In the United States, a White House staffed by xenophobes is using the coronavirus to strengthen border controls it has long wanted to embrace. In Israel and Singapore, governments are invoking the crisis over Co-19 to track movements of people on cell phones.
In Iran, a government obsessed with control has used the epidemic to deploy security forces around the country to clear the streets. Meanwhile in Hungary, a right-wing leader who has built his political career on demonising immigrants told his counterparts there was a “clear link” between migrants and the coronavirus.
Across the world, public health officials, frontline medical professionals and local politicians are attempting to contain one of the worst pandemics in modern history.
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But they are often brushing up against ideologically-minded national leaders who appear to be attempting to exploit coronavirus to impose measures they’ve long sought, even if it imperils lives.
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1/50 12 April 2020
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi et Orbi message following Easter Sunday Mass behind closed doors at St. Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican, during the country’s lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection
VATICAN MEDIA/AFP via Getty
2/50 11 April 2020
A man watches Krakatau spewing ash during an eruption, in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province
AFP via Getty
3/50 10 April 2020
Women queue for distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya’s coronavirus-related movement restrictions
AP
4/50 9 April 2020
Firefighter Sittiporn Singthong, dressed up as Spider-Man, sprays disinfectant at the Wat Tha Mai Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
EPA
5/50 8 April 2020
Tulip fields in Plomeur, western France
AFP via Getty
6/50 7 April 2020
A employee and a resident of the house for the elderly “De Ravenstein” react as nurses dance and sing in the garden, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium
Reuters
7/50 6 April 2020
A man stands in the balcony of his home with the moon in the background in Cali, Colombia
AFP via Getty
8/50 5 April 2020
A man holds a traditional lamp from the balcony of his house as torches and candles illuminate houses and high rise residential buildings as Indians mark the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic a suburb of New Delhi, India
AP
9/50 4 April 2020
Medical staff load an infected patient into an ambulance at the Nimes air base, south of France, during an evacuation operation from the hard-hit east of the country where hospitals are overwhelmed
AFP
10/50 3 April 2020
A man prays inside the closed Moussawi Grand Mosque in Basra
AFP via Getty
11/50 2 April 2020
A City Hall health official wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant at the entrance of City One condominium as the residential building was placed under lockdown after 17 cases of COVID-19 were detected, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
EPA
12/50 1 April 2020
Migrant workers wait on marked areas on the ground to maintain social distancing as they queue to receive food packets at an industrial area during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the Co-19 coronavirus, in Chennai
AFP via Getty
13/50 31 March 2020
Wedding dress and evening wear designer Friederike Jorzig adjusts a mannequin wearing a wedding dress with matching protective mask in her store Chiton in Berlin
AFP via Getty
14/50 30 March 2020
A stray dog walks in front of an empty historic India Gate, as nationwide lockdown continues over the coronavirus in New Delhi, India
Getty
15/50 29 March 2020
A man watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul
AP
16/50 28 March 2020
Hong Kong’s skyline is seen with some of its lights turned off to mark the Earth Hour, an environmental campaign
AFP/Getty
17/50 27 March 2020
Ukrainian citizens queue at the Polish-Ukrainian border during the coronavirus pandemic in Korczowa, Poland. On 13 March, Poland closed its borders due to the ongoing pandemic of the Co-19 and has extended the measure until at least 11 April
EPA
18/50 26 March 2020
Tenon hospital emergency services staff members gesture during a break, on March 26, 2020 in Paris, as the country is under lockdown to stop the spread of Co-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
AFP via Getty
19/50 25 March 2020
Aerial view showing almost empty streets in Bogota, taken during the lockdown ordered by the government to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus
AFP via Getty
20/50 24 March 2020
Staff members line up to attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station. China announced that a lockdown would be lifted on more than 50 million people in central Hubei province where the Co-19 coronavirus first emerged late last year
AFP via Getty
21/50 23 March 2020
A public order agency officer sprays disinfectant over a woman before she enters a local government office as a precautionary move against the spread of the Co-19 coronavirus in Surabaya
AFP via Getty
22/50 22 March 2020
Boys wearing protective and N95 masks play with a football outside their homes in Gaza City
AFP via Getty
23/50 21 March 2020
A woman standing on her balcony reaches out to catch a rose delivered to her via a drone on Mother’s day, in the Lebanese coastal city of Jounieh, north of the capital Beirut, as people remain indoors in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus. In a quiet Lebanese town under lockdown over the novel coronavirus, a drone buzzed towards a balcony on Saturday to deliver a red rose to a mother grinning in surprise. The COVID-19 pandemic may have put a damper on Mother’s Day this year, but three students have come up with a novel service to celebrate the occasion without flouting social distancing restrictions
AFP via Getty
24/50 20 March 2020
Newlyweds Diego Fernandes, 46 and Deni Salgado, 30, kiss through protective face masks at a wedding ceremony with only witnesses and no guests, as public gatherings are banned as part of Italy’s lockdown measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease in Naples
Reuters
25/50 19 March 2020
Members of a medical assistance team from Jiangsu province chant slogans at a ceremony marking their departure after helping with the Co-19 coronavirus recovery effort, in Wuhan. Medical teams from across China began leaving Wuhan this week after the number of new coronavirus infections dropped. China on reported no new domestic cases for the first time since it started recording them in January, but recorded a spike in infections from abroad
AFP via Getty
26/50 18 March 2020
Sri Lankan police wear face masks a rehearsal parade in Colombo
AFP via Getty
27/50 17 March 2020
Divers clean and swipe the floor and walls of a pool at an aquatic complex in Medellin after the closure of all sporting venues in Colombia as a preventive measure against the spread of the Co-19
AFP via Getty
28/50 16 March 2020
Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus at the Mubarikiya market following the outbreak of coronavirus, in Kuwait City
EPA
29/50 15 March 2020
People gather with their belongings at the scene of the fire outbreak at Abule-Ado in Lagos, Nigeria
Reuters
30/50 14 March 2020
A man feeds pidgeons at Cataluna Square in Barcelona
EPA
31/50 13 March 2020
A mosso de esquadra police officer stands on the closed off road near Igualada, Spain. Over 60,000 people awoke Friday in four towns near Barcelona confined to their homes and with police blocking roads. The order by regional authorities in Catalonia is Spain’s first mandatory lockdown as Co-19 coronavirus infections increase sharply
AP
32/50 12 March 2020
Italian mechanics Giacomo and Alessandro pose at their garage in Rome, as Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 827 in the the country in just over two weeks
AFP via Getty
33/50 11 March 2020
Monks pray for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during a memorial service on the coast in Iwaki, Fukushima. Japan marked the ninth anniversary of the killer tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, but fears about the new coronavirus forced a scaling back of public commemorations
Jiji Press/AFP via Getty
34/50 10 March 2020
Revellers dance as they celebrate Holi, the spring festival of colours in Allahabad
AFP/Getty
35/50 9 March 2020
Medical staff celebrate after all patients were discharged at a temporary hospital set up to treat people with the COVID-19 coronavirus in Wuhan in China
AFP/Getty
36/50 8 March 2020
A hundred members of the conservative activist group called Manif pour Tous (“Protest for Everyone”) dressed as Marianne, French Republic’s allegory, stage a protest against assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy in front of the National Assembly in Paris, France
AFP/Getty
37/50 7 March 2020
A migrant man runs away as another one takes cover behind a bin as Greek police use water cannons to block them trying to break fences in the Turkey-Greece border province of Edirne
AFP/Getty
38/50 6 March 2020
Police and forensic experts inspect the scene of an explosion near the US embassy in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia
AFP/Getty
39/50 5 March 2020
Migrants prepare for the coming night in a forest in the buffer zone at the Turkey-Greece border a crossing point
AFP/Getty
40/50 4 March 2020
A migrant rests with a child in his arms next to the Tunca river in Edirne, Turkey
Reuters
41/50 3 March 2020
Spanish policemen and civil guards sporting Guy Fawkes masks protest in front of Spanish policemen standing guard during a demonstration to demand fair wages in Madrid
AFP via Getty
42/50 2 March 2020
South Korean soldiers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as part of preventive measures against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at a market in Daegu
Yonhap/AFP via Getty
43/50 1 March 2020
A woman shouts as law enforcement officials move in to disperse a group of immigrants who had occupied a historic church and a square. They are demanding to be moved to another country as they claim to feel not safe because of xenophobic attacks in central Cape Town, South Africa
Reuters
44/50 29 February 2020
Greek border guard use teargas to push back migrants who try to enter Greece at the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Turkey
AP
45/50 28 February 2020
A woman makes her way and NGO’s members help as a dinghy with 54 Afghan refugees lands ashore the Greek island of Lesbos. Turkey will no longer close its border gates to refugees who want to go to Europe, a senior official told AFP, shortly after the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike in northern Syria
AFP via
46/50 27 February 2020
Snow has fallen in high ground in Tasmania during the Australian summer
Tasmanian Rover Ski Club / Facebook
47/50 26 February 2020
Men ride a motorcycle past security forces patrolling a street in a riot-affected area of Delhi on Wednesday
Reuters
48/50 25 February 2020
Workers disinfect subway trains against coronavirus in Tehran, Iran
AP
49/50 24 February 2020
Turkish-backed Syrian fighters fire their anti-aircraft gun in the town of Sarmin, about 8 kilometres southeast of the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria, as they take part in a military offensive on the village of Nayrab following an artillery barrage fired by Turkish forces
AFP via Getty
50/50 23 February 2020
A security guard wearing a protective face mask stand guard as masked and costumed people walk by during the Carnival in Venice, Italy
EPA
1/50 12 April 2020
Pope Francis delivers his Urbi et Orbi message following Easter Sunday Mass behind closed doors at St. Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican, during the country’s lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection
VATICAN MEDIA/AFP via Getty
2/50 11 April 2020
A man watches Krakatau spewing ash during an eruption, in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province
AFP via Getty
3/50 10 April 2020
Women queue for distribution of food for those suffering under Kenya’s coronavirus-related movement restrictions
AP
4/50 9 April 2020
Firefighter Sittiporn Singthong, dressed up as Spider-Man, sprays disinfectant at the Wat Tha Mai Buddhist temple in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
EPA
5/50 8 April 2020
Tulip fields in Plomeur, western France
AFP via Getty
6/50 7 April 2020
A employee and a resident of the house for the elderly “De Ravenstein” react as nurses dance and sing in the garden, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium
Reuters
7/50 6 April 2020
A man stands in the balcony of his home with the moon in the background in Cali, Colombia
AFP via Getty
8/50 5 April 2020
A man holds a traditional lamp from the balcony of his house as torches and candles illuminate houses and high rise residential buildings as Indians mark the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic a suburb of New Delhi, India
AP
9/50 4 April 2020
Medical staff load an infected patient into an ambulance at the Nimes air base, south of France, during an evacuation operation from the hard-hit east of the country where hospitals are overwhelmed
AFP
10/50 3 April 2020
A man prays inside the closed Moussawi Grand Mosque in Basra
AFP via Getty
11/50 2 April 2020
A City Hall health official wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant at the entrance of City One condominium as the residential building was placed under lockdown after 17 cases of COVID-19 were detected, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
EPA
12/50 1 April 2020
Migrant workers wait on marked areas on the ground to maintain social distancing as they queue to receive food packets at an industrial area during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the Co-19 coronavirus, in Chennai
AFP via Getty
13/50 31 March 2020
Wedding dress and evening wear designer Friederike Jorzig adjusts a mannequin wearing a wedding dress with matching protective mask in her store Chiton in Berlin
AFP via Getty
14/50 30 March 2020
A stray dog walks in front of an empty historic India Gate, as nationwide lockdown continues over the coronavirus in New Delhi, India
Getty
15/50 29 March 2020
A man watches a TV screen showing a file image of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul
AP
16/50 28 March 2020
Hong Kong’s skyline is seen with some of its lights turned off to mark the Earth Hour, an environmental campaign
AFP/Getty
17/50 27 March 2020
Ukrainian citizens queue at the Polish-Ukrainian border during the coronavirus pandemic in Korczowa, Poland. On 13 March, Poland closed its borders due to the ongoing pandemic of the Co-19 and has extended the measure until at least 11 April
EPA
18/50 26 March 2020
Tenon hospital emergency services staff members gesture during a break, on March 26, 2020 in Paris, as the country is under lockdown to stop the spread of Co-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
AFP via Getty
19/50 25 March 2020
Aerial view showing almost empty streets in Bogota, taken during the lockdown ordered by the government to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus
AFP via Getty
20/50 24 March 2020
Staff members line up to attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station. China announced that a lockdown would be lifted on more than 50 million people in central Hubei province where the Co-19 coronavirus first emerged late last year
AFP via Getty
21/50 23 March 2020
A public order agency officer sprays disinfectant over a woman before she enters a local government office as a precautionary move against the spread of the Co-19 coronavirus in Surabaya
AFP via Getty
22/50 22 March 2020
Boys wearing protective and N95 masks play with a football outside their homes in Gaza City
AFP via Getty
23/50 21 March 2020
A woman standing on her balcony reaches out to catch a rose delivered to her via a drone on Mother’s day, in the Lebanese coastal city of Jounieh, north of the capital Beirut, as people remain indoors in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus. In a quiet Lebanese town under lockdown over the novel coronavirus, a drone buzzed towards a balcony on Saturday to deliver a red rose to a mother grinning in surprise. The COVID-19 pandemic may have put a damper on Mother’s Day this year, but three students have come up with a novel service to celebrate the occasion without flouting social distancing restrictions
AFP via Getty
24/50 20 March 2020
Newlyweds Diego Fernandes, 46 and Deni Salgado, 30, kiss through protective face masks at a wedding ceremony with only witnesses and no guests, as public gatherings are banned as part of Italy’s lockdown measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease in Naples
Reuters
25/50 19 March 2020
Members of a medical assistance team from Jiangsu province chant slogans at a ceremony marking their departure after helping with the Co-19 coronavirus recovery effort, in Wuhan. Medical teams from across China began leaving Wuhan this week after the number of new coronavirus infections dropped. China on reported no new domestic cases for the first time since it started recording them in January, but recorded a spike in infections from abroad
AFP via Getty
26/50 18 March 2020
Sri Lankan police wear face masks a rehearsal parade in Colombo
AFP via Getty
27/50 17 March 2020
Divers clean and swipe the floor and walls of a pool at an aquatic complex in Medellin after the closure of all sporting venues in Colombia as a preventive measure against the spread of the Co-19
AFP via Getty
28/50 16 March 2020
Workers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus at the Mubarikiya market following the outbreak of coronavirus, in Kuwait City
EPA
29/50 15 March 2020
People gather with their belongings at the scene of the fire outbreak at Abule-Ado in Lagos, Nigeria
Reuters
30/50 14 March 2020
A man feeds pidgeons at Cataluna Square in Barcelona
EPA
31/50 13 March 2020
A mosso de esquadra police officer stands on the closed off road near Igualada, Spain. Over 60,000 people awoke Friday in four towns near Barcelona confined to their homes and with police blocking roads. The order by regional authorities in Catalonia is Spain’s first mandatory lockdown as Co-19 coronavirus infections increase sharply
AP
32/50 12 March 2020
Italian mechanics Giacomo and Alessandro pose at their garage in Rome, as Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of a coronavirus that has killed 827 in the the country in just over two weeks
AFP via Getty
33/50 11 March 2020
Monks pray for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster during a memorial service on the coast in Iwaki, Fukushima. Japan marked the ninth anniversary of the killer tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, but fears about the new coronavirus forced a scaling back of public commemorations
Jiji Press/AFP via Getty
34/50 10 March 2020
Revellers dance as they celebrate Holi, the spring festival of colours in Allahabad
AFP/Getty
35/50 9 March 2020
Medical staff celebrate after all patients were discharged at a temporary hospital set up to treat people with the COVID-19 coronavirus in Wuhan in China
AFP/Getty
36/50 8 March 2020
A hundred members of the conservative activist group called Manif pour Tous (“Protest for Everyone”) dressed as Marianne, French Republic’s allegory, stage a protest against assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy in front of the National Assembly in Paris, France
AFP/Getty
37/50 7 March 2020
A migrant man runs away as another one takes cover behind a bin as Greek police use water cannons to block them trying to break fences in the Turkey-Greece border province of Edirne
AFP/Getty
38/50 6 March 2020
Police and forensic experts inspect the scene of an explosion near the US embassy in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia
AFP/Getty
39/50 5 March 2020
Migrants prepare for the coming night in a forest in the buffer zone at the Turkey-Greece border a crossing point
AFP/Getty
40/50 4 March 2020
A migrant rests with a child in his arms next to the Tunca river in Edirne, Turkey
Reuters
41/50 3 March 2020
Spanish policemen and civil guards sporting Guy Fawkes masks protest in front of Spanish policemen standing guard during a demonstration to demand fair wages in Madrid
AFP via Getty
42/50 2 March 2020
South Korean soldiers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant as part of preventive measures against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at a market in Daegu
Yonhap/AFP via Getty
43/50 1 March 2020
A woman shouts as law enforcement officials move in to disperse a group of immigrants who had occupied a historic church and a square. They are demanding to be moved to another country as they claim to feel not safe because of xenophobic attacks in central Cape Town, South Africa
Reuters
44/50 29 February 2020
Greek border guard use teargas to push back migrants who try to enter Greece at the Pazarkule border gate in Edirne, Turkey
AP
45/50 28 February 2020
A woman makes her way and NGO’s members help as a dinghy with 54 Afghan refugees lands ashore the Greek island of Lesbos. Turkey will no longer close its border gates to refugees who want to go to Europe, a senior official told AFP, shortly after the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike in northern Syria
AFP via
46/50 27 February 2020
Snow has fallen in high ground in Tasmania during the Australian summer
Tasmanian Rover Ski Club / Facebook
47/50 26 February 2020
Men ride a motorcycle past security forces patrolling a street in a riot-affected area of Delhi on Wednesday
Reuters
48/50 25 February 2020
Workers disinfect subway trains against coronavirus in Tehran, Iran
AP
49/50 24 February 2020
Turkish-backed Syrian fighters fire their anti-aircraft gun in the town of Sarmin, about 8 kilometres southeast of the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria, as they take part in a military offensive on the village of Nayrab following an artillery barrage fired by Turkish forces
AFP via Getty
50/50 23 February 2020
A security guard wearing a protective face mask stand guard as masked and costumed people walk by during the Carnival in Venice, Italy
EPA
“This is unacceptable,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote in response to reports of waits as long as eight hours for travellers crowded at the city’s international airport. “The reactionary, poorly planned travel ban has left thousands of travellers at [O’Hare Airport] forced into even greater health risk.
“No one has time for your incompetence,” she wrote, addressing Donald Trump and the Customs and Border Protection service.
The coronavirus crisis has severely strained health services across the world and is posing a grave challenge to the world economy, with stock markets collapsing and businesses idling workers. But experts are warning that it could also reshape politics by hardening authoritarian systems and eroding democracy in some countries, especially in fragile nations where would-be tyrants have been seeking to consolidate their power.
On Monday, a group of United Nations-affiliated experts issued a stark warning that emergency measures over coronavirus should not be used by governments for political ends.
“While we recognise the severity of the current health crisis and acknowledge that the use of emergency powers is allowed by international law in response to significant threats, we urgently remind states that any emergency responses to the coronavirus must be proportionate, necessary and non-discriminatory,” said the experts, who include nearly a dozen UN special rapporteurs on protections of human rights and democratic freedoms.
“Emergency declarations based on the Co-19 outbreak should not be used as a basis to target particular groups, minorities, or indiuals,” said the statement. “It should not function as a cover for repressive action under the guise of protecting health nor should it be used to silence the work of human rights defenders.”
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There are already numerous signs that governments are potentially exploiting the epidemic for their own advantage. Months-long anti-government protests in Iraq, Algeria, and Lebanon that have been a severe thorn in the side of the elites have been suspended.
In Turkey, the conservative Islamist-rooted government has ordered bars, nightclubs and libraries to close over coronavirus fears, but is allowing shopping malls, stores and restaurants to remain open.
In India, the coronavirus outbreak is being used by members of Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party to demonise peaceful mostly Muslim protesters who have staged a sit-in against controversial new citizenship laws since mid-December. On Tuesday, prominent local party figure Kapil Mishra said the protesters’ failure to disband immediately made them “like terrorists on a suicide mission” and “a direct threat to the lives of millions of Delhi citizens”.
Leaders facing critical leadership challenges such as Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and Romania’s prime minister Ludovic Orban found their political problems vanishing, at least temporarily.
“It was a vote carried under extraordinary circumstances, where there was no room for opposition or debate,” Vlad Alexandrescu, a Romanian parliamentarian, said of an emergency vote on Saturday to give the embattled premier full powers.
Mr Netanyahu, meanwhile, was spared the indignity of appearing in court on Tuesday across three corruption cases after his hearings have been postponed for two months due to coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings.
The expansion os its powers … is a dangerous precedent and a slippery slope
Maya Fried, Association for Civil Rights
Although his chief elections rival ex-army chief Benny Gantz has been awarded the task of attempting to build the next government, Mr Netanyahu has not squandered the platform a national emergency brings.
He has dominated TV screens, giving almost daily primetime addresses updating the country on new restrictions as well as reassuring his citizens. In a decision pushed through overnight on Tuesday, the cabinet sidestepped the parliament to allow Shin Bet to use technology developed to target Palestinian militants to tap the metadata of mobile phones used by suspected Coronavirus patients, and anyone “within the vicinity” of them.
“Not only is it an invasion of privacy but also the executive branch bypassed the legislative branch, we will file our petition tomorrow,” said Maya Fried, a spokesman for the Association for Civil Rights, which is challenging the move in court. “The expansion of its powers to a strictly civilian issue is a dangerous precedent and a slippery slope.”
Numerous countries have meanwhile tightened controls on the media, issuing stark warnings against and threatening to revoke accreditation of anyone questioning official numbers as spreading misinformation. Egypt on Tuesday revoked the press credentials of The Guardian’s Cairo correspondent over a piece that reported research questioning the state’s numbers on coronavirus cases.
The monarchy in Jordan on Tuesday ordered the closure of all print news outlets, and a curfew deploying the army to the entrance of the cities, citing coronavirus.
Citing coronavirus fears, some countries have barred family visits for prisoners, including those held on political or security charges.
“What you’re seeing is autocratic regimes that are using traditional autocratic methods because that’s what they’ve always used and autocracy is what brought them to their failures,” says Rami Khouri, a scholar at the American University of Beirut. “They falsify numbers of corona cases just as they falsify election returns, saying everything is fine and the few cases we have are all foreigners.”
To be sure, some of the panic and reaction over coronavirus is well founded. The coronavirus pandemic is a unique crisis, and there is understandable confusion over how governments ought to respond. Public health experts have praised the efforts of some authoritarian systems such as Singapore in responding to the crisis.
The monarchy in Morocco, a developing country especially vulnerable to coronavirus because of its strong ties to pandemic-stricken France and Spain, has reacted forcefully to the crisis, with a population submitting to drastic measures quickly enacted to contain the virus. “People are generally obedient and respectful of the monarchy,” says Nassim Assef, a public health specialist in Rabat.
“Autocratic governments have the advantage to respond appropriately because they don’t have to deal with checks and balances,” says Erica Frantz, a professor of political science at Michigan State University and the author of the 2018 book, Authoritarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know.
But autocratic leaders often don’t have the people’s best interests in mind, she says, citing Mr Trump’s initial decision to exclude the United Kingdom from a Europe-wide travel ban to reward fellow traveller Boris Johnson.
“You see miracles and disasters happening more often in autocracies,” she says. “All the events in the US over coronavirus are indicative of the dangers of concentration of powers. He has hollowed out institutions, and filled them in with people who are his friends. They have very little experience and competence, and that leads to policies that are erratic and not well informed.”
Just as dictators have used crises such as the 1933 burning of the German Reichstag to concentrate power throughout history, there are grave concerns that the coronavirus pandemic could be used to impose permanent measures.
In the Philippines, for example, opposition lawmakers and critics have voiced fear the authoritarian right-wing government of Rodrigo Duterte will be loath to remove restrictions on the freedom of movement and assembly that appear in synch with his goals. On Tuesday he declared a “state of calamity” for six months, far longer than any other country has suspended public life.
Political scientists say that while crises sometimes bring people together and unify them for a common cause, they also present an opportunity for authoritarian leaders to impose policies they’ve long sought on otherwise reluctant people.
“These crises are risky for democracies more than anything,” says Frantz. “I see these crises as opportunities for governments to crack down. We really need to pay attention to crisis events that can be used for transitions from democracy to take place.”
Bel Trew in Beirut and Adam Withnall in Delhi contributed to this report.
