To: Detroit/Seattle
Workers' Voice mailing list
May 13, 2020
Re: Against COVID-19 denialism
by Joseph Green, Detroit Workers' Voice
6) COVID denialism endangers the lives of thousands upon thousands of people.
7) The COVID-19 crisis shows the need to take science seriously.
8) Socialism is regaining its popularity.
9) No one is safe until everyone is safe: the fight against COVID-19 is an international one.
-- Notes
COVID-denialism is one of the main reasons for the US becoming a world hotspot of COVID-19 infection. In the early days of the crisis, Trump advocated that COVID-19 was no worse than the flu, it was a Democratic Party hoax to think otherwise, the US would be spared, and measures against foreigners would suffice. As a result the federal government let January and February pass without preparations for testing, sufficient protective equipment, or contact tracing.
Then, for a time, Trump claimed he was taking COVID-19 seriously; he reorganized the White House Coronavirus Task force; and gave long, raving COVID press briefings in which whatever he said had to be corrected by doctors. But he still didn't take seriously the need for testing, contact tracing, masks, and other personal protective equipment. He told the states they were on their own, and promoted competition between them for supplies. He agreed to the stimulus bills, but with the aim of keeping the stock market up; these bills had inadequate support for the unemployed and large handouts to big business. He promoted medical guesswork about quick COVID cures and even suggested poisonous absurdities such as drinking bleach. And if he consented to social distancing and shelter-in-place orders, he also said that "We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself." (4)
As the failure of such half-hearted measures became apparent and the death toll continued to rise, Trump returned to COVID-denialism. He pretends the pandemic has already been conquered. He occasionally declares that testing is the problem, not COVID-19 itself: "...by doing all of this testing, we make ourselves look bad". (5) He sometimes says a vaccine is around the corner, but also says that COVID-19 just will go away by itself. (6) He ignores serious studies showing that, if the present policies aren't changed, the death rate may soar, and instead his cronies have released a prediction claiming there would be no new COVID deaths by mid-May. (7) While the country races towards 100,000 or more dead by the end of May, Trump's policy is to "reopen" the economy as soon as possible, despite the rising death totals and the lack of sufficient testing and contact tracing.
One study after another has predicted that reopening the economy in this fashion could lead to many more deaths -- maybe even a quarter of a million or more in a few months. Even some government studies have dire predictions, which the Trump administration shrugs off. (8) The reaction of Trump and the conservatives is to suppress the studies, whenever possible. For example, Republican Arizona governor Doug Ducey, as he relaxed COVID precautions on May 4, also disbanded a panel of scientists from Arizona State University and the University of Arizona because its studies showed that premature relaxing of anti-COVID measures would likely result in many more COVID cases. (9)
There is now a national struggle over whether the shelter-in-place regulations will be relaxed prematurely. Trump says that these regulations are destroying the economy. But it is COVID-denialism which has caused the need for extended shutdowns by delaying action until the virus had spread extensively, and it's the resurgence of COVID as a result of half-measures that may cause the need for further economic lockdowns. And on the economic front, it's Trump and the bourgeoisie's failure to establish the social programs needed to provide relief for the masses, and it's their failure to institute economic planning to adapt the economy to the present situation, that is causing anti-COVID measures to lead to desperation and the possibility of serious shortages. Moreover, even with complete reopenings, the economy would still face drastic dislocation, state and local bankruptcies, and desperate conditions, but Trump is concerned only with the stock market and giving handouts to the rich. Indeed, Senate Majority Leader McConnell contemplates with pleasure letting state and local pension funds and social programs collapse, thinking this would hurt only Democratic-majority "blue states", and insists that any new federal bill should let this happen.
Trump's push to reopen the economy has so little to do with protecting the welfare of workers that he has issued an executive order ordering meat-packing workers to go back to work. But meat-packing is a hotspot for COVID-19 infection, due to the way the factories are organized. Thousands of meat-packing workers have been infected, and dozens have died, and other workers in essential occupations like mass transit, sanitation, and health care have also suffered infection and deaths. There is a wave of small strikes and protests throughout the country of these workers, demanding protection. Compulsory orders against workers only makes it easier for the capitalists to skimp on providing protection, as would the ending of corporate liability for COVID deaths, which is being pushed by big business groups and their political lackeys. (10)
COVID-denialism goes hand-in-hand with climate change denialism. In both cases, Trump and much of the bourgeoisie are putting the lives of millions upon millions at risk for the sake of immediate profits. And in both cases, disaster can come suddenly: if the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world rapidly, so can major fires, flooding, etc.
Much of the right-wing has embraced COVID-denialism. A number of religious fundamentalists have made a point of violating social distancing. Trump has even encouraged rabid right-wing protesters, some with guns, confederate flags, and even swastikas, demanding an end to shelter-in-place, telling them to "liberate" Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia. Moreover a number of conservative Republicans, like Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, are saying that it is the duty of elderly people to die, if necessary, so that the fight against COVID-19 can end, and the economy can immediately reopen. (11) This has been backed by rightists around the country, including various commentators on Fox News. In this way, these conservatives proudly display the blood on their hands, rather than bothering to wash them. Trump himself has echoed this theme when he acknowledges that he prioritizes reopening the economy over the number of lives it will cost.
A small section of the left has also been COVID-denialist, especially certain conspiracy theorists who believe that COVID-19 was created by the CIA or that the bourgeoisie is exaggerating its threat. (12) But the mass agitation for COVID-denialism is mainly from the conservative right.
If there is to be an effective fight against COVID-19, the measures taken have to be in accord with medical science. Trump and the COVID-denialists think that if they close their eyes to reality, it will go away. They have cut back on scientific research wherever it goes against the immediate needs of the stock market or this or that capitalist interest. This is bringing disaster closer, whether it's pandemics or environmental disasters.
But acting according to scientific knowledge doesn't mean accepting everything said in the name of science or by the scientific establishment. There are two faces of science as it is now practiced. For example, we see thousands upon thousands of nurses, doctors, emergency technicians, orderlies, and other staff working at risk of their own lives to help people with COVID-19. There have also been reports from doctors and researchers over the years about the likelihood of a future coronavirus pandemic. But we also see Trump gag doctors at every coronavirus briefing. We see hospital administrators fire nurses and other staff for telling the truth about what's going on. We see large number of researchers hired by pharmaceutical companies, or having their own company, and tailoring their research to what the corporations demand.
Something similar is taking place respect to the environment. The UN scientific body for the environment is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It is composed of climate scientists from around the world, and has done valuable work in showing the reality of human-caused climate change, and the looming disaster that faces the world. But its prescriptions for how to slash the emissions of greenhouse gases aren't based on science, but on neoliberal economics, and on what the bourgeois governments and politicians will accept. As a result, it has proposed futile market-based measures that have repeatedly failed. But if it had proposed anything else, the IPCC would have been disbanded by the governments that set it up; as it is, they have applied pressure on IPCC to tone down its reports. One has to distinguish the careful scientific work done by the IPCC, and the prescriptions tailored to establishment economics, which are not based on science. Ever since I wrote "The coming of the environmental crisis" in 2007, I have pointed out this dual nature of the IPCC. (13)
We need to take science very seriously. Demands for economic and
social change can't be based simply on what we want, but must reckon
with what is really possible, so as to find the path that really leads
to the revolutionary changes needed. But to do this, and to oppose the
anti-science attitude of the right-wing, workers and activists need
their own evaluation of what is truly scientific, and what is
corporate-dominated science. It isn't simply a matter of accepting
whatever is said in the name of science, because Trump and other
capitalist representatives appoint the heads of various bodies, such as
the CDC, while the capitalist world funds scientific research. It's a
matter of judging what is truly scientific and what is not, what is
real science and what is bourgeois bias, and also what is established
fact and what is speculative. In this way, we need to back science and
medicine for the people, not for the stock market, not for profits.
With the growing inequality in the US, and with the much greater insecurity of life over the years, there is more talk of socialism and of Marx's critique of capitalism. This is a positive development, and reflects a motion to the left in the younger section of the population. It also reflects a recognition that, even before the COVID-19 crisis, something was very wrong with the economy, and there needs to be major change.
However, what is being seen as socialism isn't the elimination of capitalism, but simply useful reforms. Bernie Sanders talked of democratic socialism, but envisions it as simply a modern version of the Rooseveltian New Deal of the 1930s. A number of other Democratic politicians talk of a "Green New Deal". And most everyone, including capitalist journalists, takes the state sector of the economy as socialist, even though it is not controlled by the working class but integrated into the capitalist system.
But it is important for the radical left to have a clearer idea of what socialism really would be. The word "socialism" has no special magic in itself: there are many "socialist" parties around the world which have taken part in austerity and neo-liberalism. And there are also oppressive state-capitalist regimes that have falsely called themselves "socialist" or "communist". If the radical left is to be able to develop a class struggle against the bourgeoisie as a whole, if it is be able to orient an effective struggle in the coming period of economic crisis, it needs to distinguish what is really a step towards socialism, and what is the development of another phase of capitalism; what is the elimination of marketplace economics, and what is simply a reform, however useful, of the capitalist economy. For this reason, the Detroit/Seattle Workers' Voice email list will carry material in the coming months on the Marxist view of socialism.
COVID-19 is spreading around the world, and poorer countries will generally be hit far worse than others. Migrant workers, refugees, stateless people, and displaced people are going to face tremendous hardships. If the pandemic is to be overcome, it must be confronted on a world basis. This is both for solidarity with the workers of other countries, but also because half the world isn't going to be healthy and safe, if the other half is sick and dying.
It is up to the working masses to demonstrate real solidarity with the people of the world. The bourgeoisie isn't going to do it. The IMF and World Bank, for example, are using the COVID-19 crisis to give, not grants, but more loans to desperate countries which already are sinking under their debt load. The Trump administration would replace a serious fight against COVD-19 with blaming foreigners and migrants. In one country after another, the right-wing has unleashed a wave of racism against Chinese and other Asians, and against migrants in general. The Trump administration is even continuing, during the period of COVID-19, to round up migrants, refugees, and undocumented workers into detention camps which are centers of COVID-19 infection, and then flying them back to Quatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador. (14) This is not only an atrocity against the deported people, but helps spread COVID-19 through Central America.
We see the same thing in country after another in the COVID-crisis: the masses are bearing the brunt of it, while the bourgeoisie puts more and more pressure on them. There is the bailout of the rich; inadequate relief measures for the workers; the attempt by the far right to promote anti-Asian and anti-foreigner racism; the taking of oppressive measures instead of public health measures; etc. The working masses need to develop international solidarity if there is to be an effective response to these problems. The strikes and protests that have appeared in a number of countries should receive support from each other. Every opportunity should be taken to spread knowledge of the situation of working people in other countries, to combat anti-foreigner racism, and to spread the idea that no one is safe unless everyone is safe.
[4] Tweet of March 22, 2020. Cited in The Hill for March 23.
[5] "Trump says doing too much coronavirus testing makes the US 'look bad' as he pushes for the country to reopen," John Haltiwanger, in Business Insider, May 7, 2020. .
[6] "Trump says coronavirus will ‘go away without a vaccine’",
Matthew Chapman, in Raw Story, May 8. Also "Trump says coronavirus will
disappear without vaccine. Fauci has said the opposite." Aaron Blake,
in The Washington Post, May 8.
[7] "Trump's advisers released a 'beyond stupid' mathematical model
of coronavirus deaths created in Excel by a controversial economist",
Eliza Relman in Business Insider for May 6, 2020.
[8] "Reopening states will cause 233,000 more people to die from coronavirus, according to Wharton model", Kristin Myers, May 3. This refers to a study from the University of Pennsylvania, using the Penn Wharton Budget Model, which predicts 45,000 to 233,000 additional deaths depending on the speed of the economic reopenings. A FEMA estimate, based on modeling from the Centers for Disease Control and Management, raises the possibility of 3,000 deaths daily. That would suggest a toll of close to 200,000 by August, and continuing up from that. A much more cautious prediction comes from a model developed by Chris Murray and other researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington; this model, favored by the White House coronavirus task force, predicts about 137,000 dead by early August, up from its earlier prediction of about 72,000. That's still 57,000 more than the toll today, and, moreover, that estimate doesn't seem to take into account the extent of the state reopenings.
[9] "In a hurry to reopen state, Arizona governor disbands scientific panel that modeled outbreak", by David Knowles, May 6, 2020.
[10] "Ending Virus Shutdowns Too Soon Poses Legal Risk for Businesses", By Erik Larson, Christopher Yasiejko, and Edvard Pettersson, April 17, 2020, on the Bloomberg website. A good deal of information about the strikes breaking out across the country among essential workers can be found at the Payday Report website.
[11] "Texas Lt. Gov.: Don't 'Sacrifice the Country' to Save Us Seniors", Jenn Gidman, March 24, on the Newser website.
The 69-year-old Patrick pretended to be a hero himself, saying "Those
of us who are 70-plus, we'll take care of ourselves." But of course, if
Patrick gets sick, he will have the best possible health care, while
large numbers of Texans are denied health coverage at all due to such
things as Patrick and other conservatives preventing Texas from taking
part in expanded Medicaid coverage. Patrick's remarks were immediately
defended by Brit Hume. "Fox News' Brit Hume Defends Risking Older
People's Lives 'to Allow the Economy to Move Forward' in Coronavirus
Shutdown", by Brendan Cole, March 25, in Newsweek.
[12] Left-wing blogger Louis Proyect's article "The conspiracist left and the far right: strange bedfellows on COVID-19"
shows how some (not all) of the conspiracy theorists who back the
bloodstained Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad are also COVID
denialists. Apparently it is easy to jump from believing the democratic
movement in Syria is an imperialist conspiracy to believing the same
thing about the effort to fight COVID-19. Proyect points out that this
puts the conspiracist left in league with "the Christian right and some
Fox TV hosts like Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro." As well, and not
mentioned by Proyect's essay, a sliver of the Trotskyist movement is
also in the same boat. For example, Michael Probsting, of the RCIT of
Britain (Revolutionary Communist International Tendency), has just put
out a book The COVID-19 Global Counterrevolution: What It Is and How to Fight It, which denounces shelter-in-place policies as reactionary repression.
[13] "The Coming of the Environmental Crisis". For other articles that deal with the fight against global warming and, in the course of that, analyze the work of the IPCC, see http://www.communistvoice.org/00GlobalWarming.html. It is the general practice in the environmental movement, even for eco-socialists and activist writers like Naomi Klein, to ignore the dual nature of the IPCC, which is at most criticized for being somewhat conservative in depicting how bad the coming disasters may be. (The IPCC only considers environmental threats on which there is an absolute consensus among climate scientists, but that's bad enough to make a compelling case for the need for environmental action.) The similarity between IPCC reports for policy-makers, IMF/World Bank prescriptions, and supposedly socialist green taxes is generally not mentioned, not by establishment environmentalists and not by the Green Party.
[14] For example, "44 migrants on one US deportation flight [to Honduras] tested positive for coronavirusa", April 17.
Also see "U.S. Deported Thousands Amid Covid-19 Outbreak. Some Proved to Be Sick", April 18, in the New York Times.
Part 1 of this article was in the D/SWV list for April 26:
1) The governments were unprepared for COVID-19.
2) We are not going back to normal soon; there soon won't be a normal to go back to.
3) Financial measures aren't going to prevent an economic crash.
4) The COVID-19 crisis is increasing the inequality between rich and poor, both inside countries and between them.
5) A protest movement has broken out around the country: people can't
just wait for the authorities to deal with the coronavirus or economic
devastation.
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Posted May 16,
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