I chose to analyze "A Communique from Basque Country in the Time of Coronoavirus" because I was actually able to travel to Basque Country during my study abroad in Spain this spring. The Basque country is the northern region of Spain that become autonomous from the Spanish government years ago, however, is still technically part of geographical Spain. In the article, the Feminist Movement of Euskal Herria published an open letter where they said "for years, we have been talking about the crisis of care, and we are seeing it now with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not a mirage; it is more visible because this crisis has caused care to collapse. It is not circumstantial- the care crisis is structural. So it is necessary to change the paradigm, change the neoliberal model that has been imposed based on the belief of self-sufficiency" (Zabalegi et. al.).
Spain had pretty bad shutdowns during the initial years of the pandemic, which made their already rather inefficient healthcare system even worse. They had a high death rate due to a lack of sufficient care and resources. Living there I was able to speak to a gal who worked at my school in Barcelona and told me about the lockdowns. She said each age group had a scheduled time of day they were allowed to be outside for only essential errands otherwise they were legally obligated to remain indoors in their small apartments. That rule in and of itself does not create a healthy environment mentally or physically which could have been a contributing factor to a lot of issues. The point of their statement is that the healthcare system has been insufficient for years and only exacerbated by the pandemic making it obvious it's time for structural changes.
“A Communique from Basque Country in the Time of Coronavirus.” Commune, 4 Apr. 2020, https://communemag.com/a-communique-from-basque-country-in-the-time-of-coronavirus/.
Hi Lauren!
ReplyDeleteIt's super interesting that you are able to bring perspective from Spain as you actually lived through part of the pandemic there. How crazy that they had scheduled times to leave their small homes? I agree, the isolation is extremely damaging to both mental and physical health, which definitely contributed to structural issues within their healthcare system. I bet a lot of these adults and children felt extremely unheard during this time. When we were on house lockdown, I felt really mentally unwell, but I was lucky enough to have health benefits that would support me if needed. I actually lived next to a doctor that worked in hospitals during the pandemic and was a great resource that supported our family. So to be honest, I was extremely lucky and felt heard. I can not imagine how these individuals in Spain felt in time of such isolation, needing to completely depend on themselves.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteI really liked hearing an outside perspective of life during the pandemic. I did not know much information on how other countries were working through this tough time because it was so depressing I didn't want to consume any news. I find the times and groupings of citizens to be very interesting during the lockdowns. It makes sense to me but had to have been hard on people that had friends, family and relatives in different time 'zones' to be outside. In the United States we obviously had lockdowns but none as intense as many of the other countries around the world. I wondered why but soon came to realize that there are millions of different perspectives on the theory. For example barely anyone got sick with covid in my rural small town but I can't even begin to compare to areas in Europe that have millions of people in such a small area. These dynamics are what tear people apart and cause confusion. I would like to add to the conversation, how might we mitigate groupings of people in diverse different backgrounds ethically while trying to please everyone.