Protests against COVID-19 safety measures expose lack of trust in government. Although misplaced, it is not unfounded. What would be the best strategy to deal with COVID-skeptics and conspiracy theorists?
by Kathrin Schödel
Picture by MaltaToday
[dropcap]D[/dropcap]espite the ongoing and rather fatal second wave of the pandemic ravaging across the globe, it seems that, currently, the only people protesting in relation to COVID-19 are COVID skeptics. Protesters believe that health measures are a disguise for a more and more authoritarian state and claim that the pandemic is a hoax with a more sinister real background,—as if the reality of the disease was not sinister enough.
Apocalyptic Scenes
Luckily, in Malta, these protestors have so far been only a small minority, whose satirical unmasking may still find greater resonance than their protest itself. In other countries, for example Germany, such viewpoints are shared more widely and protests regularly attract a worrying mix of right-wing extremists, so-called concerned citizens and conspiracy theorists.
Those protesting, then, are not people affected by losing a loved one to the disease, or by the thought that vulnerable people—all of us to varying degrees—are being put at risk. Neither are those affected by job losses or suffering from dangerous and exhausting working conditions in the health sector, caused by the extra strain of the pandemic protesting at the moment.
Those protesting are not people affected by losing a loved one to the disease, or by the thought that vulnerable people—all of us to varying degrees—are being put at risk.
People demonstrating in Malta last Saturday mainly expressed concerns regarding contradictory and, what they refer to as, “draconian” measures, a lack of information about the efficacy and side-effects of Coronavirus vaccines and also the health risks of 5G technology, which they link to COVID-19 symptoms. Is such a counter-movement to scientific evidence and public health policies simply to be dismissed as stupid? Is it just one of the more grotesque symptoms of otherwise grim apocalyptic times that self-proclaimed prophets of all kinds take to the streets?
Conspiracy Theories and Real Concerns
As COVID-19 denialist theories are spreading, humour is a welcome way of revealing their own contradictions, as this Bis-Serjetà video brilliantly does. But a simple distancing of ‘good and educated citizens’ from ‘COVIDIOTS’ is not always the best method. A moralising dismissal of people is rarely a good strategy for changing their minds.
COVID-19 sceptical views are not only held by their hard-core proponents, with whom any serious engagement may be pointless, but also by many others who are as yet unsure of what to think about the pandemic and its political implications. For the sake of the latter especially, it is important to keep a discussion open and to attempt to understand the concerns leading to this particular rejection of mainstream discourse.
Even the fear of vaccination, while it needs to be debunked, should not be dismissed too lightly as it is connected to a feeling of distrust in governmental decisions, in itself not unfounded.
It cannot be denied, for example, that public health measures are often contradictory. New governmental decisions are rarely well explained, and they tend to be framed in a language and practice of coercion rather than democratic participation. It is easy to feel the power of the state at this point, even for those middle-class protestors, who have previously tended to profit from governmental policies and to ideologically justify them.
It is also true that for capitalist states, public health—understood as thorough information about all health issues, rigid measures to keep everyone in good health, and equal accessibility of health care, disease prevention and a generally healthy life-style—is not in fact a priority.
The concern about hidden dangers and state measures that may have negative side effects, or indeed, negative effects for the majority has a factual basis. Scandals about unhealthy food being sold, about air pollution not regulated, about preventable dangers not prevented are regular and systemic phenomena as are the negative effects of inequality on the health of the majority and the detrimental side-effects of working conditions for many.
[beautifulquote align=”full” cite=””]The concern about hidden dangers and state measures that may have negative side effects, or indeed, negative effects for the majority has a factual basis.[/beautifulquote]
Conspiracy theories offer explanations for such scandals by identifying an evil force behind them; not the abstract force of the economic system, but the concrete power of individuals or groups: Bill Gates, Illuminati, a specific gang of rich and powerful people—a construct often imbued with anti-Semitic undertones—behind those rich and powerful people who are obviously exerting influence.
Such secret knowledge is compelling because it provides a clear-cut division between good and evil. It distances the evil force from those identifying it, who in turn become innocent victims and brave resistance fighters. Mirroring the conspiracies it constructs, it offers admission to an illuminated circle of those knowing better than the blind majority.
Sometimes critics of conspiracy theories create the impression that it is easy to distinguish wild tin-foil-hat conspiracy theories from sensible explanations of how politics work. But this is not always the case.
It is, of course, true that unelected rich and powerful people influence politics, and that this often goes on behind closed doors: daily conspiracies of sorts. The exposure of a very sinister conspiracy with deadly consequences is currently ongoing in Malta with the public enquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
[beautifulquote align=”full” cite=””]The exposure of a very sinister conspiracy with deadly consequences is currently ongoing in Malta with the public enquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.[/beautifulquote]
In terms of scientific evidence, it is not a straightforward task to keep following the research which is now influencing our lives so deeply. There are different viewpoints among experts and there are theories previously held which are later dismissed, such as the early warnings against a general use of masks. To a reader not trained in medicine or epidemiology all this research, which has only become relevant in everyday life so recently, has been hard to make sense of.
At the same time, it is also true that one-sided perspectives often dominate mainstream media. Therefore, a narrative claiming to provide an argument seemingly overlooked by everyone else is not always far-fetched.
The distinction between fake news and facts, between conspiracy theory and adequate explanation is not as obvious as it may seem. The more important it is to keep engaging in discussion and analysis, to cooperate in checking information and critically evaluating political decisions and their contexts.
Mainstream Critique of Conspiracy Narratives
The partly understandable reasons for people turning towards conspiracy theories should by no means distract from the danger inherent in their logic. The proximity between some conspiracy narratives and a legitimate critique of power structures, non-transparency and a lack of care for the well-being of the majority, indeed, makes it highly important to spell out the differences between the two approaches.
Mainstream criticism of conspiracy theories sees the core problem in their opposition to the present system, their attack of the state. In this way, such established criticism of conspiracy theories is part of a general political discourse and state practice of surveillance and criminalisation: the suspicion towards every viewpoint which departs from the established political order. This is an obvious strategy for the self-preservation of the existing system. In this view, highly divergent forms of radical politics are conflated under the banner of ‘extremism’.
Established criticism of conspiracy theories is part of a general political discourse and state practice of surveillance and criminalisation: the suspicion towards every viewpoint which departs from the established political order.
A leftist political perspective which is itself radically opposed to the status quo must formulate its own criticism of conspiracy theories, then. It cannot follow their simple dismissal on the grounds of being in conflict with the established political order and departing from hegemonic discourses.
A Leftist Perspective
COVID-19 denialists pose a health risk to themselves and others when they refuse to wear masks and to observe physical distancing and by spreading fake news about the dangers of vaccination. Conspiracy theorists also pose several political risks for a leftist project.
In their right-wing articulations, they are connected to discriminatory and authoritarian ideologies, to nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism. But even in their less obviously anti-emancipatory forms, they are a dangerous distraction from what actually matters in politics. By attributing the cause of all problems to a group of individuals and their secret dealings, the argumentative structure of conspiracy theories is opposed to an analysis of the systemic causes of such problems.
A leftist reaction to the focus on individuals in conspiracy theories, however, should not in turn blank out the decisive role of individual actors within the system.
A critical analysis of the workings of politics in capitalism needs to combine both a critique of systemic issues and an awareness of the roles of different agents. It has to emphasise the structural basis of politics in the economic system and class society and, at the same time, show who the concrete actors are, from large corporations to powerful politicians and other privileged social groups exerting influence. In contrast to the fantasy of an evil ‘other’ in conspiracy theories, the actions of these groups and individuals are clearly based on the positions of power conferred to them by the political and economic system, not by secret and elusive mechanisms.
With regard to the pandemic and visions of a post-pandemic future, rather than despair at the apocalyptic outlook of economic recession and climate catastrophe looming large beyond the end of COVID-19, a leftist project needs to emphasise the connection between these issues.
With regard to the pandemic and visions of a post-pandemic future, rather than despair at the apocalyptic outlook of economic recession and climate catastrophe looming large beyond the end of COVID-19, a leftist project needs to emphasise the connection between these issues.
The increased likelihood of zoonotic diseases (pathogens being transmitted from animals to humans, such as the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19) is linked to the ruthless exploitation of nature in capitalism: deforestation and the destruction of ecosystems, as well as meat production and unsustainable land use and agriculture. While the prospect of COVID-19 not being the last pandemic we may see is grim, to identify its root causes is essential. And these bring us back to the central project of the left: a radical opposition to the capitalist economy of exploiting humans and nature. Rather than putting on tin foil hats or despairing in increased social isolation, let’s come together in protesting against this truly unhealthy system.
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