We look at the numbers representing the toll of the Pandemic to understand our stark reality and see the possibilities of a better future.
Despite the U.S. having access to more COVID-19 vaccines than the rest of the world, over 714,000 Americans have died during the Pandemic, with over 5.5 million children being infected and hundreds dying. Out of every four COVID-19 deaths, one child was left behind without a mother, father and/or a grandparent.
A new study estimates that more than 140,000 children in the U.S. have lost a parent or a grandparent caregiver to COVID-19, changing their lives forever.
Treating Covid-19 as a political and ideological debate rather than a worldwide health crisis has imperiled the lives of millions of people. Unclear health guidelines from both the Trump and Biden Administrations, driven by corporate economic interests, have turned into the loss of our grandparents, spouses, siblings, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and children.
And then there are those who are profiting from our misery. According to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, the Pandemic has created nine new pharmaceutical billionaires worth $19.3 billion, enough to vaccinate around 780 million people in low-income countries.
In addition, Big Pharma raised prices on 245 prescription drugs, 61 of which have been used to treat COVID-19 since the start of the Pandemic. Not to mention the trillions of dollars made during the Pandemic by Amazon, Walmart, Johnson and Johnson, Facebook, and others.
Today, a culture of fascist violence, hatred, and disregard for human life has taken hold. It is the ideological foundation for a government and society to take no responsibility for the rights and well-being of its people. We teach our children about sharing, kindness, and love, yet worldwide, the Pandemic has thrown an additional 150 million children into poverty.
Robotic and digital production is accelerating, replacing greater sections of workers, and creating an economic revolution. This process brings about ever-increasing polarization of wealth and poverty and a whole new class of people who cannot make it.
The economy — the way things are produced and distributed — is the foundation for society and the political system. It is not possible to change that foundation and not change society and political system.
Therefore, this country is heading into a social revolution. On what basis do people change society and the political system?
The ruling class is reshaping government, the legal system, and policing to keep the means to produce the necessities of life in private hands for private gain. They turn to force and violence to keep at bay a growing class that cannot survive. Communism, an economic system based on the common ownership of socially necessary means of production, is completely compatible with robotic, digital production. Today it is possible to distribute the goods produced according to need without money. True political democracy rests on economic equality and access to the things required for a healthy life.
Our children are counting on us. RC
November.December 2021 Vol31.Ed6
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
P.O. Box 477113 Chicago, IL 60647 rally@lrna.org
Free to reproduce unless otherwise marked.
Please include this message with any reproduction.
