Virus and Other Things by Paul Heywood-Smith

Virus and Other Things

Israelis confiscating the materials for a COVID-19 clinic in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Ibziq.
Source: B'Tselem

The current pandemic is forcing all of us to re-assess our lives and our World.

Apart from the coronavirus the big issues appear to me to be global warming, American capitalism and the re-birth of fascism, particularly in Israel although it is not alone.

When thinking on these issues it is remarkable how much they interact.  The response to the virus appears to have beneficial effects for global warming.  American capitalism/globalization has no doubt facilitated the spread of the virus.  I refer here to the interdependence of nations in manufacturing and trade where the profit motive, the bottom line, is the only consideration.  I refer too to the fixation of American capitalism on the privatization of public assets and public responsibilities – health, prisons, railways and other public transport, infrastructure, the servicing of military and police through private contractors, etc.   One hopes that lessons will be learned about the benefits flowing from Australian independence and self-sufficiency.  American capitalism is not of course confined to the US although the US is its progenitor and its worst example.

There can be no doubt that fascism is advanced by unrestrained American capitalism – ‘disaster capitalism’ as described by Antony Loewenstein.  And as for Israel we presently witness the opportunity perceived to arise from the coronavirus to clear the West Bank of Palestinians; hence the bill in the Knesset to annex the Jordan Valley, hence the confiscation of a tent in Area C erected to act as emergency housing, and hence the fact that aid in the form of food parcels, destined for needy Palestinians is confiscated by the IDF and distributed amongst themselves.   There have been reports of Palestinian volunteer health workers who were disinfecting public facilities in East Jerusalem being arrested and their sanitation equipment seized.  All this whilst life goes on as normal – the unleashing of settlers into the West Bank to attack Palestinians, and destroy their olive trees and homes, all under the protection of the IDF.

For me the time has come to recognize that the United States is the ultimate culprit.  The market is its God.  But for the US and its veto on the Security Council the UN would have addressed the Israel/Palestine issue decades ago.  We must focus our protest against the US.  And the place that speaks loudest to the US is its hip-pocket.  Wherever there is an alternative do not buy American.  If there is no alternative ask yourself whether you really need it.  Let me give some examples.  Do not buy from Amazon.  Do not use Uber.  Do not use AirBNB.  Do not eat KFC, McDonalds.  And tell your friends that you are so acting. 

It will be a small start perhaps.  But it will be a start.  And you will feel that you are not, or at least not so, complicit.

Paul Heywood-Smith is AFOPA’s patron and distinguished previous Chair of the Association

Paul Heywood-Smith QC