Gleaning the news, anyone can find articles acknowledging that China’s “People’s War” against the Covid-19 epidemic is on track for total victory. The sacrifices by the Chinese people and the confidence they have in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have resulted in gaining control over the enormous health crisis. 

The Trump administration’s miserable profit-before-people response to the arrival of the virus in the U.S. has stripped capitalism naked. Thousands are losing their livelihood, unable to get needed supplies and unable to get real medical help. The Democrats’ emergency bill provides only some help to a small section of the population. 

The contrast between socialist China’s great work and the cruelty of U.S. capitalism threatens a sea change in the way workers think about the two social systems.

The Trump administration is trying hard to erase that possibility by slandering China. The official line is that China concealed the danger of a pandemic, punished people who sent out early warnings, rejected help from the U.S. and caused a three-week delay in the response that they claim would certainly have been underway in the U.S. if only they had known. 

Yeah, right.

The notion that China had bought time for the rest of the world is often asserted by health officials. Some nations that had the resources took their cue from China and were prepared when the virus spread internationally. 

The blame for the lack of resources in much of the world belongs on the doorstep of U.S. imperialism. Vicious U.S. economic sanctions, International Monetary Fund austerity programs and sapping of resources have left countries vulnerable. 

The White House tightened sanctions against Venezuela, Iran and Cuba in recent days. The virus has reached Gaza and countries in Africa where sanctions and imperialist domination have broken the economies. Long ago, Trump cut the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) budget and efforts to prevent outbreaks in China, Pakistan, Haiti, Rwanda and Congo.

U.S. punishes while China helps

China, meanwhile, is sending medicine and all forms of aid that it can to other countries, including France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Iran, Iraq and the Philippines. The Chinese people’s humanity and solidarity are so threatening to the U.S. that the headline of a March 25 Foreign Policy article cries, “How China is Exploiting the Coronavirus to Weaken Democracies.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) was given reports by China even before the potential for a pandemic was certain. WHO shared the information with the U.S. CDC and spoke of the danger repeatedly. There was plenty of timely warning!

The U.S. also had a direct line of communication through Dr. Linda Quick — a CDC staff person stationed in China until July 2019. According to a March 22 Reuters report, Quick’s job was to work with epidemiologists to zero in on viral outbreaks and report to the U.S. 

She “was in an ideal position to be the eyes and ears on the ground for the United States and other countries.” Her position was eliminated by the Trump administration. 

This shows what a spurious claim it is that China rejected help from the U.S. They welcomed this liaison and it was Trump who eliminated the position.

It was Dec. 31 when China first reported everything it knew and didn’t know to WHO. A Jan. 21 WHO Situation Report indicates that the city of Wuhan reported 45 cases being treated for pneumonia, but caregivers weren’t yet certain of the cause. The earliest patient they knew about fell ill on Dec. 12.

Through research over the recent months, Chinese scientists and others learned that this coronavirus is different from its six known cousins. This one can be contagious while there are mild or no symptoms, but it is potentially deadly — a recipe for a terrible epidemic or even a pandemic.

China mapped the genome and shared it with the world just 12 days after their first report to WHO — an incredible scientific feat and a big step forward for the world. At the same time, China reported the connection to a seafood market in Wuhan. Although they still hadn’t confirmed human-to-human transmission, Chinese officials were concerned enough to close the market and restrict travel to and from Wuhan. 

On Jan. 23, the number of confirmed cases had doubled from the previous day to 570, and 17 people had died. Wuhan and three other cities in Hubei province were immediately locked down. 

Soon the lockdown was expanded so that 100 million people sheltered at home. Food deliveries, medical treatment, thousands of hours of research, millions of coronavirus tests, “pop-up” test sites throughout China, drones spraying disinfectant in Wuhan and making public announcements, hospitals being constructed at blazing speed — all of this commenced under the leadership of the CCP.

Anti-China slander ramps up

As criticism of Trump has mounted, the anti-China narrative has been employed more often and has been augmented even by liberal and progressive media. 

A Feb. 10 Vox article cites an epidemiologist using newer statistics to contradict the information that was supplied by China before those statistics were available. His deceitful argument is easy to see through. No statistics on an epidemic are accurate until there has been time to compile and study. Cases may have existed earlier, but China reported what it knew and was honest about what it didn’t know on Dec. 31.  

On Dec. 30, Dr Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, had become aware of a number of pneumonia cases and communicated it to physicians at another hospital in Wuhan. He assessed it to be a coronavirus. He was then summoned by Wuhan authorities and reprimanded. 

The central government of China had good reason to want information to be centralized. Many party officials and scientists were working day and night to learn more about the illness and how to prevent its spread. Still, the central government felt that the action of the police in Wuhan was inappropriate, and to their credit, apologized. They are investigating how the protocol was misapplied.

But the Trump administration has seized on this incident and has used it as another battering ram against China. Howls of condemnation from media outlets have bolstered the China-bashing, Cold War attacks.

Even as the possibility of the U.S. becoming the global epicenter looms, the White House is hinting at reversing course and directing the country to go back to work by mid-April. That bit of news is currently being cheered by Wall Street as investors try to climb back from some of the worst days in the Dow Jones’ history.

The contrast between a socialist system whose goal is humanity and a decrepit, violent capitalist system based on the greed of billionaires is evident. The billionaires and their lackeys are right to be worried.

Once again, in a powerful act of solidarity, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is organizing to protect its members and to support the surrounding community in the coronavirus pandemic. The union has issued a list of demands striking out against unsanitary, life-threatening conditions. The union members can withhold labor in the shipping ports that control commerce to back up their demands.

The ILWU held a press conference along with local leaders from the Bay Area’s Filipino community during the third week in March to demand that contaminated waste from the Grand Princess cruise ship, quarantined in San Francisco Bay, be safely disposed of. Also, they demanded adequate medical treatment for all workers still aboard the vessel and a safe repatriation of the staff.

Port companies had planned to expose both dockworkers and community members to the coronavirus by trucking the waste through the East Bay community. The ILWU demanded that the contaminated waste from the ship be disposed of safely through water-side offloading and barge removal. After the press conference, the port bosses backed down and agreed to union and community members’ demands.

While the dockworkers on the West Coast continue to fight for sanitation standards, the ILWU is using its power to support the thousands of workers they represent in industries “on the other side of the gate,” referring to workers outside of the port terminals. From the nearly 400 workers laid off at Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore., to the workers at Anchorsteam Brewing in San Francisco, to education, veterinarian and warehouse workers, the ILWU is working to ensure that inland workers have safe working conditions and enough cash to survive.

It is courageous for the ILWU to make these demands while it is under intense union-busting pressure from legal proceedings. In Portland, a judge awarded the terminal operator ICTS a $96-million settlement against the ILWU for a slowdown action which began in 2012. Although the original award to ICTS was later reduced by $19 million, it is still more than twice the ILWU’s total assets, threatening the dockworkers’ union with bankruptcy.

A union spokesperson says: “The ILWU has been hit with this massive fine that will have a chilling effect not only for the longshoremen’s union, but for workers far beyond the waterfront if we don’t act. Now is the time to organize in the face of this terrifying disease. 

“And as the saying goes, an injury to one is an injury to all. That’s never been more true than right now.”

The Peoples Power Assembly strongly condemns the racism emanating from the highest levels of the U.S. government, which seeks to demonize and blame China during a world pandemic. 

Targeting of Chinese and other Asian people constitutes a hate crime; it has led to horrific attacks on Asian people, both physical and verbal.  

The virus is not the “China or Wuhan virus” any more than it is the “Italian virus” or anywhere else in the world that has been impacted. It is both shameful and cruel during a world crisis to use racism to divert workers and poor people from building badly needed solidarity.

One should remember that the “Spanish Flu” epidemic a century ago never originated in Spain but rather in the United States; it was first publicly recognized by Spain.

Racist neglect

We also condemn the racism inherent in the disregard of those who are most vulnerable, who are mostly Black and Brown people, including prisoners, who already are disproportionately impacted by an unjust incarceration system referred to as “mass incarceration”; and immigrants who are locked up in horrific detention camps, rightly referred to as concentration camps by many Jewish groups.

We continue to call for the release of prisoners, especially older prisoners, those who have not been tried and are languishing because of lack of bail, and all prisoners convicted of nonviolent crimes. Iran, a country demonized by the Trump regime as repressive, released all of its prisoners. We continue to call to shut down all detention centers and end deportations.

Solidarity needed 

The antidote to racism is solidarity both at home and abroad. It is clear that, with most of the world’s people impacted, we live in an interconnected global world that calls for new solutions and global cooperation.  

The U.S. sanctions and blockades have created hardship and suffering of people all around the globe, from Iran to Venezuela, from Cuba to Zimbabwe, and many other countries, especially during this pandemic. The occupation of Palestine and continuing war in the Middle East intensify death and destruction.

End sanctions

Sanctions and blockades work in two ways — not only creating terrible hardships in the targeted countries, including death — but also preventing workers and poor here in the United States from benefiting from the successes of blockaded countries like Cuba. The immune-boosting antiviral drug Interferon alpha-2b developed by Cuba was used in China and now Italy to help save coronavirus patients. Nothing has been done by the U.S. government to work with Cuba to bring this medicine to patients in U.S. hospitals. 

The trillions spent on the Pentagon war machine could pay for health care for every single person in this country. It’s time to end all sanctions. 

If you witness or are a victim of racism, please call or text us at (410) 218-4835.

The representatives of the governments of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria and Venezuela to the United Nations have addressed a letter to U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, in which they demand an end to the acts of economic warfare illegally waged against all of them by the U.S. government and its European Union allies:

H.E. Mr. António Guterres
Secretary-General
United Nations
New York

Distinguished Secretary-General,

On instructions from and on behalf of our respective Ministers for Foreign Affairs, and in response to their most recent appeals, we address Your Excellency on the occasion of a matter of the utmost importance and great urgency, namely, the global health crisis arising from Covid-19, recently declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Over the past few months, we have all been following very closely the developments related to

Covid-19, including its rapid spread and the large number of human victims it has caused so far, as well as the impact it is having on the affected countries, particularly on the most vulnerable sectors of society. This is undoubtedly the greatest public health emergency of our time, which, while taking place at a time when multilateralism is under attack, offers a unique opportunity for multilateralism to succeed and be strengthened at this time of global crisis and uncertainty.

As you recently stated, “more than ever, we need solidarity, hope and political will to overcome this crisis together,” as truly united nations. But to do so effectively, we must join forces and act collectively, in a coordinated and decisive manner, as responsible members of the international community. It is our common responsibility not only to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, as we pledged to do when we signed the founding Charter of the United Nations, but also to ensure the timely adoption of policies and strategies to save our own and the current generation, while giving them hope and guarantees for their well-being, stability and prosperity.

At home, all of our national governments have acted responsibly, including by taking the necessary precautionary measures to contain the spread of and combat Covid-19. We have also made progress in designing contingency plans to ensure, among other things, the functioning of basic services and emergency response systems at the current juncture. Similarly, as you know, we have been working with the United Nations to strengthen our cooperation programmes, as well as with other partners to learn from their experiences and share best practices. Despite all this, we recognize that much remains to be done to succeed in this battle.

Your Excellency, today we have a common enemy: Covid-19. And, as you have recognized, it is time to “prepare, step up and step out.” Our national governments have the political and moral will to move in that direction; our dedicated and professional physicians and health care providers are fully capable of serving in this time of need; and our people are ready to do their part, as we are all aware that this historical moment demands the highest level of solidarity, cooperation and mutual collaboration. However, we have to recognize that this is a difficult, if not impossible, act for countries currently facing the application of unilateral coercive measures, which are illegal and in flagrant violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

The destructive impact of such measures at the national level, plus their extraterritorial implications, together with the phenomena of overcompliance and the fear of “secondary sanctions,” hinder the ability of national governments to, inter alia, have regular access to the international financial system or free trade; they therefore undermine the efforts being made by national governments to attack Covid-19, especially with regard to the acquisition, effective and timely delivery of medical equipment and supplies, including testing equipment and drugs, which are vital for the care and treatment of patients, as recently acknowledged by the Director-General of WHO. In addition, sanctions also have a direct negative impact on, inter alia, the human rights to life, health and food of the peoples subjected to them. Ultimately, these measures also affect the essential cooperation and solidarity that must prevail among nations.

Today, in the midst of the global pandemic resulting from Covid-19, that negative impact on the well-being of our peoples and countries is becoming even more severe and multiplying. Hence, the urgent need for the international community, including the United Nations, to reaffirm its commitment to the concept of “We, the peoples of the United Nations.” Let us recall that, according to the conclusions of United Nations independent experts, the enactment and implementation of unilateral coercive measures affect more than one third of humanity.

In the light of the above, we respectfully urge you to call for the complete and immediate lifting of such illegal, coercive and arbitrary economic pressure measures — in line with the long-standing and principled position of the United Nations to reject unilateral coercive measures — in order to ensure the full, effective and efficient response of all members of the international community to Covid-19, and also to reject the politicization of that pandemic. 

The joint appeal that we are making today, and from which we expect a positive response from you, is, as you know, supported by the provisions of a significant number of relevant United Nations General Assembly resolutions; it therefore provides a solid basis for any action on your part.

As you well know, we live in an interconnected world; therefore, in the context of a global pandemic, “hampering medical efforts in one country increases the risk to all of us,” so — as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recently acknowledged — we must avoid the collapse of the medical and health system of any country as a result of the application of illegal sanctions.

Therefore, we cannot allow political calculations to stand in the way of saving human lives. This is a time, as you have stated — again and again — not for chaos, but for global solidarity, cooperation and prudence; for joining efforts at the national, regional and international levels, without any kind of discrimination, if we really want to overcome this complex human crisis and its economic repercussions; and also for recommitting ourselves to the Agenda for Sustainable Development of 2030 and our promise not to leave anyone behind.

Similarly, we will also underline the need, at the present juncture, to strengthen national economies in ways that provide national governments, as well as the public and private sectors, with the capacity to support and finance the plans and strategies needed to ensure that the spread of Covid-19 is contained. In this regard, we agree that, as you have recently stated, more than ever, “Governments must cooperate to revitalize economies, expand public investment, boost trade and ensure targeted support to those individuals and communities most affected by the disease or most vulnerable to negative economic impacts” and that urgent action is needed to “alleviate the debt burden of the most vulnerable countries … and ensure adequate financial services to support countries in difficulty.”

This is of utmost importance, especially for countries that, in addition to having to deal with the Covid-19, also have to deal with other exceptional circumstances, such as the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures.

Furthermore, we take this opportunity to convey to Your Excellency our appreciation for the work currently being done by the United Nations system and for the very valuable support being provided to our nations, in particular by the WHO, in responding to this global crisis, which we are confident we will overcome together and come out stronger.

Finally, we respectfully request your good offices to circulate the present letter as an official document of the General Assembly, under agenda items 83 and 126, entitled “The rule of law at the national and international levels” and “Global health and foreign policy,” respectively, and of the Security Council.

We are confident that you will give due attention to the serious concerns conveyed herein and take this opportunity to assure Your Excellency of our highest esteem and consideration.

Signatories:

H.E. Mr. Zhang Jun

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations

H.E. Mrs. Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal

Ambassador, Charge d’affaires, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cuba to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Kim Song

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Majid Takht Ravanchi

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Jaime Hermida Castillo

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Nicaragua to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Vassily A. Nebenzia

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Bashar Ja’afari

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Samuel Moncada

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations

Translation by Frente Antiimperialista Internacionalista

Hamburg, Germany — At around 6 a.m. on March 26, the Lampedusa tent at the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (central station) was destroyed and possessions confiscated by a large contingent of police officers. One activist was arrested. 

For seven years, the tent, functioning as a “permanent demonstration,” was a place of meeting, mobilizing, information and protection against weather for all those without shelter; it was a place of resistance, a place which said, “We are here to stay!” The tent served as a staging point in the fight against the internment and deportation politics of the Social-Democrat-Green-Party-controlled Hamburg Senate. 

After having negotiated with the Assembly Authority (under whose jurisdiction the tent stood) the weekend prior, the tent was torn down without warning or explanation, despite not having violated the current regulations enforced in Hamburg to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which prohibit the assembly of more than two people at once in public spaces. 

The tent’s namesake is the Italian island Lampedusa, to which the activists fled the bombs and mercenaries of the NATO-backed war against Libya. Italy declined to grant the refugees asylum, opting instead to issue them European Union travel visas. They travelled to Hamburg, where the Red-Green Senate could have easily granted them group asylum as refugees of war. 

Rather than let themselves be isolated, the group founded and organised as “Lampedusa in Hamburg” and resisted all attempts at deportation or removal made by the German state. The tent stood as the center point and symbol of this resistance.

An activist recounted the raid in a video: “There were like [a] hundred policemen. They came and provoked us. They tried to escalate the situation. They destroyed the tent. I asked the policeman why. He just said, ‘The tent has to go.’ They arrested one of our members.

“This was our struggle for seven good years. Today, they came and removed the tent, what we call home, without any explanation. We have nowhere to go. They are telling us that we migrants, African migrants, are not welcome in Hamburg, not welcome in Germany. We have nowhere to go. We are sleeping outside, here.

“African migrants are not welcome in Europe. But, meanwhile, we have Germans in Africa, misusing our resources. There are thousands of people out there who have nowhere to sleep. And today, they came to destroy our home. What we spent seven years to build, they destroyed in under one hour.”

And further, via a short interview on-site:

Q:  Did the state offer you any accommodation or health care?

A: They don‘t care. There is not any offer. We talked to them. They should give all the homeless a place to stay. There are so many empty houses, so many hotels. Put us there.

Q: So, the tent is gone now. What does it mean? Is the protest over?

A: No, it‘s not over. We are not giving up!

For updates, visit No Pasarán Hamburg.

N A T I O N A L   W E B I N A R  :

Defending People During Coronavirus Crisis

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/142736710469446/

 R E G I S T E R   H E R E 

Join us on a national webinar to hear from organizers on the front lines fighting for healthcare for all, against racism and repression, for workers’ rights and housing, in defense of prisoners and migrants, against sanctions and war. Learn what we can do to support our communities at this challenging time.

Saturday, March 28

6-9 p.m. Eastern  •  5-8 p.m.Central  •  3-6 p.m. Pacific

S P E A K E R S   I N C L U D E :

• Mahtowin Munro, United American Indians of New England
• Frank Chapman, National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression
• Meg Maloney, New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance
• Adam Rice, Los Angeles Community Action Network
• Ron Gochez, Unión del Barrio
• Baltimore Amazon warehouse worker
• Fernando Figueroa, UPS worker and Teamster
• Pam Africa, MOVE Organization
• Rev. Annie Chambers, Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly
• Omowale Clay, December 12th Movement
• Berta Joubert-Ceci, Puerto Rico Tribunal and Struggle-La Lucha newspaper
• Irvin McQueen, Pan-African Community Action, Washington, D.C.
• Terri Kay, Peoples Alliance, Bay Area
• Lucy Pagoada, Departamento 19 – Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular
• Nana Gyamfi, Black Alliance for Just Immigration
• and more!

Let’s build a fight-back network that can face the challenges confronting working people and oppressed communities today and in the weeks and months to come!

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/v5Yuce2prDwiwmrTEqlpB_atebmiMzesUQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Hosted by Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly
and Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice – Los Angeles

Never forget Vincent Chin

“It’s not fair.” Those were the last words of Vincent Chin outside a McDonald’s in Highland Park, Mich., a suburb of Detroit. The 27-year-old was beaten to death by two white racists on June 19, 1982, because he was Asian American.

Chrysler supervisor Ronald Ebens hit Chin with a baseball bat while Ebens’ stepson, Michael Nitz, held Chin down. Vincent Chin’s skull was fractured and he died four days later on June 23, 1982. 

The United States was in a deep recession that year and the official unemployment rate reached 10.8 percent. It was worse in Michigan, with the jobless rate there climbing to 16.5 percent by the end of 1982.

Banksters and billionaires like the Ford family had already shut down hundreds of factories, warehouses and offices. They wanted people to blame Japan for deindustrialization. Their media and politicians repeated this big lie.

The result was that laid-off Chrysler straw boss Ebens yelled at Vincent Chin, “It’s because of you little m———-s that we’re out of work!” and killed him. That Vincent Chin was Chinese American made no difference.

Ebens and Nitz were clearly guilty of premeditated murder but were only convicted of manslaughter. These killers who robbed Lily Chin of her only son were sentenced to a mere three years probation and a $3,000 fine by Judge Charles Kaufman.

Thirty-eight years later, Trump wants us to blame the People’s Republic of China for the coronavirus. The racist pig in the White House calls this deadly disease “the Chinese virus.”

That’s not fair. Viruses don’t have a nationality. There’s been over 150 attacks on Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans since the pandemic started. 

Every one of those attacked could have been another Vincent Chin. Trump’s rhetoric helps fuel this racist violence.

Hate epidemic 

Blaming peoples and countries for disease is genocidal. Nazis claimed that Jewish immigrants from Poland were spreading tuberculosis in Germany.

Radio fascist Michael Savage claimed immigrants, particularly those from Mexico and Central America, were spreading tropical diseases in the U.S. That was the subject of his first hate show on March 24, 1994, broadcast from San Francisco. 

The same year, California’s Proposition 187 was on the ballot. It would have kicked immigrants out of hospitals and public schools. Savage was put on the radio to promote this segregationist referendum.

Savage is now blaming the People’s Republic of China for the coronavirus and Chinese Americans in San Francisco for spreading it.

That doesn’t stop Vice President Mike Pence from calling into Savage’s radio program. Donald Trump has welcomed the hate monger aboard Air Force One.  

It’s easy to dismiss Savage, who once touted coffee-filled enemas as a cure to kick cocaine addiction. But almost the entire capitalist media attack the People’s Republic of China for its handling of the coronavirus.

That’s not fair, either. China reported cases of pneumonia that had occurred in Wuhan to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31, 2019.

The next day, health officials closed the Wuhan seafood market that was linked to some of those who were ill. By Jan. 7, Chinese scientists had identified the new coronavirus.

The Trump administration and the $4 trillion medical-industrial complex squandered the advance notice given the United States by China. Trump and the airheads on Fox News belittled the new coronavirus. Radio bigot Rush Limbaugh dismissed it as the common cold.

It wasn’t China that shut down 135 hospitals across the U.S. since 2015. Capitalist greed and budget cuts got rid of the thousands of hospital beds that we now need.

China didn’t create dangerous shortages of masks and other protective equipment for medical workers. New York Gov. Cuomo is now begging for thousands of lifesaving ventilators.   

Elderly patients may be forced to die because there’s not enough of them. Chinese factories are working around the clock making ventilators for the U.S. and Italy. 

It’s because the People’s Republic of China is a socialist country that it was able to organize society to beat back the coronavirus. Tens of thousands of health care workers, including doctors, volunteered to go to Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province. 

Last year, the capitalist police in the U.S. killed at least 1,004 people. The unarmed socialist police in Wuhan would deliver food to people who were quarantined.

China gave the world, including the U.S., a vital breathing space to push back the pandemic.

Blaming the People’s Republic of China for the coronavirus is war propaganda. Don’t believe it. It’s not fair.

The recent accusations of drug trafficking against President Nicolás Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials are utterly false. 

Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr reportedly plan to add Venezuela to the list of “state sponsors of international terrorism.” Many media reported March 26 that the United States also plans on filing drug trafficking charges against President Maduro and issuing a $15 million bounty for his arrest.

These are nothing but lies and fabrications. There is no evidence that Venezuela supports international terrorism or is involved with drug trafficking.

On the contrary, it is the U.S. that has carried out terrorist attacks against Venezuela by supporting coup attempts, attacking their electrical power grid, and through the inhumane sanctions that have prevented the people of Venezuela from getting lifesaving medications for Covid-19, diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses. 

Sanctions are a form of economic warfare and economic terrorism against a country that has never been a threat to the U.S. nor has ever done anything to harm people here.

All progressive groups and people in the U.S. should stand with Venezuela against the threat of imperialist war and all sanctions aimed against that country.

U.S. imperialism, hands off Venezuela!

Wall Street ha estado en una montaña rusa sin precedentes, con grandes oscilaciones en ambas direcciones todos los días durante más de una semana, una volatilidad no vista desde noviembre de 1929. El mercado bursátil tuvo la mayor caída en un día el 16 de marzo de 2020 —casi un 13 por ciento—algo histórico.

La caída no solo afecta a los grandes inversionistas– bancos grandes, corporaciones y fondos de cobertura—sino también a los planes de retiro 401(k) y ahorros ligados al mercado.

Los negocios ya empezaron a despedir trabajadores y reducir horas. “Alrededor del 18 por ciento de los adultos informaron que habían sido despedidos o que sus horas de trabajo se habían reducido”, informó el Los Angeles Times del 17 de marzo.

Los precios del petróleo cayeron a casi $20 por barril el 18 de marzo, por debajo de los $60 hace solo tres meses.

Están culpando a la pandemia del Covid-19. Miles de personas han perdido la vida y cientos de miles han sido infectadas.

Pero la pandemia es un evento que ha revelado la crisis del sistema capitalista—no causó la crisis. Desde el punto de vista económico, el virus lo que hizo fue exponer la subyacente inestabilidad de la economía.

Los paquetes de estímulo que ofrecen casi a diario el presidente Donald Trump y el Congreso, así como el Banco de la Reserva Federal, están destinados a mantener a flote la economía. Pero los efectos de estas medidas serán limitados sin una respuesta de salud pública que pueda contener el virus.

Gran parte de los sectores de servicio—restaurantes, bares, teatros—como también hoteles y aerolíneas—se ven gravemente afectados ya que las personas se mantienen alejadas de los lugares de reunión pública y dejan de viajar. La vida normal se está deteniendo al cerrar escuelas y lugares de culto, con la cancelación de conciertos y conferencias y la suspensión de las temporadas de las ligas deportivas.

La llamada fuerza de trabajo informal, trabajadores de servicios y la fuerza laboral por encargo [gig en inglés] se han visto especialmente afectados, sin tiempo libre remunerado, sin cobertura de atención médica, y sin garantías de trabajo, comida o vivienda.

La devastación económica de esta pandemia continuará hasta que el coronavirus sea contenido. Pero la contención ha sido lenta y casi inexistente en los EUA después de décadas de recortes a los sistemas de salud. En mayo de 2018, el entonces asesor de seguridad nacional, John Bolton, despidió a todo el Equipo de Respuesta a Pandemias de EUA. Al mismo tiempo, el presidente Trump recortó los fondos para los esfuerzos de prevención de brotes de enfermedades globales del Centro para el Control de Enfermedades.

De hecho, la crisis del coronavirus en Europa y EUA ahora es peor que en el peor momento en China. De hecho, el fracaso de los países capitalistas para contener el virus ha producido un desastre. En proporción a la población, la velocidad de propagación del virus en Europa es ahora más rápida que en cualquier momento en China. El número de casos nuevos diarios en Alemania fue tres veces mayor que el pico en China, en Francia cinco veces más, en España 12 veces más y en Italia 21 veces más alto.

El número real en los EUA es desconocido ya que las pruebas aún no están disponibles o están limitadas. Sin embargo, las pruebas son la única forma de poder comenzar las medidas necesarias para controlar la propagación del virus.

Según los informes, Trump tenía las pruebas lo más limitadas posible “porque más pruebas podrían haber llevado a descubrir más casos de brote de coronavirus, y el presidente lo había dejado claro: cuanto más bajos sean los números de coronavirus, mejor para el presidente, mejor para su potencial reelección este otoño”. 

En China no hay crisis económica

En términos de la situación global, la caída consistente en el número de nuevos casos de coronavirus en China confirma que el brote de coronavirus allí, aunque no ha terminado, ha sido controlado. Así que la producción y las cadenas de suministro tanto en China como desde China hacia la economía mundial comenzarán a mejorar.

El virus golpeó a China fuertemente por primera vez en Diciembre. China respondió con una movilización social del pueblo como en una guerra, para combatir el virus. Ahora el Covid-19 se ha contenido en gran parte en la propia China, gracias a la movilización que fue posible por su base socialista.

Es instructivo mirar una línea de tiempo de la respuesta de China (elaborada por el periodista Godfree Roberts):

Noviembre 2002: Después de su experiencia con el brote de SARS en la provincia de Guangdong en noviembre del 2002, China implementó un protocolo de respuesta rápida para enfermedades infecciosas. El protocolo autorizó al Ministerio de Salud a reunir ayuda profesional y gerencial de todo el país; estableció un equipo coordinador de respuesta de emergencia; preparó fondos y autorizaciones para obtener suministros, equipos e instalaciones de atención médica de emergencia, anticipando que los hospitales existentes se verían abrumados.

Julio a diciembre 2019: Investigadores chinos informaron al Ministerio de Salud de China sobre un brote de un nuevo coronavirus, lo que provocó una alerta de preparación en todo el país. La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) describe lo que sucedió a continuación: “Ante un virus previamente desconocido, China ha lanzado quizás el esfuerzo de contención de enfermedades más ambicioso, ágil y agresivo de la historia….El audaz enfoque de China para contener la rápida propagación de este nuevo patógeno respiratorio ha cambiado el curso de una epidemia mortal y en rápido aumento”.

26 de diciembre 2019: Jixian Zhang detecta cuatro infecciones de neumonía anómala en Wuhan y las informa al CDC provincial al día siguiente. Las autoridades provinciales informan inmediatamente al CDC nacional, que se prepara para implementar los protocolos de respuesta ante una pandemia.

30 de diciembre 2019: El CDC nacional de China notifica a la OMS, que informa el descubrimiento de Zhang al mundo.

31 de diciembre 2019: La OMS anuncia al mundo el descubrimiento de Zhang.

7 de enero 2020: China identifica el virus cómo 2019-nCov y lo confirma cinco días después. El presidente Xi le dice a los funcionarios que el país está “en pie de guerra”.

13 de enero 2020: China pone a disposición los primeros kits de prueba 2019-nCov.

25 de enero 2020: Comienza la construcción de un hospital de cuidados intensivos de 1,000 camas en Wuhan.

26 de enero 2020: China extiende las vacaciones de Año Nuevo para contener el brote.

5 de febrero 2020: Se mudan los primeros pacientes a un nuevo hospital de cuidado intensivo de 1,000 camas.

4 de marzo 2020: Se reanudan las cargas ferroviarias de febrero, con un aumento del 4,5 por ciento.

5 de marzo 2020: Se actualizan envíos a clientes extranjeros; el gobierno subsidia las actualizaciones de la entrega marítima a la ferroviaria y de la entrega ferroviaria a la aérea.

10 de marzo 2020: El gobierno organiza y subsidia el transporte en autobús, ferrocarril y avión para que 200 millones de trabajadores migrantes regresen a trabajos urbanos.

16 de marzo 2020: El noventa por ciento de las empresas espera reanudar todas sus operaciones. Todas las tiendas de Apple se abren.

Sin despidos. Sin desalojos. Sí, la economía se desaceleró, como ocurre cuando se cierra la producción, pero no hubo crisis que implicara la pérdida de empleos, de hogares ni de alimentos.

Sin embargo, en los Estados Unidos, ya 1 de cada 5 personas ha sido despedida. Muchos, muchos trabajadores, quizás millones, pueden perder sus empleos, todo supuestamente debido al coronavirus. Pero si eso no sucedió en China, entonces tenemos que mirar otros factores que están haciendo caer la economía.

Crisis capitalista de sobreproducción

En el período anterior al colapso actual de Wall Street, la economía de EUA se estaba estancando, el crecimiento económico se detuvo virtualmente y se destacó la aparición de una sobreproducción global de productos vitales. Particularmente, los informes desde 2018 de una sobreoferta de petróleo, con los precios del barril cayendo a la baja.

Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, EUA era el centro mundial de producción industrial y la principal economía basada en eso. Hoy, la producción industrial se ha trasladado a China, India, Bangladesh y Vietnam. El capitalismo imperialista continúa extrayendo ganancias de la clase obrera industrial en rápida expansión de los países asiáticos, la mayor parte de la cual va a los bolsillos de los capitalistas de los Estados Unidos.

Mientras tanto, Estados Unidos se ha convertido en una economía basada en servicios e “informática”, es decir, programas y operaciones de computadoras. La economía de EUA ha sufrido una desindustrialización constante en las últimas décadas.

La respuesta ha sido un intento de convertir a Estados Unidos en el principal productor mundial de energía basada en el carbono a través del desarrollo de las vastas reservas de combustibles fósiles de América del Norte. De hecho, el antiguo monopolio industrial de los EUA sería reemplazado por un nuevo monopolio energético basado en el combustible a base de carbono extraído a través del fracking de esquisto bituminoso.

Estados Unidos y su satélite Canadá se han convertido en los principales proveedores de combustibles fósiles (petróleo, carbón y gas natural) en el mundo. Esa ha sido la base del crecimiento económico desde la Gran Recesión del 2008.

Un artículo titulado “EUA está superando a Rusia como el mayor productor de petróleo y gas” en la edición del Wall Street Journal del 3 de octubre de 2013, informó que:” La producción de energía en Estados Unidos ha aumentado en los últimos años, un auge impulsado por las formaciones de petróleo y gas natural de esquisto bituminoso que era inimaginable hace una década. Un análisis de datos globales del Wall Street Journal muestra que Estados Unidos está en camino de pasar a Rusia como el mayor productor mundial de petróleo y gas combinado este año, si es que aún no lo ha hecho”.

Estados Unidos produjo el 18 por ciento del petróleo mundial el año pasado, en comparación con el 12 por ciento de Arabia Saudita, el 11 por ciento de Rusia y el 5 por ciento de Canadá.

En lo que respecta al gas natural, Estados Unidos y Rusia son los productores dominantes, y el flujo de gas natural de Rusia a Europa pasa por Ucrania. Un corte en Ucrania obligaría a Europa a depender del petróleo o el gas natural producido en Estados Unidos transportado en forma líquida por barco. ¿Hay alguna duda de por qué Trump y Biden están luchando en Ucrania?

A medida que EUA y Canadá desarrollaron su rentable industria de combustibles fósiles, ya sea gas natural o petróleo de esquisto bituminoso, la economía estadounidense se ha vuelto cada vez más dependiente de la venta de productos energéticos basados en el carbono. ¿No es esa la razón por la que el presidente de los EUA niega el cambio climático o que fuerzas casi militares hayan sido desplegadas contra los opositores a las tuberías a través de tierras nativas en los EUA y Canadá?

La producción de petróleo y gas estadounidense se realiza mediante el costoso y ambientalmente horrendo método de extracción conocido como fracking. El precio del petróleo debe mantenerse bastante alto para que el fracking sea rentable.

Ahora el petróleo se ha visto afectado por una crisis de sobreproducción y la industria petrolera está a punto de colapsar.

La crisis de sobreproducción ha afectado a la industria petrolera desde al menos 2018 y no está relacionada con la caída en la demanda durante la epidemia del coronavirus. Los precios del petróleo han estado cayendo constantemente desde un máximo de aproximadamente $75 por barril en 2018. Hace tres meses, era de $60 por barril. Hoy, está cerca de $20 por barril. Esto está muy por debajo de lo que cuesta producir petróleo a partir del fracking. El petróleo de esquisto bituminoso no puede generar ganancias cuando los precios caen tan bajo.

Esto es sobreproducción capitalista. Se está produciendo más de lo que se puede vender para obtener ganancias.

La continua caída del mercado de valores refleja la inestabilidad general en el modo de producción capitalista con fines de lucro. La economía ya se estaba desacelerando, contrayéndose en una crisis capitalista cíclica. Los capitalistas lo llaman una crisis de ganancias ya que las mercancías producidas no pueden venderse con ganancias. Esa es la crisis que desencadena un importante descenso económico, una recesión total o incluso una depresión.

Millions of people are suffering under the Covid-19 epidemic — not only those who’ve fallen ill, but also those whose jobs and livelihoods are at risk. President Donald Trump has used the crisis as cover to try to push through right-wing policy victories, including attacks on unions, closing the southwestern border, and lowering the quality of food supplied to schoolchildren, as reported by the New York Times. 

But Trump also zeroed in on Social Security with a proposed payroll tax reduction that would have stayed in place at least through Election Day, and possibly through the end of the year. When his idea was dropped, the Democrats, like the other half of a wrestling tag team, hid a tax credit for employers to use specifically against their Social Security tax in their Covid-19 emergency bill. 

Both plans shortchange the Social Security Trust Fund, which is the sole source of retirement income for tens of millions of workers.

The Democratic Party leadership claimed to be opposed to Trump’s payroll tax cut. But that was pure sophistry — saying the right thing for the wrong reason. 

Everything they said about Trump’s plan is true. Even if the goal really was to put money in workers’ pockets and stimulate spending during the crisis, as Trump claimed, the power of a payroll tax cut is puny. It leaves out millions of workers. 

Disproportionate numbers of oppressed workers, communities of color, immigrants, LGBTQ2S people, women and youth are trapped in low-paying jobs, if they are lucky enough to have work. The lowest paid workers would benefit the least from a payroll tax cut. For most, the “relief” would amount to a few measly dollars per paycheck. 

The Democratic leadership mouthed the right words, but they hid another attack on Social Security in their Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R.-6201), which got through both houses of Congress with Trump’s approval.

‘A Trojan horse’

Dr. Hillel Cohen, professor of epidemiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y., was interviewed on WBAI Pacifica Radio on March 16 about the woeful U.S. response to Covid-19. He talked about H.R.-6201 as well: 

“The good side of it is that it makes it mainstream that there should be paid sick time and paid family leave,” Cohen said. “But it’s mind boggling that the biggest, richest corporations [those with 500 or more workers] are exempt. … Small businesses that have less than 50 workers are not exempt, but can apply for exemptions because of hardship, and they all will. 

“And it has within it a Trojan horse. One of the ways they are going to pay for it is to give credits for the payroll taxes [to] the businesses being mandated to provide paid sick leave and family leave. … We can expect that, down the road, they will then say that Social Security is underfunded and they will use that as an excuse to cut.”

Social Security, along with the other “entitlement” programs, is separate from the federal budget, which gets negotiated annually. It has no impact on the federal budget or the deficit. The money it takes in and spends is dedicated only to the payment of retirement benefits and the administration of the program. 

By law, the Social Security Trust Fund is not supposed to be borrowed from or added to by any source other than the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) deductions from workers’ paychecks and bosses’ matching portion. That firewall is there to guarantee that Social Security would never be subject to budget negotiations. 

Those intent on destroying Social Security hope that breaching the separation will help pave the way to budget cuts, underfunding the program and then destroying it altogether. 

Under H.R.-6201, it isn’t clear if there is a plan to reimburse Social Security later. Trump’s plan would have. 

The one other time that payroll taxes were cut as a stimulus was during the Obama administration, after the financial crisis of 2008-2009. In that case, funds were shifted from the Treasury back into the Social Security fund. But it opened the door to those who have long hoped to do away with all the entitlement programs, and moaned when the reimbursement was made that Social Security was bankrupting the government.

The tax cut and subsequent reimbursement shows that this is a purposeful act. If the plan wasn’t intended to weaken Social Security, they would simply take the money directly from the U.S. Treasury instead of touching our retirement fund.

Finding ways to chip away at Social Security is not a new idea for Trump or for a growing number of other elected officials from both capitalist parties. Trump expressed interest in doing the same thing in August 2019 when he was concerned about a coming recession endangering his re-election chances in November. 

He is no lone crusader. The list of those who wish for Social Security’s demise is a long one, stretching back in time for decades, and includes prominent Democrats like Joe Biden.

The people can’t rely on the twin parties of the billionaire class to protect Social Security. It was not a gift from them to us. It came into being in 1939 after millions of workers held strikes, fought the police and National Guard, seized factories, were jailed and sometimes killed. 

Its survival will depend on a broad, united, militant and determined movement.