Katya Raetz and Marty Harrison are frontline health workers and ISA members. The figures for those infected and deceased are outdated as soon as they are reported. More than 3.5 million have been infected so far and about 240,000 have died (4 May). These figures are not reliable because standards differ between countries and testing […]
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Locusts and Fires Raging fires in Australia and a plague of locusts in east Africa dominated global news at the start of 2020. These rapidly receded in consciousness as the COVID-19 pandemic erupted onto the world, already made dangerously vulnerable by capitalism. The climate devastation was mounting around the world. The world’s economy was […]
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Alan Rivas is a member of Socialist Alternative in the US. From Lackluster to Calamitous “With bodies abandoned on sidewalks, slumped in wheelchairs, packed into cardboard coffins and stacked by the hundreds in morgues, it is clear that Ecuador has been devastated by the coronavirus.” New York Times 4/24/2020 The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic […]
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Alexandra L is a member of Alternative Socialiste (ISA in Quebec). Nunavik, which comprises the northern third of Quebec, had 16 cases of COVID-19 by the end of April, of which 13 people have now recovered. Most of the cases, 14, were in the town of Puvirnituq. The northern communities have been concerned since the […]
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Canadian society is beginning to thaw from the COVID-19 induced deep freeze. Questions surrounding the reopening of businesses, schools, communities, and cities have shifted from when we will be able to do so, to how we are going to do it. Any conversation about completely “getting back to normal” depends on developing a vaccine – […]
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Relatively speaking, I have it pretty easy during this pandemic. I am working from home on my laptop, still getting paid, still able to pay rent. Self isolation has thus far been pretty easy, as I rarely need to leave the house. Of course, mental health demands that I do go outside from time to […]
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Per-Åke Westerlund is a member of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (ISA in Sweden). The world economy is in shock and paralysis The world economy is being shaken as never before. 2.7 billion workers around the world — 81% of the labour force — are under lockdown or travel bans. Hundreds of millions risk acute starvation. And yet, […]
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The path to remote teaching starts with cautious curiosity, goes through enraging frustration and ends with a tired, tenacious and uninspired slog. The Cautious Curiosity COVID-19 has shutdown physical K-12 classrooms across Canada. In BC spring break ended on March 30, not with a return to school but with teachers logging onto their computers to […]
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One of the most blatant examples of capitalism’s relentless pursuit of profits at all costs is being played out in High River, Alberta. Cargill’s meatpacking plant in High River has had the largest single-site outbreak of COVID-19 in Canada. With links to more than 1,200 COVID-19 cases as of April 29, 821 workers have tested […]
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Five Reasons to Fight for a Socialist World in 2020 Five reasons to join the ISA. May Day – International Workers’ Day this year has a special significance at a time when the world is in the grip of the Coronavirus and facing perhaps the worst economic crisis for a hundred years. Even before the […]
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