And so the Pandemic continues.

As predicted on this blog (and on many others), the capitalist motivated techno-fix of vaccination to keep the profit-based system running is proving a failure. As noted in Corona virus pandemic 37, the Delta variant of the Covid 19 virus was already dodging the vaccines developed to deal with the earlier Covid 19 variant. It was even making double vaccinated people ill whilst they continued to pass the delta variant on to vaccinated and non-vaccinated victim’s of the politically motivated economic dogmatism. It was hoped that by relaxing prevention measures and ‘opening up the economy’, profits would quickly return. Profits did return for some, but so did the virus – in a mutated form.

The attempt to blame the un-vaccinated for the spread of the pandemic within highly vaccinated communities was always a politically motivated tactic intended to shift blame away from the governing elites and their big business supporters whose activities let the virus in and who have always put profit before health. But the ‘all for us’ distribution of the ‘profitable vaccination tactic’ of the advanced capitalist countries has now spectacularly backfired! For a new Covid 19 variant of concern (VOC) identified on November 22 in South Africa, (a country deliberately starved of vaccines) has now emerged.

This latest Covid 19 variant, quickly designated on 24 November 2021 as B.1.1.529 ‘Omicron’, has had the time and opportunity to spread and develop even more mutations (30 plus), some of which it is feared, may make it more spreadable and more adapted to avoiding vaccine induced immunity. And just as before, once a variant has made someone ill and been identified – it’s already been spread by air or sea transport. Yes it’s already everywhere and yet there is still too little accurate testing and tracing – the community based solution! In typical political fashion, having nailed their reputations to the profit-based pharmaceutical vaccine solution, to what is a social problem, the international cabal of pro-capitalist medical and political elites, cannot admit failure and think again. Instead, they are hell bent on continuing a nationally based medical tactic instead of an internationally based social strategy.

The elites sound like a stuck record.

So the mantra is still vaccinate everyone in ‘our own’ country – as often as it takes – and scientific fingers crossed, hope it works this time. However, it could never have worked in the first place and even at over 80% vaccinated has predictably failed so far. It will also fail again at over 90% because ‘vaccinate the world’ solution is based upon an idealised assumption that science and technology can solve socially created problems caused by capitalist global investment strategies. The spreading of the Covid 19 virus (ie it’s global transmission) is not caused by too little science, but too much of it – and of the wrong kind! The spread of this virus, as with others, is a result of the socio-economic drive for multifarious sources of profits for global capital production and the consequent returns on investment – for those who now like to live off them.

The unearthing of the Covid 19 virus – if it has not been manufactured and accidentally released by a biological weapons research lab – will probably be the result of too close an interface between wild-life habitats and extensive capital investments in animal and vegetable farming or mineral mining. And in fact the virus is only one of the problems facing humanity because the same profit motivated investment which is spreading the virus, is already involved in producing and spreading global warming, climate change and ecological destruction. Even in the wildest fantasies of the employees of pharmaceutical and biological science labs there is no possible vaccine or secret bio-chemical concoction which can prevent that either.

Let us be clear: The biological virus of Covid 19 (and others yet to follow) is dependent upon and rides in tandem with the human intellectual virus of entitlement. The latter being the motivation to exploit human labour and earth’s resources for profit and/or enjoyment. If anything, that intellectual virus of entitlement to exploit, amass and consume wealth, is more detrimental to human survival than any biological virus. This is because the human internal micro-biology covered by the term ‘immune system’, is better a detecting and combating enemies of its internal well being and individual existence than the current general intellectual ability to detect and combat the profit based enemies of humanities future social existence.

More dislocation and distress.

Nevertheless, a sharp reminder is already heading our way. The predicted dislocations of the capitalistic determined employment and supply chains are already falling apart under the impact of Covid and emission reduction necessities. The temporary fix of Covid inspired rent and income support has been tapered or ended and more people are becoming unemployed and/or homeless and more small business are being closed. Essential supply chains linked to profitable sources of cheap foreign labour are becoming fractured and shortages and price increases will undoubtedly negatively impact upon the existing and new low-paid survivors of the capitalist system.

If the latest ‘Omicron’ variant of Covid 19 does prove more invasive and destructive than previous variants, then we are in for even more casualties and dislocation of medical and social interactions. With patience already stretched to breaking point citizens of all countries will undoubtedly see further civil unrest over lock downs, shortages or the insufferable conditions imposed upon them. The pressure to save as much of the present capitalist system as possible will emanate from the middle and upper classes who have the most to lose by its continuing disintegration and collapse. This pressure will be exerted in authoritarian directions – as is already the case – with some middle class elites considering compulsory vaccination and passports.

Even though logic is not on the side of such pro-capitalist measures, this fact will be largely ignored by most of the current elites. Even though vaccine passports will undoubtedly get forged; double and treble vaccinated people will still spread the virus and perpetuate the pandemic; and even though virus mutation will continue to out-pace the efforts of vaccine laboratories to produce new vaccines, none of this will matter. Those whose object is, or becomes, saving the present profit-based system rather than saving the planet or the lives of those who produce all our essential needs, will continue to operate by their own form of entitlement business as usual based logic.

In addition to the preventative measures suggested in Corona Virus Pandemic 37, another logic – of sustainable egalitarian production and consumption – needs to capture the imagination and intellectual output of more of humanity and it needs to start now. I suggest learning about the history and functioning of the capitalist mode of production now and during any future lock downs should equal or even replace solitary forms of entertainment. Surely, the atmosphere and ecology on this blue dot in the vast cosmos is worth saving by some sustained intellectual effort.

Roy Ratcliffe (December 2021)