In these extra-ordinary times many leaders of the world are using the pandemic coronavirus to their advantage. The crisis the world is facing is just the perfect opportunity to expand their powers.
One of their foremost moves has been to silence the media though force. These countries have been quick to come down on journalists, threatening, expelling and in some cases also putting them behind bars. The cascading effect has been people have been deprived of ‘real’ news.
Silencing the media
The case of China is an ideal example of silencing the media. The country is called the People’s Republic of China… but it is anything except the ‘people’ part. The coronavirus pandemic would have never happened had China acted responsibly. It did not and today the world is a hostage to the deadly virus. There is no end in sight in the battle which planet earth is trying to win at any cost.
Doctors in China had raised the threat of coronavirus in December last year. The Chinese government reprimanded them and threatened them with prison terms. The result is there for everyone to see. The virus got a three-week head start and invaded 193 countries in the world. Today the world has seen over two lakh death due to the virus and yet China is not ready to take the blame.
When the first news of the virus emerged in China, the government ignored it. Millions of travellers passed through Wuhan, from where coronavirus originated. The virus then took control. Even today, China is not ready for transparency. It is expelling foreign journalists exposing the truth.
Chinese media are also not being able to report on the defective personal protective equipment (PPE) the country is manufacturing. The glaring deficiencies came to light when only India talked about those. Is one to believe that the Chinese government was not aware of the defects?
Other countries taking advantage of pandemic
Well in this mad craze to take the control of power, China is not alone. It is everywhere including Turkey, Bangladesh, United States, Russia, Thailand and Egypt. Well these are the few countries that can be named; there are many others in the list too.
Trump’s war with media
US President Donald Trump is into daily war with the American media regarding the countries tryst with coronavirus. Trump a few days back, said that UV rays can be used to treat coronavirus patients. When the backlash came, he promptly blamed the media saying he had been misquoted. It reached a stage when last week Trump said ‘it is a waste of time briefing the media about coronavirus’.
Well in the US, journalists or the media still have some semblance of freedom. Not so in other countries.
Threat for journalists
Thailand’s Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-Ocha has threatened journalists with dire consequences if they talk to healthcare professionals involved in fighting coronavirus. They have been asked only to depend on government press briefings.
Look at Hungary… it has so far said that coronavirus cases have not yet crossed the 1000-mark. How can one accept such figures when the pandemic is sweeping through other European countries?
Banking on the devastation coronavirus has created Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared emergency. It has empowered him to imprison journalists up to five years if the government declares any news as ‘false’. In a similar manner Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has awarded himself ‘emergency powers’ to silence any news he considers ‘fake’.
It seems governments across the world are on a mission to silence ‘independent media’. But why are they doing so? The answer is simple… to allow seamless dissemination of self-propaganda. The government in Egypt expelled a journalist of ‘The Guardian’ and warned another of the ‘New York Times’. Their fault… they questioned government figures. The Egyptian government did not want the tourist industry to be harmed. So it allegedly hid figures to suppress concerns among people travelling to Egypt.
Using coronavirus to tackle anti-government protests
But then this is not about using power to suppress the media alone. It is also regarding how coronavirus is being used to snuffle anti-government protests. Take the case of Russia. The Vladimir Putin-led government has banned all protests regarding presidency. Putin has been on a mission to extend his term. Widespread protests were on the cards, but those have been banned. In many countries civil liberties have come under restriction. These have go unnoticed as people have stayed indoors fighting the deadly virus.
That brings us to India. The protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act have been shelved as gatherings have been banned to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Also many state governments have been quick to come down heavily on journalists who have questioned the facts. Sometimes even proper news is being termed ‘fake’ and journalists harassed.
Well there have been many leaders who have proclaimed that the ‘world will never be the same again’ after coronavirus. It is true as democracy will take a backseat and authoritarian rule may well be the order of the day.
Surveillance threat
Citing the coronavirus threat, authorities will bring under surveillance every minute detail of your life. There is every chance, calls will be monitored, sites you visit checked, transactions will be brought under scanner. Democracy along with the world will never be the same again.
It is the time not to be just wary of the pandemic coronavirus. It is the time to look with skepticism each and every move political leaders may make. Along with coronavirus they are changing the world too.
No doubt about that.
Agencies
