Mass Vaccination Can Make You Rich…

.. at least if you own a pharmaceutical corporation!

By Michael Pröbsting, International Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 22 June 2021, www.thecommunists.net

 

A few weeks ago, the campaign The People's Vaccine Alliance published a statement which reported that profits from Covid-19 jabs have helped at least nine people to become billionaires. The report noted: "Between them, the nine new billionaires have a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion (15.8 billion euros), enough to fully vaccinate all people in low-income countries 1.3 times." [1]

 

Among these new vaccine billionaires are the CEO of Moderna Stephane Bancel, his BioNTech counterpart Ugur Sahin as well as three co-founders of the Chinese vaccine company CanSino Biologics.

 

These facts demonstrate, once more, that the current mass vaccination campaigns which are run by capitalist governments (and supported by their media, the reformist bureaucracy and liberal academics) present gigantic opportunities to get rich quickly.

 

Such news is no surprise for Marxists and every critical-minded activist. The RCIT has pointed out since the beginning of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution in spring 2020 that the ruling classes all over the world have exploited the pandemic for their political and economic interests. [2] On one hand, they have launched a process of massive expansion of the the police and surveillance state – resulting in a shift from parliamentary democracy to Chauvinist State Bonapartism resp. an expansion of authoritarian state regimes. On the other hand, the big corporations have utilized the crisis for creating gigantic profits and advancing the process of monopolization.

 

Hence, the above-mentioned nine neo-billionaires are part of a general trend. As we have shown in several articles, the COVID-19 Counterrevolution has gigantically filled the pockets of the super-rich. According to a Bloomberg report, “the world’s 500 richest people added $1.8 trillion to their combined net worth this year [2020, Ed.]”. [3] Other reports have shown the same trend. [4]

 

It is only the capitulationist Lockdown Left which refuses to recognize these elementary facts and which continues to support basically all government campaigns (like lockdowns, banning of mass events under the pretext of “social distancing”, mass vaccination, etc.). [5] Several of these supporters of the Lockdown policy even call for a longer and more draconic curfew for the popular masses (see e.g. the notorious bourgeois “ZeroCovid” campaign). [6]

 

To avoid any misunderstanding. We neither deny the existence of a pandemic nor are we anti-vaxxers. But one must not fall into the other extreme and naively believe the official declarations and campaigns of the capitalist governments and their media. As we have pointed out on numerous occasions, many pandemics and diseases which have claimed numerous lives – partly in similar numbers like COVID-19 – have never provoked governments to impose such dramatic authoritarian measures as it has been the case in the past 16 months. [7] Just take the millions of people who died in the influenza pandemics in 1957-58 and in 1968-69, take the annual deaths caused by HIV/AIDS, by TBC, etc. Or take the fact that according to the WHO ¾ of a million people die every year as a result of long working hours. [8]

 

In short, if the response of capitalist governments to the COVID-19 pandemic would be driven primarily by health considerations, why have they never launched any similar dramatic response to all the other pandemics? Why now? What has changed? The answer is pretty obvious: the capitalist governments today care about public health as much as they did in the past (i.e. not at all). But today, they are in the midst of the worst depression of the capitalist world economy and, at the same time, they face the most dramatic upswing of class struggles at least since 1968-76. [9] In other words, the ruling class desperately needs the pandemic as a pre-text in order to paralyze and control the masses and to create new profitable business opportunities.

 

Furthermore, contrary to official claims, the Lockdown policy has been proven as not being effective as the case of Sweden demonstrates (as well as various global studies like those of Prof. John Ioannidis). [10] This country has never imposed such draconian measures until now. Nevertheless, it had a lower total excess mortality in 2020 than most other European countries which resorted to the policy of long and repeated mass curfews. [11]

 

Finally, only naïve servants of the ruling class can trust the promises which the governments and their media have made about the effectiveness of the mass vaccination campaigns. Take Chile – one of those countries in the world with the highest rate of vaccination. Nevertheless, the virus is spreading rapidly. True, infections have spread less in Europe in recent months. But this is primarily the result of the warm summer season – last year we saw the same development (at a time when no vaccination existed). The only thing which is certain is that the vaccination business increases the profits of the pharmaceutical corporations!

 

Let us conclude by stating once more that all pharmaceutical corporations should be expropriated and nationalized under control of the working people. This is the way to make sure that only such vaccine is produced which is seriously tested and which serves public health and not the profit of a few. It is also the precondition for international cooperation between all institutions – instead of reckless dog eat dog rivalry. Only such global planning and coordination will result in enhancing the health and living conditions of the world population (and not only of those in rich countries). Furthermore, socialists must continue to fight against the Lockdown policy and restrictions of democratic rights! No police and surveillance state!

 



[2] The RCIT has analysed the COVID-19 counterrevolution extensively since its beginning. Starting from 2 February 2020 we have published nearly 90 pamphlets, essays, articles and statements plus a book which are all compiled at a special sub-page on our website: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/collection-of-articles-on-the-2019-corona-virus/. In particular we refer readers to the RCIT Manifesto: COVID-19: A Cover for a Major Global Counterrevolutionary Offensive. We are at a turning point in the world situation as the ruling classes provoke a war-like atmosphere in order to legitimize the build-up of chauvinist state-bonapartist regimes, 21 March 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-a-cover-for-a-major-global-counterrevolutionary-offensive/. In addition, we draw attention to our book by Michael Pröbsting: The COVID-19 Global Counterrevolution: What It Is and How to Fight It. A Marxist analysis and strategy for the revolutionary struggle, RCIT Books, April 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/the-covid-19-global-counterrevolution/. See also our very first article on this issue by Almedina Gunić: Coronavirus: "I am not a Virus"... but WE will be the Cure! The chauvinist campaign behind the “Wuhan Coronavirus” hysteria and the revolutionary answer, 2 February 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/wuhan-virus/; Michael Pröbsting: The Second Wave of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution. On the ruling class strategy in the current conjuncture, its inner contradictions and the perspectives of the workers and popular resistance, 20 July 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/the-second-wave-of-the-covid-19-counterrevolution/; by the same author: The Police and Surveillance State in the Post-Lockdown Phase. A global review of the ruling class’s plans of expanding the bonapartist state machinery amidst the COVID-19 crisis, 21 May 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/police-and-surveillance-state-in-post-lockdown-phase/; COVID-19: The Great Barrington Declaration is indeed Great! Numerous medical scientists protest against the reactionary lockdown policy, 11 October 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-the-great-barrington-declaration-is-indeed-great/; Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: The Current and Historical Roots of Bourgeois Lockdown “Socialism”. Police State and Universal Basic Income are key elements of the new version of reformist “War Socialism” of 1914, 19 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/covid-19-the-current-and-historical-roots-of-bourgeois-lockdown-socialism/.

[3] See e.g. Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: That Was A Damn Good Year … for the Billionaires in West and East who massively gained from the anti-democratic Lockdown policy, 5 January 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-that-was-a-damn-good-year-for-the-billionaires-in-west-and-east/

[4] See e.g. Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: “A Market of up to 23 Billion US-Dollar”. The big corporations in the pharmaceutical industry expect gigantic profits by the vaccine business, 12 February 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-a-market-of-up-to-23-billion-us-dollar/; see also by the same author: COVID-19: An Opportunity Too Good to Be Missed by the Lords of Wealth and Money (Part 1). An “official” confirmation of the Marxist analysis that the ruling class utilizes the pandemic for expanding the bonapartist state, 18 January 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-an-opportunity-to-good-to-be-missed-by-the-lords-of-wealth-and-money-part-1/; COVID-19: An Opportunity Too Good to Be Missed by the Lords of Wealth and Money (Part 2). A few examples of how the monopoly capitalists rob the workers under the cover of the anti-democratic Lockdown policy, 11 February 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-an-opportunity-too-good-to-be-missed-by-the-lords-of-wealth-and-money-part-2/

[5] For our critique of the Lockdown Left see e.g. chapter V of our above-mentioned book by Michael Pröbsting: The COVID-19 Global Counterrevolution: What It Is and How to Fight It; see also by the same author the last chapters in the above mentioned essay: The Second Wave of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution; COVID-19 and the Lockdown Left: The Example of PODEMOS and Stalinism in Spain, 24 March 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-lockdown-left-podemos-and-stalinism-in-spain/; Social-Bonapartism in Argentina. The Partido Obrero (Tendencia) of Jorge Altamira supports the State of Emergency, 29 April 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/social-bonapartism-in-argentina/; When Ultra-Leftism marries Social-Bonapartism and Gives Birth to “Post-Marxist” Obscurantism. A reply to the CWG/ILTT, 5 May 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-when-ultra-leftism-marries-social-bonapartism/; Brazil: Social-Bonapartism of the Lockdown Left in Practice. How the leaderships of the trade unions, PT, PCdoB, the pseudo-Trotskyist PSTU and PSOL sabotage the struggle against the Bolsonaro government, 10 June 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/brazil-social-bonapartism-of-the-lockdown-left-in-practice/; Lockdown Left says: “Cops Need to Enforce Laws”. The ex-revolutionary L5I as another example for shameful social-bonapartism in the era of the COVID-19 counterrevolution, 24 July 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/lockdown-left-l5i-says-cops-need-to-enforce-laws/; COVID-19: Zero Socialism in the “ZeroCOVID“ campaign. Following the model of China and Australia, some British Stalinists and “Trotskyists” call for a “total and indefinite lockdown”, 22 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-zero-socialism-in-the-zerocovid-campaign/; COVID-19: The Current and Historical Roots of Bourgeois Lockdown “Socialism”. Police State and Universal Basic Income are key elements of the new version of reformist “War Socialism” of 1914, 19 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/covid-19-the-current-and-historical-roots-of-bourgeois-lockdown-socialism/

[6] See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: Zero Socialism in the “ZeroCOVID“ campaign. Following the model of China and Australia, some British Stalinists and “Trotskyists” call for a “total and indefinite lockdown”, 22 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-zero-socialism-in-the-zerocovid-campaign/

[7] See e.g. the above-mentioned literature. See also Medina Gunić: COVID-19: The Demystification of the so-called “deadly virus”, 4 May 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-the-demystification-of-the-so-called-deadly-virus/

[8] Frank Pega et al: Global, regional, and national burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours for 194 countries, 2000–2016: A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106595; Long working hours can increase deaths from heart disease and stroke, say ILO and WHO, 17 May 2021 https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_792131/lang--en/index.htm; BBC: Long working hours killing 745,000 people a year, study finds, 2021-05-18, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57139434

[9] See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: Interesting Assessments of the Global Class Struggle by a Bourgeois Think Tank. A commentary on the findings of the latest issue of the “Global Peace Index” by the “Institute for Economics & Peace”,  21 June 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/interesting-assessments-of-the-global-class-struggle-by-a-bourgeois-think-tank/

[10] John Ioannidis et al: Assessing Mandatory Stay-At-Home and Business Closure Effects on the Spread of COVID-19, doi:10.1111/ECI.13484

[11] See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: Mr. and Mrs. Lockdown Left: We Told You So! Official studies on extra mortality in Europa show Sweden which had no Lockdowns performed better than most other countries, 26 March 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/mr-and-mrs-lockdown-left-we-told-you-so/. See also various other RCIT articles on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for total mortality: Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: A Comparison of Historical Data. An analysis of the COVID-19 death figures and those of past pandemics and climate disasters based on data from the World Bank, 19 January 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-a-comparison-of-historical-data/; by the same author: COVID-19: Sweden's Total Mortality in 2020 Compared with Past Years, 23 January 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-sweden-s-total-mortality-in-2020-compared-with-past-years/; COVID-19: Some Interesting Facts (Which Governments & Media Conceal) Some Calculations about Total Mortality in Europe in 2020 compared with 2016 and 2018, 23 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-and-total-mortality-in-europe/; COVID-19: How Severe is the Pandemic in Sweden Really? Once again, a comparison demonstrates that the mortality rate in 2020 is barely larger than in 2018, 8 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-how-severe-is-the-pandemic-in-sweden-really/; COVID-19: Revealing Figures from Sweden. A comparison of the mortality rates of the first 9 months in 2020 with previous years confirm that this is a serious but not unprecedented pandemic, 23 November 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-revealing-figures-from-sweden/; see also the chapter “Telling figures for Europe, Sweden and Ischgl” in the above-mentioned essay “The Second Wave of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution”.

 

La vacunación masiva puede hacerte rico... ¡al menos si es dueño de una corporación farmacéutica!

Por Michael Pröbsting, Secretario Internacional de la Corriente Comunista Revolucionaria Internacional, 22 de junio de 2021, www.thecommunists.net

 

Hace unas semanas, la campaña The People's Vaccine Alliance publicó un comunicado en el que informaba que las ganancias debido a los golpes de Covid-19 han ayudado al menos a nueve personas a convertirse en multimillonarios. El informe señaló: "Entre ellos, los nueve nuevos multimillonarios tienen una riqueza neta combinada de $ 19,3 mil millones (15,8 mil millones de euros), suficiente para vacunar completamente a todas las personas en países de bajos ingresos 1,3 veces". [1]

 

Entre estos nuevos multimillonarios de vacunas se encuentran el director ejecutivo de Moderna Stephane Bancel, su homólogo de BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, así como tres cofundadores de la empresa china de vacunas CanSino Biologics. Estos hechos demuestran, una vez más, que las actuales campañas de vacunación masiva que llevan a cabo los gobiernos capitalistas (y apoyadas por sus medios de comunicación, la burocracia reformista y los académicos liberales) presentan gigantescas oportunidades para enriquecerse rápidamente.

 

Esta noticia no sorprende a los marxistas ni a todos los activistas de mentalidad crítica. La CCRI ha señalado desde el inicio de la Contrarrevolución COVID-19, en la primavera de 2020, que las clases dominantes de todo el mundo se han aprovechado de la pandemia para sus intereses políticos y económicos. [2] Por un lado, han iniciado un proceso de expansión masiva del estado policial y de vigilancia, lo que ha resultado en un cambio de la democracia parlamentaria hacia el bonapartismo estatal chovinista, por lo tanto una expansión de los regímenes estatales autoritarios. Por otro lado, las grandes corporaciones han utilizado la crisis para generar ganancias gigantescas y hacer avanzar el proceso de monopolización.

 

Por todo esto, los nueve neo-multimillonarios mencionados anteriormente son parte de una tendencia general. Como hemos mostrado en varios artículos, la Contrarrevolución COVID-19 ha llenado gigantescamente los bolsillos de los súper ricos. Según un informe de Bloomberg, "las 500 personas más ricas del mundo agregaron $ 1.8 billones a su patrimonio neto combinado este año [2020, Ed.]". [3] Otros informes han mostrado la misma tendencia. [4]

 

Sólo la izquierda capituladora se niega a reconocer estos hechos elementales y sigue defendiendo básicamente todas las campañas de gobierno (como encierros, prohibición de eventos masivos con el pretexto de “distanciamiento social”, vacunación masiva, etc.). [5] Varios de estos partidarios de la política de bloqueo incluso piden un toque de queda más prolongado y draconiano para las masas populares (ver, por ejemplo, la notoria campaña burguesa “ZeroCovid”). [6]

 

Para evitar malentendidos. No negamos la existencia de una pandemia ni somos anti-vacunas. Pero no hay que caer en el otro extremo y creer ingenuamente las declaraciones y campañas oficiales de los gobiernos capitalistas y sus medios de comunicación. Como hemos señalado en numerosas ocasiones, muchas pandemias y enfermedades que se han cobrado numerosas vidas, en parte en números similares como COVID-19, nunca han provocado que los gobiernos impongan medidas autoritarias tan dramáticas como ha sido el caso en los últimos 16 meses. [7] Simplemente tomemos en cuenta los millones de personas que murieron en las pandemias de influenza en 1957-58 y en 1968-69, las muertes anuales causadas por el VIH / SIDA, por TBC, etc. O el hecho de que, según la OMS, millones mueren por año como resultado de largas jornadas laborales. [8]

 

En resumen, si la respuesta de los gobiernos capitalistas a la pandemia de COVID-19 fuera impulsada por consideraciones de salud. ¿Por qué nunca han lanzado una respuesta similar a todas las demás pandemias? ¿Porqué ahora, qué cambió? La respuesta es bastante obvia: los gobiernos capitalistas de hoy se preocupan por la salud pública tanto como en el pasado (es decir, nada). Pero hoy están en medio de la peor depresión de la economía mundial capitalista y, al mismo tiempo, enfrentan el repunte más dramático de las luchas de clases al menos desde 1968-76. [9] En otras palabras, la clase dominante necesita desesperadamente la pandemia como pre-texto para paralizar y controlar a las masas y crear nuevas oportunidades de negocios rentables.

 

Además, contrariamente a las afirmaciones oficiales, se ha demostrado que la política de confinamientos o "lockoewn" no es eficaz, como lo demuestra el caso de Suecia (así como varios estudios globales como los del profesor John Ioannidis). [10] Este país nunca ha impuesto medidas tan draconianas hasta ahora. Sin embargo, tuvo un exceso de mortalidad total menor en 2020 que la mayoría de los demás países europeos que recurrieron a la política de toques de queda masivos prolongados y repetidos. [11]

 

Finalmente, solo los sirvientes ingenuos de la clase dominante pueden confiar en las promesas que los gobiernos y sus medios de comunicación han hecho sobre la efectividad de las campañas masivas de vacunación. Tomemos a Chile, uno de esos países del mundo con la tasa más alta de vacunación, a pesar de lo cual, el virus se está propagando rápidamente. Es cierto que las infecciones se han propagado menos en Europa en los últimos meses. Pero esto es principalmente el resultado de la cálida temporada de verano: el año pasado vimos el mismo desarrollo (en un momento en que no existía ninguna vacuna). ¡Lo único seguro es que el negocio de la vacunación aumenta las ganancias de las corporaciones farmacéuticas!

 

Concluyamos afirmando una vez más, que todas las corporaciones farmacéuticas deben ser expropiadas y nacionalizadas bajo el control de los trabajadores. Ésta es la manera de asegurarse de que solo se produzca una vacuna que sea probada seriamente y que sirva a la salud pública y no al beneficio de unos pocos. También es la condición previa para la cooperación internacional entre todas las instituciones, en lugar de una rivalidad imprudente entre perros. Solo esa planificación y coordinación mundiales redundarán en una mejora de la salud y las condiciones de vida de la población mundial (y no solo de la de los países ricos). Además, ¡Los socialistas deben continuar luchando contra la política de confinamientos y las restricciones de los derechos democráticos! ¡Sin policía y estado de vigilancia!

 

 

 


 

[1] See e.g. Guillaume Souvant: Covid-19 vaccines have spawned nine new billionaires: campaign group, 20/05/2021 https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210520-covid-19-vaccines-have-spawned-nine-new-billionaires-campaign-group; Covid-19 vaccines have spawned nine new billionaires: campaign group, https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/may/20/coronavirus-live-news-tokyo-olympics-will-be-safe-says-ioc-vaccines-make-nine-people-billionaires?page=with:block-60a5f3038f08ac572d8a01e1#block-60a5f3038f08ac572d8a01e1

 

[2] The RCIT has analysed the COVID-19 counterrevolution extensively since its beginning. Starting from 2 February 2020 we have published nearly 90 pamphlets, essays, articles and statements plus a book which are all compiled at a special sub-page on our website: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/collection-of-articles-on-the-2019-corona-virus/. In particular we refer readers to the RCIT Manifesto: COVID-19: A Cover for a Major Global Counterrevolutionary Offensive. We are at a turning point in the world situation as the ruling classes provoke a war-like atmosphere in order to legitimize the build-up of chauvinist state-bonapartist regimes, 21 March 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-a-cover-for-a-major-global-counterrevolutionary-offensive/. In addition, we draw attention to our book by Michael Pröbsting: The COVID-19 Global Counterrevolution: What It Is and How to Fight It. A Marxist analysis and strategy for the revolutionary struggle, RCIT Books, April 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/the-covid-19-global-counterrevolution/. See also our very first article on this issue by Almedina Gunić: Coronavirus: "I am not a Virus"... but WE will be the Cure! The chauvinist campaign behind the “Wuhan Coronavirus” hysteria and the revolutionary answer, 2 February 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/wuhan-virus/; Michael Pröbsting: The Second Wave of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution. On the ruling class strategy in the current conjuncture, its inner contradictions and the perspectives of the workers and popular resistance, 20 July 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/the-second-wave-of-the-covid-19-counterrevolution/; by the same author: The Police and Surveillance State in the Post-Lockdown Phase. A global review of the ruling class’s plans of expanding the bonapartist state machinery amidst the COVID-19 crisis, 21 May 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/police-and-surveillance-state-in-post-lockdown-phase/; COVID-19: The Great Barrington Declaration is indeed Great! Numerous medical scientists protest against the reactionary lockdown policy, 11 October 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-the-great-barrington-declaration-is-indeed-great/; Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: The Current and Historical Roots of Bourgeois Lockdown “Socialism”. Police State and Universal Basic Income are key elements of the new version of reformist “War Socialism” of 1914, 19 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/covid-19-the-current-and-historical-roots-of-bourgeois-lockdown-socialism/.

 

[3] See e.g. Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: That Was A Damn Good Year … for the Billionaires in West and East who massively gained from the anti-democratic Lockdown policy, 5 January 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-that-was-a-damn-good-year-for-the-billionaires-in-west-and-east/

 

[4] See e.g. Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: “A Market of up to 23 Billion US-Dollar”. The big corporations in the pharmaceutical industry expect gigantic profits by the vaccine business, 12 February 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-a-market-of-up-to-23-billion-us-dollar/; see also by the same author: COVID-19: An Opportunity Too Good to Be Missed by the Lords of Wealth and Money (Part 1). An “official” confirmation of the Marxist analysis that the ruling class utilizes the pandemic for expanding the bonapartist state, 18 January 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-an-opportunity-to-good-to-be-missed-by-the-lords-of-wealth-and-money-part-1/; COVID-19: An Opportunity Too Good to Be Missed by the Lords of Wealth and Money (Part 2). A few examples of how the monopoly capitalists rob the workers under the cover of the anti-democratic Lockdown policy, 11 February 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-an-opportunity-too-good-to-be-missed-by-the-lords-of-wealth-and-money-part-2/

 

[5] For our critique of the Lockdown Left see e.g. chapter V of our above-mentioned book by Michael Pröbsting: The COVID-19 Global Counterrevolution: What It Is and How to Fight It; see also by the same author the last chapters in the above mentioned essay: The Second Wave of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution; COVID-19 and the Lockdown Left: The Example of PODEMOS and Stalinism in Spain, 24 March 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-lockdown-left-podemos-and-stalinism-in-spain/; Social-Bonapartism in Argentina. The Partido Obrero (Tendencia) of Jorge Altamira supports the State of Emergency, 29 April 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/social-bonapartism-in-argentina/; When Ultra-Leftism marries Social-Bonapartism and Gives Birth to “Post-Marxist” Obscurantism. A reply to the CWG/ILTT, 5 May 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-when-ultra-leftism-marries-social-bonapartism/; Brazil: Social-Bonapartism of the Lockdown Left in Practice. How the leaderships of the trade unions, PT, PCdoB, the pseudo-Trotskyist PSTU and PSOL sabotage the struggle against the Bolsonaro government, 10 June 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/latin-america/brazil-social-bonapartism-of-the-lockdown-left-in-practice/; Lockdown Left says: “Cops Need to Enforce Laws”. The ex-revolutionary L5I as another example for shameful social-bonapartism in the era of the COVID-19 counterrevolution, 24 July 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/lockdown-left-l5i-says-cops-need-to-enforce-laws/; COVID-19: Zero Socialism in the “ZeroCOVID“ campaign. Following the model of China and Australia, some British Stalinists and “Trotskyists” call for a “total and indefinite lockdown”, 22 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-zero-socialism-in-the-zerocovid-campaign/; COVID-19: The Current and Historical Roots of Bourgeois Lockdown “Socialism”. Police State and Universal Basic Income are key elements of the new version of reformist “War Socialism” of 1914, 19 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/covid-19-the-current-and-historical-roots-of-bourgeois-lockdown-socialism/

 

[6] See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: Zero Socialism in the “ZeroCOVID“ campaign. Following the model of China and Australia, some British Stalinists and “Trotskyists” call for a “total and indefinite lockdown”, 22 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-zero-socialism-in-the-zerocovid-campaign/

 

[7] See e.g. the above-mentioned literature. See also Medina Gunić: COVID-19: The Demystification of the so-called “deadly virus”, 4 May 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-the-demystification-of-the-so-called-deadly-virus/

 

[8] Frank Pega et al: Global, regional, and national burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours for 194 countries, 2000–2016: A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106595; Long working hours can increase deaths from heart disease and stroke, say ILO and WHO, 17 May 2021 https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_792131/lang--en/index.htm; BBC: Long working hours killing 745,000 people a year, study finds, 2021-05-18, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57139434

 

[9] See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: Interesting Assessments of the Global Class Struggle by a Bourgeois Think Tank. A commentary on the findings of the latest issue of the “Global Peace Index” by the “Institute for Economics & Peace”, 21 June 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/interesting-assessments-of-the-global-class-struggle-by-a-bourgeois-think-tank/

 

[10] John Ioannidis et al: Assessing Mandatory Stay-At-Home and Business Closure Effects on the Spread of COVID-19, doi:10.1111/ECI.13484

 

[11] See on this e.g. Michael Pröbsting: Mr. and Mrs. Lockdown Left: We Told You So! Official studies on extra mortality in Europa show Sweden which had no Lockdowns performed better than most other countries, 26 March 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/mr-and-mrs-lockdown-left-we-told-you-so/. See also various other RCIT articles on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for total mortality: Michael Pröbsting: COVID-19: A Comparison of Historical Data. An analysis of the COVID-19 death figures and those of past pandemics and climate disasters based on data from the World Bank, 19 January 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-a-comparison-of-historical-data/; by the same author: COVID-19: Sweden's Total Mortality in 2020 Compared with Past Years, 23 January 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-sweden-s-total-mortality-in-2020-compared-with-past-years/; COVID-19: Some Interesting Facts (Which Governments & Media Conceal) Some Calculations about Total Mortality in Europe in 2020 compared with 2016 and 2018, 23 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-and-total-mortality-in-europe/; COVID-19: How Severe is the Pandemic in Sweden Really? Once again, a comparison demonstrates that the mortality rate in 2020 is barely larger than in 2018, 8 December 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-how-severe-is-the-pandemic-in-sweden-really/; COVID-19: Revealing Figures from Sweden. A comparison of the mortality rates of the first 9 months in 2020 with previous years confirm that this is a serious but not unprecedented pandemic, 23 November 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/covid-19-revealing-figures-from-sweden/; see also the chapter “Telling figures for Europe, Sweden and Ischgl” in the above-mentioned essay “The Second Wave of the COVID-19 Counterrevolution”.

 

 

 

대량 백신접종이 당신을 억만장자로 만들어줄 수 있다...

적어도 당신이 제약회사를 소유하고 있다면!

미하엘 프뢰브스팅, 혁명적 공산주의인터내셔널 동맹 (RCIT) 국제서기, 2021 6 22, www.thecommunists.net

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민중백신연합(https://peoplesvaccine.org/) 성명을 내고, 코로나19 예방접종으로 거둬들이는 이윤으로 적어도 9명의 사람이 억만장자가 되는데 도움이 됐다고 보도했다. "9명의 새로운 억만장자의 순자산을 합치면 193 달러로, 저소득국 모든 사람들에게 1.3배의 백신접종을 있는 충분한 금액이다."[1]

 

새로운 백신 억만장자 중에는 모더나 최고경영자(CEO) 스테판 반셀과 바이오 엔테크 최고경영자 우구어 자힌, 그리고 중국 백신회사 칸시노 바이오로직스의 공동 창업자 3인이 있다.

 

이러한 사실들은 자본가 정부들에 의해 진행되는 (그리고 그들의 언론과 개량주의 관료와 자유주의 학자들에 의해 지지받고 있는) 현재의 대량 백신접종 캠페인이 빠르게 부자가 있는 거대한 기회를 제공한다는 것을 다시 보여준다.

 

이러한 뉴스는 맑스주의자들과 비판적 사고를 가진 모든 활동가들에게는 놀라운 일이 아니다. RCIT 2020 코로나19 반혁명 시작 때부터 세계의 지배계급들이 자신들의 정치적·경제적 이익을 위해 팬데믹을 이용했다고 지적해왔다.[2] 저들은 한편으로 경찰·감시국가의 대대적인 확장 프로세스에 착수하였는데, 이로써 의회 민주주의에서 배외주의적 국가 보나파르트주의로의 전환과 권위주의적 국가체제의 확충을 가져왔다. 다른 한편으로 대기업들이 코로나 사태를, 막대한 이윤을 창출하고 독점 강화 프로세스를 진전시키는 이용했다.

 

그러므로 위에서 언급한 9명의 억만장자는 일반적 동향의 일부다. 우리가 여러 기사에서 보여주었듯이, 코로나19 반혁명은 슈퍼리치의 주머니를 엄청나게 채워주었다. 블룸버그 통신 보도에 따르면, “세계 500 부자들이 올해 [2020, 인용자] 그들의 순자산에 도합 18천억 달러를 추가했다.”[3] 다른 보도들도 동일한 추이를 보여주고 있다.[4]

 

이러한 기초적인 사실들을 인정하길 거부하고 모든 정부 캠페인 (록다운, "사회적 거리두기" 내세워 대중집회를 비롯한 대규모 행사 금지, 대량 백신접종 ) 계속 지지하는 것은 오직 투항주의 록다운 좌파들뿐이다.[5] 이들 록다운 정책 지지자 일부는 심지어 인민대중에 대한 장기적이고 가혹한 이동제한/통행금지 실시를 요구하고 있다. (예를 들어, 악명 높은 "제로 코로나" 캠페인을 보라).[6]

 

오해를 피하기 위해서. 우리는 팬데믹의 존재를 부인하지도 않으며, 백신접종 거부자도 아니다. 그러나 다른 극단으로 빠져서는 되며, 자본가 정부와 그들 언론의 공식 선언과 캠페인을 순진하게 믿어서는 된다. 우리가 여러 차례 지적했듯이, 과거 수많은 생명을 앗아간 많은 팬데믹 전염병들과 질병들 부분적으로 코로나19 비슷한 사망자수를 보인 경우, 자본가 정부들은 지난 16개월 동안 그랬던 것과 같은 그렇게 극적인 권위주의적 조치를 실시한 적이 없다.[7] 1957-58 1968-69년에 독감 팬데믹으로 수백만 명이 사망했을 때를 떠올려만 봐도 있다. 또는 후천성 면역 결핍 증후군(HIV/AIDS)으로, 결핵으로 인한 연간 사망자 수를 떠올려보라. 장시간 노동의 결과로 매년 75 명이 죽는다는 사실 (WHO 보고) 여기에 추가하자.[8]

 

간단히 말해, 자본가정부의 코로나19 팬데믹 대응이 일차적으로 보건상의 고려에 의해 이루어진다면, 다른 모든 팬데믹들에 대해서는 그와 같은 전격적인 대응을 감행하지 않은 것일까? 지금은? 무엇이 바뀌었는데? 답은 아주 명백하다. 오늘 자본가정부는 과거에 했던 만큼 공중보건에 신경 쓴다. ( 전혀 신경 쓰지 않는다). 그러나 오늘 저들은 자본주의 세계경제 최악의 공황 가운데 있고, 동시에 적어도 1968-76 이래로 가장 급격한 계급투쟁 상승에 직면해 있다.[9] 다시 말해, 지배계급은 대중을 통제하여 마비, 원자화시키고 새로운 이윤 나는 비즈니스 기회를 창출하기 위한 구실로 팬데믹이 절실히 필요하다.

 

더욱이 공식 주장과는 달리, 록다운 정책은 스웨덴의 사례가 증명하듯이 ( 이오아니디스 교수의 연구를 비롯한 여러 글로벌 연구들도 증명하듯이) 효과가 없는 것으로 입증되었다.[10] 스웨덴은 지금까지 같은 록다운 등의 조치를 실시한 적이 없음에도, 장기간의 반복적인 대량 통행금지/이동제한 정책을 실시한 대부분의 다른 유럽 나라들보다 2020 초과사망률이 낮았다.[11]

 

끝으로, 지배계급의 순진한 시종들만이 대량 백신접종 캠페인의 효과에 대해 정부와 언론이 약속을 믿을 있다. 칠레를 보자. 세계에서 백신 접종률이 가장 높은 나라 하나지만, 그럼에도 바이러스는 빠르게 퍼지고 있다. 최근 동안 유럽에서 감염 확산이 낮아진 것은 사실이다.