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Introduction by Hari Kumar; translations by Alfonso Casal. Final version 17 April, 2020
In an earlier article we first discussed the attitude Marxists should take to the COVID-19 crisis on March 17, 2020. After the longer-term picture was becoming clear to us, we also published Marxist-Leninist Theses: The aftermath of the Corona virus (COVID-19) Health care crisis and short term demands. In the latter article we stated:
“Even more alarming is the situation in those countries such as the former colonial and semi-colonial countries. There even such crumbs are inconceivable, where the problems faced are horrendous…
We agree with the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador (PCMLE) that the policy of “the bourgeoisie and imperialism, that prioritizes primary-export production for international markets” – place countries like Ecuador in a peril….
“In many ex-colonial countries, the stranglehold of the foreign imperial cartels remains intact. For instance, in Ecuador, the main revenue stream for the state has been oil. But given the price war being fought over oil – revenues are plummeting in Ecuador, which is a ‘puppet at the mercy of the winds’:
“Ecuador (is) a puppet at the mercy of the winds and the government with no plan to deal with the situation. The economic growth model imposed on Ecuador by the bourgeoisie and imperialism, that prioritizes primary-export production for international markets – is once again questioned in the wake of the decline in oil prices and the decisions taken by several countries to deal with the current situation… All Ecuadorian exportable products, starting with oil, passing through wood and ending up in the banana has been suffering sales reductions since February to date, as is the case for tourism. Oil, the main source of tax revenue, was budgeted for this year at $51.30 a barrel, but is barely being sold at $28.” (PCMLE).”
We agreed with demands for debt cancellation:
“An additional fundamental demand that could be made jointly by workers and toilers in both the periphery (countries like Ecuador) and the central dominant imperialist capitalist states, is to cancel the international debts. The programme of demands for each individual country will obviously be different.”
Now some weeks later, an ever and increasingly clear understanding has been gained.
It is known what is needed to avert mass deaths and hunger in the poorest countries and within them, the poorest sectors of the workers and toilers. Yet the ruling classes of the former colonial countries do not care about the effect of the pandemic upon their own poor.
An illustration of this comes from the tragedy unfolding in Ecuador. We give below translations from the paper of the Communist Party Ecuador Marxist-Leninist (En Marcha). We regret these are only web-based translations, and we apologise in advance for any translation errors, which are entirely ours. However, we believe they do give a sense of the unfolding tragedy, and an understanding of the analyses of the PCMLE in regards to the crisis unfolding.
We think these are of interest to all who think of themselves as Marxist-Leninists.