The coronavirus pandemic that is hitting the world implies a health crisis and its consequences have a significant economic scope. Nothing will be the same after this time has passed. Prospecting in this uncertain context is complex; however, knowing how other societies have rebuilt their structures after health catastrophes we will allow an analysis of the resources and mechanisms that a society has to articulate to rebuild the social and economic fabric.
We analyze the plague of Athens (430 BC - 429 AD), the great plague of Milan (1629-1631) and the Spanish flu (1918-1919); In all these events there are common places that, probably, we will find when we can study the coronavirus pandemic in perspective. Today some voices advance economic leadership after the crisis, while others appeal to radical changes in the organization of society.
The plague of Athens (430 BC - 429 AD) in ancient times coincided with war and affected the city of Athens. The plague broke out in the second year of the Peloponnesian War; it is believed that it came through the freight ships that docked at the port of the Pyrean. Thucydides (460 BC -396 BC?) In History of the Peloponnesian War tells that before reaching Athens this plague had affected Ethiopia, Egypt, and Libya. The historian believes that the Spartan army withdrew for fear of contagion after seeing the funeral pyres burn. What happened next in Athens? In one of the outbreaks the leader, Pericles died. Those who succeeded him, according to Thucydides, were incompetent.
However, Sparta did not give up; For this reason, he agreed with the Persians to transfer the Ionian capitals in exchange for their navy. With this maritime power in the year 405, they annihilated the Athenians in the Battle of Egospotamos and victorious Sparta imposed an aristocratic committee on Athens, the government of the "Thirty Tyrants".
The rule of the Thirty Tyrants lasted only eight years, after which a Second Confederacy was formed, mainly to control the power of Sparta. Shortly after, for political reasons, Athens would come to defend Sparta from the threat of the other Greek polis, so the Confederation was undone. From the fourth century, Athens suffered a crisis that led the area to social, cultural, and political decline.
The great plague of Milan
The great plague of Milan (1629-1631) took the breath away of nearly 280,000 citizens of Northern Italy. Between 29 and 31, the scourge of the bubonic plague changed the human map of cities like Lombardy or Veneto. It was in the autumn of 1629 when the citizens of Milan were affected by this plague.
The authorities took care of distributing sanitary measures; between them they established quarantines, and they watched the merchandise; however, after the first phase of a health emergency, measures were relaxed and, coinciding with Carnival, in March 1630 another outbreak ended in Milan with some 60,000 people. In the rest of the northern cities, the health crisis had a similar response to that of Milan.
But, that situation changed radically in the second half of 1600. The Borromeo family gave a great boost to religious and cultural life. Later in the 18th century, it became dominated by Austria, which carried out important changes in every area of this society.
The great plague of Milan (1629-1631) took the breath away of nearly 280,000 citizens of Northern Italy. Between 29 and 31, the scourge of the bubonic plague changed the human map of cities like Lombardy or Veneto. It was in the autumn of 1629 when the citizens of Milan were affected by this plague.
The authorities took care of distributing sanitary measures; between them they established quarantines, and they watched the merchandise; however, after the first phase of a health emergency, measures were relaxed and, coinciding with Carnival, in March 1630 another outbreak ended in Milan with some 60,000 people. In the rest of the northern cities, the health crisis had a similar response to that of Milan.
But, that situation changed radically in the second half of 1600. The Borromeo family gave a great boost to religious and cultural life. Later in the 18th century, it became dominated by Austria, which carried out important changes in every area of this society.
Spanish flu
The Spanish flu (1918-1919) was detected in Fort Riley (Kansas) on March 4, 1918. Although other voices affirm that the first outbreak was found in Haskell County in April of the same year. Experts note that this virus underwent a cluster of mutations that summer that triggered the 1918 flu pandemic. There is no consensus on the death rate among researchers; Some indicate that it wiped out half of the world's population, while others claim that it caused the disappearance of two-thirds of the world's population.
The world recovered quickly from that pandemic that was considered to have ended in 1919. The following year, 1920 would be the first year of a decade known as the Crazy 20s. The pandemic was forgotten, World War I was overcome and the world he was preparing to live an effervescent decade in which technology began to be present in everyday life; the first telephones, the automobile, and the electrical appliances were prepared to reach the citizens.
The Spanish flu (1918-1919) was detected in Fort Riley (Kansas) on March 4, 1918. Although other voices affirm that the first outbreak was found in Haskell County in April of the same year. Experts note that this virus underwent a cluster of mutations that summer that triggered the 1918 flu pandemic. There is no consensus on the death rate among researchers; Some indicate that it wiped out half of the world's population, while others claim that it caused the disappearance of two-thirds of the world's population.
The world recovered quickly from that pandemic that was considered to have ended in 1919. The following year, 1920 would be the first year of a decade known as the Crazy 20s. The pandemic was forgotten, World War I was overcome and the world he was preparing to live an effervescent decade in which technology began to be present in everyday life; the first telephones, the automobile, and the electrical appliances were prepared to reach the citizens.
The day after
The journalist, Naomi Klein, in an interview with VICE maintains that the power will use the pandemic to control society. Klein, however, in The Intercept, appeals to society because he thinks that this situation can change and transform the role between power and the people so that the result is a more just world.
On the other hand, Juan Luis Cebrián, in El PAÍS, considers that the pandemic is a “convulsion of the social order of magnitudes still difficult to conceive. The planetary power is going to be distributed in a different way than we have known it in the last 70 years ”. Cebrián believes that after this health crisis, China will lead "the new world order, whose main focus is already on Asia."
These and other voices are trying to prospect the near future; However, the only certainty is that nothing will be the same after the pandemic. The question is to know how the interaction structures between peoples and states will be organized.
The journalist, Naomi Klein, in an interview with VICE maintains that the power will use the pandemic to control society. Klein, however, in The Intercept, appeals to society because he thinks that this situation can change and transform the role between power and the people so that the result is a more just world.
On the other hand, Juan Luis Cebrián, in El PAÍS, considers that the pandemic is a “convulsion of the social order of magnitudes still difficult to conceive. The planetary power is going to be distributed in a different way than we have known it in the last 70 years ”. Cebrián believes that after this health crisis, China will lead "the new world order, whose main focus is already on Asia."
These and other voices are trying to prospect the near future; However, the only certainty is that nothing will be the same after the pandemic. The question is to know how the interaction structures between peoples and states will be organized.
The link between the pandemics studied and the present is the powerlessness to contain the health crisis, and the lack of response from the powers that be. Also, the confusion in society and the uncertainty about the future. However, this is where the hope of turning the world into a more equitable space is making its way, although this will require breaking down many barriers; otherwise, it will happen as in the past and, at the end of the crisis, everything will go back to the way it was before.
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| Picture: Fernando Zhiminaicela (Pixabay) |