Confronting racism amid COVID-19 pandemic is ethical duty

People greet 17 medics supporting virus-hit Hubei Province as they come back to work at the Second Affiliated Hospital of University of South China in Hengyang, central China’s Hunan Province, April 5, 2020. These medics returned to their positions on Sunday after undergoing quarantine and rest. (Xinhua)

People’s Daily

Beijing: A civilized society must have its bottom line, and that is why there is no time to delay uprooting racism from the earth.

In the global fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), every one should take on their responsibilities as the exacerbating pandemic has already put human civilization to the test.

With the COVID-19 sweeping across the globe, mankind has come to a critical historical moment when solidarity is the only key to triumph over the virus.

While it is clear to all that concerted efforts are the premise of the victory, some people are still acting in total disregard of the future and common interests of mankind, allowing their deep-rooted racism to repeatedly inject negative energy into the global anti-pandemic efforts.

The ridiculous theories raised in Western countries since the outbreak of the COVID-19 revealed the conventional thinking powered by racism.

Attempting to label the virus and the pandemic in a racist manner, they called the coronavirus a thing “only for the yellow race”, and claimed that the novel coronavirus only attacks the immune system of Asians.

Such insensitive comments, while fully exposing the pride, prejudice, ignorance, and conceit of the ones making them, have instigated racist acts and xenophobia, and become public hazards of the world.

Opposing geographical, national and racist labels for virus is a consensus among the mainstream international community as well as something that the world should always abide by.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has often stated that viruses know no borders and do not care about people’s ethnicity, skin color or bank account.

The greatest enemy is not the virus itself but the stigma “that turns us against each other,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Feb. 15 at the 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC).

In addition, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has on many occasions called for efforts to avoid discrimination, violation of human rights and stigma on innocent people just because of their ethnicity.

However, some politicians and media turned a deaf ear to these appeals and trampled on the bottom line of civilization by stirring up racial conflicts time after time.

The international community must stay vigilant, severely condemn, and firmly resist such extremely irresponsible and immoral deeds at all times.

As history lessons have shown, racist sentiments and xenophobia triggered by major infectious diseases cannot solve problems but rather create bigger challenges.

Racist prejudices only erect barriers and cause harm and racist remarks only create tension and conflicts. Previous distress must never be repeated.

The international community must be aware that as the pandemic spreads around the world, wanton stigmatization and well-planned smear out of ulterior motives have led to a rise in bullying, discrimination, and violence against the Chinese people and even Asians.

Such backtracking is extremely dangerous and must never be tolerated.

In the face of the epidemic that threatens all, far-sighted personages from around the world have frequently called for solidarity and opposed discriminatory and separatist deeds, expressing insistence on goodwill and justice.

“I’m sure anyone would regret profiling a virus along ethnic lines. That’s not something anybody would want,” said Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme at a press conference in March, stressing that the world needs joint efforts to fight the disease.

It’s irresponsible to adopt calculated alternative names for the COVID-19, pointed out E. Tendayi Achiume, UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

“Political rhetoric and policy that stokes fear and diminish the equality of all people is counterproductive,” Achiume said in a media statement last month.

Alan Macfarlane, emeritus professor of Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, said that as a history scholar and anthropologist, he firmly believes that one of the best ways to get in-depth knowledge about a society and its civilization is to see its attitude towards difficulties. What he said is thought-provoking.

“Major infectious disease is the enemy of all,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 26 at the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit via video link in Beijing, noting that “this is a virus that respects no borders. The outbreak we are battling is our common enemy.”

“At such a moment, it is imperative for the international community to strengthen confidence, act with unity and work together in a collective response. We must comprehensively step up international cooperation and foster greater synergy so that humanity as one could win the battle against such a major infectious disease,” Xi said.

It must be totally understood that in this global battle against COVID-19, no one can truly stay immune from the crisis and no deed that challenges universally-acknowledged truth will be allowed.