“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” The days of Covid-19 may be as the over used quotation from Charles Dickens suggests. The widespread panic buying, even in the absence of any shortage of supply, stripping supermarket shelves bare without thought or care for neighbour certainly reflects the worst of times, but in a society built around competition and free market, it may well be a quite accurate reflection of the most normal of times.
In an article posted on the Menadue Blog on March 30, emeritus professor from Sydney University, Stuart Rees, argues that this self-first attitude is one ill effect of an economic system among whose major legacies are poverty, low pay and unrewarding work.
Rees claims that even in areas of health and education, “individuals had been perceived as commodities little different from new and used cars in a sales yard, each subject to a bargaining price.”
He then suggests that market forces have contributed to the threat to the planet, with the continual drive for more and more consumption driving more and more production and squandering more and more resources.
However, the free market has nothing to offer in the face of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. It has no way of responding to the suddenly heightened demand for the products and skills most needed at this critical time.
Nevertheless, the now physically isolated prime minister of Great Britain, Boris Johnson, writes in a letter of comfort to the citizens of his realm, “Follow the rules, fewer lives will be lost and the sooner we can get back to normal.”
Normal! What normal? Contrived markets overflowing with commodities neither necessary nor wanted? Commodities demanding a multi-billion dollar advertising industry to convince us to the contrary?
Do we really want to go back to the normal of poverty, low wages, unrewarding work and ever growing income gaps?
At least some governments in the world are today responding vigorously to the plight of the suddenly discarded, ironically often at the request of the very companies that two weeks ago would have recoiled in horror at the suggestion of such government interference.
So, Rees asks, why is there a call for a return to this normal that has produced environmental destruction, eradication of species, mental health problems and violence in every realm of human life from the seas, air and land to the sanctity of the home.
While today may be the worst of times, it could also be a prelude to the best of times, but a strong political will is needed to abandon the old normal in favour of something new.
The sudden clarity in the visibility of the flaws in our societal constructs and continual questioning of what is important and what is not, is a strong indicator that these may indeed be the best of times and the worst of times.
Jim Mulroney
