Wêne ji hêla Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com
Tişt bi gelemperî bi awayê ku ew dikin xuya dikin ji ber ku kesek îdîaya desthilatdariyê ji me re dibêje ku ew wusa xuya dikin. Ger ew pir cinîkî xuya dike, ji bo bîskekê raweste û li ser tiştê ku tenê salek berê, an tewra çend hefte berê ji we re herî girîng xuya dikir, bifikire.
Then, you may have been thinking that Russian interference in western politics was a vitally important issue, and something that we needed to invest much of our emotional and political energy in countering. Or maybe a few weeks ago you felt that everything would be fine if we could just get Donald Trump out of the White House. Or maybe you imagined that Brexit was the panacea to Britain’s problems—or, conversely, that it would bring about the UK’s downfall.
Hîn jî wisa hîs dikin?
Werhasil, bi qasî ku em bixwazin (û bê guman hin dê hewl bidin), em bi rastî nikarin Vladimir Putin, an zeviyên trollên rûsî ku çend hezar dolar li reklama Facebookê xerc dikin, ji bo pandemiya coronavirus tawanbar bikin. Bi qasî ku em bixwazin, em nikanin bi rastî Trump ji bo rewşa karesatbar a pergala lênihêrîna tenduristî ya Amerîkî ya taybet, ku bi tevahî nexweş û ne amade ye ji bo acîlek tenduristiyê ya li seranserê welêt sûcdar bikin. Û her çend ji bo hin ji me ceribandî be jî, em bi rastî nikarin sînorên nerm û koçberên Ewrûpayê ji ber zêdebûna jimara miriyan li Keyaniya Yekbûyî sûcdar bikin. Ew aboriya gerdûnî û rêwîtiya erzan bû ku vîrus anî Brîtanyayê, û ew serokwezîrê Brexit-hez Boris Johnson bû ku ji ber ku serpêhatî dest pê kir dilgiran bû.
Wêne ji hêla Christopher Sharpe / Shutterstock.com
Wêneyê mezin
Is it possible that only a few weeks ago our priorities were just a little divorced from a bigger reality? That what appeared to be the big picture was not actually big enough? That maybe we should have been thinking about even more important, pressing matters—systemic ones like the threat of a pandemic of the very kind we are currently enduring.
Because while we were all thinking about Russiagate or Trump or Brexit, there were lots of experts—even the Pentagon, it seems—warning of just such a terrible calamity and urging that preparations be made to avoid it. We are in the current mess precisely because those warnings were ignored or given no attention—not because the science was doubted, but because there was no will to do something to avert the threat.
If we reflect, it is possible to get a sense of two things. First, that our attention rarely belongs to us; it is the plaything of others. And second, that the “real world,” as it is presented to us, rarely reflects anything we might usefully be able to label as objective reality. It is a set of political, economic and social priorities that have been manufactured for us.
Agents outside our control with their own vested interests—politicians, the media, business—construct reality, much as a filmmaker designs a movie. They guide our gaze in certain directions and not others.
A Critical Perspective
At a moment like this of real crisis, one that overshadows all else, we have a chance—though only a chance—to recognize this truth and develop our own critical perspective. A perspective that truly belongs to us, and not to others.
Vegere li xweyê kal, yê berî-koronavîrusê ku we ye. Pêşîniyên we jî wekî yên niha bûn?
This is not to say that the things you prioritize now—in this crisis—are necessarily any more “yours” than the old set of priorities.
If you’re watching the TV or reading newspapers—and who isn’t—you’re probably feeling scared, either for yourself or for your loved ones. All you can think about is the coronavirus. Nothing else really seems that important by comparison. And all you can hope for is the moment when the lockdowns are over and life returns to normal.
But that’s not objectively the “real world” either. Terrible as the coronavirus is, and as right as anyone is to be afraid of the threat it poses, those “agents of authority” are again directing and controlling our gaze, though at least this time those in authority include doctors and scientists. And they are guiding our attention in ways that serve their interests—for good or bad.
Rêzkirinên bêdawî yên enfeksiyon û mirinan, grafikên rokêtan, çîrokên ciwanan, ligel pîr û kalan, ku ji bo saxbûnê şer dikin, ji armancekê re xizmet dikin: ji bo ku em pê ewle bin ku em di qefilandinê de bimînin, ku em dûrbûna civakî biparêzin, ku em dilşewatî nebin û nexweşiyê belav bike.
Here our interests—survival, preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed—coincide with those of the establishment, the “agents of authority.” We want to live and prosper, and they need to maintain order, to demonstrate their competence, to prevent dissatisfaction bubbling up into anger or open revolt.
Ji hêla hûrguliyan ve qerebalix kirin
But again the object of our attention is not as much ours as we may believe. While we focus on graphs, while we twitch the curtains to see if neighbors are going for a second run or whether families are out in the garden celebrating a birthday distant from an elderly parent, we are much less likely to be thinking about how well the crisis is being handled. The detail, the mundane is again crowding out the important, the big picture.
Tirsa me ya heyî dijminê pêşxistin û domandina perspektîfa me ya rexneyî ye. Her ku em ji grafîkan, ji mirinan ditirsin, ew qas zêde dibe ku em teslîmî tiştê ku ji me re were gotin dê me ewle bike.
Under cover of the public’s fear, and of justified concerns about the state of the economy and future employment, countries like the U.S. are transferring huge sums of public money to the biggest corporations. Politicians controlled by big business and media owned by big business are pushing through this corporate robbery without scrutiny—and for reasons that should be self-explanatory. They know our attention is too overwhelmed by the virus for us to assess intentionally mystifying arguments about the supposed economic benefits, about yet more illusory trickle-down.
There are many other dramatic changes being introduced, almost too many and too rapidly for us to follow them properly. Bans on movement. Intensified surveillance. Censorship. The transfer of draconian powers to the police, and preparations for the deployment of soldiers on streets. Detention without trial. Martial law. Measures that might have terrified us when Trump was our main worry, or Brexit, or Russia, may now seem a price worth paying for a “return to normality”.
Bi awayekî paradoksî, xwestekek ji bo ya kevn-normal dikare were vê wateyê ku em amade ne ku serî li nû-normaliyek bidin ku dikare her dem ji me re şansê vegerê li ya kevn-normal înkar bike.
The point is not just that things are far more provisional than most of us are ready to contemplate; it’s that our window on what we think of as “the real world,” as “normal,” is almost entirely manufactured for us.
Ji hêla vîrusê ve mijûl dibe
Her çiqas ev ecêb xuya bibe, di nav tirs û êşa me de, pandemî bi rastî jî ne wêneya mezin e. Bala me ji hêla vîrusê ve tê kişandin, lê ew, bi têgehek bi rastî jî tirsnak e, di heman demê de balê dikişîne.
In a few more years, maybe sooner than we imagine, we will look back on the virus—with the benefit of distance and hindsight—and feel the same way about it we do now about Putin, or Trump, or Brexit.
Ew ê beşek ji nefsa meya kevin, pêşanînên me yên berê, beşek piçûk a wêneyek pir mezintir, nîşanek ku em ber bi ku ve diçûn, nîşanek ku me guh neda wê dema ku ew pir girîng bû.
The virus is one small warning—one among many— that we have been living out of sync with the natural world we share with other life. Our need to control and dominate, our need to acquire, our need for security, our need to conquer death—they have crowded out all else. We have followed those who promised quick, easy solutions, those who refused to compromise, those who conveyed authority, those who spread fear, those who hated.
Ger tenê me karîbû awira xwe ji nû ve bi rê ve bikira, ger me karîbû ji bo bîskekê kontrola bala xwe ji nû ve bigirta, dibe ku em fam bikin ku em ne tenê ji ber vîrusek, lê ji tirsa me, nefreta me, birçîbûna me, xweperestiya me dikevin bela. Delîl di şewat, lehî û nexweşiyan de, di kêzikên windabûyî de, di deryayên qirêj de, di tazîkirina pişikên kevnar ên gerstêrkê, daristanên wê de, di kelikên qeşayê de hene.
The big picture is hiding in plain sight, no longer obscured by issues like Russia and Brexit but now only by the most microscopic germ, marking the thin boundary between life and death. Z
Ev gotar yekem car li ser bloga Jonathan Cook derket: https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/
Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His books include Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jonathan-cook.net.