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Join our fifth COVID-19 webinar, which will examine authoritarian and repressive state responses to the Coronavirus pandemic, featuring UN Special Rapporteur on Protecting Human Rights and other global experts and activists.
29 April webinar: States of Control – the dark side of pandemic politics
Dear TNI supporter,
We hope you were able to attend our webinar earlier this week on the health and pharmaceutical companies seeking to profit from this pandemic. It was a very informative and ultimately inspiring webinar featuring some of the leading lawyers, activists and experts fighting for public health for all from across the globe. In case you missed it, you can still watch the recording here.
In our next Wednesday webinar at 4pm (CET) on 29 April, we will turn our lens on the state. In response to an unprecedented global health emergency, many states are rolling out measures from deploying armies and drones to control public space, to expanding digital control through facial recognition technology and tracker apps. Although we are not at war, the narrative employed by political leaders, as well as the measures taken, would have us believe otherwise. Are these measures proportional and necessary to respond to the virus? Or are states taking advantage of this crisis to normalise new methods of mass control on entire populations? What if these measures become permanent once the pandemic has subsided? What if health is repurposed as a national security issue? How do we ensure that COVID-19 doesn’t become the new 9/11 – a new milestone in authoritarian states of control?
This webinar will explore the political dimension of state responses, particularly the securitisation of COVID-19 through the expansion of powers for military, police, and security forces. It will examine the impact of such repression on certain groups who are unable to socially distance, as well as how digital surveillance is being rolled out with little, if any democratic oversight. It will ask how we can prevent these practices from being normalised and how to use our collective experiences of solidarity to construct a more just, democratic, and rights -centered world.
The webinar is conducted in English, but is live-interpreted into French and Spanish. Register to receive more details.
Panellists:
- Fionnuala Ni Aolain, UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights while Countering Terrorism, University of Minnesota
- Arun Kundnani, New York University, author of 'The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic War on Terror' and 'The End of Tolerance: racism in 21st century Britain'
- María Paz Canales, Executive Director, Derechos Digitales (Digital Rights campaign), Chile
- Anuradha Chenoy, School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, and author of 'Militarisation and Women in South Asia'
The webinar is organised by TNI and co-sponsored by Focus on the Global South, Alternative Information and Development Centre, South Africa and StateWatch.
We are proudly organising these webinars for free as contributions to the movements and activists that are responding to this pandemic. We do the same with all our research and analysis. That does not mean they do not cost money – it takes time and money to organise these events and research and publish. If you are in the fortunate position of having resources during these uncertain times, we would gratefully accept any donations towards our work. Please donate here.
And if you haven't already sign up to our newsletter to receive news and updates on future webinars and the latest reports and analysis from TNI.
Sincerely,
Jess Graham
Community Builder
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