Rewrite this contentWorld leaders gathered this week (January 16-20) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, an exclusive and remote mountain ski resort in the Eastern Alps region of Switzerland, to discuss the state bleak world affairs.It was the WEF’s first in-person meeting in Davos since the COVID-19 outbreak, but the assembled heads of state, billionaires and their minions were not treating the pandemic as a thing of the past. On the contrary, they were extremely vigilant and participants had to be tested for coronavirus as a condition of participation.There was the usual massive entourage of security personnel, with more than 5,000 armed guards, including snipers, at a cost of over 30 million Swiss francs, provided by the Swiss military to ensure that leaders of state and global business leaders are safe from protests. More importantly, every conceivable means to protect them from COVID-19 infection has also been deployed.Measures to protect these billionaires, world leaders and their staff from COVID-19 were kept secret until leaked to the press near the end of the meeting, sparking an online outcry. Statements like “Do as I say, not as I do”, “Let them eat cake”, and “Although we are in the same storm – the same pandemic – we are not in the same boat” are just some of the comments that exploded on social media.This outpouring underscores the deep divide that separates the thin layer of fabulously wealthy parasites from the billions of working class people who work 24/7 to keep capitalist coffers overflowing with wealth. Revolutionary sentiment and comparisons between the global capitalist elite and the doomed French monarchy and aristocracy inevitably come to mind.The hypocrisy could not be clearer, as many in attendance openly called for an end to measures against the COVID-19 pandemic and for any public health measures to protect the population from the continued onslaught of a deadly virus that constantly mutates. Their slogan seems to be: “A pandemic for you, but not for me”.Guidance on COVID-19 safety measures instituted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland [Photo: Forum économique mondial] [Photo: World Economic Forum]As these attendees basked in the fresh, sanitized air, their agenda was how the world might shift its COVID-19 pandemic mitigation strategy to “endemic” infection management. i.e. permanent. In other words, declare the end of the pandemic and move on! No one can believe that their rhetorical call for equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments or equitable access to health care is even vaguely serious.Perhaps the only comment that came close to reality came from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who warned that the world’s failure to prepare for future pandemics was “straining credulity. “. He added: “Somehow, after everything we’ve been through, we haven’t learned the lessons of the pandemic for global public health. We are far from ready for the pandemics to come.”As a recent WSWS perspective on Davos put it: “[Les] ruling elites…with a collective wealth of trillions of dollars, whose actions over the decades have led to an existential crisis for humanity, […] do not have policies to stop the escalating catastrophe, nor are they able to develop any, because ultimately this crisis is not rooted in their psyche, but in the objective contradictions of the mode of capitalist production, which they defend above all”.Hence the high level of security to protect the assembled elites from both protesters and the coronavirus.Every participant in the meeting had been strongly encouraged to get vaccinated with the latest booster vaccines before their arrival. At the meeting, they received unique identification badges which allowed them access to several testing centers where they were offered a free PCR test to ensure they did not have COVID.In their advice on sanitary measures, WEF organizers wrote: ‘Participants are required to get tested at one of the Forum’s test centers after arriving in Davos and collect their badges. Completing a test will keep the badge active and grant access to the Annual Meeting sites. Failure to test on site or a positive test result will result in deactivation of the badge.”It should be noted that these same people have private doctors at their beck and call and have access to the best health services imaginable if they have been identified as infected with the virus.In addition, state-of-the-art ventilation and HEPA air purifiers have been made available in common areas and private rooms and the more than 3,000 attendants will ensure that these areas are cleaned and disinfected several times a year. day. Free access to N95 masks and respirators was provided because attendees, who called these measures unnecessary (for workers), know full well that they work. In fact, the organizers of the meeting said that in the “official transport provided by the Forum”, the obligation is that “all drivers (drivers) wear the mask at all times”.And as if that weren’t enough, there were reports that ultraviolet disinfection systems and UVC lamps have been installed to sanitize the spaces and remove any viruses that would gain any unauthorized access to the meeting.Although they misused the term ventilation when they wrote, “Additional state-of-the-art ventilation systems have been installed in areas with restricted air circulation”, the photos of these UV devices, which are more efficient and faster to disinfect spaces than HVAC systems, reveals the real situation. Photos have been seen that indicate that such technology is nothing unusual.Loading Tweet …Online meeting: Saturday, December 10For a mass movement of young people and students to stop the war in Ukraine!Inrevue (English article) on the history of UV air disinfection, the World Socialist Web Site explained that this technology was first deployed on a large scale against COVID-19 in the US Air Force and later among White House staff like Dr. Ashish Jha, who benefited from it during his lectures or speech. Even the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) commissioned Purified Air towards the end of 2020 to provide it with Mobile Virus Irradiation Units (VIU Mobile) to reduce airborne SARS-CoV-2 in indoor spaces.Even though these important precautions are available to prevent the rich and powerful from catching COVID-19, they in turn have called these measures meaningless and useless when promoted to be enforced. wider. Schools and health systems are collapsing from lack of funding, where exhausted teachers and healthcare workers face the prospects of forever COVID, long COVID, permanent poor health and financial impoverishment.The objective fact is that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the lives of the most vulnerable every day. In 2022, it remained the third leading cause of death in the United States, with approximately 600 daily coronavirus deaths on a seven-day average, as XBB.1.5 continues to dominate all other Omicron subvariants.Globally, in the past four weeks, 53,000 deaths have been reported, a 20 percent increase from the previous month. A review of excess mortality figures for much of 2022 shows them to be 10 to 20 percent higher than pre-pandemic baselines for many countries in Europe and North America.Even more devastating is the speed and ferocity with which the virus has exploited the Chinese government’s decision to abandon COVID zero to join this gang of criminals and subject the Chinese people to a virus they had previously contained and eliminated. .As his country faced an appalling rate of infections and deaths, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He stood before the world’s billionaires in Davos to assure them that China was opening up for business quickly and was ready to pursue “common prosperity”. With more than 2 billion trips planned to celebrate the Lunar New Year and bring the virus home, the number of infections and deaths is certain to rise dramatically.The World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International are the only forces, through the mechanism of the Global Workers’ Inquiry into the COVID-19 Pandemic, to investigate the pandemic politics of the capitalist elite and alert the working class against it. The working class must unite and solidify its forces across all national borders and hold these criminals accountable for their misdeeds and end the profit system, which is incapable of genuine mobilization of humanity’s resources to defeat the pandemic.(Article published in English on January 21, 2023) and and more content about Davos billionaires protect themselves from COVID-19, while declaring the pandemic “over” for workers
