Protests
continue to call for the reopening of the economy, with demonstrations in
Michigan, Massachusetts, Texas, California, and other states. Many of the
protesters are armed with rifles and handguns.
In
Michigan, for the second time in two weeks, an “American Patriot Rally”
took place on the state capitol steps on April 30. The event was initiated by
Michigan United for Liberty and joined in by other right-wing groups. The
thuggish Michigan Liberty Militia provided “security” for the action. Hundreds
of armed protesters moved into the halls of the statehouse and crowded into the
gallery of the state Senate after first demanding to be allowed on the House
floor.
At
a May 2 protest in Boise, Idaho, militia extremist Ammon Bundy compared
government quarantine measures to the Nazi holocaust against Jews and called
such government intervention “tyranny.” A “Reopen Philadelphia” protest,
organized by small business owners and members of the far-right Proud Boys,
will be held at City Hall on Friday, May 8.
This
push to reopen is proceeding even though the number of COVID-19 cases continues
to rise in all of the states that are rushing to relax social distancing and
lockdown rules. Trump administration policy set guidelines for the states to
follow in easing restrictions, none of which have been met. Trump has expressed
the need for distancing but also expressed support for these demonstrations as
being the expression of “very good people.”
Actions backed by a section of the ruling class
These
protests, which include armed far rightists and anti-science vaccination
opponents, are being financed by a section of the capitalist class. All the
most backward elements of U.S. society are being gathered under the broad banner
of reopening the economy and “freedom.” The Charles Koch-financed
Americans for Prosperity and the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC) are among the institutions pushing these reopen mobilizations.
The
pro-business magazine Forbes
notes that a web of “various gun rights groups, state Republican Party
organizations, and conservative think tanks, religious and advocacy groups” as
being behind the protests. Forbes
states that these mobilizations are not a grassroots movement but
are the product of a “cynical manipulation” by pro-business forces.
It’s
clear that some capitalists see the necessity of getting the economy, and their
profits, moving again by any means necessary. The Texas Lt. Governor has
expressed the necessity of “sacrifice” in the name of the economy. Trump,
speaking to ABC News, said: “There’ll be more death … I think we’re doing
very well on the vaccines but, with or without a vaccine, it’s going to pass,
and we’re going to be back to normal.” He continued, “We have to get our country
back. … You know, people are dying the other way too.”
Former
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie joined the death chorus by comparing the
current situation to the sacrifices made during World War II, “We sent our
young men during World War II over to Europe, out to the Pacific, knowing that
many of them would not come home alive. And we decided to make that sacrifice
because what we were standing up for was the American way of life. In the very
same way now we have to stand up for the American way of life…” In brief, we
must let people die for Wall Street.
When
the meatpacking giant, Tyson, moved to shut down facilities in the face of
spreading infection in the workforce, Trump issued an executive order under the
Defense Production Act to force meat processors to stay open despite the risk
to workers’ health. In several localities, Democratic Party officials have
moved to abrogate union contracts as an emergency measure. The potential for
workplace exposure is great and there is the potential for a large increase in
COVID-19 cases nationally. Workers in retail, food production, transportation,
warehousing and logistics, and other industries are endangered.
In
testimony before Congress on May 6, epidemiologist Dr. Tom Frieden,
president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, projected that based on “the number
of people already infected and being infected now, the virus will have killed
at least 100,000 people in the U.S. within a month [May]. He also stated that
the situation would only worsen without extensive testing.
On
the same day, however, conservative economist Avik Roy parroted one of Trump’s
favorite lines to argue before a Senate committee that quarantine measures have
not been necessary. “Thirty-seven thousand American die each year in traffic
fatalities, and yet we don’t shut down the roads,” Roy said.
The
lack of a centralized federal response, and the expectation that the states
would develop their own policy and acquire their own equipment, tests, and PPE,
has led to numerous unnecessary deaths. Trump opposes widespread testing, which
is one of the keys to a safe relaxation of restrictions. In some cases, federal
authorities have seized shipments en route to states and municipalities. This
led to the GOP Governor of Maryland placing coronavirus tests acquired from
South Korea under armed guard in a secret location.
A harbinger of fascism?
The
demonstrations do not represent a mass fascist movement, but these far-right
mobilizations carry the seeds of such a movement. A portion of the capitalist
class sees fit to use these reactionary mobilizations to advance their
interests. So far, however, the traditional “legal” channels for attacking
workers suffice to meet the needs of most capitalists. This could change in the
context of a broader, more militant, working-class fightback. It’s not
inconceivable, for example, that armed rightists would attack workers who
strike against dangerous working conditions.
The
working class and its allies are the key to opposing these ultra-right
demonstrations. Mass-action counter-mobilizations—based on the unions,
community groups, and other working-class organizations—must be built to oppose
this attack on working people. This includes the right to organize self-defense
and to form defense guards, based in the mass organizations of the oppressed
and exploited, to protect against far-right attacks.
Reliance
on cops and courts for protection is not the answer. All too often we see
police allying with far-right groupings. U.S. socialist leader Farrell
Dobbs noted, “The line of the police is to defend the exercise of the
formal democratic rights of the fascists, on the one hand, and not to ‘see’ the
violations of the democratic rights of the fascists’ victims. Meanwhile, the
cops take full advantage of any violation of bourgeois-democratic law that the
antifascists may commit. In any kind of confrontation between antifascist and
fascist forces, the basic line of the cops is to protect the fascists in any
way they can and to join in the victimization of the antifascists.”
The
labor movement also needs to raise broad demands for workplace safety and
workers’ rights. Many parents are expected to return to work, but there is
no provision for the care of children who are not in school, as school systems
across the country remain shut down. The demand for safe, free child care is
essential for parents to be able to work. The health-care system must be
nationalized under democratic workers control. Health care must be considered a
human right and not a privilege. To achieve even these modest goals will
require political independence for working people from the Democratic Party.
A
job should not be a death sentence! Cut the workweek with no loss in pay!
Living wages for all! Mass testing and workplace safety now! Free, safe child
care for all! Free healthcare for all!
>>
The article above was written by John Leslie.
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