Getting familiar with some of the trends of New Normal is absolutely necessary and advisable. These new normal trends are so active in affecting our lives negatively. Being ignorant of these new normal trends will leave us in lurch depoliticized subtly.
The first new normal. The global big pharma has strongly buckled up itself for bullying any regulative mechanisms that restrict their profiteering swindle. It is explicit to see how they indulge in heartless-lobbying, with respect to trade related intellectual property rights. In addition, the lobby does not commit to any accountability framework that potentially necessitates big pharma to ensure the efficiency level of the vaccines. Non-accountability and unbridled-profit are their mantra. The very maneuvering pattern of this lobby exposes their unwavering commitment of ‘profit over people’. The forecast of the human vaccine market is a matter of not only surprise but also shocking. See the table below to understand the cruising profit growth curve of these companies. Their profit curve is always steady and shooting up while the pandemic curve is dancing into zigzag shapes. More the avatars of viruses, the greater the profit!
Public resources, investments, infrastructures and taxpayers’ money are either directly or indirectly used for research & development. Once the vaccine or drug is produced, only the companies decide the price maximizing their profit.
The next is a new-normal trend, found in the domain of politics. Gone are the days, when netas used their public forums for upholding unity and peace. Now it is normal to see netas hatefully shout at ‘others’, on the colorful dais at street corners. They canvas for votes in order to destroy the ‘others’. A handy formula of ‘vote for hate’. This trend does not stop with the lower rung netas alone. The highlight is that even a person with the stature of a head of a state can also ask for votes for effective governance of ‘HATE’. This extreme formula is known as 80 Vs 20.
The other disturbing trend, which is becoming the new normal, is the ‘obscene inequality’!
“Worldwide sales of private jets soared when commercial travel was banned. While Lebanon faces economic implosion, its super-rich are finding solace in mountain resorts.”
“The top 10% of the Indian population holds 77% of the total national wealth. There are 119 billionaires in India. Their number has increased from only 9 in 2000 to 101 in 2017. Between 2018 and 2022, India is estimated to produce 70 new millionaires every day. India accounts for 17% of global maternal deaths, and 21% of deaths among children below five years.”
(Source: https://www.oxfam.org/en/india-extreme-inequality-numbers )
The great Tamil Saint, Thiruvalluvar, the author of the incomparable ethical treatise Thirukkural points out as follows:
“When he whom no man loves exults in great prosperity,
‘Tis as when fruits in midmost of the town some poisonous tree.” (Thirukkural:1008)
It is a cruel irony that a county could simultaneously produce billionaires and paupers. If we work out a ratio for this new normal, it may be 1: 1000,000 – one billionaire: one million paupers!
Last but not the least – the dog & bone. A major section of the mainstream media has comfortably negated their ethical responsibility of reporting all these dangerous trends to the people. By doing so, the media lobby proves that they are no lesser than big pharma! The media enjoys being ‘big-media’ by keeping mum. The stronger in keeping mum, the greater the gain! Bones for keeping mum – the ethic is ‘bones over people’. This lobby demonstrated their genuine ‘commitment’, in keeping mum even at the instances of victimization of many journalists who attempted to demonstrate the spirit of real journalism. The bone-mongering professionalism of the big media made them not only close their eyes but also their consciousness, when the attacks on the minorities were mounting. Such attacks have become events, while in reality they are the part of a meticulous process. This is how the subservient big media picturizes the heinous process into odd events!
A word of caution:
There would be concerted efforts towards buttressing crony capitalism with a special tool-kit made from a mixture of nationalism, patriarchy, racial supremacy, religious fundamentalism and misogyny. A section of the mainstream – the ‘big media’ would be playing its vital role in keeping the above-discussed new normal trends live. It is in this context there is a vital need of critical media interventions to not only counter the heartless big-media lobby but also expose it to the larger society.
Rajkumar, Founder: South India Volunteers Alliance for Commons (SIVA) Bangalore, Karnataka, India
