Melancholia

A man receives a dose of the Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus, on August 25 in Panama.Welcome Velasco / EFE

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• Europe ignores the WHO's request to delay the third dose of the vaccine to help the poorest countries

"I feel sad, but I don't know why," my four-year-old daughter was saying to me lately. If it weren't for the fact that I see her enjoying everything a child her years have fun with, I would be seriously concerned. Still, I can't help but think that, at her tender age, she captures a melancholy present among some of us that we neither recognize nor recognize ourselves in the world that emerges before our eyes. Not that the pre-pandemic world was much better; rather, the one we see being drawn is even worse. Those trends that even before the pandemic were worrying for democracy and the well-being of the majority are taking hold: socioeconomic inequality, consumerist individualism, moral polarization of societies, digital surveillance of citizens by States and corporations, health as a business,the marginalization of cultural life, the erosion of social ties and public debate… At the same time, the initial hope that some had that the experience of the pandemic would allow us to rediscover the importance of solidarity between individuals and countries, of care and the need to protect our planet has not yet materialized.

Even great achievements, such as the development of several vaccines against the virus in record time, are clouded by these same trends: the lack of transparency in the financing, management and distribution of those, as well as in the communication about their benefits and risks. , to which is added its political instrumentalization. Many States are immersed in the creation of a new political-moral order, doubtfully democratic, that divides society between good citizens who accept new restrictions and conditions on their freedoms and mobility without asking questions and bad citizens who express their doubts or ask for a greater accountability for the dominant health strategy. At the same time,They are widening the gap between western populations and those in developing countries who do not have the same access to vaccines and are limited in their mobility by covid certificates. If we do not want climate change management to be carried out on the same punitive and exclusive premises; If we believe, on the contrary, that solidarity, cooperation and equality continue to be our main values, it is urgent that we demand other ways of tackling the crisis we are experiencing.it is urgent that we demand other ways of tackling the crisis we are experiencing.it is urgent that we demand other ways of tackling the crisis we are experiencing.