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Posts tagged: covid-19

  • Viral terminology, technology and capitalism

    Viral terminology, technology and capitalism

    Viral metaphors abound in the cultural and corporate spheres. The AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s influenced the way we spoke about the burgeoning internet technology sector – replete with computer "viruses" and "bugs" – and in doing so helped to entrench existing heirachies. The language of the Covid-19 pandemic is already infiltrating how the crisis is written about and, as Nathalie Olah argues, the way we narrate a crisis has fundamental implications for how it is seen, and who is hit hardest by its effects.

  • When Oil Markets Go Viral

    When Oil Markets Go Viral

    The Covid-19 crisis has lead to a huge drop in the demand for, and price of, oil globally. In this article, Adam Hanieh looks at what this might mean for the global economy.

  • Rethinking the city: urban experience and the Covid-19 pandemic

    Rethinking the city: urban experience and the Covid-19 pandemic

    Whilst the full effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are yet to be seen, the near-global lockdown of urban centres has been a jarring experience for city-dwellers. But how does the rapid spreading of the virus change our perception of the city? Here, Ravi Ghosh argues that these conditions prompts us to see the city differently, and sets us the urgent task of extending the right to the city to all its inhabitants.

  • The World We Want

    The World We Want

    Crises are always moments of decisions. They are moments when we must set out what our priorities are, and asks us how we can achieve them. Peter Hallward argues that the present one caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, could provide the immediate conditions for a new way of living. The clock is ticking, and the stakes are clear. What are we going to do?

  • States of Emergency, Metaphors of Virus, and COVID-19

    States of Emergency, Metaphors of Virus, and COVID-19

    With the COVID-19 pandemic increasing in severity by the day, governments across the world have invoked viral metaphors to effect emergency legislation, in the process clamping down on civil liberties. In such a circumstance, what can the work of those who have studied liberal regimes' propensity to make the state of exception the rule, such as Giorgio Agamben and Carl Schmitt, offer to us – if anything at all?

  • We are not the virus

    We are not the virus

    An unexpected beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic may well be the environment, with the global lockdown leading to falling air pollution levels and rapidly clearing rivers and seas. From this, many have concluded that the virus may be "nature's revenge" on humans – that "we are the virus". Here, Jennifer Johnson analyses the danger of taking lessons on climate change from the huge human toll of the coronavirus.

  • Deserted cities of the heart

    Deserted cities of the heart

    The past few weeks have seen images spreading around the internet of empty streets and deserted cities. But what do these images tell us about the present moment, and what does their cultural value suggest about our relationship to the current crisis?

  • Solidarity in Times of Crisis

    Solidarity in Times of Crisis

    In response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, mutual aid groups have sprung up across Britain to help those most vulnerable. Adam Quarshie looks at the actions of these solidarity networks, and asks what we can learn from the history of mutual aid.

  • Our low-paid workers are our lifeline

    Our low-paid workers are our lifeline

    On Wednesday 18th March, Angela McRobbie was admitted to hospital with what turned out to be COVID-19. Here she discusses her experiences of the virus, and pays tribute to those low paid workers who are at the forefront of efforts to tackle the pandemic.