During the weekend, I spoke with
friends living in Africa, South East Asia, Australia and the Pacific, as well
as in Rio de Janeiro. I also have many friends in other parts of the world,
from San Diego where dear Christine leaves to Helsinki, and so on. Had I
chatted with them too, and I would have gotten the same report. Large chunks of
the world are either closed or on a go-slow situation. Even remote places like
Bougainville, an Autonomous Region of Papua New Guinea, is on lockdown. This is
just an incredible reality. The world is getting poorer by the day. The debt levels, both public and private, are
growing by the hour. Elections are being postponed in many corners of the
planet, except for a few cases, including Mali, that voted again today in the
second round of their legislative assembly.
In many developing countries, the
lockdown approach can’t work. People need to go out every day because survival
is a daily chore. Moreover, in their cities, they live in large numbers in small
and unfit dwellings. Overcrowding is the rule. There is no way they can follow
the instructions about hygiene and social distancing. Extreme poverty means
extreme fragility. And the health services have no capacity to deal with the disease.
It’s a major problem. People are afraid but they know they have no other choice
but to keep on moving. Fate, my friends remind me, is the currency of the poor.
It’s the only thing they have in abundance. And after listening to that, I feel
so disturbed.
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