The following is the January 3, 2022 editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the L’Étincelle fraction of the NPA (New Anticapitalist Party), comrades of Speak Out Now, Translated from French.
In French the expression goes, “Happy New Year, and good health to you!” Well, as this New Year rolls out, all the new year’s wishes sound hollow. Working people are two years into a state of deteriorating health while corporations provoke us with their healthy profits. The new year is beginning with a record number of Covid-19 patients, intensive care unit hospitalizations, and about five million deaths worldwide. This is the fifth wave of Covid. Variants are proliferating, yet the number of hospital beds is being cut. Children are being sent to school and parents are returning to work in overcrowded public transportation, almost as if things have returned to normal! [French President] Macron claims he is optimistic because we finally have a vaccine —but he is lying. The vaccine is not available to 85% of the world’s population, and viruses don’t give a damn about borders. An entire continent, Africa, is being left on its own to survive. Meanwhile, the government is selling combat aircrafts to dictatorships, Pfizer (to mention only one company) is making a huge profit, and billionaires celebrated Christmas with gold raining down on them.
Who still believes in capitalism?
The foundation of capitalism is that the great misery of some becomes the glittering luxury of others. There’s something wrong with this. Who is unaware that capitalism is leading us straight into a brick wall? Who is blind to the fact that Macron is only president for a handful of rich individuals, such as Zemmour, Le Pen, Pécresse and even the so-called left-wing candidates? Super-rich people exploit us, pollute the planet, and spread war and misery. And we all know that these rich people steal and live off their plunder, without even needing to break a single law. They extort and exploit the collective wealth. They destroy nature. They give each other permission to do these harmful acts because they have the power, supported by legions of military and police officers who are getting paid to perform their duties. It is their social order that suffocates humanity and the planet.
Who doesn’t want a different world?
We all know who is responsible for this selfish order. Speculators, profiteers, and parasites who are proud of themselves while the workers all over the world, in the cities and in the countryside are providing the efforts, the energy, the sacrifice to make the entire society run. But our side, which is dominated by the values of generosity and solidarity, gets less attention in their media than the antics and nonsense of Zemmour [an extreme right-wing figure] and his followers. In France, millions of people are prepared to help migrants and welcome them. Those who are willing to do so, however, have to defy the law in the process. For the two humanitarian ships that were recently authorized to land in Europe, how many boats had to be neglected all year long?
The rich defend their social order. For this purpose, anything goes, regardless of how unethical or violent the result is. Millions of euros (owned by the capitalists with TV channels) are needed to spread the poisonous ideas of racism and division all over the media. Billions of euros are required to arm the forces that must defend their property against the exploited and those who do all the work.
In 2022, why not start a revolution?
In the United States and France, we have seen a wave of strikes for wage increases in recent months. Mass layoffs for profits have caused outrage. Anger has been knocking at the door. Each protest holds out the possibility of feeding the next ones: we are all fighting the same system. We have the means to envision a better world. Also, and above all, we have the means to really build it! We can’t doubt our power. Let’s defend ourselves, let’s claim a dignified life for all. Let’s coordinate so we can work together and reclaim our power from the capitalists. Here is a good resolution for 2022: risk everything to gain everything.
