Corona Chronicles
Why public transport must reinvent itselfIntroduction
During the coronavirus crisis, cities around the world seized the opportunity to close roads to cars and to expand pedestrian zones and cycle lanes. But what future will these initiatives have when normality is restored? Is there even the risk of a rebound in private car use if travelling on public transport continues to be discouraged? At the same time, the crisis is also a chance for public transport to reinvent itself and play a new role in the post-COVID-19 world.
Transport during the...
read more "Reset: The post-coronavirus transport conundrum"
read more "Reset: The post-coronavirus transport conundrum"
Interviews with Carmen San José, Martin Schirdewan and Harald WeinbergFor years, the neoliberal policies followed by the European Union and EU Member States have imposed privatisations and cost-cutting measures on health care systems, causing a significant deterioration in the essential services such systems provide. In southern Europe in particular, the deterioration has been especially pronounced in recent years, with massive cuts in spending on social policies imposed on large segment of society by the ruling classes.
The coronavirus crisis is not only exacerbating ...
read more "Austerity and Health"
read more "Austerity and Health"
EU Relentlessly targeted members’ health spending over past decadeAbstract
A decade of austerity imposed by the European Union institutions and EU Member State governments has caused significant deterioration in healthcare services across the EU. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the EU’s healthcare and public sectors to be ill-equipped to respond to the outbreak in accordance with international best practice. The Stability and Growth Pact and the associated European Semester process have been the central tools used to enforce austerity across the EU since the 2008 ...
read more "Austerity kills"
read more "Austerity kills"
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the EU’s healthcare and public sectors to be ill-equipped to respond to the outbreak in accordance with international best practice. A decade of austerity imposed by the European Union institutions and EU Member State governments has caused significant deterioration in healthcare services across the EU. The Stability and Growth Pact has been the central tool used to enforce austerity across the EU since the 2008 financial crisis. Member States’ spending on healthcare provision has been targeted for reduction ...
read more "The EU’s role in attacking healthcare"
read more "The EU’s role in attacking healthcare"
Funding Sources, Negotiations, Comparisons and Limitations
Around 2.3 million people are estimated to be eligible for the Minimum Income Guarantee (known as the IMV in Spanish).
Three billion euros per year will be required to fund the measure: 0.24 percent of Spain’s GDP in 2019.
Led by Vox, the far right launched a campaign of aggression in Congress, labelling those calling for the measure as “lazy” and “scroungers”.
Social organizations have pointed to the bureaucratic obstacle course, the conditionality of the measure and the ...
read more "Analysing the Spanish Minimum Income Guarantee"
read more "Analysing the Spanish Minimum Income Guarantee"
Civil society actions against COVID-19In Brazil, while president Jair Bolsonaro boycotts all efforts to fight the spread of novel coronavirus, popular movements are getting organized to help the most vulnerable part of the population.
In the global context of COVID-19 pandemics, Brazil is gaining notoriety for their Federal Government’s disastrous management of the health crisis, with emphasis on president Jair Bolsonaro’s actions. Through social media, personal actions and political decisions, Bolsonaro is ...
read more "The strength of the people against COVID-19 across a country in misgovernment"
read more "The strength of the people against COVID-19 across a country in misgovernment"
An Interview with Anne-Cécile Mailfert***Version française ci-dessous***
The lockdown has highlighted the fact that victims of domestic violence live in de facto lockdown all the time. Anne-Cécile Mailfert is a French feminist activist and President of the Fondation des Femmes (Women's Foundation). In early June 2020, she took the time to answer questions from A Season in Hell Editor Ethan Earle about violence against women during, before and after the Coronavirus.
Ethan Earle (EE): Can you tell us a bit...
read more "“When women spend more time at home, it is never good for their rights”"
read more "“When women spend more time at home, it is never good for their rights”"
Doctor Carlota Salomon gives us courage for the coming hard weeksIt began with a rather bizarre situation. Carlota Salomon, 26 years a doctor at the “José María Penna” hospital, Parque Patricios, Buenos Aires, had put on her elaborate protective clothing and approached her first coronavirus patient to draw blood. The doctor saw how the woman lying in her hospital bed was frightened by her astronaut’s gaze.
Fortunately, the patient could not see that I too was afraid,” said Salomon. This was because the doctor’s face was hardly visible due to the goggles, ...
read more "The Wards are Filling Up"
read more "The Wards are Filling Up"
For the coming weeks, RLS Brussels Office will publish clips from colleagues, comrades, and friends from Europe and beyond giving personal impressions of the crisis, the measures, living and coping. How do fish sellers, taxi drivers or restaurant managers cope with the crisis in Dakar? A video recorded by the team of RLS Dakar Office.
Brazilian democracy is on mechanical ventilation. While Covid-19 spreads through the country’s most impoverished areas, shamelessly exposing the bleak reality of its social inequality, president Jair Bolsonaro (who is currently not affiliated with any official political party) has decided to checkmate Brazil’s Judicial and Legislative branches. After joining a political rally in Brasília on Sunday (May 3rd) calling to shut down the Brazilian Congress and Supreme Court, Bolsonaro threatened to put an end to democratic talks. Live streaming on Facebook, the president...
read more "Brazil in intensive care"
read more "Brazil in intensive care"