The Assembly Against Bio-Power and Confinement — confinement imposed on us by the all-protective state in the days of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic — is an initiative taken by some proletarians so as not to succumb to the “new sociability” implied by the mantra “stay home”… alone. It is a sociability that the political personnel of capital wants to impose on us preparing the dystopia of the anti-social, individualistic, lonely and helpless person.
First of all, we want to research whether the ways in which capital and the state are trying to organize their exit from the crisis and the disorderin which they find themselves due to the pandemic are successful. Can these ways guarantee the restoration of order and capitalist normality in more profitable and disciplinary terms than before?Has the capitalist state, which generally presents itself as an autonomous and neutral organization functioning in the interest of “civil society” and the “nation”, regained its legitimacy in contrast to what had happened in previous, different types of crises? Is the medicalization of social and political life successful? Are there any cracks or has national solidarity prevailed?
The role of the state is to ensure on behalf of capital the required number of healthy and disciplined waged workers, capable of creating capitalist profits with our labour power. That is why during this pandemic, after having first triggered mass panic, the state, as a “guardian of public health” and “protector” of us all, closed down some sectors of production, reproduction and circulation that do not (re) produce or distribute commodities absolutely necessary at this stage. But what kind of tensions has this created?
The capitalist state assumes the role of our Dad while imposing its own terms, which always prevent the working class from acting for itself. So, what we face now are military measures: a quarantine imposed from above, a ban on rallies, and finally an (almost) total ban on traffic. Measures that impose a suffocating control on our lives and bodies. Measures that, among other things, aim to make us forget that the state itself, which now presents itself as our protector, is the same state that has been cutting spending on the health care system for years, firing doctors and closing down hospitals. Of course, some of us have already been written off, since even now in times of crisis the state remains very selective when it comes to the health and life of the working class, spending as little as possible. Particularly with regard to the working class, the perception of the state regarding the infectivity of human relations is clearly remarkable and characteristic of the times we live in. Therefore, while people in general get quarantined because they are considered contagious simply because they cannot prove otherwise, on the contrary,workers are by definition healthy and have to go to work until they prove that they have symptoms of the disease.
However, this is not the only goal of state restrictions. The doctrine of “stay home” has devastating consequences for the organization of our defense as well. We are locked in and with the prevailing mass hysteria we feel weaker and weaker, alone and helpless. Anxiety overwhelms us: What will happen to me? What will happen to my family? To my children? To my friends? Will they pay us? Will I lose my job? Will we have to eat? Will I have to pay the rent and bills? Will there be a hospital bed for me? And as long as we are paralyzed by fear, the state is organizing how it will shift the burden of the economic crisis exacerbated by the corona virus on our backs.
But we are not going to stand idly by in the face of our rulers’ decrees and the military laws that they impose on us. We will not turn a blind eye to the collapse of the public health system, to austerity policies, to labour depreciation and mass layoffs. No, we won’t wait to settle our accounts just when the corona crisis is over.
Here and now we are organizing our active resistance to state plans that quarantine wages and free public expression and movement. Among other activities (spreading stickers, flyers and leaflets in places where workers still concentrate, holding discussions to understand what the hell this virus is, where it comes from and who is responsible for this infection, discussions about bio-politics, the economic and social crisis etc.), we also made a page on fb that contains aform for a Workers’ Inquiry in the time of Quarantine in order to let proletarianvoices be heard and to record our particular experiences.
Here, those who want to share their work and social routes during these days of confinement can do so. We start with our own personal stories and experiences, as members of this assembly. We are interested in talking about issues such as:
What’s going on in our jobs?
What work conditions do those of us who still workface today?
Have we been forced into remote work?
How is remote work regime different from the previous employment regime? What problems does it create for us?
Are we completely out of work?
If so, how do we get by?
Do we get a wage?
Do we have to pay the rent?
What has changed in our social relationships?
Do we leave home to go out?
If so, what do we do when we go out?
If not, how do we manage in confinement?
We also need to find ways to communicate and meet. We urge everyone therefore to get in touch with us to face collectively the social problems that arise in the current period. Whoever wants to meet us to discuss collective ways to deal with the problems we face, from being broke to loneliness and confinement, can send an email to koinonika.antisomata@pm.me
Assembly Against Bio-Power and Confinement
April 2020