As each day passes more and more government attempts to mislead the public are exposed, whether in terms of their past neglect, current preparations, testing and mortality statistics, or future plans. Although the virus’ deadly effects are very real, however, utter neglect at the beginning, continuing manipulation of the health services’ vital statistics and scientific advice, to the forces driving a return to normality and proposed mass surveillance of the population’s health and social interactions; hardly any aspect of official responses to the coronavirus pandemic have escaped deception and downright lies.
Such dishonesty should not surprise those who are aware of capitalism’s foundational thought, secularism, and its resultant concepts about life and how to manage society. Capitalist greed is responsible for the current miserable state of affairs. Capitalism’s secular foundation guaranteed that those in power will always serve the interests of the powerful elite, which has been openly exposed for all to see.
At the beginning of the outbreak the capitalists were mostly worried about the loss of trade and its revenue, so refused to effectively quarantine travellers, allowing the virus to spread far and wide, despite early warnings, and recent experience.
Capitalist leaders have selected scientific theories about the virus which serve their interests, more than the needs of the people.
Capitalist governments have run their health care systems into the ground over decades, as truly looking after the people was never a priority for them. Capitalism ensured that the profit motive reigned supreme, relegating unprofitable vaccine research to a low priority. Capitalism directly created the huge disparities in society, such that the underprivileged develop long term poor health due to their low standard of living. Every aspect of life that capitalism has polluted with its presence has been failed and will continue to be failed by such an inhuman ideology.
Even democracy, that the capitalists have found so easy to manipulate, has failed the rest of the people, as the power-hungry politicians were paralysed at the beginning of the crisis, unable to make tough decisions out of fear of being unpopular, either with the electorate or their capitalist backers.
In Britain, the recent Brexit fiasco, where the greedy desires of the capitalist elite were openly prioritised, while the ordinary people were systematically deceived and goaded along, had led to a massive distrust of the government. When they really needed all of the people, ordinary citizens and the capitalist elite alike, to accept some temporary restrictions for the greater good, they knew that their previous behaviour meant that they would not be trusted, so they sat on their hand until the pandemic was so obvious, that they had no choice but to act in a very drastic way.
Despite their predicament and addiction to popularity, past lessons have not been learned.
Everyday statistics are manipulated and the people who desperately need honesty are lied to. Today’s lies cover previous lies, in the vain hope that they themselves will escape unscathed and their corrupt system will not be thoroughly exposed.
Disastrous mismanagement of care homes, personal protective equipment, testing, tracking and tracing and even the economy, both now and in the past, has resulted in phenomenal suffering and grief. Sadly, this is just the beginning, as the future consequences of such irresponsible elite behaviour have yet to be felt.
The capitalists are still in denial of the need to make serious changes to the way in which life is structured, so they hanker for an early return to “normality”. Their preferred normality, however, is just a return to the very unjust societies, poor living standards and prioritising the profits of the elite above all else, that has allowed the virus to become a pandemic.
In this atmosphere of desperation, China’s experiments with mass technological surveillance to effectively spy on its people is ironically being touted in the West as a way to protect the pseudo-freedom that capitalism has long promised but consistently failed to deliver. Yet, ordinary people are becoming increasingly wary of where they put their trust. Whether the authorities are governments or capitalist corporations, their nefarious authoritarian objectives are the same, to serve the interests of a greedy few, who cannot ever resist the urge to exploit their power.
The Uighur Muslims of East Turkmenistan in China, whose every movement and utterance was monitored are analysed, have suffered extraordinarily at the hands of capitalist corporations and exploitative politicians. The world’s leaders chose to ignore their plight, as they were not horrified at the techniques employed there, nor the massive power that was being centred in the hands of a few. In fact, the Western authorities have been increasing their own surveillance too in recent years, monitoring and handing massive data-gathering power to the capitalist elite corporations; while also justifying it through the manipulation of public sentiment towards perceived threats, particularly the securitisation of Muslims and the alleged threat to security.
This is a topic that should concern the Muslims all over the world, who are in receipt of the guidance of Allah, that mankind so desperately needs today, as the capitalist leaders have so utterly failed the world, due to their stubborn clinging to the false ideology of capitalism.
Islam prioritised taking care of the people over the luxuries of the wealthy elite. An Islamic government is motivated by Allah’s guidance to actually take care of the people and to make preparations to look after their affairs. In Islam the profit motive is not the primary aim for vaccine research, for example, nor are patents used to prevent medical advances from benefiting everyone. Islam has detailed guidance on how to structure society so that trust is not eroded, so that healthcare systems are built up and not run down to the point of inadequacy, so that poverty is eradicated, and so that power is kept away from the oppressors who cannot resist to abuse it. As regards the use of mass surveillance of the population for a perceived benefit, for example, Islam forbade spying on the people as the Quran says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ ۖ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًا ۚ أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ رَّحِيمٌ
O you who have believed, avoid much [negative] assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is Accepting of repentance and Merciful. [Al-Hujurat:12]
The Messenger of Allah (saw) is reported to have said:
ان الامير اذا ابتغى في الناس الريبة افسدهم
“If the leader looked for suspicion amongst the people he would ruin them.”
Before the pandemic the capitalists in Britain were actively distracting the people from their failed foreign, domestic and economic policies, making false accusations against the Muslim community and instituting policies designed to securitise our community to justify their increased hunger for power. Now that they are on the ropes, they will continue to look for scapegoats, as they are currently in India, America and China. Despite this, now is not the time to remain quiet.
It is time for the Muslims to be vigilant, exposing the neglect and exploitation of the capitalist elite, and their ideology with which they sell their corruption to the people. It is time for Muslims to be ambassadors of Islam.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا
يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا
O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice. He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment. [Al-Ahzab:71-72]
Yahya Nisbet
Media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain,
5th May 2020
