THE EUGENICS OF COVID CAPITALISM
“The British bourgeoisie have committed an atrocity. … We charge that the British government has orchestrated a eugenics campaign against the disabled, autistic and elderly, and particularly those in care.”
The accusatory opening to Prolekult’s short insurgent docufilm Camps of Dependence is reminiscent of the Scottish Communist John Maclean’s legendary Speech from the Dock during his trial for sedition in 1918: “I am not here as the accused; I am here as the accuser of capitalism dripping with blood from head to foot.”
Cutting through the deafening silence of mainstream left-wing journalists on the issue, Prolekult has produced a damning exposé of the British government’s assault on the disabled and elderly in the context of the pandemic. The film highlights how over a third of the 45,000 recorded COVID-19 deaths were among care home residents; and that between 2 March and 14 July disabled people – one-fifth population – comprised 59% of the virus’s death toll. This is the lethal result of the decades-long wilful neglect of the health and care sectors, and the callousness of the present Tory administration that has prioritised economic recovery and outsourced emergency care work to volunteers. For the most part Labour glibly went along with this, with Keir Starmer pursuing a controlled “opposition” in the name of the “national interest”, and refusing to criticise any specific elements of government policy. Now, “without outcry or challenge”, a second COVID wave is forming in the country, with new care home outbreaks recorded in September.