Friday, September 18, 2020

Restoration of Law & Order: The War-Cry which may help Trump defeat Joe Biden in November 2020

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Vanshita Banuana

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Restoration of Law & Order: The War-Cry which may help Trump defeat Joe Biden in November 2020

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Global Views 360

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September 18, 2020

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Donald Trump at a presidential elections rally

Donald Trump at a presidential elections rally | Source: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

At the peak of the “Black Lives Matter” protest in June 2020, against the brutal killing of George Floyd by the police, the US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities. It is now September, and as Black Lives Matter protests— and the police brutality that ignited them— continue amidst a pandemic leaving over two hundred thousand Americans dead and millions infected, Trump’s fear-mongering distortions of events also continues.

The executive order sets requirements for police “certification and credentialing” of law enforcement agencies, and links the credentials to discretionary funding. It bans chokeholds except where deadly force is allowed by law. A database will be created to share information and track incidents of excessive use of force, terminations or de-certifications of officers, criminal convictions for on-duty conduct, and so on. Additionally, the order asks for surveys and community support programs to address mental health, homelessness and addiction in context of law enforcement’s response to them. Lastly, the order proposes that new legislation be developed to increase funding and resources provided to law enforcement.

While announcing the executive order, Trump called for a “restoration of law and order” and more funding for police at a time when Americans are protesting in cities across the country to reduce police funding and presence in order to combat police brutality. He claimed to want to put a stop to “looting and arson,” further remarking that Americans want law and order even if they “may not say it” or may not “even know that’s what they want”. Additionally, he believed the percentage of bad police officers to be very tiny.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) responded to the announcement, and called Trump’s call for “law and order” a racist dog-whistle specifically intended for his voter base in light of the upcoming election, and reiterated the need for lesser police presence. Allocation of discretionary funds, mentioned in the executive order, has been known to lead to increased militarisation of the police. They observed that Trump used the word “race” once and never used the word “racism,” and that he was surrounded by law enforcement officers throughout the announcement and his prepared remarks.

Use of fear-mongering to shore up the support for electoral benefit is not something new which Trump is employing, but a time-tested tool for many leaders in the Republican Party. The phrase “law and order” has a long cultural history in America, even before its use by politicians was popularised, and therefore racialised (if it wasn’t already).  

President Richard Nixon’s TV ads in the 60s showed middle-aged white women walking nervously down city streets at night. Trump’s false claims of Biden wanting to defund the police are complemented by his recent campaign ad that shows an elderly woman at home alone, who calls the police when a burglar breaks in. However, she is told that the police can no longer serve her due to being defunded. Setting aside the misconceptions about what defunding the police would look like, the ad is clearly designed to create panic at the thought of a fantasised future, one that Trump and his family like to call “Biden’s America” every time they post pictures of present-day Trump’s apocalyptic America.

It is definitely not unlike Trump to use racist rhetoric about crime meant to cause fear. It was one of his biggest selling points in the 2016 election as well, promising a border wall and anti-immigration policy to keep out immigrants— mostly Mexicans— who he claimed would bring crime and drugs into America. This year Trump has revived the argument by acting as the saviour of the suburbs, who he claims are under the attack of calls for desegregation. To that extent, at the 2020 Republic National Convention, Trump invited the McCloskeys, the couple who brandished firearms at Black Lives Matters protestors, to speak about “forced rezoning,” which they alleged would make their suburban neighbourhood unsafe. Nixon’s comments about the “city jungle” threatening the suburbs come to mind.

President Trump’s election campaign flag with Confederate flag | Source: Gilbert Mercier via Flickr

Many would notice that the racism in Trump’s statements is often barely covered up by his abstract and vague choice of words. The message, whether in 2016 or 2020, remains unmistakably the same: he is telling rich and middle class white people— painted as the peaceful victims— that he will protect them from violence caused by the ‘other,’ i.e., poor people of colour.

This fear of the ‘other,’ the angry Black American, is the same fear used by Republican Presidential candidate (and later President) Richard Nixon in 1968. The law-and-order rhetoric that evolved during that election period can be connected to 21st century ‘tough-on-crime’ policies, both of which have heavy racial undertones and are weaponized by Republicans as well as Democrats.

Is Donald Trump the new age Richard Nixon? That might seem to be overstretched, but quite a few traits and  similarities can be drawn between 2020 and 1968, perhaps most of all due to the widespread protests and clashes with police that erupted after the assassination of civil rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. Another major political and cultural event of the time was the Vietnam War, which led to a feeling of disorder that many Americans might be feeling at present as well. Trump is using promises of imposing “law and order” to project a strongman image; the desire to project such an image, however, hypocritically leads Trump to encourage violence where it benefits him.

However, these strategies aren’t as successful as Trump wants them to be— least of all successful enough to cover up his gross mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the suburbs have not remained as ‘pure’ as they might seem in Trump’s eyes; they have grown in diversity of wealth and race, almost parallel to cities. Trump is out of his depth when forced to reckon with mass unemployment, preventable deaths, and science, and he would do anything to bring the focus back to his comfort zone, which is why it is unsurprising when he uses Black Lives Matter protests and renewed conversation around policing to spread unfounded alarms about increased crime and violence.

According to recent polling data, while neither Trump nor Biden are viewed favourably by any significant margin when it comes to law enforcement, Biden is surely being viewed as more trustworthy when it comes to handling a crisis like the pandemic. Trump’s constant barrage of tweets and other announcements are less appreciated or supported when they cause further confusion in an already extremely chaotic environment. It is hard to imagine trusting a President who tweets “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” to remain calm, organised or level-headed in any manner.  

While many may have expected Trump’s voter base to fall for the same old, recycled talking points, the public health crisis and economic meltdown took the conversation away from it. Now President Trump is desperately trying to take control of the narrative and scare voters to back him in November 2020.

There is some method to his apparent madness. The US President is not elected by securing  the majority of the popular vote, they are chosen by securing a majority of votes in the electoral college. There are different modelling of US poll results which predicts that Trump may lose by over five million popular votes but still win the Presidency due to scoring a majority of electoral college votes.

The constant hammering of being the “Law and Order” President and painting Joe Biden’s support for Black Lives Matter protest as the “support for lawlessness” is the only plausible way for Trump to gain a majority of the electoral college vote and retain the US Presidency in November 2020. It is to be seen whether the voters fear the COVID-19 & economic meltdown more than the Law and Order.

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February 4, 2021 4:51 PM

How Dharavi, Asia’s biggest slum, fought against COVID-19

Imagine a place where 8-10 people live in 100 square feet structures. A place which squeezes close to 6,50,000 people, 5,000 small factories, and about 15,000 single-room workshops in just 2.5 square kilometer area. Welcome to  Dharavi, the biggest slum of Asia situated in the heart of fashion, entertainment, and commercial capital of India, Mumbai.

When the first COVID-19 case was discovered in Dharavi, it caused massive panic among the citizens as well as officials. Social distancing is virtually impossible to achieve in Dharavi, which is a maze of narrow congested lanes with tenements on either side of it and where 80% of the population use community toilets.

With their fingers crossed, people were speculating about Dharavi turning into a graveyard. These fears turned out to be misplaced and three months later Dharavi won praise from the WHO for effectively restricting the spread of coronavirus. According to the official data, the COVID-19 case doubling rate improved greatly, from 18 days in April, to 43 days in May, to 108 days in June, and 480 days in July.

Mr. Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Commissioner of the top civic body of Mumbai, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that their undertaking of an aggressive strategy of 4T’s - Tracing, Tracking, Testing & Treating, is the key to Dharavi’s successful fightback against the pandemic. The fightback plan was aptly coined "Mission Dharavi".

Extensive screening and testing of residents was done to detect the symptoms for coronavirus in "fever camp" which were set up by medical workers in different parts of the slum everyday. Many buildings such as schools, wedding halls, and sports complexes were overtaken by the civic authorities and were repurposed as quarantine facilities. A 200-bed hospital was also set up in record 14 days.

The BMC commissioner, I S Chahal said “Proactive screening helped in early detection, timely treatment and recovery.” Close to six hundred thousand people were screened, 14,000 people tested and 13,000 quarantined in nearby institutions, schools, marriage halls, and sports complexes. Furthermore, continuous monitoring of people’s movement using drones helped reinforce containment measures and scaled progress swiftly.

To further strengthen the measure, locals of the community emerged as “COVID Yodhas” (warriors) to address the concerns, a senior official said.  Many well endowed citizens and NGO’s provided Free meals, ration, PPE gear, oxygen cylinders, gloves, masks, medicines, and ventilators to residents and doctors.th July

On 8th July 2020 Dharavi recorded a total of 2,335 COVID-19 out of which 1,735 patients have recovered and there are only 352 active cases at present. Only 82 deaths were recorded in Dharavi till 8th July as against more than 4500 in the whole of Mumbai.

This phenomenal success has given the world a yet simple and effective technique in curbing the spread of the deadly virus. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a virtual press conference in Geneva, acknowledging the efforts of various nations and Dharavi to contain the virus, said that “There are many examples from around the world that have shown that even if the outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control”. Further, he added, “And some of these examples are Italy, Spain, and South Korea, and even in Dharavi -- a densely packed area in the megacity of Mumbai -- a strong focus on community engagement and the basics of testing, tracing, isolating and treating all those that are sick is key to breaking the chains of transmission and suppressing the virus.”

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