Scope of Covid Health Bulletin Extended to Cover Global Protests

Now in addition to conventional coronavirus stories, the Covid Health Bulletin will also cover the spate of public protests against the tyrannical regimes which are expanding their tentacles in all parts of the world.

By Rakesh Raman

When the coronavirus pandemic started spreading in the beginning of the year, many thought it is just a health crisis which will be controlled by the health experts.

However, it has been seen that during the past few months, the elected dictators have manipulated the disease to deceptively strengthen their political positions while the healthcare people have been relegated to mere figurehead roles.

The political leaders are using the lapdog media anchors to downplay the effect of infection and pat on their own backs for controlling the virus, which is actually spreading violently. These days, the process of elections is just a farce in most countries.

The political bosses in many parts of the world used the coronavirus excuse to prohibit the demonstration of any kind of public outrage against them and did not allow the suffering citizens to hold protests against the state excesses. Today, an estimated 40% of the world population is suffering in authoritarian states.

During the ongoing pandemic period, the autocrats in the so-called democratic nations are using the police and security forces as their private armies to crush all sorts of dissent. The cruel governments are also using draconian sedition and anti-terror laws against the peaceful protesters and journalists who question their despotic decisions. Courts and bureaucrats are so terrified that they have decided to join the criminal enterprises owned and operated by politicians.

As a result, the protests against the autocratic rulers are intensifying in many countries including Russia, Israel, Belarus, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, and the U.S. People have also realized that if they have to challenge the autocratic regimes, they will have to show mass resistance on the streets while the social media platforms – including Facebook and Twitter – are not quite effective to continue their struggle.

As the chaotic situation persists in many parts of the world, the UN and its associate agencies have repeatedly failed to safeguard the fundamental rights of people.

Ideally, the UN bureaucrats including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, and others should take moral responsibility and resign from their positions for their failure to maintain peace. But the UN officials are sitting like parasites in their cocoons and silently watching catastrophic destruction happening around them.

Therefore, the member states particularly in the advanced parts of the world must force the UN top brass to quit their positions so that more dynamic leaders could replace them in a revamped global institution which has sufficient punitive powers to punish the dictatorial regimes.

The Covid Health Bulletin will cover the stories of unrest under the title “UNREST”.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.