This is the Canary in the coalmine. The Canary protests before it dies too. These are Trump’s expendables protesting the failure of Trump’s People’s Bailout measures which actually favour the major Corporate controlled Industries Oil, Airlines and Hotels. The $500 billion shouldn’t just be a temporary measure and trickle down to insufficiently placate the needy but like universal health should be a sign that a Universal Basic Income is necessary. (ODT)

While supporters of the protests are a distinct minority, that might not last. The longer the lockouts last without a mass bailout for workers, the more ordinary people will be inclined to side with the protesters. Progressives and democratic socialists need to make the case that there’s a third alternative to business-as-usual centrists running the states Trump wants to “liberate” and the cynical demagogues who want to feed low-income workers to the capitalist death machine by prematurely ending the lockouts. Fortunately, the two can be separated by means of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) combined with a complete rent freeze that made sure no one had to pay back rent when they returned to work.

With a UBI-plus-rent-freeze, even truly essential workers would have the financial security to refuse to go back to any workplace that hadn’t been certified by representatives of the workers themselves as sufficiently safe. They could fall back on their UBI payments until this demand had been met. And with everyone getting an unconditional monthly check, public and private employers would have to provide those workers with decent pay and conditions to make sure that workers continued to show up to perform these essential functions.

The pandemic can be an opportunity for the Left if we’re prepared to fight for bold measures. But the anti-lockdown protests should serve as a warning that much more sinister forces will flourish if we do not.

 The Left Can’t Just Dismiss the Anti-Lockdown Protests