COVID19 - We’re not all in this together
By Peppertree
There is plenty of writing out there that stresses how the COVID19 pandemic is different from other disasters because “it affects everyone”. Even on the left, people are writing about how the compliance with lockdown is an example of what we can achieve if we all pull together and put human life before profit. They then build a picture of how this crisis can lead to a revolution of sorts that results in a different economic system that doesn’t leave people in poverty and the planet in ruins.
That is a nice thought but unfortunately it’s based on a lie, just like any other time when the privileged claim that “we’re all in this together”.
Because we’re not. For some, mainly middle class white people like myself, the virus threat and the lockdown has been an inconvenience. I still have my job, I have a home that I can work from, I have access to communications technology that allows me to stay in touch with friends and family. I am reasonably healthy and am not reliant on help from others to get through my day. Yes, not being able to see people who are close to me sucks and I hate standing in the queue at the supermarket. But that’s pretty much it.
For others in NZ it’s far more serious. Those with serious health conditions, who rely on visiting nurses or family members and who don’t know if there is a greater risk of them infecting the helper or the other way round. Those who have lost their job and aren’t eligible for government subsidies (for example, because they work for the DHB or the council and are therefore not considered worthy of help), or where the employer has pocketed the subsidy on their behalf. Or those who are in an abusive relationship and can’t just escape to a cousin’s place. For them this lockdown could be the tipping point.
The chronically ill, who have already suffered under an underfunded health system are now even more at risk. Those with precarious jobs are losing theirs before anyone else. Britain has one, France has two documented cases of women being murdered by their male partners as a result of the lockdown. Police here are talking about an increase in domestic violence.
And while our government keeps reminding us to practice social distancing, for some this is an impossibility. For the 20,000 who are imprisoned in the refugee camp in Moria on Lesbos (a camp that was built for one tenth that number) social distancing is physically impossible. Not only are they living in unimaginable hygienic conditions, they are also subject to even harder lockdown conditions than the Greek population who can at least go to the supermarket and see a doctor. The same applies for the 200 or so men in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, who were transferred there from Manus Island last year and are stuck in hostels were not even the guards are taking any precautions. For all these it is a question of when not if the virus will do its round and wipe a lot of them out.
For decades we were fed the fear of the stranger, the foreigner, the migrant. But the virus wasn’t spread by refugees from Syria or by migrant workers from the Philippines or any other group of “illegals”. It was spread mostly by entitled middle class travellers who are using perfectly legal routes and passports and who now think that they are hard hit because they miss out on their annual holiday.
Pretending that before the virus we are all equal doesn’t help us get rid of capitalism. If we want to establish a better, fairer system, we first need to acknowledge that we are not equally affected by it, that some of us have been profiting from capitalism while others have suffered, and that we are not equally able to change things.
But there are things we can do. We can demand radical change now. The system desperately needs to keep “essential services” running smoothly right now and those workers are among the most seriously affected. In Spain, the anarchist union CNT is organising industrial action to reverse the privatization of hospitals. They demand a right for workers to personal protective equipment (PPE), a stay on rents and mortgages, an end to evictions and a stop of deportations, among other things. I don’t hear anything similar coming from unions here.
There is plenty of writing out there that stresses how the COVID19 pandemic is different from other disasters because “it affects everyone”. Even on the left, people are writing about how the compliance with lockdown is an example of what we can achieve if we all pull together and put human life before profit. They then build a picture of how this crisis can lead to a revolution of sorts that results in a different economic system that doesn’t leave people in poverty and the planet in ruins.
That is a nice thought but unfortunately it’s based on a lie, just like any other time when the privileged claim that “we’re all in this together”.
Because we’re not. For some, mainly middle class white people like myself, the virus threat and the lockdown has been an inconvenience. I still have my job, I have a home that I can work from, I have access to communications technology that allows me to stay in touch with friends and family. I am reasonably healthy and am not reliant on help from others to get through my day. Yes, not being able to see people who are close to me sucks and I hate standing in the queue at the supermarket. But that’s pretty much it.
For others in NZ it’s far more serious. Those with serious health conditions, who rely on visiting nurses or family members and who don’t know if there is a greater risk of them infecting the helper or the other way round. Those who have lost their job and aren’t eligible for government subsidies (for example, because they work for the DHB or the council and are therefore not considered worthy of help), or where the employer has pocketed the subsidy on their behalf. Or those who are in an abusive relationship and can’t just escape to a cousin’s place. For them this lockdown could be the tipping point.
The chronically ill, who have already suffered under an underfunded health system are now even more at risk. Those with precarious jobs are losing theirs before anyone else. Britain has one, France has two documented cases of women being murdered by their male partners as a result of the lockdown. Police here are talking about an increase in domestic violence.
And while our government keeps reminding us to practice social distancing, for some this is an impossibility. For the 20,000 who are imprisoned in the refugee camp in Moria on Lesbos (a camp that was built for one tenth that number) social distancing is physically impossible. Not only are they living in unimaginable hygienic conditions, they are also subject to even harder lockdown conditions than the Greek population who can at least go to the supermarket and see a doctor. The same applies for the 200 or so men in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, who were transferred there from Manus Island last year and are stuck in hostels were not even the guards are taking any precautions. For all these it is a question of when not if the virus will do its round and wipe a lot of them out.
For decades we were fed the fear of the stranger, the foreigner, the migrant. But the virus wasn’t spread by refugees from Syria or by migrant workers from the Philippines or any other group of “illegals”. It was spread mostly by entitled middle class travellers who are using perfectly legal routes and passports and who now think that they are hard hit because they miss out on their annual holiday.
Pretending that before the virus we are all equal doesn’t help us get rid of capitalism. If we want to establish a better, fairer system, we first need to acknowledge that we are not equally affected by it, that some of us have been profiting from capitalism while others have suffered, and that we are not equally able to change things.
But there are things we can do. We can demand radical change now. The system desperately needs to keep “essential services” running smoothly right now and those workers are among the most seriously affected. In Spain, the anarchist union CNT is organising industrial action to reverse the privatization of hospitals. They demand a right for workers to personal protective equipment (PPE), a stay on rents and mortgages, an end to evictions and a stop of deportations, among other things. I don’t hear anything similar coming from unions here.
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