Only five years ago the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2015) signalled to the global economy an urgent need to pay attention to the lif...
Only five years ago the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2015) signalled to the global economy an urgent need to pay attention to the life-world of humans. By early March 2020, the spread of the novel coronavirus was declared by the World Health Organization to be a global pandemic. Scores of countries declared lockdowns in order to curb its spread.
Already crisis-ridden, the global economy recoiled from neo-mercantilism in the form of a speedy circulation of labour, commodities, capital, and services – thus hurtling down the path of disaster. The situation was glaringly apparent in the abandonment by governments of welfare-oriented social policies; even greater marginalisation of migrants and refugees; the destitution of low-wage labouring populations suffering from food insecurity; a massive reduction of the organised labour force; and, most importantly, an acute crisis in public health systems across a world already struggling with the neoliberal management of public health.
The public health crisis has only deepened the economic crisis. Incomes of wage-earning groups dropped, public spending on social services declined, and from all accounts, corporate sector earnings went up. In India, too, we saw Covid-19 responses of the government in the form of organised bailouts for big business far in excess...
