Stopping Ireland’s Anti-Asian revolutionary hate history pages 4-5 page 6

$2 | No 632 | April | 2021 socialist.ca Capitalism is killing us AND THEY WANT TO MAKE US PAY FOR IT LEFT JAB by John Bell Conservative coalition: cracks and cranks

anadians are used to think- the Reform Party, but warned them that ousted him: Harper went from tured by Trump style activists. Whither O’Toole ing that the Conservative that winning their aims (recriminal- the austere autocrat who disdained Did they or did they not rec- O’Toole was chosen Tory leader Party of Canada we see izing abortion, rolling back same-sex wild cards like Rob and Doug Ford, ognize same-sex marriage? Was with the support of many social con- Ctoday is one of the founding rights, etc.) would take time, and to a desperate figure begging for climate change real or not? Were servatives, anxious to keep the hated parties of the nation. In fact it has need to be done in tiny incremental their support.) they going to reopen the abortion Peter MacKay – the last vestige of only been around a relatively short steps. His backbenches were pop- And after those 10 years the debate? Andrew Scheer couldn’t the old progressive conservatives time, since 2004. ulated by the evangelical far-right, “social conservative” bigots looked give a straight answer to any of these – out. Once in the saddle O’Toole The old Tory party of the Orange but only rarely did he allow them off at their score sheets and felt like they questions, came out looking like a began a PR campaign to convince Order staggered out of the 50’s and the leash to propose some private have been manipulated and used two-faced faker. How could it be voters that he and the Tory party finally exploded with the historic were different. He tried to reproduce defeat of the Lyin’ Brian Mulroney Stephen Harper’s trick of keeping government in the 1993 election. the social conservatives muzzled. Those Tories went from an unshak- How’s that going? The climate able majority of 156 seats to just 2 change issue is a bellwether. Polls seats – a rump if ever there was one. showed that their lack of a clear pol- The next election led to the debut icy on climate change lost the Tories of detestable Preston Manning, many votes outside of Alberta and and his Reform Party. Essentially Saskatchewan. Entering its recent the western and more reactionary policy convention, O’Toole made a half of the old Tory coalition, the speech aimed at both Tory delegates Reform Party was a hotbed of racism and voters at large, in which he and bigotry. Manning inherited his pledged to come up with an action influence from his father, Ernest, plan for climate change. a conservative evangelist who had Tory delegates rewarded him by been quick to harness the power of voting 54% to 46% against recog- a new media – radio – to build a nizing that climate change was real. mass following. That Manning was O’Toole issued a statement to the Premier of Alberta for over 20 years, effect that he didn’t care what his winning 7 straight elections, as head own party thought, they were going of the Social Credit party. to campaign as being “willing to act” In a nutshell, elder Manning’s on climate change. His braintrust politics were a stew of theocracy and released a video clip of O’Toole corporatism, a proto-fascist coalition pacing the stage like a caged tiger, ruled over by a leader wily enough talking about how he takes environ- to know that political survival mental stewardship most seriously required keeping the bigotry down because he is “a conservative”. None to dog-whistle volume. Enough to of them noticed it was released on know that Manning junior may have April Fool’s Day to a fresh round of been Stephen Harper’s boss, but ridicule. Manning senior was always his role How will that sit with potential model. voters? Is this a party of backward bigots, or one which has to suppress The stinky Winds of Change the ideas of its own majority for Following Mulroney’s spectacular cynical, pragmatic purposes? Either demise, it became clear that unless way, they lose. a new right-wing coalition could O’Toole has already proven he is be cobbled together, yoking the member’s bill aimed at restricting – which was accurate. No new re- otherwise; he was leader of a two- no Stephen Harper when it comes to anti-francophone, anti-abortion freedom of choice. These often came strictions on abortion. Conservatives faced fake party. papering over the cracks and cranks bigots from Alberta with the more to naught, but the trial balloons were (some of them) marching in Pride Following their election loss they in his unite-the-right coalition. He pragmatic fiscal conservatives of the meant to slowly win over Canadian parades. Indigenous people assert- did the easy thing – blamed Scheer needed the support of the far-right east, the Liberal Party would con- voters who in their majority support ing their rights and obstructing the and tossed him overboard and then for his leadership bid, but was quick tinue to be re-elected until the crack those freedoms, and to keep the boom-town exploitation of natural held another leadership contest, this to veer toward the middle once elect- of doom. So in 1996 two young, bigots in line. resources. They were tired of loyally one won by Elmer Fudd imper- ed. But he didn’t command the fear- up-and-coming right wingers orga- In a chilling interview to faithful sitting in the back row, biting their sonator Erin O’Toole. The social some presence of Harper, required to nized the first of a series of Unite the after he stepped down as Party lead- tongues. conservative torch bearer this time drag his party with him. Right conferences, “The Winds of er and “retired”, Harper was candid was Derek Sloan. Sloan had no use So April finds O’Toole rubbing Change”. Their names: David Frum about how he went about being boss Torn between Harper and for dog whistle politics; he openly elbows with a vivid assortment of and Ezra Levant. tory: Trump opposed abortion rights, backed bigots, haters and conspiracy theo- After a few false starts (the “I could have wielded a lot more And along came Trump. He es- conversion therapy for LGBTQ rists at the “Canada Strong and Free” Canadian Alliance years and that power. I think I still easily could be poused most of their economic goals, youth, and denied climate change conference (this is the same old brief, shining moment when they leader of my party if I wanted to. touting business, slashing regulations was real. Manning Centre conference to em- decided to call themselves the I mean I’m de facto the founder of with reckless disregard for science or Moreover, in the midst of the pan- power and mis-educate the Canadian Canadian Reform Alliance Party, my party. And I could have turned social need, delivering massive tax demic, Sloan ridiculed public health far-right, rebranded to appeal to the aka CRAP) they finally found the the party into essentially a personal cuts for the corporate elite. And he measures and opposed masking. anti-vax, anti-mask crowd). There he right political figurehead for their political vehicle if I had wanted. wasn’t afraid to marshal racism and He took the opportunity to whip up shares the spotlight with the creepy project: Stephen Harper. Harper was But that was not my goal. My goal bigotry to fuel support. He embraced some anti-Asian hatred, playing the like of Tony “Dick Pic” Clement, canny enough to ditch the Reform in life – I’m driven by my politi- the flag like a spaniel dry-humping Trumpian “China flu” card and insin- former UK Tory PM David “Pig Party name, and led the creation of cal conservatism – my goal in life its master’s leg. He lied brazenly, but uating that Canada’s Chief Medical Fucker” Cameron, Islamophobic the Conservative Party of Canada we was not just to win an election and he said what the social conservatives Officer Theresa Tam was a traitor. author Douglas Murray, and noted know and loathe today. govern, my goal was to establish a wanted to hear so they didn’t mind. This came amid an effort to brand the anti-LGBTQ crusader Tanya Granic Harper adopted Ernest Manning’s long term conservative institutional North of the border, the put-upon Tories as the “tough on China” party, Allen. Oh yes, Brian Lilley will method: build an unassailable base force that would be a long term fringe dwellers of the Tory party – and it is worth remembering that Erin be there too, although it isn’t clear in Alberta founded on a mixture contender for power in government. Derek Sloan, Brad Trost, Michelle O’Toole defended his comments. whether he represents The Sun or of free-market economics of union So I was determined to establish an Rempel, Michael Cooper, et al Although many delegates stated the Doug Ford conservatives. Here, busting, privatization and eroding institutional organization that would – looked at Trump’s success with their admiration for his politics, they away from prying eyes, O’Toole can public services, and anti-abortion, outlive me, and would not need me envy. Maybe now was the time for rightly questioned his electability work at shoring up his support from anti-immigration, anti-LGBTQ big- down the road.” them to rise. and backed other candidates. Sloan the “Make Canada Great Again” otry known as “social conservatism”. It is interesting that he empha- Brad Trost ran for CPC leadership won just less than 15% support crowd. And like Manning, Harper knew sized his own lack of demagoguery in 2017, and finished 4th. Most of on the first ballot and dropped Readers who know me know I that achieving his economic ends – but all that took place in a time the social conservatives support- out of the race. After the race was detest the Trudeau Liberals. But if I required keeping a tight lid on the before Trump. ed Maxime Bernier, who lost by over Sloan continued to push the were them, I would be rubbing my zealots among his followers. Harper had managed to rule for a whisker to Andrew Scheer in a boundary of acceptable bigotry in hands with glee at the prospect of With his grim-set visage, soulless a decade through his Machiavellian scandal-plagued contest. But in the the Tory party. The discovery that an election campaign against this dead fish eyes and mannequin style plan, but as with any government subsequent election the Tories were he had accepted a financial donation creaky, foundering coalition. The helmet haircut, Harper was the polar too long in the saddle he began to sunk, in part because of Scheer’s ob- from Canada’s best-known Nazi, cracks are widening, the cranks opposite of a Donald Trump. But he sink beneath the weight of his own vious inadequacy, but also because Paul Fromm gave Erin O’Toole the are feeling frisky, and the leader is was ruthless, clever, and ruled his party’s corruption and a popular they fielded too many out-and-out excuse to kick the potential rival out revealing himself to be a hapless new creation with an iron fist. He demand for change. (I remember the bigots as candidates. More and more of caucus. Sloan currently sits as an nebbish. Stephen Harper’s life goal appealed to the far-right yahoos of final days of the election campaign local riding associations were cap- independent MP. is in serious jeopardy.

2 Socialist Worker April 2021 Biden, Trudeau and lesser evilism

by: Brian Champ perity for all. But the expectations contrast to the Trump cabinet, these plan. Last February, Wet’suwet’en powerful sections of the rich. For will not be matched by reality. changes at the top don’t necessarily land defenders and their allies Shut example, the National Association here is an aura of euphoria While canceling Keystone XL is make for meaningful changes in Down Canada by blocking rails, of Manufacturers called for him for many people in the US, a good step on the climate, it should policies. The cabinet as a whole is ports and roadways, declaring that to be impeached after the capitol echoed around the world, only be the first to be followed contradictory, including left and “Reconciliation is Dead” in the face insurrection of January 6th. For US Tsince Joe Biden took office. quickly by canceling all other pipe- right and Biden has talked about of the continuing colonialism on business, Trump had become dan- The feeling of relief at being rid of lines and oil and gas subsidies to ruling by reaching across the aisle. which the settler state of Canada is gerous. He was now attacking the Trump’s toxicity: the far right dog fund investment in a transition to founded. underpinnings of the political sys- whistle politics; his demonizing of renewable energy. Massive funding Biden and Trudeau And on the question of foreign tem that had allowed the creation Black Lives Matter and antifa; the for public transit, energy retrofits For Canadians, this situation is rem- policy and the refugee crisis, of massive wealth for the 1%. They Muslim ban; his climate change and the greening of cities as out- iniscent of the election of Trudeau Trudeau’s government is spending were happy to take his tax cuts but denial and pushing of pipeline and lined in the infrastructure plan are in 2015, after the hard politics billions on new warships and fight- not at all willing to kill the goose drilling projects; his Covid denial, helpful but in pursuit of cross parti- of the Harper years. Trudeau’s er jets which caused the wars that that laid the golden egg. then obstruction of effective mea- san support, Biden will very likely photo ops while he met with Syrian led to the crisis in the first place. And so Biden represented a re- sures; his countless misogynistic water down the The epitome turn to a neo-liberal status quo that & racist remarks; his banning of plans because of the Liberal the US ruling class could accept. transgendered people from the mili- they run counter hypocrisy can His left leaning policies are de- tary; his dismantling environmental to the powerful be seen in their signed not to challenge capital but protections; etc. There is justified oil and gas inter- budgets which to save it and, they hope, return to excitement that this has ended. ests that remain are giving profitability. There are real concerns And there is reason for some influential, and paltry amounts in the halls of congress and wall optimism. The Biden White House will be resisted to, for exam- street that the economic crisis, ex- has changed course on the Covid by industries ple, programs acerbated by Covid but building for response, taking public health that rely on to address decades will cause further political measures seriously. He has pledged burning fossil systemic racism crises. to Take Action to Advance Racial fuels to produce in Canada while And they are right. The polariza- Equity and Support Underserved their profits. simultaneous- tion that is blamed on Trump - and Communities, and offered relief to In addition, ly spending he certainly used it for his own those suffering under the pandemic the failure billions on new advantage - is not going to be fixed by expanding some programs and of Biden to border protec- by simple reforms. The centre may relaxing qualifying requirements put forward a tions and the have won in the US but the larger like allowing unemployment insur- “Medicare for RCMP - two of problems will persist and the far ance for those refusing unsafe work. All” platform the main drivers right forces emboldened by Trump’s He has re-joined the Paris Climate means that many of that racism. rhetoric and policies will also grow Accord and canceled Keystone in the US will still no longer have refugees at the border are a stark due to ongoing, overlapping crises XL, signaling a sea change on the access to affordable healthcare. contrast to the, “barbaric cultural Capitalist political parties and a political polarization in soci- climate. He is touting a $2 trillion As for the economic woes of the practices hotline” that was being This is not surprising. The reality is ety. These global crises - Climate, infrastructure project as the “new” US, like much of the world, 2020 proposed by the Conservatives. that under capitalism, governments Covid and the economy - will only new deal and it will likely create has been an horrific year for the Trudeau, like Biden also made act as the, “executive committee of become deeper. jobs for working people. economy in general. Rich corpora- a point of making his cabinet the bourgeoisie” and their policies The forces on the ground calling In addition, the change of tone tions and individuals, particularly more representative. He talked of always reflect the interests of the for an end to racism, for real action from racism, misogyny, homopho- those whose services have been Reconciliation with Indigenous rich. There are examples of radical for climate justice and for econom- bia and transphobia to one that is made more valuable by the social peoples, called for an inquiry into governments gaining power but ic and social justice have to keep more respectful of all people is to distancing measures (e.g. Amazon) Missing and Murdered Indigenous they are forever under the thumb of building for the changes we need be welcomed, as is the election of have gotten richer, while many in Women that had been the rallying global capitalism and are under per- but we also need to be conscious Kamala Harris as vice-president, the US working class have been cry for Idle No More under Harper. petual threat by forces that would that neither Biden, nor any US the first time a woman or a Black driven to the wall. While some of He brought Canada into the Paris return to the old order. Without a President, is capable of delivering person has held that office, and the the measures Biden has introduced Agreement on climate change after real rupture and an overturning of the change we need. expansion of the democratic social- will have some effect this year, they Harper’s denial. the capitalist system, political par- Let’s take a moment to cheer the ists bloc in Congress. will do nothing to halt the ongoing But on all of these issues, the ties within the existing system will wins. But we have to remember For some in the media this instability in the economy. Liberals have failed to confront the only be able to offer reforms. that only mass pressure from below represents a seachange, such as Will And while Biden has appoint- real issues. Neither Biden or Trudeau repre- can force concessions and that, Hutton of the Guardian extolling ed an Indigenous woman, Deb Instead of heeding expert advice sent a break with that system. They ultimately we need an independent Biden’s “radical centrism” as lead- Haaland of the Pueblo of Laguna from climate scientists that for a simply represent a different strategy political party and a revolutionary ing the US (along with Britain and in New Mexico, as secretary of the livable future the oil needs to stay for maintaining the capitalist order. overthrow of the system to bring the rest of the world) to a Covid- interior in an attempt to represent in the ground, Trudeau bought In the US, Trump had worn about the changes we desperately free, climate-friendly future of pros- the diversity of the nation in stark TMX as the backbone of his climate out his welcome among certain need for a livable future. Abolish! - Racist policing is no accident by Sid Lacombe having an expired tag on his car and were less likely to be carrying for the police to use force. The punishment of summary execution subsequent investigation found that drugs, guns, or other illegal same arguments are made anytime is called a death squad. The US has he killing of Daunte Wright he had a warrant for arrest. contraband compared to their white someone runs from the police. But invaded other countries for less. in a suburb of Minneapolis The reality is that Wright was peers.” could you really fault black people The racists will argue that the was not accidental. stopped because he was, “driving The “blue lives matter” crowd in the US for running from the outstanding warrant required the T The police chief in while black”. Three cops? There are police to intervene. But the over- Brooklyn Centre released the body heavily armed cops far too many policing of black people is the reason cam footage of officer Kim Potter were sent to stop examples, from why so many end up with warrants shooting Wright during a traffic stop him for a traffic Sandra Bland to in the first place. It is racism that and explained that it was obvious violation. That was Caron Nazario, pushes black people into the criminal to him that she simply grabbed the not an anomaly. of police killing “justice” system at higher rates than wrong weapon. It is just a tragic In the wake of the and using white people. “accident” he says. Black Lives Matter violence against The murder of Daunte Wright is Media pundits immediately began demonstrations in black drivers for not an accident. It is a direct result of dissecting the video in granular the US last summer, no reason. a policing system that targets black detail. Was it a failure of training NYU released a Is it now people and considers violence as the and misunderstanding of procedure study of thousands the case that only method of policing their lives. that had her grab the wrong weapon? of traffic stops in people should In wake of the murder, thousands Is there a way to make it easier to the US and found be executed have joined demonstrations across find the right implement when under that black people for a traffic the US calling for justice for duress? These are not the questions are twice as likely violation and a Wright and for an end to the racist they should be asking. to be stopped by misdemeanour? police. This movement is building The focus on the video will be police. They are Anywhere a strong argument for the complete used to try and divert attention from also twice as likely else in the abolition of the police and should be the racism that led to the entire to be searched. “Black drivers were is arguing that Wright should world, a group of heavily armed, supported. incident in the first place. Wright, searched about 1.5 to 2 times as have complied and the fact that state supported individuals who Defund, disarm disband - Abolish the police say, was stopped for often as white drivers, while they he decided to run was sufficient require complete obedience upon the racist police!

April 2021 Socialist Worker 3 The fight against anti-Asian racism

The Atlanta murders have shone the spotlight on anti-Asian hate in the US but discrimination of Asians has a long history that is entwined with the needs of US capitalism and imperialism. Virginia Rodino, an activist with Marx21 in the US outlines the history and the struggle and points to the road to liberation.

by: Virginia Rodino child care support, so they search traumatized the women. One advo- workplace - and we need to make California to the ground. for work in the evenings or after cate described witnessing women the connections of the barriers to The Central Pacific railroad start- ne was a former elementa- hours, when the children are asleep. all being pushed into the street first entry that immigrant workers face ed its construction in Sacramento, ry school teacher, another a And all of these pressures have thing in the morning, shivering in do actually lead to vulnerabilities in CA on the backs of up to 20,000 former dancer. been exacerbated by the pandem- their nightclothes. Another time, unprotected, unregulated and secret- Chinese immigrants — almost 90% O One was a single mom ic, which has caused the layoffs two Asian women at a parlor raid ed work. The systems that maintain of the railroad’s entire labor force. At least two were grandmothers. of many restaurant and nail salon were held in the back of a police car, this industry also make it nearly Chinese laborers were not the first At least four were U.S. citizens. workers, eliminated child-care handcuffed, while one sobbed and impossible for women to escape it. choice of the railroad financiers, but Several had limited English safety nets, and forced even more began to have problems breathing. As we know from past discus- after failed attempts to attract white ability, making it difficult to find people into underground economies Treatment of this kind and then sions about systemic racism, we laborers (many of whom would stay jobs, and a couple of the victims - again disproportionately negative- subsequent arrests of women were know that its oppressive grip did not for short periods of time due to the were divorced, leaving them in a ly impacting women of color. common despite the fact that these just start with the murder of George high-risk nature of the work), they precarious financial situation. Therefore we cannot omit anti- women more often than not experi- Floyd, nor did AAPI hate start with turned to Chinese immigrants to do These are the victims of the sex-work from the analysis about ence some form of violence herself, the murders in Atlanta. the deadly work required. Atlanta spa shootings, the majority these most recent attacks on the almost exclusively at the hands of a Anti-Chinese sentiment was of whom were members of vulnera- Asian community. Removing the White man at a massage business. Anti-Asian racism in US overwhelming during this time. ble Asian immigrant communities. anti-sex-work component really re- And the women do not report the history Chinese immigrants, who had Although since the late 1980s the moves the crux of what this specific violence to the police as most inter- In the 19th century, European na- largely come to California around median household income of Asian kind of racism is about: the fetishi- actions they had directly with police tions, desperate to exploit the riches the Gold Rush, were viewed as Americans has matched or exceeded zation of Asian women’s bodies, the — or interactions they knew of — of Asia, forced open Japan and outsiders, foreigners who were that of their White counterparts, objectification of their bodies and resulted in their arrest, and some- China. They began a trade of opium desperate for work, and physically some of the most vulnerable mem- the assumption that Asian women times permanent confiscation of their for silk, tea and silver, and when and emotionally weak. This racism bers of AAPI communities (Asian are obviously going to be providing IDs, cellphone and electronics, credit China attempted to end it by making was so pervasive that the State of American and Pacific Islander) are sexual services at massage parlors, cards and cash. They are told lies by the narcotic illegal, foreign powers California and local governments working-class and single mothers The conflation began two succes- passed anti-Chinese laws to deny who face limited job prospects and of massage sive Opium Wars. Chinese workers their civil rights. meagre safety nets. parlors and sex China’s loss of Without any other viable option, The surge in racist violence workers with- both those wars Chinese immigrants joined the against Asian Americans during out any nuance opened it further transcontinental railroad construc- the pandemic, under Trump, is is very specific to European tion effort. Their accomplishments something well-documented and to anti-Asian and American while working on the railroad are well-publicized these last couple of racism against business interests nothing short of impressive. Chinese weeks: in the past year, there have Asian women. — which revived laborers performed work by hand been 3,800 reported incidents of The Atlanta a centuries-old that is typically performed by anti-Asian violence, roughly 503 of killer told trope that the big machinery in the present day. which took place during 2021 alone, police that Chinese are weak They dug tunnels and constructed according to the group Stop AAPI the spas he and afflicted. retaining walls, and even planted Hate. Women make up the vast ma- opened fire on War caused explosives when necessary, risking jority of those attacked. In Atlanta, represented a massive waves their lives in hopes that they were the exact nature of the slain wom- “temptation of migration, pulled up in time. en’s work is still unknown. But it is he wanted to and stereotypes Despite the fact they performed clear that they were working in an eliminate”, of impurity and the most dangerous tasks, they were industry that made them vulnerable suggesting that contamination paid 30% less than their white co-la- to abuse, violence and stigmatiza- he at least be- followed the borers without board. In considering tion even within their own com- lieved that they did. This is the way a trafficker or exploitative employer. migrants to America, where they Chinese laborers’ life-threatening munities — an industry that often racism, sexism and anti-sex-work They think reporting it would cost were forced into racially segregated tasks alongside grueling weather, it employs mothers and grandmothers, sentiment work together to produce them deportation or loss of legal settlements that sometimes grew is no wonder that there are estimates well into their later years of life. anti-Asian violence: no matter status; they didn’t speak English, into Chinatowns, Japantowns and of over 1,000 Chinese laborers Because they are limited by what - this crime was ultimately one and they didn’t know whom to trust, Filipino Towns. As the number of dying while working on the railroad. language barriers, age, and gender, against sex workers, or where to go. migrants grew, the backlash did as In the face of all these challenges these middle-aged women usually Even if they were providing The solution is not to have more well. and risks, the laborers pressed on take low-paying jobs in the service non-sexual massages, this ends up funding for the police to protect The impetus was often economic, and delivered. sector shunned by Westerners, a lot being a sex work issue since The massage parlor workers or to start but it was driven by a sense of racial However, there was only so of these women — they’ve already women are de facto being seen as an anti-Asian taskforce to guard entitlement. Whites claimed that much abuse that the laborers could tried to do more formal work. There sex workers and being scapegoated Chinatown. The solution is to divest Chinese were getting the best veins withstand. In June 1867, the Chinese is a lower barrier to entry into illicit as such. from policing altogether and to in the coal mines, staking the best laborers showed their strength by massage business work, in com- Because even if not victims of hu- really reinvest in these labor issues, gold panning spots, tilling fertile organizing and protesting for their parison to other jobs available to man and sex trafficking, the Atlanta to help women pay their rent, and land that was meant for them. At ral- rights. They stopped working, undocumented workers. Employers victims worked for an exploitative to get them the Covid support they lies, demonstrators denounced “the demanding better pay and better often do not require documentation industry. And when the state comes need right now that they’re not Chinese plague,” conflating disease working conditions. For eight days, or work authorization or previous in to regulate and police the industry, getting. with displacement. Years of brutality they held their ground. It was one of experience. Many of the women this often takes the form of raids What we have to lift up is that ensued. In 1886 alone, mobs burned the largest workers’ rights strikes of have young children and minimal which only further victimized and this is an example of violence in the down at least a dozen Chinatowns in the era.

4 Socialist Worker April 2021 In response to this show of worker succession of World War II, Korea, police spokesperson who said sym- power, among the battery of laws Vietnam also meant that many pathetically of the Atlanta killer, “He passed to restrict Asian Americans’ top brass served in multiple wars was pretty much fed up and kind of Fighting Anti- civil rights, including access to in Asia. The need for anti-Asian at the end of his rope. Yesterday was education, cultural practices and xenophobia to train US soldiers a really bad day for him and this is business activities, were laws going to Vietnam and Cambodia and what he did.” meant to enforce White male purity. Laos. U.S. soldiers were taught that The massacres against Asian Asian Racism and California passed an anti-miscegena- the Vietnamese were not people but Americans has never ended. In tion law banning marriage between “only gooks.” 1989, a gunman opened fire on Whites and a “negro, mulatto, or While decrying the sex slavery a Stockton, Calif., elementary Mongolian.” Such laws culminated WWII Japan instituted on its Korean schoolyard full of Cambodian and Sexism globally in the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, subjects — kidnapping and forcing Vietnamese American children. He the first time any U.S. federal law young girls to serve in military killed five and wounded 32 more. In sought to exclude an ethnic group. brothels euphemistically known 2012, another gunman murdered six After the completion of the as “comfort stations” — the U.S. Sikh Americans at a temple in Oak transcontinental railroad, some military ended up repurposing this Creek, Wis. Chinese laborers continued to work system and even some of the same So when Asian Americans object- on railroads across the country while women for U.S. soldiers during the ed to Trump and others’ use of “the many tried to find other jobs. But Korean war. Chinese virus,” it was because many in the decades after the completion Korea’s war ended in an armi- of us feared these words would yield of the railroad, racism and racial stice agreement in 1953, and yet in a body count. We were told that hostility heightened across the 1965, 85% of GIs surveyed reported we were overreacting. But now a country. The Chinese were targets having “been with” or “been out year of anti-Asian rage has come to of violence and blamed for stealing with” a prostitute. this: children slashed in department jobs from white Americans. This These cultural attitudes and stores, elderly set on fire, punched hostility culminated to the Chinese stereotypes about Asian women in the face or pushed to their deaths, Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred don’t end when a soldier returns and women, attacked at twice the all immigration from China into the home. They become incorporated rate of men, chased, beaten, spit U.S. and prevented Chinese workers into American culture such that, like upon, as if we are not people, but from working on government proj- with the nexus of military life and pollutants — infections, contagions, ects. The ban effectively lasted until prostitution, and while the origins of stains on whiteness. the Immigration and Nationality Act these stereotypes become forgotten The same twisted view of Asian of 1965 when all quotas on immigra- and obscured, the stereotypes of Americans that Grant had echoes in tion were lifted. hypsersexualized Asian women are Cherokee County, Ga., Sheriff Jay The most direct predecessor of unforgettable. Rapes and sexual Baker’s stunningly sympathetic read the Exclusion Act was the 1875 Page violence of Asian women by U.S. of Long’s defense that he was trying Act. It had been written narrowly soldiers was so typical and unpun- to “eliminate” a “temptation.” What to ban sex workers from “China, ished, It took a kidnapping and gang stands out in Baker’s news confer- Japan or any Oriental country.” Still, rape of a 12-year-old by three U.S. ence is who his sympathies went President Ulysses S. Grant made Marines in Okinawa in 1994 to to — not the then-unnamed victims, clear how he and many others saw finally stir any interest from the U.S. most of whom were working-class Asian women: “But few of whom,” media. Asian American women, but to he said, “are brought to our shores to Asian women and girls were seen Long, who had had “a bad day.” pursue honorable or useful occupa- as sexual objects, and Asian men by: Carolyn Egan as the International Women’s tions.” were emasculated and blamed for Divide and conquer Day Committee to mobilize their As states moved in the late 1800s capitalism’s busts. Unsurprisingly it benefits capitalism he police murder of George members and provide security. There to protect the entitlements of White In 1982 in Detroit, a young to pit communities of color against Floyd brought the eyes of the had been reports that the rally would men and Grant demonized one another and not world on anti-Black racism be targeted by racists. the actual bodies of Asian highlight the milti-racial Twhich has been going on for Speakers from the Indigenous and women, mob attacks solidarity that is present centuries. It also sparked millions of Black communities spoke about the on Asian Americans in people’s movements. people of every race going into the need for unity and solidarity to build increased. Jean Pfaelzer’s The model minority streets in mass mobilizations. The a united response to these attacks. book “Driven Out: The myth—based on the racist, misogynist murders in Atlanta The majority of the speakers were Forgotten War Against stereotype that Asian highlighted the anti-Asian racism women showing their strength and Chinese Americans” Americans are hard and violence that has been stoked their courage vowing to fight racism documents hundreds of working, law-abiding by Donald Trump and other leaders and sexism where ever they occur. forgotten riots, purges and individuals and the blaming China for the global Covid lynchings in the 1880s false perception that pandemic. Fighting sexism that left thousands dead, such qualities have led The combination of sexism Violence against women has also wounded or displaced. to their success over and racism that led to the Atlanta been growing throughout the If they weren’t being other racial groups— murders put the spotlight on the pandemic, the rates of domestic driven out, they were has played a signifi- deadly effects of the oppressions violence have skyrocketed. In being quarantined. On cant role in creating a that are the day to day reality for London huge demonstrations took March 6, 1900, a report of wedge between Asian so many. These oppressions are place following the murder of a a possible bubonic plague- Americans and other maintained by capitalism and are woman allegedly by a police officer. caused death of a Chinese communities of color, used to scapegoat and divide us There was a vigil at Clapham American surfaced in San particularly African one from another. Videos of vicious Common, to commemorate the Francisco. The next day, Americans. However, attacks on Asian people, many of woman who lost her life. It was met city officials shut down because of the brilliant them women, began appearing on by a vicious police attack. There Chinatown. Police roped mutli-racial, mutli-eth- both main stream and social media. was a huge response to the violence off the neighborhood nic solidarity and class Racists and the far right have been used against the angry and grieving and escorted out all the consciousness produced emboldened and violence has been women. remaining Whites. Health by the phenomenally growing. In an interview with Socialist officials voted to encircle powerful movement Worker UK during a march against the area with barbed wire. for black lives in the Taking the streets against the police, Leah and Jenny said the At one point, leaders summer of 2020, an- the bigots police actions on Clapham Common seriously discussed ti-racists, progressives, Mass rallys took place across were “unacceptable”. “The police burning down these same youth and other social North America led by the Asian tell us not to go home alone or go 16 square blocks to which justice movements more communities fighting back against out at night but that’s giving into the they had long confined quickly and seamlessly these attacks. Hundreds of thousands problem. It normalizes the fear that the Chinese. Neither came to pass, Chinese American draftsman named met at rallies, demonstrations, vigils have taken to the streets standing women live with.” Furious marchers but authorities did build a high wall Vincent Chin was beaten to death and online events to stand together up to the anti-Asian hate that led to continued in the streets yelling around Chinatown’s radius. by two White autoworkers outside against AAPI hate after the Atlanta the deaths of these low waged and “how do you sleep” at the cops and As successive waves of Asian of a strip club where he had gone to murders in March 2021. vulnerable women in Atlanta. In chanting “Black Lives Matter”. immigrants and refugees arrived, celebrate his bachelor party. Before It is this type of solidarity work Toronto groups such as the Chinese Another young woman marcher often fleeing American wars, they they set upon him with a baseball that we in Marx 21 are doing, Canadian National Council (Toronto said, “And the police handling of too faced violence. In 1930, Whites bat, they had baited him by calling along with growing an anti-fascist Chapter), the Asian Canadian any movement whether it’s against rioted against Filipino American him ethnic slurs for both Japanese and anti-racist network in “United Labour Alliance and Butterfly, an racism, sexism, or the climate bachelors who frequented taxi-dance and Chinese — demonstrating the Against Hate.” This is the necessary organization of Asian sex trade emergency needs challenging and halls to dance with White women same confusion of pandemic-era at- response to the waves of violence workers, organized a rally of 4,500 can’t be defended.” in Watsonville, Calif. In 1941, with tackers who have lashed out at Asian against women, against Asians, on short notice in the pouring rain, These demonstrations against war again as the backdrop, President Americans of all ethnicities while against immigrants and against denouncing the murders, the racism racism and sexism are mobilizing Franklin D. Roosevelt rounded thinking them Chinese — and told workers. As socialists we continue and sexism. people who are standing up against Japanese Americans up into concen- him he was the reason they were out to knock down false narratives of It was quickly pulled together and both the oppressions they are facing, tration camps. of work. A judge sentenced them to division and difference, and build the organizers reached out to unions as well as the police service and the After the Korean war, the slur probation, saying, “These aren’t the class consciousness among workers such as Unifor, the Elementary system that it defends. It is militant “gook” was merely recycled to kind of men you send to jail.” This across race, ethnicity, gender and Teachers, the United Steelworkers actions and solidarity such as this use on the Vietnamese. The quick is reminiscent of the Georgia sheriff immigrant status. and women’s organizations such that are so necessary today.

April 2021 Socialist Worker 5 Celebrating Ireland’s revolutionary history From the Easter rising to the 40 year annivarsary of the hunger strikes by Bobby Sands and his comrades, we look back at the struggles for Irish independence and what they can teach us today by: Kim McAuley food on the table for families who could subsist and Southern Ireland alone as its own Republic of to; Bobby and his family witnessed and were on a “Separation Allowance” and an escape 26 counties; and keeping six counties in the North subjected to near constant Protestant bullying he rich have worked hard for over a from poverty and boredom, to the excitement of as part of the UK. Parliament couldn’t afford to and oppression. On two separate occasions his hundred years to control the narrative going to the frontlines and defending Belgium, lose face by giving it all up, and they couldn’t family – as many Catholic families experienced around the people’s rising that took which was largely Catholic. But the threat of politically afford to keep it all and provoke – were terrorized out of their homes in a majorly Tplace during Easter week in Ireland conscription was a removal of choice and it another uprising. Protestant neighbourhood. Like Bernadette in 1916, and more recently to diminish the created further division. At this 100 year mark, the British state has Devlin McAliskey, he recognized the struggle, importance of the fight by the hunger strikers The wealthy and the land owners – their set aside $3 million pounds to “celebrate” the inequality and lack that defines working class forty years ago near Belfast, led by Bobby Sands rights protected by parliament and police - anniversary of the partitioning. They tried to do life under capitalist and imperialist conditions who died May 5, 1981. Just as they’ve tried to supported the war effort, and denounced the the same thing in 2016 about the Rising, but had and became a socialist because of it. control the news, history, etc. in every country rebels during the rising. The people themselves to pull their propaganda off the airways due to Many strategies and tactics were used to they’ve colonised around the world. were struggling to eke out a living, grappling mass public outcry. Their arrogance knows no fight back against criminalization first, with the It is important look back at these two moments with new political realities and deeply wanting bounds. hunger strike used as a last resort in effort to in time and to see what working class people maintain their spirit and not give in to British accomplished in those periods. We challenge the rule. During the strike to keep spirits up at night, narrative that the rising and the hunger strikes the prisoners sang songs and told stories to their were led by martyrs, who knew they were going comrades – one of which ran for eight nights to sacrifice themselves for the cause. The people while Bobby re-told Leon Uris’ Trinity, from who led these fight backs didn’t plan to die as a memory. He read Marx and other revolutionary tactic – that storyline oversimplifies their years of socialists writings, like James Connolly. hard work and well-thought strategies. Bobby was elected an MP before his death, The leaders of these struggles were killed embarrassing the Tories. Over 100,000 people or left to die quite consciously by the wealthy, attended his funeral. capitalist, imperialist classes they were fighting The successes of this particular fight were against to make a better, socialist world. Their the multiple, mass mobilizations and Union-led deaths are best honoured by acknowledging what strikes that took place in solidarity, extensively they did - not enshrined in sanctimony. in Ireland but some as far away as the dock of The Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916, in the the Longshoremen’s Union in New York, who words of Kieran Allen, “may be better understood boycotted British ships, as well as protests as giving birth to… a revolutionary tradition that outside British embassies around the world. has passed like a thread through subsequent They had showed that the IRA had popular decades”. What happened then shows us a rough support, they had undermined and rattled the outline of the path ahead for our work to bring Tories, who were forced to concede the strikers’ about a socialist world. bigger change and better conditions. Many of Hunger Strikes demands. them were being won to the politics of Séamas “I REFUSE to change to suit the people who The Easter Rising Ó Conghaile (James Connolly) - the leader of oppress, torture and imprison me. I have the Today In Ireland, in 1916, during Easter week, Irish the Irish Citizen Army and a Socialist - including spirit of freedom which cannot be quenched by Our governments actively, forcibly use ‘our’ Republican people led a rising and rebellion Pádraig (Patrick) Pearse, a nationalist republican even the most horrendous treatment.” courts and police to suppress Union activity; against British Rule in Ireland. Organized by and leader of the Military Council. Connolly Roibeárd Ó Seachnasaigh (Bobby Sands) First Nations fight backs to protect their land or seven leaders of the Military Council of the Irish understood that religion was being used to create livelihoods from theft, development, pipelines, Republican Brotherhood - joined by members of division, by capitalist and imperialist forces. He We are marking 40 years since the hunger pollution; Black Lives Matter activists. They the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army and appealed to both Catholic and Protestant workers strikes against continued British oppression allow attacks on Muslim people and wilfully hundreds of women of Cumann na mBan - 1,250 and worked to show how religious sectarianism of the Irish people. In 1971, an internment ignore hate speech and actions from neo- people seized important buildings in Dublin divided workers. He made a bold appeal for a camp – Long Kesh – was set up 14 kms south Nazis. While people suffer and die waiting for and installed the Irish Republic, strategically, Socialist Ireland. of Belfast, to detain people suspected of having vaccines, and go jobless, hungry and homeless, with two to three thousand additional volunteers The leaders had planned ahead. They had paramilitary connections. They were accurately the Federal government plans to spend $60 to 80 stationed elsewhere. worked to further socialist ideas and politics and considered political prisoners and granted Billion dollars on war ships. Things are not so Many challenges to the establishment were had grown their numbers and their own military. “special category status” with certain rights. In different from the times leading up to the Rising. underway already in the lead up to the Rising. They assessed circumstances evolving around 1975 the Labour government removed special But, we know how to organize and strategize The country was largely controlled by the them and knew the variables were many and status, effectively criminalizing the prisoners. and we can read Irish history written by people Irish Parliamentary Party and its leader, John that they could lose. But they saw a chance at By 1980, after many varying protests, the men like Hazel Croft, Kieran Allen, Bernadette Redmond, who favoured land owners and wanted freedom and determined they had a chance at organized a hunger strike and then ended it Devlin McAliskey, Bobby Sands, Eamonn constitutional nationalism and Home Rule. They winning. once the Tory government promised to return McCann and James Connolly. This article was pushed Irish involvement in the first World War The British state were taken by surprise but the status and rights. Three months later the informed by their work. (1914 to 1918) to gain favour and win Home Rule responded with force, sending over 16,000 Tories reneged and in 1981 the men began a new for Ireland from the British Parliament. This set troops, plus artillery and a gunboat . The Irish hunger strike, demanding the same five rights, Territorial Acknowledgement of politics sent 3,500 Irishmen to their deaths in people kept them at bay for a week. In the to: not wear a prison uniform or do prison work; the war, and alienated the working and ‘lower’ end 116 British soldiers, 16 policemen and 318 free association with other prisoners; organize As settlers, we acknowledge our classes living in cities. Jim Larkin’s paper - the rebels and civilians died and 3,500 people taken educational and recreational pursuits; one visit, occupation of lands that are the Irish Worker, had a circulation of 20,000 a week prisoner – 1,800 of those were sent to internment one letter and one parcel per week; and full around 1913 and repeatedly condemned the party camps or prisons in Britain. Most leaders of the restoration of remission lost through the protest. Indigenous territories of Turtle Island. for ignoring the material welfare of workers. uprising were then executed. The second hunger strike ended only after Furthermore, we support all struggles There were strikes and civil unrest and people Despite this, the struggle for freedom the British parliament, under Thatcher, allowed were largely unemployed, hungry and discontent. continued in Ireland – from 1918 to 1923 Ireland ten men to die. The first to die was leader and for Indigenous sovereignty in whatever The Rising, being organized while the British was in the throes of revolution and it shook the socialist revolutionary, Bobby Sands. Bobby forms they take by the hundreds of First Empire was at war, drew people to republicanism. establishment. Five years after the Easter Rising was a working class Catholic with many Nations and Inuit communities that The threat of conscription of the people of Ireland - 100 years ago, on May 3rd, 1921 - the British Protestant friends in his very young years. into the British Army was a major catalyst. partitioned Ireland, against the democratically Religious sectarianism whipped up by the have resided here for many thousands of “Choosing” to be a soldier meant wages and voiced opposition of the people, leaving Dublin Orange Order created the divide it was meant years, and by Métis communities that have developed in the last hundreds of Find us on: @socialist_ca \socialistca socialist.ca years.

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6 Socialist Worker April 2021 REVIEW Black Panthers Judas and the Black Messiah Review by: Faline Bobier more of a threat to Hoover and the white power organizing. Black men like George Floyd), the Panthers structure, the Panthers consciously attempted In the scenes where he’s addressing crowds also organised a social programme. They set haka King’s new movie Judas and to organize not only Blacks, but also Latinos who are chanting ‘Chairman Fred’ and hanging up centres that provided breakfasts for up the Black Messiah comes at a critical and poor whites against their own oppression on his every word it’s hard to believe he could to 250,000 children a week. They launched political moment in the US. It’s a kind and exploitation, in what Hampton refers to in have such a presence at a young age, but then medical clinics and community-controlled Sof companion piece to recent Black- the film as a ‘rainbow coalition’. revolutions are often led by the young, as we schools. directed movies that also look at important It’s made clear in the movie, and this is true are witnessing with the climate change move- Hoover and the FBI eventually broke the moments in Black history, real or imagined, to the politics of the Panthers and of Hampton ment today. back of the Panthers through murder and the such as Regina King’s One Night in Miami, a himself, their politics had little in common But the movie does the opposite of what the use of paid and/or coerced Black informants, fictional account of one incredible night like Bill O’Neal in this film. The film where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm ends with footage of the real William X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gather, O’Neal, who was interviewed shortly discussing their roles in the Civil Rights before his suicide in early 1990. Movement and cultural upheaval of the O’Neal survived as a teenager by 60s. being a petty criminal in Chicago. In King’s movie, unlike One Night in 1966, when he was about 17 years old, Miami, is based in historical reality. It he was caught by FBI agent Roy Martin tells the story of Fred Hampton, chairper- Mitchell, who tracked O’Neal down for son of the Chicago chapter of the Black stealing a car and driving it across state Panthers, who was murdered by the FBI lines to Michigan. In exchange for hav- on the night of December 4, 1969. Police ing his felony charges dropped, O’Neal and FBI agents fired 99 shots that night, agreed to infiltrate the Panthers as a the Panthers only shot once. Mark Clark, counterintelligence operative. another Black Panther leader, was killed His story is a sad one and the inter- at Hampton’s apartment at the same time. view segment where he claims, “I was As the title implies, the Judas char- in the struggle,” seems like an attempt acter, Bill O’Neal (strikingly played by to justify his actions. O’Neal himself American actor Lakeith Stanfield), who seems like an indictment of the extreme- infiltrates the Chicago Black Panther ly limited choices for survival for Black chapter to eventually become their head people in the US at that time. of security, is tasked by the FBI with However, Judas and the Black helping them to bring down the Black Messiah can be seen, I think, as the re- ‘messiah’, so feared at that time by FBI venge of history. head J Edgar Hoover. The reality of ugly racism and injus- Hoover saw in the rising Civil Rights with the politics of Black nationalism, as in title might suggest – Hampton at every turn re- tice which has continued since the time of the movement, figures like Martin Luther King, this quote from one of Hampton’s speeches: jects the notion of himself as the centre of the Panthers has been challenged recently by the Jr., Malcolm X and the militant Black Panther “We got to face some facts. That the masses struggle – as when the Panther headquarters eruptions of Black Lives Matter protests across movement the possibility of a new Black mes- are poor. That the masses belong to what you in Chicago is firebombed and destroyed by the the US among Black, Latinx, white protestors. siah (Hoover’s phrase, not an epithet Hampton call the lower class, and when I talk about the police while Hampton is in prison on trumped- A nationwide poll conducted for Time mag- would ever have claimed for himself), with the masses, I’m talking about the white masses, up charges. azine in 1970 revealed that 9 percent of the potential to bring the status quo of racism and I’m talking about the black masses, and the It’s the people in the community – the kids, black population—about two million people— inequality crashing down. brown masses, and the yellow masses, too. the grandmothers, the gang members – who considered themselves to be “revolutionaries”. Hoover is chillingly and effectively incar- “We say you don’t fight racism with - rac offer to rebuild the centre. Which is why, This is the real reason Hoover and the estab- nated in the movie by Martin Sheen. His icy- ism. We’re gonna fight racism with solidari- when Hampton is released, in his first speech lishment feared the Panthers so much – not eyed glare is enough to cow his subordinates ty. We say you don’t fight capitalism with no to followers, he says ‘You can kill a revo- because of their relatively small numbers – but into submission, whatever underhanded tactics black capitalism—you fight capitalism with lutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution’ because of the wide-spread sentiment of rage he puts forward as a way to stop the Panthers. socialism.” and ‘Power to the people’, as the antidote to against racism and injustice that existed among The Panthers posed a threat to the whole Daniel Kaluuya, the British actor who has hero-worship. millions. edifice of white supremacy that Hoover- de appeared to great effect in other American The caricature of the Panthers is often as The way that the Black Lives Matter pro- fended as the ‘American’ way of life. Firstly, movies, such Jordan Peele’s Get Out, is purveyors of senseless violence, rather than tests spread last year from urban to rural set- the Panthers claimed the right of Black people convincing and grounded here in the role of the disciplined and dedicated activists they tings and from the US to countries around the to arm themselves in self-defence (primarily Fred Hampton. He gained some weight to do really were. In addition to arguing for the right world gives hope that more revolutionaries against the racist police who were murdering the part, since he thought it was important to to carry guns in self-defence (which is obvi- will be following the inspiration of people like Blacks in the streets) and acted on that right physically embody the power of personality ously still something necessary today when Fred Hampton. It makes Judas and the Black by bearing arms. Secondly, and perhaps even and conviction that Hampton carried in his we look at the recent murders of unarmed Messiah required viewing.

Capitalist pharma - continued from page 8 health. North. Even in the global North, treatment of in advance purchase agreements from govern- The research that takes place in the private Hepatitis C or availability of insulin or drugs for ments around the world before any vaccine was People Before Profit and the People’s sector is qualitatively different. A lot of it’s cystic fibrosis are restricted by capitalist phar- even produced. There’s almost no private fund- Vaccine Alliance proposed a resolution, around production and scaling production, but ma. As ever, capital and the need for capitalist ing in that vaccine at all, except for a donation brought forward by the World Trade more shockingly, 50% of all R&D spending in accumulation gets in the way of human need, from Dolly Parton. This is the socialization of Organization by the governments of India and the pharmaceutical sector is on what’s called even when that’s something as basic as human development costs and privatization of profit South Africa - to suspend the trade related evergreening - a very cynical approach where health. - completely the opposite of what the pharma- aspects of the Intellectual Property protocols functionally insignificant modifications are ceutical lobbyists and global governments are of the WTO. This proposal immediately made to different drugs to extend the life span suggesting – that incentives need to be provided secured support of over 100 countries but was of patent protections on those drugs that allow to get drugs made. met almost as quickly with a block from the you to extend your monopoly patent rights to We need science for the people and a people’s governments of the UK, the US, Canada and produce that drug and sell it to the market. This vaccine. John Salk - who developed the first the EU, who claimed that Intellectual Property presents an existential threat to human health. polio vaccine - was asked ‘who owns the rights protection was essential to the development of Further, far more Research and Development to the polio vaccine’; he responded ‘could you the vaccines – that it was essential to incentiv- (R&D) money is spent on non-life saving drugs patent the sun?’ He saw it as a global public ize the production of vaccines through profit. than is spent on antibiotics, antivirals or vac- goal - not to be privately controlled or subject That argument is untrue even pre-pandemic. cines. There still aren’t effective vaccines for to artificial scarcity - something that everyone All pharmaceutical innovation is built on a some of the world’s biggest killers like malar- should have access to regardless of where you bedrock of publicly funded research. Almost ia and TB, despite TB infecting 1 to 2 billion live or your income, race, religion or ethnicity. everything that’s produced from the pharma- people globally and malaria being a growing That’s something the global left has to live up to ceutical sector is built on a foundation of basic problem globally. The argument is even clearer in the case of and seems to be being brought forward. research that takes place in public institutions Between 2000 and 2011, just 4% of all spend- Covid. The vaccines are made possible by Different trade unions around the world are and this is where the most risky and costly ing on R&D in the pharmaceutical sector was unprecedented amounts of public funding and starting to take this seriously. Here in Ireland research takes place too. Unfortunately for on neglected diseases. This has been the reality that bedrock of public research underneath it we have a massive pharmaceutical sector, and various reasons there’s no public capacity with capitalist pharma for a very long time. The all. The Moderna vaccine was developed in the we had a motion before Parliament to basically around the world where public researchers latest generation of HIV and Aids drugs have U.S. in conjunction with the National Institute void patents and produce drugs off patent. That can translate their innovations into things that made it to market in the global South where of Health. It got 2.5 billion dollars of public question has to be taken seriously by socialists can actually help people and improve global need is greatest, ten years later than in the global money, in addition to several billion dollars around the world.

April 2021 Socialist Worker 7 $2 | No 632 | April | 2021 | socialist.ca Doug Ford’s covid chaos

oug Ford’s incompetence is killing And although Ford reinstated a moratorium people. His attempt to slow the covid on evictions, this will provide only partial spread has come to naught. So the temporary relief for those who lost jobs and are Demergency break he pulled in early having trouble paying the rent. The last time he April has been followed up by yet another instituted an eviction freeze the Landlord and emergency order a week later. Tenant tribunals continued to operate. They And although he has expanded the lockdown just didn’t have government enforcement of it is unlikely that this new order will actually the evictions. All that did was result in a huge halt the spread. It will slow it down but not to wave of evictions when the ban was lifted. It is the extent needed for the vaccine programs to estimated that more than 200,000 households in outpace the new variants of the disease. Ontario are currently behind in rent because of He was finally forced to shut down schools a loss of income from covid. - which he insists are safe - but which the data And the corporate landlords are making a suggests is a major driver of the disease. In the killing during the pandemic. A high eviction last week of March there were more than 1300 rate is good for their business because it allows cases of covid in schools. While his closure is them to evict tenants and jack up rents at a good for public health it left parents furious higher rate than if the tenants stay in their units. because he only gave them 24 hours to find a Ford, a good friend of developers has done all replacement for in-class learning. he can to make sure they rake in the profits. He But the main sources of the virus in this third has allowed for above guideline rent increases wave are among workers in essential businesses for any landlord who can argue that they have and those remain open. There are more than invested capitol in their buildings. This loophole 900 cases of covid reported at the Mississauga will put more people on the streets. Amazon sorting facility yet he hasn’t closed Once again Ford is proving that he is more these workplaces or, crucially, offered paid sick concerned about keeping the economy going days for the workers. than protecting people. He is sitting on billions The numbers are clear. According to Toronto in covid relief funds given by the federal public health, 48 percent of Toronto’s cases have Sick days would allow for people to take off to get vaccinated because of a loss of pay. government but refuses to use that cash to help been people on low incomes, 77 percent of cases time off if they feel symptoms but without them All Ford could say is, “if you are sick - stay people stay home or avoid homelessness. are among racialized people and 67 percent of people are still forced to go to work. A recent home” but then accused anyone who suggested The worst impacts of his callousness will be workplace outbreaks have been in frontline survey by SEIU found that 64 percent of their that this was impossible for low income workers felt by racialized, low income people - mainly settings like food processing & warehouses. members are worried about having to take time was just, ”playing politics”. women. Their deaths are on Ford’s hands. Covid Vaccine scarcity - courtesy of capitalist pharma The following is extracted from a talk given basically have a vaccine apartheid in denying by Conor Reddy - PhD candidate in immu- Palestinians access to the vaccine, but they’ve nology; member of the Irish Socialist Workers also gotten quicker access to the vaccine than Network, and People before Profit*, Ireland everybody else in the world because they’re more able to pay double what most other coun- accine development and the way tries in the developing world have been willing science has reacted to the pandemic to pay for each dose. So the likes of Pfizer and has broken a lot of old certainties. Moderna have prioritized the countries that are VVaccines that would usually take 8 willing and able to pay more for vaccines over to 10 years to develop have come to us in one those who were to benefit through the Covax year. The two leading vaccine candidates – system. Pfizer Biontech and Moderna – are building The Astra-Zeneca vaccine - the universities brand new RNA vaccine technology that’s have completely publicly funded this from the never been used before and it looks incredibly outset - their goal was to provide a universally effective – some at 95% effective which is far accessible vaccine. But they needed a partner more than anything we’ve seen before. This with production capacity and they partnered speaks to the tremendous potential of science - with Astra Zeneca and then that goal was dilut- but potential unrealized under capitalism. ed to 62% of all their supply going to so-called Likely the biggest question raised is around developing countries around the world. But global access to vaccines and justice. even with that, their total productive capaci- The restriction on the global supply is The People’s Vaccine Alliance and groups vaccines in the global South – the co-vaccina- ty would only account for 18% of the world unnecessary - the consequence of artificial like Oxfam suggest it will possibly be the tion or Covax – is particularly worth looking population having access in 2021 and that scarcity, imposed by pharmaceutical compa- end of 2023 or even 2024 before vaccines are at. It’s funded by governments in the global includes the orders that were given to Britain nies, capitalism and the present imperialist administered in the world’s poorest countries. North, wealthier countries around the world, and the EU and other wealthy countries around world order. Of the eight leading vaccine This is a moral outrage and it’s dangerous - and it’s supposed to provide access to vaccines the world. candidates, 14% of the global population in creating what Mike Davis calls a two-tiered at a lower cost but it’s weak on a number of They have a special agreement with the the richest countries in the world have 53% of humanity - and risks the virus becoming levels. Indian Serologic Institute – a public vaccine all of the global supply of vaccines likely to endemic in parts of the world, enabling new For a start, the vaccine manufacturers are manufacturer – to produce a billion doses of be available in 2021 - the EU, the U.S. and ten variants to emerge, which are more transmissi- not playing ball - not offering cheaper doses to vaccine off-patent but it hasn’t been replicated other countries. ble and might evade vaccines altogether, undo- Covax - Pfizer have refused to provide as many elsewhere and there’s a reason for that. The Looking at just one manufacturer – Pfizer – ing the work that’s been done so far in rolling vaccines as they initially committed to. Covax deal with Astra Zeneca was at the behest of almost all of their supply is going to the U.S., out the vaccine. We’re not safe until everyone reduced the price and other manufacturers the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation - they the UK, EU, Canada and Japan. In America around the world is safe. have followed suit. Also, vaccine suppliers lobbied Oxford extensively to sign an exclu- there are four vaccines for every single person This has been commented on extensively have been affected by the control that pharma sive production agreement that would limit in the population, whereas in places in the by public health experts around the world, but companies have. There’s some prioritiza- the capability of the teams in Oxford to rollout global south people have almost no vaccine at their plan is completely toothless. The official tion in companies that have paid more for the vaccines off-patent ordered beyond the all. approach of the WHO to ensure access to their vaccines, so if you look at Israel – they Serologic Institute.