There is revolution in the air now, but history shows the old order will fight back | Nesrine Malik

Coronavirus policies to help the vulnerable are already being jettisoned. Those who want change need to be up for the battle

It is now certain. We will emerge from lockdown grieving for those lost and yearning for our previous lives, only to crash into a recession. As much as we dream of visiting our favourite cafe or pub, it's not clear they will remain after the virus has run its course.

Already reality heaves into view. The hospitality industry is being battered. One in four restaurants in the US is expected never to reopen. Amazon is finishing off the retail sector. Small businesses, cafes, online retailers and clothes designers are struggling. Loved and carefully nurtured ventures, operating on the thinnest of margins, are dying out. Every few days another one of them posts its goodbyes. We think of the world as how we left it. But that world is gone.

The working classes, the cleaners, the construction workers, have become the canaries sent back down the coal mine

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