The situation we have found ourselves in during the last eight weeks is surreal. We are lonely and isolated, more than ever for many of us, and all this is extremely stressful and extremely disorienting. It is almost like there is no future.
One word explains the dramatic conditions more than any other – neoliberalism. The neoliberal phase of capitalism rests on fictitious capital, a vast expansion in debt creation, deregulation, outsourcing, and privatisation of almost all public services such as energy, water, trains, health, education, roads and prisons. Neoliberalism in healthcare systems has resulted in a deterioration of the extent and quality of healthcare services. Constant neoliberal restructuring focuses on profit rather than human rights indicators, which disempower people, whose health needs are subordinated to the needs of the market. Neoliberalism treats healthcare as a private good for sale rather than a public good paid for with our taxes.
This relocation of healthcare from the state to the free market has a detrimental effect both on access to healthcare services and the quality of what is affordable for many people. In many countries, the number of hospital beds were reduced, sections of essential healthcare were privatised and/or outsourced, and serious cuts were made in health budgets. The effects of neoliberalism can be seen as a form of structural violence, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable sections of the population. Forty years of neoliberalism across the continents, especially in the so-called “advanced” western economies, have left the countries totally ill-prepared to deal with a public health crisis of this kind. More than anything else, this crisis has displayed the flaws of neoliberalism and disaster capitalism.
