Tuesday, September 22, 2020

COVID Response Paper

Sadie Inman

September 22, 2020

Critical Geography

Response Paper 4

We are at a turning point in history. We are being affected physically on a global scale which alone is a unifying factor, but we are also watching each group in power struggle for control and put profit before it’s people. Amitava Kumar writes, “This pandemic hasn’t generated grief alone… we have experienced… anger at the bad faith of our rulers everywhere”. American’s frustration with the federal government is nothing compared to other countries' struggles. 460 million Indian people have been overlooked by their government and are being assaulted on the streets while they starve far away from their families. China is staging photos to show their effort and their charade it is unraveling. We are on the edge of something huge. 

The world is not only unified through this pandemic, it has been unified by globalization for an extended period. It is this system that has instilled the same selfish values in all the ruling classes across the globe. It is also these values that have caused the COVID-10 pandemic by pushing peoples into historically isolated areas and largely supporting “agro-business”. The big question is is this the turning point? Is this when the nations everywhere see the “small tears in the thin veil of the state-sanctioned spectacle” (Chuang) and reveal how weak their governments are? This could be the end of globalization and the beginning of a global revolution against the current values. 

In the US, this is has been an extremely turbulent time and the lower socio-economic classes are currently challenging the enforcement and social system. The Black Lives Matters movement has taken advantage of a vulnerable time and it has scared many citizens and politicians while exhilarating countless others. There is power in the peoples’ voices and the current world political climate is ripe for rebellion. If that is in our future then hopefully we can “replug ourselves back into the planetary metabolism that…reconnects our ecologies and our economies” (Wallace). 
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2 comments:

  1. Eric VilmerSeptember 23, 2020 at 3:07 PM

    Hi Sadie I really enjoy how you say the world is being unified by the pandemic. The pandemic is forcing people to get out of their comfort zones and fight for what they believe in. I can only hope that the outcome to this whole pandemic will be positive.

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  2. RichSeptember 25, 2020 at 3:46 PM

    Sadie you have identified the thread of hope linking all of these essays and provided us with excellent quotes on how these writers envision the necessity of social change. That line from Wallace is an incredibly provocative one, for example. What language and writing can begin to articulate the intimate relationship between the eco in ecology and the eco in economy. This is what Massey's Progressive Sense of Place and Smith's scaling are aiming to develop. Begin to examine the issues around you through the critical lens of these practices. How can we see BLM practicing/articualing a new form of "scaling" the connection between the body, the city, and global production process?

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