Denial, panic, scapegoating and ultimate sense are the usual way
societies have dealt with new diseases throughout history. But interestingly,
all the countries currently with botched responses to Covid-19 are ruled by
populists
Newspapers and news websites in
Pakistan continue to carry reports and lament about how large sections of
society are being careless in their attitude towards the Covid-19 pandemic.
Such reports have also lambasted the federal government for bungling the crisis
by being misinformed about the dynamics of the Covid-19 virus and its spread.
Many have also criticised the
regime for allowing its political biases to impact its contingency policies,
which have so far been chaotic, ad hoc and almost entirely unable to stall the
rapid spread of Covid-19.
Prime Minister Imran Khan and
many of his ministers have been censured for ‘misinforming’ the people about
the true nature of the disease while, at the same time, vetoing the idea of
strict lockdowns. So, as the outbreak ravages the country and overwhelms the
country’s already fragile health system with frightening speed, PM Khan does
not have much to say or show other than claim that he knew things are going to
get bad.
With examples like China,
Italy, Spain, Iran and the US before us, or other countries where Covid-19 had
begun to peak before it spiked in Pakistan, it didn’t require a genius to
‘already know’ that things would get bad here as well. Even though PM Khan was
hailed by his sycophantic circle of ministers for being oracular for this
insightful prediction, he had also earlier described the disease as, merely, a
‘flu.’
The government then continued
to add unsubstantiated claptrap to its largely convoluted narrative in this
regard, until intense media criticism triggered a sudden about-turn and saw the
government resort to accusing the general populace for letting things get out
of hand.
Denial, panic, scapegoating and
ultimate sense are the usual way societies have dealt with new diseases
throughout history. But interestingly, all the countries currently with botched
responses to Covid-19 are ruled by populists
What’s more, the government
also continued to sideline and ignore some rational and sound advice from
provincial governments and health experts. One such advice was for imposing
stricter lockdowns. But the PM disagreed. Instead, he began to rationalise his
disapproval of lockdowns as an egalitarian act, undertaken for the benefit of
the poor.
This rationale was almost
immediately debunked by some writers on the economy. In a March 27, 2020
article in Dawn, business and economics journalist Khurram Hussain pointed out
that lockdowns were, in fact, opposed by the business community, and that it
were members of this community who were influencing PM Khan’s anti-lockdown
sentiments. In his show on Channel 24, veteran journalist and political pundit
Najam Sethi shared similar views.
Martin Gak in a piece for the
German news site DW explains the idea of opening up businesses (and thus,
allowing the deaths of thousands from Covid-19) as the 21st century equivalent
of an ancient past, in which human sacrifice was practised in some cultures,
supposedly for the well-being of the larger community.
The Covid-19 problem in
Pakistan was further compounded by a controversial Supreme Court order in which
the court asked provincial governments to open the malls and markets just
before Eid. Not surprisingly, two weeks after this order was carried out, Covid-19
cases in Pakistan witnessed an unprecedented spike.
But Pakistan is not the only
country where the government has badly botched the response to the pandemic and
where the denial of Covid-19’s dangers or even its existence can be found in
large sections of the society. Similar scenarios are being played out in
countries such as the US, Brazil, Mexico and India. Interestingly, each one of
these, like Pakistan, have governments headed by populists.
The Brazilian PM actually took
part in an anti-lockdown rally and then issued an order that the number of
Covid-19 cases in Brazil should not be reported. US President Donald Trump
claimed that the virus threat was insignificant. But when it began to spread
like wildfire, he more-than-alluded that China was behind the spread.
In India, it became apparent
that the Modi regime only had the muscle to impose its Hindutva ideology but
had no idea how to control the virus. In Pakistan, PM Khan with nothing to show
in this respect, ended up somewhat absurdly gloating that Pakistan was the only
Muslim country where mosques were not closed for prayers. As if this were some
colossal achievement in a time of a raging pandemic.
In a March 5, 2020 article for
The Atlantic, journalist and novelist Karl Taro Greenfeld writes that
historically, societies often go through ‘four stages of grief’ during
pandemics and plagues.
Mount Saint Vincent
University’s Professor Jonathan Roberts, an expert on the history of plagues,
agrees. Roberts told CTV News Atlantic, also in March, that the historical
pattern in which societies behave during outbreaks of pandemics has remained
intact, and that he is seeing the same pattern being repeated during the
current Covid-19 pandemic.
Roberts has been investigating
the ancient and modern histories of social and political responses to pandemics
and plagues. The pattern he was talking about starts with the outright denial
of an outbreak, followed by ‘a panic reaction.’ This is then followed by
scapegoating, which is tied to the emergence of conspiracy theories. On a more
hopeful note, Robert suggests that during the fourth stage, those in power
finally allow the proliferation of correct information to get out.
But by then, thousands of lives
have been lost and economies devastated. What’s more, a community of people who
are blamed for the outbreaks during the scapegoating stage, would have suffered
severe ostracism and harassment. This is related to what the World Health
Organisation (WHO) calls an ‘infodemic’, when madcap theories once relegated to
the lunatic fringes of society, suddenly emerge on the mainstream during the
fear and chaos triggered by an outbreak of disease.
In the February 2020 issue of
Psychology Today, author and medical sociologist Dr Robert Bartholomew writes
that Jews were blamed for the 14th Century Bubonic Plague in Europe, and the
1918 flu pandemic — which killed millions — was dubbed the Spanish Flu, not
because Spain was the outbreak’s epicentre, but because the Spanish government
was the first to identify the problem. During the same pandemic, many in
Britain believed that the virus was a germ created by the German military, even
though an equal number of Germans were dying from the same virus.
With the proliferation of
social media sites, unsubstantiated claims, denials and scapegoating has
increased at an alarming rate, with even the governments of the US, Brazil and
India alluding that the Covid-19 was created in a secret Chinese lab and
unleashed across the world.
But to historians like
Robertson and authors such as Greenfeld, there is light at the end of this
frightening tunnel. Both claim that, historically, the last stage of the
aforementioned historical pattern is when societies and rulers usually come to
their senses and do some actual work to address and contain the problem.
Indeed, vaccines remain the
ultimate goal for eliminating the virus. But rational contingency plans and
their implementation, scientifically sound advice and instructions to the
public, and the debunking of crackpot theories, are vital to buy time before a
vaccine is made available. Unfortunately, even though millions have lost their
lives due to the pandemic, many countries, including Pakistan, still seem to be
stuck in the earlier stages of reaction: denial, confusion and scapegoating. Only
a handful of nations have moved into the more hopeful fourth stage.
Nadeem F. Paracha
Published in Dawn, EOS, June
28th, 2020
