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Government Dereliction of Duty Reopening Schools and Restarting the Economy Need Not Be a Disaster for SocietyIt can be said beyond a shadow of a doubt that the resumption of school and restart of the economy did not have to be the disaster for society that is currently unfolding. Yet, with the start of the new school year and restart of the economy, Canada is experiencing a surge in infections, outbreaks, hospitalizations and even deaths. The "option" before us was never unsafe resumption of classes in order to restart the economy or going back to total lockdown! It does not have to be this way! There are practical preventative measures that can and must be taken for as long as the pandemic is with us, which may be for some time to come.
The agenda is set by the rich, the global oligarchs that own and control our economy. The measures that must be taken to ensure a safe start-up of the economy, including the reopening of schools, which is critical, are considered by the oligarchs to be an impediment to their profit making. As a result, the new school year began and the economy was restarted with utter disregard for the conclusions science has drawn for preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection. This is not rocket science: physical distancing, hand hygiene, creating social bubbles to limit interactions, masking, avoidance of enclosed spaces for prolonged periods of time, etc. As well, teachers, education workers, frontline health care providers, public transit workers and workers in all sectors of the economy are blocked from participating in setting the agenda for society. The many proposals they have brought forward have been based on scientific evidence but are ignored. For example, had the recommendations of teachers and education workers to limit class size, cohort students, ensure adequate ventilation in all enclosed spaces, and ensure adequate distancing in school bus transportation, been followed this would certainly have slowed the surge of the second wave.
With appropriate measures, schools can be both powerful institutions for socializing youth of all ages to be a force for safe conduct during the pandemic and essential institutions for a modern economy. However, without taking appropriate action, schools expose teachers, students and society as a whole to tremendous risk and super-spreader events. The irrationality we are experiencing begs the question: Who Decides? This irrationality is calling for substantive changes based on democratic renewal. The decision-making power must be vested in the people in a manner that makes sure those concerned with the decisions taken, no matter what they are, can make informed choices and take responsibility for their consequences. At this time, the only choice for working people is to keep fighting for rational measures to deal with the pandemic. As they do, the refusal of the ruling circles to acknowledge the right that belongs to everyone to participate in deciding what is to be done will surely strengthen the consciousness and conviction that workers must themselves become the decision-makers. To make this so, how to renew the political process to end all its anti-democratic tendencies which give rise to party governments which pay the rich is the crucial problem which must be taken up for solution. Note1. "Why Should the Pandemic Shut Down the Economy, " TML Weekly, May 16, 2020.
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Back in May,
during the first wave, The Marxist-Leninist
Weekly published an article entitled:
"Why Should the Pandemic Shut Down the Economy?"
[
Yet,
in every province the governing authorities,
regardless of which cartel
party forms the government, started up schools
without adequate
preparation or safety measures. They did so with
utter disregard for
their own public health advisories (on physical
distancing and
restricted social bubbles, for example) and
against the advice of the medical
and
science experts. Workers' Forum is
reprinting excerpts from the views of one such
expert below.