No one is safe until we are all safe

So much for the ‘civilised’ West [View this email in your browser]( November 30, 2021 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, What separates us from the conspiratorialists so prevalent in our society today? This is a serious question. Regular readers will know that The Ampersand will happily lampoon those who have so clearly snipped their tether to reason. The tin-foil aficionados are not our concern. It does indeed take all sorts. We are worried about those who walk and quack like reasonable ducks but somehow their logic has the depth of a puddle. What is it exactly that makes Flat-Earthers equally hilarious and disturbing? Why do we so readily dismiss the theories of climate change denialists? The vast majority of us that support pro-environmental policies aren’t scientists. We can’t give data off-the-cuff for the existence of climate change or offer empirical evidence to that effect. And yet we remain steadfast in our beliefs. The answer lies in the beauty of peer-reviewed research. Most of us have tacitly put our faith in the scientific method — the system of experimentation and analysis that has driven humans’ rapid development since the 17th century. In an ideal world the method is borderless; ideas are shared between peoples and tested and challenged to funnel out our closest estimation to fact. We all sip from the same font of knowledge. This is what makes the controversy surrounding the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, so infuriating. As you have no doubt heard by now, Omicron was recently identified in South Africa. Before the kettle had even boiled, the British had thrown us back onto their juvenile travel naughty chair — otherwise known as the travel red list — despite having almost three times the number of Covid-19 cases and not requiring masks in public spaces. Many others above the Equator followed suit soon after. Such an unconscious knee-jerk reaction flies in the face of the core principles that separate modern knowledge systems from Facebook researchers. If we’re going to behave so irrationally — pulling the trigger before considering the facts — we might as well go around telling each other why jet fuel doesn’t burn hot enough to melt the columns of the Twin Towers and that everyone we disagree with is a communist lizard. Adia Benton, an associate professor of anthropology and African studies at Northwestern University in Illinois, US, and the author of HIV Exceptionalism: Development through Disease in Sierra Leone, called it last year with [these sickeningly prophetic words]( “This same singular focus on origins, without regard for inequitable visa regimes that allow for the free movements of North Americans, Europeans and Australians through African ports of entry, is also what makes the inevitable spread within Africa thinkable, if not possible. For it’s not necessarily the oft-mentioned African-China extraction connections that will facilitate its spread, but the relatively easy access that Europeans often have to African countries. Today, many of the ‘African’ cases of Covid-19 are visitors from Italy and France. UK, US and EU citizens often purchase automatic access at the border, while these same countries have extensive application processes for African citizens and frequently reject African visa applicants and asylees. Border promiscuity, the widespread idea that viruses move indiscriminately across borders, is therefore, a naïve expression of the outbreak narrative; viruses move in bodies, and the freedom of certain bodies, certain people, to move across borders needs to be acknowledged …” The festering wound is that evidence suggests Omicron has been seeping around the world for weeks before it was discovered in South Africa. This country is now seemingly receiving censure because its scientists had the temerity to detect it and be transparent about it. Borders are not important it would seem, but rather who goes through them and why. One needn't stretch to reach the conclusion that shaming countries for this openness is not going to promote truthful disclosure. And if you don’t believe that that’s the case, but happily parroted the idea that scientists in Wuhan, not the Chinese government, wilfully and knowingly did not sound the alarm, we have a beachfront property to sell you in Ventersdorp. Memos of the future will just read “STFU”. We intuitively know why this is happening without having to really say it. As Dr [Ayoade Olantunbosun]( so wonderfully put it in a BBC interview: “Why are we locking away Africa when this virus is already on three continents? Nobody is locking away Belgium. Nobody is locking away Israel. Why are we only locking away Africa? It is wrong and it is also time that our African leaders stand up and find their voice.” We can only hope that the last line plays in an infinite loop in the heads of leaders across the continent. Calls of “we are in this together” have been proven to be wholly untrue and trying to control Western bigotry and prejudice is simply not going to happen. What we can do, however, is to mitigate it by holding our own accountable. In this week’s issue of The Continent, Soila Kenya brings the story of vaccine mandates in Kenya. The country is set to deny the unvaccinated access to public spaces, including schools, public transport and hospitals. That might all be well and good if not for the fact that only 5% of the population has received at least one jab. And not for a lack of enthusiasm. Many Kenyans insist they have arrived at clinics, only to be bullied out of their place in the queue or told that vaccines have run out. United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres said on Monday he was deeply concerned about the isolation of Southern African countries after Covid-19 travel restrictions were imposed by several countries over the new Omicron variant. Guterres has long warned about the dangers of vaccine inequality around the world and that low inoculation rates are "a breeding ground for variants". "The people of Africa cannot be blamed for the immorally low level of vaccinations available in Africa — and they should not be penalised for identifying and sharing crucial science and health information with the world," he said. We have seen drug manufacturer Moderna inflate its prices, refuse to share vaccine tech and not deliver shots to countries like Botswana. We have routinely seen so-called developed nations jump the queue. The West can — and will — continue to take shots and boosters and all manner of precautions, but as evidenced by Omicron until we are all safe, none of us are safe. It shouldn’t have to be that we appeal to Western selfishness and self-preservation to ensure equity, but here we are: humanity simply isn’t enough. If you know someone who has not subscribed to [The Continent]( make sure they don’t miss out by signing up — for free — on WhatsApp or Signal on +27 73 805 6068. Alternatively, there’s a mailing list you can join by emailing TheContinent@mg.co.za with the word “Subscribe” in the subject line. If none of that appeals, there’s also a [Telegram channel]( solely to news. Until tomorrow, Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham [Subscribe now]( Enjoy The Ampersand? Share it with your friends [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( [Share]( [Share]( Copyright © 2021 Mail & Guardian Media LTD, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive communications from the Mail & Guardian either at our website or by taking out a print subscription. 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