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PANDEMIC!

Greetings from the heart of the North American Corona Virus pandemic-to-be! There is no toilet paper on store shelves (not even that big box ware-house store whose own brand shares a name with the city which has seen the most Covid19 deaths… (wait, is there a conspiracy here?). The pasta and canned goods are almost all gone, and don’t even think about trying to find hand sanitizer or bottled water.

People are panicking at the threat of a major new disease, partly due to media doing what media does, and partly due to valid fears about a relatively unknown virus spreading widely, and presumably evolving as it does so.

This could be a moment to reflect on the way that technology and globalization almost invite massive outbreaks of disease, but I’ll leave that pondering to a different time. What I am curious about is how do, or would you respond to a pandemic as an anarchist?

There are many examples of anarchist responses to disaster (Common Grounds comes to mind), but there are probably many other forms this could take. Do you stockpile food and hunker down? Create networks of affinity and support? It is pretty clear the state is unable/unwilling to provide the actual support people will need, and while not wanting to encourage an activist mindset, I am curious what we do in these moments, and why.