We launched Left Lockdown Sceptics without knowing what to expect. This site has been live for not even a whole week and we already have close to 400 subscribers! If you have signed up but can’t find the confirmation email, please check your spam/junk folder. You may also need to add our email address leftlockdownsceptics@gmail.com to a “safe” list depending on your email client.
Like many people impacted by lockdown, we have full-time jobs and in some cases home-schooling and childcare commitments and so our responses to some of the questions and queries we’ve received may take a few days. We haven’t forgotten about you – thank you for your patience.It would be an understatement to say that lockdown has been an incredibly tough time for many, particularly for working class families and individuals who were already struggling before 2020.
For those of us on the Left who oppose the sociopathic policies being enacted, we have suffered from not just the social isolation and atomisation of lockdown itself, but also the political isolation from the vast majority of the Left, or rather the so-called Left.It is important to know, however, that you are not alone. There are many leftists and socialists up and down the country, and indeed across the world, who feel the same way.
Below we reproduce a small subset of the messages of support we have received over the last week, with permission from the authors. This is not only to spread solidarity and confidence in the traditional sense, but in these times should be considered a kind of therapy for your mental health and well-being. The ruling class will pay for its crimes against working people, but for them to do so we must get organised. And in order to get organised, we need a common framework of understanding and a programme of action. We hope this site will act as the catalyst for both.
Messages of solidarity
“Good to see some alternative science with the label ‘left’. I have been feeling very uncomfortable finding myself aligned with the Tory hard right.” -Katharine
“Finally, my people! I wept last night at the futility of this situation…lockdown sceptics have been a beacon, but they’re not necessarily my people. I’m appalled at the gullible nature of my friends and acquaintances who i would class as left-leaning, at how they’re perpetuating this ‘non-existence’…i hope to find some like minded souls. I have been too fearful of being labelled a granny-killer to openly question the harms lockdowns do, i am especially motivated with regards to children (i work in education settings with vulnerable teenagers)… i cannot see where this nightmare ends, but i know for many, it ends in a much worse place than where it started.” -Sarah
“I am an old socialist who from day one has seen that an hysterical main stream media, so-called experts giving wild worst case scenario misinformation, governments scared of a bad headline and a brainwashed population have driven the world to unnecessary lockdowns which in themselves have killed thousands.” -Geoff
“Thank you. As a person of the left, I was so happy to find this group. I am tired of being tarred as a right wing loon, because I won’t support a futile policy that, among other things, is going to trigger a famine that will kill MILLIONS. How did we get to a place where socialists are applauding censorship and venerating the likes of Bill Gates?” -Heather
“I am a qualified UK nurse approaching retirement. My main contribution to the argument against lock down is in deconstructing the argument that hospitals are at chaos levels due to a pandemic. I know how hospitals manage beds. I also know how hospital staff respond when asked about patient numbers and stress levels.I also know what happens when hospitals are told to reduce beds, although on a local rather than national scale. Hospitals do not like to compile statistics on this but I have seen fatalities of 17% and heard directly of 34% on forced transfer out to nursing homes in the past.” -Ben
“To be candid, I am not sure how socialist I really am. But my original background is very working class and my father was a union rep at one point. I do very much agree with the perspective that what is happening right now benefits the rich and the big corporates. This is at the expense of so called ordinary people who are being propagandised by a corporatist med tech and industrial complex. I do not believe it is a conspiracy but there is for sure a lot of opportunism. It is good that there are people on the left now who are prepared to call this out and who want to support the working class. The Labour Party has pretty much lost sight of its original founding principles and does not provide that. It is needed.” -Stephen
“I find your observations a breath of fresh air because I am a lifelong socialist and have been feeling quite isolated in recent times. The more I read and research the more I’m convinced that this media narrative is big pharma driven, unfortunately, most socialists I know are totally on board with it. We need the left to unite and oppose this unscientific, profit-driven, nonsense.” -Stuart
“Absolutely agree with everything you say. Have always had left wing leanings but left without a spiritual home when Blair took over the Labour party. The Labour party now is a complete shambles and the Tories are total incompetents, or evil, given their response to the coronavirus. Good to see some socialists with a correct approach to the current crisis.” -Ted
“Thank you for that. I’m a centre-left type of voter, but also a committed lockdown sceptic. I’ve seen too much of the harm done by this to be able to go along with it. It’s been more than a little confusing to find that almost all of those who seem to see this as it is are on the right, or even hard-right of politics. I’m very glad that there is finally a voice from the left questioning our government. If only the Labour Party (for whom I’ve voted my entire life, but will now struggle to do) would start functioning as a proper opposition. And a great synopsis of the situation, by the way. Thanks again, good luck to you, my very best wishes go with you.” -Rod
“Thank you so much! Some of the hardest parts of the last 10 months have been caused for me by feeling politically alienated and to find myself agreeing with people whose views I normally find totally objectionable whilst being denigrated for dating to challenge the lockdown strategy. This brings hope. Very many thanks” -Naomi
“Thank you so much for this piece. I have felt alienated amongst my local socialist group for questioning the way things have been interpreted this past 9 months or so.” -Ben