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The day after

2020-03-25T21:18:28.888Z


The forced confinement of citizens ends up being a worrying precedent in the future of relations between the State and society.


Something tells me that the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic will leave irreversible consequences in the way we live. Almost 20 years have passed since the destruction of the New York Towers, but we are still paying the consequences. Among other things because traveling by plane was never the same again; perhaps that is the most frivolous consequence of the fight against terrorism, but also the most tangible for the citizen who loses something in the control of the airport (a cream that exceeds the milliliters allowed, a toy for the son that the regulation considered a weapon lethal). Something broke forever in the trust between each other, or between authorities and citizens, that September 11, 2001 and made us all momentary suspects in the process of proving their innocence every time a security checkpoint is crossed.

But it seems to me that the Covid-19 will leave worse sequels even than Bin Laden. And not only the economic ones, of course, although they will not be less. The dry halt that has undergone productive activity across the globe will have severe implications for a long time. The Economist predicts that the damage will not only be huge but, in some cases, irreversible. Some area and hotel companies, certain financial firms and certain industries will not survive the period of skinny cows despite the alleged bailouts. Of course, rainbows and springs will come, but it will be too late for some factories, for their employees or for the towns they are in: life will never be the same for them.

Sad as it is, however, that is not the most important thing for the group because, as is known, what some lose others end up winning. Some couples will end up separating after forced confinement, others may find fires they believed lost in the embers. It will be necessary to see in December and January the numbers of the babies prohibited by the confinement. But that is the micro story.

The one that worries me is the other, because changes are envisioned that will affect us all. In his essay The Viral Emergency and Tomorrow's World , published in this newspaper, the South Korean philosopher, Byung-Chul Han, presents a thesis that takes away the dream. The fight against the pandemic makes it clear, he says categorically, that authoritarian governments and the cybernetic surveillance of States on citizens, so typical of Asia, proved to be much more effective than the stick blows that Europe and the States have given. United. If there is any moral left behind the pandemic, it is that China, Korea, Singapore or Taiwan were successful where democracies failed miserably.

Korea and Taiwan did not even have to resort to confining people. The ability of their governments to monitor their citizens made it possible to isolate contagions and stop the epidemic without brutally disrupting the economy or cloistering people. When someone leaves the station in Beijing, they are automatically captured by a camera that measures their body temperature. If the temperature is worrisome, all the people who were sitting in the same car receive a notification on their mobile phones, says the author. Anyone approaching a building where an infected person has been in Korea receives an alarm signal through the “Corona-app”. All the places where there have been infected are registered in the application. Data protection and the private sphere are not taken into account very much.

While the Chinese were able to build a hospital in ten days so as not to pollute the hospital system as a whole, European health authorities spent weeks discussing the strategy and politicians evaluating the electoral consequences.

I find it worrying that in the final balance the "Chinese model" is the most appropriate in the worst crisis that has occurred so far in the 21st century. A perspective that would seem to suggest that in future challenges regarding climate, water and energy shortages or pandemics to come, vertical societies and watched citizens will have more opportunities.

Although it is not that "the European solution" is reassuring. The forced confinement of its citizens ends up being a worrying precedent in the future of relations between the State and society. Today, the French live a state of siege unilaterally imposed by their authorities. Going out to the corner even to buy groceries requires a signed and printed permit that only serves for every occasion, violation of this rule warrants a fine and eventually jail.

Fear is the greatest gravedigger of liberties, of course. Whether in Europe or China, people prefer to feel safe even if they have to give up rights that in other conditions seemed inalienable. And fear is also not the best lubricant for solidarity. Individual or family confinement breaks up any impulse to the collective response. In Germany, any gathering of more than two people is prohibited, for example. The response to the crisis is ultimately that of the state and a myriad of isolated individuals. In other words, a society fragmented and subdued by fear.

I just hope that among the unfortunate residual effects of the Covid-19, hugs and kisses between humans are not sacrificed. If 9/11 made us all suspected of being terrorists, it would be unfortunate if Covid-19 left us with the perception that every human being is the carrier of an unmentionable disease.

I will be told that this is not the time to think about the next day when we have not yet escaped today's danger. But Latin America is not Europe nor is it China, an opportunity still to think about the society we want to be the day after tomorrow.

@jorgezepedap

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Source: elparis

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