<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Patrice Riemens</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:patrice@xs4all.nl">patrice@xs4all.nl</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 5:17 AM<br>Subject: [Fwd: <nettime> Guillaume Lachenal: Ebola: a brilliantly scripted disaster movie]<br>To: Michel Bauwens <<a href="mailto:michel@p2pfoundation.net">michel@p2pfoundation.net</a>><br>Cc: <a href="mailto:droth@xs4all.nl">droth@xs4all.nl</a>, <a href="mailto:uwe@globe-spotting.de">uwe@globe-spotting.de</a><br><br><br>Speaking of translations ...<br>
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Good Night/ good Morning<br>
p+5D!<br>
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---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------<br>
Subject: <nettime> Guillaume Lachenal: Ebola: a brilliantly scripted<br>
disaster movie<br>
From: "Patrice Riemens" <<a href="mailto:patrice@xs4all.nl">patrice@xs4all.nl</a>><br>
Date: Wed, September 24, 2014 19:09<br>
To: <a href="mailto:nettime-l@kein.org">nettime-l@kein.org</a><br>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Original (French) to:<br>
<a href="http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2014/09/18/chronique-d-un-film-catastrophe-bien-prepare_1103419" target="_blank">http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2014/09/18/chronique-d-un-film-catastrophe-bien-prepare_1103419</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Ebola: a brilliantly scripted disaster movie<br>
by Guillaume Lachenal<br>
<br>
"It is useless to laboriously interpret disaster movies in terms of their<br>
relation to an "objective" social crisis or even to an "objective"<br>
phantasm of disaster. It is in another sense that it must be said that it<br>
is the social itself that, in contemporary discourse, is organized along<br>
the lines of a disaster-movie script." wrote Jean Baudrillard in <a href="tel:1976" value="+661976">1976</a>.<br>
Apocalyptic movies have for some time been the object of analysis in<br>
serious publications, as they are the mirror of our societies' angst in<br>
the face of pandemics. But the Ebola epidemic ravaging West Africa calls<br>
for a more radical critique.<br>
<br>
The current crisis is not some nightmare taking place under our very eyes<br>
"just like in a disaster movie". It is not an anomaly, nor an accident<br>
taking health authorities by surprise; it is also not, to use development<br>
gobbledygook, an organizational, financial, and political 'challenge' the<br>
international community needs to rise up to. The exact reverse needs to be<br>
told in no uncertain terms: the Ebola crisis is the outcome of 20 years<br>
of political choices and deliberate policies. It is a man-made<br>
catastrophe, not only through the intentional hollowing out of African<br>
primary health care systems thanks to neo-liberal reforms (aka<br>
'structural adjustments' -tr), but also because of the willful<br>
mobilization of all private and public health actors towards the advent of<br>
a new era of "Global Health". This mobilization, effective since 2005, has<br>
been characterized by an unheard of increase in health-directed funding<br>
for countries in the global South, which had made Africa its number one<br>
priority - for the sake of world-wide sanitary security. The glorious<br>
times of the big narrative are back: success stories about the eradication<br>
of diseases, glossy brochures with smiling children, Bill Gates and Big<br>
Pharma joining hands on the world stage are at the order of the day. We<br>
have entered a new era where nifty smartphone applications, public-private<br>
partnerships, and 'sustainable innovation' are going to work out their<br>
magic on African health issues, one at a time. Gone from the picture are<br>
the decrepit primary health centers, the continuous power outages, and<br>
depleted stocks of medicines. The world of Global Health shines like an<br>
advertisement for beauty products. The disaster unfolding under our eyes<br>
is the direct result of these security-oriented, spectacle-driven,<br>
scripted health policies, which have all ben implemented at the expense of<br>
the African health systems and the people working in them.<br>
<br>
" Pandemic Preparedness" has been the leading principle in world health,<br>
both in the Global North and the Global South since the SARS and avian flu<br>
crisis of 2003-2005. And in the slipstream of US post-September 11<br>
mobilization, the grants earmarked for 'bio-terrorism' et 'emerging<br>
diseases' research - by definition, research on not yet existing<br>
pathogenic agents - have all but wiped out public research funding for<br>
'ordinary' health issues, and this was especially the case during the Bush<br>
presidency. Contrarily to what has been written, Ebola has never been a<br>
neglected subject - rather the reverse: ever since the first outbreak in<br>
<a href="tel:1976" value="+661976">1976</a>, the virus has been knock-out argument to buttress fundamental<br>
virological research ( building high-security labs in particular, during<br>
the early eighties) while being used to talk down preventive health<br>
policies and other 'old school' social approaches. No tender, no press<br>
release on 'bio-security' would fail to mention the Ebola virus, so potent<br>
it is, and that even before the current outbreak, to conjure up the<br>
spectre of an emerging threat. For the past twenty years Ebola, together<br>
with SARS, smallpox, and the avian flu has been the true raison d'etre of<br>
governmental pandemic preparedness programs. With full-size simulated<br>
emergency drills, guarded godowns filled with surgical masks and gloves,<br>
preparedness was the political parole of the new millenium, partially<br>
inherited from the cold war military programs. The H1N1 flu pandemic of<br>
2009 saw it come to its own, big time - indeed, one can say that never has<br>
the world been so well 'prepared'.<br>
<br>
Africa has not stayed in the margin of these endeavors. Fired up by the<br>
WHO and the American CDC (Centre for Disease Control), African state<br>
joined enthusiastically the 'preparedness' drive. And the continent did<br>
not lack experts to lead the initiative: in several African countries the<br>
'search for emerging viruses' employs scores of international researchers<br>
and their local partners. Considerable progress has been made over the<br>
past years regarding knowledge about pathogens, among them Ebola and HIV,<br>
originating in animals such as bats and big apes. Just as in Europe did<br>
the threat of fresh pandemics, and especially flu-related ones, stimulate<br>
the set-up of preparedness action plans, all starting with the obligatory<br>
"mock-up practice drills": scripted role-plays intended to test the<br>
readiness of authorities - playing their own role - in the face of a<br>
(virtual) pandemic. All well, but for the fact that in context of the<br>
actual situation in African countries, the word 'simulation' must be taken<br>
in a very literal sense indeed. Gathering in a conference room, ministers<br>
and WHO experts plot virtual interventions, whether of the military,<br>
police, or sanitary kind - with all participants knowing full well that<br>
these are devoid of any real bearing _on the ground_ due to the woeful<br>
lack of equipment, troops, police personnel, and medical infrastructure.<br>
The very idea of _preparedness_ fulfills itself in the realm of the<br>
absurd: public health boiling down to a simulated war against an imagined<br>
threat. Africa is getting ready as never before, it does nothing else<br>
than that, so to speak. Yet another jaded tale - save that these<br>
pandemic preparedness exercises siphon off a major part of the African<br>
health authorities' energies and resources, even as these are confronted<br>
with far more urgent sanitary emergencies.<br>
<br>
Thanks to Wikileaks, we now know that the US Embassy in Sierra Leone was<br>
already worrying about this state of affairs in 2007. But the main<br>
problem with these simulation exercises is that they represent, in<br>
condensed and unadulterated form the new paradigm of Global Health, Africa<br>
style: a type of intervention where real action on real diseases has<br>
become secondary to vast, assumptive and speculative 'viral surveillance'<br>
programs. A good example of the latter is provided by the Californian<br>
'virus hunter' Nathan Wolfe and his initiative on 'preventive treatment'<br>
of HIV, or his 'mobile health' projects whereby smartphones are supposed<br>
to abolish distances and make good for the lack of medical personnel and<br>
other failings of African health systems. The 'real economy', to borrow a<br>
term from the financial world, stands only in distant connection with the,<br>
symbolic, but also monetary, profits brought into play by the largely<br>
virtual interventions in the realm of Global Health. As the 2014 Ebola<br>
epidemic has by now killed almost as many people as September 11 it does<br>
indeed look like a crisis: namely the blowout of a speculative bubble.<br>
<br>
"Just as in a disaster movie", to quote Baudrillard again, reality and<br>
fiction have ended up in a feedback loop. This because pandemic<br>
preparedness has raised the _script_ and the _(computer) game_ to the<br>
level of a full-fledged political procedure, a method to 'organize the<br>
social', marginalizing the prevention-based approaches of 'old school'<br>
public health policies, paving the way in the process for fresh outbreaks<br>
of 'old' epidemics such as cholera (25.000 African cases in 2013 !). The<br>
advent of 'Global Health' is nothing but the last phase of a destructive<br>
historical sequence inducted by structural adjustment policies in the<br>
1990s transforming African (public) hospital wards into a Mad Max style<br>
rust belt of squalid slums. But it marks also the triumph of<br>
_storytelling_ blossoming into a full-fledged discipline, a crucial<br>
competence, maybe even the only legit one left in the world of Global<br>
Health. The superstars of the fight against future pandemics like the US<br>
biologist Nathan Wolfe have completely blurred the line between fiction<br>
and reality, public health action and cash machines: Dr Wolfe has built<br>
his career on emerging viruses in Cameroon (Ebola among them), and then<br>
embarked on a 10 years stint of television appearances, plugging his<br>
surveillance project of African pathogens. That his efforts did not in<br>
anyway translate into substantial advances on the ground was<br>
inconsequential to him obtaining a six-digit advance on his latest book<br>
"The Viral Storm'. Wolfe morphed his research team into a start-up,<br>
financed among others by the Google Foundation dishing out $ 1m for every<br>
new virus identified. His seductively scripted TED conferences overwhelm<br>
his audiences and play in a loop on YouTube. He was also scientific<br>
advisor for the zombie film 'I am a Legend'. His little company Metabiota<br>
Inc. naturally took up pole position in the Ebola campaign. On the ground<br>
by last May, the start-up's virologists were true to their promise to save<br>
the world, with marching orders from the US Department of Defense to<br>
organize Sierra Leone's _'preparedness'_ at the moment the epidemic was<br>
devastating neighboring Guinea. _A complete success story_, Sierra Leone<br>
is now uniquely prepared"_ his team wrote on May 12.<br>
<br>
By now we know how that particular movie did end.<br>
<br>
<br>
Guillaume Lachenal is assistant professor at Paris-Diderot University and<br>
the Paris School of Political Sciences. He lectures on "Global Health in<br>
Africa, Critical perspectives".<br>
<br>
--------------<br>
Q&D translated by yrs truly<br>
Amsterdam September 23, 2014<br>
<br>
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