A letter from Harari and I
Katie Sperring highlights Yuval Noah Harari’s important commentary on the coronavirus pandemic.
When thinking of an antidote to the coronavirus epidemic, we frequently think of vaccination and quarantine measures. We rarely, however, think in the long term about how humanity might cooperate to produce a less tangible antidote but nevertheless an important one. Harari’s musings on how to address the COVID-19 pandemic are made even more interesting by being practically anomalous among commentators. So few speak of this virus as closely focused on human relations as he does. Yet it is this form of thinking that will surely serve humanity best as we begin to navigate the world post-virus.
It is imperative that humanity doesn’t seek to erect barriers between countries following the pandemic and instead reinforces the openness of its relations with fellow humans. Along with coronavirus’ scientific dimension, as biotechnology endeavours to develop a reliable vaccine and testing system for the virus, there is a key sociological and political dimension, in which we’re all agents. What this involves is multiple channels of trust – trust between people and scientific experts, between citizens and their governments and, at the broadest and possibly most pressing level, between the governments of different countries.
It’s clear that we are, to an extent, at the mercy of biology and the response of biotechnology with respect to the spread of the virus. However, we need not be at the mercy of social and political isolation between countries in our response to the virus’ spread and implications. This only intensifies a sense of mistrust. What is imperative is that we instead seek to breed trust, and the accompanying processes of sharing information and fiscal burdens to de-escalate the implications of this grave situation. This involves actively fighting against disunity and distrust between countries which pose an acute danger for the world. We can either allow the self-interested, deglobalising, and isolationist sentiments of individuals like Trump, or we can utilise the experience as a call to action against these very sentiments.
Trump’s announcement he will cut US funding to the WHO is a clear example of the malign politicisation of this issue that can arise. This politicisation is occurring elsewhere in other forms. The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has commanded security agencies to deploy surveillance, normally used against terrorists, to monitor coronavirus patients, circumventing parliamentary accountability by using an emergency decree. Harari repeatedly emphasises the prospective danger of this pandemic being used to usher in malign, even totalitarian, surveillance technologies and deglobalising sentiments. Instead of succumbing to these forms of politicisation, we should use it as an impetus for global cooperation, rather than perpetual disunity between countries and distrust between citizens and their governments. This is exactly what Harari endeavours to do, but his voice alone cannot penetrate the political discourse that exists in the aftermath of this pandemic.
How might we, as citizens and as young people, actualise what Harari is endeavouring to encourage? It often seems our own contribution to such a sizeable task would be so infinitesimally small as to render it useless. Yet hopefully a situation such as this pandemic, where we must all isolate for the sake of others as each of us can so easily endanger another who is vulnerable, illustrates that as individuals our actions are actually consequential. Consequential in the context of our community, in the context of our nation, and for the international community. In other words, we shouldn’t undervalue the opportunity this situation provides for a reassessment of the importance of individuals’ actions.
We might ponder what sort of contribution we can make. It might be something as I am doing, writing a small piece to share to others, encouraging them to consider exactly what this situation means or could mean for the future of our relations with one another. It might be something that I did before this, taking some time to read someone like Harari. This is particularly relevant for young people, given that it is the implications of this situation with which we shall have to negotiate as we become the next generation of activists, commentators or leaders. Then, we should consider whether an adjustment in our attitudes is necessary. If we choose to still believe in representative democracy, our leaders will exhibit the attitudes that we, the electorate, manifest. So, rather than shunning community and shared responsibility, we might seek to embolden it. Harari emphasises this very thing.
These are matters directly within our reach. There are other matters relevant to Harari’s messages. For example, during the pandemic, the WHO and other such organisations must be emboldened so that their role in future pandemics or situations of this nature is able to be more than advisory. Global efforts should be undertaken to pool medical personnel, where those countries less affected lend workers to more hard-hit countries, and to provide the necessary protective equipment to all countries. Following the pandemic, the emboldenment of the WHO should be sustained. Global health infrastructures should be erected and reinforced for potential future crises and our nations’ governments should invest in, rather than neglect, the importance of such infrastructures. These organisations are indispensable manifestations of global coalescence. These matters might seem beyond the grasp of our influence. Or maybe they really are an extension of the same thing.
We can give impetus to our governments taking these necessary actions if we do ourselves convey the attitudes that this requires. Without this, there is little to no chance that our governments will respond in the way that this pandemic, and the different world that we will inhabit following it, demands.
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