COVID-19 Archives - Macska Moksha Press

Climate, Covid & Wishful Thinking

January 4, 2023 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

[Art by author from public domain elements]

The challenges presented by climate chaos and the Covid-19 pandemic have both elicited cultural responses that superficially appear to be opposed to one another, but that end up working hand-in-hand to bolster a status quo that’s intrinsically harmful to everyone. Both succeed by appealing to wishful thinking.

In the case of anthropogenic climate chaos, the two clusters are centered around denialism and what we could call technophilia or perhaps techno-hopium. Climate chaos results from industrial-scaled agricultural civilization, so seriously addressing it would any would entail significantly changing that system, and—if we’re going to be honest—ultimately phasing it out. Avoiding such change is the shared motivation of both parties, so Team Denial shrilly insists that climate chaos is not real, or if real is “natural” rather than “man-made,” so there’s nothing we have to change about how we live. Team Technophile smugly assures us that it is real, but that “green energy” (so-called “renewables” like solar, wind & hydro) will solve the problem, so… there’s nothing we have to change about how we live.

In both cases, it’s wishful thinking: the former insist there’s no problem to solve, and the latter that science alone can do it.

Two sides, same coin.

The Tragic but Teachable Moment of China’s Relaxed COVID Policy

December 20, 2022 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Collage by the author from public domain elements

China recently relaxed its COVID policy and the virus is now running rampant. Though exact numbers are not available, we are hearing about overburdened hospitals, emptied pharmacy shelves, and corpses backing up at crematoria. There are also reports about the government expanding hospitals and ICUs and closing down schools, so though “Zero COVID” is no longer in effect, the country has not devolved to the “let it rip” approach of the US and other Western nations.

This turn of events is, first and foremost, an unalloyed tragedy. We should all be hoping that suffering will be minimized as soon as possible. The people of China are other human beings in the world, fully deserving of our compassion. Ultimately, borders are fiction and culture is superficial and we’re all just one family. That’s what I personally believe anyway. I don’t pray, but if I did, China would be at the top of my list.

This tragedy is also a major teachable moment and will remain so for some time to come as events unfold over the next few months. I stress that everyone will stand to learn something, regardless of where they are in the COVID debate. Given that what China did was so different for so long, they were a “control” of sorts compared to the US and the West. Or vice versa, rather, as the control in a study is the group that doesn’t receive treatment. Regardless, for people who are truly interested to learn more about the global phenomena of SARS-CoV-2—no matter what they believe now—what happens next will be instructive. We must then press for policy to change in sensible ways based on what is revealed.

Maskless Dystopia

September 12, 2022 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Munch’s “The Scream” with COVID [collage by the author from non-copyrighted elements]

When I was growing up in the ’70s, a common vision of the dystopian future was a bleak, industrialized landscape where everyone has to wear gas-masks because of pollution. The image goes back further still; speaking on the campaign trail in 1968, RFK warned a classroom of children that unless the US did something, air quality in NYC would be so bad in a decade that people would have to wear masks to breathe.

Now here we are, half a century later, sinking daily further into a dystopia, but one of the emblems of our moment is a lack of masks.

I’m referring to COVID, of course, an infectious disease known to be airborne since January 7, 2020, and to the low number of people who wear masks in public although COVID’s spread can be greatly curtailed by doing so.

This is not an an anti-anti-masker screed. I blame institutions, not individuals, for the behavior of the populace. Despite their at times blustering claims to the contrary, most US Americans are obedient and do what they’re told. Most unquestioningly believe the media which, from conservative to liberal, from Fox to CNN to NPR, is telling them they don’t need masks anymore.

So most people don’t wear them, and two and half years into this pandemic, as we are afflicted with new variants and surges, and as more people die or become disabled—and as other diseases like Monkeypox enter the market—we are exposed, defenses down. This is our maskless dystopia: a nation that has apparently given up on the idea of public health, and is barely even making a pretense about fighting an ongoing pandemic. I find it depressing, to say the least.

Blame the Oligarchs, Not the Unvaccinated, for the COVID Crisis

September 15, 2021 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

First off, let me stress that I’m vaccinated myself, and that I support vaccination as a vital component of COVID response in the US.

That being said, US COVID policies⁠—which at this point are centered on vaccination⁠—have not been very successful to say the very least. We do, after all, rank #1 in deaths and are mishandling the current wave as if nothing could be learned from the previous ones. Our failure threatens the health of people not only here but around the world given the global scope of the pandemic. Other countries have employed much better methods, but we have so far failed to put them in practice them here. Adding insult to injury, much of the establishment political class and its partnered media is laying blame on a section of the population, rather than on the system where it belongs.

It’s a fact that⁠—currently, anyway—being vaccinated greatly reduces your chance of dying or suffering serious illness from COVID. It’s also a fact that you can still pick it up and give it to other people, though⁠—again, so far⁠—at a lesser rate. So, in and of itself⁠—that is, in the absence of other measures⁠—vaccination does not stop the pandemic. It has the undeniable social benefit of reducing the number of hospitalizations, which reserves finite medical resources for other people, including those who are not vaccinated for whatever reason (more about that later). But vaccination by itself is insufficient.

This aspect of COVID vaccination⁠—that it does not halt the spread⁠—has been known from the beginning but was never adequately emphasized. Instead people had the impression that if they got their jabs, they were “safe.” They didn’t get this impression out of nowhere; they were given it by the US mainstream media, an institution that reflects the values of the ruling class, who prioritize economic considerations over people’s well-being.

“Capitalism on a Ventilator”

December 15, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Asian countries have been far more successful than the US in responding to the COVID pandemic, but you’d never know that from the US media. Even most alternative media has been largely US- & Euro-centric. While our domestic issues here are important, we have been missing out on important lessons from other places.

A partial remedy to this dearth of information is provided by the just released, “Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China & the U.S.” The book is an anthology of writing by over fifty activists and independent journalists, edited by Sara Flounders & Lee Siu Hin. (I interviewed Sara about this book for my podcast here.)

What if Trump had donned a mask in March?

December 8, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

What most surprised me about 2020 was the eruption of partisan warfare over wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID. Metaphorically, it was like making a political issue of covering your mouth when you cough. WTF?

Was this inevitable? It’s not like this particular topic has been a hot button issue for decades like feminism or fluoride or gays. Surgical masks have been absent from the last half century of culture wars, unmentioned by Phyllis Schlafly, Ronald Reagan or Alex Jones.

So, having been off the table this whole time, the mask “issue” was up for grabs and I venture to suggest that it could have gone the other way. In an alternate universe, Republicans would now be die-hard mask-wearers and Democrats… well, I’m not so sure.

This is What Collapse Looks Like

July 22, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

It’s time to normalize the word, “collapse,” to describe the ongoing conditions in the US.

Some would counter it’s well past time—and I won’t argue with that—but I’d say we can no longer credibly claim that it’s too early to make this call.

“Decline” has been happening for decades at this point, as manifested in trends such as increasing class inequality, decreasing wages (as relative to inflation), higher infant mortality, lower life expectancy, a disintegrating social safety net, explosive growth of the prison-industrial complex, deteriorating educational system, etc. More and more people have been feeling the squeeze in their efforts to get by, even if establishment voices make claims to the contrary about “recovery.”

But “collapse” is more than “decline.” It’s when the system has lost enough integrity that it’s gone beyond the point of no return. With the multiple levels of disruption that have accompanied the COVID pandemic, we have passed that point.

COVID-19 Denialism is Rooted in the Settler Colonial Mindset

July 8, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

COVID denialism in the US is problematic to say the least. The nation is facing a public health crisis that’s far worse than it needs to be, as shown by the examples of countless other nations around the world that have largely suppressed the first wave. In fact, the US is one of the most dangerous places to be for this pandemic.

We have failed to pursue common sense policies and collective action here due to the ignorant attitudes not only of our leadership but of a significant share of our population.

Three recent interviews I did for my podcast, “Voices for Nature & Peace,” highlighted the connection between this unfortunate state of affairs and our status as a settler-colonial state. These three guests were Margaret Kimberley, a columnist at the Black Agenda Report and member of the Black Alliance for Peace; Joanna Pocock, the Canadian-born, London-residing author of “Surrender,” a memoir about living in the western US; and Alley Valkyrie, a US American activist, writer and artist in France.

The Proliferation of Conspiracy Theories & the Crisis of Science

May 20, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

We’re all familiar with what a “conspiracy theory” is: a narrative of social control in which shadowy groups are secretly rigging events to increase their own power and profit. An apt personification is “the man behind the curtain” in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Of course, there actually are groups attempting to rig events to their own enrichment, such as criminal rackets, political parties and corporations, but conspiracy theories go beyond this simple reality of economics and politics; the actors they describe are virtually god-like in their omniscience and omnipotence: to wit, any and every happenstance is interpreted not only in terms of how it benefits these actors, but—here’s the kicker—how that benefit proves that these forces planned and executed the events in question. At this point, the tales becomes tall indeed, and all logic goes out the window.

“Cui bono?“—a Latin phrase usually translated as “Who benefits?”—is the bread-and-butter of conspiracy theorizing. And as a starting point for understanding motivations and relationships in a profit-driven society, it’s certainly useful, but it only takes you so far.

I would draw the distinction between “opportunism” and “orchestration.”

For example, if my house is on fire and my neighbor charges me a Franklin to use his hose, what’s been clearly demonstrated is that he’s a greedy son-of-a-gun, but not—and this is key—that he personally set the conflagration himself. Maybe he did, maybe didn’t. But the mere fact of his making money from the situation does not prove his culpability: it just illustrates his opportunism, or, if you like, his entrepreneurship.

In a capitalist society where “money makes the world go round,” virtually every single event will boost the bottom line for somebody, and as a rule, multiple parties will actively be seeking the angle where they get to be that particular somebody, whether they had anything to do with starting it or not. It’s perverse, but it’s not always diabolical.

For People, Planet & Peace: Interview with Lisa Savage, Ind. Candidate for Senate in Maine

May 11, 2020 by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume

Lisa Savage is running for Senate in the state of Maine, against Republican incumbent, Susan Collins. Lisa is long-time antiwar and environmental organizer, as well as being a public school teacher and a grandmother. Although she has been an active member of the Green Party, Lisa is running as an independent candidate due to restrictive ballot access laws in Maine. The state does, however, boast the advantage of having ranked choice voting, which gives independent candidates a better shot.

I interviewed Lisa for my podcast, “Voices for Nature & Peace,” on May 7th, 2020, and we covered a lot of ground: COVID-19 relief (including her call for a People’s Bail-Out), healthcare, agriculture, campaigning during a pandemic, the recently released documentary, “Planet of the Humans,” the Green New Deal, and US militarism. If she wins, she will certainly be one of the most progressive people to ever serve in the US Senate.

What follows is a partial transcript of our conversation. Listen to the full interview here.

Navigation