LETTER | Pandemic days: The inherent class structure

LETTER | Now that we are in a midst of a worldwide pandemic which seems to have been going on for what feels like centuries now and which does not appear to have an end, the inherent class structure makes itself all the more present.

You may ask, why bring up class today? Haven’t we all got to worry about this pandemic? Yes, we do, but consider this: it is because the lower classes exist that the upper-class society can survive. When has that sentence resonated more than today? 

We have gone through many stages of this pandemic: from sheer horror to terror, to tepid hope and finally resignation - to the fact that until and unless the Covax Vaccine Plan (or any other vaccine/vaccine plan for that matter) is readily available, life, as we know, will have to have this continued unsettled feeling, wearing masks, wondering if the walls are watching when we do not, having our movements controlled, not having our movements controlled. All in all, life's on the edge (of our sofa seats).

How does class come into the picture here? It’s important to consider because, in a time like this, lots of us who are in the lower-class or middle-class group will have to watch our steps. 

This is not only in the context of the pandemic “in the air”, but also in the context of having to be wary of every action we take, lest we are fined, or worse yet - imprisoned. It is because we are wary and careful that those of us (and by us here, I do not mean me) who are in the upper echelons of society are able to be more reckless in their actions – not because it is safe, not because it is right, but because that’s the way the world has worked during non-pandemic days and therefore that’s how the world would work during pandemic days.

A capitalist system would naturally reward this inherent structure, as capitalism functions on a profit-loss basis. Whatever brings profit to the nation’s coffers, profits the masses – or so we are told. If one were to google the failures of the capitalism system, one would get options of why socialism failed instead. How very strange. Well, not really. Google is after all a by-product of the machine that is the capitalist system. Shall we break this system, find a way to infuse certain aspects of socialism in it? We can try, but we will very likely fail.

Society functions in a strange sort of way, people are dissatisfied with the status quo, with the stagnancy in the state of affairs but people are more afraid of change, of shifting things so to speak. Comfort zones are easy to step into and difficult to get out of, that’s the way the world is. Complacency is all the more vigorous in its artificial buoyancy. It makes one feel as though things are better the way they are, because it takes effort to move things and why put in effort into something we’re not sure will work, why not just let things are the way they are and we do not have to worry about uncertainty – because uncertainty is the root of all evil, isn’t it?

Hypothetically speaking, if we want to change the status quo, could we? Given the pandemic, the country, or rather the world’s focus should really be on finding a cure, right? Yes and no. Let’s study for a moment the progress of how Covid-19 is being managed (generally): France has said it may be forced to move into another lockdown and Italy plans on banning private parties, with the second wave of the disease plaguing Europe. 

The Czech Republic is on the brink of a second lockdown. Brazil, having the largest number of cases is planning on using the China-developed Sinovac vaccine by December, to curb the spread of the virus. 

Malaysia has now had to impose a conditional movement control order (MCO) in certain areas of the country, a not quite so harsh version of the MCO, but the movement is controlled nonetheless with the third wave of the pandemic hitting us.

Whether or not these actions are warranted is not for me to question, but who if not the lower classes suffer the most during times like this? Which sector of society losses their mode of income? Which sector of society has trouble making ends meet? Which sector of society has trouble finding something as simple as a babysitter during these times? Can we still say for sure that the system as it is fits us all the best? Not quite, equality does not equate to equity is probably the first real-world lesson we all learnt.

Richard Wright once wrote (though he was talking about slavery, the message is universally applicable) “If this state of affairs had lasted for two or three years, we could say that it was unjust; but it lasted for more than two hundred years. The injustice which lasts for three long centuries and which exists among millions of people over thousands of square miles of territory is injustice no longer; it is an accomplished fact of life.” Shall we consider the inherent class structure simply an accomplished fact of life and let sleeping dogs lie or should we – when this pandemic finds an end if there is an end – institute change?

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.