How do Buddhists handle coronavirus? The answer is not just meditation

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Buddhist monks in Thailand pray at Phleng temple amid the COVID-19 crisis, May 11, Images/Getty

 Pierce Salguero, Pennsylvania State University

Millions of Buddhists seeking protection and healing from the novel coronavirus are turning to traditional religious rituals.

Since the emergence of COVID-19, the Dalai Lama, other senior monks and Buddhist organizations in Asia and worldwide have emphasized that this pandemic calls for meditation, compassion, generosity and gratitude. Such messages reinforce a common view in the West of Buddhism as more philosophy than religion – a spiritual, perhaps, but secular practice associated with mindfulness, happiness and stress reduction.

But for many people around the world Buddhism is a religion – a belief system that includes strong faith in supernatural powers. As such, Buddhism has a large repertoire of healing rituals that go well beyond meditation.

Having studied the interplay between Buddhism and medicine as a historian and ethnographer for the past 25 years, I have been documenting the role these ritual practices play in the coronavirus pandemic.

Talismans, prayer and ritual

Buddhism originated in India about two and a half millennia ago. Today, with well over a half-billion adherents across the world, it is a highly diverse tradition that has adapted to many cultural and social contexts.

There are three main schools of traditional Buddhism: Theravāda, practiced in most of Southeast Asia; Mahāyāna, the form most prevalent in East Asia; and Vajrayāna, commonly associated with Tibet and the Himalayan region.

In Buddhist-majority places, the official COVID-19 pandemic response includes conventional emergency health and sanitation measures like recommending face masks, hand-washing and stay-at-home orders. But within religious communities, Buddhist leaders also are using a range of ritual apotropaics – magical protection rites – to protect against disease.

A Nepalese Buddhist monk offering ritual prayer, May 7, 2020. Narayan Maharjan/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In Thailand, for example, Theravāda temples are handing out “yant,” talismans bearing images of spirits, sacred syllables and Buddhist symbols. These blessed orange papers are a common ritual object among Buddhists in Southeast Asia who see crises such as epidemic illnesses as a sign that demonic forces are on the rise.

Theravāda amulets and charms trace their magical powers to repel evil spirits not only to the Buddha but also to beneficial nature spirits, demigods, charismatic monks and wizards.

Now, these blessed objects are being specifically formulated with the intention of protecting people from contracting the coronavirus.

Mahāyāna Buddhists use similar sacred objects, but they also pray to a whole pantheon of buddhas and bodhisattvas – another class of enlightened beings – for protection. In Japan, for example, Buddhist organizations have been conducting expulsion rites that call on Buddhist deities to help rid the land of the coronavirus.

Mahāyāna practitioners have faith that the blessings bestowed by these deities can be transmitted through statues or images. In a modern twist on this ancient belief, a priest affiliated with the Tōdaiji temple in Nara, Japan, in April tweeted a photo of the great Vairocana Buddha. He said the image would protect all who lay eyes upon it.

The Dalai Lama, the Buddhist spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. Pixabay

The third major form of Buddhism, Vajrayāna, which developed in the medieval period and is widely influential in Tibet, incorporates many rituals of earlier traditions. For example, the Dalai Lama has urged practitioners in Tibet and China to chant mantras to the bodhisattva Tārā, a female goddess associated with compassion and well-being, to gain her protection.

Vajrayāna practitioners also advocate a unique form of visualization where the practitioner generates a vivid mental image of a deity and then interacts with them on the level of subtle energy. Responses to COVID-19 suggested by leading figures in traditional Tibetan medicine frequently involve this kind of visualization practice.

Buddhist modernism

Since the height of the colonial period in the 19th century, “Buddhist modernists” have carefully constructed an international image of Buddhism as a philosophy or a psychology. In emphasizing its compatibility with empiricism and scientific objectivity they have ensured Buddhism’s place in the modern world and paved the way for its popularity outside of Asia.

Many of these secular-minded Buddhists have dismissed rituals and other aspects of traditional Buddhism as “hocus pocus” lurking on the fringes of the tradition.

A former Buddhist monk practices visualization meditation during the coronavirus crisis, April 24, 2020. Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images

Having documented the richness of the history and contemporary practice of Buddhist healing and protective rituals, however, I argue that these practices cannot be written off quite so easily.

In most living traditions of Buddhism, protective and healing rituals are taken seriously. They have sophisticated doctrinal justifications that often focus on the healing power of belief.

Increasingly, researchers are agreeing that faith in itself plays a role in promoting health. The anthropologist Daniel Moerman, for example, has identified what he calls the “meaning response.” This model accounts for how cultural and social beliefs and practices lead to “real improvements in human well-being.” Likewise, Harvard Medical School researcher Ted Kaptchuk has studied the neurobiological mechanisms for how rituals work to alleviate illnesses.

To date, there is no known way to prevent COVID-19 other than staying home to avoid contagion, and no miracle cure. But for millions worldwide, Buddhist talismans, prayers and protective rituals offer a meaningful way to confront the anxieties of the global coronavirus pandemic, providing comfort and relief.

And in a difficult time when both are in short supply, that’s nothing to discredit.

source: the conversation.com

A city in denial over coronavirus: Mexico's capital is on the brink of a COVID-19 disaster

The coronavirus pandemic continues its apparently unstoppable journey across the globe. Mexico was always in line to be hit and to be hit hard. It now is, writes Stuart Ramsay for SKY NEWS

There are criteria that indicate an almost perfect storm of catastrophic infections caused by COVID-19.

Mexico's public health service is weak, poverty is endemic, work for millions is ad hoc and dependent on turning up, people live cheek by jowl in vast slums with no running water, families are extended and close, there is scant regard for social distancing.

Millions live cheek by jowl in Mexico City, with many unable to socially distance

The government appears to accept the pandemic will rip through the country and seems ill-equipped to do anything about it.

Our analysis of data shows official death toll figures are hopelessly inaccurate and far below reality. Government insiders say they are underestimating by at least a factor of five.

Add to the mix the fact that the drug cartels import the raw materials for making methamphetamines from Wuhan in China, from where their operatives travel weekly. The cartel cocaine and heroin business is dependent on the US, from where their operatives travel daily.

Worse still, the population has little regard for any rules set by central government.

An employee of the Alejandrina Guzman Foundation wears a face mask with the image of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman - Alejandrina's father - printed on it

Then there is Mexico City.

It is absolutely vast, its unofficial population is over 30 million - put simply, half of the UK population lives in one city. It's remarkable.

All the above criteria are relevant here.  We have come to trace the development of the pandemic. After a month, it is clear the virus has arrived - the city and perhaps the country are on the brink of a coronavirus disaster.

Huge motorways link enormous boroughs full of millions of people who service the central districts of Mexico City. 

These are, in many ways, cities in their own right; with their own mayors and councils that provide public services devolved from the national government.

They are almost uniformly tough. Crime rates are horrendous. Life is overarchingly dominated by poverty.

The suburbs of Mexico City are linked by huge motorways

While news of the virus and its effects have spread across the globe from China, here there is little acknowledgement of the dangers.

For days, we have asked people if they are scared.

Most shrug their shoulders and say they have greater problems to worry about - like getting food. 

There is almost no social distancing out in the suburbs.

Outdoor markets are full. A few half-heartedly wear face masks. There is no cleaning of hands. There isn't any running water.

Outdoor markets are busy, but there is no washing of hands

In the warm weather, walking through streets filled with the sounds of shopping and music, past taco stands doing a roaring trade, one could easily forget that there is a crisis developing here.

Then you see the black smoke billowing from crematorium ovens as bodies are cremated, and you remember.

Smoke billows out of a crematorium in Mexico City, busy during the epidemic

We have focused much of our attention on the borough of Iztapalapa.

It is poor and it is huge with a population of over 1.8 million people. It is the centre of the virus outbreak here and is home to the largest food market in Latin America.

COVID-19 virus has found a comfortable place to grow and it is - every minute.

Just from witnessing the shocking numbers of hearses waiting to take the latest victims of the virus to be cremated, it was clear that officialdom would fail to provide us with the real details of what is going on here. 

So we went to the people at the forefront of dealing with the virus outbreak: the funeral parlours that have to provide comfort for the grieving families affected by the deaths of their loved ones, and to the local doctors who are the real front line in a battle they have little chance of winning.

This is their story:

Funerales Zapata is a funeral parlour in Iztapalapa. It has been run by the women of one family for three generations.

We asked them if they could help us understand what is going on in their community.

The picture they drew for us is put quite simply: despair.

This time last year they were doing one funeral service a week. Today they are doing five services a day, and that number is how many this small business can cope with. If they could deal with 30, it would be 30. If they had capacity for 100, it would be 100.

In a few minutes of being in their cramped but pleasant office, surrounded by off-the-shelf coffins for sale, it is clear Iztapalapa is in the midst of a coronavirus crisis.

"People here have been very sceptical that the disease even exists," they tell us.

"They think it's something the government or somebody else is doing, they don't believe in COVID as such."

The point they make is that people either don't want to accept that the virus is a problem or worse, they know it is but don't want to be stigmatised by having a family member categorised as a COVID-19 death.

Surrounded by off-the-shelf coffins for sale, it is clear Iztapalapa is in the midst of a coronavirus crisis

"The families can't believe their relative passed away from COVID, they refuse to believe that their relative passed away from the virus. The person who died, they don't even realize what happened to them."

Many of the funeral parlours we have spoken to say that people will try to pretend that their relative did not have COVID-19 but died of natural causes. We know of and have spoken to funeral parlours less scrupulously honest than the Zapatas ladies, who will fake the death certificate so the families can have a normal wake at their homes and a normal burial, regardless of the fact that they could all become infected.

Many families who have lost a loved one want a normal wake at their homes and a normal burial

"People are very scared, very scared here in this area, or rather throughout the country. But they don't believe it, they don't take precautions, don't protect themselves," the three women tell us.

"We have tried to talk to the families, to inform them of the protocols that authorities require us to follow as funeral services."

They say they believe the Mexican government has done its bit to warn people of the dangers faced by the virus, but that people around the country are not listening, and are failing to understand or even acknowledge the scale of the crisis.

Worryingly, they say they have collected more bodies from homes than from hospitals.  They work on the assumption that every case they deal with is a potential coronavirus case. They don't take any chances, wearing personal protective equipment for every service.

Posters in Iztapalapa remind people they are in the middle of a COVID-19 epidemic

They're worried for their own families.

"We are also very exposed to taking this virus to our homes," they tell us, "to our relatives… people have no idea what we are going through."

"We are human beings [too], right now we are here, tomorrow we might not be here, and we will be the ones needing the service."

Despite the risks, they carry on.  They're trying to bring as much comfort and closure to families who cannot say a proper goodbye.

If the pandemic storm in Italy and France was characterised by the response of hospitals and intensive care units, if the failures of prevention in the UK and Sweden are demonstrated by the large number of deaths in care homes, then the fight against the pandemic in Mexico City is characterised by the failure of social distancing measures and the work of local clinics, most importantly the doctors and nurses.

In this poverty-stricken frontline, they work in small cramped surgeries.

The doctors and nurses are poor as well.

They service a population that will not go to hospital under any circumstances; communities who will struggle on until they admit defeat and then turn to their local doctor. When they do, it is quite often already too late.

Medics like Dr Juan Jose Lira are heroes to their communities

Dr Juan Jose Lira built his clinic 30 years ago. He actually built it. It is in a place called Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl.

Neza is one of the most violent areas in Mexico City.

Every day his clinic is filled with people who have coughs, a temperature, aching bones and pallid complexions.

Neza is one of the most violent parts of Mexico City

None think they have COVID-19, even the ones who minutes later die in his surgery.

"Some people don't even believe it [coronavirus] exists.  Patients come here and I tell them, it's probably COVID, they say no, that doesn't exist. The national government made that up," he tells me.

"Because of ignorance, people are not really aware because they haven't seen a case up close."

I have met many people who could be classified as heroes. I'm not sure I have ever met a hero like Dr Lira.

With his own personal protective equipment (PPE), wearing a mask fashioned from a DIY store, he examines patients coughing their lungs out, then types out their notes on an ancient typewriter.  He keeps a notebook with a log of his suspected coronavirus patients so he can remember to check up on them.

He's hoping - praying - that perhaps his community won't be as badly affected as the rest of the world because they're used to being exposed to viruses.

"I think the infection rate is going to explode. But maybe there won't be so many deaths, because in Mexico, people are exposed to many types of microbes and perhaps our immune systems are a bit stronger than say, in other first-world, more hygienic countries, where people don't come into contact with microbes as much."

He knows for many though it is hopeless. He knows they won't listen to him saying they must go to hospital. But he keeps going. He is all they have.

"I'm scared. But here I am. I'm working," he says.

Watch Stuart Ramsay's report on the hero doctor

I'm sure the government knows what is happening here, but it seems it has decided to try and ride the storm.

The indicators are that things are going to get worse and worse.

The women from Funerales Zapata will keep burying people and Dr Lira will keep trying to save people.

Eventually the virus will pass, but Mexico City may never be the same again.

Credits:

Words and reporting: Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent

An out-of-control Chinese rocket debris falls out of sky; lands in Ivory Coast,West Africa

On Monday, a massive, out-of-control Chinese rocket fell out of the sky off the west coast of Africa, becoming one of the largest human-made objects ever to make an uncontrolled descent to Earth from space. At first, the rocket seemed to harmlessly slam into the Atlantic Ocean. But now it seems that some pieces of debris may have hit solid ground, according to local reports from Côte d’Ivoire describing metallic objects that apparently fell from the sky.

The rocket that just made a chaotic return to Earth was the core of China’s powerful Long March 5B rocket, which launched on May 5th. The mission marked the first time China had launched this particular rocket variant to space. Ultimately, the mission was a success, allowing China to test this massive new vehicle and put an experimental new spacecraft into orbit.

THE LONG MARCH 5B IS A TRULY MASSIVE ROCKET

However, once the launch was over, the core of the Long March 5B didn’t fall back to Earth, as most rocket cores do once they’ve completed a mission. Instead, the core made it into a very low orbit and stayed in space for the last week. Its orbit was pretty unstable, though, and it was predicted to fall to Earth early this week.

The whole ordeal was a tad scary since the Long March 5B is a truly massive rocket. When smaller-sized vehicles fall out of orbit, they will usually completely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. But more massive objects like this rocket have a higher chance of partially surviving reentry. Normally, if a country or company puts a particularly heavy object into orbit like this one, they have a detailed plan in place for how to bring the thing down safely. China hasn’t been clear about its plans for the rocket.

“Did they perhaps have a plan to de-orbit it that went wrong?” Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard and satellite tracker, tells The Verge. “The Chinese have not discussed whether they had any plan of the sort, so therefore we’re forced to assume that they didn’t.” China also doesn’t have a very good track record of making sure its rockets don’t hurt people. Rather than launch over the ocean as the US does, China will often launch its rockets over land, prompting reports of rocket parts falling over populated areas.

At 21 metric tons, the core of the Long March 5B is way more massive than the 8-metric-ton Chinese space station Tiangong-1 that careened to Earth in 2018. In fact, the Long March 5B is the fifth most massive object to make an uncontrolled descent to Earth, according to McDowell. “This is the heaviest object to make an uncontrolled reentry since 1991,” he claims.

“THIS IS THE HEAVIEST OBJECT TO MAKE AN UNCONTROLLED REENTRY SINCE 1991.”

Adding to experts’ worries, the Long March 5B core took a rare and unexpected path over heavily populated areas on Earth during its final orbit. McDowell notes that the vehicle passed over both Los Angeles and New York City just before it entered the atmosphere over the Atlantic.

The Air Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron, which is responsible for tracking space objects, confirmed that the rocket reentered over the Atlantic at 11:33AM ET on Monday. Still, it looks like some parts of the falling rocket may have escaped the watery grave.

Pictures from Facebook and Twitter show what looks like a long metal pipe found by villagers in Mahounou in Côte d’Ivoire. There are no indications that anyone was hurt. There’s also no solid confirmation that the pipe came from the rocket. But after doing some sleuthing, McDowell says that locals reported loud sonic booms, flashes, and falling debris around the same time that the rocket would have passed over them. Plus, the village is right in line with the rocket’s path around Earth, so he says it’s possible some pieces made it inland.

“When you have a big chunk of metal screaming through the upper atmosphere in a particular direction at a particular time, and you get reports of things falling out of the sky at that location, at that time, it’s not a big leap to connect them,” he says.

“THEY’RE PLANNING A LOT OF LAUNCHES OF THIS THING.”

Of course, it’s still very early, and it’s unclear exactly what can be done about this if the pieces are, indeed, from the Long March 5B. The United Nations has a treaty known as the Space Liability Convention, an agreement about who is held internationally liable if a falling space object injures someone or harms a place on Earth. The UN came up with the treaty in 1972 after a Soviet satellite crashed into Canada. China acceded to the treaty in 1988, but Côte d’Ivoire isn’t part of it. So even if the pieces are from the rocket, it’s unclear if China will have to pay up in some way.

source: TheVerge

Coronavirus: US authorises use of anti-viral drug Remdesivir(Ebola drug)

The US's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorised the emergency use of the Ebola drug remdesivir for treating the coronavirus.

The authorisation means the anti-viral drug can now be used on people who are hospitalised with severe Covid-19.

A recent clinical trial showed the drug helped shorten the recovery time for people who were seriously ill.

But emergency FDA authorisation is not the same as formal approval, which requires a higher level of review.

Experts have also warned the drug - which was originally developed to treat Ebola, and is produced by Gilead pharmaceutical company - shouldn't be seen as a "magic bullet" for coronavirus.

What is the most promising coronavirus drug?

During a meeting with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Gilead Chief Executive Daniel O'Day said the FDA authorisation was an important first step. The company would donate 1.5 million vials of the drug, he said.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn also said at the meeting: "It's the first authorised therapy for Covid-19, so we're really proud to be part of it."

What do we know about remdesivir?

President Trump has been a vocal supporter of remdesivir as a potential treatment for the coronavirus.

In its clinical trial, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) found that remdesivir cut the duration of symptoms from 15 days down to 11. The trials involved 1,063 people at hospitals around the world.

Some were given the drug and others were given a placebo (dummy) treatment.

Dr Anthony Fauci who runs NIAID, said that remdesivir had "a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery".

However, although remdesivir may aid recovery - and possibly stop people having to be treated in intensive care - the trials did not give any clear indication whether it can prevent deaths from coronavirus.

New York nursing home deaths

News of the potential treatment comes as a nursing home in New York reports 98 coronavirus-related deaths.

The Isabella Geriatric Center in Manhattan said 46 of its residents died after testing positive, while the other 52 were suspected to have had the virus.

And Dr Fauci has been barred from testifying next week to a congressional committee examining the Trump administration's response to the pandemic.

"While the Trump administration continues its whole-of-government response to Covid-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine development, it is counter-productive to have the very individuals involved in those efforts appearing at congressional hearings," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.

In other coronavirus news:

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the country will begin to lift its lockdown on 18 May, "in a slow, phased way"

India has also extended its restrictions for two weeks past 4 May

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defended its response to the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak in China, saying it "didn't waste time"

WORKERS DAY LOW KEY 2020 COMMEMORATION: Full text of the speech of President of United Labour Congress (ULC), Comrade Joe Ajaero

“TRADE UNIONS AND SOLIDARITY IN COVID-19 A PANDEMIC”.

Comrades! There is no other period in our history as members of one global community that the centrality of the worker has come to the fore and should be appreciated than now. No other time that the labour of the peoples of the world has become key to human development than now. The farcical pursuit by humanity and the elevation of vacuous none essentials of life into realms of importance to the detriment of workers is now thrust into the face of the peoples of the world. It is no longer debatable that at the primacy of life is Labour – the workers of the world who we celebrate today.

The global COVID-19 pandemic which currently holds entire humanity in the jugular compels this year’s celebration of the international workers’ day to be deeply more appreciated by all and sundry. Workers all over the globe have demonstrated in the course of this battle that it remains the bastion upon which the survival of humanity hinges. Over and Over workers have shown resilience, From nation to nation, continent to continent, day to day and hour to hour, workers have shown that it is only on their shoulders can our world survive and remain sustainable.

Our celebration this year therefore is of the worker; the heroes in the frontline against COVID-19; the ones who have worked tirelessly and wantonly deprived to keep the nations of the world going in the midst of the global lockdown. We celebrate the men and women who have braved all odds at the Airports, the Seaports, the Hospitals and of course those who have maintained the vital infrastructures of our nations even in the darkness which the Pandemic has thrown the world into.

Workers have been the light, the beacon of hope that have kept our nations going. We pay tribute to these men and women, comrades not just in the trenches but at the battle for the survival of the human race against the ravages of global infections.

To these men and women, to these great workers, the United Labour Congress of Nigeria pays special tribute today. We appreciate the great job we have all done and continue doing to keep our nations and especially Nigeria moving forward. We have shown the bosses once again the imperativeness of establishing a new world order that would allow the equitable distribution of the resources of the globe so that we can have a more inclusive and participative world.

At this point, we mourn the workers whose lives have been lost in the course of this battle against the Pandemic and those that would still give their lives for the rest of humanity as COVID-19 evolves. They are martyrs! Their sacrifice at the trenches and at the different frontlines to defeat the disease will not be allowed to go unrewarded. The reason for these deaths would not go into waste.

That is why the ULC proposes an international Day for the remembrance of the great martyrs of COVID-19 struggle. A Day that ought to be different from what we celebrate today because what they have given transcends the realm of the workers; day into the sphere of saving humanity should be set aside for this purpose. This is one of the best ways to immortalise those already martyred and the ones that would be martyred until we defeat the disease. We propose the setting up of memorials across all nations of the world for this purpose.

The global Pandemic has brought to the fore the fragility of the human race and the character and superficiality of the present world order that has collapsed like a pack of cards and in confusion with its advent. It has put serious lie to the previously held wisdom and bastions of global defence and challenged in no small way the seemingly unquestionable world philosophies that had hitherto held sway.

It has now more than ever before made the rethinking of the global socioeconomic framework more urgent and critical for a sustainable globe. Greater collaboration based on shared values and shared consumption must now drive the global system of production and consumption instead of the beggar thy neighbour policies of the dominant economic powers of the world. This global cooperation is not just spatial but sectorial amongst all the cleavages and divides of the globe’s community.

Rabid nationalism disguised as patriotism spreading around some parts of the globe must now seek redefinition in the realities of the Pandemic. The world must now seek out and embrace each other across the global spectrum. All the walls of separation keeping the nations of the world apart must now be pulled down consciously by humanity while forces of greed and crude accumulation must be stopped.

The era of a true globalisation has set in. A framework that would truly make the problems of a small child in the smallest corner of the world the problem of the whole world, a framework that would not shut out the cries and yearnings of the deprived, the vulnerable and the weak in any part of the world and indeed an era where the resources of the world would be deployed for the benefit of the entire world and not for the benefit of a few individuals, Corporations or regions of the world. A world working together and sharing together as equals is possible and that is the new reality which the pandemic has created.

It has become clear that both the rich and the poor in all nations of the world would be adversely affected eventually if we do not join hands to solve any emerging challenge or threat in any part of the world. The huge wealth accumulated in many parts of the world, the poverty created in its wake, the huge weapons and armaments invented and amassed in many regions of the world and the environmental degradation and climatic factors generated, the humongous infrastructure of the developed world and the dilapidated public utilities and social infrastructures in the poor countries of the world will all come to haunt us all if we do not work together. They will all be helpless and meaningless in the face of global disaster.

Conscious of this and the consequences which this portend for the globe and humanity in general and in the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the context of this Pandemic, the ULC chose to celebrate this year’s May-Day as we are all locked down globally under the banner: “TRADE UNIONS AND SOLIDARITY IN COVID-19 A PANDEMIC”.

We believe that this captures the mood of all workers in the globe including other facets of the global community. It is only in a truly united world acting together in solidarity that can ward off the disaster that awaits the globe in the situation which we have today found ourselves,

Throughout the history of the latest stage of Capitalism and its philosophical base of neoliberalism, nothing has challenged its dominance and power more than the present Pandemic and nothing has indeed shown its helplessness and hollowness as a socioeconomic framework than this global outbreak of COVID-19.

The consequence of our collective greed and the refusal to act as a family has fallen upon the human race. The trillions of USD investment in the Aviation and Tourism industry all over the world; huge sums in the Hospitality industry and indeed manufacturing and Agricultural sectors are all confronted with imminent jeopardy. The global Petroleum industry has all but collapsed as nations selfishly pursue their sole interests. They are all on the brink and the human race is being dragged down with it. Millions of jobs all over the world have been wiped out while in the US alone, those who have filed for unemployment benefits in the last one month have gone to nearly 30million and this is replicated at varying degrees in other nations of the world.

These are all testimonies to global greed and plunder and our refusal to act together eschewing our parochial pursuits as a people united in the pursuit of happiness and wellbeing. Major players in the world have become blinded and cannot see the common sense in coming together, working together and sharing together not as masters and servants but as people of equal interests and desires.

Our message as workers of the world to the people of the world is that the need to stop the huge losses to humanity as a result of our refusal to embrace each other has now more than ever before in our history become urgent. The need to work together in solidarity is without any other credible alternative.

As workers of the world and Nigeria, our responsibility at this time which we have demonstrated continually especially through our struggle against COVID-19 is to teach the world Solidarity. Solidarity has sustained our eternal struggle against the forces of oppression and Solidarity has kept us strong and united acting with one purpose and for all.

How can we teach the world solidarity if we are not united? How can we teach the world solidarity if we are not pursuing the interests of workers but pursuing our selfish interests? Can we teach the world solidarity without demonstrating solidarity internally? This year’s May Day offers us another opportunity to reinvent ourselves so that we can be stronger to teach the world SOLIDARITY which is the key ingredient not only to defeat COVID-19 but to create a world moving forward that is sustainably progressive.

Today, the ULC calls upon the nations of the world to rise in solidarity so that we can defeat this pandemic. Trade union solidarity offers the world the key to a happier, healthier and more progressive world. It is by caring for one another and standing for each other that all nations can get to their respective destinations safely. The Wild Geese teaches us a great lesson in Solidarity as it demonstrates in its seasonal migrations. America must stand for Asia; Europe must stand for Africa and Latin America including Australia and vice versa. In solidarity, we create an inclusive world where all people of the world would be carried along avoiding the pitfalls of globalised capitalism.

That the world is mired in violent crisis of humungous proportions especially in the Middle East, Africa and Asia which origins could be traced to rising exclusion that has produced a mass of deprived, poor and suffering denizens around these regions is because we have not acted in solidarity. That COVID-19 became a Pandemic is the refusal of the world to work in solidarity.

Without Solidarity the world would continue creating refugee crisis that will inevitably threaten to overwhelm the entire globe throwing up a dangerous spectre for humanity. Poverty, wars induced by social exclusion, inequity and Hunger has awakened in people of the excluded regions the need to escape to safer grounds. However, safer grounds are not welcoming; they are walled - in leaving thousands of people huddled in hopelessness and excluded outside the various European nations that have turned into modern day Iron curtains because we are not acting in solidarity.

Nigeria as a nation needs to learn national solidarity! Without Solidarity our nation will continue breeding men and women both in and out of Government who are totally focused on taking the resources of this nation away from the people. Pseudo-capitalists and Economic Rentiers without conscience and no regards for the lives of Nigerians who are building a network of cabals determined to decimate mass-based organisations in order to stifle our collective voices. Policies are churned out designed to deliberately restrict trade unions from operating while some powerful conglomerates have waged internecine wars against mass-based platforms refusing workers the rights to organise within their operations in violation of international conventions.

A national Solidarity across the ethnic divides, across the diverse religions and beliefs and within the masses and peoples of Nigeria has come to the fore as an existential factor. It is with solidarity amongst the people – the downtrodden and the peasants that we can hold people in leadership accountable and make governance more effective and impactful on the lives of the people. It is with solidarity that we can make our democracy work and it is with solidarity that we can compel leaders to focus on the meaningful development of our nation via investment in critical national infrastructure which they have allowed to become decrepit.

Solidarity demands that we carry every Nigerian along leaving nobody behind. It abhors parochial sentiments and primordial attachments. With solidarity, an injury to one Nigerian becomes an injury to all Nigerians! An injury to one ethnic group becomes an injury to all ethnic groups. An injury to one religious group becomes an injury to other religions. One for all and all for one unites the nation and throws up continuous progress.

It rewards merit and commitment to national progress while it punishes indolence and outright incompetence. It is with solidarity that we can generate the needed confidence to trust in our internal capacities to provide solution to our problems thus investing more in our people that would allow the nation generate internal multipliers that would help us drive continuous economic progress both as a people and as nation.

We must not lose sight of one of the greatest lessons of this COVID-19 outbreak; that we all do not have any other nation of our own except Nigeria. It is therefore our responsibility acting together in solidarity to develop our nation. Our Educational infrastructure must be built and made functional; Our health Care system must be consciously developed to compare with the best anywhere in the world; Our Social and Public infrastructures and Utilities must be functional and much more the welfare of our citizens must take centre stage because one small infection anywhere in the nation is capable of imperilling the whole nation. In all, we must ensure that Nigeria’s resources are used for the development of Nigeria so that we do not find ourselves in the unfortunate position as today where we seem helpless and depending on other nations to found solution to the COVID-19 outbreak. When the chips are down they say; “everybody will answer his father’s name”

Solidarity will assist us focus on the important aspects of the society. It would help us defeat COVID-19 Pandemic! With solidarity, we would have known that governance is about how government policies and actions affect the average citizen; his access to good housing, social and physical infrastructure, Medicare, education, food, clothing etc. It is about how better- off the citizens are at all times. It is about social inclusiveness and not Social Distancing! It is about bringing together our best at all times to engage any challenge that confronts us as a nation.

If we allow our nation and all its activities to be guided by the tenets of solidarity, perhaps, we would have had a more and robust response to the Pandemic. Those in Leadership would have realised that in national emergencies, everybody and all material resources are marshalled to confront it. Government would have realised that the National COVID-19 Taskforce would have been more inclusive with the working people represented in numbers and other CSOs and that explains the lapses thus far witnessed.

We use this opportunity again to urge the federal and state governments to ensure that the teams set up to coordinate the COVID-19 response are adequately representative of all the critical national stakeholders. It must be encompassed with solidarity without which failure or sub optimal outcomes will be our lot.

At this time more than ever before, our nation needs to rediscover solidarity. All of our peoples are important and all their skills are needed for us to succeed against the outbreak and any other national emergencies that may confront us. This is the reality of the time and demands a complete rethinking amongst the nation’s leadership at all levels. Solidarity remains the key to mobilise all national resources both human and material and any government that fails in harnessing its potentials runs the risk of colossal failure in its efforts at governance.

The State of Our Movement in the Pandemic:

The Trade union movement continues facing mounting challenges especially in this Pandemic which is a new experience to practically every active operative in our Organisations. Workers all over the world remain at the frontlines of the struggle against this novel disease. Many of them have been martyred in the process while many others yet remain at these trenches.

The circumstances surrounding this outbreak and the responses of the social partners have created huge challenges for the movement and demands novel responses from the unions. Adequate hazard allowances and insurance was not provided for those at the frontlines and it took our struggles to get the federal government and some state governments to make provisions though we still have gaps. Some Employers are beginning to nurse the malicious and ungodly intention of cutting the salaries of workers. We have rejected it outright and have called on such employers to direct their complaints or anger to the right authorities and not take it out on the workers.

Your movement continues building alliances within and outside the country for the purposes of enhancing solidarity which is one of the pillars of our movement and which forms the focus of our conversation in this period. Our affiliate base is expanding as we welcome more affiliates into our fold. Alliances have been forged with diverse Civil Society Organisations and indeed credible platforms to make us more effective in engaging our social partners and other existential issues that may confront working people all over the world and in Nigeria.

Comrades! This global crisis requires our vigilance. It requires our unity. It requires our commitment and determination. These are the necessary ingredients that we need as workers to protect ourselves from those who have the erroneous belief that we are once again going to be the sacrificial lambs in this struggle against COVID-19. Some are unfortunately seeing workers as cheap prey. We must therefore work together to force them change this perception.

In the spirit of solidarity we believe that the time for us as a movement to come together joining our hands across the different divides, pulling down all the walls that may keep us apart in order to create a movement that is capable of not only protecting itself but enduring into the future is now. However, we cannot do this effectively if we are divided. We cannot do this, if within us we keep alienating and excluding one another. This will not be possible if we keep telling ourselves lies and jettisoning honour and integrity which have built our movement all these years. The trade Union movement remains a collective platform. A mass movement! A people’s movement! Upon these, it thrives and that is what will make us triumphant over most of the challenges that confront us as workers and peoples of the globe. The society and indeed the globe needs this from us as it is the only way we can overcome the present Pandemic.

That is why it is imperative that as we seek the review of the extant Industrial Relations Laws in our country and as we seek the COVID-19 and the Post COVID-19 engagements with our social partners, we must work collectively for the benefit of Nigerian workers. The idea behind the exclusion of critical stakeholders in the the federal ministry of Labour dialogue on the review of the laws held recently is most unfortunate and does not help the movement. We should not applaud or work with those whose interests are to keep us exploited and deprived.

We are glad to inform you that despite all these challenges, your Centre; the United Labour Congress of Nigeria (ULC) remains united, focused, vibrant and strong. The consciousness remains one and the objectives more coherent than ever before. Together in solidarity, we shall rise from the ashes of this COVID-19 Pandemic internally stronger and externally more coherent and effective.

The Economy:

Our worries over the years and our insistence on the criticality of diversifying our economy has finally begun to manifest as two major factors have combined to bring this forcefully into our nation which would soon hit our streets, houses and tables. We have actually for decades not been able to build what anybody can call an economic system largely because our leaders began to allow other sectors of the economy to stagnate and die while paying undue attention to Oil and Gas which was providing all they needed to run the economy without much hassles.

Our economy became therefore mired in the morass of a dangerous dependence on a product that we are largely not in control of – Petroleum. As a result of this, the Combination of the struggle for the dominance of the crude Oil trade between the major producers which unfortunately coincided with the emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

These two factors worsened the price of oil to with the Brent selling at almost $18/b which is not only below the nation’s 2020 budget benchmark but also its production cost. Consequently, fiscal insufficiencies became manifest while the Foreign exchange rate of the local currency nose-dived sharply while there are calls by international monetary organisations further devaluation.

Having found ourselves in this self-inflicted quagmire, our nation has resorted to more borrowing which has a potential for setting up a dangerous cyclical that will condemn us to perpetual poverty and return us to the debt trap which we had hitherto exited. We had warned about these dangers over the years but these warnings were never heeded.

We are worried that a nation that has huge Oil and gas deposits and exported large quantities over the years will become solely dependent on borrowing from everywhere to run itself. The recent addition of U$3.4b borrowing from the IMF leaves us with sense of foreboding. We are worried because the debt so far accumulated was not properly used and that explains the continued reliant on more borrowing. Our understanding is that this is an RFI with the consequences. These borrowings must stop now to protect our future generation as there is no result on the ground for the ones already borrowed.

It is a shame that we have continued importing Petroleum products. It is also a shame that we have also privatised it so that the products have become inaccessible to majority of the citizens causing serious distortions to our economic processes. This government promised to revitalise all the refineries and build more but has since abandoned this wise programme on which it rode into power. We have been condemned to spending nearly 50% of FX receipts on financing the purchase of refined petroleum products. This has not only put undue pressure on the Naira but has also denied our nation the benefits of rising oil prices.

Again, the ULC demands that the price of PMS, AGO and DPK be reviewed drastically downwards as the present prices are a rip-off of the citizenry and indeed not justified by any known market parameters. We should not be paying anything less more than N60/litre of PMS and the federal government should allow this reflected at the pumps to stop this gang-up against the masses.

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Privatisation has not only encouraged rent-seeking in an economy that is already traumatised but has also crippled the capacity of the commandeered utilities to deliver services critical for national development to the masses. With Power sector privatisation, Electricity ceased to be social and became commercial. This has made it increasingly inaccessible to the people who need it to drive the various segments of our economy, excluding them from effectively contributing to wealth creation thus catalyse development.

Our economy suffers enormously lacking sufficient capacity to drive itself out of the predicament. Drastic steps must be taken to awaken us from the abyss which our unserious attitude to building domestic manufacturing capacities has pushed us.

We therefore call on our Policy makers to critically take bold steps to grapple with the crisis in manufacturing in Nigeria and stop this policy of opening our borders to all manners of imports especially from Asia with its attendant consequences. We must learn to put our food where our mouth is. Deliberate efforts must be embarked upon to grapple with the challenges facing our local industries as this remains the only basis for creating local capacities that becomes the bedrock not only for job creation but to rev up the economy and deepen the structural inter-linkages needed to build a resilient economy. A critical and conscious effort must be made to wean Nigeria off its over dependence on oil and its derivatives.

We were dumbfounded when the SGF was asked about the proposal of a Vehicle manufacturing company to produce Ventilators in Nigeria and he responded that the company was merely involved in vehicle assembly. We were also surprised at the insistence of the Presidency to bring in Chinese Doctors despite opposition by major stakeholders in the Medical Profession. The message sent was a clear preference for imported goods no matter the quality at the detriment of domestically produced ones. The taste of our leaders seem to be highly exogenous and this creates distortion in any economy with such prevalence.

Let it be known that the nation’s economy cannot grow until the people running it become truly Nigerian in their character, thinking and actions. You cannot take prescriptions from your enemy. You will be destroyed. The present attitude of wholesale importation of ideas from Western Institutions and their Capitals as if they have become the holy - grail cannot but spell doom for our great country. Protocols must not be signed without understanding fully its implications for our local economy and that is why we urge the federal Government to come clean and give Nigerians full details of all its dealings with the Chinese.

ULC urges the federal government to stop the consumption of imported goods in all its activities especially the ones that can be produced in Nigeria, trim its various perks, reduce cost of governance, review the Electricity sector privatisation, put the local refineries fully back to work since it cannot build new ones and stop the massive borrowing to fund never-ending projects. The Presidential Economic Advisory team headed by Dr, Doyin Salami should be allowed to work so that Nigeria and its people can feel its impact.

INSECURITY .

Congress is seriously worried about Federal Government’s handling of the various manifestation of insecurity in the country especially the Boko Haram insurgency and the wanton killings in the hands of Fulani herdsmen in different parts of the country. We wonder why it had to take the action of Chadian forces ably led by their President to force our Army chief to take the battle more seriously. We are sure that our soldiers have the capacity and professionalism to defeat the Bokoharam insurgents if the right leadership is provided them. Mr. President should think in that direction.

We want those who have continued to perpetrate violence and bloodletting in Niger state to be brought to book and those sponsoring the Fulani militants arrested and prosecuted to reduce the tension these killings have generated over our nation.

THE POLITICAL SPACE

We are alarmed at recent developments in our polity especially as it concerns the behaviour of our political actors in the various by-elections that took place in Kogi, Bayelsa and in other parts of the nation. The prevalence of rascality by the various gladiators and use of thugs in the contestation for positions have reduced elections in Nigeria to a war front. We have thus succeeded in creating a political space that abhors constructive engagement based on civilised relationship against one that favours the use of force and instruments of coercion. We are therefore alarmed that instead of seeking for votes our politicians are busy procuring arms and other weapons of terror as they prepare for elections.

Congress is worried at the increasing attempt by the various governments in power to muzzle the opposition and gag the press. The pursuit of strategies that would silence popular voices couched in various Bills before the national Assembly are all laden with unholy intentions at creating a cult of leaders that cannot be questioned and who cannot account to the citizenry for their actions while in service. We insist that governance is not a secret cult and its affairs must be conducted in the open with utmost transparency.

THE POWER SECTOR

Once again, we insist that the federal Government should revisit the Privatisation of the Power sector and should not allow all the noise from within its ranks to distract it unless it is not prepared to change the embarrassment that the sector has become to Nigerians under its watch. That Nigerians are forced to pay for darkness in the guise of estimated bills should worry this Government; that total system shut downs has become normal occurrences with zero generation should make this Government cringe and buckle up its shoes.

THE WELFARE OF PENSIONERS AS WE BATTLE COVID-19

It is important that we address the issue of our Pensioners who are retired workers both in the Public and Private sectors of the nation’s economy especially as we battle the COVID-19 Pandemic.

We commend the federal and state governments including individuals and corporate organisations that have made efforts to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians who are locked down in their respective places as a result of the federal government strategy to defeat the Pandemic.

While the idea behind the policy is in keeping with governance practices, we had thought that Governments at the various levels ought to have taken special cognisance of this group of people who have given the best parts of their lives to the service of dear nation.

We believe that within our context, pensioners are one of the most vulnerable group in our nation as they are of course peopled with old men and women most of who have become infirm as a result of age and therefore can no longer fend for themselves and their loved ones.

Demographically, it is known globally that this segment of the society is the most vulnerable to the Pandemic. They constitute a large chunk of its victims and constitute a very high and worrying percentage of the total number of deaths, the case of the frightening statistics from Kano state in the last weeks where many retirees unfortunately succumbed to the ravaging hands of the disease is very instructive and should therefore guide policy and actions of the government.

As the battle against this disease rages, if we must succeed in dealing with it effectively, ULC suggests that the federal government places its searchlight more on this group to protect them, provide for them and grant more access for them to the nation’s Health services.

We strongly suggest that the palliative regime be extended to them without bias. Every pensioner ought to have unfettered access to the palliatives. Cash Transfers should be extended to them as they need it more than any other segment of the nation.

Every arrears of payment to them must be fully paid immediately. We therefore urge the federal government to mandate the state governments who are heavily indebted to pensioners to pay up immediately in the spirit of our collective effort to defeat the Pandemic with fewer casualties.

The Contributory Pensions Union and the Federal Pensions Union that are the affiliates of the ULC have complained variously about this apparent oversight and neglect of the welfare of their members by the various governments.

We propose that steps be taken immediately as the report we are getting is worrying and the need for mitigating actions has become imperative to avoid deaths within their ranks. Such actions should be coupled with a dialogue between governments at all levels with the unions in the sector to create roadmap for continuous successful engagements.

Once again, we reiterate that the idea behind the Pension scheme is to protect the Pensioners in a situation like this. It is therefore our duty to protect the Pensioners to give meaning to the Pension Act. Government must demonstrate urgency unless it is not serious about successfully combating COVID-19 outbreak.

CONCLUSION

This year’s May-Day is unusual but as workers, we remain undaunted and committed to our duties of building our nation. We have made sacrifices! We have given our lives in the effort to defeat the Pandemic! In the spirit of solidarity and the new objective conditions, we want the federal government to take the following steps:

immediately set up a Post COVID-19 think tank whose membership should be wide and inclusive to come up roadmap that would drive this nation out of the expected challenges that are inevitable.

the need to strengthen the nation’s Social Security Net to capture more vulnerable people and make its impact felt more by all. The overhaul of the handling of the NSIP has become imperative as its work is shrouded in secrecy and has left room for doubt in the minds of Nigerians especially in the areas of transparency and probity.

Re-think thoroughly the Privatisation exercise especially in the Public utilities with a view to re-acquiring them

Return the local refineries to full capacity and invest in new refineries.

Reduce the price of Petroleum products in line with prevailing realities and stop all fraudulent activities in the subsidy regime of the Petroleum sector.

Set out on a deliberate effort to build domestic industrial capacity not just by stimulating Private sector investments but by also investing in establishing Medium and large scale industries in critical sectors of the economy. We cannot be the voice of neoliberalism trumpeting the mantra that Government is not good for business. Many strong nations have grown their domestic industrial base on this model

Stop immediately the haemorrhaging of our jobs to foreigners who are employed by companies that receive waivers from Nigerian Government

Take active steps in checking the behaviour and activities of Chinese companies and individuals in our nation to avoid what is happening in other African countries.

Take steps to salvage the steel industry as one of the basic infrastructure for catalysing manufacturing and industrialisation in any society. Begin implementation of the agreement with Russia on the revitalisation and completion of the complex as announced,

Make our governance framework less parochial and more national in outlook and actions.

Seek the active participation of all groups in the country by deliberately involving all in all spheres of national life to avoid the feeling of alienation and maximise our human and material resources.

Immediately reconstitute the National COVID-19 taskforce to include all national stakeholders especially the labour movement whose members are at the frontlines of the struggle against the Pandemic.

Look inward to encourage Individuals and organisations to develop capacities at different areas of the COVID-19 struggle. We seek a more nationally grown response that is anchored on our realities as a nation with a rich history of providing solutions to our internal problems.

Expand the reach and penetration of COVID-19 palliatives and make it more inclusive cutting across every region and section of the country.

Invest more in Education especially in the area of Research institutes across the nation. We suggest the investment of at least 20% of the entire donations received by the federal government towards mitigating the pandemic to the fund the activities of the various Research institutes whose mandate relate to Medical, Pharmaceutical and herbal Research.

We propose a special fund, not the usual CBN one that is not accessible, to help Medium and Small Scale Enterprises restart their businesses that were shut down as a result of the Pandemic.

Informal Sector businesses like the Barbers and Salons, Carpenters and Wood workers, Plumbers, Waste and Scrap pickers, Road side vendors; majority of who eke out their living through Daily earnings and whose little start-up capital must have gone into food and basic necessities during the Lockdown need to be deliberately assisted to resuscitate their businesses.

The federal government should call to order every employer be it private or public planning to embark on lawless acts within the nation’s industrial relations clime. It is the duty of the federal government to ensure strict compliance to the traditions, ethics and laws governing Industrial relations in the country and none should be encouraged to hide under the guise of fighting COVID-19 to breach workers’ rights and privileges.

Consequently, we reject the impunity laden plan of the Kaduna state government under Nasir El-Rufai to cut the salaries of workers in the state. it is unacceptable and would be resisted by the ULC in the spirit of solidarity. If he has implemented it, we demand that they be returned to the workers immediately.

We insist that the most effective strategy to fight Coronavirus Pandemic and indeed other national challenges is to build solidarities across our various divides. The deepening of cooperation and widening of inclusivity amongst our various peoples would enable our nation successfully confront all its challenges. It remains the only way we can turn the adversity that the COVID-19 has become into a huge platform for development as a nation.

We are the Union, the cradle of solidarity! We are the workers, the martyrs for national survival in the midst of the pandemic! We work while others sleep! Every agenda designed to fight the unions furthers the effort at fighting against solidarity and social inclusiveness in Nigeria thus castrates our potentials for ultimately emerging as economic superpowers globally.

We wish workers all over Nigeria and the world a wonderful May – Day celebrations! It is our day! Whether in at the frontlines or at the logistic centres providing support to the ones at the trenches, we salute you all! Stay safe and work safe!

Long live the United Labour Congress of Nigeria (ULC)! Long live Nigerian workers!!! Long live Nigeria!!!!

Aluta Continua! Victoria Acerta!!

Comrade Joe Ajaero

(President)