The Nottingham branch of the RCG are organising to defend the working class in the face of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and against a government and council who continue to prioritise business interests over people’s lives. Below is a text of a leaflet that was distributed prior to the lockdown, and our petition is available here: http://chng.it/bLh4tByD4q On Thursday 2 April we will hold a public meeting online to discuss the pandemic, contact us for details.
Build Working Class Power to Fight the Coronavirus!
The 12 March Budget, responding to the pandemic, was headlined as ‘generous’. It is not. Britain’s welfare and health provision is severely limited by years of cut-backs, austerity and privatisation; the homeless and those denied access to state support because of racist immigration laws have been made particularly vulnerable. Fighting coronavirus requires significant investment and we need immediate, comprehensive expenditure on nursing and care, cleaning staff, hospital facilities, and essential medical equipment, and universal access for everybody in Britain.
The whole population in affected areas must be systematically tested. Studies have shown that people without symptoms can carry and spread the virus. Without universal testing, it will be impossible to even know how the virus is spreading, let alone stop it. Mass testing has been shown to work and is endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO); if the British government cared about human lives, it would adopt it immediately. Nottingham City Council should start its own testing programme.
Capitalism is Bad for Our Health
The supply of care professionals and products, including food, cleaning materials and medicine, is in the hands of big business. Ten companies control the global food industry today and ten global pharmaceutical companies control the distribution of medicines. As a result, one third of humanity suffer from some form of malnutrition and 9 million people die of hunger-related causes each year, while one third of food is wasted! Under the present crisis the state should take control of food and medical production, and control prices and output. It must also requisition the necessary beds and facilities from private healthcare providers – without charge – and take over vacant housing and hotels to allow those who are homeless, destitute or living in overcrowded conditions to self-isolate effectively.
Britain needs to learn from the world
Socialist Cuba shows what is possible with a working-class state that prioritises health and human wellbeing. The British ruling class neither knows nor cares about the living conditions of the working class. In Britain, up to three million children are already at risk of going hungry every school holiday when they do not get a warm meal. Up to 3.5 million people over the age of 65 live alone. In Cuba, everybody is supported by community organisations and the state, nobody has to be homeless, and everybody has guaranteed access to food and health care. What is more, Cuba has thousands of health professionals working in other countries around the world.
The British government should also learn from how China dealt with coronavirus. Among the 30 medicines the Chinese National Health Commission selected to fight the virus was a Cuban anti-viral drug, Interferon Alpha 2b. This has been produced in Cuba since 1986 and in China since 2003, by a Cuban-Chinese joint venture. Cuban medical teams have experience of working in infected areas in Africa against the Ebola outbreak. Italy has now invited Cuban and Chinese doctors to its aid. Britain should consider doing the same.
Building Solidarity
We cannot rely on the ruling class to provide food and support to vulnerable people and those who are self-isolating. Older people must not be cast aside and left unsupported. Children need food, exercise and social interaction. Around the country communities are organising Mutual Aid. We should all be involved. But we also need to demand immediate action from the state, for example to massively expand the number of intensive care beds, to ration food so that no one goes hungry and to provide paracetamol free of charge to anyone who needs it.
While drastic measures are needed, we must not let this crisis be used as an excuse to undermine our democratic rights to assembly, to access education and healthcare. All restrictions must be based on public health interests alone.
Together we must decide on the demands for what we need. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problems we face. Remote learning as a substitute for school is useless for the many children who have no computer access at home; likewise, many older people find digital link-ups difficult. The protection of our sick leave, wages and state benefits must be extended and guaranteed. Rent and mortgage payments should be suspended where income is interrupted.
Once again, billions of pounds are being spent on the economic aspects of the crisis and bailing out businesses. The working class was forced to pay and is still paying for the last capitalist crisis in 2008/9 through years of austerity. When the government was forced to expand health care after the Second World War, this was paid for by the bloody plunder of the workers and resources in Britain’s colonies. We must fight to ensure the working class is not made to carry the costs yet again.
Coronavirus: What now?
Join in the fight back – only working class power can get us out of this crisis and only socialism can create a society that puts people first. We need to end capitalism before it ends us.
We demand action now. Together we are stronger. If you agree, get in touch and get involved.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Nottingham RCG
Telephone: 07514 771124
