2014: Ebola: American Lives are NOT more important than other people's lives
January 5, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Outside the Liberian House of Representatives, people protest against the government's lack of help with the Ebola virus, September 23, 2014. Photo: AP
The outbreak and spread of the deadly virus Ebola in West Africa is a nightmare that has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Experts say Ebola is a disease that’s eminently stoppable with basic public health measures. But those measures are not available for people in West African countries like Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. In Liberia, 80 percent of people don’t have toilets or running water! There is no electricity, there are food shortages, and most people live on less than $1.50 a day. This despite—or rather because of—the fact that imperialism has plundered the continent of Africa for over 500 years—extracting enormous wealth in coffee, diamonds, gold, oil, rare minerals like coltan (for cell phones), bauxite for aluminum, wood (from Africa’s irreplaceable rain forests)—and in slaves! Meanwhile, the focus of Western officials and leaders has been overwhelmingly on the threat of Ebola spreading to countries like the U.S. But American lives are NOT more important than other people’s lives!
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