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The Covid-19 virus has exposed the frailty of our political and economic institutions. While the precise origins are still being studied, we know our economic system increases the likelihood of animal to human transmission of pathogens like coronavirus through industrial agriculture, deforestation, urbanization, and biodiversity loss. Now governments are tasked with rapidly responding to the crisis which has included everything from massive asset repurchases to the supply of crucial medical equipment. The virus poses big questions about the form global capitalism will take from this time on.

The severity of the crisis and the scale of political responses have prompted some to call for progressive reforms. For example, high ranking Labour member, John McDonnel, writes in the Guardian “if we are to build the resilience to cope with any further waves of this virus, or other future unknown threats, our society needs to be built on fully funded, publicly owned and democratically controlled public services.”