruling class is gonna leverage this for all it's worth, that's a given and it is their avarice which amplifies the dying.

JFC man, I've been posting on this for a couple weeks with sources from all over the place, socialist governments & parties all seem to agree. Everybody but you. Wtf is that? If you're not reading the material I'm putting up I suppose no one else is either. Fuck.
Chlamor's position is absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G. He isn't reading your material because he was never going to read it. All he claims is that pandemic scares are universally (!) hoaxes. Let's say we grant him that or at least 80% of that and say that they are vastly overstated and far less serious than presented by the capitalist press and their scientific expert lackeys (and they certainly play a dual role as expert and lackey simultaneously).

So far there is literally *zero* analysis presented by Chlamor in the above, merely histrionics. WHY has capital basically imposed a worldwide labor lockout (and that seems an accurate formulation)? That's the crux of the issue. Answers seem in very short supply on that front and tells us that we're missing something major.

The one point that stands in Chalmor's favor is that you can sure as hell bet that under different (normal?) circumstances the RC would try to sweep something like this under the rug.

Something is dangerously afoot here and what's certain is that no one has fully grasped the heart of it yet.

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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by blindpig » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:55 pm

kidoftheblackhole wrote:
Fri Apr 17, 2020 4:01 pm
blindpig wrote:
Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:31 pm
All the recent pandemics scares have been that I agree. Initially I took a similar position to yours in private conversation. China & Cuba convince me otherwise.

"Lies, damn lies & statistics"....

You still haven't addressed the actions and responses of socialist states to this thing. Are they part of the ruling class too? Their statements and action far outweigh what you are saying. I do not see how you can ignore them. Of course the ruling class is gonna leverage this for all it's worth, that's a given and it is their avarice which amplifies the dying.

JFC man, I've been posting on this for a couple weeks with sources from all over the place, socialist governments & parties all seem to agree. Everybody but you. Wtf is that? If you're not reading the material I'm putting up I suppose no one else is either. Fuck.
Chlamor's position is absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G. He isn't reading your material because he was never going to read it. All he claims is that pandemic scares are universally (!) hoaxes. Let's say we grant him that or at least 80% of that and say that they are vastly overstated and far less serious than presented by the capitalist press and their scientific expert lackeys (and they certainly play a dual role as expert and lackey simultaneously).

So far there is literally *zero* analysis presented by Chlamor in the above, merely histrionics. WHY has capital basically imposed a worldwide labor lockout (and that seems an accurate formulation)? That's the crux of the issue. Answers seem in very short supply on that front and tells us that we're missing something major.

The one point that stands in Chalmor's favor is that you can sure as hell bet that under different (normal?) circumstances the RC would try to sweep something like this under the rug.

Something is dangerously afoot here and what's certain is that no one has fully grasped the heart of it yet.
Well, correlation does not imply causation. Certainly an opportunity to drive down the cost of labor, as is happening now in Russia. 'Re-opening the country' slowly would facilitate such wage reduction as masses of unemployed grab for limited jobs. Employers will have a field day.(and really piss off a lot of people. Where are the agitators?). The whole thing as a scam would be a lot easier to believe but for the anti-imperialist states and parties, it all falls down there.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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kidoftheblackhole
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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Fri Apr 17, 2020 10:56 pm

There isn't nearly the coordination (nationally or internationally) for it to be a literal scam of globe-spanning magnitude. But it is certainly believable -- maybe even probable -- that the capitalist world was ripe to react in this way to something of this magnitude (even if that magnitude is disputable).

There were many, many ominous signs leading up to this (CEOs resigning en masse as one small example).

The socialist and anti-imperialist countries have to take this extremely seriously -- the developed countries will do everything in their power to foist disasters and calamity on them, up to and including the biological kind. They can't be reformed or subverted from this -- maybe their "tough on crime" mentality stems from the internal knowledge that their own murderous rate of recidivism is 100% (or ~10000000000000000000000000..% if you count each victim separately)

solidgold
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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by solidgold » Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:09 am

chlamor wrote:
Fri Apr 17, 2020 2:55 pm
Virtually the entirety of the ruling class has parroted your argument that COVID is an actual "killer virus" that requires some forms of lockdown
Not necessarily true. The "narrative" isn't as consistent as you think. There are currently right-wing protests in front of the capital just a few miles from me. Their motives are different than yours, but the rhetoric is similar.

The ruling class IS missing [ignoring] the context behind COVID-19 deaths--I'll give you that. But no one else is. POC are dying in overwhelming numbers because of pre-COVID-19 conditions (ex. pre-existing health issues, poor quality of living). No evidence shows meddling there. Yeah, that's different than COVID-19 being a killer per se. Maybe the numbers eventually plateau to look similar to other flus; until then, COVID-19 is expediting the working class to the morgue in a very short timeline. I don't think the *real reasons* behind the death refute the seriousness of that.

Outside of that, I'm surprised anyone can hold a firm opinion right now. Nothing seems certain.

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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by blindpig » Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:02 pm

solidgold wrote:
Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:09 am
chlamor wrote:
Fri Apr 17, 2020 2:55 pm
Virtually the entirety of the ruling class has parroted your argument that COVID is an actual "killer virus" that requires some forms of lockdown
Not necessarily true. The "narrative" isn't as consistent as you think. There are currently right-wing protests in front of the capital just a few miles from me. Their motives are different than yours, but the rhetoric is similar.

The ruling class IS missing [ignoring] the context behind COVID-19 deaths--I'll give you that. But no one else is. POC are dying in overwhelming numbers because of pre-COVID-19 conditions (ex. pre-existing health issues, poor quality of living). No evidence shows meddling there. Yeah, that's different than COVID-19 being a killer per se. Maybe the numbers eventually plateau to look similar to other flus; until then, COVID-19 is expediting the working class to the morgue in a very short timeline. I don't think the *real reasons* behind the death refute the seriousness of that.

Outside of that, I'm surprised anyone can hold a firm opinion right now. Nothing seems certain.
We got a prez up for re-election, the likelihood of his administration inflating the numbers is zero. Quite the opposite. And like you say, he ain't alone, not just ideologues but a lot of the very small businesses on the ropes. I live with one, outraged that companies with hundreds of employees get millions while her 3 employee shop got beat out, not a dime. A gift to the monopolists, clearing their petty competition without lifting a hand.

Seems the drumbeat to"re-open America'(well, the business of Amerika is Business)is increasing and it will be accomplished hell or high water.There will be an ephemeral plateau but without adequate testing and contact tracing(which I do not think will ever happen here)there will be intermittent outbreaks until a vaccine is fully applied to the entire population. Which is also unlikely, how's a capitalist to make money like that? US is testing 100-mebbe 200K a day, China 77M, speaks volumes.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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kidoftheblackhole
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Re: Socialist Demands for the COVID-19 Crisis

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:07 pm

Even if Chlamor is right about inflating the results *that are available* the overall trend is clearly deflationary due to the fact that testing is hardly being conducted anywhere compared to what would be necessary to get a representative idea of transmission through the population. And it is certainly true that at one time the Trump plan was to limit testing and thereby lower the number of cases reported.

He has also missed that SOCIAL CONDITIONS ARE REAL and not merely a derivative construct that can be handwaved away. It is one thing to argue (true or not) that the underlying threat that has produced a crisis is not the menace it is made out to be. But you lose your grip when you take the next step and argue that therefore a crisis is not really a crisis.

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