From Cholera to Corona: The Politics of Plagues in Zimbabwe

Simukai Chigudu Africa is a Country
A young girl practices hand washing in Zimbabwe.
Epidemics are tests of social and political systems, and Zimbabwe, with its high rate of HIV and malnutrition, is extremely vulnerable. The 2008 cholera epidemic exposed Zimbabwe’s political weaknesses; will the coronavirus do the same in 2020?

It Didn’t Have to Be Like This

Stephanie Luce Labor Notes
The challenge is how to build the foundation and infrastructure that can prevent the worst outcomes and better withstand the catastrophes when they come.

Coronavirus: A Capitalist Crisis

Richard D. Wolff Dollars & Sense
The catastrophe demonstrates the results when public health is subordinate to private profit and to a governmental apparatus that adulates the superiority of private over public administration.

Nothing is Normal

Esther Cohen
New York poet Esther Cohen addresses the suddenness of change and notices what hasn’t changed at all.

Covid-19: The Path to Treatment and Prevention

Ignacio López-Goñi The Conversation
An international consortium is racing to test three possible antiviral treatments for Covid-19 and 10 different vaccines. No one of these experiments is guaranteed to succeed, but the chances of finding one that will are high.

What Medicare for All Really Looks Like

Caitlin Kelly The American Prospect
We don't have to debate whether Medicare for All is possible. It exists. The Canadian system, also called Medicare, guarantees coverage to every resident north of the U.S. border.

Naomi Klein | Coronavirus Capitalism

Governments around the world are busily exploiting the coronavirus crisis to push for no-strings-attached corporate bailouts and regulatory rollbacks

Bernie Sanders Confronts GOP Senators

‘Some of my Republican friends have not give up on the need to punish the poor and working people.’ — Bernie skewers GOP senators for trying to screw over American workers in the midst of a national crisis.