by Sebastiano Voicu
This pandemic may be the most difficult test for governments in the last century. Everyone is concerned about whether the authorities are capable of protecting us and keeping our societies out of oblivion. But we must overcome another crisis: the political one.
In the democracies, the current ruling parties are most likely to lose the next elections (even if it’s not entirely their fault).
But in the much more interesting cases of authoritarian systems, there might be a concern among the leaders about an eventual rebellion.
In China, the catastrophically late reaction recalled memories of the excesses of Mao, decades back. The opposition to Xi Jinping rose within the communist party, reinforced by his anti-corruption initiative, which generated many enemies.
The tension among the regime in Beijing is manifested in the vast campaign of helping Italy and other European countries affected by this pandemic, sending a message to the domestic audience that China is more powerful than ever and that even Europeans need them. This strategy of growing the trust in the Chinese authorities might not have had the same effect in the EU, where people have not forgotten the poor management of the pandemic in China and the (almost certainly) false reports of cases and deaths in the People’s Republic.
However, in Africa, boosted by the absence of the US, China is hoping to expand its sphere of influence by providing aid. And, so far, it is succeeding.
Trump’s early actions of not taking the crisis seriously have put the U.S. in a very dark place, being, by far, the country with most cases and deaths, but also isolating Washington from the rest of the world.
The policies of the current leader of the free world have enormously damaged the United States, in favour of China and Russia, especially in these hard times, when America’s response must have been maybe the most powerful in the world.
But there might be an even more disastrous president: Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil (the second largest epicenter of COVID-19 in the world).
The Health Minister of Brazil resigned because of disagreements with the President’s approach to fighting the pandemic (or the lack of it). Bolsonaro publicly said, many times, that he does not believe in the existence of this virus.
As the crisis deepens, most of the world seems to have serious political and financial issues due to the pandemic, but there is a clear border between the states that managed the pandemic well, like Australia, New Zeeland, Canada or Greece and countries that did not: the U.S., Brazil, Russia, India, etc.
We must fight this crisis united and keep believing in our dreams and values. We will rise from this stronger than ever as we always did.
hARTS magazine 