Pandemic Orientalism and Some Realities

Photo by Al Soot on Unsplash

The Global Health Security Index 2019 ranked 195 countries on the basis of their pandemic preparedness and health infrastructure available to contain pandemics. Ten high income countries, led by the United States, top this list. With the exception of Thailand and South Korea, the rest are countries from Europe and North America.

By the early half of 2020, COVID-19 infections soared in several countries in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, the world was treated to the singular spectacle of the President of the United States asking people to inject disinfectant as a possible COVID-19 treatment during a press briefing.

In spite of the high infection numbers in North America and Europe, experts from these very regions warn the world authoritatively that the pandemic is about to “ravage” and “devastate” the Global South. It makes sense — if the pandemic wreaked this much havoc in their home countries, imagine what it could do to poorer parts of the world.

Orientalism: The COVID-19 Version

To explain this curious, though unsurprising, phenomenon I draw on literary critic Edward Said’s work on Orientalism, first published in 1978, that has had a profound influence on post colonial studies. Said describes Orientalism as the series of ideas and assumptions about the East that initially developed in the 18th century which eventually transitioned to military and administrative control and plunder of these parts of the world. Orientalism never went away — it was initially a British and French enterprise (these two countries being the most prominent imperial countries at the time) and with the transition of global power post-WW11, Orientalism was simply adapted by the United States. (Though the term “Orient” primarily refers to Asia and the Middle East, Orientalism as a concept has been applied to understand portrayals of the non-Western world by the West. And this non-Western world is what largely constitutes the developing world/Third World/Global South — whatever you want to call it.)

Of course contemporary Orientalism seems to be under severe strain from recent realities. To quote Said:

“The idea of representation is a theatrical one: the Orient is the stage on which the whole East is confined” (Said, p.63).

In the COVID-19 theater of 2020, the Global South is the stage of absolute devastation and requires Western intervention. To best illustrate this point, I will focus on several passages from two articles: This Won’t End for Anyone Until It Ends for Everyone and The Pandemic is About to Devastate the Developing World. Whilst I do not dispute some of their observations i.e. many individuals in developing countries have poor access to certain resources, the visible poverty in these parts of the world, and the economic hardships resulting from lockdown measures, there are some glaringly Orientalist observations that both articles make.

Consider these:

“From favelas in Brazil to refugee camps in Jordan, millions spend their lives penned into densely packed areas where the distancing saving lives in the United States is essentially out of the question.”

“In today’s crisis, by contrast, when President Trump downplayed the Covid-19 threat, ridiculing epidemiological projections, other leaders took their cues, assuming that the U.S. government knew something they didn’t and deferring the tough restrictions needed to stem the spread until it was too late.”

“Those consequences will be magnified because developing countries simply don’t have the government capacity to mitigate the downsides of keeping people apart. In many parts of the world, strict enforcement of isolation guidelines could lead to widespread starvation.”

“Rich countries could establish a rapid innovation fund to encourage social entrepreneurs to develop low-cost, scalable ventilators.”

What’s conveyed by the above passages in particular and articles? The Global South is a monolith and draws on some of the oldest Orientalist ideas and imagery — the Orient is passive, it is weak and cannot fight back, and hence, it needs Western help and corrective measures since the West is simply superior. This vast monolithic world of the Global South lacks the public health infrastructure and political will needed to manage a pandemic. Moreover, these regions are limited by cultural constraints that would make social distancing difficult, lack the ability to fight misinformation, and lack innovation capacity too. Plus, these countries will follow the United States’ botched response to the pandemic because they take their cues from the United States. Not. I, for one, haven’t heard anyone from my country asking their fellow citizens to inject disinfectant. And I’m from Sri Lanka, a country with plenty of political theatrics.

When I first read these articles, I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Decades after the epochal events of anti-colonial nationalism and independence movements, the great shift of manufacturing to Asia, the much talked about “Asian Century,” we’re still here I thought. We’re still “passive Orientals” requiring Western intervention. (On a side note, when reading articles spelling doom for the Global South, what I did gather was there’s more condescension poured on Africa compared to Asia. Read this excellent article to learn more about doomsday predictions for Africa.)

Look East: There’s Success, Not Devastation

Being closer to home, I will focus on Asia. Richer Asian countries such as China, South Korea, and Taiwan have been successful in containing the pandemic in their countries. South Korea and Taiwan have definitely been cited in the Western press (though they pale when compared to the praise showered on New Zealand). But look elsewhere in Asia too — Vietnam, Mongolia, Bhutan, Thailand, Cambodia, Kerala in India, and Sri Lanka. These countries (and state) have either contained the number of infections or restricted infections to clusters (in the case of Sri Lanka).

For example, Vietnam particularly stands out. They have a border with China and they acted quickly to test, trace, and quarantine individuals who contracted COVID-19. Yet according to the BBC, their success is due to “overreaction” and Foreign Policy takes it a step further by stating their pandemic control success is due to “repression.” So in other words, they succeeded because of their irrationality and ghastly political system. The Economist published an article citing Vietnam’s and Kerala’s successes — as examples of how you don’t need piles of money to fight a pandemic, only functional public health systems. A great revelation indeed — poorer countries do have functional public health systems. (In a rare turn, The Guardian actually published this interview with Kerala’s health minister.)

I will provide a quick summary of measures taken in Sri Lanka to contain the spread of the pandemic as a response to some of these hyperbolic articles. A country from the Global South notwithstanding, social distancing and a lockdown have been possible, Europe and North America were definitely not looked up to as examples to emulate, we’re manufacturing masks and PPEs for the world, and this might even come as a surprise to some but there’s innovation capacity in the country.

The Sri Lankan media started reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in January (albeit in a sensationalist way). At that point itself, there was an understanding that the virus could reach here. The first case was recorded during the end of January; by February, passengers arriving from certain countries were screened and Sri Lankans resident in Italy and South Korea started arriving in the country. They were initially sent for home quarantine but the approach changed, with military camps around the country being converted to quarantine facilities. Schools and universities were closed from mid-March onwards, and international airports closed from end-March onwards. Sri Lanka was also under a curfew from end March until early May, which was first relaxed for districts with lower numbers of cases and then later relaxed for districts with higher numbers of cases. After a limited testing policy at the start (where only those exhibiting symptoms tested), testing has increased and at the time of writing this, the number of active cases are lower than the number of recoveries (refer to HPB updates for more information).

Furthermore, there’s a national COVID-19 song and other videos such as this that promote good public health practices. Then there’s innovation — low-cost ventilators and AGV robots have been invented and swabs for testing produced locally. As for role models, Sri Lanka has been looking East. I’m certainly not saying this is a country that doesn’t have many debilitating issues — but constantly reducing countries of the Global South to passive caricatures is misleading. The Global South doesn’t exactly lack the government capacity or public health systems (here’s some background information on Sri Lanka’s public health system and universal immunization policy) and its people definitely don’t lack the capacity to innovate.

“Not So Great” Powers

Quite recently, The New York Times carried an article with a peculiar quote. The article laments the lack of testing kits and masks in France and features these sentences quoting a French foreign policy specialist:

“France can’t compare itself to South Korea or Taiwan, it can only compare itself to another great power,” Mr. Roche said. “To compare itself to countries that are not great powers is in some ways unbearable.”

I think reactions to this comment would range from incredulity to laughter. Now is not the time to feel nostalgic about a glorious colonial past (for some) and whine about having to follow Eastern upstarts. We’re living in times when global narratives are changing, and changing fast. The Global South is not a monolith that’s passively waiting for the pandemic to destroy their countries and people. They have acted in various ways to save lives. Over 200 years of Orientalist thoughts and approaches, and their institutionalization, have made some of us this blind to reality. I will leave the reader with another quote by Said:

“If the knowledge of Orientalism has any meaning, it is in being a reminder of the seductive degradation of knowledge, of any knowledge, anywhere, at any time” (Ibid, p.328).

(The views expressed are the author’s own.)

References

1. Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Penguin Books, 2003.
2. Global Health Security Index, 2019, https://www.ghsindex.org/
3. Our World in Data, 2020, https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-covid-cases-region
4. Rupar, Aaron. “Trump Just Mused About Whether Disinfectant Injections Could Treat the Coronavirus. Really.” Vox, 23 Apr. 2020, https://www.vox.com/2020/4/23/21233628/trump-disinfectant-injections-sunlight-coronavirus-briefing
5. Power, Samantha. “This Won’t End for Anyone Until It Ends for Everyone.” The New York Times, 7 Apr. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/opinion/coronavirus-united-states-leadership.html
6. Klaas, Brian. “The Pandemic is About to Devastate the Developing World.” The Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/31/pandemic-is-about-devastate-developing-world/
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14. Health Promotion Bureau, 2020, https://hpb.health.gov.lk/covid19-dashboard/
15. Official National COVID-19 Song, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W-JB0xtpyc
16. Public Service Announcement on COVID-19 by Gehan Block and Dino Corera, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSHOD1fD2yY
17. Farzan, Zulfick. “Local Ventilation Machines Go into Production.” News First, 1 April 2020, https://www.newsfirst.lk/2020/04/01/local-ventilation-machines-go-in-to-production/
18. “Atlas Invents AGV Robot to Support Sri Lanka’s Medical Personnel Combating Coronavirus.” Daily FT, 30 Mar. 2020, http://www.ft.lk/business/Atlas-invents-AGV-Robot-to-support-Sri-Lanka-s-medical-personnel-combating-coronavirus/34-698233
19. Abayasingha, Darshana. “COVID-19 Testing Ramped Up; SLINTEC Produces Homegrown Solution.” Daily FT, 15 May 2020, http://www.ft.lk/business/COVID-19-testing-ramped-up-SLINTEC-produces-homegrown-solution/34-700255
20. Sirimanne, Asantha. “Vietnam Coronavirus Research Re-defines Contact Tracing Strategy as Sri Lanka Expands COVID-19 Testing,” Economy Next, 4 Apr. 2020, https://economynext.com/vietnam-coronavirus-research-re-defines-contact-tracing-strategy-as-sri-lanka-expands-covid-19-testing-63840/
21. “Sustaining Vaccination Coverage.” UNICEF, https://www.unicef.org/rosa/media/5191/file/UNICEF_Sustaining_Vaccination_Coverage_SriLanka.pdf
22. Onishi, Norimitsu, and Constant Méheut. “Pandemic Shakes France’s Faith in a Cornerstone: Strong Central Government.” New York Times, 29 Apr. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/world/europe/coronavirus-france-masks.html