CORONAVIRUS : RACIST HYSTERIA

The Government's imposition of a ban on travellers from China is a racist over-reaction and ignores the advice of the World Health Organisation that such bans can have unintended and negative consequences.

IN THE SUPPOSED 'fight' against the coronavirus and with the full backing of all the parliamentary parties as well as the mainstream media, the Government has imposed what amounts to a racist ban on travellers from China. The only exceptions are New Zealand citizens and permanent residents who will be required to quarantine themselves for a fortnight.

We should not  be proud that the Labour-led Government, with the support of the Green's, has implemented a ban not dissimilar from the one imposed by the racist Trump administration. That ban on travellers from China was implemented after both conservative politicians and members of the American far right lobbied for it. Michael Savage, a far right conspiracy theorist and who espouses white nationalist beliefs on his radio show, tweeted 'QUARANTINE! STOP TRAVELERS FROM CHINA NOW!'

We're getting that kind of racist outburst in New Zealand too, As the hysteria about coronavirus has risen, so has the volume of abuse aimed at both Chinese New Zealanders and New Zealanders of Asian descent. Here in Canterbury, the police are making enquiries after several parents of children who attend a school in Rolleston received an email telling them to keep their kids at home - because 'you Asians are virus spreaders'.

'Our Kiwi kids don't want to be in the same class as your disgusting virus spreaders!' the email says.

The NZ Herald reports that anti-Asian 'hate speech and racist memes have also flooded social media sites including Twitter and Facebook'. I've seen some of them. 

Its all very well for Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon to call for 'calm' but he should be condemning this travel ban that has allowed this situation to develop in the first place. He might not want to be seen to be stepping on the Government's toes but that doesn't excuse him from doing his job. The Race Relations Commissioner is supposed to be politically independent. Or does he actually agree with this travel ban?

The fact is that the Government has gone with a travel ban against the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO). It has recommended that no travel bans or restrictions be put in place because they can have unintended and negative consequences for the countries involved.

It points out that travel bans act as a disincentive for government's to quickly disclose potential outbreaks to the WHO or other countries. It states that travel bans '...hinder the sharing of information, make it harder to track cases and their contacts, and disrupt the medical supply chain, potentially fuelling shortages of drugs and medical supplies in the areas hit hardest by the outbreak.'

The Chinese government's fight against the spread of the coronavirus appears to have been exemplary yet the Labour-led government still feels it has to impose a sweeping travel ban because of a virus that has caused just a few hundred deaths, far less than the number of people who die of the flu every winter. In the United States 80,000 people died of the common flu and its complications during the winter of 2017.

In New Zealand it is estimated that the influenza virus kills about 500 people every year, as well as causing a huge number of hospitalisations. But, unlike the hysterical reaction to coronavirus, it is generally ignored by the politicians and the corporate media.