‘No workers’ coronavirus deaths for Wall Street’

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This 26 March 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

‘Comrade Britney’ trending after Britney Spears calls for wealth redistribution amid Coronavirus

Whether she knows it or not, Britney Spears appears to have echoed the demand for a political movement in the U.S. after reposting a quote to Instagram that calls for a “strike” and the redistribution of wealth. As a result, many are now branding the pop star a “Marxist” and jokingly referring to her as “Comrade Britney.”

Alongside the political message itself, which was not originally penned by the Baby One More Time singer, the caption she wrote in the Monday afternoon post also seemed to have triggered the new nicknames.

“Communion goes beyond walls”, Spears wrote, adding three rose emojis — which are often used to symbolize Democratic Socialism, according to multiple outlets.

Though many believe Spears’ intention was to promote the political philosophy, the quote could also be interpreted as yet another simple celebrity response to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has continued to have a massive impact on the global economy.

By Nick Barrickman in the USA:

Pop star Britney Spears social media posts go viral after telling public to “re-distribute wealth” and “strike”

26 March 2020

Pop music celebrity Britney Spears’s social media account went viral on Monday when a re-tweeted post calling for people to “re-distribute wealth” and “strike” was featured in her Instagram feed. The singer has 23.7 million followers.

The quote—taken from the Instagram feed of writer Mimi Zhu and in reference to the impact of “social distancing” measures adopted in response to the coronavirus pandemic—reads in part, “During this time of isolation, we need connection now more than ever.” It further says, “We will learn to kiss and hold each other through the waves of the web. We will feed each other, re-destribute [sic] wealth, strike. We will understand our own importance from the places we must stay. Communion moves beyond walls. We can still be together.”

Spears, most recognizable for a string of multiplatinum-selling “teen pop” hits in the late 1990s, highlighted her comment with three red rose emojis, generally identified with socialism.

Spears’s graphic caused a sensation across social media as her post was picked up and shared millions of times. The vast majority of commentary has focused on the phrase calling for wealth redistribution and what was interpreted to mean a “general strike”. Spears has not offered any subsequent public comment on the statement. Generally friendly references to “Comrade Britney” have popped up all over the place.

Zhu, in an interview with Paper Magazine done shortly after the Spears comment went viral, said that “we are in such a time of confusion, disconnect, and despair that I felt it really important and necessary to write about that for my own sanity and mental health … At least in New York, all of my friends got pretty much laid off [due to coronavirus shutdowns]. A lot of people are stressing about rent, basic necessities, and how to live and just kind of carrying all that.”

“With all that anxiety and confusion I knew I had to write what I wrote, and there were definitely socialist undertones,” she adds, “because in general that is what I do believe in.”

Meanwhile, actress Fran Drescher, responding positively to a tweet denouncing the “wealthy owners of capital [who] want labor to return to work” and calling for a general strike, wrote on her twitter account, “I agree. Capitalism has become another word for Ruling Class Elite! When profit is at the expence [sic] of all things of true value, we gotta problem.”

One sympathetic commentator noted jokingly, “Britney Spears and Fran Drescher both went full Trotsky today. Now we’re getting somewhere.” Another suggested, “I didn’t really expect the revolution to be led by Fran Drescher and Britney Spears, yet here we are and I’m absolutely fine with it.”

In a further sign of the times, an Instagram video by rap recording artist Cardi B has also gone viral due to the singer’s comments excoriating the generally self-absorbed attitude of the wealthy toward the impact of the coronavirus on society.

“The general public, people that work regular jobs, people that get regular paychecks, the middle class, the poor … they’re not getting treated like celebrities and everything,” the rapper says through a blue medical mask. If people who test positive for coronavirus but don’t have a high fever are sent home, she goes on, “Where do they think they’re sending people home to? Everyone doesn’t have the luxury … to go in a big-ass house and just stay away from people. A lot of people live in small … apartments with multiple people.”

“At the end of the day, this sh– could have been prevented when they found out about this sh– couple of months ago,” she said, slamming “45” (Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States) for the government’s callous response to the crisis.

By Jerry White in the USA:

“They don’t care about our health”

Strikes, protests spread as US workers demand protection from COVID-19

26 March 2020

Strikes and protests by workers demanding protection from the deadly coronavirus have occurred with increasing frequency over the last several days. Job actions in the United States and other countries are taking place even as the Trump administration and other capitalist governments around the world rush to restart production and the flow of corporate profit, knowing full well that this will accelerate the spread of COVID-19 and increase the death toll.

“That’s crazy”, Tonya, a worker at Fiat Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit, said of Trump’s comments about ending the lockdowns and getting the economy “roaring back” by Easter. “There shouldn’t be any rush back to work. There isn’t a cure, and this is fast spreading and deadly. If we go back to work, we’ll be with co-workers who are sick but don’t have any symptoms. They would be sending us to be hurt, if not killed.”

How many must die for Wall Street? Amid growing evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading through American workplaces, powerful representatives of finance capital are demanding that the country be “open for business”: here.

Strikes and social anger are growing among workers across Europe against attempts by national governments and business groupsto force them to work at non-essential jobs amid the raging coronavirus pandemic: here.

German investor Dibelius: Big business must take priority over health care. By Peter Schwarz, 26 March 2020. It will only be a matter of days before Dibelius and his ilk will demand that workers who refuse to risk their health by going back to work should be forced to do so.

Since last Thursday, March 19, thousands of workers have been mobilized in a series of wildcat strikes and protests at call center in cities from the north to the south of Brazil. They have stood up against unsafe working conditions in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This movement is part of a global wave of wildcat strikes, including at automobile factories in Italy, Spain and the United States and in other industries elsewhere: here.