DR MARGARET NAKHID-CHATOOR
A SOCIAL collective is needed in this country right now - a coming together of groups, organisations, communities and individuals who can work for the benefit of the common good. At this moment the priorities of this common good are a healthy population, decreasing the mortality rates, ensuring all households have basic necessities, and that people are safe.
The disquiet that is happening instead, the constant criticisms, blaming, shaming and finger-pointing have to be abandoned in this time of crisis. All of our leaders, whether they are political or religious leaders, in the labour unions, the economic forecasters, all of these people must reach a mutual agreement and exude a sense of calm, motivation, hope and positivity in this pandemic.
The unity and the social collective stance of these various leaders must be far more powerful than the sectional forces and partisan interests that drive them apart.
A social collective is situational, coming together when there is an urgent need as in the present pandemic where many lives are being lost. In this collective, individuals and groups can join at any time and these groups usually have similar interests and concerns.
People in a social collective may not agree with each other or have the same objectives of governance but in the interest of these times when our population is at its lowest morale, where families are burying their loved ones every day, where people are filled with fear and anxiety and there are many job losses and/or cuts in paychecks, there has to be a unified approach and vision that is shared and the joining of forces to combat this dreaded disease.
What we are seeing instead are knee-jerk reactions to every effort that is tried and which may not produce the desired results that some people want. What is this distracting noise all about?
In one of his speeches, Barack Obama (2009) stated that in times of crisis, 'persons must participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise and place the interests of the people of your country and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients of tolerance and compromise, elections alone do not make for true democracy.'
Our society has been deeply affected by the coronavirus and its ravaging spread. Beyond the immediate impacts on health, security of jobs and incomes, the epidemic is increasing people's anxiety and worry, affecting their social relationships, personal security, and sense of belonging.
Immediate short-term government responses where there is co-ordinated networking with other leaders are needed to save lives and livelihoods. This includes building social connections and social capital, opening up new ways of working and living, and reinforcing the capacity of public services and the existing social safety nets.
The psychological impacts of physical distancing and the quarantining measures have resurfaced in a major way
