Deaths and debts: Romania’s implosion and Poland’s violent anti-immigrant rampage

As the fourth wave of the global pandemic hits Eastern Europe, the failure of Romanian statehood becomes more apparent. While the police, military, and intelligence services are flush with cash, hospitals are in disrepair. Recently, two major medical facilities burned down as a result of no one taking care of the electrical grid, which had never been repaired or renovated in the previous 30 years. Those hospitals were, of course, all built before 1989, but they are still considered part of Romania’s “sad communist legacy” (sic!). On top of that, those hospitals are completely overcrowded as a result of a massive anti-vaccination campaign in Romania led by right-wing lunatics and the Romanian Orthodox Church. Patients are now being transported to Hungary for treatment. Not only that, but it’s all taking place in the midst of a major political crisis. The state is in utter disarray. See Maria Cernat’s intervention for more information and a competent commentary!
Boyan Stanislavski describes the situation in Poland, or more specifically, on the Polish-Belarusian border. The Polish government is clearly involved in criminal activity. Many people have died as a result of the actions of the Polish police, border guards, and military, and many more are suffering incredible hardships as a result of the emergency state declared along that border over a month ago. No journalists are permitted to do their jobs, but many do. It’s only because of them that we know anything about what’s going on there. Unfortunately, the Left’s behavior in this situation is also very ignorant, as it does not appear to want to challenge the government politically, but instead creates a moral outrage. While the Polish government’s actions are morally repugnant, the public sees them as “border protection” rather than an act of war on a few hundreds or thousands of people who will all die like flies from the cold weather, a lack of food, or medicine. This, however, is of no concern to the West, which is to blame for the crisis. The Western establishment, along with the so-called “democratic opposition” in Poland, are hallucinating about Poland leaving the EU. Boyan Stanislavski’s intervention provides all of this and more.
This episode is part of our monthly “On the barricades” thumbs-up and thumbs-down series. Youri Smouter, a Euro-Afro-American Marxist and “1+1” youtuber, hosts it.