“The activity of the Communist and Workers’ Parties under the conditions of the pandemic and the capitalist crisis, for safeguarding the health and the rights of the popular strata, in the struggle to change society, for socialism. ”
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Communist Party USA
The COVID-19 pandemic and accompanied economic crisis has exposed the brutality and ineffectiveness of US capitalism and US imperialist policy. The Trump-led US Administration demonstrated a total disregard for public health. This has led to the needless death of over 200,000 people in the USA, the highest of any country. Trump first denied the existence of COVD-19. Later, Trump downplayed its significance. Then Trump blamed China with racist names, calling the pandemic the “Chinese Virus”, “Wuhan Flu,” “China Flu” and then the “Kung Flu”.Trump blamed China by saying China had “instigated a global pandemic”. The pandemic exposed US capitalism’s poor healthcare infrastructure and lack of regard for its most vulnerable communities of color. African Americans, Latinas and Latinos, for instance, were impacted the most by COVID-19. No epidemic management plan was put forward and health professionals were disregarded and denigrated. Health facilities and supplies were inadequate. Consequently, the US became the worst affected country with over 7,0000,000COVID-19 cases and over 200,000 COVID-19 deaths. The pandemic called for international cooperation in the interest of public health. The opposite reaction occurred; the US ramped up on verbal attacks against socialist China and other countries. The USAhoarded health equipment and potential vaccines.The Trump administration declared that it was leaving the World Health Organization in the middle of the pandemic and sidestepped health professionals. It also ramped up trade restrictions on goods from China and engaged in a one-sided technological war with China as a distraction from the mismanagement of the pandemic and in furtherance of Trump’s reelection. US capitalism disregarded this opportunity for international collaboration and multilateral actions against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trump administration instead tries to win reelection by unjustified China bashing. The People’s Republic of China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, quickly identified and informed the world about the virus and this helped to save countless lives. China is one of the most successful countries in managing the pandemic. The pandemic created a further global economic crisis. US capitalism took extraordinary efforts to prop up the capital markets using the power of the central bank to create money. The US created the US petrodollar, as a fiat currency, after the second world war. The dollar is no longer backed by gold reserves. IB Special Edition
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