Mandatory Masks in the Age of Climate Emergency & Planetary Biodiversity Crisis

 

Willful Blindness, Hypocrisy & Planetary Repercussions

“It is of utmost importance to recognise that Human Health is connected and dependent on the health of our environment and ecosystems, and if humanity does not respect such connection

there will not exist a future.”

— August 17, 2020, Increased plastic pollution due to COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and recommendations

On December 5, 2017, the United Nations announced that ocean plastic had come to constitute a planetary crisis: “Global Director for Ocean United Nation Environment and Sweden’s Ambassador for Oceans, Seas and Fresh Water, Dr Lisa Svensson said governments, firms and individual people must act far more quickly to halt plastic pollution: ‘This is a planetary crisis,’ she said. “In a few short decades since we discovered the convenience of plastics, we are ruining the ecosystem of the ocean. ‘The scale of the challenge is absolutely enormous.'”

On September 20, 2019, the Daily Mail ran a story on the global climate strikes. The article “Millions of people including hundreds of thousands of children take to the streets in 150 countries as the largest climate protest in history gets underway” garnered a whopping 64,000 shares.

On August 29, 2020, the Daily Mail would run another story, this one on a new genre of industrial pollution:”Billions of face masks could end up in landfill if people don’t stop using single-use coverings, experts have warned. Scientists estimate that more than 124,000 tons of unrecyclable masks – the equivalent weight of *10,000 London buses – could be dumped each year…There have already been reports of sea birds becoming tangled in the elastic cords that wrap around the ears. The single-use masks are also washing up on beaches or being dumped in the streets after becoming mandatory in certain enclosed spaces.” As of October 18, 2020, this article had received a mere 261 shares. [*Equivalent to every person in the UK using one disposable surgical mask each day for one year. In addition to this catastrophe, is 57,000 tons of plastic packaging that cannot be reused or recycled.][Source]

“‘I went to my local supermarket this week and saw discarded face masks everywhere. In ten minutes, I had picked up 12. This has every opportunity to flow into water courses, into the rivers and oceans.” [Source]

“For a month now, we’re starting – since it’s just the beginning – to see these masks. It’s a new type of pollution… [Source] ‘Soon there may be more masks than jellyfish’ in the Mediterranean sea.” [Source]

The paper COVID-19 Pandemic Repercussions on the Use and Management of Plastics published June 20, 2020 warns  that a “monthly estimated use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves globally, is resulting in widespread environmental contamination.” [Prata, Joana & Patricio Silva, A.L. & Walker, Tony & Duarte, Armando & Santos, Teresa. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic Repercussions on the Use and Management of Plastics. Environmental Science & Technology.]

It seems like only yesterday that a massive campaign against single-use plastic straws was trending. The much forgotten anti-straw trend was based on astronomical numbers; a suggested 500 million straws used each day in the US alone, with more than half a billion plastic straws being consumed and discarded, every day around the entire globe. [Source] An estimated 8.3 billion plastic straws had come to pollute the planet’s beautiful beaches. The backlash against the straws appeared to be drive by the horrific impacts on the marine environment in particular.

194 billion face masks and gloves equates to well over 6 billion face masks being consumed and discarded each and every day.

Based on the aforementioned paper, six months of face masks alone – equates to seven hundred seventy-four billion while 12 months of consumption, equates to a stunning one trillion five hundred forty-eight billion face masks.

What happened to all those who cared about our environmental crises? That of climate change, biodiversity and ocean pollution?

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Another layer of the mask pollution, making their way into our waterways and oceans is observed by many including Martin Dorey, founder of the 2 Minute Beach Clean project in England: ” People are also less likely to pick them up because of the perceived risk, so it’s getting left. This stuff is toxic – it will kill ocean life and end up in the food chain.” [Source]

We are told that the purpose of wearing a face mask is to prevent people who may be infected with COVID-19, but may be asymptomatic, from transmitting the virus to others. Yet, with billions of dollars being doled out by governments to municipalities and institutions, to assist in dealing with the said COVID-19 crisis, one may wonder why there are no bio-hazard bins for the disposing of used masks, which, under strict handling procedures would be carefully collected and properly disposed of (if there even is a way to “properly” dispose of plastic). The laissez faire (non)dealing with used masks, is very much at odds with the fear of transmission from what we are told is a highly contagious virus (hammered into the collective psyche).

How is it that we believe our Western governments, in servitude to a corporatocracy, suddenly care about our health? The very governments that have no qualms whatsoever in killing millions of men, women and children, across the globe in their pursuits to control resource-rich countries, or those of geopolitical importance in regard to foreign policy.

The same governments that claim to care about our health, are rolling out 5G as quickly as possible despite an urgent appeal signed by 253 EMF scientists from  44 nations. The correspondence is addressed to names that most will recognize: Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization; and Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UNEP Environment Programme;U.N. Member Nations. The scientists warn: “5G will substantially increase exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields RF-EMF, that has been proven to be harmful for humans and the environment… By not taking action, the WHO is failing to fulfill its role as the preeminent international public health agency.” [1] In a separate appeal to the EU, over 406 scientists and doctors call for a moratorium on the roll-out of 5G. “Listen to the Science – all while any science that does not further capital or further the desires of our corporate overlords is ignored and buried. After all, the 5G networks underpin all fourth industrial revolution technologies going forward under the guise of “The Great Reset”. Those that control the 5G networks will control all the fourth industrial revolution infrastructure upon which 5G technology is based (and absolutely dependent upon).  The 5G-Infrastructure-PPP (5G PPP) is a 1.4 billion Euro joint initiative between the European ICT industry and the European Commission, now in its third phase. This is the largest 5G research program in the world.

“And our Digital Strategy, embedded within the wider Industrial Strategy, sets out the 7 pillars on which we can build our success. And inside that fits our 5G strategy, like a set of Russian Dolls.”

– Matt Hancock, UK Parliament, Fourth Industrial Revolution Autumn Reception, 2017 [Source]

They say “march” – the people march. They say “applause” – the people applaud. They say “look” – the people look. They say “look away” – the people look away. After decades as subjects of social engineering, behavioural change economics, indoctrination, and intense pacification, have we lost the capacity to think for ourselves? Have we become completely domesticated subjects belonging to the ruling class.

Shaming

“Under a capitalist framework, social institutions can be manipulated to doctor “facts” in serving the ruling class.  An erroneous fact can unite the ruling class, while it can put people against each other, being divided, exploited and subjugates. Capitalist hierarchy curates a theater of crises in restructuring the capitalist hierarchy and its trajectory of exploitation and subjugation to overcome its inherent problem of cyclical economic downturns. In the process, capitalism continue to colonize humanity and nature.”

— Hiroyuki Hamada

Those who will not comply with wearing a mask are shamed. Yet, where is our shame in producing this amount of waste that will further harm the natural world that we allege we wish to defend?

The political correctness, the virtue signalling, in regard to wearing a mask, has successfully pitted person against person, group against group, while the criminals who have orchestrated yet another trillion dollar bail out, in addition to destroying our biosphere and ecosystems, are left unscathed. Their profits (from the theft of labour and the natural world) continue to soar in record numbers. As ruling class global power consolidates, we are subjected to dangerous discourse. A class war is averted, as factions grow between we the citizenry, who must unite against the ruling class. A ruling class hell-bent on destroying what traces of our humanity remain. Hell-bent on the capturing of, and the continued plunder of, an already devastated planet, that graciously sustains all life.

Some people and populations are genuinely anxious in response to those that do not wear a mask. This fear has been manufactured primarily by media. The media could flood us with global recovery rates – which are well over 99 per cent, instead, we are flooded minute by minute with deaths from/with COVID-19. When there are no deaths, we are flooded with “an increase in positive cases”, a term which is meaningless due to unreliable tests.

Those that identify as left, attempt to frame all of those who do not wear a mask as far right. Others identifying as left, consider those who do not wear masks posturing as radical or “woke”. Neither of the aforementioned are reasons to not wear a mask. The reason for not wearing one should be based not on political leanings, nor on fear, but a calm rationale.

Microplastics

“The use of PPE, especially of face masks, has been incentivised in some highly impacted areas (regions/municipalities), but quickly spread to the worldwide population driven by anxiety and the perceived feeling of safety.”

— August 17, 2020, Increased plastic pollution due to COVID-19 pandemic: Challenges and recommendations

Personal protective equipment (PPE) in 2020, in particular face masks, have become a new genre of pollution. The majority of face masks being purchase and disposed of are single-use surgical masks made of melt-blown fabric manufactured from polypropylene, a type of thermoplastic. [2] The vast majority of all disposable face masks being consumed have two outer layers with a filter between them (polypropylene), made from non woven plastic fibres.

Microplastics are tiny plastic fragments less than 5 millimeters in diameter, or about 0.2 inches. They are barely visible to the human eye. [Source]

A 2019 study showed that human microplastic consumption ranges from 39,000 to 52,000 particles per day. These estimates increase to 74,000 and 121,000 when inhalation is considered. This amounts to humans ingesting approx. 5 grams of plastic each and every week, 5 grams being the equivalent of a credit card or a US nickel. Earlier in 2019, the European commission’s chief scientific advisers stated: “The evidence [on both environmental and health risks due to microplastics] provides grounds for genuine concern and for precaution to be exercised.” [Source] More recently, on August 17, 2020, researchers analyzed 47 human tissue samples. Traces of microplastics were found in all 47 samples. [Source]

“We have detected these chemicals of plastics in every single organ that we have investigated.”

— senior researcher Rolf Halden, director of the Arizona State University (ASU) Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering

This begs the question, what will be the result from applying microplastic materials, that is face masks, directly and securely over our air passages?

“Flock” is defined as inhaled microfibers of the plastic. Flock worker’s lung is an occupational lung disease caused by exposure to flock in manufacturing processes. People who work in flocking manufacturing processes inhale small pieces of the flock fibers, placing them at risk of interstitial lung disease. Workers exposed to polypropylene flocking particles have developed flock worker’s lung. [Source] The presence of microplastics in human lung tissue was outlined by in a 1998 science paper, following the research of lung tissue belonging to cancer patients who had prolonged exposure to plastic fibers.

In addition to particle pollution causing  damage to lung tissue and reducing lung capacity, it worsens other respiratory health issues such as asthma. In 2013, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an institution belonging to the World Health Organization, concluded that particle pollution causes lung cancer.[Source]

“An informal survey of a small group of health care workers by myself found that about 50% of workers noted that their masks began to fray at the end of their shift, noting fibers that itched their face and nose.” — [Source]

In occupational flock, “the cutting process results in formation of airborne particles or fibers in the respirable range.” [Source] As facemasks undergo a continuous friction with breathing, talking, and facial movements, it seems likely, if not probable, that  microscopic polypropylene microfibers, in some amount, are effectively being ingested into both the body and lungs.  It is safe to assume that those wearing masks, for long periods of time, are most at risk. The vast majority of this group would be minimum wage workers, who have no choice but to comply, people of colour, who are told they are more susceptible to the virus than white populations, and children in schools, where masks have been made mandatory.

Particles that are not inhaled into the lungs (the vast majority) make their way into our waterways. To be more succinct, every single particle produced, that does not make its way into our bodies, will instead go in to our waterways.  The particles are then ingested into the body by humans and non-human life (marine animals and fish), some of which is too, ingested by humans. Of course, in addition, we drink the water, as does non-human life, Is this how we protect biodiversity? Is this what we mean by protecting health?

Microfibers and Lungs

Prior to COVID-19, in 2019, at the Plastic Health Summit, Fransien van Dijk, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Groningen; Molecular Pharmacology Department, shared the initial results of her research on how exposure to plastic microfibers (from clothing) affects lung development. Here we can listen carefully to her findings, in the context of masks:

[Video running time: 11m:00s]

The risk of microfibers on lungs should be of paramount concern in relation to children, whose lungs take a long time to fully develop and mature. On June, 2020, the Children’s Sick Kids Hospital, perhaps the most prestigious hospital in Canada, advised that children, by and large almost completely unaffected by the virus, should not wear masks and added that physical interaction and play was essential for their well-being. Despite these recommendations (largely ignored by media), the government and school boards made masks and social distancing mandatory for children. The hospital further reported that 1500 asymptomatic children were tested, none tested positive. [Twitter thread] Meanwhile, “Canada alone has ordered more than 153 million N95 respirators, almost 400 million surgical masks and 18 million non-medical face masks. That doesn’t include demand from the private sector.” As a new emerging market, trees (biological communities invisible to the humancentric eye) cannot only be sacrificed on the altar of “green energy”, we can also pulverize them into face “ecofriendly” masks. [Source]

“We have suggested that masks not be required when children return to school.”

— Michelle Science MD, MSc, FRCPC, Division of Infectious Diseases, The Hospital for Sick Children, Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto

“Close interaction such as playing and socializing is really central to child development and should not be discouraged…Overall we think it’s not realistic or in children’s best interests to completely avoid all close interaction and play.”

– Dr Daphne Korczak , Pediatrics, Psychiatry

“For children and adolescents, masks are an absolute no-no. Children and adolescents have an extremely active and adaptive immune system and they need a constant interaction with the microbiome of the Earth. Their brain is also incredibly active, as it is has so much to learn. The child’s brain, or the youth’s brain, is thirsting for oxygen. The more metabolically active the organ is, the more oxygen it requires. In children and adolescents every organ is metabolically active.”

— Dr. Margarite Griesz-Brisson MD, PhD , Consultant Neurologist and Neurophysiologist [Full transcript]

Cloth Masks

To mitigate against this latest environmental and health nightmare, people have been encouraged to wear reusable fabric face coverings comprised of three layers of fabric.

On September 25, 2020, a University of California – Davis study found that the fabric of home-made cloth face coverings release a large amount of fibers into the air. The study underscored the importance of washing them. What is not discussed are the same fibres being inhaled and ingested.

Those in the West, and those who own or have access to a clothes dryer, will know what dryer lint is. Friction causes the fabric fibres to become loose and dislodge during the washing and drying process – resulting in sometimes little, and more often lots – of lint that must be removed after each cycle.

Consider this excerpt from the article, How damaging is breathing in microplastics?:

“Microplastics washed off from synthetic clothes contribute up to 35% of the plastic particles polluting our oceans. Every time we do our laundry, an average of 9 million microfibers end up in the wastewater treatment plants that cannot filter them, and because of that, these fibers end up in the ocean. Also, just by wearing synthetic clothes, plastic fibers are constantly being released in the air.”

Up until now, all research was focused on microfiber pollution through laundry washing. However, a recent study shows how wearing polyester clothes pollutes the environment to a similar extent—wearing polyester clothes releases as many microplastic fibers in the air as through washing. [Emphasis added] [Source]

If microfibers are shedding off clothing, they are shedding off masks. Even cotton ones. In fact, cotton textiles (clothing, towels, etc.) often produce far more lint than other fabrics. Add to this, the inhalation of chemical laundry detergent and chemical fabric “softener” (liquid and sheet form) that many people continue to use in the process of washing and drying the masks.

“Cloth masks appear to do little to slow viral transmission of viruses allowing 97% viral penetration and may increase transmission according to a study by MacIntyre et al (2015) in the health care setting. [3] This finding may or may not extrapolate to the community setting, but this author could find no prospective study that showed efficacy.” [Source]

 More Chemicals

In addition to yet another environmental crisis unleashed by masks, 99 percent of alcohol gels/sanitizers contain microplastics (polymers, nanosilver/nanoparticles which are in effect pesticides), or similar chemicals. The moment they leave the bottle they end up in our environment; our waterways, seas and oceans – and our bodies. May 19, 2020:

“The London Health Sciences Centre was forced to pull its latest batch of hand sanitizer after the manufacturer moved to a type that uses technical-grade ethanol which, while approved by Health Canada, can cause cancer and be harmful to children and pregnant or lactating women.”

Rather than providing children with real nutrition, such as bushels of fresh apples (from struggling farmers), complemented with vitamin C, governments and school boards continue to award corporations millions of dollars to keep these chemicals flowing. [“P&G to produce 45,000 litres of hand sanitizer weekly”, March 23, 2020, World Economic Forum website]

Here, the real question must be asked: have we become certifiably, collectively insane?

Grandstanding – The phase out of single-use plastics

This brings us to government promises to reduce single-use plastic. Needless to say, with bricks & mortar restaurants being forced to close their doors, mandatory plexi-glass installations, the uptake in take-out food and drive-thrus (disposable packaging), etc. – in addition to mandatory mask legislations sweeping across whole countries, a plastics industry renaissance is fully underway. [Thread] While Governments provide false assurances, celebrating bans on single-use plastics, the single-use so-called “biodegradable” packaging industry accelerates.

As the Global South faces starvation, the Global North will grind the trees not used for biofuel, facemasks and toilet paper, into single use packaging for take-out food. Single-use disposable products – under the guise of green will no doubt launch yet another billion dollar certification industry to accompany it. All while trees are our best defense against climate change. All eyes on the *Trillion Tree Campaign launched by **Salesforce and World Economic Forum – while the planet’s existing trees continue to be cut down at lightning speed for corporate profits. This is storytelling that serves to insulate and expand the capitalist economic system destroying the natural world. [*Directed by Nicole Schwab, daughter of World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab][**Founded by Marc Benioff, member of the World Economic Forum Board of Trustees, inaugural Chair of World Economic Forum’s Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the United States.]

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD) has projected that  annual mask sales will increase 200 fold to $166 billion in 2020, while demand for Global PET (polyethylene terephthalate) packaging is expected to reach $44.1 billion in 2020. [Source]

“Scientists calculated that 275 million tonnes of plastic waste were produced by 192 countries during  2010, that’s the same as 250,000 Eiffel towers. Shockingly, 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes of that is thought to have ended up in the ocean.” [Source]

“A new analysis finds that without immediate and sustained action, the annual flow of plastic into the ocean could nearly triple by 2040.” Undoubtedly true, This analysis (July 23, 2020, was prepared by the Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ. The stated expertise of  of SYSTEMIQ is to unleash “viable growth” and “transform markets”. It plays a leading role in “Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the Circular Economy”. The New Plastics Economy initiative unveiled in January 2019 at Davos. The Coca-Cola Company, Danone, MARS, Novamont, L’Oréal, PepsiCo, Unilever, Amcor, and Veolia are the initiative’s Core Partners. Other partners include Evian, Google, H&M, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Nike. Plastics Economy “Knowledge Partners” include Arup, IDEO, McKinsey, and SYSTEMIQ. “Thought Partners” include Pew Charitable Trusts. [Further reading]

Recycling superfluous plastics that harms all life is not the answer. The answer is to stop producing it.

“The reason this discussion is happening is not because of the numbers of people who are dying – but because who is dying. Because it is something that can also possibly affect white people…”

— Omali Yeshitela,  Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party USA and the African Socialist International

The 180-degree Turn on Mandatory Mask Requirements

Near the beginning of the pandemic hysteria, on March 1, 2020 the U.S. surgeon general chastised citizens for buying face masks, stating they were not effective. [Source] Similar positions were widely shared across the global board. [“The evidence for wearing masks is ‘not very strong in either direction'” — England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer]

CDC Website, US, (Prior to April 4, 2020)

On March 2, 2020, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assured the public that healthy people should not  wear masks. [Source] CDC Director, Robert Redfield, was quoted as saying: “And it really does displease me, to find people going out, there is no role for these masks in the community.” US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams warned that “face masks might actually increase your risk of infection if not worn properly”, while Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, described the hysteria as a psychological contagion  “The coronavirus is coming, and we feel rather helpless. By getting masks and wearing them, we move the locus of control somewhat to ourselves.”

This changed on April 4, 2020 under the pretense that those showing no symptoms could unintentionally spread the virus to others. CDC would change its website: “Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others… Do NOT use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker”. Stipulations that remains on the website today. [Source]

CDC Website, US, modified April 4, 2020

While in mainstream media, face masks are made fashionable and politically correct, censored from mainstream media, across the world, there are thousands of nurses and doctors with absolutely contrary views on the wearing of masks, the science itself, and the level of risk that the virus presents to society. Indeed, it is difficult to contest that the “cure” is far worse than the disease.  Ignored (“look away”) are all other deaths related to limited or suspended healthcare services/treatments/diagnoses, suicides, suspended addiction services propelling an opioid epidemic, resulting in climbing overdoses; the collateral damage. The list is as long as it is tragic, all resulting from the singular focus on one virus. (But they care about your health.)

Here we can add that the very premise of the mandatory legislations, that people who may be infected with COVID-19, but may be asymptomatic, thereby can transmit the virus to others, – is also highly contested not just by scores of scientists and doctors, but by the WHO itself. On June 8, 2020, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, stated in a press conference “From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual. It’s very rare… much of that is not published in the literature…” Following backlash Van Kerkhove faced pressure and attempted to distance herself from her carefully articulated statements.

On June 11,2020, the article was amended with a correction: “This article was updated to include a more complete explanation of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission as well as to change the headline. An earlier version of the headline should have said most asymptomatic coronavirus patients aren’t spreading new infections. The word “most” was inadvertently omitted.”

From the paper “Advice on the use of masks in the context of COVID19, Interim guidance”, June 5, 2020, World Health Organization [Source]

[Further reading: “A study on infectivity of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers”, May 13, 2020. “Conclusion: In summary, all the 455 contacts were excluded from SARS-CoV-2 infection and we conclude that the infectivity of some asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers might be weak.” https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P]

[Further reading: Architects for Social Housing, Asymptomatic Transmission of Coronavirus, June 11, 2020]

Those Made Invisible: Our Elderly

Those who do not wish to wear a mask, are depicted as parading a selfish disregard for our elderly; those, with underlying co-morbidities, most susceptible to dying with/from COVID-19. Most of our parents/grandparents would not be in these facilities if it were not for our societies nurturing an apathetic attitude toward our elderly; like the masks themselves, they too are disposable. Once worn and used, to be put away, out of sight, out of mind. Yet, this shaming bears no weight. With the vast majority of COVID-19 deaths occurring in these facilities, there is little interest amongst the public while media ensures the light is shone elsewhere. In Canada, these deaths represent more than 80 per cent of all deaths from/with COVID-19. This genocide of the elderly is consistent with some of the hardest hit countries in the Global North. Also ignored is the fact that many elderly, what little independence they had completely stripped away, are now largely confined to these facilities, deeply suffering in complete isolation from loneliness; the lack of touch, the lack of love. We should be protecting the elderly and most vulnerable first and foremost. Instead we are killing them. The irony here is that some of these people will include those that believe they once fought for their freedoms. By now, we should all know better.

Every death even the cruelest death drowns in the total indifference of Nature —

Peter Weiss in Marat/Sade.

“Except that for death in the time of Covid, indifference is manifested by a system-wide hysteria about the danger to everyone but the elderly in senior care facilities.” — Patrick Corbett

The elderly are not the only invisibles. They join the billions of invisible in the Global South, and those we are blinded to at home: the homeless and Indigenous First Nations. They are not dying from COVID-19, but they are dying from lack of simple provisions such as shelter, clean water, coupled with discrimination, impoverishment, racism and isolation. We can add to the list of invisibles, those imprisoned within the walls of the prison industrial complex.

“A report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 1 in 4 people in the 18-24 age bracket have seriously considered committing suicide at some point during the month of June 2020.” [Source]

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Through the Looking Glass – Questioning Ruling Class Narratives

“The longer we delve into fears, the more I see fears as responses to uncertainty… If there is a crack in human psychology into which demagogues wriggle, it is by offering psychological relief for the anxiety created by uncertainty. Because when people are unsure – or made to feel unsure – and not in control of the safety of their finances, families, possessions, community or future, their natural inclination is to grasp for certainty.”

—  Why We’re Living in the Age of Fear

Have we forgotten the initial reason cited for the lockdowns? Said to be based on the wildly inaccurate Imperial College paper, temporary lockdowns were to slow down the virus, as to not overwhelm the hospitals, slowly creating herd immunity as it moved through the populace. Never was it believed the virus could be stopped. It is known and undisputed that the longer the lockdowns go on, the longer it will take for the virus to move through the population before it will desist. Instead with many governments keeping the lockdowns intact (despite record low deaths and empty hospitals), we now enter flu season. In Canada, the 2020-2021 influenza flu season began on August 23rd. The Public Health Agency of Canada says  reported “exceptionally low level of influenza activity.” How low? Flu cases for 2019-2020 are reported as 42,541 while cases for 2020-2021, as of September 19, 2020, are reported as 6 Surely, it’s a miracle. With the war on terror having vanished, replaced by the war on virus, media reports new “COVID-19 positive” cases non-stop. Being tested as positive means little, as they are completely unreliable. The relentless reporting of such maintains a desired level of fear required for the new normal. Here we must recall that Imperial College is a World Economic Forum partner, tasked with creating a “vaccine revolution“. Imperial also plays a key role in the fourth industrial revolution architecture as sought by the World Economic Forum in service to the world’s most powerful corporations insulated by the ruling class itself.

Imperial College session at World Economic Forum, 2019

Questioning ruling class narratives should never be seen, nor framed, as reckless. It should never be subjected to shaming. Rather, it should be a prerequisite and respected as such.

While bricks and mortar small business were, and continue to be crushed, while those in the informal sectors that comprise the Global South and South Asia starve, the world’s wealthiest (made so by the exploitation and theft of labour, coupled with the rapacious plunder of the planet) became richer than they could have ever possibly imagined. In Canada, the 20 richest people watched their fortunes grow by $37 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic. This broke the record set in 2019. In the US, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos saw his net worth grow by $13 billion – the largest intraday jump in net worth in history while Elon Musk’s net worth increased threefold to 75 billion. They are not alone.  Thus far, the world’s richest people increased their wealth by a staggering  USD 813 billion during the pandemic. [Source] Juxtapose this with the one billion people who go to bed hungry every night while two billion suffer from micronutrient deficiency. Furthering this injustice, as a direct result of the COVID-19 lockdowns, and the obliterating of informal economies, an additional 265 million people will be acutely malnourished by the end of 2020. [Source][Source] Never was there a better example of the illusory “stakeholder capitalism” that World Economic Forum et al. peddle to the citizenry in their efforts to maintain the capitalist system itself, and the social license required to have it continue.

Reboot. Rebrand. Reset.

And while the citizenry fear each other (apparently not enough to shun Costco, Wal-Mart and other corporate entities), the founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, is calm in his assessment of the virus:

“[COVID-19 is] one of the least deadly pandemics the world has experienced over the last 2000 years. The consequences of COVID-19 in terms of health and mortality will be mild compared to previous pandemics.”

— COVID-19: The Great Reset, Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret, July 2020

Today, the said goal of wearing face coverings is to prevent people who are infected with COVID-19 but asymptomatic from transmitting the virus to others.

I would submit an altogether different reason for the pressure to maintain mandatory mask wearing. It is very simple. It furthers the ideologies and digital/technological framework woven within the fourth industrial revolution architecture.

Although the virus itself “does not constitute an existential threat, or a shock that will leave its imprint on the world’s population for decades” (COVID-19: The Great Reset), the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset”, that is, the fourth industrial revolution architecture overseen by a new “global governance” (Schwab) will change the future as we know it. Schwab: “The scale and breadth of the unfolding technological revolution will usher in economic, social and cultural changes of such phenomenal proportions that they are almost impossible to envisage.” [Source]

“The very idea of humans being some sort of natural concept is really going to change. Our bodies will be so high-tech, we won’t be able to really distinguish between what is natural and what is artificial”

— The Fourth Industrial Revolution promotional video, World Economic Forum, April 13, 2016

“The world lacks a consistent, positive and common narrative that outlines the opportunities and challenges of the fourth industrial revolution, a narrative that is essential if we are to empower a diverse set of individuals and communities and avoid a popular backlash against the fundamental changes under way. ”

–  Klaus Schwab, The Fourth Industrial Revolution

“With some 2.6 billion people around the world in some kind of lockdown, we are conducting arguably the largest psychological experiment ever.”

— World Economic Forum, April 9, 2020

“Who will thrive, who will perish?”

— Digital Transformation: Future Scenarios 2030, Deloitte, January 17, 2018

Masks play an important role in “The Great Reset”. They dehumanize.

In the following presentation, Professor Franz Ruppert explains the impact of the pandemic from a psychological point of view. Ruppert explains how and why people currently suffer when their essential needs are taken; why children in particular are extremely affected; how current “protective” measures achieve this effect; and whether these measures are justified. In relation to how masks affect children, and toddlers in particular, Rupert draws out attention to the “still face experiment” (21m:46s in). [Dr Franz Ruppert is professor of psychology at Munich University of Applied Sciences, a post he has held since 1992. He teaches trauma theory at the University of Applied Sciences and teaches the theory and the method at his own institute in Munich.] [4]

[Professor Franz Ruppert presentation, running time: 40m:37s]

Masks and social distancing condition us for the physical separation and isolation that the fourth industrial revolution requires. Physical is dangerous, digital is safe.

“In one form or another, social- and physical-distancing measures are likely to persist after the pandemic itself subsides, justifying the decision in many companies from different industries to accelerate automation. After a while, the enduring concerns about technological unemployment will recede as societies emphasize the need to restructure the workplace in a way that minimizes close human contact. Indeed, automation technologies are particularly well suited to a world in which human beings can’t get too close to each other or are willing to reduce their interactions. Our lingering and possibly lasting fear of being infected with a virus (COVID-19 or another) will thus speed the relentless march of automation, particularly in the fields most susceptible to automation.” — COVID-19: The Great Reset, Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret, July 2020

“The societal upheaval unleashed by COVID-19 will last for years, and possibly generations.”

“Many of us are pondering when things will return to normal. The short response is: never.”

Indeed, Schwab refers to the COVID-19 crisis as a watershed moment for fourth industrial revolution technologies. And while people are distracted with masks and COVID-positive cases reported incessantly in order to sow anxiety and compliance, the global consolidation of power is happening in real time. In servitude to the power elite, World Economic Forum founder and CEO Klaus Schwab is advancing “a new global architecture”, upheld by a new “global governance”. May 18, 2018: the World Bank partners with the United Nations. June 13, 2019: the World Economic Forum partners with the United Nations. Oct 18, 2019: a high stimulation exercise, modeling a fictional coronavirus pandemic, was held by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, [5] in partnership with the in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Approximately five months later, on  March 11, 2020: the World Economic Forum partners with the World Health Organization (a UN body) launching the COVID Action Platform, a coalition of 200+ of the world’s most powerful corporations. (By May 6, 2020 this number had swelled to over 1,106.) On this same day, March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization classified COVID-19 as a pandemic.

On March 26, 2020, with  87% of the world’s student population affected by COVID-19 school closures, the Global Education Coalition was announced as a means to accelerate the transition to a global forth industrial revolution digitized education fueled by emerging markets (Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs). [6] Founding partners include Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. Other partners include BBC, McKinsey, IBM, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy, and the Global Business Coalition for Education. [Global Business Coalition for Education Advisory Board Members and Founding Members] This is the global commodification of children, as data commodities, a new class asset. An emerging market, under the guise of SDGs (presided over by the World Economic Forum), built on child data surveillance and human capital assets. [April 15, 2019: From Billions to Trillions: Investing in the Next Generation]

“Dehumanization involves denying a person “identity”—a perception of the person “as an individual, independent and distinguishable from others, capable of making choices”—and “community”—a perception of the other as “part of an interconnected network of individuals who care for each other”. When people are divested of these agentic and communal aspects of humanness they are deindividuated, lose the capacity to evoke compassion and moral emotions and may be treated as means toward vicious ends”

— Dehumanization: An Integrative Review,  February 2006 [Source]

 Put your mask away. Come back to the light. We need you.

Further reading:

How damaging is breathing in microplastics?, May 19, 2020:

https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/2018/03/how-damaging-is-breathing-in-microplastics/

What’s Behind the Mask?, September 19, 2020:

https://edwardpentin.co.uk/whats-behind-the-mask/

Klaus Schwab and His Great Fascist Reset – An Overview:

http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2020/10/14/klaus-schwab-and-his-great-fascist-reset-an-overview/

The Science and Law of Refusing to Wear Masks: Texts and Arguments in Support of Civil Disobedience

https://architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk/2020/06/11/the-science-and-law-of-refusing-to-wear-masks-texts-and-arguments-in-support-of-civil-disobedience/

COVID-19: Implementing the UK Biosecurity State, a compilation of articles on the coronavirus crisis written by the Architects for Social Housing:

https://architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk/2020/09/10/covid-19-implementing-the-uk-biosecurity-state-3/

Swiss Policy Research (SPR) is a research and information project on geopolitical propaganda in Swiss and international media:

https://swprs.org/

OffGuardian:

https://off-guardian.org/ 

End Notes

[1] Summary of the Appeal: The Appeal is being signed by scientists who have published peer-reviewed papers on the biological or health effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields, part of the electromagnetic field (EMF) spectrum that includes extremely low frequency fields (ELF) emitted by electrical devices; and, radiofrequency radiation (RFR), used for wireless communications. Scientists who have published peer- reviewed papers in related fields and have been significantly engaged in EMF education, are recognized as Supporting Scientists.

The Appeal urgently calls upon the United Nations, the WHO, UNEP and the UN Member States to:

• Address the global public health concerns related to exposure to cell phones, power lines, electrical appliances, wireless devices, wireless utility meters and wireless infrastructure in residential homes, schools, communities and businesses.

The scientific findings identified by the signators and others justify this appeal. The World Health Organization (WHO) is encouraged to exert strong leadership in fostering the development of more protective EMF guidelines, to call for precautionary measures, and to educate the public about health risks, particularly risks posed to children and to normal fetal development. By not taking action, the WHO is failing to fulfil its role as the preeminent international public health agency.

• The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) is the U.N.’s “voice for the environment” and is uniquely positioned to take a planetary view of the potential for harm that EMF pollution presents to, biology — evolution, health, well being, and very survival of all living organisms world-wide.
• We encourage the U.N. to ask UNEP to evaluate the scientific evidence and initiate an assessment of alternative exposure standards and practices that could substantially lower human exposures to non-ionizing electromagnetic fields.

Note: The Appeal was initially submitted on May 11, 2015

[2] “Single-use face masks are made of plastics, such as  polypropylene, polyurethane or polyacrylonitrile, with classifications based on filtration capacity varying in E.U. from FFP1 (80%), to FFP2 (94%), and FFP3 (99%), and in the U.S. from N95 (95%), to N99 (99%), and N100 (100%). The recommended N95 masks, capable of filtering air particulates <0.3 µm by 95%, are made of plastics such as polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate. Similarly, other disposable PPE, such as surgical gowns and masks, are made of nonwoven materials  (e.g., spunbond  meltblown  spunbond)  often   incorporating polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate. [Prata, Joana & Patricio Silva, A.L. & Walker, Tony & Duarte, Armando & Santos, Teresa. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic Repercussions on the Use and Management of Plastics. Environmental Science & Technology.] [Source]

[3] “In the 2015 British Medical Journal, a study by MacIntyre et al examined 1607 Hospital Healthcare workers in Hanoi Vietnam, with recruitment starting in March 2011. The cohorts were randomized into those that wore surgical masks vs. cloth masks. Viral rates were compared in both groups, specifically measuring laboratory confirmation of RSV, human metapneumovirus, Influenza A and B as well as several other viruses such as other variants of corona virus (ie, SARS-CoV0 and coronavirus 229). Viral penetration was almost 97% for cloth masks and 44% for surgical masks. Viral infection rate was 1.64-fold higher for cloth masks verses surgical masks.” [Source]

[4] Source of presentation: “The extra-parliamentary Corona Committee of Inquiry, or ACU for short, was announced on May 31, 2020 to 5,000 people in Stuttgart. The ACU was also referred to in the June 20, 2020 issue of the weekly newspaper “Demokratischer resistance”.

[5] On June 30–July 1, 2020, the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, in partnership with Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels and the JHU School of Advanced International Studies, hosted the “World Order after COVID-19” forum. Featured speakers included Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and founder/chair of the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Advisory Board (2016 – September, 15, 2020), and former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. Schmidt highlighted how COVID-19 has accelerated broader adoption of technologies, highlighting artificial intelligence, digitalization, and facial recognition, with Telehealth adoption “finally” being adopted at scale – from a stagnant 3% of Americans to a vast 80% in just a few months time. Schmidt recognized this as a breakthrough, as prior to COVID-19, people resisted such technology due to privacy concerns. [From March 27, 2020 to June 4, 2020 alone, 266 US hospitals furloughed tens of thousands of workers  while elective procedures were suspended  in response to COVID-19.] Speaking admirably of China’s technological gains during the pandemic, Schmidt noted: “And the tools that they have built, which are essentially surveillance tools around the disease, can be repurposed for other things”.

[6] “Around $6 trillion a year will need to be invested to deliver the SDGs, most of it in emerging markets.” [Source: At Last… Climate Consensus on the Magic Mountain, February 3, 2020, SYSTEMIQ]

About the Author

Cory Morningstar is an independent investigative journalist, writer and environmental activist, focusing on global ecological collapse and political analysis of the non-profit industrial complex. She resides in Canada. Her recent writings can be found on Wrong Kind of Green, The Art of Annihilation, Political Context, Counterpunch, Canadians for Action on Climate Change and Countercurrents.

http://www.theartofannihilation.com/mandatory-masks-in-the-age-of-climate-emergency-planetary-biodiversity-crisis/