The outbreak of Covid-19 represents the end of the world order as we know it. The outbreak is of the same proportions, if not more, than World Wars 1 and 2. Both wars gave rise to the militarisation of nation states in such a way that the collective psychology of nation states is underpinned by the need to assemble huge armaments in preparation for another war.
The period after the world wars positioned the whole world to expend trillions of dollars in stockpiling armaments, building geopolitical alliances and establishing command centres in different parts of the world in anticipation of another war.
The world's most powerful economy, the US, currently expends more money on its army than the nominal annual national budgets of all African economies combined.
The alliances the US supports and keeps in different parts of the world are not premised on shared values but on an imaginary anticipation that if another war occurs, those allies will fight on the side of the US.
The outbreak of the coronavirus has illustrated in less than 60 days that the enemy of the 21st century is not and will not be global war but a virus that poses one of the most dangerous threats to humanity.
If not contained and eliminated, the coronavirus has the potential to kill millions of people the world over.
The ease with which it gets transmitted might lead to unmanageable fatalities.
As of this March the highest fatalities are still in the most industrialised and economically advanced nation states.
The reality is that if the virus can infect poorer people in Africa, parts of Asia and South America, the fatalities will be unparalleled as millions of people will die due to the reality that the health-care systems of poorer nations are not capable of addressing even the present disease burdens.
Schools and universities are closed, public spaces are locked down, millions of people across the world are instructed by governments to stay at home.
The coronavirus is the biggest disruption of the present capitalist order and globalisation. The fictitious capital hoarded in stock markets globally is possibly the biggest casualty as trillions of dollars have already been wiped out.
Huge corporations will be forced out of operation for a period of time, thereby disrupting their sustainability. This will create, and in some nation states, worsen unemployment levels.
The base from which governments collect revenue for basic services will be significantly affected, meaning that governments will have less money to build additional health-care facilities, schools and provide basic social assistance to those who cannot sell their labour to gain income for subsistence.
The coronavirus outbreak calls for a discontinuation of the capitalist logic of resource distribution and allocation.
The post-coronavirus era should make all of us conscious that there are many essential services that do not need to be categorised as commodities; these include health care, education and access to food and decent shelter.
As a first and essential step towards the post-coronavirus world order, governments should guarantee all their citizens access to basic necessities like clean water, health-care services, education, shelter and food. Governments should build capacities to feed their own people, meaning that they should have some acceptable degree of food sovereignty.
Furthermore, governments should build health-care reserve capacity in the same way military reserve capacity was built in the post-world war era.
A health-care reserve capacity will entail that all governments should train not less than 10% of their populations with basic but necessary health-care skills and capacity, which will give the population some intermediary skills to provide health-care services in the era of pandemics.
There is no guarantee the world will not be confronted with another health pandemic, so we need an army of health-care practitioners who can administer basic health care as and when needed.
Governments should build independent wealth and capacity to take care of all their people during crises.
Governments should not be charity cases of rich capitalists who accumulated wealth, avoided real taxes, and only commit a small fraction of their wealth when there is a crisis.
The reality is that there are no capitalists in the world who make donations without expecting something in return.
In the case of SA, two capitalist families have offered to help small businesses during the lockdown period. What this entails is that they have expropriated the government's right to hold them accountable for wrongdoing in the past and future.
There are various options through which the South African government and other governments can build independent wealth. Instead of total reliance on taxes, which are recurrently disrupted by capitalist and now natural global crises, the government should permanently have capacity to generate non-tax revenues.
The combination of how this occurs should be clearly defined but must include state strategic ownership and control of key sectors of the economy.
Additional to state ownership should be strategic equity partnerships in areas where the state does not need total ownership and control. Importantly, governments should maximally collect taxes from all businesses that are required to pay tax. Tax avoidance and profit shifting should be combated.
No government should be a charity case of rich individuals. In SA's case, the rich individuals who made a donation of R2bn are families whose wealth was built on the sweat and blood of black people. The Oppenheimers own the mines where mine workers are not paid.
The Ruperts sell cigarettes, alcohol and food which are mostly consumed by black people. If we had a decisive government the charity contributions made would not have been necessary because the government would have maximally collected taxes and generated independent wealth.
The coronavirus has demonstrated that a capitalist system of resource allocation and distribution does not carry the capacity nor will to insulate all the people.
We should all work towards stabilising a global order that is premised on the principles of egalitarianism and co-operation.
- Shivambu is deputy president of the EFF
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