The new year did not bring much good news to the world. Right when the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was causing devastation across the globe, the new year came up with a new variant IHU, first detected in France.
But the new variant is not the only problem. Florona, the combination of coronavirus and flu, which was first discovered in Israel, is also in the pipeline, which has the potential to strain the global infrastructure as the world moves into the new year.
The outbreak of France’s version of coronavirus has once again sparked the racial debate that global countries which banned flights from African nations after the outbreak of Omicron did not impose an iota of sanctions on Israel or France.
Thus, according to the western world, COVID can only be spread from Black people, and white countries are immune from it.
Social Constructivism: Driving the US Foreign Policy Against Weak Nations
The US is considering the African COVID variant dangerous and the European variant safe is for the same reason why America considers Israeli nuclear weapons safe and Iranian weapons dangerous.
Social constructivism is a theory in International Relations where countries make their foreign policy by assuming some things, which may or may not prove correct at the end of the day.
For instance, nuclear war breaks out in the world, and Israel taps its arsenals, all preconceived notions of the global west against Israel would be proven wrong.
No Ban on France: COVID Racism Exposes Biden’s Priorities
Global disparities were already surging to unprecedented limits before the outbreak of the coronavirus. However, the pandemic has exploited the fault lines even further, as African nations are heavily vulnerable to the discriminatory behavior of western nations.
Despite the fact that the IHU variant has 46 mutations versus Omicron’s 32 and is more transmissible, no country has imposed travel restrictions against France.
Is it because France is a nuclear country with more political clout on the world compared to African nations? Or because France is the permanent member of the United Nations Security Council? Or maybe just because white skins populate the country.
Whatever the case may be, discrimination against countries for any factor or reason is a poor foreign policy approach, not only for the United States but the whole world.
Joe Biden, who has campaigned to bring racial justice in America, is failing to demonstrate the same values across the world and is setting the narrative that he will not treat everyone equally.
COVID Racism: Promising to Damage Global Unity
This is dangerous to many extents. First, it will create a sense of racism in African Americans who are already facing discrimination on various fronts, including policing, housing, employment, and other sectors.
Secondly, it is normalizing the narrative that treating countries based on their geographical location and skin tones is acceptable.
Third, it will discourage African countries from reporting any new possible variants, which has become the new normal in the world as the pandemic enters its third year.
And lastly, it is counterproductive for any developing medical facilities in the world, as these very facilities are used to find new variants.
And despite the fact that the IHU variant was found and named in France, the powerful west has successfully managed to link it with Africa.
Reportedly, the strain was found in a passenger coming to France from yet another African country, Cameroon.
Although 12 other cases of the same variant have been found in France, just because the person traveled to Cameroon was tested first, all the blame is being put on him, and thus African nations.
It is no guarantee that the person who came from Cameron imported the virus because Cameroon has not reported the virus yet.
Linking the variant to the African nation is itself a flawed and partial approach. Vaccine expiry has long been an issue for the world.
And as global countries fail to improve the shelf lives of their vaccines, the vaccines manufactured costing thousands of dollars are going to ashes instead of being jabbed into the bodies of the highly vulnerable global population.
The whole blame of the new variants lies on the western leadership, especially the US government, which is reluctant to introduce equitable vaccine mandates.
The debate of waiving vaccine patents has died without being entertained, which suggests that for the western leadership and private manufacturers, profit is more dear than human lives.
The western world wants the smaller countries to remain dependent on them, as this is the only way they can maintain their hegemony on them.
While the IHU variant is supposed to be less dangerous, and Omicron hospitalization rates are also less than all other variants, it managed to create hype in the world.
Final Thoughts
For the world to kill this COVID hypocrisy, eliminating discrimination based on any preconceived notions is the key.
Just because Israel is the only state that protects American interests in the Middle East, it should not be given a free license if some new disease is discovered there.
When the world banned flights from China at the beginning of the pandemic, it was justifiable, as that was an unprecedented time, which no one ever thought of.
However, had the relations between the US and China been not so poor, China could have easily avoided travel bans, hence exporting its virus at a much faster pace.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.