Our Post-Pandemic World: Some Reflections
"If we don't do the impossible, we will be faced with the unthinkable."
Murray Bookchin
As I write this, the global number of people affected by COVID-19 and the deaths caused by the virus are 3,644,841 and 252,366 respectively (Source: Worldometer). In Pakistan, the numbers are 21,044 and 476 respectively (Source: Dawn.com ). In many places the lock down has been extended till the end of May. In some places, however, such as Australia and some East Asian countries, governments are relaxing the social contact restrictions and allowing firms and public facilities to re-open for business. Schools remain closed in many places. This pandemic is now considered as the most devastating affliction that has befallen humanity since WW II in the last century. No living memory can recall anything like it. While the political bickering and blame game continues to identify the cause and origin of the virus (Trumpola the Racist Buffoon and his Christian evangelical fundo Secretary of State Mike PompousPeo increasing their anti-China vitriol by the minute), there are now more urgent and important speculations as to what will come next. Importantly, there are debates about what will be regarded as the new “normal” in a post-pandemic world.
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| "Chinese virus! Chinese Virus!" |
This virus has punctured many myths the world over (myth as in the modern sense of something untrue and non-factual, and not in the traditional sense of something that is higher or “truer than the visible truth”). The biggest of these has been the one about the no-holds-barred neo-liberal globalization. It seems that the almost religious belief in the truth and goodness of neoliberalism has finally been shattered. There are now calls for the return of the state, all essential organs of which have been the focused target of attack by casino-capitalism that is the neo-liberal globalization project. Listen to what Financial Times, the biggest and the loudest of the cheerleaders for neo-liberalism and globalization in the past four decades, is saying in its editorial entitled “Virus lays bare the social contract”:
“Radical reforms — reversing the prevailing policy direction of the last four decades — will need to be put on the table. Governments will have to accept a more active role in the economy. They must see public services as investments rather than liabilities, and look for ways to make labour markets less insecure. Redistribution will again be on the agenda; the privileges of the elderly and wealthy in question. Policies until recently considered eccentric, such as basic income and wealth taxes, will have to be in the mix.” (FT, April 4, 2020 editorial Source: FT.com).
Hospitals are in a mess in the most advanced capitalist countries such as the UK, Spain, Italy and the USA. Medical supplies are running out. Firms are going bankrupt. State support for the most vulnerable institutions and sections of society in these model capitalist countries is not forthcoming. Interestingly, countries like China and Cuba, the most reviled nations by the neo-liberal Western elites, are sending medical personnel and supplies to places like Italy and Spain. Oh, the irony!
The rot began in the 1980s, for example, with Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, that vile wonder woman of cannibalistic capitalism who notoriously claimed that “There is no society; there are only individuals” and who often repeated the mantra, along with the B movie actor-turned-president of the USA, Ronald Reagan who would chime in with, “The government is the problem" and "There is no alternative” (TINA) to this inhuman form of casino-capitalism. As these dedicated followers of Ayn Rand, the godmother of nihilistic individualism, and of the grand daddy of slash-and-burn economics, Milton Friedman (of the “Chicago Boys” fame), destroyed the most important organs of the post-WW II welfare state in the Western world such as health, education, transportation etc., they elevated a culture of unrestrained avarice, mindless consumption and smugly celebrated inequality everywhere. “Structural Adjustments” were touted as the cure for all the ills of economies. Their most sacred word then was "efficiency". Their policies essentially meant privatization (selling off public entities to favorite private businesses and corporations), downsizing (getting rid of workers in order to maximize profits), breaking trade unions (divide and rule), relocating manufacturing and also many essential services to places where labor was cheap and environmental regulations lax or non-existent among other measures, the effects of all of which are now becoming visible. “Trickle-down economics” it was called by both the ivory-tower theoreticians of neoliberalism and their neo-colonial shills in the media (exemplified by the NY Times’ imperial messenger Thomas Friedman and others of his ilk). The logic was that the rising tide that produced the uber-rich elite in every country, would also lift the poor and the vulnerable. In other words, there would be enough crumbs falling off the table of the greedy corporate CEOs, presidents and the like for the poor to lift themselves out of poverty.
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| "Capitalist neo-liberalism: Greed is good!" |
The same policies were enforced on the Southern world (the so called “Third World” or the developing countries) through the Bretton Woods Institutions (World Bank and IMF, the two deadly tentacles of the imperialist monster). In Pakistan, for example, both the Sharif and Benazir governments, and before them the regime of the dictator Zia ul Haq (of the West-funded Afghan Jihad, “Koray, Pansi, Martial Law” and Jabra Chowk fame) were dedicated neo-liberalists. Begging bowl in hand and kneeling down in front of their masters in IMF, World Bank and their other Western overlords, and always playing the double game in a country where nothing seems to be as organized as hypocrisy, the decades of 1980s and 1990s Pakistan were marked with unprecedented corruption committed by them. Benazir, and especially the wily husband Zardari (the irremediably corrupt Mr. 10 percent) and the rogue Sharifs took turns to loot and plunder the economy as they built their own family empires in the Gulf and EU countries. Pakistan’s opportunity to be a sufficiently self-reliant, mid-income country was squandered by these criminally inept politicians and equally corrupt, double-dealing military generals. Today’s Pakistan is very much a product of the unwise policies and blunders of the past three decades. One is not sure whether Mr. Ego Man, PM Kaptaan Insaaf Khan, has corrected course, his bombast and grandstanding notwithstanding. After all, he sits in the lap of the very decadent forces of status quo that are the cause of all the mess that average Pakistanis find themselves in right now.
This digression was to provide a necessary background. Let’s get to the reflection part about our post-pandemic world.
Welcome to the age of quarantine economy
First: what is the new normal going to be like? Will there be a normal to go back to? Will there be a fundamental change, a worldview or paradigm shift, in the way we live, conduct business, do politics, engage in all sorts of public activities like sports, entertainment, even personal conversation, etc., or will it be business as usual? The majority opinion is that most things will change, for example, businesses, education, health and transportation, international travel and tourism, social interactions and so on. The way we interact with each other will be transformed in many ways. For instance, what will become of handshakes and kisses on the cheek, two popular forms of greetings in many countries around the world? What about hugs? Will we invent new ways of greeting like waving, head shakes or even adopt something like the Japanese bowing? Will the mask become a permanent daily accessory, say, like a shirt and a pair of trousers, or like a shalwar kameez? Expect big changes in lifestyles.
More importantly, now that there are widespread calls from influential quarters for active state intervention and involvement and for taking into account the plight of the vulnerable and the neglected in society, will there be serious focus on social justice? Will the pathological inequality that is the most visible gift of neo-liberal globalization of the past three or four decades be addressed? Equally, if not more importantly, will there be a course correction with regards to environmental degradation and climate change? In short, will we overcome our collective madness and stupidity and move towards a socially just and ecologically sane world or will it be the same deadly status quo? Admittedly, there are more questions than answers at this point.
One thing seems to be certain: this pandemic will force a radical reform, if not the total end, of speculative casino-capitalism. The world economy that has been transformed from real manufacturing and provision of real services into pure speculative financialization (derivatives and all) in the past few decades will need a radical restructuring if we are to move in the direction of sanity. Not just costs, but profits also will have to be socialized; not just benefits, but harms also will have to be privatized. Since economies are now deeply and tightly integrated in the global system of finance and information, these will be the biggest challenges faced by the national and world leaders. Any level of de-linking or decoupling will be very difficult, if not impossible.
There is also a good chance that we will see the end of uni-polarity in geopolitics, what’s left of it anyway. This will essentially mean the end of US imperial power and reach, a power which was already showing signs of decline before the virus hit the world. For example, everything that Trumpola utters is a sign of the crumbling US Empire. Although it seems that China is already taking a leadership role by sending supplies and experts to all corners of the world, including the EU, there will be increasing tensions, both internal and especially external on the country threatening its stability, and that will be the greatest test of the China of Xi JinPing.
There is even the possibility of a violent conflagration between a rising China and a declining US Empire, a possibility that has been there in recent years but which will become more marked in our post-pandemic world. Trumpola and his neo-con, evangelist Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are already beating the drums of war against China, just like George Bush did twenty years ago against the Muslim world. Clearly, China is now seen as the new enemy of the West (there is always a need for one, the modern West has historically defined itself in that manner, the eternally-Good vs. "the Evil One") and all the organs of imperialism, from think tanks to media to Hollywood are being activated to prepare the ground and prepare the Western public for a new confrontation.
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| In the White House: Yesterday's freedom fighters, today's terrorists! |
Welcome to the age of quarantine economy
First: what is the new normal going to be like? Will there be a normal to go back to? Will there be a fundamental change, a worldview or paradigm shift, in the way we live, conduct business, do politics, engage in all sorts of public activities like sports, entertainment, even personal conversation, etc., or will it be business as usual? The majority opinion is that most things will change, for example, businesses, education, health and transportation, international travel and tourism, social interactions and so on. The way we interact with each other will be transformed in many ways. For instance, what will become of handshakes and kisses on the cheek, two popular forms of greetings in many countries around the world? What about hugs? Will we invent new ways of greeting like waving, head shakes or even adopt something like the Japanese bowing? Will the mask become a permanent daily accessory, say, like a shirt and a pair of trousers, or like a shalwar kameez? Expect big changes in lifestyles.
More importantly, now that there are widespread calls from influential quarters for active state intervention and involvement and for taking into account the plight of the vulnerable and the neglected in society, will there be serious focus on social justice? Will the pathological inequality that is the most visible gift of neo-liberal globalization of the past three or four decades be addressed? Equally, if not more importantly, will there be a course correction with regards to environmental degradation and climate change? In short, will we overcome our collective madness and stupidity and move towards a socially just and ecologically sane world or will it be the same deadly status quo? Admittedly, there are more questions than answers at this point.
One thing seems to be certain: this pandemic will force a radical reform, if not the total end, of speculative casino-capitalism. The world economy that has been transformed from real manufacturing and provision of real services into pure speculative financialization (derivatives and all) in the past few decades will need a radical restructuring if we are to move in the direction of sanity. Not just costs, but profits also will have to be socialized; not just benefits, but harms also will have to be privatized. Since economies are now deeply and tightly integrated in the global system of finance and information, these will be the biggest challenges faced by the national and world leaders. Any level of de-linking or decoupling will be very difficult, if not impossible.
In short, we will see new re-alignments and re-groupings as globalization will come under skeptical scrutiny and may undergo radical transformations as a result of that scrutiny. As words like "global" and "globalization" increasingly becoming dirty, also expect a rise in nationalism, populism and demagoguery. Populists and ultra-nationalists everywhere are calling for de-globalization and re-localization.With protectionism as the ever-present alternative rushing in to fill the vacuum left in the wake of the collapse of liberal- globalist myths, these forces of reaction are the most visible candidates to provide support and justification for that alternative of the world turning inward.
The sheer proliferation of conspiracy theories and disinformation on the internet is already overwhelming, and which brings into focus the role of the big digital technology firms, the Big Tech, especially the MAGFA giants (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon). Almost all of these giants have seen their shares rise in the wake of the pandemic. Power is accumulating in their hands and with that, as the old saying goes, comes the possibility of absolute corruption. In any change that we will see in the post-pandemic world, these giants will play crucial roles. A big question that many technology critics are raising is the question of their accountability. Governments everywhere are already seen to be helpless in dealing with them. For example, legislation is lagging behind or is absent on many new developments in the field. Technology writer Kara Swisher has warned us about the power of the Big Tech as to “what (their) unlimited power, Midas-like financial might, minimal oversight and very few actual consequences might mean for the rest of us.”. Writing in the New York Times she identifies some of the downsides of the accumulated, absolute power of Big Tech:” It’s not good that we have set up an epic system of haves and have-nots that could become devastating for innovative ideas and start-ups trying to get off the ground. Not good because too much of our data in in the hands of fewer. Not good because these fewer are largely unaccountable to those they serve and hard to control by governments that are elected by the people.” (The New York Times, International Edition, May 4, 2020).
The sheer proliferation of conspiracy theories and disinformation on the internet is already overwhelming, and which brings into focus the role of the big digital technology firms, the Big Tech, especially the MAGFA giants (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon). Almost all of these giants have seen their shares rise in the wake of the pandemic. Power is accumulating in their hands and with that, as the old saying goes, comes the possibility of absolute corruption. In any change that we will see in the post-pandemic world, these giants will play crucial roles. A big question that many technology critics are raising is the question of their accountability. Governments everywhere are already seen to be helpless in dealing with them. For example, legislation is lagging behind or is absent on many new developments in the field. Technology writer Kara Swisher has warned us about the power of the Big Tech as to “what (their) unlimited power, Midas-like financial might, minimal oversight and very few actual consequences might mean for the rest of us.”. Writing in the New York Times she identifies some of the downsides of the accumulated, absolute power of Big Tech:” It’s not good that we have set up an epic system of haves and have-nots that could become devastating for innovative ideas and start-ups trying to get off the ground. Not good because too much of our data in in the hands of fewer. Not good because these fewer are largely unaccountable to those they serve and hard to control by governments that are elected by the people.” (The New York Times, International Edition, May 4, 2020).
These are some reflections on our post-pandemic world. What will happen in a country like Pakistan? Since Pakistan is well integrated into the world system, the repercussions of any or all of these changes, in whatever degree, will be felt in Pakistan, as well. One important issue that I have not touched upon in this short piece is the role of religion in our post-pandemic world. What has the response of world’s major religions been to this crisis so far, and how will they cope with our post-crisis world? That in itself is a big issue, and will require a separate article which I intend to write in the coming days.
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And: Who is COVID-19 ?
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