Thinking Beyond COVID-19

Nothing in human history is inevitable. We are not living and organising society according to any pre-ordained schemes. We are masters of our own history, not slaves of it. We can do what we choose.

The society we live in produces war. There is a split between the minority who own and control the means of life and the majority of us who produce the wealth. A split, that is. between those who produce but do not possess and those who possess but do not produce. The economic rivalries among the wealth owners over market territories, areas rich in mineral resources and strategic locations on the trade atlas are often fought off the conference tables on the battlefields. Society based on competition and property is a war-producing society.

If humanity makes war to conquer nature then we will be on the losing end of such a conflict. We need to switch soicety to a new mode of living that does not collide with our environment. There is no solution other than ending capitalism entirely. Like any virus capitalism if left intact will mutate and adapt itself to its new conditions. The capitalist system will endeavour to normalise the ever present threat of pandemics. Capitalism faces the paradox of one of its infamous contradictions, an increasing globalisation of the economy alongside and a retreat of nation-states into their own traditional borders to resolve global problems. Some populist politicians are calling for stricter immigration controls while some corporations are railing against protectionist policies. But the people need socialism to assure the safety and flourishing of all our planet’s people.

United Nations' secretary-general Antonio Guterres told the BBC he's "disappointed" the world had not come together in a coordinated way to confront the pandemic.He said individual nations pursued their own strategies – and the lack of collective action helped the virus spread. He also bemoaned the failure of the world’s strongest nations to combine what he called power and leadership. That has created much of the dysfunction and fragility, as he put it, in today’s world. He also said there was an opportunity for countries to re-tool their economics in ways that are more environmentally sustainable. He called on governments to withhold emergency financial support from fossil fuel and carbon-intensive companies and to focus instead on green jobs.

The interests of workers and capitalists are diametrically opposed. The idea of nationalism has been supported by the ruling class because it deludes the workers into believing that within one territory. under one flag, they have a united interest with the bosses. Nationalism is divisive among workers and is used to help work up antagonism between workers from different places for them to fight the cause of their masters. It is not "our” country; Itis not our world; it is theirs — the capitalists’. 

Workers of the world have no country. We want a new social system. We do not want to sort out the chaos of capitalism, and futilely try to make the system run smoothly. This system can never work well for us. But it works well for the bosses and that’s why they keep this system going. 

Working people, however, can change the ways things are, if they so wish.