Covid Crisis Reading List
In the plethora of commentaries on the present crisis these writers stand out:
Dr. Richard Horton:'Scientists have been sounding the alarm on coronavirus for months. Why did Britain fail to act?' (The Guardian)'The editor of the Lancet speaks out on Corona Virus' – Labour Briefing
'In defence of Richard Horton (and Karl Marx)' – Labour Briefing
Mike Davis:'The Coronavirus crisis is a monster fueled by capitalism' (In These Times)
'Mike Davis on the Politics of Coronavirus' (Jacobin). In this video, Davis makes these crucial points:
Social distancing: yes! But not at the price of protest. There's no reason that a single line of ten people holding picket signs, standing three metres apart, is endangering anybody's life. …
[We need] to take leadership from unionized frontline medical workers. ... Nurses are the social conscience of this country ... We have to broaden the definition of who are frontline medical workers because it also includes nursing home staff, janitors, people who pick up garbage. It includes the Amazon warehouse workers without protection.
These people are not only our heroes right now - we should broadcast in every way our solidarity - but as Marxists, as socialists, we should recognize their historical agency. They've become an immensely powerful progressive force, working-class force, for change.
Dr. Yaneer Bar-Yam:
'The UK's coronavirus policy may sound scientific. It isn't' (The Guardian)
'We need an immediate five-week national lockdown to defeat coronavirus in America' (USA Today)
Nat Dyer:‘Complex modelling fuelled the financial crisis. Now it has delayed action on COVID-19' (openDemocracy)
