April 3 COVID News

The following COVID-19 resources may be useful to many of you; if you know of similar resources not on this list, send me an email and let me know.

i will be sending out regular newsletters updating this list and containing links to new information and perspectives that i find useful. When and if things calm down and i return to my activities as humble bookseller, this list will go back to being about that. Don’t hold your breath. To subscribe:

(Select “Kersplebedeb Newsletter” for news of interest to everyone everywhere, and “Montreal List”, “Halifax” or “Ottawa” if you want to also receive news about events happening in those cities.)

 

Struggle and Fightback

• Migrants detained in the CBSA’s Laval Immigration Holding Centre suspended their hunger strike as several hunger strikers were released. Around 20 detainees remain in the main part of the centre, along with more held in the Rivière-des-Prairies jail in Montreal. For more information about how to continue to pressure the government for the immediate release of all detainees: https://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/release-remaining-detainees
• RCMP Evict Surrey’s Hothouse Squat But Cannot Stop The #Squat2survive Movement, by Listen Chen, Volcano April 3, http://thevolcano.org/2020/04/03/hothouse-squat/

 

Open Letters to Sign

• Global Sign-on: Civil Society Statement on COVID-19 and People who use Drugs, Deadline April 6, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJBv0uNHkTUVFlfLiEUY8ge2ZhFAMOMKtwO280LIJRmn_jGQ/viewform

 

Care

• ‘I just had a baby – now I’m going to the frontline’, by Xinyan Yu. BBC April 3, https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-52137166/i-just-had-a-baby-now-i-m-going-to-the-frontline
• Protégez Nos Anges Gardiens Du Covid-19 (site to donate PPE to healthcare workers in Quebec), https://www.donnezlaprotection.com/
• Social Reproduction Theory And Why We Need it to Make Sense of the Corona Virus Crisis, by Tithi Bhattacharya April 02, http://www.tithibhattacharya.net/new-blog/2020/4/2/social-reproduction-theory-and-why-we-need-it-to-make-sense-of-the-corona-virus-crisis

 

Analysis & Commentary

• Our COVID-19 Response Is Living in the House HIV Activists Built, by Abdul-Aliy A Muhammad, The Body April 1, https://www.thebody.com/article/harlem-meetup-lgbtq-immigrants-seeking-asylum-u-s
• “It’s a crisis of legitimacy for the capitalist system itself”, by Sara Birrell, Briarpatch Apr 2, https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/its-a-crisis-of-legitimacy-for-the-capitalist-system-itself
• COVID-19 : Nous mesurons aujourd’hui le coût des paradis fiscaux, Alain Deneault, Éditions Écosociété
• March 30, https://www.facebook.com/ecosociete/videos/527343887973086/
• I Mind Dying, by Erica Caines, Hood Communist April 1, https://hoodcommunist.org/2020/04/02/i-mind-dying
• The Military Knew Years Ago That a Coronavirus Was Coming: The Pentagon warned the White House about a shortage of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds in 2017—but the Trump administration did nothing, by Ken Klippenstein, The Nation April 1, https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/covid-military-shortage-pandemic/
• Social Reproduction Theory And Why We Need it to Make Sense of the Corona Virus Crisis, by Tithi Bhattacharya April 02, http://www.tithibhattacharya.net/new-blog/2020/4/2/social-reproduction-theory-and-why-we-need-it-to-make-sense-of-the-corona-virus-crisis
• Coronavirus: Agribusiness Would Risk Millions Of Deaths, talk with Rob wallace, Marx21 March 11, https://www.marx21.de/coronavirus-agribusiness-would-risk-millions-of-deaths
• Mobilize Technology and Scientific Resources for People-Centered COVID-19 Response, Not for Militarization and Profit!, ILPS April 2, https://ilps.info/en/2020/04/02/mobilize-technology-and-scientific-resources-for-people-centered-covid-19-response-not-for-militarization-and-profit/
• Mike Davis on pandemics, super-capitalism and the struggles of tomorrow, interviewed by by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Mada Masr March 30, https://madamasr.com/en/2020/03/30/feature/politics/mike-davis-on-pandemics-super-capitalism-and-the-struggles-of-tomorrow/
• Location Data Says It All: Staying at Home During Coronavirus Is a Luxury, by Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Denise Lu and Gabriel J.X. Dance, New York Times April 3, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/03/us/coronavirus-stay-home-rich-poor.html
• ‘The pandemic is a portal’: The novelist on how coronavirus threatens India — and what the country, and the world, should do next, by Arundhati Roy, Financial Times April 3, https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca
• Here Comes The Next Crisis: Up To 30% Of All Mortgages Will Default In “Biggest Wave Of Delinquencies In History”, by Alex Christoforou, The Duran April 3, https://theduran.com/here-comes-the-next-crisis-up-to-30-of-all-mortgages-will-default-in-biggest-wave-of-delinquencies-in-history
• The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Opened the Curtains on the World’s Next Economic Model, Naked Capitalism April 3, https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/04/the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-opened-the-curtains-on-the-worlds-next-economic-model.html

 

Ableism

• Confronting Disability Discrimination During the Pandemic, by Katie Savin and Laura Guidry-Grimes, The Hastings Institute April 2, https://www.thehastingscenter.org/confronting-disability-discrimination-during-the-pandemic

 

Gender

• Making the Case for Reproductive Revolution, by Njera Keith, Hood Communist April 1, http://hoodcommunist.org/2020/04/02/making-the-case-for-reproductive-revolution/

 

Racism

• Black people already struggle to breathe in Canada. Ignoring us during this COVID-19 crisis will only make it worse., by El Jones, Halifax Examiner April 3, https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/black-people-already-struggle-to-breathe-in-canada-ignoring-us-during-this-covid-19-crisis-will-only-make-it-worse
• African Americans lead in coronavirus cases, deaths in Michigan, by Marlowe Alter, Detroit Free Press April 2, https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/04/02/michigan-coronavirus-by-race-deaths-african-americans-tests-covid-19/5116025002/
• Early Data Shows African Americans Have Contracted and Died of Coronavirus at an Alarming Rate, by Akilah Johnson and Talia Buford, ProPublica April 3, https://www.propublica.org/article/early-data-shows-african-americans-have-contracted-and-died-of-coronavirus-at-an-alarming-rate

 

Far Right

• New Yorkers Are Right to Be Skeptical of Evangelical-Run Coronavirus Ward in Central Park, by Jonathan Merritt, Daily Beast April 02, https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-yorkers-are-right-to-be-skeptical-of-samaritans-purses-evangelical-coronavirus-ward-in-central-park
• On racial hatred: How the coronavirus has uncovered the dark side of Hong Kong’s movement, by Ahkok Chun-Kwok Wongon, Lausan April 2, https://lausan.hk/2020/on-racial-hatred-how-the-coronavirus-has-uncovered-the-dark-side-of-hong-kongs-movement

 

Work News (see also COVID-19: News from the world’s trade unions, LabourStart, https://www.labourstart.org/covid-19.php)

• Nurses protest lack of PPE at 15 hospitals nationwide, by Audrey Mcnamara, April 1 CBS News, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nurses-protest-ppe-shortages-15-hospitals/
• Instacart promises to provide workers coronavirus health kits after strike, by Chris Mills Rodrigo, April 2 The Hill, https://thehill.com/policy/technology/490896-instacart-promises-to-provide-workers-coronavirus-health-kits-after-strike
• Truck drivers are being denied basic necessities as they deliver essentials in this pandemic, by Marieke Walsh, March 31 Globe and Mail, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-truck-drivers-are-being-denied-basic-necessities-as-they-deliver

Work In-Depth

• Coronavirus Is a Labor Crisis, and a General Strike Might Be Next, by Aaron Gordon, Lauren Kaori Gurley, Edward Ongweso Jr, and Jordan Pearson, Vice April 2, https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z3b9ny/coronavirus-general-strike
• Farmworkers Are Essential, Yet Remain Unprotected: While keeping the nation fed, agricultural workers worry about getting sick, a lack of personal protection and going broke., by N. Jamiyla Chisholm, Colorlines April 2, https://www.colorlines.com/articles/farmworkers-are-essential-yet-remain-unprotected
• Working in Amazon During Coronavirus–Observations, by Ready for Revolution, Hood Communist April 1, http://hoodcommunist.org/2020/04/02/2745/

 

Scrambling for Supplies

• US Blockade Prevented a Cargo Plane With Supplies Donated by Alibaba’s Founder From Reaching Cuba, Orinoco Tribune April 2, https://orinocotribune.com/us-blockade-prevented-a-cargo-plane-with-supplies-donated-by-alibabas-founder-from-reaching-cuba/
• Coronavirus: Trump asks medical supply firm 3M to stop selling N95 respirators to Canada, By Maham Abedi, Global News April 3, https://globalnews.ca/news/6772979/coronavirus-3m-n95-respirators-trump-canada
• ‘An act of modern piracy’: A mask shipment from 3M bound for Germany was reportedly diverted to the US, by Bryan Pietsch, Business Insider April 3, https://www.businessinsider.com/3m-mask-shipment-to-berlin-germany-diverted-united-states-report-2020-4

 

Housing

• RCMP Evict Surrey’s Hothouse Squat But Cannot Stop The #Squat2survive Movement, by Listen Chen, Volcano April 3, http://thevolcano.org/2020/04/03/hothouse-squat/
• C. landlords seeing up to 50% of tenants not paying rent, by Hayley Woodin, April 2, https://biv.com/article/2020/04/bc-landlords-seeing-50-tenants-not-paying-rent

 

The Clampdown

• Coronavirus: How woman ‘loitering’ at train station was wrongfully convicted in shambolic case, by Lizzie Dearden, Independent April 2, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/coronavirus-marie-dinou-lockdown-stay-at-home-loitering-arrest-fine-police-a9444311.html
• Housing official blocks volunteers from distributing food to public housing residents, by Ian Round, April 2 Baltimore Brew, https://baltimorebrew.com/2020/04/02/housing-official-bars-volunteers-from-distributing-food-to-public-housing-residents
• La SQ se prépare à géolocaliser : Elle pourra suivre les gens infectés qui refusent de s’isoler au moyen de leur téléphone cellulaire, by Jean-Louis Fortin, Journal de Montréal April 3, https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/04/03/la-sq-se-prepare-a-geolocaliser
• Civil Liberties at Risk as Authorities Deploy Invasive Technologies to Contain Virus, by Democracy Now April 3, https://democracynow.org/2020/4/3/headlines/civil_liberties_at_risk_as_authorities_deploy_invasive_technologies_to_contain_virus
• Leaked Border Patrol Memo Tells Agents to Send Migrants Back Immediately – Ignoring Asylum Law, by Dara Lind, April 2, https://propublica.org/article/leaked-border-patrol-memo-tells-agents-to-send-migrants-back-immediately-ignoring-asylum-law
• Nypd’s Aggressive Policing Risks Spreading The Coronavirus, by Alice Speri, The Intercept April 3, https://theintercept.com/2020/04/03/nypd-social-distancing-arrests-coronavirus

 

Confined in the Age of COVID-19

• Innocent Prisoners Are Going to Die of the Coronavirus: When the machinery of justice is halted abruptly, some of the people trapped inside are not supposed to be there at all, by Barbara Bradley Hagerty, March 31 The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/americas-innocent-prisoners-are-going-die-there/609133
• Okanagan Correctional Centre has COVID-19 case: ‘Almost a death sentence’, by Chelsea Powrie, April 2, https://castanet.net/news/Penticton/296249/Okanagan-Correctional-Centre-inmates-claim-COVID-19-case
• Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The U.S. Prison Pandemic, by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan, April 2
• https://democracynow.org/2020/4/2/cruel_and_unusual_punishment_the_us
• First Massachusetts Inmate Dies From COVID-19, by Jenifer B. McKim, Senior Reporter, New England Center for Investigative Reporting, https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2020/04/02/coronavirus-infections-continue-to-rise-in-massachusetts-prisons
• “The Officers Were Taking Our Toilet Paper”: One Woman’s Life in Prison Right Now: Social distancing, hoarding, and financial uncertainty affect prisoners too, by Madison Pauley, April 3 Mother Jones, https://www.motherjones.com/coronavirus-updates/2020/04/stacey-dyer-california-women-prison/
• Coronavirus continues to spread in NYC jails despite dwindling inmate population, by Chelsia Rose Marcius, Daily News April 2, https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-dwindling-nyc-inmate-population-20200402-xut4atzamvfqfh2mi6wotsbrua-story.html

Also, buried in this news roundup (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-latest-on-the-coronavirus-ottawa-amplifies-stay-home-message-as):

Health care workers in Canada’s federal prison system threaten to walk off the job

Health care workers in Canada’s federal prison system are on the verge of walking off the job in the next few days over a lack of personal protective medical gear, according to their union.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada says there is a “real, escalating danger” that prison nurses won’t show up for work, citing provisions of the Canada Labour Code that allow workers to refuse unsafe work.

Union president Debi Daviau says her members understand there is a shortage of much-needed equipment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But she says there is no need to have every medical staffer at work in every institution as the pandemic spreads.Public Safety Minister Bill Blair has asked the federal prison service and parole board to look at early release for some offenders.

– Canadian Press

 

Quebec

• La SQ se prépare à géolocaliser : Elle pourra suivre les gens infectés qui refusent de s’isoler au moyen de leur téléphone cellulaire, by Jean-Louis Fortin, Journal de Montréal April 3, https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/04/03/la-sq-se-prepare-a-geolocaliser
• Protégez Nos Anges Gardiens Du Covid-19 (site to donate PPE to healthcare workers in Quebec), https://www.donnezlaprotection.com/
• «Nous ne voulons pas devenir les boucs émissaires» : Des leaders juifs hassidiques de Montréal s’inquiètent de voir leur communauté désignée comme « bouc émissaire » dans le cadre de la pandémie de COVID-19 et lancent un appel à l’unité face à la maladie, La Presse 3 April, https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/202004/03/01-5267892-nous-ne-voulons-pas-devenir-les-boucs-emissaires.php

 

Canada

• 85% of Canadian troops ordered into isolation to prepare for COVID-19 operations, by Matthew Fisher, Global News April 2, https://globalnews.ca/news/6770241/coronavirus-canada-military
• Canada’s Federal $107 Billion Covid-19 Aid Package Props Up Banks On The Backs Of The Poor, by Tyler Gaudet, Volcano March 28, http://thevolcano.org/2020/03/28/canada-covid-19-aid/
• Black people already struggle to breathe in Canada. Ignoring us during this COVID-19 crisis will only make it worse., by El Jones, Halifax Examiner April 3, https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/black-people-already-struggle-to-breathe-in-canada-ignoring-us-during-this-covid-19-crisis-will-only-make-it-worse

 

Indigenous North America

• COVID-19 lands in several Indigenous communities in Quebec, April 2 APTN, https://aptnnews.ca/2020/04/02/covid-19-lands-in-several-indigenous-communities-in-quebec
• Military ready to respond to outbreak of COVID-19 in isolated Indigenous and northern communities, by Robert Fife, April 2 Globe and Mail, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-military-set-to-deploy-to-indigenous-and-northern-communities-to-fight

 

International

• Echoes of AIDS Epidemic as South Africa Fights Coronavirus: The severity of an epidemic is linked to social determinants such as poverty, gender inequality and violent conflict, by Mark Gevisser, New York Times April 3, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/opinion/coronavirus-south-africa.html
• Food in the time of the Coronavirus: Why we should be very, very afraid, by Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (South Africa), https://www.plaas.org.za/food-in-the-time-of-the-coronavirus-why-we-should-be-very-very-afraid
• China Refutes US Accusations of Hiding Extent of Virus Deaths, Telesurtv 2 April, https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/China-Refutes-US-Accusations-of-Hiding-Extent-of-Virus-Deaths-20200402-0015.html
• US sends warships to Caribbean to stop illegal drugs, BBC 2 April, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52133500
• On racial hatred: How the coronavirus has uncovered the dark side of Hong Kong’s movement, by Ahkok Chun-Kwok Wongon, Lausan April 2, https://lausan.hk/2020/on-racial-hatred-how-the-coronavirus-has-uncovered-the-dark-side-of-hong-kongs-movement
• Why Turkey is facing a steep curve of new coronavirus cases: With more than 18,000 infections reported, Turkey surpasses other G20 nations that discovered the virus weeks earlier, by Andrew Wilks, Al Jazeera April 2, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/turkey-facing-steep-curve-coronavirus-cases-200402131247613.html
• ‘You’re just S***!’: Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba lead crusade against ‘racist’ professors’ plan to test coronavirus vaccine in Africa as Chelsea legend accuses them of treating people ‘like guinea pigs’, by Jeorge Bird, Daily Mail 3 April, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-8184149/Samuel-Etoo-Didier-Drogba-slam-racist-professors-plan-test-coronavirus-vaccine-Africa.html
• Why is Sweden staying open amid the coronavirus pandemic?, by Paul Waldie, Globe and Mail April 2, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-why-is-sweden-staying-open-amid-the-coronavirus-pandemic
• I.A. Hunts for Authentic Virus Totals in China, Dismissing Government Tallies: Intelligence officials have told the White House for weeks that China has vastly understated the spread of the coronavirus and the damage the pandemic has done, by Julian E. Barnes, New York Times April 2, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/politics/cia-coronavirus-china.html
• Coronavirus Singapore: 100 to 1,000 infections in one month. What happened?, by Kok Xinghui, This Week in Asia
• 3 April, https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3078199/coronavirus-singapore-100-1000-infections-one-month
• Europe’s homeless go hungry as hundreds of shelters close: Across Europe, aid workers are urging authorities to show leniency to homeless people for breaking curfews, Al Jazeera April 2, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/europes-homeless-hungry-hundreds-shelters-close-200403101453389.html
• Brazil Slum Residents Organize Without State To Fight Virus, by Telesur, April 2, https://telesurenglish.net/news/Brazil-Slum-Residents-Organize-Without-State-To-Fight-Virus-20200402-0014.html
• S. Commanders Cite Pandemic as They Pull Back Elite Units Around the World: The move means the withdrawal of Special Operations troops from some conflict zones and shuttering longstanding missions, by Thomas Gibbons-Neffm and Eric Schmitt, New York Times April 3, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/us/politics/coronavirus-special-operations-forces-pentagon.html
• ‘Walang-Wala Na’: Poor Filipinos fear death from hunger more than coronavirus, by Rambo Talabong And Jodesz Gavilan, Rappler April 2, https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/256695-poor-filipinos-fear-death-from-hunger-more-than-coronavirus
• Uncollected bodies lie for days in the streets of Guayaquil, Ecuador, the emerging epicenter of the coronavirus in Latin America, by Anthony Faiola, Ana Vanessa Herrero, MSN April 3, https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/uncollected-bodies-lie-for-days-in-the-streets-of-guayaquil-ecuador-the-emerging-epicenter-of-the-coronavirus-in-latin-america/ar-BB128iKk

 

U.S.

• ‘I just had a baby – now I’m going to the frontline’, by Xinyan Yu. BBC April 3, https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-52137166/i-just-had-a-baby-now-i-m-going-to-the-frontline
• Low-income NYC neighborhoods hit hardest by coronavirus: data, by Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News Apr 02, https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-poorer-nyc-neighborhoods-20200402-vm3mmukxojezxbqlmuzfkxxhly-story.html
• On Being Black, Southern And Rural In The Time Of COVID-19, by Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Black Agenda Report 01 April, https://blackagendareport.com/being-black-southern-and-rural-time-covid-19
• ‘A perfect storm’: US facing hunger crisis as demand for food banks soars: Food banks are reporting unprecedented demand across the US as millions lose jobs, investigation shows, by Nina Lakhani, The Guardian 2 April, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/02/us-food-banks-coronavirus-demand-unemployment
• African Americans lead in coronavirus cases, deaths in Michigan, by Marlowe Alter, Detroit Free Press April 2, https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/04/02/michigan-coronavirus-by-race-deaths-african-americans-tests-covid-19/5116025002/
• Early Data Shows African Americans Have Contracted and Died of Coronavirus at an Alarming Rate, by Akilah Johnson and Talia Buford, ProPublica April 3, https://www.propublica.org/article/early-data-shows-african-americans-have-contracted-and-died-of-coronavirus-at-an-alarming-rate
• New Yorkers fleeing city face fear and hostility from upstate neighbors, by Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian 2 April, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/new-yorkers-fleeing-city-conronavirus-fear-hostility-upstate-neighbors
• Key 2008 Financial Crisis Players Are Back for Coronavirus: From Larry Fink to Jamie Dimon, these major figures are in place again as a pandemic wreaks havoc on global markets, by Yalman Onaran and Sonali Basak, Bloomberg April 3, https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-coronavirus-vs-2008-financial-crisis
• S. Commanders Cite Pandemic as They Pull Back Elite Units Around the World: The move means the withdrawal of Special Operations troops from some conflict zones and shuttering longstanding missions, by Thomas Gibbons-Neffm and Eric Schmitt, New York Times April 3, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/us/politics/coronavirus-special-operations-forces-pentagon.html
• Right-Wing Austerity Set New Orleans Up to Be a Coronavirus Disaster Zone, by Mike Ludwig, April 3 Truthout, https://truthout.org/articles/right-wing-austerity-set-new-orleans-up-to-be-a-coronavirus-disaster-zone
• ‘Captain Crozier! Captain Crozier!’: Videos show sailors sending off ousted USS Roosevelt commander with cheers, by Chad Garland, April 3 Stars And Stripes, https://www.stripes.com/news/us/captain-crozier-captain-crozier-videos-show-sailors-sending-off-ousted-uss-roosevelt-commander-with-cheers-1.624732

 

Event

Racial Justice Has No Borders – Militarization in a time of Pandemic
April 6th, 3 pm EDT | 2 pm CDT | 1 pm MDT | 12 pm PDT

Español abajo

~ Closed Captioning Available ~

Racial Justice Has No Borders is a new, broad anti-war coalition that seeks to recenter the conversation about U.S. wars and militarization on the needs and leadership of those most impacted.

https://abolishtheaumf.typeform.com/to/PGiFuP