By Takura Zhangazha*
In the wake of the global Corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic,
Reuters Africa recently reported that there are some Africans that are leaving
the cities and going back to their rural homes. Titled, ‘Fearing Corona Virus, African City
Dwellers Flee to the Country Side’, the feature story outlines how urban based
Africans are going back ‘home’ in the wake of Covid-19.
While the urban to rural migratory phenomenon may not be as
prevalent, the story is all too familiar in our African contexts. If the urban really fails economically or
becomes life threatening in one form or the other, it is likely a lot of us
would consider reverting to the rural social safety net. Even if with all our
urban acquired trinkets to give new found status back home/kumusha/ekhaya.
Incidentally this was made more stark by a recently published
book titled ‘Rethinking the Social Sciences with Sam Moyo” that I am currently reading. And distributed via the Sam Moyo African Institute for Agrarian Studies (SMAIAS). The latter book outlines the organic Pan Africanist
approach used by the late Sam Moyo in researching and outlining rural political
economies and peasant struggles for economic justice. Not just in Africa but also the global south.
In the wake of Covid-19, the rural and urban health divide
cannot be more stark while also more ambiguous.
Especially in the immediate where it concerns perceptions of where geographical safety or
protection from any pandemic can be
acquired from.
In the previous outbreaks, at least in Africa, they would
have been sourced from the rural and found their way via rural-urban migration
in our densely populated cities. In the
case of Covid-19, it would not be mistaken to argue that the reverse is
true. Globalised cities and transportation
systems would be the ones taking it to the rural.
In the Zimbabwean urban it would appear that because we
already live in a global world, our urban challenges would be somewhat similar
to other cities elsewhere. Barring of
course the nuances of nationalism, racial identity and ethnocentrism. Hence on urban motivated social media
platforms and lifestyles, what happens in New York could (sometimes
inexplicably) be expected to happen in Harare.
Regardless of the differences in the demographics of the two
cities.
And if one were to believe urban social media and its
content, Covid-19 is essentially an urban communicable disease.
Partly because the rural is still incorrectly perceived in
the urban as an ahistorical a backwater.
In still colonial era fashion, the rural remains the last consideration in
relation to the urgency of public emergencies, general public health, access to
water, education, transport and of course electricity.
This is why in the dominant discourse on Covid-19 the rural does
not feature much. Technically because of
population density questions that emanate in the global north while being
inescapable in cities in the global south.
But here in Zimbabwe, we would know that the majority of our
and
a majority of other African countries' populations are in the rural areas. Hence the response to Covid-19 pandemic must
have a very integrated approach. Of the urban and the rural.
While the communicability of the pandemic may be more
prevalent in the urban, it does not make the rural any less important. Instead it makes the rural more vulnerable to
the vicissitudes of the urban political economy. Hence stories such as the one
by Reuters on some of us heading back to the rural must be taken seriously even
if there is no panicky mass urban-rural migration as yet.
But then again this is the legacy of the colonial state. As
argued by many an academic. The rural is perceived as retrogressive and of
limited consequence to not only a national but also a global political
economy.
The reality of the matter is that globalization has not been
in favour of sustainable African political economies. Whether by way of actual job and social
security circumstances but also more significantly integrating assumptions of
urban-rural development.
We will need to shift from what are now evidently dangerous assumptions
of the efficiency of capitalism in urban contexts. Instead we should focus, in
the African context, toward an equitable
development model that makes the rural and urban sustainable with regards to
public health, social well-being and protection of the climate.
It’s a hard ask in these consumerist times. Where lifestyles appear more to matter than
shared responsibilities for all in the societies that we live in. This is moreso the case for us in Africa who
still have to contend with the colonial legacy of our rural and urban divide. Where the latter is always looked upon, even
by some of those in leadership positions, with the former settlers gaze of disdain. Or a wrong assumption that the rural holds
true to some sort of authenticity and therefore is never in urgent need of sustainable
and climate friendly modernization.
Without being turned into geographical mimicry of the urban city.
So even in the global crisis that is Covid-19, context still
matters. All lives matter. Be they urban or rural. And the required response,
while technically different in relation to demographics such as population
densities, sizes or infrastructural reach, must be an equitable one. Both in the short and long term. We cannot go back to the past.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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