Translated excerpt from “Pandemie I. + Migrantenflut = Doppelkrise So war ‚Globalisierung‘ nicht gemeint!” from GegenStandpunkt 2-20

Covid pandemic:
That’s not what was meant by “globalization”!

It could be so beautiful, the perfect world market: the strongest capitals use the globe for the profit-enhancing organisation of global value chains, for the centralised skimming off of purchasing power for the growth of the capitalist corporate world anticipated on the stock exchanges. And now this: a virus messes everything up.

To be more precise: the human factor is failing its service due to susceptibility to viral pneumonia

• as labor power: “streamlined” supply chains are interrupted, production no longer functions because employees (have to) stay home;
• as purchasing power: where work isn’t being done, nothing is earned; which is bad, because money that isn’t earned does not realize the sales that are planned; producers are left sitting on their goods, service providers on their services; the latter all the more so because states are restricting the mobility of their citizens, which suddenly makes it clear how much business this is good for and has also long been planned with.

A lesson on what matters for the health of a population: the functioning of people as a condition of business; and what is stupid about it: health is not fully under the control of capital, which needs it.

At least something can be done about the negative effects on business: with the financial might of the home countries of the largest and therefore most affected multinationals, but also the many companies dependent on them. So at least capital’s dependence on the fragile nature of its human means of business is somewhat straightened out.

And the human factor itself?

• He can be relieved if he is not merely locked away by the public authorities as a risk to public health, but is retained in his function as a readily available and reasonably solvent economic factor with ‘continued payment of wages in the event of illness’, ‘reduced hours compensation’ for his employer and similar social benefits suspected of being communist.
• And insofar as he still has his civil freedom of movement at his disposal, he proves himself on the whole as a competitive subject who sees the virtues of consideration and solidarity as demands he makes on others, but does not expect from his own kind and therefore prefers to make private provisions and, if nothing else works, steals disinfectants from hospitals.