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I am reading "Big Farms make big flu" by Rob Wallace. I Have just gotten 50+ pages into it, but already what is so very clear is this: While we can and must develop demands that protect workers and limit the spread of Covid-19, that is only dealing with the symptoms of the crisis. Wallace explains part of the basis of it: factory farming. (The other half of the basis, as I understand it, is habitat loss and the breakup of habitat into segments. This seems to be the main reason why the viruses in bats, which are hosts to many viruses, have spread to other animals and to humans.) So, millions of sane people look to figures like Anthony Fauci or NY governor Andrew Cuomo as the leaders who will save us. In fact, the difference between them and lunatics like Trump and the Wall St. Journal editors is similar to the difference between Herbert Hoover and FDR. Hoover represented the wing of the capitalist class that just wanted to let 'er rip - let the economy go into free fall and eventually recover, whereas FDR understood that some reforms were necessary. Neither wing was able to prevent the total disaster to both the human species and the planet of WW II. So today, one wing wants to allow Covid 19 to spread unchecked in the lunatic belief that it will burn itself, while it has a low mortality rate. (The percentage of those who get it and die may be low, but the total number would be disastrously high, and made worse by the massive lack of hospital beds and medical equipment.) The other wing understands that some checks are necessary. Ultimately, however, a new virus will emerge or an older one will evolve that will have the same transmission rate as the present coronavirus but something closer to a 50% mortality rate. It seems to me that that is inevitable unless we end factory farming and habitat destruction. In other words, unless capitalism is overthrown. (After I finish reading Wallace's book I will write more on this.) John Reimann -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
