Posts Tagged ‘pandemia’
Different reactions to dominant thinking
03
Feb
In countries that were colonies of Europe, the term decolonization
emerged, which differs from decolonization because it penetrates precisely into the dominant thought and epistemology (some authors will call it epistemicide), which is not the simple liberation of domination, but also the resurgence of cultures. subalterns.
Thus, authors appeared in Africa (such as Achiles Mbembe), in Latin America (Aníbal Quijano and Rendón Rojas y Morán Reyes), as well as authors of original culture such as indigenous peoples (Davi Kopenawa and Airton Krenak), but a dialogue with European authors is possible. open to this perspective like Peter Sloterdijk (speaks of Europe as the Empire of the Center) and Boaventura Santos (speaks of epistemicide and also some concepts of decolonization), there are many others of course.
Christian culture must also be highlighted in these cultures, seen by many authors as a collaborator of colonialism, one cannot deny the historical perspective and also the doctrine that is the liberation of peoples and a culture of fraternity and solidarity, it is also a minority today in Europe and persecuted in many cases.
Among the Europeans who defend a new humanism, or a humanism in fact, since the Enlightenment and materialist theories failed to contemplate the human soul as a whole, and are therefore a one-legged humanism, among the Europeans I highlight Peter Sloterdijk and Edgar Morin, the first who defends the concept of community as a “protective shield” capable of saving our species, and the second, a planetary humanism, where man is a citizen of the world and diversities are respected.
Both consider the proposals populist, it is good to know that there are left and right, they must lose with the current crisis and global consumerism depends on an atmosphere of “frivolity” or superficiality that humanity will be forced to rethink, we will not go back to that what we consider stable, the original writers themselves, as Davi Krenak highlights in several interviews, what we want to return to was not good, there was no real happiness and well-being in what was considered normal.
As an aspect of the construction of thought, in Sloterdijk I highlight anthropotechnics, for him modernity was a de-verticalization of existence and a de-spiritualization of asceticism, while the knowledge and wisdom proposed in antiquity leave the empirical and the deceptive to go towards the eternal and of the true, as religion does not exist for him, it would be a movement of wisdom and knowledge, and not just an asceticism of exercises, where the immortal soul was exchanged for the body.
In Edgar Morin’s perspective, it is the hologrammatic perspective that can give man a vision of the whole, now fragmented by the specialization and particularity of each branch of science, a paradox of the complex system in which man is a part that must be integrated into the whole, where “not only the part is in the whole, but in which the whole is inscribed in the part”, the pandemic taught us this, but the lesson was still poorly learned, in the middle of the pandemic crisis it was decided that everything is released and there is no protocol for protection of all in each (each part), and there is no co-immunity.
Deeper look at the war
01
Feb
In times of crisis, the most difficult thing is to understand the
depth and extent of the crisis: social, political, ecological and human, the pademia has accelerated to greater levels and there are no great analyzes or thoughts that take into account the reality, in fact, a lot of guesswork and sophism, easy ways out of complex problems, the worst of which a possible war.
Karl Kraus complained about the journalism and the mentality of his time about the possibility of a new war, which in fact happened the First World War, in his irony he expressed himself like this: “there are superficial imbeciles and deep imbeciles”, and little by little the war of made.
The crisis between Russia and the United States returns to the tension over which humanity lived the entire period of the Cold War, which had apparently moved away, but we remember the 2014 crisis in Ukraine itself, where Crimea returned to Russian possession, the various crises with Iran and Afghanistan, the crisis with North Korea and the permanent crisis with China, which ranges from the commercial field to the military.
In the midst of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, already as serious as the Spanish flu and the black plague, covid 19 is now approaching an endemic disease, a disease with which we will have to live, but it is good to remember that care must be maintained, and health authorities cannot lose sight of control and preventive measures.
Peter Sloterdijk and Edgar Morin demand a greater depth in the look at the humanitarian crisis, they already complained before the pandemic, certainly now they have an even more sharp and critical look at the superficiality with which we deal with such serious issues and in need of a deep analysis, right now: a possible war.
Looking at the analysis, it seems that the media is interested in possibilities of victory for one of the sides, in strategies and positions that each side can take, a possible cut in Russian gas that supplies Europe that is in the middle of winter, but the humanitarian and global consequences for everyone, with greater gravity for Russia and Ukraine of course, it can have consequences that make the planet itself and civilization unrecognizable if the war alarm sounds, everyone will lose and the poorest will be taken to total penury with rising prices and food shortages.
Yes, the negotiation stages continue, Russia reaffirms that it will not invade, but the accumulation of forces around Ukraine is an escalation proportional only to the period of the second world war, the positioning is also strategic for a war, the UN Security Council which in the relay process now has Russia in the presidency, meets to try to make the diplomatic path viable.
Who will give in, what is it possible for each side to give in, NATO does not make Ukraine a member country and Russia stops supporting the forces that act internally in Ukraine, but the reasoning that there is a planetary ideological polarization cannot be left aside , the origin of the tension is this polarization and it is present today in every country, a new culture of peace is necessary for humanity, and this depth of reflection cannot be left aside.
Covid 19: increase in the number of deaths
31
Jan
The rhythm and curve in each country are different, Europe, even in
the middle of winter, saw the curve increase exponentially and only later did they take sanitary measures, in some countries including with lockdown, Asian countries, especially China and Japan, faced with strict isolation measures. and were successful in controlling the new wave, the winter Olympics that are about to begin in Beijing will not have an audience and the measures for the delegations have been a rigorous testing control.
A WHO official Van Kherkhove warned of the assumption that the virus will go softer with mutations: “There is no guarantee of that”, of course we hope so: “but there is no guarantee of that and we cannot bet on it”, justifying that measures sanitation services are still sorely needed.
In Brazil, there is an increasing number of daily infections, which approach the record of 200 thousand (graphic), and an increase in daily deaths that exceeds 800, with a moving average around 500, the increase is significant and there is no visible stabilization or decline trend, several states register an increase, only Pernambuco, Pará and Rondônia register stability.
The policy that believes, by hypothesis, that the pandemic is passing or that it can become an endemic is still without clear scientific data, the very seriousness of the omicron that is less lethal does not have a precise assessment, working on preventive when it comes to life is the most prudent thing the authorities can do.
We hope and as we said last week, we believe in the power of positive thinking and believing in hope, that everything can be close to an end of the pandemic, but caution is still necessary with decisions that release the people and public events that may be responsible for a greater number of infections and deaths.
Missing data and missing facts
24
Jan
The covid is advancing and although the predominance is of the 
ômicron variable, there is already a new IHU variant detected in France, the little testing and the number of asymptomatic cases indicate that the numbers can be much higher and therefore alarming, if in fact many cases are mild, the expansion is serious because it can lead to many people with the necessary comorbidities to make the cases complicated.
Everyone has a relative, friend or acquaintance with Covid now, in addition to public figures: players and coaches, journalists, television presenters, artists, etc. the number of cases is probably much higher than the public statistics that are released.
Vaccination of children has started, but it is important to say that the largest number of inpatients continues to be adults, not precise data, but just ask a friend or relative who works in a health unit to confirm, so a protocol policy is also needed for adults, many scientists and authorities, the WHO itself, insist that the pandemic is not over.
Because it could become an endemic disease, it is true, we can go there in a few months, say some of the scientific community, such as the BBC, expressing the opinion of Professor David Heumann, of the epidemiology of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: “It will continue for a long time to become endemic,” he said, referring to the fact that all viruses become endemic and are treated seasonally like the flu and other coronaviruses.
But the newspaper itself emphasizes that Covid-19 evolved quite unpredictably and, according to experts, the Delta variant could have been much worse, the fact is that in that case there was a health policy and a confrontation with the pandemic, now so much Both the public and the authorities seem to think that the omicron variant is good, there are even those who think it is absurd that such “herd immunity” would be good, that is, the vast majority of people having passed through the virus.
WHO Director-General Tedros A. Ghebreyesus declared last week: “Make no mistake, the omicron causes hospitalizations and deaths, and even the least serious cases overwhelm healthcare facilities.”
We remember that this was the original negationist thesis, and to reaffirm it now, even recognizing that the prevailing variant today is less serious, would be a very big mistake.
Covid Brazil: Pressured health system and increase
17
Jan
The increase recorded in the first weeks of January in Brazil in Covid
cases, with a predominance of the ômicron variant, is very high and there is no tendency to stabilize, the health system is pressured by the increase in hospitalizations and the presence of the H3N2 flu that has also appeared , it’s usually only expected at the beginning of winter around April and May, but this year it came earlier.
The numbers are uncertain, but there is a significant increase (see graph), there is little testing and a crash in the Ministry of Health data that drags on for more than a month, this jeopardizes the adoption of policy and the effective control of the pandemic, as explained to the press the infectologist and researcher at Fiocruz: “We cannot plan the opening of new hospital services, testing centers, opening of new beds and understand the regions where the impact of the new variant is greater” and the numbers are expected to increase in February.
It is a fact that the infection of this variant is less serious, but it is not certain that this would be an indication of the end of the pandemic and care should be maintained, the end-of-year parties and the release of public events, there is already some setback in these measures. , were vectors of propagation of the variant that is more infectious than the previous ones.
Brazilian neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis denied that the ômicron variant could be the end of the pandemic, stressing that mutations are probabilistically chaotic and it is not possible to predict the next variant or some point of linear weakening of the virus, it is likely that we will still have to live with it. for a long time, and the neuroscientist warns what is already happening in England and the United States where the health system can collapse at any moment, once it is under pressure. and warns that it is possible to reach a point of chronic Covid, this is a state in which the hospital system can no longer handle the volume of cases that happen and with palliative treatments only without being able to effectively treat the disease.
With this weekend’s numbers in Brazil, it reached close to 50,000 daily cases, the expectation is to grow until the end of February and the already pressured health system could collapse, while the authorities monitor without really data. valid and reliable data from the pandemic.
Vaccination of children began in Brazil, at the age of 5 to 11 years, with the Comirnaty vaccine (Pfizer/BioNTech) but the number of doses available is uncertain, the health secretariats have opened registration for scheduling that, in addition to avoiding agglomerations, can do a forecast as doses are available
Pandemic chaos and structural denialism
10
Jan
The restriction measures should have continued, but what is
observed is a release of agglomerations and the absence of clear protocols, worldwide there is an increase in chaos, approaching 3 million daily, in the United Kingdom there is an explosion of cases ( see graphic), studies from France have revealed 46 variants, omicron is still predominant, but there is a risk of new mutations if the pandemic is not contained and the only weapon available is vaccination, however, strict sanitary measures should have already been taken, little by little flights, restaurants and agglomerations are banned again, but without the necessary force of public authorities.
It is no different in Brazil, where more than 56 thousand hospitalizations were reached in the city of São Paulo alone, but the public discourse is that they are just people who have not taken the vaccine or that the cases are not that serious, but the WHO itself warns for the seriousness of omicron, the first immediate effect being to put the health system in collapse, in São Paulo ABLOS (Brazilian Association of Satellite Storers) will ask shopping malls to reduce their opening hours due to lack of employees due to covid.
A study by the University of Washington indicates that Brazil could reach one million daily cases, in the short term, by the end of January, the H3N2 influenza is advancing, however, most cases are still covid 19 with the variant omicron. China stockpiles food is not stated that it is just for the omicron issue or there is something else.
Indigenous leader Ailton Krenak, from the people of the devastated region of the Doce River, said in an interview on TVT’s Bom para Todos program that talking about a new normal is very close to denial, what needs to be changed and does not mean that we think the state is good. previous of carelessness about life and nature, it is nature itself that drives us to a change of habits, to a new way of living, and if we do not learn quickly, we will be stuck with new pandemics and cyclical crises.
That’s how it is, there is no way to change, says the conformist discourse, or worse, the one who wants to devastate lives to return to a normality that is still impossible not only due to the pandemic, but now also due to a suffered social reality and with blackouts and restructuring difficulties, such as Indian leader Krenak alerts there is no new normal, reality must be dealt with, however harsh it may be.
That’s how it is, there is no way to change, says the conformist discourse, or worse, the one who wants to devastate lives to return to a normality that is still impossible not only due to the pandemic, but now also due to a suffered social reality and with blackouts and restructuring difficulties, such as Krenak alerts there is no new normal, reality must be dealt with, however harsh it may be.
Even with the absence of clear data, since the end of December the Ministry of Health has been experiencing a data blackout, caused by hackers, but it has not been able to restructure itself, testing and control in collective activities has also been smoothed, just go to any social event , to restaurants or churches, there is no longer temperature measurement and the necessary distance observations, this is what we call here structural negationism.
Some measure is expected, but from the top down, it seems an intentional policy, there is a lack of control in actions and a relativization of the pandemic severity.
Covid: Tsunami in Europe and lack of protocols
03
Jan
Europe started the year with 4.9 million infections in one week
(59% more than Christmas week), it is an unprecedented contagion, with a predominance of the omicron variant, with 10 countries facing the highest rates in the world, led by Denmark (2045), Chipe (1969) and Ireland (1974), the whole of Europe has surpassed 100 million contagions, the region that runs from the Atlantic Coast, to the limits of Russia and Azerbaijan (see map of 100,000 in Europe, in last week).
Brazil still has low rates of infection and mortality, but already with some cases of outbreaks, a cruise that landed in the country and some places where there were parties and gatherings (in Rio de Janeiro the cases tripled after the parties, according to the website uol), show that the new variable is really conducive to high contagion, and vaccines are not effective, even for those taking the third dose.
There is a speech, coming mainly from the political area, that the new variant means a herd immunity, that is, it would be the final phase of the pandemic, but it is not proven that this infection would cause some type of immunity and that there would be no new possibilities of variants, and there are already cases of double infection of H3N2 and the omicron variant, called flurone, are different viruses of course and the treatment is more complex for this, also the effects of this combination must be analyzed more precisely.
There are specific measures in cities and states, while the government follows its line of denial, but the absence of general protocols indicates little awareness, after two years of pandemic, of the importance of co-immunity, that is, no treatment should be isolated or only punctual, but having general protocols, for example, for flights, ships that dock in ports, cities with large populations, events and parties, etc.
Simple vaccination, which must not stop, of course, may be ineffective in combating a variant that circumvents the effects of the vaccine and having a much greater dissemination power.
Also monitoring, which is necessary and should be accompanied by testing, is a measure of delaying the dangers and preventions that must anticipate the danger of a tragedy.
What to Expect in 2022
31
Dec
There is no quantum leap from one year to another, it is a day of a year
that succeeds on the first day of the following year, although for fiscal and political purposes the last day of the year is for economic and fiscal balances, and the beginning of a new one budget for the coming year.
Traditionally, the first year is also the day of Peace, and in Christian cosmogony the visit of the Magi (non-Christian) who visit the child-God who was born and flee from Nero’s threats is also a reference to dialogue between peoples.
Yesterday was marked by a bilateral conversation between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, requested by the latter, according to CNN, on the agenda although it was said that they are “bilateral diplomatic relations”, there is tension in Ukraine due to the concentration of troops in the country. border and the so-called Bucharest Nine, nine NATO nations (Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).
Any advance on Ukraine would mean a NATO response through the Bucharest Nine, but global involvement in the conflict is not impossible, so this dialogue is of fundamental importance to keeping the peace.
Our greatest hope is the end of the pandemic, but we have the threat of the new strain and also of the H2N3 flu whose vaccine is ready and working, so a good vaccination campaign that covers the entire population is essential, now with a view to co- immunity, that is, that all countries have a vaccine available, with the help of the WHO.
The omicron variant advances, however, preventive measures are not being taken, whether due to the depletion of containment forces (the population is tired of the restrictions) or due to the political weakness of governments, or due to a denial, now structural, that advances , since “vaccines don’t work” is partly true, but they limit the severity of infections.
The ecological balance cannot be forgotten, it is necessary to make significant progress in this direction, political change is not enough, it is necessary that they promote structural changes.
With all this, it is necessary to have hope, it is necessary to fight and always have something good in front of us to think, act and show solidarity with those who suffer.
2021 was a year of hope
30
Dec
The start of vaccination against covid 19, the rebalancing of political
forces (Joe Biden took office in the US, Olaf Scholz replaces Prime Minister Angela Merkel after 16 years in power and the recent election of former student leader Gabriel Boric is new Chilean president), show that the shift towards conservatism is contained, but there have been shifts to the right, such as the resumption of the military in Myanmar deposing elected president Aung Suu Kyi.
Although with many agreements and promising news, Belgium for example is going to deactivate its nuclear plants (because they are even dangerous), the environmental imbalance is a theme not only of what happens with the planet’s living vegetation, waters and climate, but mainly natural phenomena that emerge in a dangerous way: active volcanoes, forest fires, storms (recent tragedy in Bahia), magnetic poles and concern with earthquakes and movement of tectonic plates, spatial phenomena for the time being are in the field of fiction and fertile imagination.
Despite the advance in vaccination, we ended the year concerned about the new omicron variant, which is already the majority of cases of infection, worries Europe and has significant progress in other countries, including Brazil, and comes together with a new H3N2 flu that has already has a vaccine, however the omicron variant seems to circumvent current vaccines, even with the 3rd. dose.
Hope persists, although tired of isolation, which had brief moments of relaxation in preventive measures, but caution and resilience are needed.
The end of the year, the holidays and the trend of agglomerations in Brazil are worrying, amid other tragedies such as the floods in Bahia, the authorities seem to have little or no capacity to react and intervene in the face of a possible new wave in the country, the number of deaths that had fallen from the range of hundreds, rose again to 117 yesterday (29/12), and some hospitals are already noticing the increase in the number of cases, the country already has 80% vaccination in the population -target.
The word “hope” seems to be the predominant word to characterize this year, what is expected for 2022 will depend not only on this word but on the use of courageous preventive measures and not just “monitoring” of the situation, which is a delaying measure, which will not prevent infection either from the H3N2 flu or the omicron variant.
Active hope, not just waiting but acting for it to happen, the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is to look not only at our past and our origins, but at a promising future capable of building a new humanity, a more just and fraternal world.
Don’t look up: between fiction and documentary
29
Dec
The Netflix film is a fiction, but the style has become similar to a
documentary, and different from other apocalyptic films (“Armageddon” (1998), “Deep Impact” (1998) and “A Friend Wanted for the End of the World ” (2012)) the film “Don’t look up” has a different impact due to the apocalyptic waves that find the public.
The film tells of a professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his astronomy student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) make the discovery of a comet with a short time to collide with the earth, six months, and want to make it. drawing attention from the media that prefers to direct the public to social media media and is little concerned about their own lives, any resemblance to the pandemic is not a mere coincidence, there is a correlation, in particular, of feelings and attitudes.
Things start to change when Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan) organizes a media tour to the office of President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her son Jason (JOnah Hill) and also with the help of the Daily Rip airwaves, a program morning hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry) and a race against time begins.
In addition to the extraordinary actors, the film catches attention, and is already quoted for awards, the theme, but it is treated almost like a documentary and this is worrying.
The end-of-the-year messages are usually encouraging and almost always speak of hope for a better year, after two chaotic years due to the pandemic situation, the fiction film should have a fictional character as there are many films of the so-called “catastrophe cinema”, and people always watch it understanding it’s a fiction, but the time and conspiracy theories can collaborate to a film that has a negative impact on the emotions of the viewer.
I remember the last one to watch in this style, which was the Norwegian film Earthquake (2018), in which geologist Kristian (Kristoffer Joner) decides to investigate the Oslo tunnels, where a great earthquake occurred many years ago, and meets Marit (Katherine Thorborg Johansen) who is the daughter of a geologist who died while investigating the Oslo mines.
Both decide, with the imminence of a new earthquake, to save as many people as possible.
The problem is always how to avoid tragedy, of course if possible, so don’t get the vaccine is akin to “don’t look up”.
Both decide, with the imminence of a new earthquake, to save as many people as possible.
The hope should not start from the fact that a tragedy cannot happen, such as an extension or a new pandemic, but the preventive measures that can save, but “Don’t look up” seems more like despair than actually an attempt to avoid further catastrophes, will give you something to talk about.
