Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has emphasised what genuinely matters in society and what people genuinely rely on for their health and well-being. This crisis has also helped pierce the hegemonic, false narratives put out by Western societies for many years. These heinous narratives have dominated the thoughts and lives of the world population for a long time. Now is an opportunity to really question and challenge them.

This pandemic has shown that every society needs a totally accessible and robust healthcare system. This healthcare system should not be at all restricted by economic concerns, because then we are allowing profit to get in the way of human life. The heartlessness of the US empire has been brought into sharp relief on this point. Their corrupt, neoliberal economy has been prioritised over the lives of the population, more than any other country in the world. During this pandemic, lockdown has been delayed, testing has been insufficient, and hospitals have not had nearly enough access to vital equipment such as N95 masks and ventilators. In the UK, government cuts to the NHS have made it far less robust and thus less capable of dealing with the current pandemic.

Western nations, particularly the US and the UK, have vilified countries like Cuba and China for many years. But Cuba and China, in the midst of this crisis, are courageously helping more than any other country. Cuba are sending doctors to pandemic-stricken countries such as Italy. China are sending vital medical supplies to crisis areas of Europe. China has sent two million surgical masks, two hundred thousand N95 masks and fifty thousand testing kits to such areas. True colours are beginning to show. This crisis shows us very clearly that we need to resist the false narratives forced upon us by corrupt media and politicians.

Crippling economic sanctions have been placed on Cuba by the US empire for over 60 years. Sanctions have also been placed on Venezuela and Iran. These sanctions are murderous normally, responsible for thousands of civilian deaths by restricting access to vital medical supplies. But during this pandemic, they become even more murderous. The US empire is not only refusing to lift these sanctions, but has recently added new ones. Thus, the US Government is not only killing its own citizens through corporate greed and ignorance, but is leading to the deaths of thousands of foreign civilians during an already horrific pandemic. This is heinous and despicable.

This pandemic has shown that some societies, such as Britain, need to put far more energy and money into preparing for genuine threats like Covid-19, instead of pouring vast amounts of national budgets into bloated military expansions. Also, it is highly inefficient and misguided that British security services would rather spend far more time investigating Russia than preparing for genuinely harmful events.

This pandemic has shown that everyone needs a secure job and no-one should live in fear of being unable to pay their rent. The gig economy, which is prevalent in the US and the UK, does not provide basic rights to workers.

This pandemic has shown that we all need to slow down and continue reducing pollution and environmental destruction. Nature is finally able to breath a little, as evidenced in Italy's rivers which are now far clearer and the amount of pollution reduction across the world. We need to live in some kind of harmony with our natural environment. This is perhaps the most significant lesson of this pandemic, though all the lessons are interrelated and should be seen holistically.

This pandemic has shown that societies do not need privatisation and free market fundamentalism. These systems do not help people survive and do not aid our well-being, quite the contrary. What they do allow is for elite groups of people to amass obscene amounts of money, at the expense of everyone else. What human societies do need are robust healthcare services, robust welfare services, secure jobs, solidarity, respect for nature, togetherness and community building.
 
Many of us, currently in self-isolation, are out of the cycle of usual work. In conjunction with this, fundamental areas of our globalised system have been brought into sharp relief. Now is the perfect time to reflect on and question our societal systems and, hopefully, move our world into a more humane and just place. This pandemic, though undeniably life-altering and difficult for many, can thus be seen as an opportunity. Times of crises, as Naomi Klein emphasises, are opportunities for transformation.