In first segment of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Ian Goodrum, Senior Editor of China Daily, to talk about the how the Chinese approach to treating the disease differs from the way the US is responding, why (despite experiencing a testing bottleneck similar to the what is happening in the US) China prioritized the testing of people over everything else, how China's infrastructure facilitates on-site temperature checks of citizens everywhere and what the lack of that kind of infrastructure in the US could mean for the spread of the virus here, why the US government's main focus has been on stabilizing business, how attempts by the political establishment to blame China for the virus' spread are meant to deflect US citizens' righteous anger away from the government toward a foreign adversary, how China has taken steps to protect workers and keep industries running by re-purposing the workforce and guaranteeing employment, and how those measures stand in contrast to Trump's prioritization of corporate profits and propping up the stock market and blue chip stocks in the US.
In the second segment Sean and Jacquie are joined by Helen Yaffe, a Lecturer in Economic and Social History in the University of Glasgow and author of the new book "We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World," to talk about why the Western press has been silent on the Cuban Interferon treatment being used to help countries respond to the Coronavirus pandemic, how Cuba has managed to produce significant medical and biotechnological breakthroughs despite the 50-year US-led blockade against the country, how interferon research and advancement in Cuba was successfully used to stop an outbreak of Dengue Fever and how that led to the development of the Interferon Recombant Alpha 2B now being used to treat Coronavirus, how the US crusade to crush the Cuban Revolution is preventing people here from accessing their many medical advances, how a clinical trial in the US of Cuba's lung cancer vaccine that was started under the Obama Administration has managed to continue under the Trump Administration despite the renewed crackdown on the country, how the US repression against Cuba denies the rest of the world access to Cuba's medical advances, what the apparent US government attempt to gain exclusive rights to a COVID-19 vaccine from a German firm says about their prioritization of profits over people, the parallels between the US refusal to cooperate with Cuba and the US refusal of assistance from Cuban doctors after Hurricane Katrina and how those decisions negatively impacted poor and Black people in particular, and why mainstream media and capitalist government's seem so hellbent on erasing the achievements of Cuba's revolutionary socialist system.
In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by technologist Chris Garaffa to talk about tips to consider as millions enter a new work-from-home reality during the Coronavirus crisis, the importance of ensuring that we don't let the hyperfixation on productivity stress us out too much, what devices employers should be providing to allow employees to work from home, whether an employer-provided work devices could monitored by your boss, why offers by companies like Comcast for free or low-cost service beg the question of whether these companies could have always been providing this, whether going to an office is actually necessary to get work done, how to spot and avoid Coronavirua-related scams, how this crisis is laying bare the class disparity undergirding our capitalist society, and how we stay connected and somewhat sane during this extended period of physical isolation as this crisis plays out.
Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Eleanor Goldfield, a creative activist, journalist, and co-host of the Common Censored podcast with Lee Camp, to discuss how the uncertainty and confusion of the Coronavirus era makes mutual aid networks more crucial than ever, how those needing community support can access it, why the cessation of evictions and utility cutoffs in the US demonstrates that the ruling class could ensure basic human rights for all at any time but simply chooses not to, whether this crisis could facilitate a tremendous shift in the way people look at what is considered "normal" in a capitalist system, how the primaries are affected by the outbreak, the importance of alternative media in conveying the truth in difficult times, how so many evangelicals (like Mike Pence) have ended up with a christofascist interpretation of the Christian faith, the need to supplement faith with service to the community and the greater good, how Trump's mishandling of the response to the Coronavirus has bred mistrust in the system among its supporters, and why this crisis is exposing not just the weaknesses of capitalism but also the tendency of our media apparatus to spread misinformation about socialist governments.
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