RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Any reader of Charles Darwin’s 1859 classic, ‘On the Origin of Species’ will be familiar with his theory of evolution, which argues that over time, every species evolves in ways that strengthen its competitive position, and only the fittest of the species survive. It is a theory that, expanded to the social realm, has increasing resonance today with racists and fascists.
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the world, rich nations like Brazil and the US are seeing a bright spotlight shine on the growing inequality of their citizens, witnessing that while the virus is as likely to strike in the Palacio do Planalto and White House as in favelas and slums, the heavy burdens of the health and economic destruction fall disproportionately on the poor and weak.
In Darwinian terms, that is to be expected, even admired. To the modern liberal humanist, it is offensive and unacceptable.
Inequality is an unfortunate and historic characteristic of our societies. It has been getting worse. According to the charity Oxfam; “In Brazil, someone earning the minimum monthly wage would have to work 19 years to make the same money a Brazilian from the richest 0.1% of the population makes in one month.”
Bloomberg reports the U.S.’s historic economic expansion has so enriched one-percenters, they now hold almost as much wealth as the middle- and upper-middle classes combined.
Both countries rate extremely badly on measures of economic and social equality.
Given the selfish political power dynamic of the wealthy, the ‘fittest’, our governments have put reopening commercial activities as quickly as possible as a priority.
They argue, perhaps with some justification, that the pain suffered by the poor and currently unemployed can only be alleviated when the economy is functioning again, even if this means that more people – primarily low wage earners and senior citizens, although governments don’t express it this way – may be exposed to the virus and this may result in more deaths.
This is clearly putting commercial interests ahead of social interests, sadly not unusual in our societies. The scientific experts have made clear the dangers. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading US pandemic authority warns of “needless suffering and death” if the country reopens prematurely which, like Brazil, it is planning to do. But do our elected leaders care?
However we care to label it, fascism is having a revival throughout the world. It is hardly surprising that the exclamations and actions of Bolsonaro and Trump are classic examples of weak and ego-centric leaders with strong authoritarian leanings, desperate to show their strength. These strengths, according to a leading Yale University professor, can only be demonstrated by using moments of “misery and fear to expand their power”.
It is amazing how similar these two leaders are.
Commenting on this trend, Trump’s favorite TV Network, Fox News, reported from Brazil: “Urged on by the view of President Jair Bolsonaro that a shutdown is wrongheaded, will wreck the economy and that, anyway, the coronavirus pandemic isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, the people of Brazil are starting to choose the freedom championed by conservatives rather than the safety defended by liberals globally.”
Perhaps that explains the paltry 46 percent social isolation rate in São Paulo reported recently in this publication, a guarantee of the spread of the virus.
Bolsonaro’s position is an almost carbon copy of exactly the same sentiment, Trump’s encouragement to rioters who defies his administration’s medical advisors’ own lock-down advice. “Concerned a spike in unemployment and increasingly angry voters could damage his reelection prospects, Trump has encouraged governors to ease their restrictions, which were enacted in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus.”
In fact, slowing the spread of the virus through masking and social distancing (cautions Trump refuses to follow) runs counter to the fascist narrative, a sign of weakness and if it causes some additional deaths, so be it. Wrote Amanda Marcotte in ‘Salon’: “The fascist believes that those viewed as “weak” have an obligation to die “without protest for the greater good” and that if “they don’t do it, they are weak and the weak drag everyone else down and therefore must be done away with.”
For today’s leaders, truth and reality appear to be whatever they say they are. AlterNet reports that US “Attorney General William Barr even went so far as to say that history is written by the winners and that therefore there is no empirical definition of truth and reality. These are the words and logic of tyrants.”
We are truly at a historic crossroads. Each of us must decide whether we are ready to accept the weighty cost of the survival of the fittest with all that this implies for the fate of our future freedoms, or do we have the strength, courage and discipline to push back and however temporarily inconvenient, ride out the current storm?