#Worldwide #Information #Blogger #LucSchrijvers: #Update: #anarchist #information from all over the #world - 17.04.2020

Today's Topics:

   
1.  Czech, AFED: Zapatista Coronavirus Declaration
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  cnt-aranjuez: Misogyny as a health problem -- Blenamiboà
      (ca) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  Britain, anarchist communist group: Mexican car workers show
      the way (again!) (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Greece, anarchist collectivity Vogliamo tutto e per tutti:
      Interventions with texts and slogans... Against death and
      repression Life and Solidarity will win! [machine translation]
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Britain, anarchist communist group: An ACG careworker
      writes... (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  France, Union Communiste Libertaire UCL Nantes press
      release: ZAD de la Dune: expulsion in full containment (fr, it,
      pt)[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  anarkismo.net: Britain, "Clap for Carers" but now they want
      our money as well - Another statement from some of us in Haringey
      Solidarity Group (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
8.  Britain, Class War Daily 8 April: FIGHTING FOR LIFE
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
9.  Britain, Solfed: Donning and Doffing - on the front lines --
      health and safety Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) NHS
      Edinburgh SF-IWA (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1


Zapata's National Liberation Army closes caracola due to coronavirus and urges people not to stop fighting ---- To the people of Mexico, to
the people of the world, to the National Indigenous Congress - Aboriginal Government Council, Sexta in Mexico and abroad, networks of
resistance and rebellion. ---- Sisters, brothers, compañeros, compañeras, compañeroas. ---- We are writing to inform you about the
following. Given the seriousness and scientific evidence of the risk to human life of COVID-19 or coronavirus... Given the reckless
irresponsibility and lack of seriousness presented by the poor governments and the political class as a whole, those who use a serious
humanitarian problem to attack each other , instead of taking the necessary measures against a life-threatening virus that affects everyone
regardless of nationality, gender, race, language, religion, political affiliation, social class or history... Due to a lack of accurate and
up-to-date information on virus prevalence and severity and a plan that he would face... Since it is the duty of the Zapatistas to fight for
life... Given all this, we decided as follows.

First: We announce the highest readiness in all our communities, cities, neighborhoods and Zapatista organizational bodies.

Secondly, we advise the councils of the Good Government and the Zapatist Autonomous Communities in rebellion to completely and immediately
close the Caracol and Resistance and Rebellion centers.

Thirdly, we recommend that we adhere to a number of recommendations and special hygiene measures to the support bases and to the entire
Zapatista organizational structure that we will disseminate in all Zapatista communities, cities and neighborhoods.

Fourth: In the absence of bad governments, we strongly urge everyone in Mexico and around the world to follow the necessary, science-based
sanitary measures that will allow us to survive this pandemic.

Fifth: We urge you to persevere in the fight against femicide and violence against women, in the fight for the defense of Mother Earth, in
the fight for the disappeared, murdered and imprisoned and to continue to hold the flag of the fight for humanity high above your head.

Sixthly, we encourage us not to lose human contact, but rather to temporarily change our ways of keeping in touch as brothers and sisters as
compañeras, compañeros, compañeroas.

The word, listening ear and heart have many ways - ways, calendars and geographies - in and on which to meet. This struggle for life can be
one of them.

That is all.

 From the Mountains of Southeast Mexico to the Indigenous Revolutionary Secret Commission - Chief of Zapata's National Liberation Army,
Subcomandante Insurgente Moisés

Mexico, March 2020

 From droj: http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/2020/03/16/por-coronavirus-el-ezln-cierra-caracoles-y-llama-a-no-abandonar-las-luchas-actuales/

For more about the Zapatistic uprising, see Existence No. 1/2019 .

https://www.afed.cz/text/7157/prohlaseni-zapatistu-ke-koronaviru

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Message: 2


A comment on Amartya Sen's essay Gender Inequality. Misogyny as a public health problem , by Amartya Sen (2002), in which he presents
misogyny as a health problem for humanity. ---- Amartya Sen is an economist who stood out for demonstrating that world hunger was not a
problem of lack of food but of inequalities in distribution mechanisms ( Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlements and Deprivation ).
 From his work he posed challenges to the economic model and introduced the ethical question in the field of economics. Apart from her
research on the causes of famines, her work in the field of economic development has had a great influence on the formulation of the Human
Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

His theoretical work on inequality also addresses those inequalities that come from being born a man or being born a woman in some countries
(India and China), mathematically relating the higher rates of men with the best treatment of health and child opportunities that they offer
to boys (as opposed to what is offered to girls), as well as sex-selective abortions.

Gender inequality exists in almost all corners of the planet and means that for each group, adversity falls more heavily on women. Lack of
equality is a set of interrelated problems that manifest themselves heterogeneously across different human groups.

Gender inequality can take different forms and have multiple implications, making it impossible to confront it with a single remedy.

They are manifestations of gender inequality: the disproportionately high rate of female mortality in some regions, sex-selective abortion,
inequality of basic opportunities such as access to school, and unequal participation in the social functions of the community. More
examples of this inequality between men and women in the world are the least opportunity to access higher education and / or the performance
of some professions, unequal access to employment and the possibility of promotion.

In many regions of the world, the distribution of property continues to be distributed asymmetrically due to discrimination against women,
which affects their participation in social and commercial activities. The sexual division of labor and its consequences in unequal
relationships within the family, consequences in the overload of work for women and in the devaluation of the activities carried out by
women, are manifestations of gender inequality in societies.

This inequity can have far-reaching effects even in academic circles, such as the WHO's assessment of domestic work as a sedentary activity,
or effects such as the preference for having male children (sex-selective abortion). This reflects how the different valuation based on
gender penetrates our thinking and culture in different ways.

It is important to keep in mind that in each region and country the different types of inequities tend to feed each other, as well as their
manifestations may change, going from one inequality to another predominant.

Female mortality rates

The author breaks down female mortality rates by making a comparison between regions. He takes the indexes of Europe and the United States
as a reference, after which he presents the results of his studies, in which he concludes that the number of victims who have claimed gender
prejudice in India is surprisingly high. The concept of "missing women" helps to make visible the phenomenon of mortality among women due to
the lack of medical care and adequate nutrition.

The author observes in the studies a causal pattern that goes from the nutritional neglect suffered by women to the problem of maternal
malnutrition, and from there to the delay in fetal growth and low weight babies, to later pass, much later and in adulthood, cardiovascular
problems (on par with the phenomenon of malnutrition in the short term). The data studied indicates that to be taken to the hospital, girls
have to be weaker and more serious.

The inequality suffered by the female population affects the general population due to births, the health of babies of both sexes and the
care tasks carried out by women.

In countries where the female population has the same rights as the male population, and inequalities are presented in other ways, the
author considers what social transformations accompanied these changes.

Causal variables related to women's increased power in society are access to schooling, to well-paid and respected jobs, and economic
independence. Studies point out, Amartya Sen tells us, that openness to the outside, left activism and that women can have property are
related to the decrease in inequality and the improvement of the living conditions of women and girls.

To combat gender inequalities (subtle or more explicit), a critical attitude towards received values and freedom of thought are necessary.
Along with economic development, the freedom to question and analyze inherited beliefs and traditional priorities is necessary, as well as
the active, critical and informed participation of the entire population in social, cultural, ecological, economic and political issues.

I would like to take the reflection that Sen's text suggests to my close reality. I believe that throughout our lives multiple messages are
aimed at reinforcing the idea that men and women from birth are different and we demand differentiated education, clothes, care ...
according to our biological sex. In my environment there are people who say they prefer a girl or a boy if they talk about maternity or
paternity. Prefer one or the other sex according to their supposed qualities. They even foresee how difficult, expensive, fun or problematic
parenting will be if it's a girl or a boy.

We are going to land, it does not matter if a creature is born with one or another biological sex. We are the adults who socialize in one
way or another depending on where we are, the beliefs of our cultural tradition and the decisions we make.

http://www.cnt-aranjuez.org/la-misoginia-como-problema-de-salud/

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Message: 3


In January 2019 we reported on wildcat strikes among Mexican carworkers in the border town of Matamoros. Now they have gone out on strike
again, this time over concerns about safety conditions in relation to coronavirus. ---- Two Tuesdays ago (March 31st) workers walked out at
the VDO and Novalink plants. They were followed on Wednesday by the workers at Autoliv and Edemsa. They were followed on Thursday by workers
at Tridonex and Parker, and on Friday by workers at Tyco and Kwalu. ---- On April 6th there were further strikes at Kwalu and Kongsberg.
There the bosses agreed to close the factories and pay workers 80% of their wages. ---- The government of President Obrador has been
deliberately vague about which services should close down with the pandemic crisis, saying that it was up to private sector bosses to decide
what to do. Whilst saying that companies should pay 100% of wages if their factories are closed, there will be no compunction to actually do
this.

In fact workers at closed car parts company APTIV only paid out 50% of wages, a derisory 200 pesos.

The US economy depends on Mexican workers supplying cheap goods, including car parts, and is putting pressure on Mexico to continue to so,
no matter that many workers could die as a result of the pandemic.

Share this:

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/04/12/mexican-car-workers-show-the-way-again/

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Message: 4



In the last few days, the anarchist collective Vogliamo tutto e per tutti has been intervening in the streets of the neighborhoods of
Petralona, Koukaki, Thissio, Neos Kosmos, Nea Smyrni and Exarcheia. The text of the collectivity
"SELF-PROTECTION-RESISTANCE-SOLIDARITY-SELF-ORGANIZATION-SOLIDARITY" is distributed and glued at the entrances of apartment buildings and
slogans are written and slogans are written in central parts of the neighborhood. ---- In the face of this unprecedented situation, we from
below will not share the same responsibilities as the state and capital, just as we do not share the privileges. We will not trust our lives
and our health to government dignitaries, omniscient experts, cops, the army and journalists. Because right now we have to protect ourselves
from both the coronation and the state and capital schemes for further control and enslavement of our lives. That is why we must protect our
health and our freedom.

At this difficult time, we must seek the saviors of our fellow human beings and our neighbors, not the rulers. Everyone's health is health
for all of us. To promote solidarity with cannibalism. Mutual assistance against isolation and individualism. The resistance to the
discipline and tradition of our lives.

anarchist collectivity Vogliamo tutto e per tutti

https://vogliamotutto.espivblogs.net/2020/04/11/paremvaseis-me-keimena-kai-synthimata-gia-aytoprostasia-antistasi-allileggyi-aytoorganosi-allilovoitheia/#more-2494

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Message: 5



So first a bit of background about me, I have worked in health and social care for nearly thirty years. I started doing a BTEC in Caring
services after I left school, I chose this at the age of 16 because it is a vocational qualification which included work placements as well
as classroom-based learning. I then went on to do an HND in caring services and a degree in community studies doing work placements
throughout. My first paid job was in a residential school for children with cerebral palsy and complex needs and it was this job that really
inspired me. The school I worked for was ahead of its time in terms of person-centred planning. That basically means putting the service
user in control of their support and care and involving them along every step and wherever possible it is up to the service user how they
want and need to be supported. In order to achieve a well-rounded care package means we work alongside other people with other expertise,
this is known as the Multi-Disciplinary Team and can include experts such as psychiatrists, social workers, Nurses, Doctors etc.

Working as a support worker in social care is often viewed as being unskilled and has and is held in low regard by both local authorities
and the government and until recently had been described by national politicians as being ‘low skilled'. Historically this is because in the
past it was seen as ‘women's work' and shows that there is still massive gender inequality in the workplace. As a support worker I have
found that we are often overlooked. The idea of ‘skilled' and unskilled work only serves to prop up wealth inequality and lessens the human
value and beneficial impact of what we do. We are the bedrock on which a lot of health and social care sits. Our job is vital and requires
skill, knowledge and dedication to do it well and properly, yet we are paid a pittance. This fact has now started to make headlines and is
now in the national press and much more in the public awareness as the corona pandemic has made it more and more apparent. For much too long
we have been described as low skilled and have remained some of the lowest paid workers in the country. Social care is mainly made up of
female and migrant workers and this has a lot to do with the exploitation we have been subjected to. This pandemic has shown that we are
essential and dedicated to what we do, whilst the bosses and those in positions of authority have demonstrated again just how incompetent
and cowardly they are with CEO's, directors and senior managers working from home whilst frontline staff are expected to take all the risks
often without proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).

It is well known by people who work in social care how much employers in this field exploit their workers and how badly they can be treated
and I know this from personal experience having worked for both good and bad organisations. This has also started to come into public
awareness with the Covid 19 outbreak as many social care organisations show a complete lack of regard for their workers' safety and those
who use their services. Since the social care sector was privatised, I have seen the rise of many new social care organisations that have
moved in to fill the gap left by the closure of statutory care homes. It should be noted that some of these organisations genuinely do try
to provide a high standard of care to their service users and also recognise that in order to do that they need well qualified, dedicated
and experienced staff and that they are more likely to get this if their workers are paid a true living wage as set out by the living wage
foundation (£9.30 across the UK and £10.75 in London) and given decent working conditions but it really is a bit of a lottery out there.

A high percentage of care workers use public transport as many cannot afford to run a car. Public transport however is often geared around
peak times (9-5) and does not factor in those who work shifts or unsociable hours. Many care workers can start work as early as 0700 and
finish as late as 2200. I myself leave for work at 0600 to start work at 0745 in the morning, I do a 12-hour shift and finish at 2000 and do
not get home till around 2100. I must catch two buses to get to and from work. We are also required to work weekends, evenings, public/bank
holidays including Christmas, New Year and Easter and we often do not get paid any extra for doing this. Yet we do it every day despite the
risks to ourselves and our families, we do it because we know how vital and important our job is and we are passionate about what we do and
we care deeply for those we have a duty of care towards. Some support workers during the Covid 19 outbreak have shown their dedication and
even moved into their places of work leaving behind their families to try and shield those they support from the virus.

On the other hand, care organisations have shown their usual ‘commitment and passion' to their workers by treating them as badly as possible
in order to protect their profit margins. Most care workers have never been eligible for contractual sick pay as most care organisations do
not offer it, so they only get SSP. A number of care homes are refusing to give sick pay to workers who have been told by the government to
stay at home because they are at high risk during the coronavirus pandemic. The Independent newspaper on 5th April wrote:

‘A company in northeast England that runs more than a dozen residential and dementia care homes in the UK, is providing guidance to managers
of the facilities, stating that employees who have been advised to social distance for 12 weeks must not receive sick pay unless they are
showing coronavirus symptoms. Unions and charities said they had seen the same policy in place in other care providers, and warned that it
meant care workers were in some cases attending work despite being at high-risk of contracting the virus.'

The company's guidelines, seen by The Independent, state that employees who are ‘shielding' - meaning they have received a letter or text
from their GP advising that they are high risk due to underlying medical conditions and are advised to stay indoors - will not receive any
sick pay if they take time off work. It reads:

‘If these employees decide to follow this advice and therefore not attend for work, as long as they are not showing any symptoms of
Covid-19, then they are to be recorded on Care Blox as authorised absence (Covid-19) and this is unpaid. They will not qualify for payment
under the statutory sick pay.'

Stuart Gilhespy, GMB organiser in the north of England, who received the guidelines from this organisation after requesting clarification on
the company's sick pay policy after concerns were raised by members of staff, said:

‘The policy was forcing people to choose between safety and feeding themselves. Care workers are just as important as the NHS, and it's only
through successive governments from both sides that we've ended up with a privatised care sector, which is already on its knees as far as
funding goes.'

Karolina Gerlich, executive director of the Care Workers' Charity, said the charity had also been approached for help.

‘Some careworkers have been told by HR that there is not enough money in the system to pay for such a long leave. This is made more
difficult because many care providers are already severely understaffed due to other care workers self-isolating for two weeks.'

When this crisis is over it is fairly obvious that the health and social care sector needs to be completely transformed to work for the
people who use its services and for those who provide those services, rather than run in the interests of profit. It is clear that the way
the health and social care sector is now simply cannot continue as it has.

No going back!

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2020/04/11/an-acg-careworker-writes/

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Message: 6



In the midst of a health crisis, the authorities found nothing else to do than expel the occupants of the ZAD de la Dune in
Brétignolles-sur-Mer on Wednesday April 8. While we are going through a dramatic health and social situation, the Vendée prefecture
mobilizes dozens of gendarmes, vehicles and a helicopter (!) Towards the opponents and opponents of the destructive project. The libertarian
communist union reaffirms its support for the occupiers. ---- Since October 2019, a ZAD has been created on the dunes of Normandelière in
Brétignolles-sur-Mer, in Vendée. It is a response to the marina project which has been controversial for seventeen years, but should be
delivered in 2023. Such a project pursues the political logic of choice destructive for ecology. ---- The future port will require cutting
and leveling the dune, digging a channel, building a bridge, all within a natural area of several tens of hectares. Zadists intend to
protect this rich wetland, and a rocky foreshore considered exceptional. The ecological emergency no longer leaves any room in our society
for this kind of useless project which is increasingly concrete.

However, the evacuation of the ZAD from the dune took place Wednesday 08 in the evening, while the inhabitants of the place were placed in
police custody, and that the confinement prevented any support for the Zadists. For several weeks the expulsion being felt, the inhabitants
of the ZAD had been preparing by erecting barricades and strengthening their facilities. Only, where the containment seemed to lead to the
truce, the authorities, according to them, improvised an expulsion and a destruction of the ZAD de la Dune, with the help of about 70
civilians summoned by the mayor, to proceed with the fires. cabins. On the one hand, the authorities deplore the current pandemic, on the
other they do everything to perpetuate the arrival of other pandemics by destroying the natural environment.

In the end, almost all of them were arrested and placed in police custody, while the forces of disorder destroyed their homes, setting them
on fire, without worrying about the personal affairs still inside. The prefecture of Vendée thus puts people on the street, without
rehousing solution, after having exposed them to the virus in the cells, demonstrating a chilling cynicism. A cynicism of which Christophe
Chabot, president of the Community of communes of Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, has nothing to envy. He declared himself on Twitter "very moved
and very happy" with this expulsion, and said that he envisaged the start of construction in September. Another one who, for lack of
dignity, had better keep quiet.

The occupants of the ZAD are already calling for a re-occupation of the site as soon as the confinement ends, let's be there.

The Libertarian Communist Union of Nantes expresses its support for the fight for the protection of the Dune. Do not hesitate to contact
them if you are in the area and have housing solutions. No to the destructive project of the marina, let's continue to fight for the
preservation of biodiversity and our ecosystems !

Libertarian Communist Union Nantes, April 10, 2020

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?ZAD-de-la-Dune-expulsion-en-plein-confinement

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Message: 7



  For the last three Thursdays we have been asked to "clap for carers". As we have said before, we fully support all NHS staff (and in fact
all workers) and the appreciation they are getting. But, we also need to remember why we are in the position we are in, where the NHS is
under staffed; doesn't have enough beds; and many staff have to claim benefits to top up their disgustingly low wages. Presently staff don't
have enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); we are scrambling around to find more beds; we don't have enough ventilators; and testing
is woefully short. All of this didn't happen overnight - it's because of years of successive governments not giving a damn about NHS staff
and ordinary people's health. This was never a "mistake" or "over-sight". It was a cynical, calculated policy by our so called leaders.
  Now, on Thursday 9th April we are being asked to not only clap for the state underfunding our health service and putting our health
workers lives at risk (and maybe up to a dozen have already died due to this), but we are also being asked to donate.
  These donations go to an organisation called "NHS Charities Together" and they are asking for a fiver from all of us. It seems, this money
then goes to the charitable trusts most hospitals have to set up to beg for money from local people, because the state under funds them.
  It seems we can bail out the banks with millions, if not billions when they screw up. We can give millionaires and billionaires like Mike
Ashley (Sports Direct), Richard Branson (Virgin empire), Joe Lewis (Spurs football club) huge bailouts during the Corona virus crisis, but
yet again, when it comes to a public service like the NHS hard working people are asked to cough up (excuse the pun).

Loads of us are being "furloughed"; Lots more are having to now try and navigate the minefield that is Universal Credit; millions of us were
already surviving on benefits, food banks and debt.And the irony doesn't stop there. We are gob smacked that one of the very people who
voted time and again to cut the HNS and leave workers either redundant or on cripplingly low wages (dear old Boris) is now desperate for
those same workers to try and save his life. If we are short of resources .......
  Is it just us few who think all this is just taking the piss?Whether Johnson lives or dies doesn't really matter. Once this crisis is over
the crisis in funding in the NHS won't stop. And after the glowing words and press statements for our health service and all its workers
from all those in power is a distant memory we will be back to funding cuts, staff having to claim benefits to top up their salaries, and
hospitals having to have charity events to save lives.
People have told us we shouldn't swear in these statements. Generally, we agree. But in this situation anger gets the better of us. So fuck
you Boris and all your mates in government and business. When the corona virus scare has subsided, we need to get fucking angry, and fight
for what we believe in. And that's more than clapping and ordinary people giving sticking plaster donations, they can ill afford. Even
though we know everyone who does donate will be doing it for incredibly genuine reasons.

tps://www.anarkismo.net/article/31828

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Message: 8



A first-hand account from a paramedic on the front line: staff without protection and NHS management unprepared for the pandemic ---- HAVING
WORKED IN THE NHS on the front line as a medic for fast approaching 20 years, I've been exposed to all sorts of pressures, but nothing quite
like what we're experience now. ---- In normal circumstances we barely tread water, with lowmorale, underfunding, poor staffinglevels and
highworkloads. So when the Covid-19 virus hit, needless to say we were unprepared. Over 80 per cent of the London Ambulance Service NHS
trust have less than twoyears'experienceand many areveryyoung,fresh fromuniversity andquite often have just left home. A culture of bullying
from management mixed with harsh working environments and poor staff welfare means the working life of a paramedic is about five years,
leaving a broken young person quite often withmental health disorders and £30,000 of student debt.

Paramedics have never had any
sort of financial support to qualify
to do a job that at the start pays less
than a bus driver.
Currently in London we have
over a third of our front-line staff
off sick. Testing kits have only
started being distributed this
week, leaving staff at home
worried abouthealth andpotentiallyspreadinginfections to
the people they livewith. They
want to come to work and support
theircommunitybut are unsure
of theirCovid-19status. Butour
trustisn'tabout just about frontline paramedics: we currently
have no mechanics and are relying on the AA to service and repair our vehicles.The call-takers
and dispatchers, just like the frontline staff, don't have the luxury of
keeping two metres apart, having
to work in closeproximitywith
colleagues, so are sick of management asking retired (and therefore
high-risk) staff to come back to
work. Not to mention the huge
amount of non-patient-facing staff
we rely on to make an ambulance
servicework.During the norovirus outbreak, staff were sitting at
their desks vomiting into buckets
while they worked, frightened to
go off sick.
When we were first exposed
toCovid-19, our vehicles were
taken for a deep clean after each
possibleCovid-19 patient, and
we were wearing masks and
gowns(PPE)that had to be tested to fit correctly. But that's all
changed since. No more deep
cleaning- a wipe-down between
patients is enough now, and I
failed my mask-testing session as
we only had large sizes left. This
means that technically I can't go to
confirmed cases of Covid-19. But
patients aren't tested until they're
in hospital, so you can see where
this leaves me. We go to work
wearing a one-size-fits-all surgical mask and an apron that blows
up into your face. This equipment
was previously used for cleaning
the vehicles - we joke that people
making sandwiches get better protection. We should be tested for
masks every three years and carry
them as part of our kit PPE, but
I've never been tested. Meanwhile
the call volume is so high that our
rest breaks have been suspended,
meaning we don't always eat, leaving us morephysicalyvulnerable
to the virus. Most shifts are 12
hours plus.
The advanced PPE, which includes a white boiler suit, FFP3
mask and goggles, is reserved only
for confirmed cases of coronavirus
- but remember, there's no testing
in the community, you get tested
up on the ward and in situations
where paramedics have to perform
invasive procedures such as full
CPR.Chest compressions - during which breath is forced from a
patient's body - alone are not considered invasive enough to warrant
advanced PPE, according to the the
guidance from our management.
The World Health Organisation
[WHO]says paramedics should
wear a full gown which covers
their arms and below their knees
when helping patients who might
have the virus into an ambulance
and taking them to hospital. Quite
right too - we are so vulnerable, with one London paramedic
recently put on a ventilator and
others critically ill. The majority
of patients we treat are coughing and have all the symptoms of
Covid-19 but are not confirmed
cases as theyhaven'tbeen tested
so are not counted on the government figures. Andnowweare
turning up at the homes ofpatients who have self-isolated, only
to find they have been dead for
days. These patients then have to
be wrapped up in plastic, with a
bag over their head and sealed up
ready for the undertaker to collect.
It's horrendous for relatives to see.
We are also seeing an increase in
suicide within the community, as
the fear and isolation is exacerbating existing conditions.
The unions are moderate and
have signed us off to work in
these conditions; I just don't know
what to say about that. I feel they
haven't fought for staff at all.
And there's the impact on the
community: patients are waiting
for hours for treatment at home
with ambulances taking in my experience up to 16 hours to arrive.
FIGHTING
FOR LIFE
FIGHTING
FOR LIFE
A first-hand account
from a paramedic on the
front line: staff without
protection and NHS
management unprepared
for the pandemic
Continued over >
Nearly everyone I see hasCovidsymptoms and we're wondering what the hell is happening to
all the rest of our patients: the elderly fallers, the strokes and heart
attacks, the sick children. A+E is
quite often empty as patients are
too frightened to go. The patients
we do take have to travel alone unless they are children or vulnerable
in which case they can be accompanied by their carer. So often patients die in hospital without their
familynearby. When I'm taking
vulnerable patients in and the family is waving them off, I feel that's
probably the last time they will see
their relative.
I don't think the community
is completely aware of how bad
this virus is, going by how full
the parks are on sunny weekends. We mustself-isolate, because that is evidenced-based
protection, not because the government says so.At the same
time, you can't blame people for
going out. The majority of my
patients are the poorestpeople,
the most disadvantaged. It'snot
uncommon to see a family in
temporary housing confined to
one room, a single mother and
several young children in bunk
beds. They won't have the luxury of other rooms or a garden. I
feel the advice comes from privilegedpeople with large houses
and big gardens.
The support from the
public isoverwhelming. We
are really proud to support our
communities, but it does all get
a bit much. Big companies like
Costa have delivered drinks
to the ambulance stations and
people have bought food -
very nice, but we are doing the
job we are trained to do. It's a
vocational role and you wouldn't
do it just because you "fancy"
doing it. We are all working
overtime to cover unmanned
shifts so, ironically,we are all
earning a half-decent living at
the moment when others are not.
So we would rather these gifts
went to the homeless, who are
no longer getting any support
frompassersby, and tozerohours workers.
Our hearts go out to
ourworking-classcolleagues
who are keeping everything
going. The bus drivers and transport staff, the shop workers, the
bin men - the list is endless, the
unsung heroes who get no PPE
who are getting Covid-19 and in
some cases not surviving.They
are the backbone of our society;
I hope at the end of this their positionwill be reevaluated. The
first episode of clapping for the
NHS coincided with me telling a
family that ourresuscitationattempt on their relative was futile;
it was a very uncomfortable situation. I also wondered how many
clappers had voted for this government that not so long ago had
cheered at blocking a pay rise for
NHS staff. We continue toget
a one per cent annual pay rise
when on April 1st the latest parliamentary pay deal will mean
MPs' salaries have risen by 17.7
per cent since 2010 - almost exactly in line with the 18 per cent
increase in the cost of living.
I'm a non-judgmental person
- I have to be, I treat people with
kindness and compassion no
matter what they've done; I see
the bigger picture. But when the
prime minister went to an NHS
hospital to betreated,I nearly
blew a gasket. This man whose
party hadwageda vicious war
with junior doctors, whose Brexit nonsense has meant nurses
supporting the NHS from Europe
have practically stopped coming
(recruitment has dropped from
around two thousand a month to
less than 40), whose ideology is
to underfund and strip the NHS
of all it assets to sell property off
to developers. The Brexit bus lie,
promising £350 million a week
to the NHS. The same Boris
Johnson who said in September 2019 that patients should
pay for NHS treatment to stop
them abusing it. But when he
faces an emergency, he needs to
rely on the NHS as there is nowhere else to go. There is no privateemergencycare, no private
A+E, and very few private intensive care beds. And when they
do have medical emergencies
in theirHarleyStreethospitals,
they call for NHS paramedics to
come sort it out. I've seen various royals, Thatcher and all sorts
of celebs sitting in A+E ,although they have had preferential
treatment. I really was so angry
- I thought Johnson should have
been booted out and taken his
chances in the private sector. But
no doubt he is sitting in bed at St
Thomas' Hospital grinning like
an idiot being charming to the
staff that he and his class have
systematically abused for years.
On a more positive note,
working in the community I've
seen mutual aid replace charity
and friendships in communities
growing as people support each
other, proving authority redundant.
We have all seen that happen and no
doubt because you are reading Class
War you are doing the same for your
local community.Let'shope that
our communities continue to grow
and strengthen long after this crisis
is over and that the key workers, the
working class, are recognised as the
heroes they are.

https://freedomnews.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/CW-Daily-02-200408.pdf

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Message: 9



Mask on, seal over the nose to stop glasses misting up so much. Apron on (always easier with gloves on), feels flimsy especially in the
wind, doesn't feel like it will protect much. Visor on or is the patient low risk? How many more times am I going to put this all on?The
beginning of shift routine is to check if we have enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). This involves checking stores, asking
managers, raiding dormant ambulances. As relief staff (not on a fixed shift pattern) you go to different stations. Each station has
differing policies; some have personal issue PPE, some are ambulance specific. As relief you end up pilfering PPE to protect yourself as you
might end up without.
The only certainty is change. Which PPE do I use with which patient with which procedure? What's the policy at each ambulance station?
What's the procedure and policy with each of the hospitals we go to (anywhere up to 4 different hospitals in a shift)? With each of these a
daily change is unsurprising, though things have stabilised.

Where staff haven't had the right PPE they are put into unreasonable situations, protect yourself or attempt to try save someone else's
life. There have been cases of people refusing to attend jobs. There have been those putting themselves at risk. Either way it's a failure
of the systems. Whether it's the Government not taking advice to prepare for potential pandemics because its too expensive, they'll just put
a sticker over out of date equipment. To enforced competition between NHS trust's where we should be working together not separately.

Lockdown begins, doesn't feel much different as we keep going to work. Keep seeing our regulars, though now they've developed a "cough".
Friday / Saturday night in the city centre feeling eerily quiet. Crews seemingly the same as always a mixture of pessimism and humour, even
once colleagues started showing symptoms and being hospitalised. "We'll do what we always do, we'll make do and adapt".

The public remark you must be so busy. To be honest the failing system was already failing. All-be-it we can only attend one job at a time
the cracks were already showing. 9 hours on the go without a break. Crews have used employer fatigue policies to then "down tools" and leave
their 10 or 11 hour shifts early, not without risk of retribution but a standard days work has already been done. How long until the good
will during the pandemic starts to push everyone beyond the limit.

Is the virus really that deadly? For some, yes. Walking away from a 49-year-old male, normally fit and well whom we took to the
resuscitation bay (whilst the patient was twiddling his thumbs). The consultant glancing at his blood gas results "might as well book him an
ICU (Intensive Care Unit) bed" with almost no hope in their voice. You start thinking he's probably not going to make it. Time for our next
patient.

Alcohol gel the gloves, take gloves off, alcohol gel hands, apron off, alcohol gel hands, mask off, wash hands. Wandering if I've
cross-infected myself, what do I need to clean, what have touched? How long will this go on for? How many donning and doffing will I do? No
point counting.

http://www.solfed.org.uk/edinburgh/donning-and-doffing-on-the-front-lines

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