Lock-Down Will Be Partially Loosened from 16th May

On the 21st of April, Prime Minister Rutte announced a very limited loosening up of the so called “intelligent lock-down” (lock in) we have been in since March 15th. Childcare facilities and primary schools will reopen again from the 11th of May, the latter partially. Children and young people will be allowed to take part in sports activities again, under some restrictions. Bars and restaurants remain closed, and events will be banned until the 1st of September. The government is responding to a certain weariness with the lock-down, at the same time they are cautious not to go too far, as they know that a second wave of infections would cause even bigger problems.

The reopening of schools and childcare will be a big relief for many parents, especially single parents (mostly women), who often have to tele-work from home while taking care of their children and helping them with their education too. Of course, this means an enormous amount of stress. However, there is the danger that reopening the schools will be done in a top down way, decided by government agencies and school boards, without teachers or parents having any say. The government has announced that teachers with symptoms will have access to tests, but that is not enough. This could lead to an unsafe situation for both children and teachers.

It should be the teachers together with the parents who decide how the schools are reopened again and what safety measures are necessary. The teachers have been at the forefront of the class struggle in the Netherlands; as recently as November last year there was a huge two day strike for better pay and less work pressure. This combativeness should now be used to organise crisis committees in the schools, to combat the corona crisis in the interest of children, teachers and parents.

The reason the government has given for a limited loosening up of the lock-down, is that the pressure on the health system is lessening. The number of corona patients in intensive care has fallen by a hundred to 1087. But this doesn’t say everything about the death toll. Officially 3900 people have died from covid-19 in the Netherlands so far, but even the Government admits, if you take into account the unexplained extra deaths in comparison to similar periods, the figure could be 50% to 80% higher. Many old people die at home and are not included in the corona statistics; the same goes for many elderly in homes who have died but not been officially diagnosed with corona. The situation in the homes for the elderly is still very bad, with the virus spreading and a lack of PPE. Only recently has the government decided to relocate more masks to homes for the elderly.

In general, the Dutch government’s response to the covid-19 outbreak was criminally slow. In February, a huge number of people celebrated carnival in the province of Brabant, without any warning from the government. It was in this province that the first outbreak took place. Up to the 13th of March, the responsible government agency, the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) followed the advice of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rather than that of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The schools were only closed on the 16th of March, after parents “voted with their feet”, by leaving their children at home. While restaurants and bars were closed, many non-essential sectors stayed open. The undermining of the health care system by decades of austerity resulted in a shortage of intensive care beds; there were only 6,4 beds per 100,000 inhabitants in the Netherlands, compared to the European average of 11,5. So an immense operation was necessary when the covid-19 crisis broke out. Even now, regular healthcare, including operations, are being postponed because there are not enough intensive care beds and staff.

As for the economic effects of the crisis, the government’s support package will not prevent a major economic crisis. Already many young flexible workers are being laid off, despite the package including up to 90 billion euros of support for companies. Companies don’t have to pay any tax at all in the coming months, and can get a subsidy of up to 90% of wage costs if they lose income because of the corona crisis. KLM gets state support but is, at the same time, laying off thousands of workers on temporary contracts! As an emergency measure, the Senate has proposed a bill to postpone rent and mortgages for a period of three months, because the effects on small businesses and especially the underemployed and unemployed are devastating.

The IMF predicts a contraction of 7.5% of the Dutch economy this year. That would double the damage caused by the 2008 crisis. At some point, the capitalists will try to make the working class pay for this increase in state spending.

So, both the health crisis and the economic crisis are dramatic. But it will also have a dramatic effect on consciousness, with more and more workers and young people realizing that capitalism has no solutions for either the health crisis, the economic crisis or the ecological crisis. We shouldn’t die for the dividends and wealth of private shareholders.