CEIMSA/Bulletin 975: Is 'Divide and Govern' here to stay?

Bulletin N° 975

Subject : Is 'Divide and Govern' here to stay?

Grenoble, May 12, 2021

Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,

The radical divisions within capitalist societies we see today speak to the ideological crises that have followed the economic debacle of neoliberalism around the world.

Fundamental contradictions of economic exploitation and social inequality have given rise to a desperate attempt to legitimize ruling-class policies, against impossible odds.

The incontrovertible violence of imperialism and the domestic shame of capitalist exploitation have produced a plethora of resistance movements at home and abroad, the resolutions of which have not yet taken shape. The ensuing chaos is, to say the least, unnerving, but not unexpected. Centuries-old institutions of liberal capitalism have been hollowed out by systematic assaults on traditional humanist values, exposing the long history of hypocrisies and cover-ups, and revealing an ugly truth: the venal greed and murderous intentions behind corporate capitalist expansion.

One can do no better today than to identify major social contradictions and propose solutions. One outstanding example, is the controversy over the Covid-19 Policy led by Big Pharma.

QUIZ.

According to statistics published by Statista.com on May 10, countries reporting ratios of “covid deaths per million inhabitants” included those below. We invite readers to test their knowledge by matching each country to its corresponding “death-with-covid ratio per million” on May 10, 2021.

a. 2,137.83/million 1. France

b. 2,001.14/m 2. Egypt

c. 1,764.60/m 3. Russia

d. 1,716.51/m 4. Nigeria

e. 1,561.84/m 5. Poland

f. 1,498.15/m 6. Vietnam

g. 1,377.97/m 7. Belgium

h. 1,020.58/m 8. Tanzania

i. 177.37/m 9. Mexico

j. 3.47/m 10. Brazil

k. 0.36/m 11. Argentina

l. 139.18/m 12. Germany

m. 936.25/m 13. South Africa

n. 0.36/m 14. Sweden

o. 10.28/m 15. China

p. 1844.41/m 16. India

q. 773.96/m 17. USA

Of course, these statistical reports are not reliable, (given the official ambiguity of “deaths with covid” and “deaths by covid,” and the notorious PCR testing with its massive errors of “false positives” and “false negatives”); but they do reflect the basis of a very real corporate capitalist policy, with a mind-numbing message. This policy is the subject of controversy today, despite efforts by the corporate media to stifle open debate. “A politics of fear,” akin to the murderous cold-war politics of the past, has not yet taken hold in western societies, and class struggle, while muted, has not been altogether silenced. The establishment of a corporate authoritarian capitalism, in an effort to suppress flagrant contradictions is not yet a fait accompli.

Below please find 11 additional sources and political contradictions representative of our times in “The Covid Pandemic” :

Sincerely,

Francis McCollum Feeley

Professeur honoraire de l'Université Grenoble-Alpes
Ancien Directeur des Researches
Université de Paris-Nanterre
Director of The Center for the Advanced Study
of American Institutions and Social Movements
(CEIMSA-in-Exile)
The University of California-San Diego
http://www.ceimsa.org