COVID and Capitalism
By: G.E. Bradley
Tags: Covid 19 Crisis, Capitalism, Socialism, USA

Act II: The Bleak Midwinter

As I write, the northern hemisphere is transitioning into official winter. It’s an apropos backdrop to the chilling of the global capitalist-economic engine and the frozen gasps of life being attempted against the full gale force of change. The trees are leafless and frozen, the ground is brown and lifeless, and many critters have gone into hibernation. Typically this is also the point in which many liberals, either reveling in a post-election swoon or disappointment, return to slumber.

Leftists, on the other hand, have been busy. Yes, even among the frost and snow begins to unfurl the stems that will become beautiful roses in spring. Already seeing that a Joe Biden presidency is engaging in the liberal business-as-usual cabinet appointments and doubles down on the ‘nothing will fundamentally change’ promise, leftists are seizing the moment to organize and educate.

The cracks in the façade that is Capitalism have been exposed. Anyone who has been paying attention the last year has seen it be made blatantly obvious that human life is worth nothing if profits are in jeopardy. We have watched an entire summer as law enforcement cozy up to right-wing extremists and beat peaceful protesters and unarmed anti-fascists. We watched as Kyle Rittenhouse murdered people in cold blood, and was allowed to go home. Even when he was arrested, he is hailed as a hero by the right wing, who have taken up collection to pay for his legal defense.

The bitter cold of winter amidst of a pandemic is the garden in which the seeds of a re-energized left have been planted in preparation for the warmth of spring, but it is also the garden in which right-wing extremism plots their next moves. What blooms in spring depends on what happens in Act III of our tale.

Act III: Springtime In The Garden of Good and Evil

This act has not been written yet, but the seeds of what can possibly play out have been planted in fertile soil. The gardeners responsible for the seeds are tending them carefully, knowing the care given now will determine what blossoms come spring.

So what is it that could come about when the warmth of spring finally graces the land? It is too early to tell in any detail what may come. What we can tell for certain is that leftists and right-wing extremists are both fired up and ready for a fight. Liberals will appeal to civility and order, insisting that we can all just get along. With the growing economic crisis, and the bottom falling out for so many of those who are least capable of weathering the storm, what we can tell is that 2021 will not be the respite we had all hoped and prayed for. If anything 2020 will be seen as a mere preview of 2021.

Street-fights between fascists and anti-fascists will likely continue in earnest. The GOP will work to continue their platform of Gaslight, Obstruct, and Project, leaving no stone unturned. Too much is at stake.

What we can tell you is that the worlds richest people, all men, will get wealthier and wealthier and will consume greater and greater portions of the global economy. The Liberal Biden Administration will have to walk a delicate tightrope of ‘reigning in’ corporate oligarchs while also not biting the hand that feeds it — which will return predictable results.

Postlude

Whatever that 2021 brings, what I can tell you is it will not be ‘normal’. The normal we had known in the 1990’s through 2010’s is long dead. The world has changed — for better and worse. Where it goes from here depends on which garden you choose to be in when the time comes. Do you stand on the side of justice and the people? Do you stand on the side of oppression and order? Or do you take the side of fascism and racial supremacy? If you choose oppression and order, you also simultaneously take the side of fascism and racial supremacy.

The lies that have been weaved for decades and centuries are beginning to unravel before everyone’s eyes. The workers of the world, those who have toiled long and hard — sacrificing everything to gain nothing — are seeing the truth revealed and they’re unhappy.

How things play out will be up to largely the modestly comfortable liberal white middle class: will they prioritize maintaining the fiction of order and peace that upholds a white supremacy, or will they finally come to see the lies that have been passed down for decades for what they are, and join the mass movement for change.

It may be only the start of winter, but now is the time to decide where you plant your seeds. Spring will come soon enough.

In what garden will your flower bloom?