The recent chaos caused by Covid-19 has highlighted the failures of our society’s priorities: racism, materialism, and militarism. It is time to seek new solutions and a revolution of values.
By Austin C. McCoy, Truthout
In the early weeks of the pandemic, novelist and activist Arundhati Roy brilliantly laid out the stakes of one of the coronavirus’s reverberating impacts. According to Roy, COVID-19 profoundly disrupted everyone’s modes of living under global capitalism. “It has mocked immigration controls, biometrics, digital surveillance and every other kind of data analytics, and struck hardest — thus far — in the richest, most powerful nations of the world, bringing the engine of capitalism to a halt,” she wrote. Roy then powerfully asserted that the pandemic was — among other things — “a portal,” or a moment for us to “temporarily, perhaps … make an assessment and decide whether we want to help fix it [capitalism] or look for a better engine.”
The rebellions against state violence the following summer, prompted by the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and others, also contributed to the sense that we were on the precipice of a reckoning. Millions of people around the world took to the streets to protest against structural racism in a multitude of ways — marching, direct action, property destruction, and the tearing down of monuments to racism and colonialism.
Austin McCoy is an activist and assistant professor of history at Auburn University. He is also a contributor for Black Perspectives. Follow him on Twitter: @AustinMcCoy3.
Recent Posts
Jamaal Bowman’s Opponent Is The Top Recipient Of AIPAC Money
May 4, 2024
Take Action Now Here is the most complete, up-to-date view of AIPAC PAC donations to congressional candidates. by Donald Shaw, Sludge As Israel…
“This Militaristic Approach Has Been a Failure”: Meet Hala Rharrit, First U.S. Diplomat to Quit over Gaza
May 3, 2024
Take Action Now The Biden administration’s financial, military and diplomatic backing of Israel’s assault on Gaza has sparked dissent within the U.S.…
Will Southern Autoworkers Reverse Decades Of Union Decline?
May 3, 2024
Take Action Now Automakers rely on non-union plants in the South to drive down wages across the country. A UAW victory in Tennessee and an upcoming…
CNN Airs Outrageous Anti-Palestine Protest Segment
May 3, 2024
Take Action Now This segment from Dana Bash on the Palestine protest movement is one of the most shameful things ever seen on cable news. by Jack…