New variant, same problem: Joint U.S.-China solidarity book tackles COVID
By Sara Flounders posted on December 10, 2021
The continuing U.S. COVID crisis was predicted in a book published a year ago.
“Capitalism on a Ventilator,” a unique anthology by 50 progressive commentators — written even before the vaccines were rolled out — explained why the much anticipated vaccines alone could not solve the soaring COVID death rate in the U.S.
The rapid global spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, first publicly identified on Nov. 24, raises again earlier warnings that health care for profit is more deadly than the COVID virus itself.
The information in “Capitalism on a Ventilator,” which documented the impact of COVID-19 in China and the U.S., was suppressed in the U.S. within capitalist distribution channels and media networks.
Now U.S. COVID deaths have tripled since the vaccines were released, standing at 780,000 as of Dec. 5, 2021, in a country with a population of 330 million. In China, COVID deaths are still below 5,000 — in a population of 1.4 billion. (coronavirus.jhu.edu/map)
Many of the book’s authors explain that the lack of a coordinated national health plan, the chaotic for-profit approach to testing and the corporate-controlled vaccine development and distribution would continue to have a devastating impact throughout much of the world. These warnings, despite the continuing health catastrophe, are still being ignored.
Omicron — not the main danger
On Nov. 24, South Africa announced an extremely contagious new variant, dubbed “omicron,” had been identified. The New York Times reported Dec. 6. that the variant had begun spreading through the U.S. before that announcement. A Manhattan convention event of 53,000 people was the superspreader, undetected due to the slow, uncoordinated testing in the U.S.
Rather than put in place a rapid genomic testing system, the Biden administration blocked all travel from South Africa. But the same omicron variant was quickly identified throughout Europe and in countries bordering the U.S. Scientists in many other countries are testing millions of samples of the COVID virus to spot new mutations, in order to keep tabs on how the virus is evolving and how rapidly it is spreading.
The U.S. racist strategy was to blame an African country for discovering a new variant, through its more conscientious testing. This is similar scapegoating to previous U.S. propaganda blaming China for first alerting the world to the emergence of the COVID virus.
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The China-U.S. Solidarity Network along with the International Action Center are responsible for the publication of “Capitalism on a Ventilator.” This is a book indispensable to understanding concretely how capitalism will always put profits first and let people, including the most vulnerable, die — while socialist planning can meet the needs and save the lives of a country’s people, especially in the middle of a global pandemic.
“Capitalism on a Ventilator” has been translated into Chinese and will soon be available in print in China. The book is available in English online at
Kobo: tinyurl.com/444abk97 and
World View Forum: tinyurl.com/5n6vp2wy.
Johnson Choi Biz 