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.
Dalle accuse di genocidio mirato alle presunte cure miracolose l’epidemia di COVID-19 viaggia insieme a un nugolo di teorie del complotto. Queste sono diffuse da siti di clickbait, ma anche da regimi autoritari che cercano di sfruttare la crisi per motivi politici e di distogliere l’attenzione dall’inadeguatezza della loro risposta.
Des accusations de génocide aux prétendus remèdes, la pandémie de coronavirus entraîne une série de théories du complot. Celles-ci sont perpétrées à la fois par des sites “attrape-clic”, mais aussi par les régimes autoritaires ou illibéraux qui exploitent la peur à des fins politiques et cherchent à distraire l’opinion publique de leurs réponses défaillantes.
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.
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.
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.