Jesús de la Roza
If we did not know that it is real, that it is actually happening, that we have been locked in our homes for twelve days now, it would seem as if we were reading a book or watching a film based on one of those dystopias so common in literature and films nowadays.
It is such a feeling of unreality that it is not easy to make a reasonable analysis of the consequences of this crisis once it is over. What we can do is describe the facts and denounce the cruelty of the economic neoliberal policies applied the past decades which are quite evident now.
Just twelve days ago, life went on as usual. We knew what had happened in China, we also knew the serious problems coronavirus was causing in Italy, the first cases of infection by coronavirus had already been detected in Spain; but people’s lives continued as if those things were not happening. At the most, some people argued that perhaps the demonstrations on March 8th should not have taken place, or whether football matches should take place with or without spectators, or that perhaps it would have been a good idea to cancel people’s gatherings at cinemas, theatres, political meetings, etc., but politicians and society as a whole moved on as if nothing serious was happening.
But just two days later, on March 14th, everything suddenly changed when the government declared the state of alarm. The country came to a standstill overnight. Most commercial activities ceased: bars, cafes, shops, schools… Everything but food shops, pharmacies, tobacconists, health centres and little else. Since then, people are forbidden to leave their homes except for causes of force majeure such as shopping for food or medicines, going to work –in the case your company has not closed down- or walk the dog. All other outdoor activities such as walking, doing sports, ride your bicycle,… were forbidden.
Coronavirus, for the time being, seems to be out of control. Figures are exponentially increasing. Today, March 26th, there are 56.188 infected people (almost 14% are health workers), 4089 have died and 7015 have recovered. But the number of infected people is much higher as not all the people with symptoms are being tested, only the most serious cases.
The public health service and their workers are carrying out a titanic effort in fighting this pandemic. An effort which is being acknowledged by society: every day, at 8 p.m., people take to the windows to applaud and bring them recognition. But this huge effort cannot hide the fact, as health workers themselves are denouncing, of the terrible consequences that budget cuts applied in the last years have had on the public health system: less money, less staff, wards shut down, fewer beds. In Madrid, for example, where the population has increased by almost 500.000 people in the last few years, there are 3.300 less doctors. Because of this, and in order to avoid collapse, the army (the Emergency Military Unit) has had to set up a field hospital with a capacity of 5.500 people. The situation has reached a point that in some hospitals doctors have to decide who is taken to the Intensive Care Units, those with more probability of survival, and who is not.
At the same time, during these past years, private hospitals have been promoted and financed. Hospitals which, by the way, often send their patients to public hospitals when their illness is severe. They have acted as if this pandemic had nothing to do with them. They even charge 300€ for their tests to detect coronavirus, tests which are free in public hospitals. Not only that, now that the government has decreed that private hospitals can be used for public service, many of them are sending their staff home on holidays as a means to reduce expenses. It is the public health system that is mostly fighting this health crisis.
We can clearly see now the consequences of these neoliberal politics that consider health care as just one more business where only benefit matters. It is obvious that more staff and resources are required. There are not enough masks, nor gloves, nor goggles, not protective clothing which increases the risk of infection for health workers.
The harshness of this situation is particularly cruel in elderly homes (two thirds of them being private). They lack enough staff and decent living conditions to the point that one third of the deaths caused by coronavirus have happened in these places.
Besides the health problem there is a terrible economic crisis whose consequences are impossible to determine. Self-employed entrepauners have had to close their business and many companies have adhere to the so-called “temporary employment regulation” which means that they temporarily cease business and the state will pay their workers 70% of their salary. We will see how many of them will eventually lose their job once the health crisis finishes. Many other companies are just laying off their workers because of their lack of activity.
The government has taken exceptional measures in order to reduce the terrible consequences of this economic crisis by promising to invest 200 billion euros (public and private funding), but once the health crisis is over, the suffocating debt the state already has will still be higher. If we continue with the same economic model, more budget cuts will be applied resulting in the increase of precariousness and poverty.
If that were the case, it would be the working class that would have to put up again with the enormous burden the debt imposes on the states. Some very big companies have also adhered to the temporary employment regulation, which means that the state has to take care of a huge cost. Inditex (Zara), whose benefits amounted to more than 3 billion euros last year, wanted to the same, but they postponed their decision until April 15th due to the pressure of society and unions. The banking sector, which received 60 billion euros from the state after the 2008 crisis and which have never returned, has done nothing yet to reduce the economic impact of this pandemic. Once again, the banking system and big business, which pay fewer taxes than workers, benefit from government measures without making any contribution. Quite the opposite, at the beginning of this pandemic the Spanish large corporations’ organization was asking for tax reductions again.
Within this context, it is quite clear that the European Union is not a political union that favours people but benefits big corporations and capital. It is evident because we know what has happened in the past twenty years: the rich have become richer, the poor are poorer; the number or precarious, excluded, marginalized, evicted and homeless people has increased. Right now, in the middle of this health crisis the EU has been unable to establish common policies. Their only policy has been “every man for himself”. Their only decision, forced by circumstances, has been to temporarily allow its members to exceed the limit of 3% of their public deficit and to exceed their public debt above 60% of the GDP. That is to say, the measures that have forced countries, like Spain, to prioritize the payment of their debt instead of prioritizing the welfare of their citizens. The measures that have caused budget cuts and seriously affected people’s welfare.
As I said at the beginning, it is impossible to predict the psychological, social, political and economic consequences at the end of the crisis. We do not even know how long the state of alert will continue (it has just been extended for two more weeks). It seems obvious that we should break with the prevailing neoliberal economic model that has destroyed, step by step, everything that contributed to public welfare. Ahead of us lays a possibility to become aware of the need to provoke a revolutionary change in favour of a more just society; but fear, not just the logical fear of becoming ill, but the fear induced by the power centres and their media, may favour the acceptance of authoritarianism and fascism that has been spreading in Europe and elsewhere.
This crisis has exposed the vulnerability of capitalism and the deceit and harm that its neoliberal policies have caused on society. Being aware of it and overcoming fear will be key points in order to be able to build a new society where common good prevails over injustice and the individual benefit of the privileged class. Our ability to organize ourselves will be decisive.
Hediye Levent
Yusuf Karadaş
Yücel Özdemir