Worldwide COVID-19 Cases Continue To Rise

By Sophie Soloway ’23

Global Editor

As of Tuesday, Feb. 9, at least 2.3 million people worldwide have died from the COVID-19 pandemic. Global cases are currently rising at the fastest rate yet. 

The United States has the most cases globally at over 27 million.  India (with approximately 10.8 million total cases) and Brazil (with about 9.5 million) have the second and third highest totals, respectively. However, cases continue to fluctuate across the globe.

Cases in Montenegro have spiked in the past week, and now the country has the highest daily average cases per capita with 85 cases per 100,000 citizens. The Turks and Caicos Islands and Israel fall shortly behind with 72 and 71 cases per 100,00 citizens, respectively. To combat these high statistics, Israel is currently pursuing mass vaccination distribution, leading globally with approximately 23.4 percent of the country already fully vaccinated. 

However, this high vaccination rate has not yet reached occupied Palestine. Human Rights Watch reports that Israel has dodged Geneva Convention responsibilities to distribute medical supplies, leaving the Palestinian people with few resources to combat COVID-19. There are currently over 163,000 total cases in Palestine.

On the other end of the spectrum, countries such as Mainland China, New Zealand and Australia have continued to report some of the lowest COVID-19 infection rates, each with less than one case per 100,000 citizens.  

Farmer Protests in New Delhi

Pictured above: India protest 2020. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

By Aditi Parashar ’22 

Staff Writer

Tens of thousands of farmers from around India made their way to New Delhi 11 days ago, cutting off almost all entry points into the capital, according to The New York Times. The Dilli Chalo (“Let’s go to Delhi”) march is a protest against three agricultural bills passed in September 2020 that aim to make changes to the farming system and threaten the way 146 million farmers in India do business. According to the BBC, the protesters arriving in Delhi were accosted with water cannons, tear gas and violence by many paramilitary and police forces who tried to hold them back. 

The reforms would change key aspects of how produce is sold, priced and stored. The new policies would replace the Mandi system in which the government heavily regulates the prices at which agricultural products can be sold. While the Indian government claims that these reforms are necessary to salvage the agriculture industry, many of those employed by the industry —  40 percent of the workforce — quickly began to protest the changes. 

The government has said that the new regulations will provide opportunities for farmers, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it a “watershed moment.” He also said that the new laws provide farmers more autonomy to set their own prices as well as to sell directly to private businesses, reported CNN. 

The farmers, however, remain adamant that the new laws are anti-farmer and pro-corporation by subjecting the farmers to the free market from which they have been protected for decades. 

Mewa Singh, one of the many protesters, told The New York Times, “Our land is our mother. It was passed on to us from our parents, who got it from their parents, and now Modi wants to acquire it and give it away to his rich friends.”

According to the Indian Express, the protesters want the government to either repeal their newly passed legislation or guarantee farmers a minimum support price for their crops by passing new legislation. 

The minimum support price is one of the biggest support structures to farming in India. It aims to set a guaranteed minimum price for commodities by farmers no matter the market conditions, which protects the community from fluctuations in price and imperfections in the market.  

Economists as well as agricultural experts have shown support for the farmers’ demand for a minimum assured price mechanism. Devinder Sharma, an independent agricultural expert, told The New York Times, “There is no evidence in the world where the market price has benefited farmers.”

Additionally, farmers believe that the new laws “will open agricultural sale and marketing outside the notified Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis for farmers, remove the barriers to inter-state trade, and provide a framework for electronic trading of agricultural produce,” according to the Indian Express. However, since state governments will be unable to procure market fees outside of the APMC market systems, farmers are afraid that this will end the current system, leaving them at the mercy of corporations that are then free to exploit them and their production capabilities. 

Many critics are apprehensive about how formal contractual obligations will work in the public arena due to the unorganized nature of the agriculture sector. Critics fear that farmers will be locked into contracts out of necessity and face a lack of resources for legal proceedings with major private corporations, found The Hindu. 

“I don’t believe anyone is buying the idea that these bills exist to help the farmers,” Kusha Chopra ’21 said. “The farmers are smart and know that the bills have been passed in Parliament to fill the never-ending greed of our dear prime minister’s friends. To leave an already complicated sector which sees so many suicides due to debt and unemployment at the hands of large corporations and [at the] behest of the free market is openly careless and foolish.”

Since the farmers have arrived in Delhi, there have been a series of talks between them and the government. As of Dec. 9, no resolution has been reached. 

“I think it is extremely sad, not only the way the farmers are having to fight for their livelihood in a country that thrives because of them, but also the way the government and its lapdog media has tried to discredit their hardships and movement,” Shreya Nair ’22, a Mount Holyoke student from India, said. “To call peaceful protesters, who are the reason you have food on your table, terrorists and anti-national on national television has [been] a new low, even for our sell-out media outlets,” Nair added.

The protesting farmers now have huge camps around Delhi’s border and are prepared to stay. They said they will not leave before the government repeals the “black law,” reported the BBC. The protesters say they are “prepared for a long battle — with trolleys full of rice and grains, and pots and pans to cook their own food,” the BBC continued.

Cuban Government Refuses To Conduct Talks With Dissenting Artists

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

By Madhavi Rao ’24

Staff Writer

Cuba experienced a rare expression of dissent from the public in the 21st century on Friday, Nov. 27. About 300 artists and activists gathered outside the Cuban Ministry of Culture to protest the imprisonment of Denis Solís Gonzáles, a member of the dissenting San Isidro Movement. A few of the collected protesters who were challenging the violation of artists’ freedom of expression in the country were invited to have a dialogue with government officials. However, later in the week, the Cuban government made it clear that communication would not continue.

Gonzáles was imprisoned for his comments against a police officer who broke into his home, describing him as a “chicken in uniform,” triggering protests, according to The Washington Post. On Nov. 9, Gonzáles was detained and sentenced to eight months in a maximum security prison for the crime of “contempt,” as reported by Amnesty International. Erika Guevara-Rosas, the Americas director of Amnesty, said, “No one should be imprisoned for ‘contempt’ against a public official, a provision of the criminal code that Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have consistently called on the Cuban authorities to repeal.” 

Gonzáles’ imprisonment was met with outrage from the rest of the SIM, a collection of artists, academics, journalists and musicians who actively resist the Cuban government. Founded in 2018 by Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, the movement was created to fight the oppressive communist government in Cuba. Following Gonzáles’ arrest, the SIM assembled together to protest, ultimately resulting in a hunger strike against the violation of their civil liberties. According to Al-Jazeera, on Thursday, Nov. 26, the SIM headquarters were raided by police, who cited COVID-19 restrictions.

“The recent protests are remarkable, considering the authoritarian government’s tight controls on dissent,” Maahi Jaiswaal ’24, an economics and politics double major who has lived in Cuba, said. “With the little that I remember about living in Cuba, I can affirm that art and dance was a major aspect of Cuba’s rich culture. It is apt that the artists behind the art are due freedom of expression in their profession, and with the way that the world is progressing, the Cuban authorities should look into their demands before the talent has to be forcibly removed,” Jaiswaal added.

The protest was attended and supported by many famous artists and performers in Cuba. 

Along with the release of Gonzáles and other jailed protesters, the crowd demanded the government respect their freedom of expression. This is in light of laws such as Decree 349, which prohibited artists from performing in public or private spaces without the approval of the Ministry of Culture, per a statement released by Amnesty International. The censorship decree essentially decides who qualifies as an artist and who doesn’t.

Initially, the government had agreed to listen to the protesters’ demands on Nov. 27, with officials agreeing to review Gonzáles’ case and hold future talks to understand the artists’ frustrations. However, at a rally on Nov. 29, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel described the protests as an “imperialist reality show,” saying that the protests were led by the United States. The culture ministry similarly defaulted on its promise, saying it would “not meet with people who have direct contact and receive financing, logistical support and propagandistic backing from the U.S. government,” according to Reuters. 

Lisett Bonilla ’22, an international relations and economics double major, said of the issue, “I believe this is a crucial time for Cuban society. Freedom of expression is essential to everyone and a human right.” She went on to describe how the situation could be improved, saying, “I urge U.S. institutions to support these artists who are opposing the grip of an authoritarian system. Cuba is also going through an economic crisis and ignoring these issues can have horrible repercussions for Cuban society overall as well as its relations with the U.S.”