The pandemic is occurring against a backdrop of social crisis and geopolitical conflicts.

By José Reinaldo Carvalho, from Journalists for Democracy The novel coronavirus pandemic is a tragic testament to the failure of public health systems in capitalist countries, revealing a systemic economic and social crisis and the major geopolitical impasses of the contemporary world. 

Overcrowded hospitals, people dying at home or even in the street are not mere "deficiencies" nor do they occur by chance. They are the inevitable effects of anti-popular policies implemented by governments in service of monopoly-financial capital, cuts in public spending, and a lack of attention to the basic needs of the masses. 

The capitalist state is incapable of providing for the population's health needs, such as primary care and prevention, hospitals, doctors and nurses, medicines, laboratories, and clinical tests. The neoliberal logic that has prevailed in capitalist countries results in the privatization and commodification of all public services, which has severely impacted healthcare. In the event of a pandemic like the current one, these failures are fully revealed and have tragic consequences for the population. 

The phenomenon of deteriorating health highlights the antisocial and parasitic nature of capitalism, which also has repercussions on public policies in general, on the offensive against the labor and social security rights of wage earners, on the destruction of the welfare state, and on the public authorities' abdication of their obligation to provide social protection. 

This scenario is not disconnected from the systemic economic and financial crisis of capitalism, and the impoverishment of the working masses. Recently, Oxfam estimated that the coronavirus pandemic could add 500 million people to the poverty line. 

In the midst of the pandemic, the inability of most capitalist states to provide effective responses and prevent the most devastating effects of the crisis became evident. However, where the capitalist state demonstrated efficiency was in bailing out banks and large monopolies, which do not exhaust their maneuvers to speculate and accumulate large profits, including increasing forms of exploitation and oppression of workers and dependent countries. 

Workers are the ones who suffer the most from the policies of so-called "structural reforms," ​​deregulation of labor relations, flexible working hours, wage reductions, and layoffs, leading to mass unemployment. 

In this context of health, economic, and social crisis, geopolitical tensions are also worsening. The imperialist powers, especially US imperialism, are intensifying their brutal offensive against the peoples. 

The Trump administration is directing its actions especially against countries that persist in fighting for their independence and sovereignty. 

US imperialism is engaged in a campaign of rhetorical aggression and threats against the People's Republic of China, a socialist country that is committed to international cooperation and is effectively working to assist more than a hundred countries in their efforts to overcome the pandemic.

This same imperialism intensifies policies of economic, commercial, and financial blockade against countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Syria.

Similarly, the United States seeks to isolate Russia and also practices a policy of sanctions against the Eurasian country.

It is in this context that threats of new conflicts and attacks on the national sovereignty of independent countries and peoples continue unabated.

In contrast, progressive, patriotic, and peace-loving forces are participating in campaigns to combat the pandemic and in internationalist solidarity initiatives. 

Campaigns in solidarity with China, Cuba, Venezuela, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Syria, Russia, Palestine, and Western Sahara are becoming increasingly relevant.

In the face of the health crisis, progressive forces and popular movements are intensifying their struggles for the immediate strengthening of public health systems with state funds, the hiring of doctors and nurses with full rights; for meeting all the needs of Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and for providing the necessary infrastructure for the full functioning of public health services and scientific research; for the provision of all necessary protective equipment (masks, gloves, antiseptics, etc.) and for the protection of doctors and nurses who fight in hospitals with selflessness, sacrifice, and personal cost. The list of demands includes the protection of workers' income and popular rights, and the taking of immediate measures to protect health in the workplace.

It is necessary to persist in defending democracy and not allow any reduction of the democratic rights of the people under the pretext of the state of emergency resulting from the pandemic.

Also underway, under the coordination of the World Peace Council, are campaigns for world peace, specifically for the affirmation of Latin America as a region of peace, for the dissolution of NATO – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the armed wing of US imperialism – for the end of foreign military bases, for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and for the strengthening and application of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, defending the self-determination of nations and the peaceful settlement of international disputes.