It's the same in China

Socialists never get tired of showing how China and Cuba and every other country claiming to be socialist - not forgetting the former Soviet Union - in fact adhere to a brand of capitalism known as state capitalism, that in all of these countries money is of more importance than human life.

A recent example of China's worship of the god Mammon comes in a report this week of a young boy named Xiong Hongwei and how he drank pesticide from a soft drinks bottle, became seriously ill and was rushed to hospital by his grandfather. Arriving at the hospital the grandfather only had 123 yuan on him (?8.00) so was sent home and told to get the requsite 639 yuan before treatment could be administered. Result? The boy died.

Two thousand people protested outside the hospital and clashed with riot police and the hospital was closed temporarily.

At one time the Chinese health sevice was free to all - in other words it was somewhat similar to the NHS - until the market-oriented economy kicked in. In 1979, before market reforms, the government shouldered 54% of healthcare costs. That figure has since dropped to 17%.

Medical insurance comes highly recommended in China, but in the countryside only 25% of the country's 80 million farmers can afford it. The rural collectives they belonged to and which spread health care costs among members, was abolished in the early 1980s. The result being that many simply can't afford healthcare, so get ill, can't work and fall deeper into poverty - a vicious cycle mirrored in many countries.

Meanwhile, China's government still claims to be communist. And, meanwhile, China's leaders still support the wages system and commodity production. They promote trade according to the dictates of international capital and are ever prepared to go to war to defend China's economic interests. Hmmmm...isn't this what the US and British and French and Italian capitalist government do?

JB