Freedom News

Capitalism, big pharma, and the pandemic

Blocking the TRIPS waiver In October 2020 India and South Africa submitted a proposal to the TRIPS Council of the World Trade organisation for a waiver of certain intellectual property rights for covid-19 vaccines. The Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, to give the TRIPS its full name, polices and upholds corporate

Covid: living with it

On February 21st 2022, Boris Johnson announced the end of most Covid restrictions in England. A few days later, on the 24th, whatever domestic legal restrictions were still technically in force disappeared (most had long since vanished in practice) and our rainy island became the West’s first Great Experiment in just y’know, letting things happen.

The exploitation of mental health advocacy during the pandemic: a retrospective

There seems to be a fairly obvious hole in mental health advocacy and awareness. Whilst there has been a welcome (if only recent) change in public attitude towards conditions like anxiety and depression, other conditions —from eating disorders, to psychotic illnesses, to personality disorders— have been largely ignored. Not only that, but the discourse around

Notes from the US

Freedom’s long-running US correspondent Louis Further does his monthly roundup of some of the lesser-known stories that have emerged over the last few weeks. The grip of the Trump cult continues to grow in many areas of political (and social) life in the United States. Also growing are the number of states abandoning mask mandates

Migrant cleaners at London Bridge Hospital whistleblow on Covid safety violations and launch campaign against HCA Healthcare

Outsourced migrant workers from the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) who clean at London Bridge Hospital launched a campaign for fair pay and equality yesterday. They also report endemic bullying, harassment and a slew of serious health and safety violations over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Mariana Blanco*, Cleaner, said: “We feel

Notes from the US: Disinformed and dying

This month’s missive again concentrates on the worsening situation in the country as a result of resistance and refusal to follow public health guidelines mostly inspired by disinformation and partisan lies in response to the worsening Covid-19 pandemic. Most metrics are now consistently at their highest since the pandemic’s inception in January last year. Environment