Xavi Smith

Experienced Professional | Transitioning from Tech to Education

Tag: COVID-19

  • A great column from @freedomrideblog for Black Agenda Report:

    Donald Trump was blamed for the poor response in 2020 but it is clear that Americans are in trouble regardless of who occupies the White House because profits determine the response to a health care crisis. Joe Biden declared that there is nothing he can do about the disease trajectory and blithely stated that an additional 200,000 deaths are inevitable. His pre-inaugural promise of a $2,000 stimulus payment is now null and void. The sum of $1,400 is now on the table and no one will see that amount until March or April.

    The failed state continues failing the people. It cannot do otherwise. The government does the bidding of the billionaire donor class, just as it did before COVID-19 struck.

    Capitalism is quite literally killing thousands of people in the US every day. A people-first economy that could be achieved under socialism is a better path forward.

  • It Wasn’t 2020, It Was The Ruling Class Trying to Kill You

    What needed to happen here in the US was the immediate implementation of a system of national healthcare, a campaign to guarantee widely accessible and free testing, and the deployment of a trained army of contact tracers tracking infections and helping people into paid, catered quarantines. There should have educational campaigns – not just television ads and official announcements but brigades of doctors, nurses, and medical students going door to door nation-wide, explaining the basics of the situation in language the people could understand just as Cuba was able to do. There should have been rent and bill freezes, massive free food distributions, and recurring monthly survival payments. There should have been a comprehensive long term plan to control the spread and make sure that people could stay home and social distance without bringing down economic and emotional devastation upon themselves and their loved ones. That is, of course, not what happened.

    Basically every other country has the pandemic under control. We’ve had a whole year of our lives stolen, and yet there’s no end in sight. Will Democrats pass the bold type of legislation needed to get out of the hellhole we’re in? I’m not particularly hopeful. It’s more important than ever to organize and participate in direct action.