Marx, Capital and the Madness of Economic Reason by David Harvey

 This is a wonderful book to read, especially if you've recently read or are in the process of reading any of the Capital series. David Harvey is an excellent writer, though he does switch into incomprehensible scholarly mode on occasion (the appendix contains a couple of good examples of this).  

The expressive and clear way in which he elucidates on a number of key theories from Marx, and also his bringing them into a contemporary context (eg, China, Financial Crisis) makes him an excellent companion to Marx and also a fine standalone author.  Furthermore, his anthropology background makes his writing much easier to access than standard economics writing which often becomes almost unreadable from a technical perspective on occasion for anyone apart from the dedicated economics scholar.  

I came across his writing after reading a recent issue of Tribune magazine and I will likely be reading more of his books.

For what it is worth

There are many ways that we value things as humans and there are a multitude of values which are ascribed to every object by different humans.  Such it is that a painting which is kept in a cupboard unknown for 50 years can suddenly be ascribed a value in millions.  Or, conversely, a car which was worth many thousands of pounds can be destroyed in an accident and thus be attributed the value simply of its underlying materials, which will be much less than it's prior value.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it is with Covid19.  Things which were once not valuable; face masks for instance, become worth much.  Things that were once valuable, cinemas for example; become worthless.  

There is an injustice to this.  Why should those with face masks be rewarded for their fortune yet those with cinemas be punished?  All on the turn of a biological development which none of us could have predicted and which none of us understand.  The feeling, of anger and pain, is strong for those who have vested interests in the discussion, more on the face mask side than the cinema side, clearly.  

What becomes less clear though, is why these questions of value, which can turn upon the stroke of good fortune, should have such a fundamental impact on human lives; could even have such a fundamental impact on our future as a species. Why is something today valued so differently from something yesterday?

Because let me be clear now, this COVID19 is the planets response to us.  It is not going to go away, it is not going to relent because we want it to, it is not something we can simply wish away.  We are merely in the foothills of a long trek which will devastate our species and which we as humanity will lose whatever happens, but in the same vein will likely win in the end because that is the nature of our species.  We exist and we continue.  

Thus is so much of the writing and analysis of this issue so meaningless.  One group seek solace in historic precedent, with references to 1918 but, for gods sake, not 1348.  Others seek solace in the standard diseases which we understand and are used to, equating this pandemic to traditional winter flu outbreaks.  Others prefer to seek solace in the blame of others, equating Chinese incompetence and pride with a grand plan to take over the world. Still more of us seek solace in the lionisation of health workers or the heroic people who maintain our delay lives while a killer lurks among us.  Still others look to a brighter future when the world emerges blinking from a long slumber having been purged of its sin and with a view to a more suitable tomorrow, adjusted for whichever prism the person views the world through.

But, dear reader, while all of these opinions are helpful and useful exercises to purge us of the feelings which the pandemic has brought to us, none of them provides meaning to the experience.  The reason that they do not is that this experience does not have a deeper meaning.  It is a virus.  It is a virus which kills a lot of people who come into contact with it.  You cannot see this virus until it is captured in the eyes of a dying patient on a bed in an over-burdened ward in a hospital in whichever place it has chosen to spread.

We always seek to find, whereas with a pandemic we seek to lose.  We seek to lose ourselves because the pain of being so powerless in the face of something so inhuman is so terrifying.  Few of us have dealt with natural disasters of the scale which equate to the pandemic.  South Africa has.  Japan has.  Sierra Leone has.  The Democratic Republic of Congo has.  But most parts of the world have not.  We have not because we did not need to and we should count ourselves blessed that we did not.  But then, when one is blessed, eventually one becomes cursed as the great wheel turns.  

Now the wheel has turned.  There is much we can do, but much we cannot, and so many of our natures are designed to fight the beast with the tools and weapons we understand best.  But these do not help against the inhuman nature of this enemy. Many of us will simply have to wait, hope and, well, hope.  Trust in a small group of people who have prioritised the welfare of the species as a whole above their other concerns.  There is no other option.  They hold our fate collectively in their hands only so far as they can control, advise and assist in the measures necessary to manage the pandemic.  No. One. Else. Can.

So, the message of this writing is not clear but I hope it makes some sense.  Be prepared for this to last.  It might go away quickly.  It probably will not.  It might lead to a better tomorrow but tomorrow might be 10 years away and by that point many of us will be dead.  Let us hope that we can last the night and move to the light at the end of the tunnel.  But let us also be prepared for that to take some time and not to be ashamed of our fear, helping each other in any way we can.  There will be many problems along this road we are now walking, but we will get there some how or some way.