The novel coronavirus is infectious, deadly and invisible to
the naked eye. It spreads exponentially, has traversed the globe and
today poses a threat to the very foundations of modern civilisation. All
these properties it shares with capitalism.
In the US, Sanders has called for $2,000 monthly payments
for US households to deal with this crisis. Every one of these measures
represents a return to health of the body politic, and the fighting
back against the capitalist infection.
Read more: A virus is haunting Europe - the vector is capitalism
There are three primary ways in which capitalism has
escalated the current coronavirus crisis: the transmission of the virus
to humans, the spread of the virus globally, and the failure of
governments and deregulated markets to contain the spread of infections.
The transfer of this coronavirus from animals to humans,
the subsequent infection of populations in almost every country and the
collapse of health services would not have been possible without the
specific circumstances brought about by our current economic system.
Covid-19 is the name we have given the disease. SARS-CoV-2 is the name
of the virus. The vector is capitalism.
Scientists in China - the world’s second largest economy -
are currently focussing their resources on containing the spread of the
virus and finding treatments and vaccinations for its victims. But some
information has already been established about the most likely
beginnings of novel coronavirus.
The current most likely hypothesis is that Covid-19 or its predecessor originated in the bat population - which is known to carry a virus with a 96 percent match. The bat population was also believed to be the starting place for the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in 2003. Covid-19 was then likely transferred to human beings through the sale of wild animals, perhaps slaughtered on site at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, in Hubei province, China.
James Meadway, a former advisor to Labour shadow chancellor
John McDonnall, has argued at Novara Media that “coronavirus will
require us to completely reshape the economy”.
He warns that a recession is now inevitable. More than that, Covid-19
will produce an even bigger crisis than 2008 because “it threatens the
most fundamental institution of all in capitalism: the labour market
itself.”
We have seen that the prospect of workers staying at home has
destroyed the value on the world’s stock markets.
Workers need to defend themselves against the economic
crisis. Trade unions and activists must fight for better sick pay,
protection against redundancy, a fair benefits system at the very least
and better still a universal basic income. We need a functioning
National Health Service, we need to nationalise those useful
corporations and industries that would otherwise go to the wall.
The solutions we need today are profoundly non-capitalist, perhaps the seeds of post capitalism. The solution is community activism. The primary example is the hundreds of mutual aid groups
that arose simultaneously. A nation of volunteers organised through
mutual aid groups are preparing to support neighbours - often strangers -
during the hardest of times. There has also been a rapid political grassroots response to the crisis. And the climate movement continues, albeit online.
But we do have to go even further. Capitalism is the vector
for coronavirus, but has itself become sick. But we need to kill it. If
capitalism does survive, if it can revive, it will once again again
drive climate breakdown, biodiversity collapse, the devastation of our
croplands.
