Whose Covid-19 New Normal Would It Be Anyway?

 By Takura Zhangazha*

Nostalgia and memory tend to combine to create unexpected ideals.  Especially in times of crisis.  In the contemporary, the Covid 19 pandemic is probably doing the same.  It sometimes would seem like decades ago that we could go to work, send our children to school, go to football matches, attend church or pay a visit to our relatives and friends.  With full or partial lock-downs as advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and executed by governments all of the above appear distant ideal ways of urban and in part, rural living.

In all of this, there is talk of how things will never be the same again after Covid-19. Or even how the same applies in the midst of the pandemic. In real time.

These conversations get fortified by expert views on how the world requires a ‘new normal’.  While at the same time definitions of the latter are varied and at times invariably confusing.

From an African perspective discussion of any ‘new normals’ are for the time being highly elitist.  They are couched in the language of neoliberal solutions to what is a very public health crisis. Private capital and its attendant philanthropists are lauded as being integral to the new normal.  Government ministers act more or less as chaperones of private capital. Courting and wooing in the times of corona.

And private capital knows exactly the sort of new normal that it would want.  One in which it gets new and easier access to profiteering from social service delivery.  A role that should democratically be done by the state, social service delivery is being mortgaged in the name of fear of Covid19.  And assumptions of the efficiency of those that straddle what we know as the ‘free market’. 

Big and small business therefore look at the new normal as the new profiteering opportunity.  All on the basis of trading on what will inevitably be a very real fear of a global pandemic.  Hence there will be limited public protest at these neo-liberal solutions being preferred by our governments at the behest of private capital. 

Our individualism and again individualized assumptions of invincibility because we think that  so long we have access to some sort of money to pay for health makes us extremely vulnerable to a revamped ‘disaster capitalism’.

Whereas, for example, the British government reportedly approached the Covid 19 pandemic with what’s referred to as a ‘herd immunity’ strategy, we in turn are being herded into a ‘new normal’ that is undemocratic. Almost like a throwback to desiring what would have obtained prior to the outbreak of the pandemic because it would be assumed that it is all we know.  Or all we would want. Even if we didn’t want it, social media would be deployed to makes us desire that straightforward neo-liberal consumerist past that obtained prior to the outbreak. 

And already it is apparent that the debate of what would be a new normal is remaining firmly entrenched in an actual desire for the past as an ideal. Albeit one which can be shifted more to the right. 

What is apparent is that as the Covid 19 pandemic becomes increasingly existential, private capital fully intends to be ingrained in national/public psyches as always having  the best possible solution(s).

One might ask, so what does it really matter? The reality of the situation is that if we are not going to learn that the very fact of the spread of Covid 19 to become a global pandemic should teach us to change our approaches to our own existence, then we, regrettably, are in serious trouble. 

In our African contexts, we need new social democratic frameworks that envision people centered public health and a welfare state as integral to a better future for all.  We know that this is something that global capital does not want to see.  We know that instead it wants us to mimic the demographics of the global north (city states and the like).  Or for us to forever hold in awe,  knowledge systems and approaches as they are disseminated with clear and hidden hegemonic intention from global private capital.

This essentially means as Africans we would have no choice but to be increasingly counter-hegemonic in an organic and progressive way.  This would entail thinking beyond neoliberalism as an economic panacea and re-embracing the state as a primary enabler of the democratic livelihood interests of all.  All with an understanding that exclusion and profiteering from a pandemic that knows no race, colour or class is never going to be in our best democratic interest.

It may appear initially as not being pragmatic but we can at least put minds together to frame the future better.  The ‘new normal’ should never be a reversion to a casual idealization of the past.  It should be about quite literally a new future.  One that takes into account lessons of the mistakes made in the past but holds on to the collective hope that our lives are worth more than the money.

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)

Time, Mortality and our African Covid19 Context.

By Takura Zhangazha*

The World Health Organization (WHO) Africa regional office recently issued a statement that the continent should expect more Covid19 infections.  

As reported in the media,  it estimates that over a quarter of a billion of us Africans will eventually be infected.  Though, again according to WHO fewer of us may die than in other continents due to what they consider our younger population as well as our ‘different lifestyles’.  The latter point being with reference to demographic issues such as population density and/or nature of settlements (urban or rural). 

The report commissioned by the WHO is essentially scientific.  So there would be no need to argue about any implied ‘othering’ of Africans. Even if again, where and when it comes to pandemics on the African continent, its target audience is likely those that can provide further direct support to prevent the spread of Covid19.  And the African Union as well as its member states to try and establish better long term approaches to combating Covid 19.

What is however interesting has been our reaction as Africans to this sort of information.  Not just by way of what our governments decide to do or tell us. Either as advised by WHO or global philanthropists. 

What is in vogue, at least to me at least, is how we are reacting to Covid19 stories that would otherwise be considered apocalyptic.  Or if in anyway what we have always considered to be the passage of natural time/life/ and mortality is any more different than before.

These would be partly philosophical, somewhat anthropological and possibly religious considerations. As a blogger my own angle to these issues is more self-reflective than academic or based on specific research.

When the pandemic was officially confirmed by WHO earlier this year, its danger appeared to some as distant to the African continent. And in some cases it gave rise to social media motivated/distributed rascism against people in the global east. From the viewpoint of not only us as Africans but also as inspired by the same as it came from the global north and in particular the current president of the USA. 

And in this, a mistaken perception we have had of our mortality in the context of Covid 19, was that it could not kill Africans.  And in this we unwittingly did not see how we as already historically ‘othered’, were wrongly othering ‘others’ in the global east and global north.  

We now know the reality of the pandemic including the recent official WHO predictions of its potentially devastating effect on the continent. A development which should immediately compel us to reflect deeply on our own context and how better to address the challenge.

Sadly, we may not be up to the task in the fullness of the challenge it represents. And this is where it becomes more complicated. Our perceptions and fears of Covid19 are viewed, by us, from the prism of the global north.  Not only on the basis of anticipation of a vaccine or cure being derived from there but also to the extent of limiting our contextual search for local solutions to the same. And not just in relation to scientific treatment but also charting a new approach to how we re-structure and revolutionalise our public health services and attendant social welfare systems for the benefit of our majority poor. 

What our governments are inclined toward are public-private frameworks enabled by lockdowns in aide of what we now know to be ‘disaster capitalism’. 

In this, we are still not optimally prepared for the storm that is predicted to be coming.  And a decent number of us would know that where you are warned of a pending storm it is preferable to be prepared for it than to hope that those that predicted it were wrong.

What we should not do is to resign ourselves to what can only be described as an assumed African historical fate in the wake of global pandemics. Or even wars. That is assumptions that it is coming and therefore inevitable.  We instead require greater urgency and people centered agency.  Beyond what we have been accustomed to as either philanthropy or anticipation of the benevolent hand motivated by colonial legacy responsibility for the ‘natives’.

The passage of time and perceptions, including our pessimistic own, of African mortality should be something that we consider in rejuvenated progressive ways. As opposed to taking the route of accepting an ‘inevitabilism’ (I borrow this term from Soshana Zuboff’s great work on surveillance capitalism) as of colonial, post-colonial and neo-liberal old.  

While we may not be able to build hospitals in a week, the fact of the matter is that we must build them with urgency in order to prevent this attitude of ‘inevitabilism.’

As cited above the WHO Africa regional office indicates that Covid19 may be with us on the continent for a more foreseeable period than potentially elsewhere.  

One cannot argue with their scientific findings.  We know the import of the passage of time. What we may need to think about is challenging the perception of inevitability more robustly and with the majority poor in mind.  This may mean even seeking to re-mould our African states beyond the profit motivated expectations of globalized and financialised capital.  We need to understand the import of Covid19 on the African continent as outlined by science. But in doing so we must keep the people in mind. Together with the urgent quest for a new African welfare state that while struggling sets a new path to a progressive people driven global world order.

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)

An Initial Case for a Zimbabwe Media Bailout Fund .

By Takura Zhangazha*

Zimbabwe’s mainstream and emerging media have always been faced with the challenge of sustainability in a number of respects.  Top of the list in recent years has always been the challenge of viability and ability to generate revenue to remain going concerns.  Other’s relating again to sustainability include maintaining its integrity and professionalism so as to remain valued by the Zimbabwean public for its essential democratic role.

In the wake of Covid 19 this question sustainability has become even more apparent if not downright debilitating for the mainstream media as a key element of a democratic state. The democratic assumption of its role as a ‘fourth estate’ of society is evidently under siege as it relates to its short, medium and long term sustainability. 

Due to government ordered lockdowns, the mainstream media has like any other industry been faced with a reduction in its capacity to disseminate public interest news and entertainment.  Be it in electronic (radio/TV), print media, community media or emerging online news platforms that focus on professional journalistic content. 

While it remains the print media that is hardest hit in relation to actual sales or advertising revenue, the very fact that all other media platforms that rely on producing ethical, professional content for readers, viewers and listeners in the public interest are incapacitated makes this a sector wide dilemna. 

It also makes the sustainability crisis of Zimbabwe’s media one that requires all hands on deck in order to keep the essential democratic role of the media in enabling freedom of expression and access to information.  This, as outlined in not only our national constitution’s bill of rights (sections 61 and 62) but also as observed as international best practice and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 19). 

The media therefore must exist. Where it is facing serious challenges to its viability as is the case with the Covid19 pandemic, it must be assisted to stay afloat in order to fulfill its democratic public interest role of enabling free expression and access to information. 

In my view, the urgency of keep in free expression, access to information and media freedom as key democratic priority areas requires a media bailout funding framework.  Not just for state owned/controlled media or public media  but also privately owned/controlled media. In their various forms and mediums. 

In other sectors such as tourism, banking or manufacturing  this is also sometimes referred to as a stimulus package for what governments refer to as critical industries. 

The media may not be on priority lists of economic pundits vis-a-vis its democratic national importance or necessity in times of crisis. However in the current context, before Covid 19 and in the future, the media is an essential democratic service that requires new sustainability frameworks that support it to remain operational.  Especially in light of lockdowns.

A key question that emerges is where would any funding for bailing out struggling media entities come from?  

An easy answer tot that is that the primary guarantor of such bailout funding should be the state.  Just as much as the state has to set up funding frameworks for arts and culture, tourism or mining, it is clear that it has a democratic obligation to enable media sustainability.  Even if the government of the day does not agree with editorial positions of various media houses an independent funding framework enabled by the state is entirely possible. 

Enabling however does not mean there are no other stakeholders that should play a role.  Those that can and who have free expression and access to information in a democratic society at heart should be able to either participate or set up their own media sustainability funding frameworks. Based on their own philanthropic or other values, the contributions of other stakeholders in helping keep Zimbabwe’s media not only afloat but professionally, ethically and democratically viable can only be encouraged and welcomed with open arms.

The mechanisms of this media bailout fund would be expressly for those that need it. In our case, one way or the other it is a majority of mainstream and emerging online journalistic media that would require it.  It would function more like an assistance fund, where grants are given in the immediate to media hoses based on a set of criteria arrived at by all stakeholders.  This criteria will include also assistance for media houses that are focusing on new ways of working and disseminating journalistic news. All via a democratically independent adjudication process.  

And for this, I think it is imperative that Zimbabwean media stakeholders meet to initially address and hopefully agree on what would be the objectives, operational mechanisms and expected results of such a media bailout funding framework.  However complex it may initially appear and whatever divergent ideological vies of the media.

What remains evident is that the media in our context cannot simply be viewed as a business.  It is an essential aspect of our democracy.  However flawed the latter may be viewed to be.  While media owners, journalists and media support organisations may currently be struggling with new ways of working, they should not however lose sight of the democratic necessity of their existence.  Even more so in a time of the pandemic that is Covid 19 and increasingly arbitrary means of controlling the public by governments across the world.

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha,blogspot.com)