The failure of hegemonic neoliberalism, liberal denials and lessons from socialist systems. This book argues (1) that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed as never before the failings of the hegemonic neoliberal approach to public health – those nations which heavily commercialised their health systems also undermined key social values and weakened their capacity to respond collectively to public health crises; (2) the responses of a number of independent countries, notably China, Cuba and Syria, show the importance of well organised and resilient social systems, relatively independent of hegemonic neoliberalism; and (3) that myths put out by a significant minority of western libertarians and populist liberals – those who simply denied there was a serious health crisis and, in some cases, argued that the pandemic was world-wide conspiracy – deserve debunking.

Book by Tim Anderson (2020), now available freely as a PDF here:

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