Buddha
Vital Football Hero
Stolen, but this sums up my sentiments:
The COVID-19 crisis has made it perfectly clear that the same old class politics of 100 years ago is still alive and well today.
Back in 1919, our ancestors came home from spilling their blood in the wars of empires to lay dying of “Spanish Flu” in some workhouse or other. Jump forward a century and we see those who’ve suffered a decade of the Tories’ war on the poor are once again sent off to the front. Once again we’ll end up in makeshift hospitals; this time in the vast capitalist cavern of the Excel Centre or whatever other repurposed warehouse they can find for us.
Once again it is “lions led by donkeys”, as the Eton toffs who would have us believe they are “born to rule” prove they couldn’t run a piss-up in a brewery. With 12 weeks’ notice, they are still playing catch-up. No clear strategy, no ventilators and no PPE (personal protective equipment). Once again the working class are being sent over the top by braying toffs. Once again they are woefully under-equipped. Once again they cough up their lungs on the incompetence of their rulers – only this time it is COVID-19, not mustard gas. Once again our leaders try to con us it is all in the name of our nation and our families. And once again the reality is that it’s about the ruling class continuing to make their profit on the backs of working-class sacrifice.
For weeks we’ve been hearing stories of people being forced to risk their health, that of their families and that of their communities and the health workers who will treat them, as they are forced onto packed trains to do jobs which their bosses claim are essential – when what they really mean is essential to their bank balance. Workers already exploited in the gig economy, in the bogus self-employment of the building site, in the call centres, warehouses and distribution centres, are told to work or starve. Not to feed the country or to transport essential supplies – but to keep the economy running. Plenty of bosses were lined up to claim, like Mike Ashley at Sports Direct, that their little bit of the capitalist profit-mongering machine was an essential service. Building sites stayed open to build the luxury penthouses that would forever stay empty as ghost investments for the super-rich. Government offices refused to let workers work from home although the technology was available – meaning they still had to make the hazardous journey into work, despite their customer-facing functions having been suspended. Royal Mail refused to suspend lucrative door-to-door (or junk mail) contracts. Every unnecessary job, every unnecessary worker being forced to travel, is another potential death – and since this is a contagion, an exponential number of deaths leading from that.
And all of the workers who are being forced to work, whether genuine key workers or not, report the same thing in their workplaces. Lack of hand sanitiser or washing facilities, lack of social distancing and lack of protective equipment. Across the country, it has taken walkouts to force management to provide the safeguards they are legally obliged to – proving how uncaring and corrupt they are. Like in all wars, this lack of equipment and these walkouts are downplayed while government ministers talk about the Blitz Spirit and the Queen quotes Vera Lynn. Fuck off with your nationalist lies! While Boris, Charlie and the other parasites get tested at the drop of a hat, our workmates are dying! Undiagnosed, uncared for, leaving their families, their children, unable to even grieve, unable to see them buried! Transport workers, delivery workers, cleaners and health staff; all being sent over the top by the incompetent Old Etonian Generals, coughing and spluttering their way around the country, to their castles and second homes. Second homes?! The workers they are condemning to an early grave struggle to afford a home of any description! Just like it was a century ago!
Make no mistake, the working class are heroes. We’re keeping this country running, and we’re doing this in the face of the bosses’ continued greed and lack of care. You can fuck off with your bleating about people in parks. It’s the bosses’ lack of care and dereliction of duty that is putting us at risk – not a couple of c**** with a frisbee.
And although they were unable to plan for the pandemic, the boss class are already planning to take their place back at the head of the queue when the crisis subsides. Now we see who the real benefit scroungers are! Profiteers sniffing around government contracts. Billionaires self-isolating on their yachts and tropical islands while getting the government to pay their wage bills. An unending parade of parasites queuing up to stick their snouts into government’s coffers. Well fuck ’em! Not this time. We owe it to our comrades to build a society that allows us all to dream the same dreams; that allows all our children to thrive. We’ve seen just who keeps the country running – and just who cares for nothing and no one but themselves. Fuck the bosses! Power to the workers!
The COVID-19 crisis has made it perfectly clear that the same old class politics of 100 years ago is still alive and well today.
Back in 1919, our ancestors came home from spilling their blood in the wars of empires to lay dying of “Spanish Flu” in some workhouse or other. Jump forward a century and we see those who’ve suffered a decade of the Tories’ war on the poor are once again sent off to the front. Once again we’ll end up in makeshift hospitals; this time in the vast capitalist cavern of the Excel Centre or whatever other repurposed warehouse they can find for us.
Once again it is “lions led by donkeys”, as the Eton toffs who would have us believe they are “born to rule” prove they couldn’t run a piss-up in a brewery. With 12 weeks’ notice, they are still playing catch-up. No clear strategy, no ventilators and no PPE (personal protective equipment). Once again the working class are being sent over the top by braying toffs. Once again they are woefully under-equipped. Once again they cough up their lungs on the incompetence of their rulers – only this time it is COVID-19, not mustard gas. Once again our leaders try to con us it is all in the name of our nation and our families. And once again the reality is that it’s about the ruling class continuing to make their profit on the backs of working-class sacrifice.
For weeks we’ve been hearing stories of people being forced to risk their health, that of their families and that of their communities and the health workers who will treat them, as they are forced onto packed trains to do jobs which their bosses claim are essential – when what they really mean is essential to their bank balance. Workers already exploited in the gig economy, in the bogus self-employment of the building site, in the call centres, warehouses and distribution centres, are told to work or starve. Not to feed the country or to transport essential supplies – but to keep the economy running. Plenty of bosses were lined up to claim, like Mike Ashley at Sports Direct, that their little bit of the capitalist profit-mongering machine was an essential service. Building sites stayed open to build the luxury penthouses that would forever stay empty as ghost investments for the super-rich. Government offices refused to let workers work from home although the technology was available – meaning they still had to make the hazardous journey into work, despite their customer-facing functions having been suspended. Royal Mail refused to suspend lucrative door-to-door (or junk mail) contracts. Every unnecessary job, every unnecessary worker being forced to travel, is another potential death – and since this is a contagion, an exponential number of deaths leading from that.
And all of the workers who are being forced to work, whether genuine key workers or not, report the same thing in their workplaces. Lack of hand sanitiser or washing facilities, lack of social distancing and lack of protective equipment. Across the country, it has taken walkouts to force management to provide the safeguards they are legally obliged to – proving how uncaring and corrupt they are. Like in all wars, this lack of equipment and these walkouts are downplayed while government ministers talk about the Blitz Spirit and the Queen quotes Vera Lynn. Fuck off with your nationalist lies! While Boris, Charlie and the other parasites get tested at the drop of a hat, our workmates are dying! Undiagnosed, uncared for, leaving their families, their children, unable to even grieve, unable to see them buried! Transport workers, delivery workers, cleaners and health staff; all being sent over the top by the incompetent Old Etonian Generals, coughing and spluttering their way around the country, to their castles and second homes. Second homes?! The workers they are condemning to an early grave struggle to afford a home of any description! Just like it was a century ago!
Make no mistake, the working class are heroes. We’re keeping this country running, and we’re doing this in the face of the bosses’ continued greed and lack of care. You can fuck off with your bleating about people in parks. It’s the bosses’ lack of care and dereliction of duty that is putting us at risk – not a couple of c**** with a frisbee.
And although they were unable to plan for the pandemic, the boss class are already planning to take their place back at the head of the queue when the crisis subsides. Now we see who the real benefit scroungers are! Profiteers sniffing around government contracts. Billionaires self-isolating on their yachts and tropical islands while getting the government to pay their wage bills. An unending parade of parasites queuing up to stick their snouts into government’s coffers. Well fuck ’em! Not this time. We owe it to our comrades to build a society that allows us all to dream the same dreams; that allows all our children to thrive. We’ve seen just who keeps the country running – and just who cares for nothing and no one but themselves. Fuck the bosses! Power to the workers!
