The right to breathe How health is being securitised in the wake of Covid-19

There are many parallels between the approach of governments to the Global War on Terror, and the kind of responses we have seen to the Covid-19 pandemic. These include restriction on movement, the shutting of borders, increased surveillance and incarceration, and an othering of those perceived as risky and to be controlled. Instead of fostering an environment of solidarity and care, coercive state responses evoked fear, suspicion and distrust.

In this series of interviews led by Arun Kundnani, we interrogate the securitisation of health in the wake of the global pandemic. We ask whether this emerging securitised environment is a proportional and necessary response to tackle a health-based crisis, and what the risks are to human rights norms and democracy. 

We explore what alternative approaches that actually make people feel safer could look like, and advocate for health-based solutions grounded in solidarity and care. Arun Kundnani is a TNI associate and author of The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic War on Terror.

1. Deepa Kumar: The racist roots of the War on Terror

In this fascinating conversation, Arun Kundnani interviews Deepa Kumar who traces the longer historical and racist roots of the War on Terror that in the last 20 years has killed at least one million people. They discuss how Arab and Muslim communities were racialised and targeted well before 9/11 and what interests this dehumanisation served.

Deepa Kumar is the author of the recently published book, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire: Twenty Years after 9/11.

Editor: Josh Akinwumi

2. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò: Who feels secure? Racial capitalism and global security

How did we end up in a place where security is understood in the narrow terms of policing? Why does this kind of security fail to make a large part of the population feel safer? And can we imagine a society where my security is not the opposite of your security?

In this thought-provoking video, Arun Kundnani interviews Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò about the destructive intersection of racial capitalism and global security, which constitute each other. They discuss how racial hierarchy is fundamentally a hierarchy in security, who benefits from keeping this hierarchy untouched, and how the concept of collaborative security can help us overcome this hierarchy. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University and a frequent writer on issues of climate justice, racism, and colonialism.

Editor: Josh Akinwumi

3. Eda Seyhan: How elites use the pandemic to secure their power

Governments around the world have used the pandemic as an excuse to expand their powers. Populations have been divided on the basis of race and class into those deserving of protection and those perceived as risky and to be controlled. Migrants, refugees, precarious workers, and racialized groups have faced vulnerability and repression. Many Western liberals, nevertheless, seem to wish for governments to be tougher in enforcing measures.

In this fascinating discussion, Eda Seyhan lays out why an abolitionist analysis of official pandemic responses is essential and what an alternative approach would look like. Eda Seyhan is an international human rights lawyer and researcher, focused on policing, national security and racial justice, and Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Postcolonial Studies.

Editor: Josh Akinwumi

4. How Big Tech captured our public health system

The privatisation of public services is a long-standing global trend. But in the wake of the pandemic and through the introduction of contact tracing apps, Big Tech has gone one step further: Large corporations like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are now set to control the very infrastructure that underlies our public health system. In this eye-opening discussion, Arun Kundnani interviews Dr Seda Gürses about the dangers of a system in which we depend on profit-oriented companies for receiving basic health services. How did we get to this point, and how can we imagine a different future?

Editor: Josh Akinwumi

5. How powerful pharmaceutical companies shaped the response to the pandemic

During the pandemic, the World Health Organisation and governments took a back seat and power was centred on corporate interests. Health was viewed not as a right or a necessity, but as a product to be marketed and sold. Even in the midst of a global health emergency, companies treated the ill and the vulnerable as consumers and vaccines as commodities, setting prices and production rates that maximise profit. How has this happened and what, if any, are the alternatives?

Harris Gleckman is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Sustainability and Governance at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and the Director of Benchmark Environmental Consulting. He was previously Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Editor: Josh Akinwumi