We look at the numbers representing the toll of the Pandemic to better understand our stark reality and how to see the possibilities of a better future.
In spite of 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. 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. Out of every four COVID-19 deaths, one child was left behind without a mother, father and/or a grandparent.
Treating Covid-19 as a political and ideological debate, rather than a world-wide 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. The pandemic has created nine new pharmaceutical billionaires worth $19.3 billion, enough to vaccinate around 780 million people in low-income countries, according to the People’s Vaccine Alliance. In addition, Big Pharma has raised prices on 245 prescription drugs, 61 of which are being 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 whole culture of fascist violence, hatred and disregard for human life has taken hold. It is the ideological foundation for the outlook that the individual has no rights and for a government and society that has no economic or moral responsibility for the well-being of its people. We teach our children about sharing, kindness, and love, and yet an additional 150 million children world-wide are in poverty since the pandemic hit earlier this year.
The replacement of greater sections of workers by robotic and digital production is accelerating. This brings about ever greater polarization of wealth and poverty. On the one hand, wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. On the other hand, poverty is spreading out to formerly secure sections of society and worsening the conditions of those who were already pushed into poverty. This process is creating a whole new class of people who cannot make it.
Our country is in crisis. This is what is behind the crisis. The economy — the way things are produced and distributed — is the foundation for the society and the political system. It is not possible to change that foundation and not change the society and political system.
Therefore, this country is heading into 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. No job and no wages mean no way to buy food, pay rent, or get from one place to another. 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 needed for a healthy life.
Our children are counting on us.
Published: October 20, 2021
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