Why We Can’t Breathe

No need to recount those awful images. Everybody saw them. They instantly became a powerful symbol that resonated all over the world: ā€œWeā€™ll keep our knee on your neck until you dieā€, they seemed to say. It soon appeared that many felt that knee pressure on their necks: The pressure of disrespect and discrimination; the pressure of being robbed of a future; the pressure of brutal repression and control. For the second time, the desperate cry of a man being murdered by the police for having transgressed the rules of commerce, was taken over by thousands: ā€œI canā€™t breathe!!!ā€

But now the cry is much louder, resounding in seven hundred American cities and around the world. Its symbolism too is powerfully resonating. ā€œWe canā€™t breatheā€ is a particular apt slogan for today.

We canā€™t breathe because you stoke hate and violence, racism, nationalism and xenophobia to divide us so you can rule;

We canā€™t breathe because you take away our means to make a decent living and our hopes for the future while you make the rich ever richer;

We canā€™t breathe because you poison our environment, as you destroy life on earth for your profits;

We canā€™t breathe because you facilitate pandemics, and then lock us up and send the lowest paid amongst us, more often than not black or brown men and women, to work in dangerous conditions;

We canā€™t breathe because, while exalting freedom, your state is an octopus extending its arms into all aspects of life; you spy on us, your police are armies, trained to harass, hunt and kill and most of all, to intimidate us, to keep us small;

We canā€™t breathe because while you claim to be devoted to justice, you sweat injustice from every pore.  

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La naturaleza humana en la crisis del coronavirus

La crisis sanitaria mundial es un verdadero revelador de la naturaleza humana y sus contradicciones. Al bloquear parcialmente aspectos fundamentales de la vida social ordinaria, como el trabajo, el contacto humano, el transporte y el ocio, arroja una luz diferente sobre muchas de las ideas, creencias y prĆ”cticas en las que se basa el orden establecido. Crea un “vacĆ­o” donde los reflejos, los impulsos humanos “naturales” salen a la superficie mĆ”s fĆ”cilmente, liberados de los numerosos yugos y mĆ”scaras ideolĆ³gicos detrĆ”s de los cuales viven mĆ”s o menos reprimidos o disfrazados.

Esta crisis tiene muchas caracterĆ­sticas Ćŗnicas en comparaciĆ³n con todas las pandemias del pasado. Entre ellas se encuentra la paralizaciĆ³n simultĆ”nea de sectores esenciales de la producciĆ³n mundial. Pero para el tema en cuestiĆ³n me gustarĆ­a destacar su carĆ”cter simultĆ”neamente planetario y “wired”, conectado. A pesar del control y los lĆ­mites impuestos por los estados nacionales, a pesar de las grandes desigualdades que aĆŗn existen entre los paĆ­ses, la gran mayorĆ­a de la poblaciĆ³n mundial estĆ” conectada al resto de la raza humana por las nuevas tecnologĆ­as de la informaciĆ³n y la comunicaciĆ³n. MĆ”s de 5.000 millones de personas tenĆ­an un telĆ©fono en 2017, de los cuales 3.300 millones de smartphones.  

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Human Nature in the Coronavirus Crisis

The global health crisis is a true revealer of human nature and its contradictions. By partially blocking fundamental aspects of ordinary social life, such as work, human contact, transport, leisure, it throws a different light on many of the ideas, beliefs and practices on which the established order is based. This creates a “void” where reflexes, “natural” human impulses, come more easily to the surface, free of the many shackles and ideological masks behind which they live more or less repressed or disguised. This crisis has many unique characteristics compared to all the pandemics of the past. The simultaneous paralysis of essential sectors of world production is by no means the least. But for the question which interests us I would like to underline its simultaneously planetary and “wired”, character. Despite the control and limits imposed by national states, despite the great inequalities that persist between countries, the vast majority of the world’s population is connected to the rest of the humans by new information and communication technologies. More than 5 billion people owned a phone in 2017, including 3.3 billion a smartphone. (1) This gives a new dimension to the understanding of what human nature can be. I do not pretend to deduce here everything that follows from this reality.  

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La nature humaine dans la crise du coronavirus

 

L’article suivant est Ć©crit par un membre du groupe de discussionĀ  Cercle de Paris (CdP).

La crise sanitaire mondiale constitue un vĆ©ritable rĆ©vĆ©lateur de la nature humaine et de ses contradictions. En bloquant partiellement des aspects fondamentaux de la vie sociale ordinaire, tels le travail, les contacts humains, les transports, les loisirs, elle jette une lumiĆØre diffĆ©rente sur beaucoup d’idĆ©es, de convictions et de pratiques sur lesquelles repose l’ordre Ć©tabli. Cela crĆ©e un “vide” oĆ¹ les rĆ©flexes, les pulsions humaines “naturelles” remontent plus facilement Ć  la surface dĆ©barrassĆ©es de nombreux carcans et masques idĆ©ologiques derriĆØre lesquels elles vivent plus oĆ¹ moins rĆ©primĆ©es ou dĆ©guisĆ©es.

Cette crise a beaucoup de spĆ©cificitĆ©s uniques par rapport Ć  toutes les pandĆ©mies du passĆ©. La paralysie simultanĆ©e de secteurs essentiels de la production mondiale n’en est pas la moindre. Mais pour la question qui nous intĆ©resse je voudrais souligner son caractĆØre simultanĆ©ment planĆ©taire et “wired”, cĆ¢blĆ©. MalgrĆ© le contrĆ“le et les limites imposĆ©s par les Ɖtats nationaux, malgrĆ© les grandes inĆ©galitĆ©s qui subsistent entre pays, la grande majoritĆ© de la population mondiale est connectĆ©e au reste des humains par les nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la communication. Plus de 5 milliards de personnes possĆ©daient un tĆ©lĆ©phone en 2017, dont 3,3 milliards un smartphone.  

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What We Learn From The Coronavirus Pandemic

LESSON ONE

The first lesson is that the capitalist system is incapable of leading us through the crisis today and those to come.

It is not just that most of our government leaders are craven bastards, shameless liars, and
incompetent imbeciles. That, of course, is what they mostly are and none more than those leading the ā€œgreatest capitalist powerā€ — the U.S. Itā€™s not just that politicians are making money in the stock market with insider information while others, unprepared, are left to die. Itā€™s not just that billionaires are raking in even more billions, safe on their offshore yachts. Itā€™s not just that the so-called bailouts are hijacked by special interests and mostly help the banks. Trickling down to whom? Not even the much-vaunted small businesses. Itā€™s not just that we are living in a new ā€œfeudalism,ā€ where some are lucky enough to have ā€œlordsā€ (or ā€œgovernorsā€) who want to cushion the effect of the crisis on the citizens of their fiefdom, while others manifestly donā€™t give a damn who dies as long as tattoo parlors open up. Itā€™s not just that people are so starved for any real information about the virus that they make heroes out of the ā€œrepresentativesā€ of the ā€œscientific establishmentā€ they see paraded before them, muzzled by the politicians, the ovens.  

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EL VIRUS Y EL ƁRBOL DE DINERO

La crisis viral se ha transformado en una crisis global de reproducciĆ³n social sin un fin a la vista. Con el cierre de fĆ”bricas, oficinas, escuelas e innumerables otras instituciones, muchos millones de personas en todo el mundo se enfrentan a la pĆ©rdida de ingresos, vivienda y acceso a recursos bĆ”sicos de supervivencia. Mientras tanto, la pandemia mortal continĆŗa, extendiĆ©ndose a los paĆ­ses mĆ”s pobres del mundo que estĆ”n aĆŗn menos preparados para contenerla. Todo el mundo estĆ” conmocionado. La confianza en la sabidurĆ­a de nuestros amos capitalistas, y en su capacidad para lidiar con los peligros actuales, estĆ” sufriendo un gran daƱo. Las imponentes columnas de mĆ”rmol de los templos del gobierno y las finanzas, ya no se ven tan robustas. Crece la sensaciĆ³n de que todo esto podrĆ­a estar al borde del colapso. Muchos tienen miedo. Muchos recurrieron a la compra-pĆ”nico (en particular a la acumulaciĆ³n de papel higiĆ©nico, lo que sugiere que el papel higiĆ©nico podrĆ­a convertirse en la moneda post-apocalĆ­ptica :). Algunos, buscando un objetivo por su miedo, maltrataron a los asiĆ”ticos. Muchos mĆ”s cuidaron a los mĆ”s vulnerables, se ayudaron mutuamente, se solidarizaron con los trabajadores de la salud y los enfermos.  

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The Virus and the Money Tree

The viral crisis has mutated into a global crisis of social reproduction with no end in sight. With the shutdown of factories, offices, schools and countless other institutions, many millions of people all over the world are facing loss of income, housing, and access to basic survival resources. Meanwhile, the deadly pandemic is raging on, spreading to the poorer countries of the world which are even less prepared to contain it. The whole world is shocked. The trust in the wisdom of our capitalist masters, and in their ability to deal with the present-day dangers, is suffering great damage. The imposing marble columns of the temples of government and finance donā€™t look so sturdy anymore. A feeling grows that all this could collapse. Many are scared. Many resorted to panic buying (stock-piling toilet paper in particular, which suggests that TP might become the post-apocalyptic currencyā˜ŗ). Some, seeking a target for their fear, mistreated Asian people. Many more took care of the most vulnerable, helped each other, showed solidarity with the health workers and the sick. These spontaneous reactions indicate the opposite directions in which the world could go.  
  This is a crisis of capitalism Capitalism has not created this virus.  

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Deforestation

The climate crisis is accelerating before our eyes and the whole world sees it. Australia is burning, floods and other disasters abound. Not long before the smoke of burning trees darkened the skies of Australia, it did so in South America, where the deforestation of Amazonia rapidly progresses. This catastrophe is the subject of the following text, translated from ā€œLa Oveja Negraā€ (“The Black Sheep”), a group and publication based in Argentina, with an outlook similar to ours. Brazilā€™s right-wing president is often blamed for the burning of the Amazon Forest, but this article shows that left-wing governments did and do the same thing; that it is not a particular government that causes the climate crisis but capitalism itself. As scary as the burning forests are, for La Oveja Negra , itā€™s even scarier, ā€œthat we continue to bear the unbearable, that we continue choosing the lesser evil. The most worrying thing is the inability of human beings to imagine something other than life in capitalism, just at the moment when this way of life is falling apart. The deforestation of the imagination is as dangerous as the deforestation of the Amazon.ā€ Is this inability permanent and irreversible? There are signs that this might not be the case.  

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LA CRISIS DEL VALOR

 

Un texto de 2009, aĆŗn relevante

No hay necesidad de repetir que nos encontramos en el medio de la peor crisis del capitalismo desde 1930: inclusive en los medios de comunicaciĆ³n masivos esto se ha convertido en un mantra. Pero Āæpor quĆ© estamos en este lĆ­o? Las medidas a tomar (o a no tomar) que son recomendadas dependen de la respuesta a esta pregunta. En si, la forma en la que la crisis es representada implica una respuesta. Los medios de comunicaciĆ³n nos han inundado con historias de avaricia, historias de mala administraciĆ³n y sobre la falta de regulaciĆ³n. El modelo ā€œAnglosajĆ³nā€, ā€œneo-liberalā€ de mercados libres desenfrenados ha sido rigurosamente desacreditado, los hĆ©roes econĆ³micos de la derecha han caĆ­do de sus pedestales, y el buen viejo Keynes estĆ” de moda nuevamente. El nuevo consenso favorece mĆ”s regulaciĆ³n, mĆ”s intervenciĆ³n del Estado, y mĆ”s creaciĆ³n de endeudamiento por parte del Estado para contrarrestar el arrastre deflacionario que esta comprimiendo la economĆ­a. El debate es solo acerca de cuanto. Ese es un debate que, por su naturaleza, es asumido dentro de la izquierda del espectro polĆ­tico capitalista. Enfrenta a quienes creen que afinando la simbiosis entre el Estado y el capital privado se llegarĆ” al mejor de los mundos posibles, contra quienes alucinan que, a travĆ©s de la estatificaciĆ³n gradual de la economĆ­a, se introducirĆ” la sociedad capitalista al socialismo.  

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DEFORESTACIƓN

Presentamos este texto de la publicaciĆ³n ā€La Oveja Negraā€ que formula una importante contribuciĆ³n al debate crĆ­tico sobre la destrucciĆ³n del medio ambiente.

Los incendios en la selva amazĆ³nica comenzaron la primera semana del mes de julio de 2019. Estos incendios, sumados a los anteriores del mismo aƱo, conforman la mayor cantidad de fuegos registrados en la regiĆ³n desde que se comenzĆ³ a llevar registro en 2013 y un 80% mĆ”s respecto al aƱo pasado. Cuando hablamos de deforestaciĆ³n nos referimos tambiĆ©n a las mĆ”s de 40.000 especies de plantas, 1.300 tipos de aves, 426 diferentes de mamĆ­feros que viven en la selva tropical del Amazonas, la mĆ”s grande del mundo, con 6,7 millones de kilĆ³metros cuadrados. A aquella cantidad de mamĆ­feros que intentan ilustrar un ā€œsantuario naturalā€ hay que agregarle uno mĆ”s: las personas que habitan allĆ­, y no solo comunidades indĆ­genas.

La magnitud de las miles y miles de hectĆ”reas quemadas es tal que el humo cubriĆ³ el cielo de la ciudad de SĆ£o Paulo provocando una oscuridad general en plena tarde. Por aquellos dĆ­as las cenizas se vieron incluso en la ciudad de Rosario al amanecer. Desde la percepciĆ³n urbana el humo y las cenizas son un indicador de una gravedad que no alcanzamos a dimensionar.

  

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