Covid Capitalism And Class War

"COVID, Capitalism, and Class War is the definitive scientific, social, and political account of the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on investigative reports, economic data, and extensive interviews with scientists, doctors, healthcare professionals, and workers. A unique element are the rich accounts by workers around the world - from factories, meatpacking plants, transport and logistic centers, hospitals, and schools - of the devastating toll the uncontrolled spread of the disease has taken on themselves, their families, and their communities. A trigger event in world history, the pandemic has intensified the crisis of world capitalism and set in motion social struggles and the outbreak of war. Class relations and geopolitical tensions have been irreversibly changed. Since its onset in early 2020, the ruling elites have viewed the pandemic not as an issue of public health, but as an impediment to generating profit. COVID, Capitalism, and Class War demonstrates the common response of the ruling elites in virtually every country - the subordination of human lives to profit. A welcome and courageous answer to the barrage of misinformation, the work counters the dangerous pseudo-science of "herd immunity," the disregard of long-established principles of public health, and the anti-scientific Wuhan Lab Theory. Edited by Evan Blake, this book is the result of incisive reporting and analysis by writers and contributors from throughout the world to the World Socialist Web Site. Unparalleled in its comprehensiveness, depth of social insight, and political foresight, this is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the social and political implications of this devastating event. "The analyses of events as they were unfolding were extraordinarily prescient. The great advantage of the editors and writers of the World Socialist Web Site-published by the International Committee of the Fourth International-was that they were guided by a perspective deeply informed by history and a Marxist-Trotskyist understanding of the conflict between private economic interests and the welfare of the public in modern capitalist society. On this foundation, the WSWS identified the pandemic not simply as a medical event or a biological phenomenon, but primarily as a social and political crisis of global dimensions." -from the introduction by Evan Blake"--

"Capitalism, Coronavirus and War investigates the decay of neoliberal financialised capitalism as revealed in the crisis the novel coronavirus triggered, but did not cause, that has been furthered by conflict across the globe. Leading domestically to economic and political breakdown, Covid-19 accelerated the imperial decline in the US-led capitalist world's power, intensifying the tendency to lash out with aggression and militarism, as seen in the US-led West's New Cold War against China and the proxy war against Russia over Ukraine. The geopolitical economy of the decay and crisis of this form of capitalism suggests that the struggle with socialism that has long shaped the fate of capitalism has reached a tipping point. The author argues that mainstream and progressive forces take capitalism's longevity for granted, misunderstand its historical dynamics and deny its formative bond with imperialism. Only a theoretically and historically accurate account of capitalism's dynamics and historical trajectory, which this book provides, can explain its current failures and predicament. It also reveals why, though the pandemic - by revealing capitalism's obscene inequality and shocking debility - prompted the most serious critiques of capitalism to emerge in decades, hopes of 'building back better' were so quickly dashed. This book sheds searching light on the dominant narratives that have normalised the neoliberal financialised capitalism and the dollar creditocracy dominating the world economy, with even critics unable to link capitalism's neoliberal turn to its financialisation, historical decay, productive debility and international decline. It contends that only by appreciating the seriousness of the crisis and rectifying our understanding of capitalism can progressive forces thwart a future of chaos or authoritarianism and begin the long task of building socialism. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and researchers of International Relations, IPE, comparative politics and global political sociology"--

This book considers how the UK government’s response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic disadvantages the working class, and how mutual aid, based on anarchist principles, can be used as a force for social change. The authors draw on Marxist and anarchist thought in class theory and social movement analysis to demonstrate that the virus and its material and discursive consequences are an active part of continuing class struggle and class interpolation. Preston and Firth examine how plans for quarantine and social isolation systematically work against the needs of the working class, and rely on classed assumptions about how markets and altruism operate. In the face of neoliberal methods of dealing with a pandemic, ranging from marketization, disaster capitalism, to a strengthening of the State, Coronavirus, Class and Mutual Aid in the United Kingdom explains how radical alternatives such as social movements and mutual aid can be implemented to better cope with current and future crises.

Addresses the internal relations of global capitalism, global war, global crisis, connecting uneven and combined development, social reproduction, and world-ecology to appeal to scholars and students alike.

What does the COVID 19 tell us about the climate breakdown, and what should we do about it? The economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been unprecedented. Governments have spoken of being at war and find themselves forced to seek new powers in order to maintain social order and prevent the spread of the virus. This is often exercised with the notion that we will return to normal as soon as we can. What if that is not possible? Secondly, if the state can mobilize itself in the face of an invisible foe like this pandemic, it should also be able to confront visible dangers such as climate destruction with equal force. In Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency, leading environmental thinker, Andreas Malm demands that this war-footing state should be applied on a permanent basis to the ongoing climate front line. He offers proposals on how the climate movement should use this present emergency to make that case. There can be no excuse for inaction any longer.

"Thought provoking and fresh - this book challenges how we think about economics.” Gillian Tett, Financial Times For further information about recent publicity events and media coverage for Rethinking Capitalism please visit http://marianamazzucato.com/rethinking-capitalism/ Western capitalism is in crisis. For decades investment has been falling, living standards have stagnated or declined, and inequality has risen dramatically. Economic policy has neither reformed the financial system nor restored stable growth. Climate change meanwhile poses increasing risks to future prosperity. In this book some of the world’s leading economists propose new ways of thinking about capitalism. In clear and compelling prose, each chapter shows how today’s deep economic problems reflect the inadequacies of orthodox economic theory and the failure of policies informed by it. The chapters examine a range of contemporary economic issues, including fiscal and monetary policy, financial markets and business behaviour, inequality and privatisation, and innovation and environmental change. The authors set out alternative economic approaches which better explain how capitalism works, why it often doesn’t, and how it can be made more innovative, inclusive and sustainable. Outlining a series of far-reaching policy reforms, Rethinking Capitalism offers a powerful challenge to mainstream economic debate, and new ideas to transform it.

Following up on his earlier best-seller, The Global Police State, this exciting new study by critically-acclaimed scholar and activist William I. Robinson offers a big-picture contribution to understanding contemporary global society in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. It puts forth an original and cutting-edge exposé of the radical transformation of global capitalism now underway, driven by new digital technologies and turbo-charged by the pandemic. It provides shocking data and analysis on the concentration of power and control in the hands of corporate conglomerates, tech giants, mega-banks, and the military-industrial complex. The book documents the extent of unprecedented global inequalities as the mass of humanity faces violent dispossession and uncertain survival. Enabled by digital applications, the ruling groups, unless they are pushed to change course by mass pressure from below, will turn to ratcheting up the global police state to contain the global revolt. If the book issues a dire warning against the emergence of a dystopic digitalized dictatorship it also finds great hope and inspiration in the burgeoning social movements of the poor and the dispossessed as humanity descends into global civil war. While deeply analytical and theoretically sophisticated, the study is written in such a style that it is eminently accessible to a wider public beyond the academy. While the work will satisfy scholars, it is destined to become a companion text to those struggling on the frontlines for global social justice and a more hopeful future.

Since capitalism began, British workers have always fought for their rights. Today it's no different.