Neoliberalism, Racial Violence and a Virus

Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD

Progressive Radio Network, June 9, 2020

The combination of the coronavirus pandemic and the eruption of large protests across the nation over the police murder of George Floyd and law enforcement's culture of racial violence is exposing the systemic hypocrisies among Democrats and Republicans alike. Liberal Democrats have been voicing their approval for the lockdown and social distancing to curb the spread of the CoV19 virus in defiance of Trump's egging on the Red states to reopen for business. Yet at the same time Democrats are pulling their weight behind the large gatherings of protesters. Over the weekend, estimates between 100,000 and 200,000 joined demonstrations in Washington DC. This would seem to contradict the benefits of lockdown guidelines.

On the other side of the aisle, the GOP and its conservative supporters undermine the severity of the COVID's risks and favor a return to business and life as usual. Now as the demonstrations continue to escalate, we find Trump's base criticizing demonstrators for endangering the public health by disregarding the lockdown. This bizarre Kaftaesque standoff between the political Left and Right is a sad theatrical tragedy because a critically important villain behind both the recession due to the shut down of business and the rise in a new civil rights protests is missing from the stage.  That is, the neoliberal regime of capital that today controls both parties.