covid 19 is a curse or an opportunity write a report
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Never has the world witnessed such a state of panic, not even in world wars, where vast areas remained relatively safe. But the current Corona epidemic seems like a state of global war that will not exclude anyone or any region of this planet. Countries have closed their borders and airports, stopped their railways, and reduced the movement of shipping. Regions inside the same state were isolated and citizens voluntarily quarantined in an unprecedented manner. Distance education has become the way to complete the academic year, depending on the infrastructure required to communicate via the Internet and appropriate applications.
In health services, a significant gap became apparent in the unfair health systems of some countries, regardless of their economic development. They were unable to respond quickly to urgent emergency needs to help hundreds of thousands of patients and carriers of the virus, especially since the number of intensive care beds and available basic medical supplies did not exceed regular needs before the outbreak.
These challenges brought about by the current epidemic crisis, revealed the inherent dangers in the trends promoting foreign investment to achieve growth without binding them to human rights and environmental protection standards, rather than dismantling existing universal social protection schemes or standing in their way, replacing them with "social safety nets" based on selective interventions to protect the most vulnerable. In 2014, the Arab NGO Network on Development (ANND) shed light on this aspect in a regional report that delved deep into the nature of current social protection systems in the Arab countries. The report stressed on the dangers inherent in the private sector becoming the driver behind the economy in the absence of any form of social responsibility.
In the midst of this state of panic and helplessness towards a new, invisible enemy, states closed their doors and dealt with their own crises without resorting to cross-border cooperation, as was the case in other emergency situations with catastrophic repercussions. It appeared as if an earthquake had hit globalization and the global system, along with its mechanisms and institutions.
"The speed in which the Corona pandemic spread and related challenges were a further indication that there is no alternative to the state as the main protector of people at critical moments, through adopting measures, policies, and regulations for its containment."
What are the implications and how can the current situation point the way to the future?
The Global System Today
Globalization, allowing the free flow of goods, money, people, and ideas, corresponded to the adoption of a series of multilateral international trade agreements whose powers extended beyond trade in goods to cover services; production, protection, and support mechanisms; local policies dealing with competition and investment; and intellectual property issues, such as scientific and medical research and pharmaceutical innovation, including essential medicines, which could save millions of lives from fatal diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDS, and so on.
Multinational corporations, however, did not stop at these agreements. They placed restrictions on the role of States and their ability to protect the rights of their citizens. Labor laws and tax regulations were designed to hinder the existence of social protection systems in favor of private health insurance. Country reports in the abovementioned Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights: "In most Arab countries, social policies with a protectionist character regressed, both in rich and poor states." It was a result of loosening controls on the flow of capital, which freed investments from all social and environmental obligations.
The systemic crisis emerged in several regions of the world before the discovery of Covid-19. The US was in the midst of a trade war against its capitalist partners in Europe, North America, and Asia, and especially directed against China. International organizations formed in the aftermath of the Second World War, based on an international law having human rights as its primary foundations were weakened. By the end of last century, the role of the United Nations began to wane, replaced by Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO. Earlier this century, the role of all these institutions declined and gave way to industrialized nations in the G7 then the G8 and then the G20 (especially following the 2007 crisis).
The Covid-19 crisis means a huge downturn in economic activity. A few sectors are growing, as people use more technology and swap to bigger supermarket shops, but most organisations of all shapes and sizes are taking a massive hit. We seem to be heading inevitably into a deep global recession.