Pandemic

National Security Or Human Security?

April 9, 2020 Leonard Eiger, Popular Resistance. Create! health, National Security, Nuclear Weapons, Pandemic

Crazy times! As we move through this time of health and economic crisis I find myself reflecting on the importance and power of language. Trump recently said of the fight to deal with COVID19 that it is “our big war... It's a medical war. We have to win this war. It's very important.” And yet, this sort of rhetoric is nothing new. Presidents have long declared wars – J Edgar Hoover on crime, Lyndon Johnson on poverty, Richard Nixon on drugs, and now Trump's war on a virus. We know how well how those previous “wars” have gone. And now we face a crisis that is harming people and devastating our economy, while we would have been far better prepared to protect lives had we invested proactively in public health programs.

Millions Of People Face Water Shut-Offs During The Pandemic

April 7, 2020 Jordan Davidson, Nation of Change. Educate! COVID-19, Pandemic, Recession, Water

The Centers for Disease Control has emphasized that washing hands with soap and water is one of the most effective measures we can take in preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, millions of Americans in some of the most vulnerable communities face the prospect of having their water shut off during the lockdowns, according to The Guardian. Nearly 40 percent of Americans live in areas that rely on water utilities, which have not stopped the policy of shutoffs for non-payment, according to data from and Water Watch (FWW) and The Guardian. “This is an emergency and the priority is to stop the spread so this is a no brainer, everyone must have access to water … this should not be a partisan issue,” said congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, who is pushing federal intervention, as The Guardian reported.

The United States Is Where COVID-19 Deaths Are Being Under-reported

April 7, 2020 Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. Educate! China, COVID-19, Deaths, Pandemic, Public Health

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, China responded quickly by reporting the novel disease to the World Health Organization and taking steps to identify and study the virus. Within a matter of weeks, it was clear that the virus was a serious public health matter. China then mobilized its resources and took an aggressive public health approach to contain the spread and care for those who became ill. For this, the US chastised China, calling it "authoritarian" and "draconian," instead of learning from the success of China. So far, China has controlled the virus, keeping the total number of cases below 82,000 and the number of deaths in the low 3,000's. Today, they are easing the quarantine, opening businesses back up and slowly returning to normal activity. The World Health Organization sent a mission to China that commended the government for its actions.

Could COVID-19 Reshape Global Leadership?

April 4, 2020 Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, Information Clearinghouse. Educate! China, COVID-19, Multipolar World, Pandemic

As U.S. COVID-19 cases double every few days and the death toll mounts, the U.S. seems to be caught in a “worst of both worlds” predicament: daily life and much of the U.S. economy are shut down, but no real progress has been achieved in its efforts to contain or eradicate the virus. Meanwhile, the 11 million people of Wuhan in China, where the pandemic began, are starting to return to a more normal life, with the city’s subway system running again and businesses reopening. In the province of Hubei (Wuhan is the capital), 4.6 million people returned to work last week, while another 2.8 million returned from quarantine in Hubei to jobs in other parts of China, a mass migration that seemed unthinkable a month ago.

Coronavirus, Drugs, And The Future Of Festivals

April 3, 2020 Emanuel Sferios, DanceSafe.org. Educate! COVID-19, Drug use, health, Pandemic

As the founder of DanceSafe, I have worked in public health for over twenty years. I’ve seen firsthand how public policy decisions directly affect people’s lives. Take drug prohibition, for example: Last year approximately 70,000 Americans died as a result of prohibition and the unsafe drug supply it creates, a more than threefold increase since the year 2000. Conversely, countries like Portugal, who decriminalized all drugs, have reduced their drug-related fatality rates by half. And Switzerland, who took it a step further by implementing widespread opioid maintenance programs (including heroin maintenance) saw a 64% drop in overdose fatalities. Proper public health policies, enforced by law, can mean the difference between life and death. This is true when it comes to drug use, and it is true for pandemics like COVID-19.

What Planet Are We On?

April 3, 2020 Michael Klare, Tom Dispatch. Strategize! climate crisis, Fossil Fuels, Pandemic, Rights of Nature

In case you hadn’t noticed, the exploding coronavirus pandemic (we’re #1!) has taken a tad of our attention lately and the definition of “the future” has largely become: When will this be over? Not surprisingly, then, much real news about our future planet has largely gone missing in action. Take, for example, a story that's received next to no attention in this country, a report on the massive bleaching of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef this year thanks to record warming waters. Think of it as Australia’s oceanic equivalent of the staggering wildfires that burned through parts of that country in such an unprecedented fashion earlier in 2020. And coral reefs around the world, crucial to the life systems that rely on them (and that we humans rely on), are suffering similarly on a planet being transformed by human activity in ways large and small.

COVID-19: How Germany Is Managing Its Outbreak

April 3, 2020 Klaus W. Larres, Consortium News. Educate! COVID-19, Germany, Pandemic, Unemployment

A recent work visit to Germany, where I grew up, stretched from one week to three. Those weeks coincided with the spread of the coronavirus in Germany as well as across Europe. What I saw while there is that Germany’s population is in a state of shock and still can’t quite grasp how this sudden turnaround of their lives happened. Only some two weeks ago, life seemed to proceed in a fairly normal way despite the looming crisis which appeared to be unreal and far away. I’m back now at my home in the U.S. From my perspective as a scholar of history and international affairs, what is happening in Germany right now is notable both as a lesson in how to prepare for and manage a pandemic as well as a reflection of the poor state of relations between Germany and the U.S.

The National Security State Left Us Defenseless Against Coronavirus

April 2, 2020 Gareth Porter, The Grayzone. Educate! COVID-19, National Security, Pandemic, Privatization

Donald Trump’s failure to act decisively to control the coronavirus pandemic has likely made the Covid-19 pandemic far more lethal than it should have been. But the reasons behind failure to get protective and life-saving equipment like masks and ventilators into the hands of health workers and hospitals run deeper than Trump’s self-centered recklessness. Both the Obama and Trump administrations quietly delegated state and local authorities with the essential national security responsibility for obtaining and distributing these vital items. The failure of leadership was compounded by the lack of any federal power center that embraced the idea that guarding for a pandemic was at least as important to national security as preparing for war.

Like Previous Pandemics, COVID-19 Will Shape the Fates of Nations

March 28, 2020 Richard Heinberg, Postcarbon.org Educate! COVID-19, Nationalism, Pandemic

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been delving back into one of my favorite books, “Plagues and Peoples,” by the celebrated historian William H. McNeill. Its relevance to today’s headlines is fairly obvious. What makes the book so compelling is McNeill’s ecological sensibility: He understands human beings as biological organisms embedded in living systems. For him, conquerors like Genghis Khan are macropredators, disease organisms are micropredators, and human history is the tale of how both have shaped population levels and relative degrees of social power. In his discussion of the role of diseases in the political developments of 18th-century Europe, McNeill makes this remarkable observation...

Healthcare Workers Are At War With The Pandemic And The Economic System

March 28, 2020 Mike Pappas, Leftvoice.org Educate! Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health Care, Pandemic, Workers

A NYC physician gave this speech about the war against the coronavirus and the ongoing war against for-profit health care, Trump and capitalism itself. The coronavirus pandemic is magnifying capitalism’s complete inability to foster overall health and well being. We don’t just need a new healthcare system, but a new economic system altogether. With over 390K confirmed cases and more than 17K deaths at the time of this writing, the coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc across the globe, with Italy surpassing China in deaths and Iran in shambles, a situation made worse by the U.S. government’s absolutely genocidal sanctions. In the U.S., there have been over 46K confirmed cases and 583 deaths. This number of confirmed cases is clearly a gross underestimate as the U.S. was delayed in testing and has only tested a small proportion of the population.

The Cost Of This Pandemic Must Not Bankrupt The People

March 27, 2020 By Vijay Prashad and Manuel Bertoldi, Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Resist! Bankruptcy, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Pandemic

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has spread to almost every country on the planet earth. The virus will take many lives, disrupt communities and institutions, and leave behind trauma and a devastated world economy. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates that by the end of 2020, global income will collapse by between $1 trillion and $2 trillion; the latter figure is a worst-case scenario, with falling oil prices making the problem even more acute for oil-exporting countries. Already over-inflated stock markets are now seeing deep drops. Central banks are using all their monetary resources to shore up the financial markets and to try to bail out as many sectors of the economy as possible.

No Return To Normal: For A Post-Pandemic Liberation

March 25, 2020 By Max Haiven, Roarmag.org Create! Ideology, New Economy, Pandemic

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, unfolding around the world as I write these words, will likely be remembered as an epochal shift. In this extended winter, as borders close, as lockdowns and quarantines multiply, as people succumb and recover, there is a strong sense that...

In Pursuit Of Chinese Scapegoats, Media Reject Life-Saving Lessons

March 25, 2020 Alan Macleod, Fair.org Educate! Coronavirus, COVID-19, health, Media, Pandemic

We are barely a few months into the year, but it is already clear that the coronavirus will be 2020’s defining event in media and politics. For weeks, conservative media echoed the explicit Trump line that the reaction to COVID-19 was a liberal “hoax” weaponized against the White House. Recent Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Rush Limbaugh has been pouring scorn on the media “hysteria”: Extolling how the market was “roaring” (Rush Limbaugh Show, 3/2/20), he claimed it was nothing to worry about. “This virus is the common cold,” he confidently predicted (3/11/20).

Not This Time: Watch Out For Wall Street In A Pandemic

March 25, 2020 Staff, Takeonwallst.com Create! Coronavirus, COVID-19, New Economy, Pandemic, Wall Street

We have entered uncertain times. The novel coronavirus has upended life around the globe, and none of us knows exactly how long the outbreak or its ramifications will last. But daily reminders of how much we can’t control shouldn’t stop us from seizing upon those things we can.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources