For a pandemic of solidarity: Share kindness not panic

A Morung Express Feature

"This is, above all, a human crisis that calls for solidarity," UN Secretary-General António Guterres last week, stating that current COVID-19 crisis is “spreading human suffering, infecting the global economy and upending people’s lives.”

 

Apart human lives, the world faces another big challenge - the loss of livelihood. By the end of 2020, International Labour Organisation recently estimated that world could lose as much as $ 3.4 trillion in income.

 

Amid the gloomy scenario, there are numerous heart-warming across the globe as citizens and governments join hands to combat the pandemic.  

 

In Nagaland, two colleges produced sanitisers and donated the same to others, while another made it available to its fraternity. There are many reports of public and others agencies distributing hand sanitsers as well as keeping hand-washing spots in several locations across the state.

 

At the epicentre

On 23 January 2020, China imposed a lockdown at Wuhan, the centre of the COVID-19 and other cities in Hubei province, effectively quarantining close to 60 million people.

 

In an article in The Conversation, Belinda Kong, Professor of Asian Studies, Bowdoin College wrote that “conditions of obligatory isolation and social distancing, common people invented new kinds of sociality and new genres of epidemic expressions.”

 

Of many, one she highlighted was how residents of Wuhan encouraged each under strict quarantine on the early onset of lockdown. On the night of January 27, residents shouted “jiayou” – literally “add oil,” meaning “hang in there” or “don’t give up”– out their apartment windows, in a spontaneous burst of solidarity.

 

“It was a demonstration of collective strength and defiance, of people’s refusal to be quelled by the virus and the quarantine...,” she maintained. 

 

Numerous netizens echoed “Wuhan jiayou!” in encouragement.

 

Masks also become a powerful vehicle for enacting generosity and fellowship. In one viral video from Anhui, an anonymous Good Samaritan was captured on surveillance camera dropping off 500 masks at a local police station.  ‘As he hurried away, two officers ran outside to salute him.’

 

It inspired Hong Kong-based singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang/Deng Ziqi) to compose “Angels” dictated to “ordinary people’s small acts of fortitude and kindness.”

 

This spirit of reciprocal support extended to the care of animals within and outside the province.

 

On Weibo, WeChat and Douyin, memes of quarantine boredom and stir-craziness proliferate.

 

“Collectively, these chronicles attest to the idea of pandemic resilience – the possibility that disease outbreaks can be lived through with empathy, ingenuity and sheer human ordinariness,” Kong noted.

 

Hailing health workers and front liners 

Of numerous individuals battling the pandemic, perhaps the health workers are busiest lot and working under most risky situation.

 

Such efforts have not been gone unappreciated. In India, during a voluntary curfew on March 22, citizens joined hands saluting them for five minutes.

 

Public across the globe have developed a new-found respect for the health workers and others on the frontline in the recent past. Across Europe, Israel and so on, residents are applauding and encouraging those at the frontline.

 

Societies that stand together are more resilient in times of crisis, a group of human rights heads stated recently.

 

Voluntary efforts

Stories of individual and voluntary initiatives are aplenty. According to a CNN report, the staff at a popular Houston restaurant got a $9,400 tip for a $90.1 bill from couple who wanted to help them get by during the COVID-19 shutdown, and remain anonymous.

 

Where people are free to provide practical help, community groups are mobilizing to deliver supplies to elderly people and other vulnerable groups that have been advised to stay indoors to minimize the risk of infection, the World Economic Forum (WEF) reported.

 

Celebrities to sportspersons are joining the fight. Among others, Rihanna donated $5 million while Gary Neville opened up 176 rooms in his Hotel Football up for free to NHS staff and  promising ‘no job cuts’. Ditto for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. Many sports players and clubs are donating their salaries or raising funds.

 

Indian sports personalities too are joining the effort. Sacin Tendulkar donated Rs 50 lakh while Sindhu donated Rs 10 lakh; Hima Das gave one month’s salary while Bajrang Punia donated six. Pathan brothers -- Irfan and Yusuf -- donated 4,000 face masks and so on.

 

“Gestures of empathy and solidarity are multiplying at a local level – medical students volunteering to help hospitals, or neighbours helping the elderly get food,” WEF noted. 

 

Big Businesses

From Alibaba to Zomato, big names in the world of business either sending medical help or donating cash.

 

Highlighting such initiatives, the WEF informed that online retail giant Amazon donated $5 million to local businesses in Seattle while co-creating with Microsoft a COVID-19 Response Fund, targeting hard-hit Washington State.

 

Facebook committed $20 million and masks while Apple chipped in with $15 million and masks. Pharmaceutical giant Roche has started shipping test kits to the US.

 

Ali Baba founder Jack Ma donated over 1 million face masks and 500,00 test kits to the US besides sending 20,000 testing kits to 54 African nations along with 100,000 masks and 1000 medical hazmat suits.

 

In the UK, the government has turned to some biggest industrial names, including Rolls Royce and the electronics manufacturer Dyson to start producing life-saving ventilators. 

 

French luxury powerhouse LVMH has now ventured into the hand-sanitizer sector and distilleries in the US and Europe were reportedly adding hand sanitizer to their usual product ranges of rum and whiskey.

 

The Gates Foundation has pledged a $100 million to virus research while Netflix established a $100 million relief fund. There are many other instances.

 

Indian Industries and companies too are pitching in. Food delivery giant Zomato has started ‘Feeding India’ initiative to support families of the daily wage workers during the current lockdown. Mukesh Ambani’ Reliance Foundation announced to set up India’s first dedicated COVID-19 centre with 100 beds in Mumbai.  Anand Mahindra pledged to find a way for the Mahindra Group’s manufacturing facilities to be used for producing ventilators. There are many others.  

 

As the UN Chief stressed, Global solidarity is not only a moral imperative.

“More than ever before, we need solidarity, hope and the political will to see this crisis through together.”