The Socialist Equality Party and International Youth and Students for Social Equality in Australia are holding an online public meeting to discuss the program the working class must adopt to fight the social, economic and political crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting will start at 2 p.m. on December 6 and will be livestreamed.

More than 65 million people have been infected with coronavirus and almost 1.5 million have died from it globally. The disease, which is now out of control in many countries, is the outcome of the conscious policy of herd immunity adopted by capitalist governments. This situation is not a health crisis but a political one. It has exposed the utter bankruptcy of the capitalist system, which has sacrificed millions of lives on the altar of the profits of the banks and corporations.

While the health impact in Australia has not reached the same shocking levels as the US, India, Europe and many other countries, the economic and social crisis caused by the pandemic is devastating millions of families. Millions are unemployed, face increasing levels of poverty, homelessness and social desperation.

The Morrison Coalition government, along with their counterparts internationally, has used the pandemic to refashion class relations. With the full collaboration and support of the Labor Party and the trade union leadership, it has implemented a systematic gutting of working conditions, work hours and pay rates. Workers and young people must answer these attacks with a conscious perspective based on the building of an alternative socialist leadership.

The SEP’s online meeting will discuss a socialist program for the working class to fight the devastation caused by the pandemic and the government’s reactionary and anti-democratic measures. We urge workers and youth to join the SEP, which alone fights for this program.

Attend our online public meeting Sunday, December 6 at 2 p.m. AEDT. Register in advance for the meeting.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the event.