Peter Gowan: “In the aftermath of a Minneapolis police officer’s murder of George Floyd, America’s media has turned to some crucial questions which must be addressed: Should we condemn looting? Yes, we should condemn the looting of the Global South by Western militaries and multinational corporations. … Private equity stands to make a fortune off the bankruptcy of businesses around the country. By firing workers and raiding their pensions, they’ll make off with the bag. … [T]he billionaire class has become $434 billion richer during the pandemic. … Should we blame working-class black people for lashing out at a government and economy designed to repress, exploit, and subdue them…? No. George Floyd mattered. Black lives matter. And until we can build a movement that can defeat racism and capitalism, until working people of all races unite against capitalists and their repressive apparatus, it is a good thing that bosses, government officials, and the police who protect them are sometimes reminded that black lives matter through a little proletarian fury. If you care about looting, turn your eyes to the militaries, the police, the pharmaceutical companies, the private equity ghouls, the landlords, the real estate speculators, and the billionaires. And demand that a world once looted from the vast majority be now returned to them.”
1 June 2020