Eastern European countries adopting authoritarian measures in face of Covid
Europe’s political approach to the coronavirus pandemic has divided down stark east-west lines, a Guardian analysis has found. Five of 18 eastern European countries have registered major violations of international democratic freedoms since March 2020, according to research conducted by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, compared with none of 12 western European countries. The research also shows that eastern European countries have been more likely to turn to abusive enforcement, disinformation and discriminatory measures, with the most common violation being restrictions on the media.
The worst violations
were observed in
Serbia, which recorded a violations score three times higher than the
European average. Under a special regime implemented in a declared state of
emergency, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers were selectively targeted and
put under strict 24-hour quarantine, controlled by the military. They were
banned from leaving the centres, while support staff were prevented from
entering…
Society of the
Spectacle / 'इमेज' - 'Image': A
Poem on Deaths in the Age of Covid
Noam Chomsky: Internationalism or Extinction (Universalizing Resistance)
George Lakey on
Capitalism, public health and the Nordic model
