Nadine Silva: Still no Covid19 cases traced to BLM mass rallies held over two weeks ago

Nadine Silva writes that Still no Covid19 cases traced to BLM mass rallies held over two weeks ago.

However, Health officials across the country are yet to trace a single coronavirus case to the Black Lives Matter protests that took place over 14 days ago.

This morning [22 June 2020], CMO Brendan Murphy told ABC News that the experts did not believe the rallies were directly responsible for any new cases.

“Whilst three of the protesters in Victoria did test positive, we don’t think they transmitted or got it at the protest,” he said.

The absence of positive transmissions from the BLM rallies led to Arrernte writer, Celeste Liddle, on Sunday night tweeting at the media and asking if it planned to report on it as actively as the unfounded concerns about new outbreaks potentially resulting from the protests.

Emphasis Mine

My own theory on this has the following points:

• The rallies were held outside. The current research indicates the transmission of SARS-COV-2 virus outside in the open air is far less than inside buildings.
• The participants were probably following hygiene guidelines. This would have reduced the incidence of the virus among this population.

The people who took part in these rallies are motivated by a social conscience. Having a social conscience would mean that the hygiene guidelines were followed closely. Thus, there were fewer cases among the participants. Since the rallies were held out in the open, any transmission were greatly inhibited.

The focus on virus transmission by the media is meant to suppress these rallies. Delaying these rallies will derail this mass movement.

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Bob Lefsetz: Barr/Berman

Bob Lefsetz writes about the crisis between Barr/Berman.

So, we’re heading for a crisis. And it won’t be a Constitutional crisis, it won’t be based on law, it won’t be about legalities, but hearts and minds. Trump will do everything to stay in power, and he will call out the military. And your face will be recognized and you will be put in jail as the corporations stand aside and…

And what?

We’re heading for a revolution. Or complete authoritarianism. Don’t keep telling me it can’t happen here. Or shrug and say you’ll be fine no matter what happens. Look at the history of the world, the American experiment has been relatively brief. When are we going to take the temperature of the youth and stop the insanity? If not now, when?

Emphasis Mine

Informed capitalists, such as Ritholtz and Lefsetz, are worried that a revolution is brewing or a reactionary backlash can happened. They lack the insight of Marxist-Leninist theory to understand the class dynamics behind current events.

The successful neo-liberal onslaught since the 1980s has crushed the proletariat. The organic organs of class struggle (trade unions and labour parties) have been weakened or subverted. These organs are being bypassed by the mass movements to express their demands.

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Sam Williams: The Crisis (Pt 10)

Sam Williams writes about the demands to abolish or defund the police in The Crisis (Pt 10).

But the real significance of the demand to abolish the police is that, even at this early stage, the incipient U.S. revolution cannot but begin to realize that the state consists of a body of armed men, and now some women, plus material extensions such as prisons. The state exists to defend capitalist private property in the means of production. It cannot be reformed. It must be smashed and replaced by an entirely new system of “public safety.” All this is in line with the writings of Marx, Engels and Lenin on the state.

The demand to abolish or “de-fund” the police is being raised not because the demonstrators have read the Marxist classics — very few have — but because their practical experience in what is, in essence, a class struggle points in the direction of getting rid of — not reforming — the police. Since the May 25 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, which was duly recorded on cell phone video, anti-racist demonstrators have put the demand to abolish the police into the mainstream of political discussion in the U.S. for the first time.

Emphasis Mine

The interesting thing is that a class demand ("Abolish the police") arose naturally without being consciously informed by Marxist-Leninist theory. However, this demand cannot be developed beyond this stage without being informed by theory.

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