It’s impossible to keep up with the volume of writings and interviews about COVID-19 and its impact on our civilization. This interview with Gilbert Mercier is the best summation I’ve come across so far.

I guess the coronavirus was the missing ingredient to bring a sick civilization to its knees. The other ingredients, the macro ones, to the collapse recipe are of course climate change, overpopulation, and social inequality. To be a bit ironic, because one has to be, COVID-19 is at the same time the catalyst and the missing link between the three major macro issues humanity was already facing. We are now in uncharted territories.

Everywhere in the world, central banks are literally throwing money at the problem: to no effect. Financial markets, just like individuals, are utterly terrified. Sam, to give you an example, in the US the Federal Reserve has already injected $1.2 trillion to patch the hole. In the EU, the European Central Bank is doing the same. Everybody is basically printing money, terrified to have a run on banks.

What’s going on worldwide is more than alarming. The authoritarian patterns applied by governments, one after another, are just incredible. Italy, Spain and France are supposed to be democracies, but at the moment, more than 250 million Europeans are living under, de facto, martial law. Citizens have lost all basic freedom of movement and assembly. They are virtual prisoners, confined to their homes, with police and the military patrolling the streets. Fear and paranoia have set in as citizens have been deprived, almost overnight, of all civil rights. They can only go out to buy food, medical supplies, and go to work if they cannot work remotely. Surreal ghost cities, it is Orwellian in nature. Europeans’ daily reality has become a dystopian nightmare.

What governments should worry about is jobless people, burdened with debts, running out of money. Also, increased food shortages, which most people can witness in supermarkets, could quickly translate into social unrest.

COVID19: Global Fascist Lockdown or Catalyst of a Radical Paradigm Shift? Gilbert Mercier Speaks on Collapse Chronicles. By Gilbert Mercier, NEWS JUNKIE POST, Mar 20, 2020

Gilbert Mercier is a French journalist, photojournalist, on-air analyst, and filmmaker, who previously worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter, concept writer, director, producer and art director. He is the editor-in-chief of News Junkie Post and one of its founders. He is the author of The Orwellian Empire.

I agree with his conclusion:

I am probably one of the rare people who see a unique opportunity in this coronavirus crisis. This is THE wake call for humanity! A moment of truth that must bring up a complete reassessment of the way we live. Not only together, but also our relationship with nature. Again, Sam, I truly think COVID-19 is the completely unexpected vector of a global sociological paradigm shift. Everything must be on the table, actually it is time to do tabula rasa. Sam, even as a human who belongs to an age group at greater risk, I think COVID-19 is a good thing as long as we deal with the structural macro elements of the systemic crisis, which are again: global warming, social inequality, and overpopulation.

Gilbert Mercier

---

As he writes, “I think COVID-19 is a good thing as long as we deal with the structural macro elements of the systemic crisis, which are again: global warming, social inequality, and overpopulation.” Our recent history has been a failure dealing with those crisis. But COVID-19 leaves us with no choice but to change as it has hastened the collapse of corporate capitalism, the primary force behind social inequality and injustice.

This is THE wake call for humanity! A moment of truth that must bring up a complete reassessment of the way we live. Not only together, but also our relationship with nature. Echoing the indigenous view of connection to Mother Earth.

What is your vision of the future? How can we use this opportunity, which will only be available for a short time before we start down a path, whether good or bad? I’ve been working on my vision:
https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/what-is-your-vision-for-the-future/

If you are a person of faith, what are you being called to do now? There is great spiritual poverty in these times. For several reasons religion has had significantly decreasing influence in the lives of many. Too often too many have been seduced by materialism, which makes them resist doing anything that threatens their money.

The foundation of corporate capitalism is that ownership and profit is all important. Natural resources and people are relegated to resources to be used to generate that profit. The opposite view of spirituality.

We need the voices and actions of you who understand spirituality to be seen and heard publicly today.

---