Covid 19: Misinformation, Education and the Need for Clarity

is absent. President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) virtual Summit, refloated the idea of the late, former president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez of setting up an international humanitarian fund for the purpose of distributing medical equipment and medicines among its member states (see “Coronavirus: Sanctions and Suffering” by Dr Chandra Muzaffar).

Even more urgent is the economic impact of the necessary measures to combat and retard the spread of the virus. The lockdowns left the global poor unprotected. As in India, those without proper homes were left vulnerable to the virus, a painful situation made worse by economic pressures forcing many to walk hundreds of miles home to their villages of origin because the transport system was not operating. This tragedy was repeated in Indonesia, Thailand and even in Malaysia where a young man walked from the capital to his village in the east coast of the Peninsula, Kelantan.

Economic rescue packages was a project common to all countries but in some this became opportunities for corruption, as in Malaysia. Dr Chandra Muzaffar intimated as much in his article, “Covid Crisis: Lifting People”. But in the US trillions of dollars passed by Congress as a rescue package was over a short time shown to be used to bail out big businesses without the necessary caveat of keeping employment intact as what was done in Germany. There was no doubting the need to keep companies reasonably healthy to prevent a sudden surge of unemployment and obviously public money should be used in such a way so as to propagate money velocity. However, this was not Washington’s main concern. Again, as in the 2008 rescue package, Wall Street took precedence over the High Street and only time will tell how severe the damage will be to the US economy.

There are some predicting a future where the coronavirus is an inescapable presence, meaning without a vaccine the behavioural changes established during the pandemic will be retained. Cleanliness and social distancing will be the new normal. Masks are recommended to better stop transmissions. The immediate future must see the public focusing on defeating the spread of the coronavirus, if not its annihilation. In this new normal, others see the move to internet communication as coming into its own where emphasis on social distancing remains and mass gatherings forbidden. Dr Jaspal Kaur Sadhu Singh in her “The Evolution of Zoom as a Communication Platform during the Pandemic” observes the phenomenal rise of the Zoom application that has fitted the gap, almost neatly, enabling online meetings where physical meetings are out of the question.

Large gatherings and mass assemblies are almost everywhere without exception pronounced illegal thus affecting religious congregation prayers. For Muslims the impact has been immense. Close to the hearts of all Muslims is the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, which was put on hold this year. Saudi Arabia closed her borders and only locals were able to perform the Hajj. In other largely Muslim countries the weekly Friday prayers were initially banned and later when lockdowns were lifted the congregation was limited to accommodate social distancing. And, too, affecting all Muslims was the terawih or congregational prayers of Ramadhan, the fasting month. Happening during lockdowns families were encouraged to perform these prayers at home. Some families Zoomed together. Of course, not everyone was happy. In fact, in Malaysia a regional assembly of Muslims at a mosque in the very early days of the lockdown left a trail of infections, as happened, too, in India. But as Professor Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi in his article, “Religion and Reason can go hand in hand/Searching for the Heart and Soul

of Religion,”, made plain that it is well within the purview of governments to ban congregational gatherings as a public health security measure.

Indeed, right off the bat billionaire Bill Gates warned the world that only a vaccine can bring back the old normal of public gatherings. The recent admission by WHO that Gates-backed vaccine has caused the recent outbreak of polio in Africa (Fort-Russ.com, September 10, 2020) is only going to further pulverise his image given that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was forced to leave India for a similar reason.

Large public gatherings while banned did not stop the chaos that has become a part of American sociopolitical scene. See Dr Chandra Muzaffar’s “A Superpower in Chaos”. That Covid-19 has highlighted class inequalities and race discrimination cannot but inflame public anger towards the callous disregard of black lives by the US police force. As the presidential election draws near the unrest has not eased. In fact, even while the protests against police violence are ongoing the police have not stopped the malevolence they perpetrate towards blacks and other minorities.

But as Elma Berisha points out in “Social Protesting Pre and Covid-19”, social protests were spreading globally when the pandemic broke. The Gilet Jaunes demonstration in France were already a year old when Covid-19 struck. The climate protests had begun to spread west from Australia. The young activist, Greta Thunberg, was beginning to make an impression. Lebanon was protesting. So, too, were the Palestinians. And then, in the midst of the pandemic, in Minneapolis, USA, a white policeman was videotaped with his knee pressed on the neck of a black man, George Floyd, until the big man went limp and died. Black Lives Matter and Antifa, two American civil society organisations, harnessed the public indignation and cities in the US erupted in violence demanding the police be defunded. Suddenly the US had not only health and economic emergencies, but crime also exploded. The situation remains unchanged with just weeks away from the 2020 presidential elections.

Whither the future? Dr Junaid Ahmad in his “ Corona in an Age of Transition” views the pandemic as a phase in American history, the decline of American power. “What this pandemic’s impact on America has exposed so nakedly are the weaknesses of an empire in decline for quite a while now…The scandals and obscenities of the sundry aspects of American society that its rulers have tried to conceal all these decades, the country’s broken healthcare system, its obscene inequality and utter indifference to the lives of ordinary working Americans,” he writes.

The new normal is not an outcome imminent in the present is Dr Junaid’s conclusion but he exhorts the “emancipatory ethos” of prophetic religions and philosophical traditions as drivers towards a relatively more just and egalitarian future. This same optimisim is shared by Elma Berisha who, however, views it as a possibility necessarily emanating from the popular protests. Another writer sharing the same stance is Abdullah al-Ahsan. He writes in “Post Coronavirus World: Could we Expect a Better Domain?” of establishing trust amongst the global majority that surely is able to diminish “the arrogance, corruption and exploitation by a tiny elite”. And he speaks of a difficult recovery as a result, “a slow process but it will be more dignified, durable, participatory and respectful.”

But Askiah Adam views another possibility. In her piece,”American Hubris Robust in a Cataclysmic Global Pandemic”, she sees instead a United States helmed by President Trump as seeking a foreign foe to diminish the widely shared sense that he is a failed American president. Facing the perfect storm -health, economic and social disintegration and re-election -- a war with China might be the only option opened to him. At the time of writing the escalation of tensions between the US and China is no longer mere speculation. The US Congress abandoned the recognition of China’s One China policy and the members of Trump’s cabinet began directly interfering in Taiwan -- sale of arms, ballistic missiles included -- cannot but be viewed by China as extreme provocation. It is a challenge to her sovereignty. Reports of 22nd September 2020 says China has issued warnings of a “Taiwan takeover”. Australia’s news.com.au reports that China has sent 20 fighters to breach its borders with Taiwan and Taiwan’s President has disingenuously warned of a “clear and present danger” to the whole region. The Chinese has said that this is no bluff and war is inevitable if US provocations continue.

While a war may seem like an illogical consequence of the pandemic, President Trump appears caught between a rock and a hard place. Would political expediency force his hand to further escalate tensions with China based on the many pretexts already lined up: Hong Kong, Uighurs, Taiwan, the South China Sea are some? But the most outstanding reason would be the challenge to US global dominance. Historically, imperialists have resorted to wars to retain their position as in the 17th century imperialist wars between France and Britain. For instance, Louis the XIV used war as both a foreign policy device and to strengthen his domestic appeal (alphahistory.com) But will Trump start his first war, a contained misadventure, on the falsehood of Chinese hegemonic ambitions in the last days of his presidency?

By Askiah Adam