By Bisi Olawunmi
It is a new day in the world, a new reality, courtesy of rampaging Coronavirus that has taken the world by storm, leaving in its wake 39,000 dead and over 800,000 infected in 199 countries, as at Tuesday, March 31. China, from where the genie of corona virus escaped to torment the world, seem to be stabilizing with 81,523 confirmed cases and 3,305 deaths while Europe and the United States have usurped China as the new epicentres of Corona virus. Of the 16 nations most hit by Corona virus, 11 are in Europe, with Italy recording the highest fatalities of 11,591 deaths, thrice that of China! Spain followed with 8,523 deaths from among 94,417 confirmed cases.
Now, the United States. Everything about America are in mega sizes. That, perhaps, explains why Corona virus has seemingly gone on a rather vengeful, unprecedented, mega assault on the United States, the world capital of money and technology, inflicting it with 164,719 confirmed cases and 3,170 deaths, as if to mock the arrogance of those countries which designate themselves variously as advanced or developed countries. We in Africa, rated at the bottom of the global power totem pole, are derogatively described as under-developed countries or third world countries. Thank God for little mercies, Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, according current tracking figures, is the least affected by corona virus. But today, the so-called Almighty developed countries of Europe and America lie literally prostate before the menacing Corona virus as country after country go into lockdowns and restricted movements. Gregarious Americans are being forced into unaccustomed shell holes, no thanks to Corona virus. America’s confirmed cases double that of China and the fears are that the numbers will increase in exponential proportions in the coming days.
According to CNN tracking, the number of infected Americans had jumped by 100 percent over a period of barely four days creating a scary, grim scenario, going forward. A virus attack is demystifying the top military power in the world! There is a sort of irony in America’s harvest of Corona virus. President Donald Trump of the U.S. has been campaigning for American companies which relocated to China, induced by cheap labour, to return home to boost local employment, but what has returned to America is a deadly virus that is devastating American economy, creating the prospects of massive job losses. See how corona virus ‘jams’ Trump’s economic policy!
Europe’s emergent dire straits, with its declining political and economic relevance, has got many of the countries looking up to China as the new economic power, necessitating their warm embrace of this economic tiger, a situation that fostered heavy Chinese presence, in human and business terms, in Europe. Italy is the poster boy of this process, hence its disproportionate harvest of deaths from corona virus. America’s problem is capitalism’s profit maximization doctrine. American companies, decades ago, had relocated to China, induced by cheap labour, from where they export the products back to America, at huge profits.
I lived in the U.S. in the late 1980s and there was scant Chinese presence in America’s business landscape then. Not now. As at September 2018 when I last visited, many of the items in American shopping malls carry the label – Made in China. The transformation is simply amazing. America is the consumption capital of the world. Another possible explanation for the huge number of confirmed corona virus victims in the U.S. is that Americans love to travel – they are a boom to global tourism, hence the higher risk of contracting the virus by the thousands of Americans tourists found virtually everywhere in the world. A bewildered America, especially the rich, travelling elite, now live in fear of the corona virus pandemic. They are apparently wondering what hit them. The practically empty city highways is testimony of the scare in today’s America.
What is globally common to the primary vectors of corona virus is that they all belong to the class of the rich and the corporate, bureaucratic and political elite. The rich business class travel to exotic destinations to enjoy the labours of their workers who toil to create the wealth. The elite, by virtue of their positions as policy makers, advisers travel extensively, at public expense, attending meetings, conferences, summits or are engaged in interminable negotiations. For the European and American elite, there is no home of refuge to return to. For the Nigerian elite, home is still relatively corona virus safe, with 135 cases and two deaths, going by CNN’s latest tracking figures. But if the deprivations of the poor, arising from uncoordinated and peremptory lockdowns, shutdowns and states’ border closures get prolonged, the nation risks a revolt. There are already grumblings at the grassroots among those who earn their living from daily engagements. They are finding it hard to accept being locked up for two weeks because of unfeeling, elite globe-trotters who brought corona virus on the nation. It should be sobering for the Nigerian elite that they can no longer escape to their fun cities in Europe and America but are forced to seek refuge in a homeland they made unlivable by their plunder. The rich and the elite now live in denial of their foreign travels which is why they run away from being quarantined!! What a humbling comedown.
- Dr. Olawunmi is a public affairs analyst and former Washington correspondent of News Agency of Nigeria.
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