{"id":12981,"date":"2020-04-07T14:35:25","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T14:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drogriporter.hu\/?p=12981"},"modified":"2022-07-04T14:15:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T12:15:32","slug":"broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drogriporter.hu\/en\/broken\/","title":{"rendered":"Reducing the Harms of a Broken System: Social Justice Demands During COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this time of crisis, harm reduction activists must go beyond their regular demands and urge governments to act quickly to prevent a public health crisis transforming into a social collapse (Greek translation<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The current epidemic is not only a public health emergency, it is also a social crisis. It exposes the putrid wounds in the very fabric of our societies. The wounds the political elites left untreated for too long: The growing inequalities between rich and poor. The growing skepticism about democratic institutions. The humiliation of science by politics. The shrinking space for civil society. The devastating consequences of so-called austerity politics on our public health and social care systems. The destabilisation of the welfare state, leaving behind so many communities without real perspectives and hope. Failing to deal with the growing housing crisis. Reforming the criminal justice system. The list can go on for pages – what is common is that the consequences of these failings become more visible in a time of crisis. And we have to pay for them with human lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social isolation, the magic mantra of the upper-middle class – the desire to leave behind the dangers of the underworld and escape to the protected gardens of Elysium – is a mockery for those who are poor and marginalised. They don’t have savings to store food or medicines. They often don’t have a home to self-quarantine. They don’t have strong social networks to help them out. The policy of social isolation, without adequate support from governments, means a death sentence for these people in the longer run. Many more people could die of the economic and social consequences of the epidemic than of the virus itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n