MEDIA and political support for mass demonstrations over the brutal killing of George Floyd continues. Meanwhile, here in Scotland roadblocks are set up for those daring to drive alone with their families beyond the proscribed five-mile limit. The state, it seems, can pick and choose who is allowed their freedom and who is not.
The demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd are seen as important enough to take a more balanced approach to the lockdown. Perhaps a similar approach needs to be taken when it comes to the economy.
The economy is in meltdown. The Institute for Public Policy Research calls it an “economic crisis beyond anything we’ve seen in peacetime”. Reports suggest one in ten Scots could face losing their jobs. On top of this the UK Government is developing a debt that could make recent austerity measures look like a stroll in the park.
All of this was predictable once the lockdown started. The destruction of industries, businesses, jobs, services (including the health service), and consequently lives, was always the logical outcome of closing down society. Things continue to decline and yet still the voices for industry and for labour and for a balanced approach to the crisis is nowhere to be heard.
In different times, as early as the 1980s, I suspect, a health crisis of this kind would have been treated very differently.
Workers have had no collective voice in politics for a generation. But what is fascinating about the lockdown is the voice of industry, of business, of the capitalist class, is nowhere. Instead we find what is called a new elite or new class – the experts and the technocrats – have taken over the asylum. With their one-dimensional risk-averse approach we find they have submitted to the virus rather than trying to manage it and society.
The virus is a serious risk, but largely for people with health problems and the elderly. The destruction of the economy is also a serious risk, and potentially one with far longer and more serious consequences than Covid-19. And yet the clamour in defence of “British industry”, or the campaigns or marches about “mass unemployment” have no public or political expression.
In many areas of Scotland, the virus is almost non-existent. For many workers the risk is tiny. For children the risk is close to zero. There are levels of risk everywhere we look. It’s time to start taking some.
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