Mini-Theory Blog: Capitalism, Covid, and the Fascist Creep

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Whatever It Takes

To obtain an intimate understanding of the relationship between capital, and rising fascism, one needs look no further than the ongoing battle about Covid 19 mitigation policies in the Pig Empire. Foundationally, the coronavirus and the response to it are public health, and worker safety issues on a scale so large, they threatened the existence of capitalism. The severity of the crisis forced pro-capitalist governments in the Pig Empire to intervene on multiple levels that are largely unacceptable to the private sector; from lockdowns to control the spread, to improved workplace safety conditions, and on through demands for better public healthcare and more sick days for workers. Furthermore, labor itself responded to this crisis by increasing the drive for workplace unionization.

Unsurprisingly, capital did not take this lying down; rich guys and corporations immediately started funneling money into a society-wide psyop to unwind Covid prevention measures, and got into bed with some extremely odious people to do so. Take for example the reactionary dark money network controlled by billionaire American anarcho-capitalist Charles Koch; also known as The Kochtopus. Over the course of the pandemic, the Koch network has funded Covid denial conspiracies, anti-lockdown protests run by fascist militias, anti-vaccine disinformation campaigns, anti-masking school board crusades, and legal battles to allow Covid disinformation online under the rubric of free speech. In other words, Koch hired fascists to conduct a war on Covid prevention.

To what purpose; is Charles Koch suddenly interested in fascist ideology? Hell no, it’s about the money. This was about generating a war on public opinion that manufactures consent for doing absolutely nothing and letting capital toss grandma in the furnace for a few points a share, mostly. Reopening up the economy and crushing the power of organized labor was worth billions, if not trillions of dollars to these folks. Unsurprisingly, the American state was only too happy to comply, and now having shed all protective measures, bigtime “centrist” influencers are currently working on turning China’s significantly more effective Covid response, into the basis of a new Cold War.

Why is fascism winning in the Pig Empire? Because rich capitalists find fascism useful for their purpose; which is the accumulation of capital, at any cost.