Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts

Continuous Traumatic Distress is a condition Palestinians live in, it is not a disorder. The violence of apartheid occupation is the disorder.

47% of the known fatalities caused by Israeli War against Palestinian Civilians are children.
There are many more buried under the rubble.


Continuous Traumatic Distress is a condition Palestinians live in, it is not a disorder. The violence of apartheid occupation is the disorder.





Dear Representative, 


I recently wrote to you urging you to support the South African application for an adjudication at the International Courts of Justice.


I present the following 25 minute interview with two psychologists working in the area of children and trauma in war zones, with particular reference to conditions in Gaza and The West Bank, and a representative of Save The Children.


In this interview, a new condition is described - Continuous Traumatic Distress, without the adjective 'disorder'. Imagine being deliberately and intentionally traumatised every day, 247, year after year. Where is the true 'disorder'


I respectfully suggest you view this important interview, so that you understand clearly the condition Palestinian Children are in, and have been in for decades.


Can you think about a child who grows up in a war zone who cannot even imagine peace or at the very least the cessation of violence because that is all they have ever known, because the child has internalised that state so deeply, he or she has no concept of anything else?


Millions of children are now utterly dependent upon the International Community to now take action to stop the violence of the Israeli State in Gaza, The West Bank, the occupation, the illegal settlements. As these interviewees state, as things stand, there is nothing the Humanitarian community can do to help those children right now, until the violence is stopped. 


These children need safety from violence as the first step towards improved condition, as the only way to ensure all appropriate aid is provided to them, to meet their unmet needs.


I urge you once again, having viewed this interview, having understood the realities of life for these children, to at the very least demand our Governments take the action required to force Israel to cease this atrocious violence or be held accountable at the ICJ and the ICC.


-----




Kindest regards

Corneilius

Thank you for reading this blog.

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.

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Genocide Is Shameless


image source and other images from Gaza 2023

-


Through early morning bombs I see


The nightmare of the civilians who flee


the crimes that are so clear to  me


I realize and I can see...



that genocide is shameless


It brings on deathly changes


and we can’t take or leave it if we please.


We try to find a way to make


all our little joys relate


without that ever-present hate


And now we all know that it's already far too late, and...




The game of war is hardly play


Bomb dusted children now bleed out every day.


The humanitarian pause is useless now,


so this is all there is to say:



that genocide is shameless


It brings on deathly changes


and we can’t take or leave it if we please.


We try to find a way to make


all our little joys relate


without that ever-present hate


And now we all know that it's already far too late, 



The way the Rulers win is to cheat


flay down the children - victory complete.


The  moral army wades indiscrete


In rivers of blood, the task complete..



Oh genocide is shameless


It brings on deathly changes


and we can’t take or leave it if we please.


We try to find a way to make


all our little joys relate


without that ever-present hate


And now we all know that it's already far too late, 



The sword of crime will pierce their skins


It already hurts when it begins


And as it works its way on in


The pain grows stronger...while we watch Death grin.



 image source #Nuttyahoo.



and genocide is shameless


It brings on deathly changes


and we can’t take or leave it if we please.


We try to find a way to make


all our little joys relate


without that ever-present hate


And now we all know that it's already far too late, 



A brave man once requested me


to answer questions that are key


is it to be or not to be bombed


I replied ‘what can I do?’ for I am numbed.



'Cause genocide is shameless


it brings on deathly changes


and we can’t take it or leave it as we plea.


Ceasefire and stop the killing

From the river to the sea.

----

 adapted from 'Suicide is Painless' the MASH TV Series theme song by Johnny Mandel (music) and Michael Altman (lyrics) 

----

Government Announcement : "Move south to Sutton where it's safer!" 

Cab you imagine 2 million people, families, streets, wards and boroughs being bombed out of their homes in London?

------

My Christmess Carol


#FreePalestine

#Ceasefire

#PeaceisMoreThanTheAbsenceOfWar



image source



Kindest regards

Corneilius

Thank you for reading this blog.

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.

https://patreon.com/corneilius - donations gratefully received




#folkmusic
#singersongwriter
#blogger
#music

My child recently spoke to me of grief - Grief for the loss implied by climate disruption, warfare, wealth extraction, Racism and misogyny.

I am 63 years old this summer. I have many memories, many happy memories. I have horrible memories too. I have endured much abuse and trauma. I have been very lucky, I think. At least this didn't happen. 

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

And I grew up in a country more or less safe from warfare, though polluted by Religion and Oligarchy, and have lived long time in a country that exports warfare globally. A country where it is safe to express my rage at war, yet remain utterly powerless to hold our war lords to account. The illusion of freedom.

My child will be 32 soon.

My child recently spoke to me of grief.

Grief for the loss implied by climate disruption, warfare, wealth extraction, Racism and misogyny.  Grief for avoidable harms deliberately not avoided.

Grief for the harm already caused and the harm piling up into the future, clearly escalating due to the action of Oligarchy and the  inaction of vassal state Governments.

Grief for decades of Labour warfare, Tory cruelty and, apparently, infinite myopic greed and avarice of the party membership.

Grief for the loss of a bright future for herself and her friends, her siblings, their children.

Grief for the loss of a bright future for billions of people. 

That grief is particularly strong for her. She truly cares about people, she cares deeply about all of us, the vulnerable humane beings that we are... and she is a resilient person, a strong person willing to feel the world as it really is, strong enough to be honest and robustly loving nonetheless..

Grief for the horror of harm well understood, yet deliberately not avoided on that scale.

My child understands that the human and ecological costs of Wealth Extraction are profound, anti-evolutionary harms - that no amount of GDP can ever undo those harms, or repay those costs already imposed. GDP is a measurement of how much there is to extract wealth from. We both know GDP has nothing to do with human happiness and psychological well being.

Grief at the waste of precious in taking corrective action, a waste of time my generation is largely responsible for.

I cannot deny this. None of us can.

Of what use are our mortgages and pensions, our careers and our wealth to our children, now? 

As we revel in the increase in the value of our properties, do we feel the grief of our children who must rent to fund others mortgages?

What did we build, even when we knew we were causing harm we could not undo or repair?

All these are the same problem.

The problem is the power of Wealth Extraction and The Bully Culture which maintains it. The Dominator Culture.

And I agree with my child.

The grief is real. A heavy shadow hovers over so many lives. A toxic cloud that cannot be busted by staring at it. A depression that cannot be lifted unless we work together, rich and poor alike, to solve these , which as part of a culture, we have created. 

All of us are always in it together. 

I grew up with the threat of nuclear war, imagined. Imagination backed by military hardware, and propaganda from all sides about 'deterrents' and the awfulness of the other side. Imagination fueled by very real wars prosecuted as 'foreign policy'. 

The Mushroom Cloud seared our minds, troubled our hearts, gave us nightmares and sleepless nights. The power of a terrorised imagination triggered by deliberate content allowed this to persist.

Nuclear Weapons were not my choice. You probably did not choose nuclear weapons either. You did not choose climate disruption, you probably did not choose war or the maintenance of poverty as a nudge to drive so many people into low paid work, in order for Wealth Extraction to maintain it's dominance, The measure GDP is all about how much of GDP is extracted, and the human costs are irrelevant.

My child is growing up with the threat of climate disruption and ecological collapse that is real, not imagined.  It is happening, now, everywhere.

My child and her contemporaries ask "Who will help the most vulnerable people to prepare for this, to live well, to have clean food and water, to abide safe shelter and thrive in communities that are resilient and self sustaining? Why do your generation refuse to take appropriate action?"

My child did not make this happen. This was not my child’s choice. 

What will my generation do in the time we have left?

How will we comfort our children? Can we do anything materially and socially useful for this situation? 

How do we meet their grief? 

What can we do for them, even as we approach old age?

Kindest regards


Corneilius

Thank you for reading this blog.

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.

https://patreon.com/corneilius - donations gratefully received

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https://www.soundcloud.com/coreluminous - .wav Songs

https://www.corneilius.net - Archive

#folkmusic
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All the militarists are culpable for all the war : Enough, already! Among them there are no good guys.

All the militarists are culpable for all the war : Enough, already!

Among them there are no good guys.

We adults, every last one of us, no exception, have a first duty of care to all the children, to all of them, everywhere, in every condition. This duty of care is more important than any flag, than who rules or who governs and ought to the central foundation of good governance.

This is a collective, species level responsibility.

It is blatantly clear to me that all the militarists are culpable for all the war that has unfolded and is unfolding right in front of us. It is clear to me that taking sides within the militarists domain is foolish, and only feeds the fires of violence which consumes children, their parents, their communities, turning their lives and lands and work to ash.

Cameron, touting himself as 'tough enough', took £10 million Greensill Fraud cash.

He said he would push that button, make that decision. So too did Theresa May, as a first strike option. Putin threatens to use Nuclear Weapons.

Jeremy Corbyn rejected that option out of hand.

Corbyn had, and always has had, and always will have our children's best interests in mind. Corbyn is not a militarist.

The others never have, and never will.

Militarists hate all our children. They must do.

Russia is invading Ukraine,  Saudi Arabia is bombing Yemen, USA is bombing Somalia, USA embargos Cuba, USA and UK wage war in a number of places, the global weapons industry is worth trillions of dollars. Millions of people are fleeing and have fled their homes, their warm beds, their gardens, their shops and businesses.

They feed off our taxes, robbing us of what we need. Austerity, indeed!

The White Feathers.

There are people who have accused me of being a Putin propagandist, an Assad apologist, and a supporter of The Taliban, because I oppose US and UK Militarism.

There are people who have accused me of being a coward because I say enrolling civilians in organised violence aka 'resistance' does not improve matters and will not make them more free. Have they looked at any city where street by street warfare has taken place? Can they say that destruction brought freedom or peace?

It was women in Northern Ireland who brought peace and more freedom from oppression, not men with guns. In the midst of violence. Even as it was happening all around them. Men with guns make everything worse, every time.


So those who are egging on the heroics of Ukrainian men, they are all causing more violence, not less.

They are operating on belief and hubris, they are not in touch with reality at all, and they dare not call out the militarism for what it is - cruelty institutionalised for profit and power. 

Neutral Ireland?

Even in my own home country, neutral Ireland, the political leadership is talking of increasing their military budget, investing in jet fights and modern war ships! 

These feckers are idiots. Morons! What possible use of more military in Ireland is going to improve life for Irish people! How will more Military expenditure help with climate change adaptation, dealing with pollution, poverty, the housing crisis or any other serious human social or environmental problem we face?

Every Minister of Defence that enables taxes to be spent on military training, hardware and facilities is culpable.

Every Government that does not have an active and effective Ministry of Peace which operates as a Ministry of Prevention of Violence, Conflict Resolution and de-Escalation is failing in it's duty of care.

The competing militarised powers system is culpable, fully, for every war that ever occurs.

The competing militarised powers system is a choice, there is nothing innate, inevitable about it. It is entirely avoidable.

The competing militarised powers system is psychopathy institutionalised.

We adults have a first duty of care to all our children, even before our countries.

Not just our own children, but to all children, everywhere.

There are 6.5 million children under the age of 15 living in Ukraine, 15% of the population. In Iraq 2003-2006 1/3rd of all violent deaths were of children under the age of 15.

We adults, every last one of us, no exception, have a first duty of care to all the children, all of them, everywhere. This is a collective, species level responsibility.

I think that any adult who fails to see this is in my view, psychologically dysfunctional, and biologically immature. I think this bully cult does everything it possibly can to ensure most of us are biologically immature, at a level that poses a threat to us as a species.

There, I've said it.

Do you get me?

There's a significant sector of the adult world that is failing all our children. The War Makers and Wealth Extractors and their operatives are the most powerful among that significant cohort of the human population. Their choices impact the lives of billions of people, out of all proportion to their value, or worth.

A cooperating industrialised peoples system has always been possible.

Clean industry has always been possible. It's a matter of choice that it remains toxic.

Abolishing poverty has always been possible. It's a matter of choice that poverty persists, a choice made by the Wealth Extractor class.

Ending Racism and Misogyny has always been possible. It's a matter of choice that our schools, news media and entertainment industry fail to explain the historical origins of both of these corrosive bigotries.

The existence of all of these to the degree we see before us is a matter of choice.

The choice made by those who hold the most power is the most important choice of all as the power disparity built into hierarchy systems  means that the choice of a few people has immense impact on the lives of tens, hundreds and thousands of millions of people.

Bullies in power can bully millions of people. Putin, Bush, Cameron, Johnson. Our bullies are good bullies.

This is a bully cult.

This has to be the first call in discussing Ukraine, Yemen, COVID, Climate Change, Pollution, Poverty.

Name the situation as it really is.

Call it out.

"There is no point talking about the problem, unless you talk about the solution." Betty Williams - Betty Williams was a Northern Irish Peace Activist whose work helped bring the violence there to an end. Violence is not a solution, it is always a reactionary stance. Revenge is not a solution.


Kindest regards

Corneilius

Thank you for reading this blog.

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.

https://patreon.com/corneilius - donations gratefully received

https://www.reverbnation.com/corneilius - .mp3 songs

https://www.soundcloud.com/coreluminous - .wav Songs

https://www.corneilius.net - Archive

#folkmusic
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Make Education Safe Again : II - a letter from a 12 year old student, a letter from a concerned, responsible parent and a People's Inquiry

~
September 2021, I published a blog entitled 'Make Education Safe Again'. In this blog I collated some of the evidence a) that schools as they were set in September leading into the autumn term were unsafe for children and teachers alike and b) that we know well how to make them safe for children and teachers and c) what the implications of the persistent demand by this Government that schools, unsafe as they are, remain open were. We could see the harm ahead of time, which by definition tells us that that harm was avoidable. To refuse to avoid avoidable harms, to children, is gross negligence.

Independent SAGE have published a series of papers, outlining rational, proven methods to make schools safer, to suppress transmission among children and teachers.  These recommendations are well reasoned, by experts in epidemiology, virology, immunology and behavioural science and economics. The Government has not been able to counter with a rational evidence based response. Their stance is to ignore and deny, and to persist with placing our children and their teachers in harms way. This is an atrocity.
~
Then The New Statesman published a story on November 15th, which revealed why the government imposed unsafe schools, demanded full attendance, issued dictats to that end. The policy was designed to use children as superspreaders to deliver a booster to vaccinated adults in their community, the assumption being that a) children do not get seriously ill with Covid and b) wild reinfection confers greater immunity to those vaccinated, and to those who are not vaccinated. This assumption was promoted by the JVCI.  
~
The title of the piece was 'How the UK sleepwalked into another Covid disaster' subtitled  'By failing to prevent the rapid spread of coronavirus in schools, Boris Johnson has thrown children and adults to the wolves.'

I wrote that that headline was inaccurate, This Government was not asleep, they were fully awake and aware of the situation, and they chose, consciously, to impose the role of superspreaders upon all our school children and their teachers.
~
December 5th 2021 - Rates of Infection recorded, which are likely lower than actual rates, as asymptomatic cases might not be detected, and even these are only estimated, let alone recorded.

Infection rates amongst 5-9 year old children,  December 5 2021

1% of total population of 5.6 million children is ... 50,000 per day..

~

A child wrote a letter to her MP, Michelle McIlveen, DUP. describing her reality. The letter is remarkable in two regards. The 12 year old child has clearly got a better understanding of the situation than most News Media Journalists and MPs, which she articulates precisely. Her concern for the welfare of others is similarly advanced in comparison to both those groups of adults. Intelligence and empathy, qualities lacking in Government and the News Media with regards to this epidemic.
~
A parent writes a letter to her school, who have been threatening her with fines and court action, because she withdrew her child from school, on the basis that the school was an unsafe environment, putting her child and her family at risk, and by extension putting the entire community that used that school at risk, of contracting the virus.
~

The Good Law Project is taking up the case, has written pre-action letters to some councils, and will be presenting to the courts, if they do not heed the warning. Courts whose rulings this Government wishes to create and legislate the right of Ministers to throw out, ignore and otherwise abrogate. Democratic accountability undermined as Government Policy?

~




The People's Inquiry 2021 led by Micheal Mansfield, QC, one of the UK's leading Human Rights Lawyers, produced a report that detailed the many failures of this Government, (Executive Summary) and made the case for a series of criminal charges and civil litigations.  Misconduct in Public Office, failures to uphold Human Rights Law, The Right to Health and other statuary obligations to protect the populations health during a pandemic. The full report is a document that  makes for sombre reading indeed. It is fully evidenced.

https://www.peoplescovidinquiry.com

Every school, care home, work place ought to have at least one hard copy of the executive summary on the premises, made available to it's constituents,  and efforts should be made by management and parents groups at every school, care facility and workplace to share the document electronically amongst students, teachers and workers to assure maximal reach. 

~

The behaviour of the Johnson Government is criminally negligent in intent, horrifically harmful in action and is a clear and present threat to the health and safety of 77 million people over whom they now Rule as an emerging elective dictatorship. The combination of an 80 seat majority and the desire to enact legislation that curtails public protest, allows ministers to reject court rulings they dislike and much else that egregiously undermines democratic oversight and accountability leads towards an elected dictatorship. No question.

 That this case - this Johnson Regime's criminal behaviour is a direct and serious threat to the welfare of the people - is not being made across the National News Media nor in Parliament, be it the House of Commons or The House of Lords, is a national scandal enabling a national atrocity. Following from Iraq and Austerity this is the worst offence and abrogation of Duty of Care and Human Rights Law by any English Government in the last century.

'Let the Herd take it on the chin, protect the Hoard' : The Johnson Government  policy position explained, placed in it's historical context. Only the transparent most honest telling of the truth can set us free.

~

It is neither a neutral nor a morally viable and honest centrist position to stand between Good and Evil, (Protection of The People from Harm and Harm Causation to The People), and to then claim to be asserting a balanced view. We must always err on the side of the good.

~

This Government must face a vote of no confidence, supported by the majority of the population, carried through by Parliament and be dismissed, routed and removed. A government of national unity must be installed to manage this pandemic in the best interests of the people. No question.

Write to your MP and your local councillors :  https://www.theyworkforyou.com


Kindest regards

Corneilius

Thank you for reading this blog.

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."

This blog, like all my other content creation work is not monetised via advertising. If you like what I present, consider sharing my content. If you can afford the price of a cup of coffee or a pint of beer/ale/cider for a few months, please donate via my Patreon account.

https://patreon.com/corneilius - donations gratefully received

https://www.reverbnation.com/corneilius - .mp3 songs

https://www.soundcloud.com/coreluminous - .wav Songs

https://www.corneilius.net - Archive

#folkmusic
#singersongwriter
#blogger
#music

Callous Reckless Behaviour - Endangering a Nation for Profit.

Cycles of this English Epidemic, this Global Pandemic
Avoidable harms deliberately not avoided.
~
March 17 2021 - Mike Ryan at WHO
~

~

1. Callous reckless behaviour. From a teacher, who is probably exhausted, at the end of a tether of chronic stress, and who had Covid, tested positive, and was aware he or she was bringing it into the school. A teacher has a duty of care to the health of those in his or her care, above and beyond any other duty. Teaching is the lessor responsibility in this situation. A teacher should be evidence led in this regard.

"So, my 12 year old's maths teacher decided to come into work and teach maths today, despite having tested positive for Covid, "because I'm vaccinated". Fuming."

https://twitter.com/biscuitsgod/status/1460288748948762624?s=20

2. Head teacher  sends letter to a parent.

"My son's Headteacher has just sent a letter saying we must "build up our #Immunity by having the children in school during an outbreak to become infected with #Covid19. 

I thought that the #herdimmunity theory was debunked? 9 of 30 are testing positive."

https://twitter.com/HelenOLeslie/status/1460272268127490054?s=20

And here's why - Government Policy is to infect 8 million children to confer 'enhanced immunity' onto the adult vaccinated populations - using the children as 'immune boosters'. For profit.

3. New Statesman report on this policy with utterly shocking citations from Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

"How The UK Sleepwalked into another Covid Disaster."

https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2021/11/how-the-uk-sleepwalked-into-another-covid-disaster

The headline is inaccurate.

This was not sleep walking. Not by any stretch of the imagination.  Government was fully awake, JCVI was fully awake, but definitely not 'woke'.

They chose deliberately to expose millions of people children, parents, relatives and others to the virus.

4. An article from this time last year examining the English Government approach to Covid, from a perspective of The Right to Health of the population.

https://hhrjournal.org/2020/11/the-right-to-health-in-times-of-pandemic-what-can-we-learn-from-the-uks-response-to-the-covid-19-outbreak/

"Experience in the UK also shows the need for a clear national strategy from the outset, as soon as a risk is reasonably identified through scientific evidence. Political action must be prompt, based on scientific evidence, transparent, and communicated clearly to the population. A soft approach like the one adopted by the UK in the weeks preceding the lockdown, where private actors with economic power remained in charge of deciding whether people should travel to work and whether events would be maintained, should be avoided."

5. There are no words to adequately describe this callous, reckless, misinformed and frankly lethal policy.

More than 1000 people a week are dying awful, horrific deaths.

11% of school children have been infected.

We're averaging around 80-100k child cases a week.

Around 250 hospital admissions of children every week.

Close to 3000 children with Long Covid every week.

And between 3-7 child covid deaths a week

NHS is close to a critical state, with 1/3rd of ICU capacity occupied with COVID.

6. This makes the corruption story look like walk in the park.

7. The long term health implications of this virus are unknown, but there are solid indicators of serious sequelae that could last for the life of those infected. An interview with a respected immunologist, Immunologist Dr. Anthony Leonardi,  outlining some of the risks he sees now and foresees into the future, with so much unknown.

https://wsws.org/en/articles/2021/11/11/leon-n11.htm

"BM: You recently wrote a letter to California school boards which was very powerful. You raised some very important issues. What are your concerns about COVID infections in children?

AL: Well, it does really worry me. We are just assuming that infection won’t have long-term consequences in people, and especially in children. And there’s almost a systematic exposure of people and children to the virus before they’re vaccinated. I know from what I’ve read in the studies that have come out that some people are going to definitely be genetically susceptible to very bad outcomes and death. And I think it’s not right for kids to be just exposed to this without a fighting chance, without vaccination.

It’s very disturbing when I think that we’re running the risk for everybody to get something like any Lewy body disease or neurodegeneration and we’re systematically exposing generations to this. I was trying to help. My hope is that we take it seriously and we give people protection. If these children have genetic susceptibility or health concerns, or if their family has health concerns, they’re given remote options. I was thinking if I were in their position, would I want to be consigned to definite exposure to SARS-CoV-2? No, I wouldn’t! And I would want to be protected, with acknowledging that the virus is airborne. So, better ventilation in classrooms, mask wearing and vaccination of children.

There’s a terrible assumption that kids are okay with SARS-CoV-2 infection when there’s data coming out that they have lost out on a greater number of healthy years than adults. Kids have better immunological response to vaccination than adults as well. And kids are more likely to be infected than adults and kids are more likely to be reinfected than adults.

We’re messing up! We’re doing this completely wrong only because probably, my assumption is, kids have less agency. Kids don’t have the agency adults do. That’s fine that they are not like grandma or grandpa when it comes to being infected, it isn’t as dangerous. But it’s unjust to not protect them and vaccinate them. Infection in children should not be written off.

A lot of people are saying it’s endemic and everyone is going to get it. So, they relinquish responsibility of controlling its spread and making these areas safe and just consigning kids to definite inflammation and infection where they’re less likely to make immune-competent memory."

8. In May 2020, after the Cummings Road Show, I wrote a a blog piece suggesting we needed to take drastic action to prevent further harm to the population. I suggested arresting Johnson, Cummings, Whitty, Valance and the entire Cabinet, removing them from office, placing them on remand and instituting a national unity government with a directive to manage the epidemic using elimination/suppression of the virus strategy, which was proven to work much, much better than 'herd immunity' aka 'living with the virus'.

https://dwylcorneilius.blogspot.com/2020/05/cummings-need-not-resign-they-should.html

I argued the case for Malfeasance and I, and many others even in those early days predicted a series of waves of infection, fatality, chronic disease and economic hardship, into the future, with no end in sight.  Given the way the virus generates variations through travelling through a population, meeting new evolutionary pressures and beating them, that was an obvious call. 

That was when deaths were at about 25,000 people and long Covid was showing it's first signs of being a real and last impact.

9. My argument stands. Everything we are learning about this Government, the news media and various misinformed lobby groups reveals a callous, reckless and utterly inhumane attitude, an avarice so deep and so corrosive that it places the entire population a risk, a risk that can be avoided, for what?

For Corporate profits, that's what.


10. Earlier in April 2020 I detected a pattern that has historical roots, notably the attitude and actions of the British Government in relation to the Irish and Bengali Famines of the mid 1800s. Late Victorian Holocausts. 

https://dwylcorneilius.blogspot.com/2020/04/uk-take-it-on-chin-historical.html

11. Today we are living a late Elizabethan Holocaust.  I wrote this in March 2021, as the winter 20/21 surge was underway, and showing signs of abating, as the nation was in lockdown.

https://dwylcorneilius.blogspot.com/2021/03/late-elizabethan-holocausts.html

12. Was it Her Majesty's back or was it her awareness of the holocaust underway and a desire to not stand with Johnson as the nation commemorates the grief, horror and immense human tragedy of WWI? Who knows? I don't.  But, if I was in her position, I would not stand besides Johnson or give him my stature to lean upon.

13. It has to be said that Labour, under Starmer, has not been the advocate for elimination strategy that the English people so badly needed and deserved from an 'Opposition'. The whole of Parliament bears responsibility in all of this. 'No ifs, no buts'.

He fired Rebecca Long-Bailey and abandoned the National Education Union at a critical time, in mid 2020. He excluded Corbyn from the Parliamentary Party. He is not in position for the people of this nation. Marcus Rashford did some of the work he neglected to do.

14. I am at a loss for more words. The trauma visited upon the English people is too great. 

Kindest regards

Corneilius

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Suppression vs Mitigation, Acceptable Horror, Externalised Costs - problem solving for whom?


"We need to address the societal well-being of our nation, not just the economic well-being: our people are telling us that politics are not delivering and meeting their expectations. This is not woolly, it’s critical.”  Jacinda Ardern

Amrit Lohia tweeted the following:

Giving everyone "access to water and food" requires socialism. Eradicating SARS-CoV-2 also requires a shift to a socialist model where we recognise our responsibility to protect each other. Tagging in @coreluminous who can probably explain this better than I can.

I replied:  I think you have distilled it into its purest form.

"where we recognise our responsibility to protect each other." 

That is the essence of the situation with regards to COVID, Climate Change, pollution, poverty, environmental degradation, Racism, Misogyny etc.

Then I wrote some more.

I would call it a pro-social model rather than ideological Socialism.


Management of the shared commons implies duty of care to all who share the commons. This demands that decisions on policy and practical implementation are grounded in equity and mutual aid and are based on evidence rather than upon ideological belief or the opinion of any one group.

Externalised Costs
.

Costs incurred by producers or consumers any other actors acting within the shared commons, that are not resolved, that are passed on to others who bear the burden are anti-social, profoundly so.

This is where I part with existing ideological Socialism which seeks equitable pay and conditions for all, whilst still allowing externalised costs to be accrued. Externalised costs is  the root of all the problems we face, globally. 

Resolution will be of that issue will be complex, that's well understood. 

That said it is attachments to power and status which make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Thus a reckoning with power and status lies ahead, it cannot be avoided.

Does this reckoning have to descend into a power struggle?

Only if those who hold asymmetric power choose to make it so.

Those who hold positions of power and status could choose to share that power, and they could manage it slowly enough to empower the corrective changes required that would protect us all as we move through this phase.

That choice is real.

To recap:

Elimination of community transmission is possible.

It's really simple. Virus needs to date a new human host, or it dies out. It is a complex operation to support a population to do EoCT.  Professor Gabriel Scally is a highly respected, deeply experienced public health professional and scholar. He is in no doubt whatsoever that elimination of community transmission is the best possible strategy under the current circumstances, where in the UK we are still at less than 20% population infected, and globally much less than that. There is an immense amount of harm to prevent, to avoid and it makes no sense to push the global population into harms way.



What complicates it are matters of power, wealth and status. That much is clear.

1. there's a world of difference between eradication and elimination of community transmission.


2. New Zealand is not in complete isolation from the rest of the world. Tourism is not an essential human activity. Quarantine can manage necessary travel.

3. Proof of concept is 1.8 billion people who were not faced with multiple national level lockdowns, health care and economic harms over extended periods. 

4. Proof of concept is variants from areas that rejected elimination strategy arriving and breaking through quarantine systems.

5. Australia’s official COVID-19 strategy, suppression, doesn’t have an epidemiological definition. 

“Suppression isn’t a known technical term,” says epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre, head of the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute and Professor of Global Biosecurity.

6. “It’s either elimination or disease control.”

‘Disease control’ means reducing the number of cases to a locally acceptable level, but community transmission may still occur. 

7. In England that successful disease control is defined by Johnson as being 1000 deaths by Covid19 per week. No mention of the acceptable number of cases of chronic disease, Long Covid.


8. So, if I was one of those 'acceptable deaths' would I agree with Johnson?

If you or your beloved, or your son or daughter was one of those 'acceptable deaths' would you agree with Johnson?

9.  And the other more harsh reality of each death by covid is this:

These are truly awful, horrific deaths. Really, really grim.

https://vox.com/2021/2/20/22280817/covid-19-deaths-us-nursing-home-icu-ventilator

Oxygen depletion, organ failure, death. Terror, despair and horror over the course of ten days or so. One thousand times every week. Thousands of families. Hundreds of ICU teams

Who decides these deaths are acceptable? On what metric?

10. In another context, how many terrorist bombings would be considered an acceptable level?

Is it the case that the 241,000 Afghani deaths of the past 20 years are acceptable to UK citizens, but the 404 combat deaths of troops are not? 

11. Who makes these calls about policy and public health strategy, which have such immense impact the shared commons, and on what basis? 

12. Is there a need now for urgent collective decision making and collective action to prevent further avoidable harm, when we are in a situation that affects us all?

Kindest regards

Corneilius

"Do what you love, it is your gift to universe."