Marxist Epidemiologist Calls Bullsh*t on Antivaxxers, Details COVID’s Capitalist Roots

Anti-scientific conspiracy theories are spreading, not just among the right, but even even among some segments of the left.

To address this issue from a Marxist perspective, Rania Khalek spoke with Rob Wallace, an evolutionary epidemiologist at the Agroecology and Rural Economics Research Corps in St. Paul and author of “Dead Epidemiologists: On the Origins of COVID-19.”

TIME CODES:

0:00 Intro
1:44 Rob Wallace warned us early on about the outbreak of deadly pandemics. What did he see that others did not? (hint: agribusiness & capitalism are the problem!)
4:12 What is wrong with conventional wisdom about pandemics?
9:42 How big farms, free trade agreements, global capital and deforestation cause pandemics
18:05 How has capitalism reacted to the pandemic?
23:28 Playing devil’s advocate
27:18 How capitalists are taking us to Mars
29:16 The Swine Flu is really the NAFTA Flu
37:20 Everyone NEEDS to get vaccinated! But are vaccines alone the solution?
42:13 What’s behind the hostility to vaccines? Blame neoliberalism.
46:46 Addressing claims of anti-vaccine activists
50:59 Individual rights vs collectivism and vaccine mandates
57:35 The Pharmaceutical industryE
59:23 The real vaccine scandal, brought to you by Bill Gates and his rich friends
1:00:45 How capitalism is giving the virus opportunities to evolve and mutate
1:04:59 Lab leak theory & shifting blame onto China is all about absolving capitalism
1:09:59 How do we get out of this?