LIDN Weekly Roundup #49
The World’s first truly global pandemic continues its inexorable spread, and life, as we know it, is temporarily on hold. Roundup #49 is, perhaps unavoidably, somewhat of a companion piece to last week’s ‘Perspectives in the time of Coronavirus’ (aka #48).
To while away some of the free time many of us will be spending at home for the foreseeable future, Global Justice Now will be hosting a fortnightly series of online public meetings, beginning Thursday 9 April, on Coronavirus, capitalism and global inequality.
For a historical perspective outlining major epidemics of the modern era, the Council on Foreign Relations has created a fascinating timeline, from the 1899 Cholera outbreak all the way up to the present pandemic.
Next, a look at how popular protest movements worldwide are adapting their tactics to advance their demands while confronting the challenges that social distancing presents to them.
At a time when Western countries are closing their borders and solipsism is on the rise, a timely reminder that social distancing may work in China or Europe, but in many African countries (and much of the Global South), it’s something only a minority can afford.
Finally, a note of hope from an adviser to the Liberian government on the 2014 Ebola endemic. Successful responses to viral pandemics must encompass both social and biological aspects: ‘…as much about behaviour as beds, as much about trust as treatment’. Through learning and adaptation at all levels, particularly the community level, crises such as the one we’re currently experiencing can be beaten.
