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- Albert Einstein
Yet we still need to know where and when the novel Coronavirus was first seen, its outbreak happened in late December 2019, in Wuhan, China.
While the People Republic of China is successfully containing the Virus, its presence was announced in South Korea on January 20th, and after a month of cover-up, on February 19, in the religious City of Qom, in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This cover-up caused the biggest outbreak and fatality rate in Iran and from there to other countries, outside of China. The rapid spread of the Virus was then reported in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, UK, other European countries, and at the same time across the United States of America and Canada. The fatal and highly contagious Virus became a global threat.
On the 11th of March, the World Health Organization (WHO), officially declared Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel Coronavirus a pandemic, meanwhile praising China for its decisive efforts to fight and rout the Virus. WHO was deeply concerned by the inaction and negligence of world leaders. The Organization’s head Dr. Tedros Adhanom said “We are at war” (March 26, 2020, NPR).
By the end of March, Covid-19 had swept into almost all of the countries on the Planet. The United States became the epicenter of Coronavirus pandemic with nearly 150,000 positive tests and 2,500 deaths at that time.
In mid April, with the official number of positive tests reaching more than 1.7 million, and the official death toll of more than 100,000, worldwide, countries after countries are declaring emergency situation.
Finally, preventive hygiene measures were called by the different governments. Places of gatherings like schools, universities, churches, mosques, fast-foods, restaurants, shops, theatres, and parks were closed to the public. Tourism industry, most of transportation systems, sport events were first hit and consequently shut down. Most factories, industrial and agricultural plants inevitably were closed. So-called reckless measures that once were demonized by Western capitalist systems as “socialist” styles and labeled undemocratic were imposed for good in US, Canada, many European countries, and most parts of the world. Putting cities in quarantine, clampdown on gatherings, mandatory self-isolation and social-distancing, sometimes very harsh and inhumane, like what happened in India, were imposed.
As a result hundreds of millions of workers and working people, both manuals and intellectuals, have already been fired or laid-off around the world.
On March 21st, 2020, a report from the US Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said “that unemployment benefit claims filed by US workers increased as never before in history in the Country, as millions of people continue to lose their jobs given the crisis generated by Covid-19”.
Globally, for instance on March 18th, 2020, the World Council of Travel and Tourism reported that “the tourism industry may lose 50 million jobs” due to this crisis.
It is apparent that those hundreds of millions of people who are fired, laid-off on unpaid leaves, or self-employed people who were ordered to shut-down their businesses or, stopped working for being afraid of catching the Virus, were added to the miserable armies of capitalism.
As well, the newly recruited miserable armies are those jobless who will not be covered by Medicare, new poor, recently homeless people, floods of imperialist’s wars inflicted people and deprived economic refugees and immigrants.
Many especially in the developing countries, who are without enough food, access to clean water, and basic sanitary facilities, are also abandoned to their own fate in facing the Covid-19 catastrophe.
In the meantime, the shortage of hospital beds, intensive care unites, ventilators, trained doctors, nurses, and other health care providers, added to the misery caused by the Coronavirus. The health care providers, who are themselves at high risk, did not have enough protective gears or even face masks; many developed Covid-19, and some died “thanks” to the austerity measures of the Neo-liberal policies. In addition, others like public service drivers, couriers, food service delivery workers, rideshare drivers, grocery clerks, warehouse workers, repairmen, construction workers and those who are working constantly in the field are in danger for catching the Virus and transferring it to others. They were not prepared and not protected by their governments and the private sector. These are the direct results of inherent negligence and the failures of pro-profit systems, especially in the West, whilst they had enough time to prepare their countries and protect their citizens to confront and fight against such an unprecedented Crisis.
The Covid-19 crisis is hitting businesses all around the Globe, with no immediate ending in sight. Many private businesses no matter how small and big, demanded the governments’ financial assistance to survive, such as American Airlines seeking $12 billions (BBC News, 30 March, 2020).
To face-off this Crisis, many capitalist governments are forced by the people to intervene and execute some social policies into effect. Policies which, again, were demonized as socialist plans and not compatible with their “democratic” Neo-Liberal standards.
Covering health care of those who got Covid-19, temporary handing out some cash for those who lost their jobs, postponing repayment of student loans, postponing of foreclosures and evictions, and suspending some bills, were part of the temporary remedies during this crisis.
Lowering interest rates to near zero, delivering more access to credits were parts of the stimulus measures to aide with the inflicted small and medium sized businesses.
About $5 trillion of cash injections were promised by Japan, US, and other Western Governments, not surprisingly, to be allocated mostly to the private big banks and businesses. These bail-outs temporarily prevented the crashing of the stock markets, but not helping the real economy.
Capitalist economy which was recovering saltatorial since the 2007-9 recession, has been dealt a big unprecedented blow by Covid-19. Remedies which were somehow helpful during that recession, are not working this time since it is not a crisis caused by the toxic sub-prime mortgage bubble, overblown by the stock markets. This time we are facing the crisis of the real economy, the crisis of goods and services production.
From the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Thousands of articles were published about its origin, its course, its negative and positive mental and environmental effects and so on.
But, what we are stressing here is that hundreds of millions and possibly billions of working forces are out of work from factories, firms, and farms. Thus, production of goods and services are halted and obviously workers earn no wages. These Penniless People not only are not able to buy from the markets, but they will face a big shortage of supplies. Prices will rise high while their pockets are empty; the two pillars of capitalist economy are locked down. This is what is called deep recession or great depression. As Kristina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the IMF said “The world is faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s” (Marketplace.com, April 9, 2020).
This economic shut down is happening in the very presence of capital and means of production usurpers. They are sitting over trillions of $ in their safe havens, without any crack in the means of production, but still powerlessly watching these unprecedented events.
Covid-19 was one of the factors that revived the class consciousness of those who have nothing to sell but their workforce and only to live today and be exploited tomorrow. Workers and working people will realize that they are the main force behind the production of wealth in the world, and that they have a historic task to organize and struggle for the establishment of justice and equality for all.
They realize that they are the masters of the world and the only force that can change the world for good!