CENTRAL NEWS
JXK (Association of Women Students from Kurdistan) and YXK (Association of students from Kurdistan) released a message of solidarity in regards to the world’s newest disease: Covid-19. The message shared by the youth is as follows:
Solidarity or struggle: The social death in times of war and corona
The ruling capitalist system is currently showing itself from its truest and ugliest side: Since the outbreak of the corona virus (COVID-19), which is spreading rapidly throughout the world and particularly affects immune-compromised and older people, a wave of concentrated panic and consternation has spread. States pass decisions on their own, shutting themselves off without regard for neighbouring countries.
COVID-19 has made a name for itself worldwide. And the fear of infection and spread is justified: about 6,000 people have already been killed by the virus (as of mid-March), and the total number of infected people worldwide is about 220,000. Thousands of people are currently in quarantine, and the speed of the spread of the disease also exceeds previous societal assumptions. But what seems more deadly to us in the long term than the virus itself is how society deals with the current situation. The scenes are shocking, they are disturbing and trivial: People in supermarkets battling over toilet paper, flour and milk, insulting each other and becoming violent in the process. For days, scenes from all over the world have been spreading on social media, spreading panic, fomenting competition.
Another phenomenon: the worldwide rush for protective masks, disinfectants and other bacteria and virus-inhibiting substances. The fact that half the world’s shelves with disinfectants have been empty for weeks and prices are skyrocketing due to high demand is shocking all over the world. In addition, human egoism drives it so far that disinfectant supplies are stolen from hospitals, containers in public facilities are dismantled for self-interest and thus access for sick and needy people is made impossible.
The virus also brings in another deadly weapon: increasing racism and the instrumentation of an infection to stir up hatred against a population group. Just a few days ago, a 45-year-old man in Munich attacked a woman from Munich with Chinese roots with disinfectant, shouting the word “Corona” several times and additionally threatening to cut off her head. Here the German population should remember that a few weeks ago 9 young people were murdered by a rightist in the city of Hanau. The panic that can now be seen among the German population was not apparent a few weeks ago, when societal racist incitement was unleashed in the form of murder, tearing people from their lives.
A brief social analysis shows us: In the modern age of capitalism, people live more and more isolated from society, cultivate aggressive competitive thinking and discard characteristics such as empathy, charity and justice as well as equality. Capitalism desensitises, educates people to be emotionally cold and power obsessed creatures and promotes greed, war, exploitation, fascism and sexism. There is no question of pitting suffering against suffering, but rather of examining the currently unacceptable, repulsive behaviour of our humanity and the psyche behind current events: How do we evaluate the fact that humanity only reacts to death when one is affected in his own person? Do we already have an idea of the unsolidary and egocentric society we live in?
Acquiring resources in excess, hoarding them and thus making it impossible for other people in need to use them as well, and vigorously ignoring every form of human-induced suffering in the world such as war, underlines capitalist thinking in all its ugliness and brutality. Why do we cry out and cover ourselves with every possible precaution when people die from disease but not when people kill people?
Furthermore, European state treasuries and politicians promote the expansion of militarism, promote the arms industry worldwide, engage in racist smear campaigning in parliament, offer financial, political, economic and social aid for wars, depopulate entire regions, murder and prey hand in hand with war criminals.
Moreover, the fact that thousands of people who have been turned into a political bargaining chip are currently still on the Greek-Turkish border, while residents block the arrival of boats, right-wingers arrive to hunt refugees, and the coastguards deliberately look the other way while people are drowning seems to have disappeared from the front pages again.
Also, in times of pandemics it remains unnoticed with which reckless and selfish mentality humans have led the planet to the edge of the abyss, and “climate crisis” and “climate protection” mutate into social foreign words, while nature, life and future are extinguished out of human ignorance. The excitement and massive panic caused by the current pandemic is also due to another weapon of modern capitalism: the media.
Thousands of false reports are spreading every second, numerous unfounded theories and now also cleverly thought-out sales strategies are currently adorning TV, newspapers, social media, advertising and radios according to the motto “pay or die”. A mass psychology is created, which puts people in mortal fear, promotes isolation and tempts them to massive consumption.
What is the result of this special warfare? The psychological breakdown and complete dehumanisation of a society through professional manipulation. And we can observe: Mankind does not see itself in a position to learn from past catastrophes and to develop strategies for collective survival and a solidarity and democratic coexistence. Because we let ourselves be inhibited. And the main inhibitor screams his name: Capitalism. However, it is particularly important to underline now: The virus does not make any difference between people, but capitalism does.
While super-rich people already have private emergency rooms built and brick themselves in with their material abundance, the working masses of society are left alone with their needs. Not only does the congestion of ailing health care systems lead to a lack of care, it also forces those already working in precarious conditions to make inhumane efforts to cope with the flood of patients. During this spectacle, the Western pharmaceutical industry, for its part, watches with a roaring laugh as its funding pools are replenished in the face of the crisis, while Cuban researchers, whose health sector is not oriented towards profit maximisation, are already applying the first cures in countries such as China.
As always, it is the workers who bear the main burden under capitalism. In addition to this burden, these days tens of thousands of parents have to look after their children whose schools and kindergartens have been closed, because the state prefers to discuss financial aid for companies rather than compensation for loss of earnings.
If we look around in countries where there are still remains of sociality, we will see what it can look like when everyone is working together. Especially in the supposedly backward global South, measures are adopted swiftly and unbureaucratically and implemented by the population, whereas in Germany it is preferable to leave the thinking and acting to government circles that neither act in the interest of the common good nor are capable of making quick decisions without looking for the lowest common denominator with an eye on the next elections. Yet dealing with the crisis could be so easy. The key word is “solidarity.”
On this occasion, we would also like to take a look into the future:
We know too well from the past that once borders are closed, they remain closed for the time being. An end to European freedom of movement, a victory for the nationalists. The current situation gives us a lot to think about and therefore it is important to ask ourselves how a society that, as is currently visible, pursues a massive one-head consumer policy would behave if war broke out not only out of the corner of our eye but worldwide.
Another question worth thinking about is: What is the extent of the current exceptional situation when the spread has reached the final stage? Are house lootings, manslaughter and other intentional damage to others and complete isolation not already foreseeable? What other crisis do we as humanity want to be plunged into? To what extent do we want to continue to be influenced, stirred up against each other and isolated? Are we not prepared to resist the state-imposed competition and human exploitation?
Right now it’s all about solidarity! Because solidarity wins in every crisis! Let us not wait until we are sick to realise that we form a society and that everyone is affected. Let’s face it: Just as we are all at risk of corona, so we are all affected by war in the world and the suffering of our neighbours.
The current situation also requires that we do not allow our political efforts to be limited and that we continue to care for social life. Be empathetic with each other, always keep in mind the weakest in society and help your neighbours and other needy people around you. Stand up to capital and competition and make yourself clear: Together we’re stronger and together we can get through this.
We wish all those who have fallen ill a good and quick recovery. We express our sincere condolences to the families and relatives of the victims.
JXK (Association of Women Students from Kurdistan)
YXK (Association of students from Kurdistan)
