What Was Covid Really About? Triggering A Multi-Trillion Dollar Global Debt Crisis. “Ramping up an Imperialist Strategy”?

“And thus it renders more and more evident the great central fact that the cause of the miserable condition of the working class is to be sought, not in these minor grievances, but in the capitalistic system itself.” Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) (preface to the English Edition, p.36)  

The IMF and World Bank have for decades pushed a policy agenda based on cuts to public services, increases in taxes paid by the poorest and moves to undermine labour rights and protections.

IMF ‘structural adjustment’ policies have resulted in 52% of Africans lacking access to healthcare and 83% having no safety nets to fall back on if they lose their job or become sick. Even the IMF has shown that neoliberal policies fuel poverty and inequality.

In 2021, an Oxfam review of IMF COVID-19 loans showed that 33 African countries were encouraged to pursue austerity policies. The world’s poorest countries are due to pay $43 billion in debt repayments in 2022, which could otherwise cover the costs of their food imports.

Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) have also revealed that 43 out of 55 African Union member states face public expenditure cuts totalling $183 billion over the next five years.

According to Prof Michel Chossudovsky of the Centre for Research on Globalization, the closure of the world economy (March 11, 2020 Lockdown imposed on more than 190 countries) has triggered an unprecedented process of global indebtedness. Governments are now under the control of global creditors in the post-COVID era.

What we are seeing is a de facto privatisation of the state as governments capitulate to the needs of Western financial institutions.

Moreover, these debts are largely dollar-denominated, helping to strengthen the US dollar and US leverage over countries.

It raises the question: what was COVID really about?Millions have been asking that question since lockdowns and restrictions began in early 2020. If it was indeed about public health, why close down the bulk of health services and the global economy knowing full well what the massive health, economic and debt implications would be?Why mount a military-style propaganda campaign to censor world-renowned scientists and terrorise entire populations and use the full force and brutality of the police to ensure compliance?These actions were wholly disproportionate to any risk posed to public health, especially when considering the way ‘COVID death’ definitions and data were often massaged and how PCR tests were misused to scare populations into submission.Prof Fabio Vighi of Cardiff University implies we should have been suspicious from the start when the usually “unscrupulous ruling elites” froze the global economy in the face of a pathogen that targets almost exclusively the unproductive (the over 80s).COVID was a crisis of capitalism masquerading as a public health emergency.Capitalism Capitalism needs to keep expanding into or creating new markets to ensure the accumulation of capital to offset the tendency for the general rate of profit to fall. The capitalist needs to accumulate capital (wealth) to be able to reinvest it and make further profits. By placing downward pressure on workers’ wages, the capitalist extracts sufficient surplus value to be able to do this.But when the capitalist is unable to sufficiently reinvest (due to declining demand for commodities, a lack of investment opportunities and markets, etc), wealth (capital) over accumulates, devalues and the system goes into crisis. To avoid crisis, capitalism requires constant growth, markets and sufficient demand.According to writer Ted Reese, the capitalist rate of profit has trended downwards from an estimated 43% in the 1870s to 17% in the 2000s. Although wages and corporate taxes have been slashed, the exploitability of labour was increasingly insufficient to meet the demands of capital accumulation.By late 2019, many companies could not generate sufficient profit. Falling turnover, limited cashflows and highly leveraged balance sheets were prevalent.Economic growth was weakening in the run up to the massive stock market crash in February 2020, which saw trillions more pumped into the system in the guise of ‘COVID relief’.To stave off crisis up until that point, various tactics had been employed.Credit markets were expanded and personal debt increased to maintain consumer demand as workers’ wages were squeezed. Financial deregulation occurred and speculative capital was allowed to exploit new areas and investment opportunities. At the same time, stock buy backs, the student debt economy, quantitative easing and massive bail outs and subsidies and an expansion of militarism helped to maintain economic growth.There was also a ramping up of an imperialist strategy that has seen indigenous systems of production abroad being displaced by global corporations and states pressurised to withdraw from areas of economic activity, leaving transnational players to occupy the space left open.While these strategies produced speculative bubbles and led to an overevaluation of assets and increased both personal and government debt, they helped to continue to secure viable profits and returns on investment.But come 2019, former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King warned that the world was sleepwalking towards a fresh economic and financial crisis that would have devastating consequences. He argued that the global economy was stuck in a low growth trap and recovery from the crisis of 2008 was weaker than that after the Great Depression.King concluded that it was time for the Federal Reserve and other central banks to begin talks behind closed doors with politicians.That is precisely what happened as key players, including BlackRock, the world’s most powerful investment fund, got together to work out a strategy going forward. This took place in the lead up to COVID.Aside from deepening the dependency of poorer countries on Western capital, Fabio Vighi says lockdowns and the global suspension of economic transactions allowed the US Fed to flood the ailing financial markets (under the guise of COVID) with freshly printed money while shutting down the real economy to avoid hyperinflation. Lockdowns suspended business transactions, which drained the demand for credit and stopped the contagion.COVID provided cover for a multi-trillion-dollar bailout for the capitalist economy that was in meltdown prior to COVID. Despite a decade or more of ‘quantitative easing’, this new bailout came in the form of trillions of dollars pumped into financial markets by the US Fed (in the months prior to March 2020) and subsequent ‘COVID relief’.The IMF, World bank and global leaders knew full well what the impact on the world’s poor would be of closing down the world economy through COVID-related lockdowns.Yet they sanctioned it and there is now the prospect that in excess of a quarter of a billion more people worldwide will fall into extreme levels of poverty in 2022 alone.In April 2020, the Wall Street Journal stated the IMF and World Bank faced a deluge of aid requests from scores of poorer countriesseeking bailouts and loans from financial institutions with $1.2 trillion to lend.In addition to helping to reboot the financial system, closing down the global economy deliberately deepened poorer countries’ dependency on Western global conglomerates and financial interests.Lockdowns also helped accelerate the restructuring of capitalism that involves smaller enterprises being driven to bankruptcy or bought up by monopolies and global chains, thereby ensuring continued viable profits for Big Tech, the digital payments giants and global online corporations like Meta and Amazon and the eradication of millions of jobs.Although the effects of the conflict in Ukraine cannot be dismissed, with the global economy now open again, inflation is rising and causing a ‘cost of living’ crisis. With a debt-ridden economy, there is limited scope for rising interest rates to control inflation.But this crisis is not inevitable: current inflation is not only induced by the liquidity injected into the financial system but also being fuelled by speculation in food commodity markets and corporate greed as energy and food corporations continue to rake in vast profits at the expense of ordinary people.Resistance However, resistance is fertile.Aside from the many anti-restriction/pro-freedom rallies during COVID, we are now seeing a more strident trade unionism coming to the fore – in Britain at least – led by media savvy leaders like Mick Lynch, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), who know how to appeal to the public and tap into widely held resentment against soaring cost of living rises.Teachers, health workers and others could follow the RMT into taking strike action.Lynch says that millions of people in Britain face lower living standards and the stripping out of occupational pensions. He adds:“COVID has been a smokescreen for the rich and powerful in this country to drive down wages as far as they can.”Just like a decade of imposed ‘austerity’ was used to achieve similar results in the lead up to COVID.The trade union movement should now be taking a leading role in resisting the attack on living standards and further attempts to run-down state-provided welfare and privatise what remains.The strategy to wholly dismantle and privatise health and welfare services seems increasingly likely given the need to rein in (COVID-related) public debt and the trend towards AI, workplace automisation and worklessness.This is a real concern because, following the logic of capitalism, work is a condition for the existence of the labouring classes. So, if a mass labour force is no longer deemed necessary, there is no need for mass education, welfare and healthcare provision and systems that have traditionally served to reproduce and maintain labour that capitalist economic activity has required.In 2019, Philip Alston, the UN rapporteur on extreme poverty, accused British government ministers of the “systematic immiseration of a significant part of the British population” in the decade following the 2008 financial crash.Alston stated:“As Thomas Hobbes observed long ago, such an approach condemns the least well off to lives that are ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’. As the British social contract slowly evaporates, Hobbes’ prediction risks becoming the new reality.”Post-COVID, Alston’s words carry even more weight.As this article draws to a close, news is breaking that Boris Johnson has resigned as prime minister. A remarkable PM if only for his criminality, lack of moral foundation and double standards – also applicable to many of his cronies in government.With this in mind, let’s finish where we began.“I have never seen a class so deeply demoralised, so incurably debased by selfishness, so corroded within, so incapable of progress, as the English bourgeoisie…For it nothing exists in this world, except for the sake of money, itself not excluded. It knows no bliss save that of rapid gain, no pain save that of losing gold.In the presence of this avarice and lust of gain, it is not possible for a single human sentiment or opinion to remain untainted.” Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England(1845), p.275*Note to readers: Please click the share buttons above or below. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.Renowned author Colin Todhunterspecialises in development, food and agriculture. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) in Montreal.The author receives no payment from any media outlet or organization for his work. If you appreciated this article, consider sending a few coins his way: colintodhunter@outlook.com Featured image is from Red Voice MediaRead Colin Todhunter’s e-Book entitledFood, Dispossession and Dependency. Resisting the New World OrderWe are currently seeing an acceleration of the corporate consolidation of the entire global agri-food chain. The high-tech/big data conglomerates, including Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, have joined traditional agribusiness giants, such as Corteva, Bayer, Cargill and Syngenta, in a quest to impose their model of food and agriculture on the world.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also involved (documented in ‘Gates to a Global Empire‘ by Navdanya International), whether through buying up huge tracts of farmland, promoting a much-heralded (but failed) ‘green revolution’ for Africa, pushing biosynthetic food and genetic engineering technologies or more generally facilitating the aims of the mega agri-food corporations.

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BREAKING NEWS REPORT ON WHAT MATTERS TO YOU.

France lockdown over heatwave..

Officials in France banned people from attending concerts, outdoor gatherings, and events due to safety concerns over a heatwave.

“Everyone now faces a health risk,” official Fabienne Buccio told France Bleu radio, after announcing the regional restrictions around Bordeaux.

Outdoor events – including, ironically, annual ‘Resistance’ celebrations – are banned until the officials declare the heatwave is over. They’re even restricting some indoor events that don’t have air conditioning.

However, private weddings are still allowed.

Temperatures reportedly hit 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday, and the heatwave is expected to peak on Saturday.

Nonetheless, rather than let people take responsibility for themselves – to hydrate or stay home – French officials are comfortable deciding for them.

Indeed, democratic governments seem comfortable stripping citizens’ freedoms for safety as of late. From COVID lockdowns to climate.

Recently, The Counter Signal reported that climate change lockdowns were likely on the horizon.

For example, unelected IGOs recently advised the British government to outright ban driving on Sundays to curb rising gas prices and address an energy crisis.

The advisement came from the International Energy Agency (IEA) as part of a 10-point plan, central to which is achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

And this isn’t as conspiratorial as it might sound.

For example, while speaking on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), International Council of Nurses CEO Howard Catton claimed that climate change is the “grandmother of all health threats,” suggesting that the WHO may get involved with climate change-related health risks, like heatwaves, in the future.

Moreover, Nicole Schwab, the daughter of World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab) recently said she wants governments to take advantage of COVID infrastructure and policies to fight climate change.

Canada hasn’t even dropped its COVID travel restrictions, and already the government has elevated monkeypox to Level 2 status

, which means travellers may be subject to “isolation,” i.e., mandatory quarantine.

As per a Health Canada announcement, “In the current outbreak, those at risk of infection are those who have had close or intimate contact with a person who has monkeypox.”

“During your travel, you may be subject to procedures at your destination put in place to limit the spread of monkeypox, such as isolation, should you become infected. You may have limited access to timely and appropriate health care should you become ill, and may experience delays in returning home.”

This announcement also suggests that, much like COVID, the Canadian government plans on utilizing COVID infrastructure to track individuals suspected of having contacted those with confirmed monkeypox infections.

Health Canada continues, saying the federal government is now working with provincial and international governments to monitor the spread of monkeypox, even though cases remain low and monkeypox isn’t transmitted easily.

They are also recommending the use of personal protective equipment while travelling, which may mean additional mask mandates down the road.

Besides being one of the first countries to jump the gun on quarantining those who come down with a case of monkeypox, Canada is also one of the first countries (if not the first) to begin vaccinating people for monkeypox using the smallpox vaccine following the recent outbreak.

Quebec was the first to begin vaccinating for monkeypox, despite having only 25 cases in the province at the time.

As of yesterday (half a month later), there are now supposedly 85 cases, and over 500 Quebecers have received the smallpox vaccine.

Health officials also appear to be focused almost exclusively on monitoring gay men due to the spread believed to be occurring during sexual intercourse between individuals who attended a Spanish Pride festival — though monkeypox isn’t classified as a sexually-transmitted disease.

“We’re seeing the chain of transmission mainly in social networks in men who have sex with men,” said Montreal’s medical officer, Genevieve Bergeron.

It isn’t clear whether the government plans on tracking heterosexuals, too, or if it’s just gay men being targeted during Pride month.

Yet another food processing plant has spontaneously caught fire

— this time it’s a frozen pizza factory in Portage County, Wisconsin.

An American Red Cross report says they rushed to provide food and water for the more than 70 firefighters from nearly two dozen departments that were required to put out the fire early Monday morning.

According to Stevens Point Journal, the fire was first reported at roughly 9 am, with billowing smoke spreading out several kilometres east and northwest. Some departments cleared the scene at 4:30 pm, but the fire wasn’t completely extinguished until 8:45 pm, nearly 12 hours later.

The Fire District says the fire began in the compressor room for the refrigeration and stemmed from a problem that arose during maintenance. No employees were injured.

This isn’t the first — and likely won’t be the last fire at a food processing plant. Indeed, there have been several in just the last few months.

But it’s not just food processing plants catching fire that’s troubling, especially during a time of food inflation. Poultry at meat producers is being destroyed at an alarming rate, usually due to barn and factory fires or avian flu.

In early April, 46,000 turkeys had to be killed in Barron, Wisconsin, due to an avian flu outbreak.

Another flock of 53,000 in Beadle County, South Dakota, had to be killed that same month.

On May 3, 13,800 chickens had to be destroyed at an Oklahoma farm for the same reason.

72,300 chickens had to be killed in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, just a week later.

And there are several more instances.

A report commissioned by the United Kingdom (UK) government says the entire country will need to ban most air travel within ten years

and all air travel by 2050 to abide by impossibly lofty climate change laws.

“In her last significant act as Prime Minister, Theresa May changed the UK’s Climate Change Act to commit us to eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions in the UK by 2050. This decision is based on good climate science, was a response to a great wave of social protest and has been replicated in 60 other countries already,” the Absolute Zero report commissioned by the UK government explains.

According to the authors of the report, the only way that the UK government can meet their Absolute Zero obligations is to phase out all air travel, implementing an outright ban in 2050 until such a time as the government can conceive of a means of producing planes that produce zero greenhouse gases at any point during an aircraft’s production or use.

It shouldn’t need to be stated, but this is impossible.

Nonetheless, the authors say that “All airports except Heathrow, Glasgow and Belfast [will] close” between 2020-2029 and “All remaining airports [will] close” by 2050.

The authors continue, saying that under the current legislation, the following changes to daily life will need to be taken as all will be illegal in 2050: stop using aeroplanes; end all shipping; take the train, not the car; rideshare; use an electric vehicle; reduce energy consumption, including and especially heating; reduce fertilizer use; reduce cement and steel use and imports, etc.

The authors say that progressively limiting red meat consumption will also be necessary, as lamb and beef will be outlawed in the UK by 2050.

“In addition, obeying the law of our Climate Change Act requires that we stop doing anything that causes emissions regardless of its energy source. This requires that we stop eating beef and lamb – ruminants who release methane as they digest grass – and already many people have started to switch to more vegetarian diets,” the report reads.

This is quite an astounding proposal, as the authors say that under the climate change legislation, all fertilizer use will need to be “greatly reduced,” as will all processed foods, and the total energy required to cook or transport food must be reduced by 60 per cent of today’s levels.

So, the UK will not produce meat, will not use fertilizer to produce vegetables, will reduce other food imports to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, and will not produce or import processed food as a substitute.

It isn’t clear what, if anything, the authors and the government expect the people of the United Kingdom will eat in 2050. By all accounts, this appears to be a policy of misery and death.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies were scrambling for a way out of political deadlock Monday

after losing their parliamentary majority in a stunning blow to the president and his reform plans.

Macron’s Ensemble (Together) coalition emerged as the largest party in Sunday’s National Assembly vote but was dozens of seats short of keeping the parliamentary majority it had enjoyed for the last five years.

Surges on the left and the far right destroyed the dominant position of Macron’s deputies who, for the past five years, had backed the president’s policies without fail.

Turnout was low, with the abstention rate recorded at 53.77 per cent.

– ‘A slap’ –

The left-leaning Liberation daily called the result a “slap in the face” for Macron, while the conservative Le Figaro said he was now “faced with an ungovernable France“.

Macron’s allies may now seek a majority by forming deals with other parties on the right, stirring up turmoil not seen in French politics for decades.

The election saw the new left-wing alliance NUPES make gains to become the main opposition force with 127 seats, according to the Interior Ministry.

But it is unclear if the coalition of Socialists, Communists, Greens and the hard-left France Unbowed will remain a united bloc in the National Assembly.

Meanwhile the far-right under Marine Le Pen posted the best legislative performance in its history, becoming the strongest single opposition party with 89 seats, up from eight in the outgoing chamber.

A confident Le Pen said her party would demand to chair the National Assembly’s powerful finance commission, as is tradition for the biggest opposition party.

“The country is not ungovernable, but it’s not going to be governed the way Emmanuel Macron wanted,” Le Pen told reporters Monday.

Hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, who leads the NUPES alliance, said he would bring a motion of no confidence against Macron’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne as soon as parliament convenes in July.

Borne, who was elected to parliament in her first-ever political race, was nonetheless seen as vulnerable as Macron faces a new cabinet shake-up after several of his top allies lost their seats.

His health and environment ministers lost their seats and by tradition will have to resign, as did the parliament speaker and the head of Macron’s parliament group.

“We will see in the coming hours, but for now the prime minister remains the prime minister,” government spokeswoman Olivia Gregoire told France Inter radio Monday.

“I fear that the country is paralysed,” she added.

– ‘Turning point’ –

The outcome severely tarnished Macron’s April presidential election victory when he defeated Le Pen, becoming the first French president to win a second term in over two decades.

“It’s a turning point for his image of invincibility,” said Bruno Castres, a researcher at the Centre for Political Research of Sciences Po.

The options available to Macron, who has yet to publicly comment on the result, range from seeking to form a new coalition alliance, passing legislation based on ad hoc agreements to even calling new elections.

His Together alliance won 244 seats, far short of the 289 needed for an overall majority.

“The root of the presidential party is total,” Melenchon told supporters.

A prominent MP from Melenchon’s party, Alexis Corbiere, said Macron’s plan to raise the French retirement age to 65 had now been “sunk”.

Macron had hoped to stamp his second term with an ambitious programme of tax cuts, welfare reform and raising the retirement age. All that is now in question.

“It will be much more difficult to govern,” said Dominique Rousseau, professor of law at Paris Pantheon-Sorbonne University.

– ‘Imagination needed’ –

There could now potentially be weeks of political deadlock as the president seeks to reach out to new parties.

The most likely option would be an alliance with the Republicans, the traditional party of the French right, which has 61 MPs.

LR president Christian Jacob however made clear there would be no easy partnership, saying his party intended to “stay in opposition”.

Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire admitted “a lot of imagination will be needed” from the Macron’s party in what Le Figaro said was “a jump into the unknown”.

In a rare spot of good news for the president, Europe Minister Clement Beaune and Public Service Minister Stanislas Guerini — both young pillars of his party — won tight battles for their seats.

On the left, Rachel Keke, a former cleaning lady who campaigned for better working conditions at her hotel, was also elected, defeating Macron’s former sports minister Roxana Maracineanu.

JUST IN 🚨 Bitcoin price falls below $20,000 for the first time since 2020. Ethereum down under $1,000

Again and again, this minister insisted the police asked for the Emergencies Act.

We now know that is false.

He must resign. Now.

Male blood donor 66 was turned away for not answering if he was pregnant or not.

66-year-old man who’s been donating blood since he was 18 was told by staff they cannot accept his blood because he refused to answer if he was pregnant. The question was added to promote inclusivity.

What is this world coming to when people start believing that men can physically get pregnant. What sort of mental health problems do these people have? There must be something broken inside.

An opinion piece from an Australian writer:

This felt good to read 😊

An opinion piece from a vaccinated Australian writer:

“If Covid was a battlefield it would still be warm with the bodies of the unvaccinated.

Thankfully the mandates are letting up and both sides of the war stumble back to the new normal.

The unvaccinated are the heroes of the last two years as they allowed us all to have a control group in the great experiment and highlight the shortcoming of the Covid vaccines.

The unvaccinated carry many battle scars and injuries as they are the people we tried to mentally break, yet no one wants to talk about what we did to them and what they forced “The Science“ to unveil.

We knew that the waning immunity of the fully vaccinated had the same risk profile as others within society as the minority of the unvaccinated,

yet we marked them for special persecution.

You see we said they had not “done the right thing for the greater good” by handing their bodies and medical autonomy over to the State.

Many of the so-called health experts and political leaders in Australia admitted the goal was to make life almost unliveable for the unvaccinated,

which was multiplied many times by the collective mob, with the fight taken into workplaces, friendships, and family gatherings.

Today the hard truth is none of it was justified as we took a quick slide from righteousness to absolute cruelty.

We might lay the blame on our leaders and health experts for the push but each individual within society must be held accountable for stepping into the well-laid-out trap.

We did this despite knowing full well that principled opposition is priceless when it comes to what goes inside our bodies and we let ourselves be tricked into believing that going into another ineffective lockdown would be the fault of the unvaccinated and not the fault of the toxic policy of ineffective vaccines.

We took pleasure in scapegoating the unvaccinated because after months of engineered lockdowns by political leaders blinded by power, having someone to blame and to burn at the stake felt good.

We believed we had logic, love, and truth on our side so it was easy to wish death upon the unvaccinated.

Those of us who ridiculed and mocked the non-compliant did it because we were embarrassed by their courage and principles and didn’t think the unvaccinated would make it through unbroken and we turned the holdouts into punching bags.

Lambie, Carr, Chant, Andrews, McGowan, Gunner, and the other cast of hundreds in prominent roles need to be held to account for vilifying the unvaccinated in public and fueling angry social media mobs.

The mobs, the mask Nazis, and the vaccine disciples have been embarrassed by “betting against” the unvaccinated because mandates only had the power we gave them.

It was not compliance that ended domination by Big Pharma Companies, Bill Gates and his many organizations, and the World Economic Forum…

It was THANKS to the people we tried to embarrass, ridicule, mock and tear down.

We should all try and find some inner gratitude for the unvaccinated as we took the bait by hating them because their perseverance and courage bought us the time to see we were wrong.

So if mandates ever return for Covid or any other disease or virus, hopefully, more of us will be awake and see the rising authoritarianism that has no concern for our well-being and is more about power and control.

The War on the Unvaccinated was lost and we should all be very thankful for that.”

This is the best thing I have read in 3 years. What a well-written article/apology, whatever you want to call it.

To have someone realize everything that we have gone through to save humanity from certain doom is reassuring.

I’ve lost many many friendships, argued with family and been banned from every social media platform I’ve been on either for life or like Facebook 30 days then a few days on and then 30 days again. That has been going on for 3 years. Twitter just banned me for life and TikTok is holding on by a thread. I tried to raise money for charity this year. I managed £62 in 8 weeks. That’s the extent of my lost friendships.

I have a group called “ castlemans disease UK “ and I’m a member of the CDCN ( Castlemans Disease Collaborative Network )

I sense the tension between us because of my views on the vaccines. I was right and always knew I was right because I had data and critical thinking. It doesn’t mean you’re dumb to have been sucked in, but some people wanted and wished I would die of covid. I wasn’t worried about the dying bit because I know that covid didn’t exist. However, the thought that people were wishing me dead because I was trying to save their lives was quite heartbreaking. I said no more endless times, but I couldn’t stop exposing these rich criminals.

But they haven’t finished with you yet. Now it’s destroying the Russian Federation and using you as tools.

They condemn Russia, but do you know

The United States Has Been at war 225 out of 243 years since 1776

The US Has Been at war for more than 92 per cent of the time

The American history of overt and covert foreign interventions dates back to 1811, when it had invaded Chile, just a year after this South American country had gained independence from Spain.

Research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” reveals that the United States has been at war for about 225 of the 243 years since its inception in 1776. While the number of US foreign military interventions had stood at 188 till 2017, the world superpower was found involved in 117 “partisan electoral interventions” between 1946 and 2000 or around one of every nine ballot exercises held since the Second World War.

This means that the United States has been at war for more than 92 per cent of the time since its birth, making critics view that the rulers of the land found by Christopher Columbus have been addicted to the use of military might and intoxicated with their successes against weaker nations that could not defend themselves for one reason or the other. Or in other words, the United States has only been at peace for less than 20 years.

In one of its November 23, 2017 reports, a known British media house “Channel 4 News” had carried a research undertaken by the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University, a private research university based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State. The researcher had calculated the vast scale of election interventions by both the US and Russia.

The media outlet had stated: “According to his research, there were 117 “partisan electoral interventions” between 1946 and 2000. That’s around one of every nine competitive elections held since Second World War. The majority of these – almost 70 per cent – were cases of US interference. And these are not all from the Cold War era; 21 such interventions took place between 1990 and 2000, of which 18 were by the United States, and 60 different independent countries have been the targets of such interventions.” The researcher interviewed by “Channel News 4” had maintained: “But almost two thirds of interventions were done in secret, with voters having no idea that foreign powers were actively trying to influence the results. According to Levin’s research, those countries where secret tactics have been deployed by the US include Guatemala, Brazil, El Salvador, Haiti, Panama, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, Greece, Italy, Malta, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, South Vietnam and Japan.”

He had asserted: “For Russia, the list of covert interventions includes: France, Denmark, Italy, Greece, West Germany, Japan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Congo, Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, and the US.”

By the way, the United States also has a long history of rigging polls, supporting military coups, channelling funds and spreading political propaganda in other countries. The United States has been involved in several foreign interventions throughout its history.

It was engaged in 46 military interventions from 1948–1991. “The National Interest”, an American bimonthly international affairs magazine, had carried a report in 2017, which had held: “The United States engaged in 46 military interventions from 1948–1991. From 1992–2017, this number had increased four-fold to 188. These statistics introduce two important puzzles. First, why would military interventions rise at the same time success in military interventions has been declining? Second, why would military interventions increase after the Cold War?”

The journal had added: “In other words, if the United States only intervenes with armed force when its vital interests are at stake, why intervene more often when there are arguably fewer vital interests at stake? The answer is that Washington too often intervenes militarily when it should not – and US security and prosperity have both suffered as a result.”

According to the prestigious “The Washington Post”, till December 2016, the United States had tried to change other countries’ governments 72 times during the Cold War.

The widely-read and quoted American media house had written: “Between 1947 and 1989, the United States tried to change other nations’ governments 72 times. That’s a remarkable number. It includes 66 covert operations and six overt ones. Of course, that doesn’t excuse Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. These 72 US operations were during the Cold War – meaning that, in most cases, the Soviet Union was covertly supporting anti-US forces.”

“The Washington Post” had asserted: “We examined unclassified Central Intelligence Agency documents and historical academic research on US interventions to identify 27 US clandestine operations carried out between 1949 and 2000. Most US “secret wars” were against other democratic states.” The report continued: “Unclassified documeit’s published by the US national security archive at George Washington University shows that the British government helped the United States overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh, a democratically elected prime minister of Iran, and tried to block the release of information about its involvement in the coup.”

The 143-year-old ace American newspaper had gone on to write: “But that’s just one example. In 1954, an anti-Communist “army” trained and armed by the CIA deposed democratically elected president Jacobo Arbenz Guzman in Guatemala – leading to years of violent civil war and rightist rule. Fifty-seven years later, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, on behalf of the state, asked Guzman’s family for forgiveness. And in 1981, President Ronald Reagan authorized the funding for the CIA-led “secret wars” against the democratically elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua. These are but a few examples of the US covert operations abroad.”

Everything above has been perfectly worded and orchestrated, to blame others. Russia meddling with 2016 election YAWWWNNN. But they have missed out on the years of secret biological weapons in Ukraine. No mention of the 8 years of shelling Donetsk.

But when Russia think “ right that’s it, they have intensified shelling on our Russian people and are planning to release biological weapons ( War Crimes ) on the world and move in to protect you and me, the West cover it up and blames Putin.

They even want to charge Putin with war crimes. I can assure you that I get a lot of information from Russia and the Western journalists and the people of Ukraine and the DPR daily. Ukrainian forces and the Azov battalion are savage with Zelensky snorting at least half an ounce of high-grade cocaine daily.

Here he is being interviewed and boasting and another great capture whilst during a zoom meeting.

If you look through my articles you will find stuff that will make your skin crawl. I’m not an “ I told you so “ type of person, but I have been relentless.

My new thing now along with my existing exposure will be “ climate change

To be a liar, especially a public liar, you need to have a very good memory and concentrate on every letter that comes out of your mouth.

Just Like Greta Thunberg. She’s useless on the spot. LISTEN

We are winning. The more that take it on the chin and just say “ hey, they got me “ the better chance we’ll have. So, please share my blogs and help save humanity.

Dave Begley

BREAKING NEWS. UKRAINE AND MORE

Bill Gates Vaccine History of Harm and Depopulation:

There are many cases of vaccine injury caused by the Gates Foundation or those they funded some of which are noted below:

• Paralysing 490,000 children in India through polio vaccine damage between 2000 and 2017 led to Gates being asked to leave India.

• Polio epidemics in Congo, Afghanistan, and the Philippines all linked to vaccines. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) admitted that the global explosion in polio was predominantly (70%) vaccine strain.

• In 2014, Kenya accused the WHO of chemically sterilizing millions of unwilling Kenyan women with a tetanus vaccine. The WHO finally admitted it had been developing the sterility vaccines for over a decade, cases followed in Tanzania, Nicaragua, Mexico, and the Philippines.

• In 2009, the Gates Foundation funded experimental HPV vaccines on 23,000 girls in remote Indian provinces. Approximately 1,200 suffered severe side effects, including autoimmune and fertility disorders. Seven died. The case is now in the country’s Supreme Court.

• In 2010, the Gates Foundation funded a phase 3 trial of GSK’s experimental malaria vaccine, killing 151 African infants and causing serious adverse effects, including paralysis, seizure, and febrile convulsions, to 1,048 of the 5,949 children.

• In 2002 Gates’ operatives forcibly vaccinated thousands of African children against meningitis. Approximately 50 of the 500 children vaccinated developed paralysis. Nelson Mandela’s former senior economist, Professor Patrick Bond, described the practices as “ruthless and immoral.”

A Sterility drug in food is hinted. Biologist stresses need to curb population growth.

November 4, 1969, New York Times feature article authored by Gladwin Hill called for sterilization chemicals to be added to the food supply to achieve globalist goals of human depopulation.

That article, entitled “A Sterility Drug in Food is Hinted” came with the byline, “Biologist Stresses Need to Curb Population Growth.”

Most people living today — especially younger people — have no idea that a key agenda of globalism is the elimination of “undesirable” humans from the gene pool. They believe that ideas of “eugenics” and genocide were only carried out by the Nazis, not by American university professors and presidential science advisors”

NYT November 1969 Article: https://www.nytimes.com/1969/11/25/archives/a-sterility-drug-in-food-is-hinted-biologist-stresses-need-to-curb.html?legacy=true

Link: https://humansbefree.com/2017/09/new-york-times-spike-the-food-supply-with-sterilization-chemicals-to-cause-global-infertility-and-depopulation.html

More than 80 GRAD rockets, a package of rockets from URAGAN and an unspecified number of 155-mm shells were fired at Donetsk today

🔥GRAPHIC VIDEO 🔥

GRAPHIC SCENE

I remind you they aren’t targeting military installations, only residential areas.

The sad news from Donetsk, is the repeated war crimes of purposefully targeting residents where there are no military installations, rather than the military of one side fighting the military of the other side, which is bad enough.

Some flag wavers need to be woken up from their mass formation psychosis. We don’t wave flags from any side and simply highlight more crimes against humanity in violation of all rules of war.

Please note that this shelling of residential areas is being enabled by the US, UK & EU governments.

Donetsk is on fire: there is a heavy shelling of the city.

The Ukrainian Terrorist Forces are conducting destructive artillery strikes of the center of Donetsk, as well as the Kiev and Kuibyshevsky districts, where MLRS shells are reported landing.

Information about the victims is coming in. It is necessary to leave the streets and go down to shelters.

Statement by the official representative of the DPR People’s Militia on the situation on June 16, 2022

💥Since the beginning of the day, according to JCCC information the enemy has fired more than 200 shells and mines from multiple launch rocket systems “Uragan” and “Grad”, 155, 152 and122mm cannon artillery, as well as 120, 82 and 60mm mortars.

💥The areas of 14 settlements of the Republic were under shelling. As a result of the Ukrainian aggression, a civilian was killed and 6 civilians were injured. 17 residential buildings, 7 civilian infrastructure facilities and 3 vehicles were damaged.

⚠️Additional information about the injured civilians and damage to infrastructure is being specified.

❗️Materials on the facts of the death and injury of civilians, as well as the destruction of civilian objects will be transferred to the General Prosecutor’s Office of the DPR for inclusion in criminal cases initiated against the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

❗️Over the day, joint actions of the military personnel of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed the following enemy weapons and military equipment: 2 M-777 howitzers, 2 BM-21 Grad MLRS, 2 trucks and more than 30 personnel. 3 enemy firing points in the area of Avdeevka were suppressed.

🕯Unfortunately, there were losses among our fighters. Over the past day, in the struggle for independence, 4 defenders of the Donetsk People’s Republic died in the line of military duty and 15 comrades were injured.

❗️We express our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

Today, on June 16, President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad met with a delegation of the Donetsk People’s Republic

During a meeting with the DPR delegation, Bashar al-Assad announced the official start of the procedure for recognizing the Republic

Today, on June 16, President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad met with a delegation of the Donetsk People’s Republic headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Natalia Nikonorova.

Mr. Assad greeted delegates, noting the common path of the peoples of Donbass and Syria in a fight against unfriendly United States and other Western countries. He expressed confidence in the speedy and successful completion of the operation to liberate territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics from the Kyiv regime and wished peace to be restored as soon as possible.

The President of the Syrian Arab Republic noted the readiness of the state to recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Mr Assad announced the official start of the recognition procedure and noted that the SAR Ministry of Foreign Affairs would immediately receive relevant instructions from him.

Mr. Assad asked Natalia Nikonorova to convey greetings to the Donetsk People’s Republic Head, as well as gratitude for his active position in the development of constructive and fruitful relations with Damascus.

The Foreign Minister, in turn, conveyed words of welcome from the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the entire Donbass people. She also expressed gratitude to Mr Assad for his support and readiness to strengthen cooperation with Donbas.

In addition, Natalia Nikonorova suggested that Mr Assad consider the possibility of participation of the Syrian Arab Republic in an international tribunal against representatives of Ukrainian armed groups who are accused of committing crimes against Donbas inhabitants.

Also, the head of the DPR delegation expressed the state’s full readiness for a dynamic and mutually beneficial rapprochement between the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Syrian Arab Republic.

When it comes to lies – some Western mainstream media know no shame.

A German national TV network Tagesschau reported that Russia was responsible for for yesterday’s massive shelling of Donetsk’s residential area, when, in fact, it was the Ukrainian military behind the heinous crime.

Confirmed i.a by the UN, but would it matter for those, who “support the current thing”?

According to the official data of the DPR Joint Centre for Control and Coordination

According to the official data of the DPR Joint Centre for Control and Coordination before the special military operation start from February 17, 2022, as of 10:30 June 17, 2022:

🆘During the 118 days of escalation, 173 civilians were killed, including 9 children.

Full data on civilian deaths in the territories liberated during the special military operation are being established.

In the territories within the borders before the start of the special military operation, 826 civilians were injured of varying severity, including 61 children.

In the territories liberated during the special military operation, 1428 civilians were injured, including 76 children.

Total: 2254, including 137children.

🏠Damages:

– 4492 residential buildings;

– 963 civilian infrastructure facilities, including 61 medical institutions, 178 educational institutions, 324 social security facilities, 29 critical infrastructure facilities, 372 electricity, water and gas supply facilities. The armed formations of Ukraine attack Kuibyshevsky, Budenovsky and Kievsky districts of Donetsk, Gorlovka and Verkhnetoretskoe.

– 493 vehicles.

At the moment, it is impossible to establish for certain the data on damage and destruction of residential housing construction and civil infrastructure facilities in the territories liberated during the special military operation.

📈 During the 118 days of the escalation of the DPR JCCC recorded 4379 facts of firing, of which 4060 with the use of heavy weapons.

💥In total, the enemy fired 38 497 ammunition of various calibers, including 28 missiles from the Tochka-U tactical ballistic missile system, 14 missiles from the BM-30 Smerch MLRS, 84 BM-27 Uragan MLRS missiles and 6895 BM-21 Grad MLRS missiles.

38,983 Deaths and 3,530,362 Injuries Following COVID Shots in European Database as Mass Funeral for Children Who Died After Pfizer Vaccine Held in Switzerland

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First published on February 17, 2022

***

The European (EEA and non-EEA countries) database of suspected drug reaction reports is EudraVigilance, verified by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and they are now reporting 38,983 fatalities and 3,530,362 injuries following injections of four experimental COVID-19 shots:

From the total of injuries recorded, almost half of them (1,672,872 ) are serious injuries.

Seriousness provides information on the suspected undesirable effect; it can be classified as ‘serious’ if it corresponds to a medical occurrence that results in death, is life-threatening, requires inpatient hospitalisation, results in another medically important condition, or prolongation of existing hospitalisation, results in persistent or significant disability or incapacity, or is a congenital anomaly/birth defect.”

A Health Impact News subscriber in Europe ran the reports for each of the four COVID-19 shots we are including here. It is a lot of work to tabulate each reaction with injuries and fatalities, since there is no place on the EudraVigilance system we have found that tabulates all the results.

Since we have started publishing this, others from Europe have also calculated the numbers and confirmed the totals.*

Here is the summary data through January 29, 2022.

Total reactions for the mRNA vaccine Tozinameran (code BNT162b2,Comirnaty) from BioNTech/ Pfizer: 17,578 deaths and 1,704,757 injuries to 29/01/2022

  • 48,240   Blood and lymphatic system disorders incl. 242 deaths
  • 57,541   Cardiac disorders incl. 2,554 deaths
  • 522        Congenital, familial and genetic disorders incl. 51 deaths
  • 22,590   Ear and labyrinth disorders incl. 11 deaths
  • 1,911     Endocrine disorders incl. 6 deaths
  • 25,814   Eye disorders incl. 38 deaths
  • 133,365 Gastrointestinal disorders incl. 681 deaths
  • 422,360 General disorders and administration site conditions incl. 5,024 deaths
  • 1,931     Hepatobiliary disorders incl. 90 deaths
  • 18,455   Immune system disorders incl. 95 deaths
  • 76,443   Infections and infestations incl. 1,878 deaths
  • 33,972   Injury, poisoning and procedural complications incl. 331 deaths
  • 42,585   Investigations incl. 502 deaths
  • 11,344   Metabolism and nutrition disorders incl. 273 deaths
  • 201,643 Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders incl. 212 deaths
  • 1,629     Neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps) incl. 153 deaths
  • 278,744 Nervous system disorders incl. 1,859 deaths
  • 2,513     Pregnancy, puerperium and perinatal conditions incl. 74 deaths
  • 251        Product issues incl. 3 deaths
  • 30,622   Psychiatric disorders incl. 207 deaths
  • 6,150     Renal and urinary disorders incl. 266 deaths
  • 68,129   Reproductive system and breast disorders incl. 6 deaths
  • 72,531   Respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders incl. 1,884 deaths
  • 78,059   Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders incl. 146 deaths
  • 3,871     Social circumstances incl. 22 deaths
  • 21,010   Surgical and medical procedures incl. 204 deaths
  • 42,532   Vascular disorders incl. 766 deaths

Total reactions for the mRNA vaccine mRNA-1273 (CX-024414) from Moderna: 11,008 deathand 543,543 injuries to 29/01/2022

  • 12,365   Blood and lymphatic system disorders incl. 120 deaths
  • 18,287   Cardiac disorders incl. 1,142 deaths
  • 190        Congenital, familial and genetic disorders incl. 11 deaths
  • 6,310     Ear and labyrinth disorders incl. 8 deaths
  • 502        Endocrine disorders incl. 6 deaths
  • 7,475     Eye disorders incl. 36 deaths
  • 44,340   Gastrointestinal disorders incl. 413 deaths
  • 145,153 General disorders and administration site conditions incl. 3,630 deaths
  • 793        Hepatobiliary disorders incl. 54 deaths
  • 5,370     Immune system disorders incl. 22 deaths
  • 23,070   Infections and infestations incl. 1042 deaths
  • 10,286   Injury, poisoning and procedural complications incl. 208 deaths
  • 12,129   Investigations incl. 393 deaths
  • 4,847     Metabolism and nutrition disorders incl. 263 deaths
  • 66,358   Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders incl. 223 deaths
  • 682        Neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps) incl. 85 deaths
  • 91,230   Nervous system disorders incl. 1,029 deaths
  • 907        Pregnancy, puerperium and perinatal conditions incl. 10 deaths
  • 98           Product issues incl. 4 deaths
  • 9,441     Psychiatric disorders incl. 181 deaths
  • 3,030     Renal and urinary disorders incl. 214 deaths
  • 12,547   Reproductive system and breast disorders incl. 9 deaths
  • 23,251   Respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders incl. 1,162 deaths
  • 27,540   Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders incl. 96 deaths
  • 2,239     Social circumstances incl. 45 deaths
  • 3,028     Surgical and medical procedures incl. 203 deaths
  • 12,075   Vascular disorders incl. 399 deaths

Total reactions for the vaccine AZD1222/VAXZEVRIA (CHADOX1 NCOV-19) from Oxford/ AstraZeneca7,977 deathand 1,154,757 injuries to 29/01/2022

  • 13,912   Blood and lymphatic system disorders incl. 278 deaths
  • 20,984   Cardiac disorders incl. 830 deaths 
  • 235        Congenital familial and genetic disorders incl. 8 deaths
  • 13,406   Ear and labyrinth disorders incl. 7 deaths
  • 692        Endocrine disorders incl. 6 deaths
  • 20,086   Eye disorders incl. 32 deaths
  • 107,453 Gastrointestinal disorders incl. 434 deaths
  • 304,993 General disorders and administration site conditions incl. 1,855 deaths
  • 1,039     Hepatobiliary disorders incl. 69 deaths
  • 5,409     Immune system disorders incl. 40 deaths
  • 42,266   Infections and infestations incl. 620 deaths
  • 13,630   Injury poisoning and procedural complications incl. 198 deaths
  • 25,681   Investigations incl. 205 deaths
  • 13,023   Metabolism and nutrition disorders incl. 126 deaths
  • 168,174 Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders incl. 165 deaths
  • 743        Neoplasms benign malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps) incl. 40 deaths
  • 234,117 Nervous system disorders incl. 1,178 deaths
  • 635        Pregnancy puerperium and perinatal conditions incl. 20 deaths
  • 199        Product issues incl. 1 death
  • 21,051   Psychiatric disorders incl. 69 deaths
  • 4,338     Renal and urinary disorders incl. 78 deaths
  • 16,849   Reproductive system and breast disorders incl. 3 deaths
  • 41,401   Respiratory thoracic and mediastinal disorders incl. 1,082 deaths
  • 52,064   Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders incl. 65 deaths
  • 1,617     Social circumstances incl. 9 deaths
  • 1,973     Surgical and medical procedures incl. 30 deaths
  • 28,787   Vascular disorders incl. 529 deaths     

Total reactions for the COVID-19 vaccine JANSSEN (AD26.COV2.S) from Johnson & Johnson2,420 deaths and 127,305 injuries to 29/01/2022

  • 1,229 Blood and lymphatic system disorders incl. 51 deaths
  • 2,552 Cardiac disorders incl. 204 deaths
  • 40 Congenital, familial and genetic disorders incl. 1 death
  • 1,319 Ear and labyrinth disorders incl. 3 deaths
  • 105 Endocrine disorders incl. 1 death
  • 1,656 Eye disorders incl. 10 deaths
  • 9,588 Gastrointestinal disorders incl. 88 deaths
  • 34,487 General disorders and administration site conditions incl. 685 deaths
  • 153 Hepatobiliary disorders incl. 13 deaths
  • 544 Immune system disorders incl. 10 deaths
  • 8,521 Infections and infestations incl. 207 deaths
  • 1,147 Injury, poisoning and procedural complications incl. 25 deaths
  • 6,086 Investigations incl. 131 deaths
  • 756 Metabolism and nutrition disorders incl. 60 deaths
  • 17,116 Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders incl. 55 deaths
  • 86 Neoplasms benign, malignant and unspecified (incl cysts and polyps) incl. 8 deaths
  • 23,413 Nervous system disorders incl. 245 deaths
  • 55 Pregnancy, puerperium and perinatal conditions incl. 1 death
  • 30 Product issues
  • 1,766 Psychiatric disorders incl. 22 deaths
  • 535 Renal and urinary disorders incl. 31 deaths
  • 2,941 Reproductive system and breast disorders incl. 6 deaths
  • 4,468 Respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders incl. 304 deaths
  • 3,760 Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders incl. 10 deaths
  • 409 Social circumstances incl. 4 deaths
  • 867 Surgical and medical procedures incl. 74 deaths
  • 3,676 Vascular disorders incl. 171 deaths

*These totals are estimates based on reports submitted to EudraVigilance. Totals may be much higher based on percentage of adverse reactions that are reported. Some of these reports may also be reported to the individual country’s adverse reaction databases, such as the U.S. VAERS database and the UK Yellow Card system. The fatalities are grouped by symptoms, and some fatalities may have resulted from multiple symptoms.

On January 29, 2021, a mass funeral protest for children who have died after receiving a Pfizer vaccine was held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Someone recorded the event and made a short video. This is on our Bitchute Channel, and also on our Telegram channel.

Watch the video here.

In Canada today, it was reported that a judge ruled that a mother could give COVID-19 vaccines to her children over the objections of the children’s father, and suspended the father’s right to spend time with his children.

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The featured image is from the Children’s Health Defense

Don’t forget to GET THAT JAB

Chinese depositors left in dark as three local banks freeze deposits

China puts on “digital handcuffs” to stop bank run “protesters” by controlling health passport. A perfect display of total state power evidencing why we have been fighting digital IDs and CBDCs with all of humanity’s strength.

SHANGHAI, May 18 (Reuters) – Three banks in China’s central Henan province have frozen at least $178 million of deposits, offering scant information on why or for how long, leaving firms unable to pay workers and individuals locked out of savings, depositors told Reuters.

Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin Country Bank and Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank froze all deposits on April 18, with all three telling customers they were upgrading internal systems. The banks have not issued any communication on the matter since, depositors said.

None of the three banks responded to Reuters’ emails or phone calls seeking comment.

While nominally small, China’s numerous local banks have outsized significance because they lend to small and mid-sized firms so their activity can be an indicator of the health of the economy, the world’s second-biggest after the United States.

Bank earnings and asset quality are widely expected to deteriorate due to reduced business activity brought about by strict COVID-19 containment measures, raising the prospect of economic contraction in the second quarter of the year.

Depositors of the three banks told Reuters they had been communicating with each other via messaging app WeChat about how to retrieve funds. Some posted screenshots of frozen accounts and shared conversations with bank staff.

Some posted videos of protests outside bank branches, while others said they had travelled to the banks’ headquarters in search of an explanation only to be turned away by police.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commision, which was cited in media reports on May 1 as saying it was looking into the matter, and the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, did not respond to faxed requests for comment.

ANGER

Depositors from the southern Zhejiang province communicating over WeChat compiled a spreadsheet seen by Reuters in which they self-reported 1.2 billion yuan ($177.55 million) in frozen funds across the three banks.

As the banks have customers across China, magazine Caixin on April 30 reported the frozen amount could total $1.5 billion.

Jerry Chang, owner of a factory in Hubei province, cannot access his over 6 million yuan deposited at Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank.

“Not being able to withdraw money has a huge impact on the operation of our factory, including procurement and workers’ wages,” said Chang, who used the bank because of its marginally higher interest rate of 1.85%.

Tony Qian, an investment consultant from Zhejiang province, cannot access the 20 million yuan he put in Yu Zhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank that he had been saving to buy property.

“The thing I’m most angry about is … no one has explained anything to us,” said Qian.