The Theatre of Crisis

It’s generally acknowledged that 536 AD was the worst year in history and was a prelude to a thoroughly miserable decade. The death toll was incredible and life was generally horrible. What we are going through now pales in comparison. But the cause of that misery truly was an act of god. It came about through a volcanic eruption in Iceland which resulted in clouds of ash covering much of the world. But so called acts of god are rare.

If you look at the great tragedies in living memory, the vast majority have been man made. Even in earthquakes the loss of life has generally been down to the poor design or construction of the buildings where those responsible knew better. The Covid-19 pandemic isn’t a random accident and the numbers of deaths we are now seeing in the UK could most certainly have been avoided, even if some were inevitable. Its looking likely the total will exceed 100,000 by the end of this month with hospitals in London already at breaking point.

We are rightly being asked to take all precautions, stay at home if we can and follow the rules. Yet that number of 100,000 is still pretty much set in stone. It’s a juggernaut that was set in motion months ago and cannot be turned round on a sixpence. Our actions can save lives but the best we can do is save a few people grief, at least in the short term. In the long term it’s pretty much down to government policy and action. A BMJ (British Medical Journal) opinion article makes clear that people have, in most cases, acted responsibly throughout the pandemic. Indeed, in early March last year many of us were self isolating before the government even introduced the lockdown.

The article points out that where the public have breached the guidelines they have more often done so through necessity rather than choice. The determining factor has often been lack of government support. Children without laptops at home are now being admitted into school. They were promised laptops last year but they never materialised. Support has consistently been inadequate and promises regularly broken. It doesn’t help that contracts have been awarded like raffle prizes and programmes such as track & trace have been shambolic at best.

Nurseries have been allowed to stay open and there are many other inconsistencies in government regulations that make the current lockdown almost farcical. The pandemic is out of control and the government is managing it more as a PR exercise than a genuine crisis. Even now a £100 million contract for delivering computers has just been awarded to a Tory doner. Who in their right mind expects this programme to be timely and effective. Going on past performance there’s not a cat in hell’s chance.

However, as I look out on another sunny sky (I’m so repetitive) I’m mindful of the cruel, yet beautiful, world we live in. However green and pleasant our land is, there has and always will be cruelty, oppression, injustice and heartbreak in other places. We cannot bear the weight of the world’s problems on our shoulders or hope to save every life we know is in danger. There is never a silver bullet and we cannot win every battle we engage in. Not many of us will be remembered for ground breaking moments in history and even if we were it would be disingenuous to claim the victory for ourselves.

But if we’re not aware of the pathology of disaster and crisis, and the true nature of power and wealth, if we are not plugged in to organisations and movements that can collectively challenge those powers and show the way, we are merely observers. For most of us, adhering to the rules will be our part. Others will need us to help them play that role. Some of us (and it will always be the few) are small gears that need to find their place in a machine that can ultimately change the course of government.