In the post-pandemic world people will be asking many questions about society. They will be making new demands upon it, expecting more from it. The confidence in the status quo has been shattered. People will be wondering why politicians were caught unprepared and how we saw through their customary tradition of misrepresentation, manipulation, and misinformation was seen through. Politicians now face an issue of credibility. Power hungry populists although they desperately tried found it difficult to blame an easily identifiable convenient “other” for the crisis, a muslim, a migrant, some sort of scapegoat for this invisible foe.
The idea of a world without social safety-nets and cooperation is no longer tenable. We have shifted towards a system of solidarity sharing information and exchanging expertise. We cannot continue with the inward-looking "go-it-alone" national perspective.
Can COVID-19 trigger political and economic change? Socialists certain hope so. This pandemic has not discriminated by geography or identity. Despite efforts to the contrary it has rendered borders futile.
When this storm subsides, new norms will likely be needed on how people behave with each other. During this COVID-19 pandemic, we must also be discussing how we will handle climate change refugees and reduction in resources should a climate disaster occur. It is not might this happen, but a matter of when. Medical experts for a long time have been giving warnings of a global pandemic taking place at some point in time. Now it is here. Climate scientists have been warning us of an imminent environmental emergency. We should now heed them.
Within a socialist society, we can be assured that the community’s basic needs are provided for and people will be assured in the knowledge that their well-being is guaranteed. Let working people not lose this opportunity for change.
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