Reality in adversity

ARTICLE: When the chips are down chinks are exposed. The coronavirus pandemic has tested the strongest, the richest, the wisest and the optimist. Levels of resolve, commitment, courage, compassion are all being tested. Countries, companies and individuals pressurized by the ramifications of this unprecedented global shutdown have opened up the biting reality of many. The death of George Floyd in an absolutely horrific murder by the US police has made the world and people of the world come out in various ways. Some of them have joined the protests, some of them have defied police and social distancing and some of them have gone for arson and looting. This outpouring of anger, grief and opportunism has laid bare the character of nations and people.

The America's rise as a superpower has long been admired as a model of opportunity for all. The abundant economy, the rapid industrialization, the innovation and invention hot bed, the host to the best academia and research in the world, the diversity host from around the world are all examples of why US had become the model of development. Many developing countries were studying its model of education, IT and innovation. Similarly, the UK in Europe since World War II embodied multicultural diversity, seats of learning and European unity. The developing countries would complain about brain-drain from their countries to these two powers of research. This perception and performance of the US and the UK became benchmarks to be followed.

However, below this very lustrous façade the basic cultural crevices had been gaining space for some time. We tend to forget that as early as 1960s America was suffering from segregation problem. Blacks, as the African Americans, were known as were discriminated in every sphere of life. The scenes post death of George Floyd's death today and what happened after Dr Martin Luther King Junior's assassination are quite similar. Protestors outpouring on streets, unison chorus for racial justice, police shelling gas on protestors, fire, injuries, all have a lot in common with the civil rights movement of 1968. That movement resulted in the major gain in civil rights for the blacks and the change in the controversial segregation policies.

The main problem was that segregation and discrimination were curbed through many legislations but remained embedded in the culture of America. Every study has proven that inequality existed at racial levels giving rise to the feeling of being discriminated and outcasted. At the economic or cultural level blacks fared much lower than their white counterparts. When Barak Obama was elected as the President of the US there was hope of real change as this was the first time a black man was taking control in the White House. Obama, however, disappointed many with his war policies, his lack of clear stances on many controversial issues and a reluctance to tackle tough issues upfront. In the end he just blamed it on the extreme polarization in the Capitol Hill.

Then came Donald Trump. With Obama wanting or claiming but not doing much for the discriminated, the advent of Trump dashed all hopes of any change for the black communities. Trump was blatantly discriminatory and the White Supremacist movement got a big boost on the President's stance. All studies show how the comparisons between white people and black people had become starker. While average income of a middle class white American rose to $ 175,000 per annum, the black middle class population just had $ 17000 for them. That is reflected in each basic facility. Education standards and health facilities have all been exposed in this divide. During the coronavirus pandemic the studies point out not just in living but in deaths too the discrimination is horribly evident. Both in the UK and in the US the data shows a disproportionately heavy rise in not just in infections in the black people but deaths too. This needs further investigation as it may be due to lower health standards, inequal opportunities in health facilities for Covid-19 or any other factor. Thus the #BlackLivesMatter tagline is not just a protest hashtag but something that needs deep research and reframing of policies.

Cynics still feel that this may be a current affair hit on news channels and will wane away when some other topic takes over. Most others feel otherwise. Top analysts all across the world feel, though they state it cautiously, that this has the potential of being a catalyst. Their assertion is backed by the difference in these protests compared to the other protests including the ones after Martin Luther King's assassination. The differences are:

1. Seeing is Chilling - Back in the 1960s there was no social media. Footage of protests of non -white people was hardly run on electronic media. This is an era where every move of anybody can be graphically seen and shared with billions in a matter of seconds. The video of George Floyd's knee strangulation for 9 minutes has created horror/shock waves across the world and made it mandatory for all electronic media to relay it continuously. The sustainability of any movement depends on the reminder factor. Nobody will forget this for a long time.

2. Demographics of the Protestors - The other difference is that the protests were multicultural and fully representative of the sentiments of the world. During Martin Luther King Junior's time we could see some participation of the whites too. In the present protests equal number of whites, Asians, Africans, Europeans were seen. The age groups were also representative. From young children to senior citizens they came in droves despite the danger of the lockdown and the spread of virus. The reason was that during many great protests in history the world was not on shutdown and only hooked to its news feed. Students had classes and exams, people had jobs and businesses and there was too much going on in life to give too long a thought to the protests. This normally resulted in an uproar, outrage but little progress. With little else to do due to lockdown this issue will not go away that easily.

3. Stakeholder Diversity - There has been worldwide condemnation for this act. From serving defence officials to retired generals, from head of states to monarchies, from activists to academics, there is a united voice and resolve to stop this flagrant unchecked police brutality and inequality.

Most analysts feel that this is the opportunity that should not be wasted. With the world attention and the citizen intention in unison after a long time, time for Covid-19 to bring a positive change. This incident has the potential to result in real reforms not just in the institution of police but in the way people think, behave and tolerate grave and gross injustices in the world.

(The writer can be reached at [email protected])