Covid: another historical blunder for the left?

Why did the left unquestioningly support all Covid measures, despite their disastrous psychological, social, economic and political effects (and dubious health outcomes)?

Dear all,

In this article, which wasn’t easy to write, Toby Green, professor of history at Kings College London, and I try to answer a question that has been troubling us for some time: why has the mainstream left ended up supporting practically all Covid measures? How did such a simplistic view of the relationship between health and the economy emerge, one which makes a mockery of decades of (left-leaning) social science research showing just how closely wealth and health outcomes are connected? Why did the left ignore the massive increase in inequalities, the attack on the poor, on poor countries, on women and children, the cruel treatment of the elderly, and the huge increase in wealth for the richest individuals and corporations resulting from these policies? How, in relation to the development and roll-out of vaccines, did the left end up ridiculing the very notion that, given the money at stake, there might be motivations from the vaccine manufacturers other than “the public good” at play? And how is it possible that the left, often on the receiving end of state repression, today seems oblivious to the worrying ethical and political implications of Covid passports, and of the shutdown of public debate, crackdown on public demonstrations and fast-tracking of laws introduced by governments?

I hope you enjoy the read, and any feedback is of course welcome.

Best regards,

Thomas Fazi

Website: thomasfazi.net
Twitter: @battleforeurope
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomasfazi
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