Whose Narrative?

      I stated when this pandemic started  that the state would use it to further its control over the population, and to preserve the power structures that ensure wealth and power stay where they are. It would use the situation to try and bolster  an economic system that was crumbling at the seams, and so it has panned out. One of the tools the state always falls back on is "we are all in this together" they will draw references to the "British Spirit" during the blitz, and try to shape you into one homogeneous entity wrapped in the flag of patriotism. What they fail to mention is that during the 2nd WW there were strikes, peace movements, conscientious objectors, and mutinies, among other differing views on the situation. We were not one flag waving nation of "all in this together" mob. 

     In a system where there are such glaring inequalities with some having gross opulence with a risk they might lose some of it, and the majority struggling just to have a half decent life, it is impossible to claim that "we are all in this together". We are not, the two groups, the pampered privileged and the ordinary people have opposing values and opinions on what to protect and how to do it. Why we should allow the pampered privileged group to dictate what we all should preserve and what must be sacrificed, seems bordering on insanity. We the vast majority, must be in control of these decisions, working for the greater good of that majority. Protection of the vulnerable, yes, but protection for the privileged, most certainly no.

The following is an extract from North-Shore Info:

Ask a Different Question: 

Reclaiming autonomy of action during the virus

 

        A big part of the state’s narrative is unity — the idea that we need to come together as a society around a singular good that is for everyone. People like feeling like they’re part of a big group effort and like having the sense of contributing through their own small actions — the same kinds of phenomenons that make rebellious social movements possible also enable these moments of mass obedience. We can begin rejecting it by reminding ourselves that the interests of the rich and powerful are fundamentally at odds with our own. Even in a situation where they could get sicken or die too (unlike the opioid crisis or the AIDS epidemic before it), their response to the crisis is unlikely to meet our needs and may even intensify exploitation.
      The presumed subject of most of the measures like self-isolation and social distancing is middle-class — they imagine a person whose job can easily be worked from home or who has access to paid vacation or sick days (or, in the worst case, savings), a person with a spacious home, a personal vehicle, without very many close, intimate relationships, with money to spend on childcare and leisure activities. Everyone is asked to accept a level of discomfort, but that increases the further away our lives are from looking like that unstated ideal and compounds the unequal risk of the worst consequences of the virus. One response to this inequality has been to call on the state to do forms of redistribution, by expanding employment insurance benefits, or by providing loans or payment deferrals. Many of these measure boil down to producing new forms of debt for people who are in need, which recalls the outcome of the 2008 financial crash, where everyone shared in absorbing the losses of the rich while the poor were left out to dry.
       I have no interest in becoming an advocate for what the state should do and I certainly don’t think this is a tipping point for the adoption of more socialistic measures. The central issue to me is whether or not we want the state to have the abiltiy to shut everything down, regardless of what we think of the justifications it invokes for doing so.
       The #shutdowncanada blockades were considered unacceptable, though they were barely a fraction as disruptive as the measures the state pulled out just a week later, making clear that it’s not the level of disruption that was unacceptable, but rather who is a legitimate actor. Similarly, the government of Ontario repeated constantly the unacceptable burden striking teachers were placing on families with their handful of days of action, just before closing schools for three weeks — again, the problem is that they were workers and not a government or boss. The closure of borders to people but not goods intensifies the nationalist project already underway across the world, and the economic nature of these seemingly moral measures will become more plain once the virus peaks and the calls shift towards ‘go shopping, for the economy’.

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Economy V People.

      Different countries respond to the coronavirus pandemic in different ways, it appears that the more capitalist developed a country is the more helping the economy is seen as a must, with the health of the people trailing behind. The more socialist orientated, then the more the health of the people is first and the economy trailing behind. Add to this the situation in the capitalist world of vested interests in the economy and crass stupidity of those in power, shaping the decisions made by our lords and masters and you can understand why some countries are facing a greater disaster than others.

     The following is an interesting article by Leonardo Flores from CODEPINK:

       Within a few hours of being launched, over 800 Venezuelans in the U.S. registered for an emergency flight from Miami to Caracas through a website run by the Venezuelan government. This flight, offered at no cost, was proposed by President Nicolás Maduro when he learned that 200 Venezuelans were stuck in the United States following his government’s decision to stop commercial flights as a preventative coronavirus measure. The promise of one flight expanded to two or more flights, as it became clear that many Venezuelans in the U.S. wanted to go back to Venezuela, yet the situation remains unresolved due to the U.S. ban on flights to and from the country.

       Those who rely solely on the mainstream media might wonder who in their right mind would want to leave the United States for Venezuela. Time, The Washington Post, The Hill and the Miami Herald, among others, published opinions in the past week describing Venezuela as a chaotic nightmare. These media outlets painted a picture of a coronavirus disaster, of government incompetence and of a nation teetering on the brink of collapse. The reality of Venezuela’s coronavirus response is not covered by the mainstream media at all.
      Furthermore, what each of these articles shortchanges is the damage caused by the Trump administration’s sanctions, which devastated the economy and healthcare system long before the coronavirus pandemic. These sanctions have impoverished millions of Venezuelans and negatively impact vital infrastructure, such as electricity generation. Venezuela is impeded from importing spare parts for its power plants and the resulting blackouts interrupt water services that rely on electric pumps. These, along with dozens of other implications from the hybrid war on Venezuela, have caused a decline in health indicators across the board, leading to 100,000 deaths as a consequence of the sanctions.
     Regarding coronavirus specifically, the sanctions raise the costs of testing kits and medical supplies, and ban Venezuela’s government from purchasing medical equipment from the U.S. (and from many European countries). These obstacles would seemingly place Venezuela on the path to a worst-case scenario, similar to Iran (also battered by sanctions) or Italy (battered by austerity and neoliberalism). In contrast to those two countries, Venezuela took decisive steps early on to face the pandemic.
      As a result of these steps and other factors, Venezuela is currently in its best-case scenario. As of this writing, 11 days after the first confirmed case of coronavirus, the country has 86 infected people, with 0 deaths. Its neighbors have not fared as well: Brazil has 1,924 cases with 34 deaths; Ecuador 981 and 18; Chile 746 and 2; Peru 395 and 5; Mexico 367 and 4; Colombia 306 and 3. (With the exception of Mexico, those governments have all actively participated and contributed to the U.S.-led regime change efforts in Venezuela.) Why is Venezuela doing so much better than others in the region?
      Skeptics will claim that the Maduro government is hiding figures and deaths, that there’s not enough testing, not enough medicine, not enough talent to adequately deal with a pandemic. But here are the facts:
      First, international solidarity has played a priceless role in enabling the government to rise to the challenge. China sent coronavirus diagnostic kits that will allow 320,000 Venezuelans to be tested, in addition to a team of experts and tons of supplies. Cuba sent 130 doctors and 10,000 doses of interferon alfa-2b, a drug with an established record of helping COVID-19 patients recover. Russia has sent the first of several shipments of medical equipment and kits. These three countries, routinely characterized by the U.S. foreign policy establishment as evil, offer solidarity and material support. The United States offers more sanctions and the IMF, widely known to be under U.S. control, denied a Venezuelan request for $5 billion in emergency funding that even the European Union supports.
       Second, the government quickly carried out a plan to contain the spread of the disease. On March 12, a day before the first confirmed cases, President Maduro decreed a health emergency, prohibited crowds from gathering, and cancelled flights from Europe and Colombia. On March 13, Day 1, two Venezuelans tested positive; the government cancelled classes, began requiring facemasks on subways and on the border, closed theaters, bars and nightclubs, and limited restaurants to take-out or delivery. It bears repeating that this was on Day 1 of having a confirmed case; many U.S. states have yet to take these steps. By Day 4, a national quarantine was put into effect (equivalent to shelter-in-place orders) and an online portal called the Homeland System (Sistema Patria) was repurposed to survey potential COVID-19 cases. By Day 8, 42 people were infected and approximately 90% of the population was heeding the quarantine. By Day 11, over 12.2 million people had filled out the survey, over 20,000 people who reported being sick were visited in their homes by medical professionals and 145 people were referred for coronavirus testing. The government estimates that without these measures, Venezuela would have 3,000 infected people and a high number of deaths.
         Third, the Venezuelan people were positioned to handle a crisis. Over the past 7 years, Venezuela has lived through the death of wildly popular leader, violent right-wing protests, an economic war characterized by shortages and hyperinflation, sanctions that have destroyed the economy, an ongoing coup, attempted military insurrections, attacks on public utilities, blackouts, mass migration and threats of U.S. military action. The coronavirus is a different sort of challenge, but previous crises have instilled a resiliency among the Venezuelan people and strengthened solidarity within communities. There is no panic on the streets; instead, people are calm and following health protocols.
      Fourth, mass organizing and prioritizing people above all else. Communes and organized communities have taken the lead, producing facemasks, keeping the CLAP food supply system running (this monthly food package reaches 7 million families), facilitating house-by-house visits of doctors and encouraging the use of facemasks in public. Over 12,000 medical school students in their last or second-to-last year of study applied to be trained for house visits. For its part, the Maduro administration suspended rent payments, instituted a nationwide firing freeze, gave bonuses to workers, prohibited telecoms from cutting off people’s phones or internet, reached an agreement with hotel chains to provide 4,000 beds in case the crisis escalates, and pledged to pay the salaries of employees of small and medium businesses. Amid a public health crisis - compounded by an economic crisis and sanctions - Venezuela’s response has been to guarantee food, provide free healthcare and widespread testing, and alleviate further economic pressure on the working class.
      The U.S. government has not responded to the Maduro administration’s request to make an exception for Conviasa Airlines, the national airline under sanctions, to fly the Venezuelans stranded in the United States back to Caracas. Given everything happening in the United States, where COVID-19 treatment can cost nearly $35,000 and the government is weighing the option of prioritizing the economy over the lives of people, perhaps these Venezuelans waiting to go home understand that their chances of surviving the coronavirus – both physically and economically – are much better in a country that values health over profits.

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Criminal Neglect.

      As this pandemic spreads it tentacles across the globe, we should always think of the most vulnerable and do our utmost to protect them. Yet one section of the most vulnerable are being ignored, the prison population. It's not as if they were an extremely tiny section of our community, there are approximately 9 million individuals locked up in prison across the world. Half of that mass of individuals are held in three countries, with the "good ol' US of A" leading the pack. The prison rate in USA per head of population is 724 per 100,000, in Russia it is 581 per 100,000, in China, that leader of the evil empire it is 118 per 100,000. England and Wales, on their own sit about the midway mark of the world's incarceraters with 118 per 100,000. US is also among one of the highest of women prisoners per head of population at 8.7%.
      Strange that the so called leader of the free world and defender of freedom should be the country that locks up more of its own population in prison cells than any other country on the planet.
      Another very disturbing figure on prison populations, especially during this Coronavirus pandemic, is the fact the practically all the world's prison are over crowded, with Kenya being the worst offender with it prison population being 284.3% of its occupancy. Even that most capitalist developed country in the world is guilty of this sardine policy with its prison population being 107.6% of its occupancy. Prisons are not on the whole, places of the best conditions nor descent medical care and hygiene, add over crowding to this toxic mix, and you have the perfect conditions for spreading this pandemic. To ignore these facts is extreme criminal cruelty and gross criminal neglect.
      A world with approximately 9 million individuals lock up in over crowded prison cells is not a free and democratic world, let's grasp this fact and do our utmost to bring down the prison system and the authoritarian regimes that foster these conditions.

Country	Prison population	Population per 100,000	Jail occupancy level %	Un-sentenced prisoners %	Women prisoners %
US	2,193,798	737	107.6	21.2	8.9
CHINA	1,548,498	118	N/A	N/A	4.6
RUSSIA	874,161	615	79.5	16.9	6.8
BRAZIL	371,482	193	150.9	33.1	5.4
INDIA	332,112	30	139	70.1	3.7
MEXICO	214,450	196	133.9	43.2	5
UKRAINE	162,602	350	101.3	19.5	6.1
SOUTH AFRICA	158,501	334	138.6	27.5	2.1
POLAND	89,546	235	124.4	16.8	3
ENG/WALES	80,002	148	112.7	16.4	5.5
JAPAN	79,052	62	105.9	14.7	5.9
KENYA	47,036	130	284.3	45.6	42
TURKEY	65,458	91	77.4	47.7	3.3
NIGERIA	40,444	30	101.5	64.3	1.9
AUSTRALIA	25,790	125	105.9	21.6	7.1
SCOTLAND	6,872	134	107.5	21	4.4
N IRELAND	1,375	79	91.5	37.4	2.2

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Why I'm An Anarchist.

       I lifted this straight from Dog Section Press, away back in June 2019, but considering the way things are going right now, I thought it worth repeating.
       There is nothing I could say about the article, except just read it, and start to think for yourself.

     Why I'm An Anarchist by Benjamin Zephaniah

         I got political after I suffered my first racist attack at the age of seven. I didn’t understand any political theory, I just knew that I had been wronged, and I knew there was another way. A few years later, when I was fifteen a marked police car pulled up to me as I walked in Birmingham in the early hours of the morning, three cops got out of the car, they pushed me into a shop doorway, then they beat me up. They got back into their car, and drove off as if nothing had happened. I had read nothing about policing policy, or anything on so-called law and order, I just knew I had been wronged. When I got my first job as a painter, I had read nothing on the theory of working class struggles or how the rich exploited the poor, but when my boss turned up every other day in a different supercar, and we were risking our lives up ladders and breathing in toxic fumes, I just knew I had been wronged.
        I grew up (like most people around me) believing Anarchism meant everyone just going crazy, and the end of everything. I am very dyslexic so I often have to use a spellchecker or a dictionary to make sure I’ve written words correctly. I was hearing words like Socialism and Communism all the time, but even the Socialists and Communists that I came across tended to dismiss Anarchists as either a fringe group, who they always blamed if there was trouble on demonstrations, or dreamers. Even now, I just checked a spellchecker and it describes Anarchism as chaos, lawlessness, mayhem, and disorder. I like the disorder thing, but for the ‘average’ person, disorder does mean chaos, lawlessness, and mayhem. The very things they’re told to fear the most.
        The greatest thing I’ve ever done for myself is to learn how to think for myself. I began to do that at an early age, but it’s really difficult to do that when there are things around you all the time telling you how to think. Capitalism is seductive. It limits your imagination, and then tells you that you should feel free because you have choices, but your choices are limited to the products they put before you, or the limits of your now limited imagination. I remember visiting São Paulo many years ago when it introduced its Clean City Law. The mayor didn’t suddenly become an Anarchist, but he did realise that the continuous and ubiquitous marketing people were subjected to was not just ugly, but distracting people from themselves. So more than 15,000 marketing billboards were taken down. Buses, taxis, neon and paper poster advertisements were all banned. At first it looked a little odd, but instead of either looking at, or trying not to look at advertising broads, I walked, and as I walked I looked around me. I found that I only purchased what I really needed, not what I was told I needed, and what was most noticeable was that I met and talked to new people every day. These conversations tended to be relevant, political, and meaningful. Capitalism keeps us in competition with each other, and the people who run Capitalism don’t really want us to talk to each other, not in a meaningful way.
       I’m not going to go on about Capitalism, Socialism, or Communism, but it is clear that one thing they all have in common is their need for power. Then to back up their drive for power they all have theories, theories about taking power and what they want to do with power, but therein lies the problem. Theories and power. I became an Anarchist when I decided to drop the theories and stop seeking power. When I stopped concerning myself with those things I realised that true Anarchy is my nature. It is our nature. It is what we were doing before the theories arrived, it is what we were doing before we were encouraged to be in competition with each other. There have been some great things written about Anarchism, and I guess that’s Anarchist theory, but when I try to get my friends to read these things (I’m talking about big books with big words), they get headaches and turn away. So, then I turn off the advertising (the TV etc.) and sit with them, and remind them of what they can do for themselves. I give them examples of people who live without governments, people who organise themselves, people who have taken back their own spiritual identity – and then it all makes sense.
            If we keep talking about theories then we can only talk to people who are aware of those theories, or have theories of their own, and if we keep talking in the round about theories we exclude a lot of people. The very people we need to reach, the very people who need to rid themselves of the shackles of modern, Capitalistic slavery. The story of Carne Ross is inspiring, not because he wrote something, but because he lived it. I love the work of Noam Chomsky and I love the way that Stuart Christie’s granny made him an Anarchist, but I’m here because I understand that the racist police who beat me have the state behind them, and the state itself is racist. I’m here because I now understand that the boss-man who exploited me to make himself rich didn’t care about me. I’m here because I know how the Marrons in Jamaica freed themselves and took to the hills and proved to all enslaved people that they (the Marrons), could manage themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I love books (I’m a writer, by the way), and I know we need people who think deeply – we should all think deeply. But my biggest inspirations come from everyday people who stop seeking power for themselves, or seeking the powerful to rescue them, and they do life for themselves. I have met people who live Anarchism in India, Kenya, Jamaica, Ethiopia, and in Papua New Guinea, but when I tell them they are Anarchists most will tell me they have not heard of such a word, and what they are doing is natural and uncomplicated. I’m an Anarchist because I’ve been wronged, and I’ve seen everything else fail.
           I spent the late seventies and the eighties living in London with many exiled ANC activists – after a long struggle Nelson Mandela was freed and the exiles returned home. I remember looking at a photo of the first democratically elected government in South Africa and realising that I knew two thirds of them. I also remember seeing a photo of the newly elected Blair (New Labour) government and realising that I knew a quarter of them, and on both occasions I remember how I was filled with hope. But in both cases it didn’t take long to see how power corrupted so many members of those governments. These were people I would call and say, “Hey, what are you doing?”, and the reply was always something along the lines of, “Benjamin, you don’t understand how having power works”. Well I do. Fuck power, and lets just take care of each other.
           Most people know that politics is failing. That’s not a theory or my point of view. They can see it, they can feel it. The problem is they just can’t imagine an alternative. They lack confidence. I simply blanked out all the advertising, I turned off the ‘tell-lie-vision’, and I started to think for myself. Then I really started to meet people – and, trust me, there is nothing as great as meeting people who are getting on with their lives, running farms, schools, shops, and even economies, in communities where no one has power.

That’s why I’m an Anarchist.

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Listen.

         

       I can't say anything here, I'll let the doctor do the talking.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Profit From Illness.

       Capitalism is stateless, capitalism doesn't recognise borders, capitalism has no morality, capitalism is raw selfish greed, nothing more nothing less. Capitalism is also extremely inefficient, as the present pandemic is now proving, capitalism can't cope with large emergencies, its solutions always leave out large swaths of the public, who suffer because of this inefficiency and on many occasions die. Why do we tolerate this greed driven system to rule our lives? There are alternatives, just think about it.

Some truths from Not Buying Anything: 

 

      When corporate bigwigs raise the prices of things for no reason other than greed, they are doing their jobs. That is the system we live in, and no one says much about it since it increases the GDP, and makes billionaires like clouds make raindrops.
      A common business adage is that a good capitalist will charge as much for a product as the consumer will bear.
    However, when one of the little people feels like being enterprising and taking advantage of the "freedom of the marketplace" and "supply and demand economics", all hell breaks loose.
      $400.00 dollar hand sanitizer is likely to get a small business person scathing judgements and death threats, even though customers may still be buying at that price.
       Price gouging is considered unethical, and for good reasons. But only when the little people do it.
     Drug companies are only one area notorious for unethical practices. Reading the following list it is obvious that price gouging is taking place, and people are paying with their lives.

      The cost of Bavencio, a new cancer drug approved in March, is about $156,000 a year per patient.

       A new muscular dystrophy drug came on the market late last year for an eye-popping price of $300,000 annually.

      In 2016, the FDA appproved Tecentriq, a new bladder cancer treatment that costs $12,500 a month, or $150,000 a year.

     Even older drugs that have long been on the market are not immune: The cost of insulin tripled between 2002 and 2013, despite no notable changes in the formulation or manufacturing process.

    The four-decade-old EpiPen, a lifesaving allergy medication, has seen a price hike of 500 percent since 2007. - AARP Bulletin

       If Handwash Guy can't get away with earning a few thousand reselling his product, how does Big Drug get away with it?
      “The simple answer is because there’s nothing stopping them,” said Leigh Purvis, a health services researcher.
      So what other price gouging is taking place, since in the land of extreme capitalism there is nothing, legislation or morals, to stop them?
       Gas? Housing? Food? Internet access? Health care?
Everything?
     And isn't capitalism itself about to price gouge all of us to the tune of several trillion dollars over the next few days?
    It is obvious who the real price gougers are.

Get ready to be gouged again.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Empty Shelves.

       Behind the pulp pedaled by the media about empty shelves in supermarkets, where the finger is always pointed at the greed selfish public, never a word of criticism of the supermarkets and the food industry. Well there is more to the story than the public generally know, The following article, thanks Loam for the link, is from Angry Workers Of The World:

      Everyone is complaining about empty supermarket shelves. Lots of people are now asking themselves how they get filled in the first place. But hoarding and panic buying is a relatively minor issue – with highly calibrated ‘just-in-time’ production, shelves can be bare with only take a £6-10 increase in the normal shopping spend per household. Even if people are buying much more than this, it’s not just ‘selfish individuals’ who are to blame. We have to look at the political issues around the individualisation of working class communities over the last few decades, as well as rational responses to a government recommending self-isolation for 14 days if a family member has symptoms. More importantly though, we have to look at the structural constraints of the food supply-chain. Below you can find a few thoughts about this in particular.

       AngryWorkers’ comrades have worked in food processing factories and distribution centres for several years, organising independent workers’ bulletins and trying to expand the scope of workers’ self-activity as militant shop-stewards. This experience and an analysis of the wider food industry forms the major part of our new book, ‘Class Power on Zero-Hours’. In the second part of the book we look at the composition of this ‘essential industry’ in the UK and ask what a workers’ takeover and control of this industry would mean in today’s globalised (food) production system:

https://pmpress.org.uk/product/class-power-on-zero-hours/

     Any spike in demand brings immense difficulties because of an already overstretched supply-chain in the food sector. Here is a list of reasons why the supply-chains are susceptible to breaking point during the current crisis:

1) A dependency on global food supplies
       In the early 1980s, UK farms produced around 78% of the country’s staple foods. Today the UK has to import nearly half of its food from abroad, primarily from EU countries, but also from further afield. Under capitalism we have the absurd situation that, for example, live chickens and raw seafood are exported from EU countries to lower wage regions in order to be processed there and send back as frozen goods. The price of higher profit margins is extra work and pollution.

2) An overstretched transport system
        The share of food transported by aeroplane has risen by 140% since the early 90s. By 2000 this meant that 1 out of every 7.5 ton of goods flown into the UK was food. Furthermore, a lot of the food is stored in tourist passenger machines. So with tourism on hold due to the Corona crisis and the grounding of many planes, this transport link to get food into the country is under stress. But it’s not only the closing of borders which causes problems. The main problem when trying to expand transport is a chronic shortage of truck drivers due to the bad working conditions. [1] Many continue to work not because they are being ‘heroic’, rather they don’t have much choice as self-employed workers. The average age of a truck driver in the UK is 53 with 13% over 60 and only 2% under 25. This skewed demographic might really mess things up if and when they develop symptoms.

3) A spatially concentrated agriculture
        In the UK, areas around Spalding or the greenhouse complex Thanet Earth in Kent, [2] are highly concentrated agricultural hubs. For example, Thanet Earth produces 225 million tomatoes on around 1 square mile. These structures are at full capacity and structural expansion is relatively inflexible. In addition, and partly due to the Brexit dilemma, there is a shortage of agricultural labour. Despite talking tough on ‘unskilled migration’, the UK government has had to make extra-deals with Ukraine, for example, to secure supply of labour. [3]

4) Warehouse space at capacity limit
        The panic around ‘no deal Brexit’ had already revealed that there is an absolute lack of chilled warehouse space in the UK. [4] In the UK in particular warehouse space has become a major part of the real estate bubble, with companies like Segro speculating around land use. Chilled warehouses are up to four times more expensive than usual warehouses and cannot be ramped up at short notice.

5) Concentration process in food processing
         There has been an enormous concentration process in the food processing supply-chain over the last few decades. Let’s take abattoirs as an example: they shrank from 1022 in 1985 to 380 in 2000. Then let’s take a look at flour mills: there are only three or four major flour mills left in the UK. Two industrial companies share 55% of the bread market in the UK. And a quarter of all ready-made sandwiches come from one manufacturer. This means that these companies are at full capacity at the best of times. Despite all the hype around automation, food processing is actually pretty labour intensive. In the factories where we worked the lines are overcrowded, there is no physical space for extra staff and, even in London in some workplaces – like the Tesco distribution centre in Greenford – there can be a shortage of labour.

6) Supply problems for food processing
       Not only finished food arrives in the UK from abroad. The food processing industry relies on many half-finished products. In the case of the recent CO2/ammonia shortage in 2018 we can see how concentrated the production is within Europe. The gas is used to put bubbles in drinks and to stun chickens and pigs before slaughter. It is a by-product of fertiliser production. An uncoordinated shut-down of three manufacturers in Europe caused widespread disruption in slaughterhouses and drinks manufacturers in the UK. [5]

7) A fragile logistics system
       Most supermarkets have reduced the numbers of distribution centres (DCs) drastically, many having outsourced distribution to logistics companies. As well as reducing their direct control on day-to-day logistics operations, there are fewer bigger warehouses that increase supply-chain risks. Tesco supplies 3,700 stores with only 25 DCs. These are already at full capacity, as frequent hiccups in the logistics chain demonstrate. [6] This concentration process is even more pronounced when it comes to grocery home deliveries: Ocado operates only four main distribution centres for the whole of the UK. With higher automation levels any technical fault causes major problems. [7]

8) A highly concentrated grocery retail sector
       The final distribution and sales depends on a few big companies. The share of supermarkets in total grocery sales increased from 44% in 1971 to 60% in 1980 and 80% in 1990 and reaches 90% today, basically dominated by Tesco and Walmart. There is not much slack in the chain. Furthermore, these companies have a function of ‘central command’ which has been used by governments during times of crisis before, such as during food and mouth epidemic in 2001 and national petrol truck drivers strikes in 2012. Recently the Chinese government used the data pool of the major retail platform Alibaba for social surveillance.

9) Management bullying and workers anger
       The main structural constraint is the disengagement of workers from work. Conditions in logistics and food processing are characterised by brutal management regimes and low paid workers who are forced into repetitive work and therefore don’t give a fuck. They are disengaged not only from the company goals and work process, but also from their so-called representatives. Tesco started paying workers who keep on working during the Corona crisis a 10% bonus bribe, lauded by the union USDAW. This is after years of union co-managed cuts in weekend, night shift and annual bonuses.

——

      Under a profit-oriented system the concentration process of food production and distribution means that there are hardly any margins for error. But it also means that workers have a potentially unified and concentrated power. Instead of wishing us back into a situation of artisan producers and petty shop-owners we should organise for workers’ takeover and control. You can read in our book that this will be hard work that won’t be done by (Labour) government decree.

[1] https://angryworkersworld.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/messing-with-the-drivers/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanet_Earth

[3] https://www.fginsight.com/news/news/michael-gove-looking-to-ukraine-for-agricultural-workers-64721

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/27/no-deal-brexit-amazon-blamed-uk-lack-of-food-warehouse-space

[5] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/22/caused-uks-carbon-dioxide-shortage/

[6] https://www.cips.org/en-GB/supply-management/news/2018/february/kfc-warned-that-dhl-would-fail-its-supply-chain-says-union/

[7] https://www.ifsecglobal.com/fire-news/ocado-warehouse-fire-the-questions-that-need-answers/

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Corporations Or People.

      When ever capitalism is in trouble, that's when it shows its true colours, its callous and brutal plundering, like 2008, when they engineered trillions of taxpayers cash into their diminishing coffers after their insane gambling spree.

     Now here we are with humanity facing one of the worst pandemics in living memory, and capitalism is on its knees, time to get their grub thieving hands on more of taxpayers money, to safeguard their shareholders. Here in the UK our lords and masters are literally throwing billions of pounds at big business, with the pretext that they are thinking of the ordinary people by saving their jobs, shear bullshit. Other countries are of course following, suit the US being a prime example.

     30% of the American population may soon be out of work, people are struggling to afford the basic necessities, food and rent becoming luxuries. While this hell goes on for the ordinary people, Boeing is demanding a $60 billion bailout of taxpayers money, which will go to bailout their shareholders and CEO. This will debated in the Senate today, and will no doubt pass with a nod of the corporate beast's buddies, sitting there with the taxpayers purse strings in their grubby little hands.

     There should be  a forceful demand from us the ordinary people, that ensures any bailout is to help the people who are at the real cutting edge of this tragedy, the ordinary people. Pour billions and trillions into the protection and safety of people and to hell with shareholders and CEO. We built this world, after this disaster we can build a better world, free from shareholders and CEO, free from the destructive greed driven profit motive.

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Pandemic And Revolution.

 

      Before this pandemic started its jog across the globe, the world was awash with revolt. Most countries had some sort of mass protests on their streets, people were, more or less "pissed off" with the way the world was heading, they were alive to its inequality, corruption, injustice, human made ecological disaster, and violent destructive wars, they wanted a complete change of direction. In some of the countries the protests became open rebellion, an insurrection, Chile being one of those countries, I have been interested in seeing what the pandemic  and the governments actions have done to this insurrection, Has it quelled the desire for revolution, has it subdued the rebellion to acquiescence, or has it strengthened their resolve to use this as an opportunity to continue their struggle for a free and fair society?  I like their idea of the quarantine being seen as a general strike, obviously it won't end with the pandemic.

This from Anarchists Worldwide:

 

On a particularly chaotic Friday afternoon, Piñera inaugurated the nationwide chain reaction to the pandemic. Since the beginning of March, fear of the virus has slowly entered the conversation: between the agitated return to classes that seeks to be a replica (like an earthquake) of the October Revolt, the massive feminist demonstrations, the radicalization of the reactionary sectors and the imminence of the plebiscite, it is taking on more and more importance.

The international situation is no less complex. Last year saw the beginning of a new worldwide wave of revolts against capitalist normality, and the much manipulated “institutionality” seems to be collapsing from all sides, leaving room not only for insurgent creativity but also (and never so easily differentiated) for populism and fascism of all kinds.

The economy has been losing speed for some time, but the trade war between two declining powers, the manufactured rise in the price of oil, and the paralysis caused by the coronavirus, built the perfect storm to leave the stock market and its tangle of speculative fictions in free fall.

It is in this context that the disease arrives in our territory, with the state of exception still fresh in our memories. It starts in the upper classes, and we almost rejoice before remembering that they will not be the only ones to suffer its consequences. The government, always late, announces its measures. Clearly they are not enough, and their only objective is to ensure the free movement of capital. Some (the ones who see conspiracies at every corner) whisper that it is a strategy to cancel the plebiscite, that is apparently so dangerous. But we are clear that the intelligent fascist votes to approve, and that the government’s incompetence requires no more justification than its own class interests.

However, we have also seen how the situation has developed in other countries with a more advanced stage of infection. Simulations of insurrection, urban warfare and absolute states of emergency have been deployed on the streets of China, Italy and other parts of the world, with varying degrees of success. The Chinese state, famous for its repressive capacity, concentrated all its efforts on the containment of ground zero but, juggling to keep its economy afloat, left its regional governments free both to resume production and to sustain the quarantine. Beyond this it has been by far the country whose quarantine has been most efficient and effective (we won’t mention the United States, whose public policy is reduced to covering its ears and shouting loudly).

The Italian case is notable, more than anything else, for its resistance to quarantine measures and “social distancing”, a nefarious euphemism that refers to self-isolation, forced precarization disguised as “tele-working”, hoarding of essential goods, and the denial of any form of community. When the prisoners (who have always been overcrowded and immuno-compromised) were banned from receiving visits, the biggest prison revolt of this century began: 27 prisons were taken over, many people were killed, police and prison officers were kidnapped and hundreds of prisoners escaped.

In Chilean territory, the situation is uncertain. Pharmacies and supermarkets that were recently looted will soon be out of stock due to widespread panic. Public transport, a permanent battleground since the beginning of the revolt, will soon be avoided like the plague. The government has already banned gatherings of more than 500 people, but by now anyone who is listening to the government is listening. The military, who we assume have refused to leave again to keep what little legitimacy they have left and to be able to preserve their privileges in a new constitution, will not have so much shame if they can disguise their actions as public health. Real public health, on the other hand, weighs less than a packet of cabritas (translation note: a popular popcorn snack). And we have no idea what will happen with the plebiscite.

If elsewhere the pandemic was a trial of insurrection, here the insurrection seems to have been a trial of pandemic and economic crisis. Let’s keep the flame of revolt alive, and organize to survive.

We will now outline some measures that we consider worthy of generalization, more of an inspiration than a programme:

• Looting and organized redistribution of basic goods
• The use of student occupations as collection centres, shelters for homeless people and, of course, street fighters.
• The boycott of any form of distance work or study, so that the quarantine becomes a general strike.
• The immediate release of all prisoners as a central demand.
• Mass evasion in private clinics, free medical care for all.
• Rent strike, taking over empty houses.

The hood is the best mask! Evade the isolation of capital! Deny immunity as a police device! The crisis is an opportunity, raise your fist and attack!

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Ashes Of Disaster.

        "From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success". We are certainly facing a disaster on a gigantic scale.. We can see it as disaster and just try to get through it, or we can see it as an opportunity. Mutual aid groups are forming up all over the world, not just in UK. As the present economic system crumbles and creeks as it nears collapsing point, we can with mutual aid groups start to create an alternative to the exploitative capitalist system. Power can move to the communities, mutual aid groups can link up and grow, communities can start to sort out their needs and not wait for our lords and masters to create a dependency on their power institutions. The present economic system is practically on its knees, let's make sure it can never rise again and replicate the inequality, corruption and injustice of the past. By coming together in mutual aid groups, with a long term view, we can grow the roses of success from the ashes of this disaster.  

The following from Roar Magazine:

       With the shutdown of businesses, schools and countless other institutions, millions of people are facing loss of income, housing and access to basic survival resources, including food. Confronted by popular pressure and the specter of civil unrest, states have begun to undertake a “disaster socialism” of uneven and often contradictory aid measures. Still, conditions of emergency are intensifying by the hour and the current biopolitical regime faces an existential crisis.

Under such circumstances, the need for self-organized infrastructures of mutual aid, care and resilience could not be clearer. In the coming weeks and months, rent strikes and other acts of collective refusal are on the horizon. How could these works of mutual aid flow into the construction of a dual power situation? As the system collapses, can physical bases of autonomy and solidarity transform our relationship to the state?

      At Woodbine, an autonomous space and organizing framework maintained in New York City since 2014, this is what we have been preparing for — to mobilize our networks, skills, knowledges and energy to coordinate and provide for each other, while simultaneously building the longer-term capacity to face an uncertain future.

Digital organizing

      Although the severity of COVID-19 crisis is unprecedented in recent memory, many people in New York City seem primed for the moment, as if they have been waiting for a crisis of this magnitude to arrive.

       Last week, Sandy Nurse, a co-founder of the MayDay Space in Bushwick and a candidate for New York City Council tweeted: “Movement folks: we know how to mobilize quickly and effectively. Time to get in formation. Start the conversations now w/ local social networks & hubs on collaborating what safe direct support may need to look like, & what does scaling-up and cross-neighborhood collab[oration] look like.” We shared her post across our social media platforms and received immediate responses from friends and strangers alike reaching out to collaborate.

      Experienced community organizers and newly activated neighbors alike have joined a dizzying flood of online coordination, from social media posts to Google docs, Zoom meetings and Signal threads. Just yesterday, a Google doc titled “Mutual Aid NYC” migrated to its own website, where hundreds of individuals are making plans for autonomous mutual aid and disaster relief on a local, place-by-place basis. This avalanche of online discussion, from resource guides and social media “hot takes,” shows that there is much popular insight about how to to navigate the crisis. But questions remain as to who, how, when and where these calls for action will be taken up.

Legacies of mutual aid

        There is a long history of radical mutual aid that links service provisioning with the construction of dual power. In New York, this has been led by organizations like the Black Panthers, the Young Lords, ACT-UP, and, in more recent years, Occupy Wall Street. Today, various decolonial and abolitionist formations have been established that involve mutual aid including Take Back the Bronx and NYC Shut It Down, which is already adjusting its Feed the People (FTP) program to the present crisis. These mutual aid projects exist alongside informal activities of interdependence, care and support that many communities already practice on a day-to-day basis. Now, New Yorkers are mobilizing these informal networks in more deliberate ways, aiming, for example, to connect vulnerable tenants with volunteers.

       The local experience of Hurricane Sandy provides an important example of both the possibilities and the limits of a crisis moment like the present. The self-organized “Occupy Sandy” was a city-wide infrastructure of spontaneous, self-organized disaster relief after the hurricane struck in 2012. Many leftist observers suggested that Occupy Sandy offered a prefigurative glimpse of “disaster communism,” an alternative, cooperative response to so-called “natural” disasters.

        However, in practice, Occupy Sandy functioned largely as a supplementary service provider within the void left by the state’s negligence. It never came close to becoming a sustained political formation, let alone one capable of forcing concessions from the ruling class. Most importantly, Occupy Sandy demonstrated a collective capacity to directly confront catastrophe. It served as a crucible for relationships, projects and spaces in the subsequent decade ⁠— including Woodbine itself.

        Understanding the legacies and continuities of mutual aid are crucial to acting in the current moment. However, none of us have faced the surreal condition of social distancing. What does organizing in real life mean now and what are our expectations of safety and responsibility?

The dilemma of “social distancing”

         As online attempts at mutual aid unfold, we must address the matter of real-life contact and physical space along with their ethical, medical and logistical dilemmas. While recognizing the urgency of “social distancing,” how can we prevent state-mandated isolation and quarantine measures from becoming tools of political demobilization? What does it mean to normalize quarantine as a necessary condition during an emergency? And what are our expectations when it comes to responses from the state?

        We know that there are experienced and trusted organizers all around us, and we also know there are dormant organizing frameworks and relations that will need to be revived and reactivated. We know that we will need to share skills and practices with groups throughout the country. There are many others out there — at home, online, wanting to help, to volunteer, to contribute — with skills, knowledge and resources beyond which any of us realize. There will be the need not only to provide for our friends, but also our neighbors and community members.

Continue reading HERE: 

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Pandemic And Prisons.

        We all know, or should know, our prisons are overcrowded with poor hygiene, poor medical facilities, and are places with no freedom or possibilities of self isolating. They are incubation pods for the spread of infections, so what are our lords and masters doing to protect those who find themselves lock into this intolerable situation during this pandemic? We must demand that all prisoners should be in a position to self isolate, have the needed health care and hygiene necessary to survive this pandemic. To fail to do this is not just a case of cruel criminal neglect, but also an act of callous inhumanity. Prisons must not be allowed to become institutional mortuaries and reported as just one of those things that happen. Prisoners can and must be protected.   

This from Act For Freedom Now:

         In this moment of not knowing what’s coming next, the failure of this system is more and more clear: a world wired for ever-growing speed, circulation, and productivity, suddenly has to stop. In this moment when power gets more power, fed by the general panic of an unknown and new situation, there’s a pressing need to listen out and to fight for those who are most affected, those who already know what it is to be trapped, isolated and repressed.
        We will be publishing information, hoping to amplify unheard voices, and to break the silence that risks making an intolerable situation even worse. Now, more than ever, those caged by the state face precarious conditions, with low hygienic standards, very poor healthcare and overcrowded cells. While the ‘managers’ of the crisis carefully calculate how this or that measure can protect the political and economic order, the basic steps we need to take to slow down the contagion are clear: keep distance between each other, maintain good hygiene and avoid crowded places. Inside, this will be difficult or impossible for many. We are not going to ‘take this on the chin’! Prison makes us sick!
       Take a minute to share this poster, as an easy and first step to practicing solidarity. Email us with any questions. We won’t share any details without consent.

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