One might have hoped that the very severity of the threat posed by the pandemic would compel the elites who manage capitalist societies to behave more responsibly and decently. The return of the pre-neoliberal “nanny state” (however inadequate it was) seemed to some a real possibility. But while the capitalist state may be concerned with maintaining social equilibrium, preserving a basic level of public health and upholding its own legitimacy, it remains utterly devoted to ensuring the conditions in which businesses can function and profits can continue to flow.
The article below provides important information about shifting economic theories, but it totally ignores class power and the political, economic, ideological, and repressive tools the ruling class has available to preserve its rule and its privileges.
May 14,2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Socialist Project — The transport sector represents one of the most serious challenges when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, which are increasing faster than from any other sector in society – and at an ever-increasing pace (over 120 per cent globally over the last 30 years – and still increasing in all parts of the world).
The novelist on how coronavirus threatens India — and what the country, and the world, should do next
Who can use the term “gone viral” now without shuddering a little? Who can look at anything any more — a door handle, a cardboard carton, a bag of vegetables — without imagining it swarming with those unseeable, undead, unliving blobs dotted with suction pads waiting to fasten themselves on to our lungs?
Physical distance makes campaigns difficult but not impossible, says union
Despite providing vital services and risking their well-being just by going to work, many previously “invisible” private-sector employees — like janitors, personal support workers and truckers — now deemed essential are still among the most overworked and underpaid.
In response, Services Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2 has launched a national unionization drive for these essential workers.
David Fairey Co-Chair, BC Employment Standards Coalition
From: David Fairey
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2020
Subject: Paid Sick Leave Days Campaign Petition & May 21st Day of Action
Please sign our Coalition online petition to the BC government at the link in the e-mail below, and share the link with your networks. Here is a link to an opinion piece on the need for paid sick leave published in The Province newspaper May 3rd:
