Putting politics aside and uniting around the supposed “common good” is dangerous in a time of crisis. It’s precisely in times of crisis that those in power have been most able to act in ways that inflict long-term damage on society in the name of protecting the “national interest".
An American neo-Nazi planned to bomb a hospital full of COVID-19 patients, while Hungary's far-right government has used the pandemic to wipe out democratic rights.
Italy's coronavirus epicentre is also home to a tradition of working class militancy. Its factory workers are on the frontlines of the global class struggle to shut down non-essential production – and they're having to drag their union leaders behind them, kicking and screaming.
