Michael Bryant is a citizen journalist, writer and researcher who has worked with various anti-war groups, environmental organisations and anti-globalist organisations on many issues ranging from US imperialism, domestic corporate crimes and the ‘globalisation of agriculture’.
Our conversation is based on a piece he penned, published on the third anniversary of the World Health Organisation’s declaration of the Covid™ pandemic, in which he provides a detailed breakdown of how Italy became the epicentre for the creation and spread of the fear campaign.
It all began in Italy
The world was brought to a standstill by the emergence of a supposedly super-spreading, deadlier-than-flu virus from China that first appeared in Italy.
Lombardy in northern Italy, to be exact.
The first alleged case of COVID-19 was reported in the town of Codogno on 20th February 2020, and the Italian government reported their first COVID-19 death later that day.
Huge fear campaign
The media played a huge role in perpetuating the fear porn.
Reports from Bergamo, a city in the Lombardy region, spoke of coffins stacked high, relentless growth in ‘COVID-19 deaths’, and the need for military assistance to handle the increasing number of dead bodies.
Of course, there is no evidence for any of this nonsense.
It was propaganda.
And it was effective.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte issued a series of government decrees, leading to Italy becoming the first country in the world to implement a national lockdown.
These measures set the precedent for lockdowns throughout the world.
Amazingly and by total sheer coincidence, most governments locked down their countries at the same time (around March 2020).
Okay, but:
- Were the overcrowded conditions in Italian hospitals genuinely the result of a unique viral pathogen?
- Were the spikes in excess deaths in northern Italy verifiably caused by the arrival and spread of a novel deadly virus?
No and no.
A pollution problem
As it happens, northern Italy has had significant pollution problems and long-standing chronic health conditions that have plagued the region for years.
In other words, the area in which Covid™ broke out is the same region with lots of pollution and old, sick people who were already on their way out.
Michael’s article also discusses the impact of austerity measures (more government spending) on the health infrastructure and the introduction of unprecedented health protocols specifically for Covid™.
What happened in norther Italy was not an epidemiological or biological event.
There was no deadly virus.
There was no pandemic.
There was an unprecedented set of administrative mandates by the Italian government and public health officials, which lead to the deaths of many people.
Here’s my conversation with Michael.