Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness condemns world governments’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Benjamin Mateus

“COVID-19 is the 21st century’s Chernobyl moment—not because a disease outbreak is like a nuclear accident, but because it has shown so clearly the gravity of the threat to our health and well-being. It has caused a crisis so deep and wide that presidents, prime ministers and heads of international and regional bodies must now urgently accept their responsibility to transform the way in which the world prepares for and responds to global health threats. If not now, then when?”—Helen Clark and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, co-chairs of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness

On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response published their findings online in a report titled “ COVID-19: Make it the last pandemic. ”

Mortician Triston McAuliff works in a cooler holding deceased people Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Springfield, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The panel was convened by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in May 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic was impacting almost every country on the planet. The purpose of this initiative was to provide a comprehensive review of the international health response to the pandemic.

As noted in a comment published yesterday in The Lancet, the panel spent the last eight months examining “the state of pandemic preparedness before COVID-19, the circumstances of the identification of SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes, and responses globally, regionally, and nationally, particularly in the early months of the pandemic. The panel has also analyzed the wide-ranging impacts of the pandemic on health and health systems and the social and economic crises that it has precipitated.”

This comprehensive overview will be presented by the panel’s co-chairs, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia and founder of the Presidential Center for Women and Development, and Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, at the 74th World Health Assembly to be held in the last week of this month.

The report is an indictment of the entire capitalist order and its misguided, reckless response to a dangerous respiratory pathogen that has officially claimed the lives of more than 3.25 million people, led to the extreme impoverishment of more than 100 million people, and economic losses amounting to some $10 trillion.

As COVID-19 continues to kill 10,000 people or more every day globally, the pandemic is descending into poorer countries whose public health and medical infrastructure are lacking, threatening the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions all over the world who will not have access to the life-saving vaccines for many months or years.

Sirleaf notes that the ongoing catastrophe was due to “a myriad of failures, gaps, and delays in preparedness and response. The shelves of storage rooms in the UN and national capitals are full of reports and reviews of previous health crises. Had their warnings been heeded, we would have avoided the catastrophe we are in today. This must be different.”

The panel found the COVID-19 pandemic could have been prevented. Years of warnings were made that scientists were seeing an increasing rate of emerging zoonotic diseases—SARS coronavirus, Ebola, and Zika— byproducts of the growth of globalization. Yet, gross underfunding and negligence went hand in hand with complete indifference to these warnings.

Clark and Sirleaf explain that the Public Health Emergency of International Concern declaration on January 30, 2020 in response to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in China, was ignored by too many countries who took a “wait and see” approach rather than implementing all-inclusive national health security measures to contain or stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The independent panel specifically notes that the warning did not even seem to trigger any significant response by most member states, calling February 2020 “a lost month,” adding that as the coronavirus spread into more countries outside of China, “neither national nor international systems managed to meet the initial and urgent demands for supplies. Countries with delayed responses were also characterized by a lack of coordination, inconsistent or non-existent strategies, and the devaluing of science in guiding decision-making.” There was a complete lack of international leadership, a state of near paralysis having taken hold.

They add, “The panel finds that the system as it stands now is clearly unfit to prevent another novel and highly infectious pathogen, which could emerge at any time, from developing into a pandemic.”

Despite the efforts made by the WHO staff in providing support through advice, guidance, and shipment of diagnostic tests and personal protective equipment, the agency was both underpowered and underfunded for the mission they were tasked to perform. “International financing was [always] too little, too late.” This lack of preparedness and incapacity to respond has exacerbated the inequality “between and within countries, with the impact being particularly severe on people who are already marginalized and disadvantaged.”

In short, they note, “The combination of poor strategic choices, unwillingness to tackle inequalities, and an uncoordinated response system allowed the pandemic to trigger a catastrophic human and socioeconomic crisis.” According to the International Monetary Fund, the unpreparedness threw the world into the most severe recession since World War Two with the global economy contracting 3.5 percent. They forecast that by 2025, the financial impact on the world economy by the COVID-19 pandemic will amount to $22 trillion.

The panel also cites the incredibly challenging tasks performed by health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic, working tirelessly to save the lives of the millions seeking assistance and aid. That at least 17,000 health care workers have died of COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic underscores how little governments did to protect and support them, highlighting the capitalist ruling elites complete indifference to the plight of the working class.

Clark and Sirleaf conclude by calling for the establishment of a high-level Global Health Threats Council led by heads of state and governments. They write, “The disease surveillance and alert system need to be overhauled too. WHO should have the powers necessary to investigate outbreaks of concern speedily with guaranteed rights of access and with the ability to publish information without waiting for member state approval. Sensitivities about sovereignty should surely not delay alerting the world to the threat of a new pathogen and pandemic potential.”

Additionally, they state that to ensure WHO’s financial independence, fees for member states should encompass two-thirds of the WHO base program budget. They specifically noted, “We are also proposing the creation of a dedicated international pandemic financing facility. It must be able to disperse $5 to $10 billion a year for preparedness and $50 to $100 billion in the process.”

They also call on major vaccine-producing countries and manufacturers to draft agreements on waiving intellectual property rights to these medicines. They declare, “If actions do not occur within three months, a waiver of intellectual property rights under the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights should come into force, immediately.” They also called for the speedy support of the COVAX program by committing “to provide 90 low and idle-income countries … at least one billion doses, no later than September 1, and to increase that to a total of two billion by mid-next year.”

The report offers a comprehensive overview of the repeated failures by one government after the other in their utter betrayal of responsibilities to those living within their borders, as well as to the world’s population. However, it falls short in identifying the source of these failures—capitalism, which divides the world into competing nation-states controlled by a wealthy elite who privately own and operate the means of production for profit.

As the New York Times openly admits: “Whether the recommendations lead to lasting change is an open question. Ms. Clark’s group … pointedly noted that since the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, there had been 11 high-level commissions and panels that produced more than 16 reports, with the vast majority of recommendations never implemented.” As Dr. Lothar H. Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, bluntly stated, “There’s no enforcement mechanism.”

The existential threat posed by the pandemic is not because of the nature of the respiratory pathogen, SARS-CoV-2. Such threats have been part of human history. Presently, with the advancements in science and technology, human civilization’s capacity to check these threats is unparalleled. The threat posed by the virus is due to the anarchy that characterizes capitalism.

The pandemic is a health crisis for which a political solution is most urgent. A truly global response is only possible under socialism, in which the world is united under the control of the international working class, and society is reorganized to meet human need rather than the profit interests of the large banks and corporations.

NATO begins massive Defender 2021 military exercises aimed at Russia

Robert Sutherland

The United States, at the head of the NATO military alliance, is continuing its military and diplomatic drive to encircle and subjugate Russia. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact in 1991, NATO has absorbed much of Eastern Europe and, with the Euromaidan coup of 2014 in Ukraine, expanded its sphere of influence up to Russia’s border. This is the context in which the huge NATO military exercise beginning this week, Defender 2021 Europe, unfolds.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier with seven helicopters visible onboard at Portsmouth naval base. May 1, 2021 (credit: WSWS media)

Since March, NATO has amassed over 28,000 soldiers from 26 allied nations to practice for war.

As a “host nation,” Germany plays a central role. “Due to Germany’s geostrategic location in the heart of Europe, the Federal Republic is a regular transit country and hub for military transports and movements of our allied partners,” a spokesman for the Armed Forces Base Command (KdoSKB) stated.

Strategic military depots (Army Prepositions Stocks) in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands sent stockpiles of heavy weaponry by barge, rail and convoy to positions across the European theatre. The goal, according to General Christopher Cavoli of the US Army Europe and Africa command, is to “hone our abilities alongside our allies’ partners in the strategically important Balkans and Black Sea region,” that is, on Russia’s doorstep. These drills will continue into June.

The Defender 2020 exercise practiced the mobilization of the US-NATO war machine along the northern approaches of Russia through Germany, Poland and the Baltic. Defender 2021 approaches Russia from the south and the Black Sea. It tests “interoperability” between NATO armed forces and confirms the capacity of transport infrastructure to move armies and heavy weapons.

According to a US military fact-sheet on Defender-Europe 2021, the exercise “demonstrates our ability to serve as a strategic security partner in the western Balkans and Black Sea regions while sustaining our abilities in northern Europe, the Caucasus, Ukraine and Africa.” Listed among the “countries participating in exercise activities” are non-NATO member states Ukraine and Georgia.

Exercise plans for Steadfast Defender 2021 (Image Credit NatoNews Screen capture)

This is extremely provocative. The largest war game in Europe since the end of the Cold War includes two countries that have recently attacked Russia in border disputes in which they had NATO support: Georgia in a brief 2008 war, and Ukraine after the 2014 coup. In coming days, NATO will live-fire multiple rocket-launch systems in the Tapa Training Center in Estonia, barely 200 km from Russia’s Baltic Sea port and second largest city, St. Petersburg; conduct naval operations at Alexandroupoli in Greece, athwart Russia’s access route to the Mediterranean; and execute night-time and airborne operations in Romania and Bulgaria, across the Black Sea from Russia’s naval base at Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula.

US-NATO manoeuvres were in full swing well before Defender 2021 began. In March, nuclear-capable B-1B strategic bombers, flying from Ørland Air Base in Norway, were accompanied by German and Italian fighter jets on missions through the Baltic states, along the Russian boarder. At the same time, French and Spanish fighter jets flying from Romania’s coastal air base at Constanta simulated attacks on warships in the Black Sea.

“The Baltic and Black Sea regions are of strategic importance to the Alliance,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said. Painting Russia as the aggressor in the US-NATO war drive, Lungescu claimed the war games aim “to deter aggression, prevent conflict and preserve peace.”

Logo for Steadfast Defender 2021 (Image Credit NatoNews Screen capture)

A more frank presentation of NATO plans is provided by a strategy paper by retired General Ben Hodges of May 2020. In the report, titled “One Flank, One Threat, One Presence,” the former commander of the US Army Europe lays out plans to “gain the initiative” in the Baltic and Black Seas. It explains how NATO could gain strategic dominance in the Black Sea by imposing “sea denial” upon Russia, aiming for “sea control.”

This comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government unveiled plans to “ recover ” the Crimea, including the strategically vital Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol, from Russia.

This port not only provides Russia access to the Mediterranean but is the main headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Unsurprisingly, Russia protected this port during the German- and US-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014, and agreed to annex Crimea after its population voted to rejoin Russia. Any attempt to forcibly “recover” the Crimea would necessarily involve attacking the Russian armed forces—that is, war with Russia.

In March, Washington formally requested Turkey grant two US warships passage through the Bosporus to the Black Sea. This elicited unsubtle threats from Russia, whose Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov declared: “We warn the United States that it will be better for them to stay far away from Crimea and our Black Sea coast. It will be for their own good.”

Washington subsequently recalled the deployment. On April 16, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported that coordinated Russian naval and air force exercises will close the Black Sea waters around Crimea until October. Nonetheless, Great Britain, a NATO member state, has announced plans to send warships to the area.

While Defender Europe is training for combat on Russia’s western front, Washington is holding parallel war games on Russia’s eastern borders. The Defender Pacific exercises, aimed at both Russia and China, involve the US Air Force, Navy and Marines as well as the Japanese Air Self-Defence Force and the Royal Australian Air Force. In January, the US Army announced the formation of an “Arctic Multi-domain Task Force,” advancing the United State’s encirclement of Russia to its north.

This year saw the inauguration of the “Quad,” a semi-military alliance of Japan, Australia, India and the US, aimed specifically at China but at Russia, as well.

One hardly dares imagine Washington’s apoplectic response if a “strategic competitor” were to hold war games within striking distance of US shores, yet the largest mobilization of NATO since the end of the Cold War has gone largely unremarked in Western media. Instead, its pages are packed with lurid, misleading and mostly unsubstantiated anti-Russian propaganda. Every military or diplomatic move by the United States and its NATO allies against Russia is invariably attended by a media campaign framing Russia as the aggressor.

Military tensions are rising in line with an accelerating breakdown of diplomatic relations. Russia recalled its ambassador to the US, usually the last step before the outbreak of war, after President Biden publicly called Russian President Putin a “killer.”

The Biden administration is following the pattern of confrontation with Russia and China pursued by the Trump and Obama administrations before it, and supported, whatever their often bitter tactical differences, by politicians of both of America’s big-business parties. Similar strategic concerns lie behind the growing tensions between the US and China, as Washington responds to China’s rapid economic growth. Belligerent US policy in that theatre, openly stated with Obama’s 2011 “pivot to Asia,” continues today in the growing conflict with China over Taiwan.

While no support can be given to the capitalist oligarchy in Moscow that emerged from the Stalinist regime’s restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union in 1991, calling Russia the aggressor in this geostrategic rivalry inverts reality.

The NATO imperialist powers are the driving force behind the rising tide of war, as Washington’s attempt to defend its faltering world hegemony sets the stage for a conflict unparalleled in history. A world war based on modern military technology would threaten the survival of humanity. It can only be stopped through the independent mobilization of the working class in an international anti-war movement based on a socialist programme.

Soaring prices push US households to the edge

Andre Damon

Surging prices for necessities like used cars, phones, and housing have caused the biggest jump in “core” consumer prices in nearly four decades, according to new figures released Wednesday by the US Department of Labor (DOL).

Rising prices for food, heating oil, gas, and other necessities are eating into workers’ incomes both in the United States and internationally.

In this April 29, 2020 file photo, a worker restocks chicken in the meat product section at a grocery store in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Workers are finding it increasingly impossible to make ends meet, even if they are employed full-time. The minimum wage in the United States remains at $7.25 per hour, and US President Joe Biden has reneged on his campaign promise to raise it.

Workers’ real average hourly earnings have plunged, falling 3.4 percent over the past year, according to the latest jobs report from the DOL, as companies used the pandemic as a pretext to slash wages over the past year.

Overall consumer prices increased 4.2 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 2008, and significantly above economists’ expectations.

But “core” consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose 0.9 percent between April and March in the largest monthly increase since 1982.

The surge was extremely broad-based, driven by prices for used cars, air travel, housing, furniture and other consumer goods.

The biggest driver of rising overall consumer prices was rising costs for used cars, which increased by 10 percent over the past month and are up 18 percent for the year. The surge—the highest on record—is driven by the shutdown of auto assembly plants due to a shortage of raw materials, primarily microchips.

In April, the average price for a used car exceeded $25,000 for the first time in history, according to J.D. Power.

The CPI figures significantly underestimate the real price of housing, since they only take into account rent, not the price of owning or renovating a home. Over the past year, home values have shot up more than 10 percent nationwide, and in many of the zip codes, the increases are far higher.

The Wall Street Journal noted that “The median sales price for existing single-family homes was higher in the quarter compared with a year earlier for 182 of the 183 metro areas tracked by the National Association of Realtors, the group said Tuesday. In 89% of those metro areas, median prices rose by more than 10% from a year earlier.”

The increase in home values is affecting those least able to afford them. The value of homes priced under $100,000 have grown the most out of any price point over the past three years, according to an analysis by the Journal .

Lumber prices have more than doubled since the start of the year, making it impossible for many households to carry out much-needed repairs on their homes, and vastly increasing prices for new construction.

Prices are surging for nearly every commodity. The price of tin, essential to manufacturing electronics, shot up by 46 percent this year. Other raw materials, such as copper and steel used in electronics and appliances, are surging amid a mass speculation by large investors.

The run-up in food prices is driven by surging prices for staples like soybeans and corn, which have increased by more than 50 percent over the past year.

The Los Angeles Times noted that “last month, about 36% of small businesses surveyed by the National Federation of Independent Business indicated that they had raised selling prices, the highest share in 40 years.”

“Any animal that you eat is eating grains, and it’s eating corn, soybeans, or soybean meal, and perhaps even some wheat,” Sal Gilbertie, the CEO and president of Teucrium Funds, told Yahoo Finance Live. “We see the prices of these grains go as high as they’ve been literally since 2012, 2013,” he said.

Dana Peterson, the Conference Board chief economist, told Yahoo Finance Live, “While some of these price increases may fade with the pandemic, some may not.” He said the high grain prices will remain “at least a year, maybe two years.”

Periods of high inflation have previously corresponded with an intensification of the class struggle, with workers demanding higher pay to keep up with rising prices. The sensitivity of the US political establishment to these wage demands was expressed by the decision of the Democratic governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont, to call up the National Guard to help suppress a strike by 3,400 nursing home workers set to begin Friday morning.

Colombia enters third week of protests as Bogotá and Washington prepare to escalate repression

Andrea Lobo

Every city and major town in Colombia saw tens of thousands join mass marches, roadblocks and other protests on Wednesday, the third day of the “National Strike” and the fourteenth day of protests in the South American country.

A protest demonstration in Colombia, last Saturday (Source: Twitter)

The “strike” was called by the National Strike Committee, which is composed of the main trade union confederations and farmers associations, after it suspended talks with the government of far-right President Ivan Duque during the first day of the so-called “National Dialogue” on Monday.

Since 2019, the unions and the government have repeatedly employed a combination of talks with intermittent calls for “National Strikes,” during which the unions fail to mobilize the powerful oil, automotive and other industrial sectors, while working to dissipate popular anger.

On Tuesday morning, Duque visited the third largest city and epicenter of the demonstrations, Cali. There he met with the leadership of the Colombian military, Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry. Then, he announced that his administration would finance one semester of free tuition for university students from the lowest social income stratums and appealed for the continuation of the “National Dialogue.”

The National Strike Committee has deliberately refused to advance a clear strategy or set of demands, while its leaders feed their contacts in the corporate media with calculated and radical-sounding statements attempting to control the demonstrations.

However, the protest movement remains decentralized, leaderless and isolated from the massive support that exists among strategic sectors of the working class within Colombia and internationally, facilitating the police-state maneuvers to break it apart.

While marking a more advanced stage of the class struggle, the uprising is following the same path as the mass protests in Chile, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Haiti and Colombia itself in 2019. Efforts by pseudo-left elements in the affluent middle class to idealize their leaderless character and spontaneity, or to subordinate them to futile appeals to the trade union bureaucracies are aimed at assuring their further isolation and demobilization.

In Cali, roadblocks and marches have been the largest in the marginal neighborhoods where the poorest sections of the working class live and where demands center around necessities, access to online classes and social infrastructure.

According to government statistics, the Cali metropolitan area saw its official poverty rate (living under $87 per month) increase from 21.9 percent to 36.6 percent between 2019 and 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has been particularly devastating for the poorest fifth of the population in Cali, which saw its real income drop a massive 50.1 percent. Nationally the poverty rate rose to 42.5 percent, and the poorest quintile saw even greater drops in real income in Bucaramanga (55.1 percent), Ibagué (50.9 percent) and the capital Bogotá (50.3 percent).

Meanwhile, ICU beds are full in Cauca, the broader Valle de Cauca Department and cities across the country, as COVID-19 deaths remain at record levels nationally. This social and health care catastrophe fueling the growing popular uprising is by no means unique to Colombia.

The same policy of prioritizing profits and attracting foreign capital over protecting lives and livelihoods has had similar results across Latin America, where social tensions are reaching a breaking point. Last year, the region lost 34 million jobs and saw 22 million people fall under the official poverty line, with the ranks of the poor swelling to one-third of the region’s 600 million residents. Meanwhile, Latin America represents 30 percent of confirmed COVID-19 deaths globally, while accounting for less than 9 percent of the world’s population.

The Duque administration is preparing to escalate the crackdown, redeploying hundreds of troops to Cali on Sunday, while Defense Minister Diego Molano has placed a target on the backs of the city’s impoverished workers.

On Tuesday, Molano tweeted: “In 13 days of protests, terrorists infiltrated in marches have left 849 police officials injured.” He added: “In Cali, criminal organizations continue inciting violence.”

Already, as many as 548 reports of missing demonstrators have been filed. The government ombudsman claims that 168 of them remain missing, and the Unit for the Search of Missing Persons gives the number at 379. Forty protesters have been killed by the police, and 1,003 have been subjected to arbitrary arrests, according to the NGO Temblores.

The crackdown is being carried out not only with the support of the Biden administration in Washington, but in close coordination with the Pentagon.

The current Colombian military official embedded in the US Southern Command, Army Col. Héctor Iván Macías, explained on March 29 to the Inter-American Dialogue that with daily strategizing with the Pentagon, the Colombian military launched “Operation San Roque” in response to the pandemic.

In a tacit admission that US-Colombian military cooperation is based on an assessment that the pandemic presents a potential crisis for capitalist rule itself, Col. Macías said the plan seeks to “maintain the governance exercised by the president of the Republic, local leaders and institutions.”

For several days during the ongoing repression, the senior enlisted advisor of the U. Security Assistance Command, “The Army’s Face to the World,” was “holding key leader engagements, briefings, meetings and sidebars with senior Colombian enlisted leaders,” as reported on May 5 by the US Army website.

“The presence of U.S. forces, living and working everyday with their partners at [the Tolemaida] Colombian airbase, speaks volumes to the relationship between the two countries as they work side-by-side to enhance Colombian military capabilities and promote regional stability,” states the article, referring to one of the seven military bases used by US forces in Colombia.

This extends into cyber-military operations, with the US Army tweeting Tuesday about its “first-ever virtual cyber-defense exchange with the Colombian Military Forces.” This happens as demonstrators and journalists on the ground report internet shutdowns amid the repression.

So far, the documented killings have been carried out by the police, including plainclothes officers, and not soldiers. Since its official establishment in the 1950s, however, the National Police has operated within the Ministry of Defense and been developed by US imperialism as a counter-insurrectionary force to combat left-wing guerrillas and social opposition.

The National Strike Committee and the pseudo-left have focused on demanding the dismantling of the Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron (ESMAD) and a reorganization of the police. This framework seeks to divert workers and youth away from opposing the entire Colombian state, its US imperialist patrons and the capitalist system.

By opposing the necessary lockdowns and sufficient pandemic aid to workers, moreover, the Colombian trade unions and the entire political establishment have demonstrated their commitment to defending the profit-making activities of the Colombian banks and corporations, which are themselves dependent upon Wall Street.

Israel’s military continues airstrikes on Gaza as it prepares for an “indefinite” operation

Jean Shaoul

On Tuesday, Israel launched a massive aerial bombardment of 140 airstrikes on Gaza, killing a further two Palestinians.

This brings the death toll to 40, including nine children and one woman. Thirty-five of the deaths were in Gaza and five people in Israel were killed. At least 122 people have been injured, 41 of them children. More than 12 percent of all injuries were “serious,” according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

One of Israel’s targets, a 13-storey residential tower in Gaza City that houses an office used by the political leadership of Hamas, collapsed.

A medic treats a wounded boy following an explosion in the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, on Monday, May 10, 2021, during a conflict between Hamas and Israel. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ali)

Salameh Marouf, who heads the government information office in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that Israel had “intentionally targeted service facilities, such as near the water desalination facility to the north of Gaza, which put it out of service.”

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, Israel’s military spokesman, said that 15 militants had been killed in strikes by jets and unmanned drones. He said nothing about the civilian deaths and injuries, adding cynically, “We are doing everything possible to avoid collateral damage.” He reported that the military’s air campaign was still in its “early stages,” implying that assassinations of Hamas leaders were on the agenda.

Gaza, home to nearly two million Palestinians, most of whom are under 25 years of age, has suffered a criminal 14-year blockade, three murderous wars—the last in 2014—and numerous assaults at the hands of Israel since 2006.

Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza started on Monday night in response to calls by Hamas to withdraw security forces from Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has on several occasions ordered the deployment of security forces to the al-Aqsa compound, the third-holiest site in Islam, during the month-long Ramadan fast that began April 12. None of the authorities have sought to give the slightest justification for Monday’s storming of the compound by security personnel who trampled over prayer mats, attacking worshippers with rubber bullets and stun grenades, injuring 520 Palestinians of whom 330 needed hospital treatment.

Police Commissioner Koby Shabtai told Channel 12 News that the police had been “too soft” in dealing with the Palestinians in the compound and that they were going to get tougher.

Such military invasions of religious sites are illegal under the 1954 Hague Convention—to which Israel is a signatory. In 1981, UNESCO declared Jerusalem’s Old City that includes the compound a world heritage site.

The storming of al-Aqsa came amid demonstrations against escalating land grabs by Israeli settlers, settlement expansion and the planned eviction of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, north of Jerusalem’s Old City. Provocative marches organized by Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir of Jewish Power, taunted the Palestinians with “death to Arabs” chants. The situation in East Jerusalem, which is heavily reliant on tourism, has been further exacerbated by the pandemic that has left thousands of young people without an income.

The timing of the crackdown on Jerusalem Day—the anniversary of Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem from Jordan following the 1967 War—ahead of the planned Flags March by Israel’s settler groups and far right forces through Arab neighbourhoods was planned to precipitate a war with the Palestinians.

It prompted angry demonstrations by Palestinian Israelis, in predominantly Arab towns and cities including Lod, Ramle, Isawiyah, Jaffa, the northern port city of Haifa, Nazareth and the central region around Umm al-Fahm, as well as in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, that were met with police repression. In Lod, a Jewish Israeli shot and killed a Palestinian amid violent clashes. On Tuesday, Palestinian Israelis went on strike across the country. This marks a significant shift in the attitude of the mainly young protesters who in the past did not actively solidarise with the Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the occupied territories.

Tuesday’s air strikes came after Hamas responded to Israel’s Monday night bombardment with rockets, killing two women and injuring dozens in the southern city of Ashkelon.

The scale of the high-tech bombardment makes clear that these latest attacks on Gaza by the most powerful military force in the region mark the start of Israel’s fourth war on the besieged enclave. Furthermore, the military campaign—dubbed “Guardian of the Walls” —is set to escalate and widen.

Netanyahu, speaking after the first Gaza rockets were launched on Monday evening, proclaimed that the Palestinians had “crossed a red line” and that “Israel will respond with great force.”

He followed this up on Tuesday with a pledge to step up the assault, declaring “At the conclusion of a situational assessment, it was decided that both the might of the attacks and the frequency of the attacks will be increased.”

He has refused all calls to calm the situation and has not responded to Egypt’s offer to mediate between Israel and Gaza, Egypt’s foreign minister told an emergency Arab League meeting.

Israel’s media and politicians across the political spectrum have supported Netanyahu, parroting the party line about Israel acting to defend itself. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who is trying to form a coalition government to replace Netanyahu, called for even harsher attacks on Gaza.

Yesterday, Defence Minister Benny Gantz approved the call up of 5,000 reserve soldiers, which he said was to “deepen home front defence.” He instructed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi to continue the attacks on Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, prepare the home front and rebut “false claims” by the Palestinians.

Gantz approved Public Security Minister Amir Ohana’s request for eight companies of Border Police as reinforcements. The police and the army have sealed the crossings into Gaza and closed roads adjacent to the enclave.

Aviv Kochavi said all IDF units had to prepare for a wider campaign of indefinite duration, with the onslaught to be expanded to additional targets. Hidai Zilberman, an IDF spokesperson, warned that the Israeli army has its “foot on the gas” and that attacks on the Gaza Strip would intensify. The military had increased the number of Iron Dome batteries in central Israel in preparation for more rocket strikes.

Netanyahu’s preparations for war against the Palestinians come in the wake of his failure to form a new coalition government that would ensure his ability to evade a trial that is exposing his corrupt relations with media figures. He has calculated that a new Palestinian uprising and a war with Hamas would upend any possibility of his rival Lapid securing the necessary support of both his potential right-wing partners such as Naftali Bennett of Yamina and Mansour Abbas’ United Arab List, precipitating a fifth election and/or a state of emergency that would ensure Netanyahu’s continued premiership.

He is assured of the continued support of Washington and the European powers who have condemned Gaza’s rocket attacks on Israel and called for both sides to step back from the brink, absurdly equating Gaza’s projectiles with Tel Aviv’s sophisticated weaponry. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanded that the rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel stop “immediately”. Speaking ahead of his meeting with Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi in Washington, he said, “I am deeply concerned about the rocket attacks.”

Netanyahu has also been bolstered by his new-found Arab allies that have normalized relations with Israel, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain—and by implication its patron Saudi Arabia—Morocco and Sudan, all of whom have said little other beyond pro forma statements of concern.

Queen’s Speech outlines offensive against workers’ democratic and social rights

Thomas Scripps

Boris Johnson’s Conservative government set out its authoritarian agenda in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, including attacks on the rights to protest and vote, to free speech and asylum and on judicial scrutiny of the government and the armed forces.

The speech also announced plans to streamline the privatisation of the National Health Service and reduce the taxes paid by employers operating in newly created freeports.

Of the 30 proposed laws, the most significant is the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which has passed its second reading and is due to become law later this year. The Police Bill places draconian restrictions on protests and threatens protestors with large fines and long prison sentences.

The Queen reading out the Johnson's government's legislative programme for the coming year (credit: @RoyalFamily)

Legislation continues the assault on the right to protest on university campuses, aiding right-wing forces to strengthen their position. A Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill will place requirements on English universities and students’ unions to guarantee “freedom of speech” of staff and visiting speakers. Individuals who claim their freedoms have been infringed will be able to seek recompense through the courts. A “director for freedom of speech and academic freedom” will be given the power to carry out investigations and impose sanction through the Office for Students regulator.

These measures are intended to crack down on criticism and popular protest against reactionary ideologues and provocateurs—such as representatives of the Zionist lobby and far right figures.

Voting rights in the UK will be severely curtailed by plans to pass an Electoral Integrity Bill making photo ID mandatory for voting in elections. The move will disenfranchise swathes of working-class communities, especially ethnic minorities. Roughly 11 million voters, or 24 percent of the electorate, do not own the passport or photographic drivers’ license that will be required to cast a vote. More than 20 charities and civil society groups have opposed the plans, which they explain will “disproportionately impact the most marginalised groups in society”.

It is likely that this shift will later be used to argue for the introduction of a state identity card, which has always met with staunch opposition.

A draft Online Safety Bill, announced last December, will empower Ofcom to level fines of up to £18 million or 10 percent of global turnover against social media companies that fail to regulate online “harms” according to government guidelines. This includes “disinformation and misinformation”, handing the state the power to decide what is legitimate speech and what is “harmful” disinformation.

Fundamental changes to the UK’s asylum laws are aimed at trashing democratic rights established in response to the horrors of the Second World War and the Holocaust.

Under the New Plan for Immigration legislation, those who do not enter the country via a “legitimate route”, i.e., through extremely restricted government schemes, will not be automatically entered into the asylum system. The government will seek to deport them if they are deemed to have travelled through a “safe country”. Even those granted asylum after entering “illegally” will only be entitled to “temporary protection status”, meaning they will be repeatedly targeted for removal from the UK, have their rights to family reunion limited and no access to benefits unless destitute.

The legislation redefines the criteria for asylum to require a “well-founded fear of persecution” to block “unsubstantiated” claims. Asylum seekers will have only one opportunity to present their case before appeal and lawyers will be issued with fines for pursuing “meritless” claims.

Prison sentences will be increased for migrants deemed “illegal” and for deportees who return to the UK—in the latter case from six months to five years. The maximum sentence for people smuggling will be increased from 14 years to life. The government already brands any migrant—and jails them on this basis—who so much as places their hand on a boat tiller while making the perilous journey across the Channel as a “people smuggler”.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed “serious concern” over these proposals, which it warns will “damage lives” with “real and harmful” consequences.

The Queen’s Speech introduced plans for a Judicial Review Bill limiting legal scrutiny of government actions. The Law Society has previously commented: “the most controversial proposals would allow unlawful acts by government or public bodies to be untouched or untouchable… The effect of the proposals would be a fundamental distortion of the protection judicial review is supposed to provide against state action, undermining the rule of law and restricting access to justice.”

In a future Northern Ireland Bill, the government intends to restrict or halt prosecutions of British soldiers for crimes committed during three decades of “The Troubles,” effectively extending the protections granted by the Overseas Operations Bill to UK soldiers who have served in other global military operations.

The government announced plans to enact its February White Paper giving ministers more direct control of the National Health Service to s peed-up privatisation.

Amid worthless pledges to “level up” the country with a “skills revolution”, the Queen’s Speech indicated that employers operating in eight newly established freeports—established by the Tories as part of their plan for a globally competitive post-Brexit economy—will pay less national insurance tax for new workers.

The raft of anti-democratic legislation planned by the Tory government points to the savage class war agenda it intends to wage. Johnson is preparing to suppress growing resistance in the working class, in the face of the lifting of protections during the pandemic and under conditions of immense social crisis and an escalating assault on jobs, wages and conditions. The speech pledged that “public finances are returned to a sustainable path once the economic recovery is secure.”

Once again no opposition was offered by the Labour Party. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer opened the debate on the Queen’s Speech by accusing the Tories of “squander[ing]” a chance to “solve the social care crisis, clean up our politics, clean up the mess of the past decade.” He almost entirely avoided comment on the government’s authoritarian agenda, offering only the mildest criticism of the Judicial Review Bill and Electoral Integrity Bill, as it would “suppress turnout in elections and weaken democracy”.

Earlier, Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy coupled token criticisms of the voter ID plans with an endorsement of the warmongering campaign alleging “Russian interference” in elections: “It has been 18 months since the prime minister was handed a report that said that Russia in particular was interfering in our democracy…

“So in today’s Queen’s Speech what I will be looking for is not more action to make it more difficult for people in Britain to vote, but more action to make sure we don’t allow other countries to interfere in our democracy.”

Starmer promised to “work constructively” with the government, this time on a Counter-State Threats Bill, saying “action on Russian and hostile state interference is long overdue”.

Labour's only criticism of the freeport plan is that employers may not be able to take full advantage of the tax breaks freeport zones offer thanks to the terms of some post-Brexit trade deals signed by the Tory government. Agreements signed by Britain with 23 countries prohibit UK manufacturers operating in freeports from benefiting from the favourable terms agreed in the trade deal. Labour's shadow trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, told parliament Sunday she had urged her Tory counterpart Liz Truss 'to go back to the negotiating table immediately with these 23 countries and get these clauses removed before Britain’s freeports come into operation later this year.”

Johnson announces next stage in reopening economy as Covid variants spread in UK

Robert Stevens

Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave the go-ahead for the reopening of virtually the entire economy from May 17 in a Downing Street press conference Monday.

Johnson authorised moving to Stage 3, as part of his “irreversible” roadmap to end lockdown. In what he described as “the single biggest step on our roadmap,” he said that from next Monday, indoor mixing of households will be allowed, with people able to meet in groups of six or from two different households. Thirty people will be permitted to meet outside. Cinemas, theatres, concert halls, museums, galleries, bingo halls, casinos, bowling alleys amusement arcades and snooker halls will all open. In secondary schools and colleges, not wearing a face coverings in classrooms or communal areas will be sanctioned. University students who are not studying on practical courses—those have already returned to face-to-face learning—are to return to their term-time accommodation and receive in-person teaching.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking at Monday's press conference in Downing Street (Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street-Flickr)

The hospitality industry can reopen, with eating and drinking inside pubs and restaurants allowed. Hotels, hostels and B&Bs will be free to have guests stay from anywhere in the UK. Oversea holidays are allowed, with a “green list” of countries that can be visited, including Portugal—a major summer destination for British holidaymakers.

Care home residents can have five named visitors and make visits out of the home.

People will be able to attend sports matches and outdoor concerts, with restricted attendance, while indoor events will be permitted at 50 percent capacity up to 1,000 people. Soccer’s Premier League are permitted up to 10,000 home support spectators in attendance for the last two rounds of fixtures.

The official Covid-19 threat level is being downgraded from four to three—meaning the virus is still in circulation but is under control.

Johnson declared, “[W]e are taking a step towards that moment when we learn to live responsibly with Covid—when we cease eventually to rely on detailed government edicts, and make our own decisions—based on the best scientific advice—about how to protect our families and those around us.”

None of what is taking place is based on “scientific advice”. This is a government whose “herd immunity” agenda resulted in the social murder of over 150,000 people.

Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty speaking at Monday's press conference in Downing Street (Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street-Flickr)

Johnson stood next to England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, who warned that there was “reason to be very careful about” the B. 1.617.2 variant, which originated in India.

Research published by Public Health England this week found B.1.617.2 was present in at least 520 people, double the amount detected in the previous seven days. Another 200 suspected cases of the virus are being investigated. As with all such research based on testing and lab work, these findings were already at least a week out of date.

The B. 1.617.2 variant is much more transmissible than even the B.1.1.7 variant, which originated in Kent, south east England, is more infectious than its predecessor and is now the dominant strain nationally and in much of the world. The B. 1.617.2 variant also spreads much faster than those strains originating in Brazil and South Africa and faster than two other Indian variants—B.1.617 and B.1.617.3.

Whitty said of the B. 1.617.2 variant, “This is actually spreading from very small amounts but it is beginning to spread in certain parts of the country and we need to keep quite a close eye on this.”

He warned, “What we know with all the variants is that things can come out of a blue sky—you're not expecting it and then something happens… That is what happened with B.1.1.7 and that has happened to India with this variant as well… I think our view is that this is a highly transmissible variant, at least as transmissible as the B.1.1.7 variant.”

Whitty’s comments came just hours before the World Health Organization (WHO) classified B.1.617—which has already spread to more than 30 countries—as a 'variant of global concern'. The mutation had to be elevated to this level from its previous 'variant of interest' due to its ability to spread more easily than other variants.

Underscoring that the global pandemic is nowhere near its end, with the vast majority of the world’s population unvaccinated, the WHO also gave three other variants from the UK, South Africa and Brazil the same designation.

Over the last seven days the UK, despite a vaccination rollout that has seen nearly 18 million people receiving a second dose, saw 15,367 new cases. This was a 3 percent rise on the 14,904 cases during the previous seven days.

The UK is home to a substantial Indian, Bangledeshi and Pakistani population.

The dangers of the reckless reopening was underscored as scientists estimated that B.1.617.2 is the cause of over 40 percent of all new coronavirus cases in the capital, London. On the day Johnson and Whitty gave the all-clear to Stage 3 and abandoning all restrictions, surge Covid testing was taking place in a fourth council area in London. Testing went ahead in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea after cases of the South African variant were found in the Notting Hill district.

Epidemiologist Dr Deepti Gurdasani from Queen Mary University, London told the GMB programme Monday, “Cases of this new [Indian] variant are doubling every week within the UK while other variants are dropping. Overall cases have been dropping, which shows that even with current restrictions in place, this variant is growing very, very quickly. In London, 50 percent of cases now are no longer the so-called Kent variant.”

There is mounting evidence that B.1.617.2 is present all over the UK, as among the cases identified in London only a fifth resulted from travel to India. Fifteen percent of new cases in the North West of England and over 10 percent in the East of England and South East England are attributed to the Indian variant. Surge testing is due to start in Nottingham—but not for two weeks—after a rise in Indian variant cases.

The corporate media were jubilant at the announcement that lockdown is being ditched before May is out. The Daily Express summed their attitude up with a headline, “Free at Last”.

Johnson strongly hinted that all remaining social distancing could be done away with from June 21, saying, “It looks to me as though we may be able to dispense with the one metre plus rule…”

Even this is not enough for the rapacious appetites of big business, which stepped up demands that restrictions must be ditched sooner. John Foster, director of policy at the Confederation of British Industry, said, “It’s encouraging to see the roadmap remains on track… Meanwhile, the Government can inject further momentum into the recovery by providing companies with clarity on outstanding issues, including social distancing, covid status certificates and the future of workplace testing beyond June 21. Getting answers will help business cement the gains so far, laying strong foundations for the recovery, and support the planned full reopening of the economy without delay.”

Pressure is being applied incessantly by the most right-wing sections of the Tory Party, including around 70 MPs in the Tory’s Covid Recovery Group (CRG) faction. Leading CRG figure Mark Harper wrote in the Telegraph ahead of Johnson’s announcement, “There needs to be early confirmation that social distancing will be completely scrapped from 21 June so that businesses can plan to fully reopen and ensure that we are truly on the 'one way road to freedom' that the Prime Minister promised.”