Solidarity 549, 26 May 2020

Not just Cummings

Not just the unelected Dominic Cummings. Boris Johnson should go. In fact, the whole Tory cabinet should go. But Johnson going would be a good start. Cummings’ trip to Durham, and Johnson’s endorsement, have disgusted millions who think: we made sacrifices, followed the rules so we didn’t see loved ones who were ill, lonely, dying — and you people don’t bother. It shows up the arrogance, bluster, bluff, brazening-out, floundering, and stonewalling of the government throughout the virus emergency. No-one can trust this government to tell even an approximation of the truth. Three months after...

Unite, schools and 1 June

The big union Unite has signed up to the “education unions' statement on the safe reopening of schools". This statement calls on the government “to step back from 1 June” and identifies the following core principles: • Safety and welfare of pupils and staff as the paramount principle • No increase in pupil numbers until full rollout of a national test and trace scheme • A national Covid-19 education taskforce with government, unions and education stakeholders to agree statutory guidance for safe reopening of schools • Consideration of the specific needs of vulnerable students and families...

Why do we call it "social" distancing?

It has become popular to speak of social distancing when we really speak of physical distancing to protect ourselves and others during a pandemic. This leads to the question why or how this term has entered our vocabulary. We all have social contacts in many ways, even if we can't go out together to the theatre, concerts, pubs or any other kinds of events at the moment. We all have family and friends, we are able to contact, and we do that. We don't want our relationships to break down, we want to be connected. The feeling of being connected is what keeps us strong. We are not alone in this...

Venezuela in the pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic is compounding what was already a social, political, and economic catastrophe in Venezuela. As of 22 May, the country has 944 reported cases, though I suspect the actual number is much higher. Collective quarantine measures are strengthening the authoritarian grip of President Nicolás Maduro. Ecologically destructive mining in the “Arco Minero” of the Venezuela’s Amazonian region has left residents of the nearby settlements in sanitary conditions that exacerbate the spread of disease. So remote are these settlements that it is difficult to purchase adequate cleaning...

Debate on the NEU and balloting

1. Todd Hamer To the casual observer there is something very odd about what is happening in the National Education Union. For some weeks the NEU leadership has rightly argued that it would be unsafe to reopen schools until there is a lower number of Coronavirus cases making possible tracing and testing (Test 1 of the NEU’s famous 5 Tests). Many people think this is very reasonable and nobody expects it to be achieved by 1 June. But instead of organising national refusal to work, the NEU has busied its reps with a 22 page checklist which is supposed to reveal whether it is safe for their...

The pandemic: where we're at, as of 23 May 2020

Daily death tolls have been going down in Britain since 22 April and worldwide (for now, anyway) since 16 April. Although death figures are unreliable, a country reporting a declining trend almost certainly really has one: definitions and reporting tend to widen rather than narrow. We don't know whether the current rise of the pandemic in South America will reach levels similar to those suffered in Europe between early-mid March and mid-April, or whether Africa will see something like South America, or whether there will be a "second wave" in Europe. Britain’s daily death rate remains about...

Momentum Renewal and class politics

Just by scanning its founding supporters list , you can see that Momentum Renewal is a version of “continuity Momentum”, supported by the bulk of those responsible for the organisation’s trajectory over the last three and half years. In some respects MR is almost certainly worse than "continuity". It seems to represent not just the existing Momentum office faction, but a particular wing of it - by and large, the worst wing of it. Those behind it were in general defenders of Momentum as it existed until the moment this campaign was launched. They militantly opposed democratic, class-struggle...

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