|
Opinion on a Matter of Serious Concern National Emergency Announced in Quebec Brings to Light What Is MissingGiven all the daily problems in the health care sector including the dire working conditions of health workers such as the cutbacks in staff and compulsory overtime, it comes to mind that health workers are already working under conditions of a national emergency. Those difficult conditions have direct repercussions on the quality of care for patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials are already calling on retired nurses to work at the 811 health line because of a lack of staff and call overload. Despite this call-up of retirees to fill a gap, some public officials insist the health system is ready to face a crisis and all the people need to do is practice social distancing, "self-isolate" and work from home, and the health system will take care of the rest. The devil of all announcements is in the details. This does not take into account the concrete problems in the health sector from years of cutbacks or the direct experience of the people and their particular circumstances in terms of age, disability, family, day care measures, available emergency funds, living quarters or work situation. The possibility of working from home is all well and good when possible but a large majority of workers cannot. The same is true for many forced to fend for themselves in isolation. For quarantine to be effective, it has to be organized collectively where the needs of all are met. One thing is a real concern: when governments call on people to act responsibly, can they be taken seriously? Governments at all levels have been engaged in an anti-social offensive for decades using hollow excuses such as the deficits must be cut and the state debts must be paid before anything positive can be done.
Governments do not need to tell the working people to act responsibly; on the contrary, they should look in the mirror and assess the socially irresponsible actions they have been engaged in for the last 30 years. This pandemic highlights the necessity to renew the political
process so that in "normal" times as well as in times of national
emergency, the needs, preoccupations, suggestions and views of all
members of society and their collectives become integral to the
decision-making process. And not in perfunctory ways, such as phoney
consultations
but in practical ways with new forms and actual democratic institutions
where the active conscious participation of individuals and their
collectives in decision-making is organized.
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
In the face of the socially irresponsible actions of the ruling
elite in control, everyone should take note that acting responsibly is
what the working class does year in year out when it produces what is
needed and provides the services the people and society require to
exist. When working people put forward demands to improve their own
conditions, their own health and security and that of the entire
society, they are acting responsibly because it improves the social
conditions for everyone.