Quarantine Monologues – War becomes you

Quarantine log – day 18th

I started this quarantine log a few days after March 25th, the day all Greeks commemorate their independence from the Ottoman Turks. Many people around the world have rushed to liken this quarantine and coronavirus situation to war. Yes, there are some similarities. The shortages in gear, tests and everything one needs to fight the contagion do remind us of a siege situation. But this “war” we are waging against the coronavirus is very different than fighting the Turks or the Germans. Here, the enemy is elusive and invisible to the naked eye. This enemy is unconventional, it is viral, it creeps in cunningly and strikes indiscriminately.

Wartime president

The curfew on one hand and people hoarding food on the other, do remind us of stories from another, more recent war, the world war which was a double one.  We are at war, said in their address to their nations Macron and Mitsotakis. Several weeks, many blunders and a lot of misinformation later, Trump also announced that he is a wartime president, in a war that is very different than any other before, he added.

I read in the online version of Greek newspaper Efsyn that Hungary passed on Monday (30 March) a law that gives sweeping new powers to prime minister Viktor Orban to rule by decree – for an unlimited period of time. This makes Hungary the first EU country to be put under the exclusive command of the government for as long as the prime minister sees it fit. The Orban government, which controls two-thirds of MPs in the parliament, argues the new powers are needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The new powers include suspending enforcement of certain laws, not only ones related to the crisis. It also imposes jail terms for those disseminating news deemed untrue or distorted, prompting renewed fears over press freedom in Budapest. Elections and referendums will be postponed for the indefinite time of the emergency.

The last time the leader of a country talked about an unwaged war, in peacetime, it was when George W. Bush addressed the nation after 9/11. And he did so, in order to convince Americans that extraordinary measures need to be taken and people had to quietly accept everything. Anyone who tried to voice any sort of criticism against Bush’s rhetoric became immediately the target of mainstream media and was made a pariah. Gore Vidal was one of the few who could still talk without suffering any consequences, and he never stopped mocking the president with the harshest of words. In one of his last interviews on BBC he made fun of the self-proclaimed wartime president. You can find the clip on Youtube. But Bush went on with his wartime agenda and used his special powers to protect himself and his administration from any accusation of torture and violation of international laws deriving from the Geneva conventions.
.

Corporate responsibility?

Whether our leaders will follow down the same road as Bush and they are referring to war just to give us a hint of what’s coming, it remains to be seen. But since they crossed that Rubicon and called this pandemic “a war”, why didn’t they go all the way? Why didn’t they order their industry to change its production in order to produce ventilators, masks, gloves, tests and anything else we need to fight this particular war? Why are we relying merely on the kindness of some business owners who announced voluntarily that they will start producing gear that doctors and nurses need? If this is war, shouldn’t everyone be called to help, small or big? Why do we only talk about personal responsibility? What happened to corporate responsibility in such trying times?

Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Roche, has made the formula of a key coronavirus test component available to the Dutch government. Roche said in a statement that it is aware of the “huge demand” for coronavirus tests in The Netherlands and that it “wants to do everything in its power to support patients and caregivers.” Philips announced that it is stepping up the production of medical equipment that can be used in the fight against the coronavirus, such as respirators, X-ray, and CT scanners. The company plans to double its production of respiratory equipment in the next eight weeks, and even have it quadrupled in the third quarter. These are just some examples of private companies taking initiative. But is this enough? And how about the cost of such initiatives? Will they offer their services for free or are we going to have to pay for everything in the end? Neoliberalism, the ideology that has ruled the world for the last few decades, will be under scrutiny during this pandemic. Whether it survives the quarantine or exploits it to grow stronger, it also remains to be seen.

United we stand… divided.

And then there is the point of unity and solidarity. War normally unites people. It unites the citizens against the threat and it forces countries to forge alliances against the common enemy. If you take a look at what’s going on in Europe right now, you can’t help but notice that there is very little solidarity and very few decision have been made to address the issue collectively. The borders of European countries are closing, just like they did with the refugee fiasco. Every country for themselves, I guess that’s the new moto. France and Germany announced that are stopping all exports of protective and medical gear to European countries. They hoard them for their own citizens. The Union is no more than an empty shell. Countries are left on their own devices to fight this pandemic. In Italy, they are pulling down the European Union flag and replace it with a flag of Cuba or China, the two countries that have helped them like no other.

The same countries that stopped their exports to their neighbors are the ones that blocked the decision for issuing coronabonds on a European level. Among those countries is, of course, The Netherlands, a decision that was heavily criticized by the former Dutch Central Bank head Nout Wellink.

Nothing is more permanent than the temporary

The last point I’d like to raise is about the side effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy. Already new reports are coming in about layoffs, and the economy-watchers predict a new recession. The labor market effects will not be pretty either. My fear is that this new doctrine of “war on coronavirus” will justify a number of extreme measures that will be taken initially on a temporary basis, but soon will become the new normal. These measures are likely to benefit businesses and banks a lot more than individuals and people in general. And they will stay in effect for a long time, longer than initially thought, because this virus is likely to torment us for quite some time until we get rid of it completely.

Let’s not forget that the shock doctrine that Naomi Klein described so well in the homonymous book, talks about not just an economic crisis, but also, about a health crisis like this pandemic. The gist of it is this, in Klein’s own words: “During moments of cataclysmic change, the previously unthinkable suddenly becomes reality.” If you want to hear her explain this in detail, please watch the following video.

So, what should we do? What can we do? Well, Naomi Klein does give a few pointers on how to beat coronavirus capitalism. What I would add is stay vigilant, take nothing for granted, question everything that is announced and voice your opposition. Do not panic, do not be complacent about it. Exercise healthy skepticism, our built-in survival mechanism. And never lose sight of what’s at stake at times like this. Democracy is very fragile when you are “at war” with an elusive enemy. At any time it can collapse into pseudo-democracy or be stripped away altogether, under the pretense of protecting the country. Look at Hungary right now. There you see a glimpse of the gloomiest scenario.