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picture: from article
Hello everybody,
For this week's text analysis, I have chosen an article that was published around a week ago (March 25, 2020) in the Financial times called “If Covid-19 is not beaten in Africa, it will haunt us all”. Abiy Ahmed, the author of the text, is the Ethopian prime minister and 2019 Nobel Peace prize laureate and he demands from the nations around the world to act less selfishly and to find global solutions to the problem.
Here is just a quick summary of the content of the article, if you do not want to read it. Abiy Ahmed points out the mindlessness of taking only nation-orientated actions as the virus is not stopped by borders. Furthermore, African countries, in comparison to rich industrialised ones, do not have the same resources to face a pandemic like COVID-19, because their health systems are not sufficiently developed. Simple precautions like washing hands and “social distancing” are difficult to put into action as running water is still a rarity and the people rely on their communal lifestyle. Additionally, wealthier countries are currently discussing the financial support of local businesses but most African countries simply do not have the same capacities. As an example he talks about Ethopian Airlines, an important contributor to the country's income. The airplanes are currently not flying which not only has financial consequences but also prevents the import of medical supplies from abroad to support the nation's health system. That’s why he voices his support for global leadership. In his opinion, the WHO should coordinate the pandemic globally by helping the governments deal with the situation. The G20 should create a global accessible fund to support the governments, economies and health systems worldwide. The Covid-19 situation should evoke global solidarity and inspire humanity to work together in order to successfully overcome the problem.
While reading the article, I found three important messages that Abiy Ahmed focuses on. Firstly, “We are all in this together, and must all work together at the end”. Abiy Ahmed stresses the idea of one world community that has to work united in order to overcome this challenge, addressing the “global citizens''. This community is the first important actor in the current situation. On the other one is the virus, “invisible, vicious adversary”, the villain if we want to make it a fairytale metaphor. He uses a personification for the virus to make the threat more depth and in order to create a personal connection between the people and the virus. Having those two sides also represents the situation we are in. It is all of us against Corona. That’s why we have to work together. A disease does not care about nationalities, religions or other “man-made diversities” how Ahmed puts it. The world population is equally treated by the virus, therefore the author sees it as contradictory to confront the virus only with “uncoordinated country-specific measures” instead of global actions.
Secondly, although the article sounds at the first instance as a cry for help from “Africa” I believe, Africa is in this case representing all the less fortunate parts of the world. Yes, he is speaking as the prime minister of Ethiopia, one of the many African countries and he always mentions “Africa” as the place of risk. However, it appeared to me as weird that he is treating Africa as an entity, which is a common mistake amongst people to generalize the continent, despite its diversity and variety. Moreover, when he compares the situation in Africa to the worldwide one, he depicts the rest of the world as developed industrialised countries. “Advanced economies are unveiling unprecedented economic stimulus packages. African countries, by contrast, lack the wherewithal to make similarly meaningful interventions”. This led to thought of Africa standing for not only the African countries but also all the other economically less fortunate countries and communities around the world. This could mean that he is actually demanding the industrialised countries to look out not only for the African ones but generally for the developing ones which are all paying a high prize when the virus arrives, because their hygiene standards, medical supplies and overall economic situation are way worse than the many European countries. He shows the contrast of the different hygiene standards. People are always talking about washing their hands and sanitizing them. The Nobel Peace prize laureate explains the difficulty with these precautions as in Ethiopia these are an “unaffordable luxury to the half of the population who lack access to clean water”. Therefore it is important to achieve global actions because the unequal circumstances between the differently advanced societies would make it impossible to tackle the virus everywhere in the same way.
This comes hand in hand with his last point, the demand for global leadership. In times like these the global community realises that it needs some sort of global leader which coordinates the necessary measures, facilitates cooperation between the countries and provides a platform for financial support and solidarity. One of the first things that I have learned as a first year International relations major is that realists see the international realm as a system of anarchy and Kenneth Waltz further describes it as a “self-help system” due to the lack of a global leader or a leading institution. This means every nation is fighting for their own advantage which certainly becomes evitable in times of crisis, because there is noone to force the countries to work together. This is exactly what we are witnessing right now. Instead of working together as a global community, every country fights for itself.
When you have a text, it is important to look at five different aspects to understand it better. These five points were defined by Harald D. Lasswell. The so-called Lasswell formula (1948) states that you look at WHO- SAYS WHAT - IN WHICH CHANNEL- TO WHOM- WITH WHAT EFFECTS. First, the question of the writer. We have already addressed that one. The author is Abiy Ahmed, the Ethopian prime minister and 2019 Nobel Peace prize laureate. Also the content of the article has been sufficiently analysed. But let’s take a look at the channel of communication and the audience. The article was published in the Financial Times which is according to wikipedia “an English-language international daily newspaper owned by Japanese company Nikkei, Inc., headquartered in London, with a special emphasis on business and economic news”. The fact that he has published the text in an international newspaper with an international, mainly business-based newspaper, makes clear that he is approaching the better-situated international community with this writing. It makes sense when we look at the message of the text again. He is reminding the richer population to not forget in times of crises the poorer parts of the world and to not lose sight of the bigger picture, which is the worldwide effect of Covid-19. Therefore using a paper that has reached one million paying readers in 2019, amongst them mainly wealthy business people, is the right platform for it. He tries to warn those with influence which are mostly the ones with money to change their perspective of the whole crisis and shift it more towards international cooperation and united fight against the enemy Covid-19. The last point is the effects of the article. One one hand, there is the international reaction to the article. According to the US news magazine POLITICO from April 2, 2020 the G20 are currently working on financial aid for Africa. Therefore, the demands of Abiy Ahmed have not fallen on deaf ears. On the other hand, there is the effect that the paper has on the reader. When you have read the paper or this blogpost, what was going through your head? Maybe your attention was drawn towards a problem, you did not consider before. Maybe you suddenly see Covid-19 not only as a nationwide but rather worldwide problem and realize the consequence the virus and the way we handle it affects prior progresses in international work.
In our virtually, politically and economically connected world the occurrence of solemnly nation-orientated behavior seems bizarre and misplaced, particularly for people of my generation. Obviously, I can only speak for myself but the entire situation is for me difficult to comprehend. Staying home, not seeing my friends and not being able to plan events for the next weeks, months, for the next summer is weird and unusual for an almost 20 year old. But we have to always remember that we are not doing it for ourselves. We do it for everybody. We are all in this together and have to work united to confront and win over the virus. Thereby it is easy to forget about the problems in other parts of the world. I know that there are many people even in the US or Europe whose whole existence is at risk because of Corona and I am incredibly sorry for them. Yet, I chose this article to shift our focus also to the international community and its struggles during the crisis. Abiy Ahmed reminds us all to not forget about solidarity, support and unity on a global level. One day, we want to return to a kind of normal life, right? But if we have not successfully fought off corona everywhere, it will always find a way back and remain a constant threat and let’s be honest, nobody wants that. Thus, let’s stand together strong, not forgetting about anybody and try to find long-term global solutions.
stay healthy and safe, Paulina