Pandemic!

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life as we knew it. Lockdowns, self-isolation and quarantine have become a normal part of everyday life. Pandemic surveillance allows governments and corporations to monitor and surveil the spread of the virus and to make sure citizens follow the measures they put in place. This is evident in the massive, unprecedented mobilization of public health data to contain and combat the virus, and the ballooning of surveillance technologies such as contact-tracing apps, facial recognition, and population tracking. This can also be seen as a pandemic  of  surveillance. In this timely book, David Lyon tracks the development of these methods, examining different forms of pandemic surveillance, in health-related and other areas, from countries around the world. He explores their benefits and disadvantages, their legal status, and how they relate to privacy protection, an ethics of care, and data justice. Questioning whether this new culture of surveillance will become a permanent feature of post-pandemic societies and the long-term negative effects this might have on social inequalities and human freedoms, Pandemic Surveillance highlights the magnitude of COVID-19-related surveillance expansion. The book also underscores the urgent need for new policies relating to surveillance and data justice in the twenty-first century.

What do sex doll sales, locust swarms and a wired-brain pig have to do with the coronavirus pandemic? Everything—according to that “Giant of Lubliana,” the inimitable Slovenian philosopher Slavoj iek. In this exhilarating sequel to his acclaimed Pandemic!: COVID-19 Shakes the World , iek delves into some of the more surprising dimensions of lockdowns, quarantines, and social distancing—and the increasingly unruly opposition to them by “response fatigued” publics around the world. iek examines the ripple effects on the food supply of harvest failures caused by labor shortages and the hyper-exploitation of the global class of care workers, without whose labor daily life would be impossible. Through such examples he pinpoints the inability of contemporary capitalism to safeguard effectively the public in times of crisis. Writing with characteristic daring and zeal, iek ranges across critical theory, pop-culture, and psychoanalysis to reveal the troubling dynamics of knowledge and power emerging in these viral times.

Paper. Pen. Pandemic. Viral cartoons around the globe. The coronavirus crisis and its consequences for economy, politics and society. A critical statement on current events in more than 400 cartoons The economy put in shackles: a critical review on the coronavirus pandemic in more than 400 cartoon The coronavirus outbreak has paralyzed the world: an unprecedented stress test for the health system, enormous challenges for politics and society, resulting in unforeseeable effects on the economy. Can we manage this global challenge? The world leaders and decision-makers in business and politics face difficult tasks every day, because solutions are required quickly. But are the governments' measures to contain the pandemic justified and appropriate? Cartoonists from all over the world have asked themselves these questions. Their drawings and paintings in this illustrated book comment on current events, straight to the point and with a good dose of humor. – How are world governments managing the coronavirus crisis? A critical examination in more than 400 cartoons – Joe Dator, Jason Raish, Gerhard Haderer or Bruce MacKinnon: International artists and illustrators take a stand on the COVID-19 situation – «The New Normal»: Did you bring your hand sanitizer and facemask? Our life in times of COVID-19 – A global view on how the pandemic is affecting the economy worldwide: from Italy, the US to Brazil, South Africa or China Will the coronavirus crisis trump other urgent issues? The lockdown created funny behaviors: hoarding of toilet paper and DIY haircuts as well as video conferencing in sweatpants. Unfortunately, social isolation, fear of the future and economic losses due to short-time working are also part of our new everyday life. The crisis shows which professions are relevant for the economic system. Social imbalances and inequalities are becoming abundantly clear. At the same time, issues that demanded urgent action before the outbreak of the virus seem to be forgotten, like the refugee crisis, global warming and the world economic crisis. This cartoon book critically comments on the current situation and makes us rethink our priorities!

A collection of brilliant poems written by people working on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemicAll revenues received by HarperCollins directly from sales of this ebook will be donated to NHS Charities Together for their Covid-19 appeal.Angela Marston is a retired Palliative Care Nurse who spent nearly 40 years in the NHS and Hospice services. She wrote her first poem whilst self-isolating with Covid-19 and, when she recovered, collected poems from other key workers and people affected by the virus.She created an anthology of poems from nurses, doctors, and teachers; pharmacists and journalists; child protection officers and food bank volunteers. From people aged 9 to 92. From established poets and writers.From heroes.Poems for a Pandemic is that anthology.It is a valuable collection of first-hand accounts – of love, of grief, of fear, and of hope – that explores the global effort to rescue humanity from the teeth of an invisible enemy. And it comes direct from the people that don capes and masks in order to go save the world.This is history in the making,’ Angela says, ‘and these poems record for all eternity the thoughts and feelings of ordinary people at an extraordinary time.’

Numerous political commentators have noted the rise of the radical right worldwide. How has the radical right responded to the COVID-19 pandemic? Has the radical right been legitimized in a world of closed borders and greater securitization? Have radical right regimes in power cracked under the strains of the crisis and thus undermined their own political fortunes? Have radical right-wing responses to COVID-19 been uniform or diversified? These are some of the questions tackled in Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic by the Radical Right. This volume gathers a collection of short pieces, which highlight the multi-faceted ways in which right-wing and radical right-wing political forces have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents research by scholars from all around the world concentrating on the evolution of radical right-wing movements since the COVID-19 crisis began and their influence on mainstream and alternative narratives. The edited volume includes case studies as well as far-reaching reports on the radical right’s utilizing of the crisis to re-shape ideas about sovereignty, globalization, democracy, equality, diversity, and political legitimacy. Such studies comprise cases on gender and class, racism, religious hatred, scapegoating, anti-Semitism and Sinophobia, conspiracy theories, and online radicalization, focusing on locations as diverse as the US, Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, France, Spain, Ukraine, Latvia, Israel, and India. All such studies are compiled in a total of six chapters and an epilogue, organized thematically and by country.

This expanded, updated, and completely revised edition of  The COVID-19 Catastrophe  is the authoritative guide to a global health crisis that has consumed the world. Richard Horton, editor of the medical journal  The Lancet , scrutinises the actions taken by governments as they sought to contain the novel coronavirus. He shows that indecision and disregard for scientific evidence has led many political leaders to preside over hundreds of thousands of needless deaths and the worst global economic crisis for three centuries. This new edition provides a systematic discussion of the pandemic’s course, national responses, more transmissible mutant variants of the virus, and the launch of the world’s largest ever vaccination programme. Only now are we beginning to understand the full scale of the COVID-19 crisis. We need to learn the lessons of this pandemic, and we need to learn them fast, because the next pandemic may arrive sooner than we think.

Our societies today are characterized by a universal algophobia: a generalized fear of pain. We strive to avoid all painful conditions – even the pain of love is treated as suspect. This algophobia extends into society: less and less space is given to conflicts and controversies that might prompt painful discussions. It takes hold of politics too: politics becomes a palliative politics that is incapable of implementing radical reforms that might be painful, so all we get is more of the same. Faced with the coronavirus pandemic, the palliative society is transformed into a society of survival. The virus enters the palliative zone of well-being and turns it into a quarantine zone in which life is increasingly focused on survival. And the more life becomes survival, the greater the fear of death: the pandemic makes death, which we had carefully repressed and set aside, visible again. Everywhere, the prolongation of life at any cost is the preeminent value, and we are prepared to sacrifice everything that makes life worth living for the sake of survival. This trenchant analysis of our contemporary societies by one of the most original cultural critics of our time will appeal to a wide readership.

The textbook provides a comprehensive analysts of the concepts, forms, methods and means of carrying out public relations work in the commercial sectors of the world economies in the post pandemic period. The questions considered in the book have practical significance for the professional training of PR specialists who will be working in Russian business companies in new conditions of the global and regional markets. It is intended for bachelor, master and postgraduate students specializing in the field of "Advertising and Public Relations" at MGIMO and other universities of Russia, as well as for those interested in advertising, public relations, mass media and communication, and public administration in the economic sphere.