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by Janet Phelan
April
14, 2020
from
ActivistPost Website
A number of developing countries which have initiated "Stay at
Home" orders are now experiencing hunger and starvation deaths,
as well as murders by over-zealous police.
Reports that the lockdowns in India and elsewhere have resulted in
almost as many deaths as has
the coronavirus are now emerging.
A recent opinion piece in
The Print discussed,
non-virus deaths in
India which were a result of the loss of employment and loss of
income, detailing these deaths as by starvation, suicide and
assaults by security forces...
The article states that,
"As India extends the
lockdown in a modified form for another two weeks, here's
another statistic we need to think about: at least 195 people
have died of the lockdown."
A number of examples are
given of people dying due to the lockdown rather than the virus:
Enforced by the
trigger-happy police officers through lathis (a long,
heavy bamboo stick used by Indian police as a baton), this
lockdown has been so cruel it wouldn't even let ambulances pass
in some places, such as in Mangalaru, where two people died as a
result.
A reported assault by
police on an ambulance driver resulted in another death.
In Maharashtra,
the police
assaulted an ambulance driver for allegedly ferrying
passengers rather than patients.
The officers
took a bribe and let the ambulance go to the hospital so that
the driver could be treated for assault injuries. The driver
died anyway.
India is not alone
in experiencing starvation and security-related deaths.
Ugandans are reported as also now facing the specter of
starvation as a result of attempts to curb the spread of the virus.
A recent
article in the Wall Street Journal also revealed that security
forces in Uganda had killed people for defying the lockdown.
The Irish Times also reported police beating civilians in
Uganda, as part of their enforcement capacity vis a vis the virus.
Police violence
against civilians is also
reported in Kenya, where the police recently beat to death a
thirteen-year-old boy as part of their "crackdown" on the
coronavirus.
The situation
in
Latin America is not much brighter.
The economies in
many Latin American countries depend upon casual labor, and casual
laborers generally don't have savings accounts.
This makes
compliance with social distancing and stay-at-home orders a recipe
for starvation.
As
reported here, a vegetable vendor in Haiti succinctly stated
that,
"I am not going
to spend money fighting corona. God is going to protect me."
So far, the 'First
World' has been spared the specter of starving neighbors and food
riots.
America has a
considerable infrastructure to assist its needy, although there are
now reports of food banks being
stressed to their limits, as millions apply for unemployment
benefits and other financial assistance.
With the 'Third
World' going hungry and unable to respond vigorously to
security-related attacks, one might want to revise the official
perception that the elderly are the primary victims of Covid-19...
It appears to be
equally ravaging the poorer nations.
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