The Right´s right: Business topping the list

It is being said that once Coronavirus is over, the world will be different and capitalism will have to cope with a panorama where neoliberalism shall disappear.

But actual facts suggest that, despite the current situation, commercial laws still get more value than human beings in countries like Guatemala, Peru, and other underdeveloped nations. They still worship what they call economic expansion, while social program cuts and austerity prevail in Europe. Meanwhile, the Right — while in power — legislates on the protection of business investment in the region and the rest of the world.

It unleashed catastrophic results in Greece and Ireland. On the contrary, it was well-handled in Portugal due to the policy followed by its current social democratic government.

There was a time when, at least on paper, statements were made by the traditional political class in defense of human rights. Terms like cooperation, solidarity, and justice prevailed in every speech. These were the days where Europe — not America, of course — was still regarded as the cradle of these rights. Concepts of democracy were mixed. The French Revolution was remembered and people went even further to the times of the classic Greece, as today´s Greece forces its people to pay their endless debt and thus tramples on their dignity.

Then, the economic crisis sprouted and consequently, the political, social, environmental, and value crisis. And that is when capitalism, instead of engaging in self-criticism as the unjust system it is, made the most out of the timing and strengthened its domination.

Capitalism showed its real face — disguised after WWII — and free at last from any political control, introduced neoliberalism causing the destruction of the so-called welfare state that Europe in first place, had come to champion as a symbol of identity.

Hence, the most important thing now for the traditional political class and, of course, the economic elites (comprised of financial-banking-entrepreneurial boards of directors) is to prioritize the respect for investments and the pursuit of the greatest financial gains.

It should be added that such priorities also explain the concern for the company safety, which leads to bringing together mechanisms in order to put the company´s interests ahead of the sovereignty of the states themselves.

Everything is done by kidnapping human rights, which automatically reflects a brutal wealth concentration as well as an increase of inequality as the early stage of social injustice; not to mention the consequent disappearance of discourse, or the practice of the rights of individuals, people, and nature, the latter essential for life itself.

And even though a changing world is looming once this pandemic is over, there is no sign of change in the capitalist motto, and especially its neoliberal form: everything is accepted for entrepreneurs and their investments; for everyone else, little or nothing.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff