maandag 6 december 2021

Why global solidarity on Covid won’t come from public opinion in the North

This morning, I read an op-ed from a Belgian psychiatrist (Wim Simons) in my newspaper and suddenly, I understood why we haven’t really seen huge pressure from Northern public opinion on Covid vaccine related inequities over the past months and years. In the  piece, Simons argued that our capacity for empathy is determined by several elements: (1) our own assessment of wellbeing, (2) the way in which we know ourselves connected to others, and (3) the meaning we get from life. Right now, after two years of pandemic stress, all of these aspects are under pressure, he claims.    (I would add that even before Covid, many of them were already jeopardized in our neoliberalized economies and societies, for an increasing number of people.) 

Although Simons' piece focused on the (increasing lack of) empathy in Belgium in Covid times, I’m afraid it has implications for the global Covid vaccine equity debate as well. But let me just give you these figures by way of example: a few weeks ago, about 35000 (organizers said, 70000) people, an ideological hotchpotch of people like in other countries in Europe, took to the streets in Brussels to protest against Covid response measures in my country. Some days later, 150 committed activists were protesting the EC TRIPS Waiver stance, also in Brussels.

More in general, even now at the height of the Delta wave in my country, and with Omicron looming on the horizon, global vaccine (and other) Covid inequities don’t really get people on the streets. That doesn’t mean we’re all racist, or selfish. It’s just not ‘top of our priority list’. Yes, many people say, “what a shame this is, this vaccine inequity”. It’s really not for a lack of information at this stage in the pandemic. A bit like on the migrants drowning in the seas at our borders. Many of us know very well the ugly implications of 'Fortress Europe' by now, find it very sad, but few are taking to the streets for it. And our “leaders” know it damned well. Currently, in the Covid era, they feel a lot more pressure from irritated and fatigued citizens, and from interest groups, than they do from people arguing for, say, a TRIPS waiver.

And so they get away with it, and I personally don’t want to blame public opinion for that. Not after 2 years in this pandemic, where many people have been struggling and juggling to get their lives going. No, it’s our so called leaders who need to have a deep look at their track record over the past two years, when it comes to real global solidarity.  At the end of the day, it’s Ursula, Boris, Alexander, Jens, Joe and others. Even more than Albert & Stéphane, I would say. Our political leaders have gone, in spite of lofty rhetoric on ‘global solidarity’ for the strategic choice to stick to the neoliberal IP model we know, in combination with geopolitics  (even trying to use ‘vaccine diplomacy’ for diplomatic gain, perhaps worried that others were doing the same). That was their deliberate choice, and they should be open about it. Covax and, after a while, facilitating tech transfer on Big Pharma terms (in the medium term) were their ‘shield’ for criticism, together with repeating the Pharma mantra that ‘supply won’t be the problem by mid-2022’. 

For the time being, they’re getting away with it – public opinion doesn’t really criticize them for their lack of global solidarity (although I would have liked to see otherwise), no, citizens increasingly criticize our leaders because the ‘Empires of freedom’ they had been promised in their own countries have failed to materialize. That these two are connected, many even know, from good coverage in media for example. But no, it doesn’t tick people’s buttons enough to put pressure on their leaders.

In the process, as it’s all too obvious to citizens that many of our leaders are “in the pocket” of Big Pharma, who earn billions and billions in the pandemic, trust in democracy is going down. I know, it’s just one reason, but it is one. With the results you see on the streets, but not just there I’m afraid. Citizens have become deeply cynical about their leaders (and Bezos and other billionaires flying into space isn’t helping much). The backdrop for Biden's 'Summit for Democracy' this weekend is really quite worrying. 

So it’s not public opinion’s fault, I reckon. Not after 2 years of Covid.  

At this stage, instead I really hope some enlightened leaders will display the guts to understand that this is a pandemic, and so do the necessary, both on dropping the neoliberal IP model and their inclination towards geopolitical brinkmanship. I’m very grateful dedicated activists continue to keep pressure on our leaders to do the right thing.

While not everybody likes using the term, it’s a war. A global one. One that needs global solidarity. Two years ago, in fact.  But it’s not too late for Joe, Ursula and others to change tack. Let’s indeed go for tech transfer and regional manufacturing big time, not on Big Pharma terms this time, and let’s make that a lot easier via a TRIPS waiver, among other measures. Albert & Stéphane (and their companies) have earned more than enough by now. A criminal amount of money, if you ask me.  And enough empty talk about preventing the next pandemic. Time to fix this one.

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