We are all “us.”

There is a danger emerging that the pandemic will make people nostalgic for normalcy instead of becoming radicalised. Socialists must do their utmost to ensure a return-to-normal and business-as-usual isn’t acceptable. The capitalist world is in turmoil and its fakery has been shown. The political sea change doesn’t mean a sudden conversion to  socialism but it has exposed the frailty and flaws of the capitalist system of production for profit and not to satisfy peoples needs. There will have to be many positive and substantial shifts in public attitudes but it is hard think of a return to the “old normal.” Our everyday lives have been impacted and we have acquired new definitions of who are the key workers and the “essential” industries. The coronavirus has exposed the racial and class disparities in society. The pandemic has in some countries resulted in a nationalist feeding frenzy, just at the time we require global cooperation.

We are experiencing the most profound social, economic and political change in the way we view the world. Some are now suggesting that we replace capitalism with a somewhat better brand of capitalism, reforms which would prove to short-lived, and certainly not target the real problem — capitalism itself. People are being presented with a choice. Reform the unreformable, or create a world based on human need and environmental stability instead of private profits and inequality? It is a question to be answered by all the world’s peoples. The global coronavirus crisis has now given further credence to the socialist alternative hitherto ridiculed and ignored.

Amid this pandemic, we see signs of distrust and fear leading to increased authoritarianism,  xenophobia, and injustice. But there are also good grounds for optimism. Better get to work. Our time is running out. This planet-wide virus, tragic as it is, has the potential to galvanize attitudes of multitudes. Our visions and actions are the building blocks of the world we deeply wish for. Without the belief in the possibilities of progress of social evolution, working people will continue to endure the suffering and stagnation that surely lies ahead.