Strict
measures -even extraordinary ones- are of course required to deal with the
tumult flowing from an unleashed global pandemic.
But the
people must be watchful and remain ever vigilant of the conduct of their
leaders. There will be threats related to state restrictions on personal
freedom, as well as those in the sphere of economics.
For instance,
the funds released to several large corporate concerns do not strike me as
being borne out of necessity. Indeed, in certain instances there is more than a
whiff of suspicion that some banks and corporations are using bail out money as
a means of covering the losses they have accrued in recent times; losses which
several analysts believe was threatening a new recession along the lines of the
one which followed the near economic collapse of 2008. On that occasion,
several American investment banks and corporations which ought to have been wound
up and their directors jailed, were given monies by the Federal Government.
The $2
Trillion package earmarked by President Donald Trump which includes a $32
Billion bailout of airlines and $25 Million to an arts centre for lost ticket
sales may be repugnant to those taxpayers who will fund the package. It was
agreed upon before any consensus was reached as to the implementation of a UBI
(Universal Basic Income) package for Americans.
It is not
only the oligarchs who are in effect profiting from a general situation of
misfortune. The discovery that a number of US politicians had dumped their
stocks shows how those in privileged positions can abuse their office because
of their access to information not within the public domain.
Political
leaders who were facing long-standing difficulties will doubtless seek to use
the situation to their advantage. Emmanuel Macron in France now has the
opportunity to control the Yellow Vest Movement, while Binyamin Netanyahu in
Israel can stave off the criminal indictment hanging over his head.
People need
to remember that history is replete with situations where the state and the
officials of state have been given powers under emergency situations, which
were not officially revoked when ‘normality’ resumed. J. Edgar Hoover, the
long-term head of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is one
example. Hoover expanded his jurisdiction and power during the 1930s and then
the 1940s courtesy of President Franklin Roosevelt, who in the first instance
wanted the FBI to spy on political extremists (communists and fascists) and
later, under conditions of war, to deal with threats related to sabotage,
subversion and espionage. Hoover of course went on to use these powers in the
post war years to entrench his position by spying on politicians and conducting
surveillance against political and social movements to which he was opposed.
The threat of
the coronavirus is thus not limited to biological harm. The response to it may
likely have important ramifications in regard to personal liberties, as well as
the economic well-being of nations whose oligarchs through their political
servants are already engaged in securing their wealth at the expense of the
mass of people.
© Adeyinka
Makinde (2020).
Adeyinka
Makinde is a writer based in London, England.
