Covid-19 publications
“Our Existence is Resistance”: Women and the Challenge of the Climate Crisis and Covid-19 pandemic
Dineo Skosana and Jacklyn Cock have drafted a paper that is now available for download. “Our Existence is Resistance”: Women and the Challenge of the Climate Crisis and Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in mining-affected communities in South Africa. You can read the full paper here: Introduction: This chapter suggests that many black working-class women living in […]
Bolsonaro’s Handling of COVID-19 Has Unleashed a Layered Crisis in Brazil
Around the world, people are bored in quarantine. But not in Brazil. Here, politics is accelerating at a frantic pace, led by a potentially suicidal president. Unlike Vikor Orbán or Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jair Bolsonaro did not take advantage of the pandemic to concentrate power and restrict civil liberties. Instead, he seeks to enhance support for his moral and political agenda: an inverted revolution, in the fashion of fascism.
China Manages the Virus With Surveillance, Organisation and Repression
China’s response to what is now known as the COVID-19 pandemic was entirely consistent with both its global and domestic political strategies. Globally, the Chinese regime tries to project its reputation as an emerging superpower with a highly capable technocratic state.
COVID-19 in Narendra Modi’s India: Virulent Politics and Mass Desperation
Unlike Trump or Bolsonaro, Modi did not dismiss the dangers of COVID-19. He imposed the first national lockdown, for 21 days, on March 24, when India had 600 cases and 10 deaths, declaring that the virus would be vanquished in that period.
COVID-19 in South Africa: Popular Movements Mobilise Under Lockdown
Several different groupings have emerged, including the COVID-19 Working-Class Campaign, the Cry of the Xcluded (formed in February 2020 before the pandemic landed in South Africa), and the C-19 People’s Coalition. The response from below has been quicker, more agile and more effective than the state’s relief efforts.
Six-part Series on BRICS and Covid: Rising Powers in a Time of Pandemic
How the COVID-19 pandemic is playing out in the BRICS countries.
COVID-19 in Russia: Mishandling Has Led to Popular Protests but Putin Remains Strong
The pandemic has highlighted existing institutional weaknesses in the Russian healthcare system and most hurt traditionally vulnerable sections of the population.