COVID-19 found societies not only unprepared but also unaware. Koray Caliskan and Donald MacKenzie ask why social sciences have taken so little interest in pathogens. In comparing humans and viruses, they reveal the risks of an overly anthropocentric focus. Perhaps it’s time to rewrite the books?
Overwhelmed and underserved camps are in no condition to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks. The European Union’s response so far is falling short in protecting refugees from the pandemic. The Eurozine miniseries reviews recent restrictions on mobility.
Social distancing is impossible when 1200 people share a single tap. The Greek government is using the pandemic to segregate refugees from citizens but hasn’t provided the means for prevention. If this politics of abandonment continues, grossly overcrowded camps will become death traps. The Eurozine miniseries reports from Greece.
The list of signatories to the statement issued by members of the European People’s Party calling for the expulsion of Fidesz, following Hungary’s ‘Coronavirus Protection Act’, contained some notable absences. Realignments on the European right are making the EPP’s lack of unanimity on the question of national populism untenable.
The Italian far-right’s use of social media to inflame hatred is unprecedented in its extent and intensity. The result is the degradation of political discourse in an already under-regulated media environment. Countermeasures are emerging but the problem is structural and partly rooted in the commercial model of social media.
While the rest of Europe is trying to keep citizens from mass economic ruin, the Hungarian government uses the coronavirus for another power grab, also coming down on theatres and transgender people. Orbán knows he can get away with it because he offers a key political product.
Italy is now more closed than Matteo Salvini ever dreamt it would be. Prevention is focused on citizens, but ‘stay at home’ orders are a mockery for asylum seekers and homeless people, whose servicing is becoming impossible. The government has had to reach out to formerly denigrated NGOs for help. Our miniseries on refugees and the coronavirus pandemic continues.
National populism in North Macedonia is kept in check by the European consensus. Macedonism runs deep, however, and has the potential to erupt. The resumption of the EU accession process is likely to ensure that, unlike its neighbour Bulgaria, North Macedonia stays on a democratic course.
The European response to coronavirus so far has been focused on nation states and citizens, leaving stateless refugees without means of prevention. Overcrowded and underserved camps have posed a health hazard already before the virus. Eurozine launches a miniseries to report on refugees’ situation on the EU’s frontiers.
As the world’s attention turns to fighting COVID-19, many leaders want to fight the media instead. ‘Index’ is monitoring attacks against journalists and freedom of the press, and calls for reports.
From ‘white boy horror’ to Oedipus Tyrannus, Timothy Morton addresses cultural phenomena that inform our moral choices in the face of the impending climate crisis. To save ourselves we must think collectively, at Earth magnitude. Could comedy be the answer?
In order to understand disinformation, we need to look beyond its content. Bulgaria provides a stark example of how structural changes in the media environment force journalists to become unwilling participants in the propaganda cycle.
There is nothing ‘natural’ about the coronavirus pandemic: global capitalism has created it. Containment measures of social distancing bear the characteristics of a general strike. It can serve as an experiment taking back control over our own time, Bram Ieven and Jan Overwijk argue.
Not only the infected are in danger, hospitals don’t have capacity to deal with other emergencies either. Caskets are piling up as the cemetery cannot keep up with the number of deaths every day. From social workers to friars to cleaning staff, everyone who serves the sick are at risk at the epicentre of the contagion in Bergamo province.
Decades of cuts to public health are now exposed as the spread of the coronavirus overwhelms the system. Europe has been lucky to observe hurricanes, floods and plagues of the past decades from afar, but geography or wealth doesn’t safeguard us from epidemics. How we treat our least powerful now will be telling about what we can hope for.
From genocidal accusations to alleged cures, the coronavirus pandemic is accompanied by a swathe of conspiracy theories. These are perpetrated not only by clickbait websites but also authoritarian regimes who exploit the scare for political purposes and try to shift the blame from their failing responses. An international survey and a detailed case study.