In a pandemic such as the present one different levels of understanding of the malady are invented or transmitted by society. In this age of social media and fast communication, myths and realities are likely to mix up and blend, or displace one another, compete among themselves or create new conceptions and misconceptions about the malaise. Traditional views often prove tenable in the process. The 1918-1919 global flu pandemic known in history as the Spanish flu for instance provided Ethiopians with a bare comprehension of the outbreak. One hundred years after that event, some of the misconceptions are still gripping the popular imagination.
The Spanish flu is referred to in Ethiopian history as Ye Hidar Beshita or the ‘November Illness’ because it occurred in November of 1918 although it had spread throughout the world and caused immense devastations earlier on. Diseases not only change our lives but also create new levels of understanding of a phenomenon that is largely mysterious. If we take the November 1918 outbreak in Ethiopia for instance, it came as a surprise to almost all segments of the population. In a deeply traditional and religious country such as Ethiopia, the outbreak was automatically considered a punishment from God. Nowadays, perceptions or explanations of the epidemic still coexist with divine ones.
Many Ethiopians also consider the present corona virus outbreak as a form of punishment from God. The most pious among them, mainly members of the clergy and their followers view the disease as punishment for human crimes and even as a warning for worse things yet to come. Religious view occupy a central place in the day-to -day lives of more than 90 percent of Ethiopians of all religions and faiths. This should not therefore come as a surprise when official government pronouncements about the disease sometimes display a religious tinge, whether it comes as a Christian or Muslim or some other variant.
This is partly because the collective consciousness is largely based on collective religious consciousness because of the absence of a strong scientific tradition as to the nature and cause of the outbreaks. Religious views are simpler to grasp by even the most traditional society and the explanations are also readily acceptable because they are based, as they are, on Biblical messages and anecdotes.
In the context of the present outbreak, the religious element in the popular consciousness is stronger than ever because the disease came on the heels of the political upheavals of the last two years during which time many atrocities were committed by followers of allegedly extremist political agendas while the victims were almost
always the poor, the weak and the powerless.
This has obviously not only given rise to a popular conception of the phenomenon as an indirect way of blaming the culprits of the political atrocities and the violence of the last two years. The fact that all allegedly violent political groupings with admittedly aggressive nationalist ideologies are now silent or look paralyzed in the face of the outbreak apparently provided the popular masses with an ideological revenge moment. “We are being punished by God for our atrocious deeds!” most people say. And the political and religious fervors of the last two years have found a rationale in this kind of thinking that is serving as a cohesive factor while the alleged perpetrators of the sins admitted had divisive political agendas.
This phenomenon is not unique to Ethiopian society. Sin and punishment is also at the centre of all societies whether developed or less developed, or whether modern or traditional. Outbreaks like the current COVID-19 provide the opportunity for man or humanity to reflect on their powerlessness, fragility or ignorance. No human genius could predict the present outbreak and no human knowledge could stop it. Outbreaks have the tendency to revolutionize mankind’s self-awareness as something real and turn upside down previous views about human self-image of invincibility verging on arrogance. A single virus that appeared in one of the most technologically advanced country on earth has the power to travel throughout the world while making human knowledge and technological advancement a laughing stock, at least for now. COVID-19 is making the most powerful governments in the West look dumb, confused and forcing them to indulge in trivialities, mutual acrimonies and episodes of accusations and name calling that are not often evident during normal times when politicians seemed to be in full control of the situation. Europe and the United States are not only the epicenters of the corona virus. They are also epicenters of negligence, mishandling of the crisis and virulent attacks against foreigners. Disease outbreaks such as the present COVID-19 tend to bring out the good, the bad, the ugly as well as the noble and humane in humanity.
In the present context of the outbreak, traditional societies like Ethiopia tend to be more humane and less cruel in their views as well as their actions in relation to the disease. Tradition societies sometimes look and are more compassionate than so-called modern ones. In 1918, Ethiopians who were victimized by the spillovers of the Spanish flu had a lower understanding the mechanisms of epidemics but they had an instinctive understanding of the phenomenon. The outbreak was instinctively understood as caused by lack of proper hygiene as the main vector of transmission and people resorted to burning trash wherever it was found.
The capital Addis Ababa that lost an estimated 9000 victims to the flu was shrouded in clouds of dark smoke that rose from the burning trash. And when the epidemic ended after killing an estimated 30 000 Ethiopians across the country, this act of burning trash as a tool of getting rid of disease-causing garbage remained stamped in the popular imagination. That is why each year, millions of Ethiopians across the country are repeating this act almost ritually, not only as a reminder of the tragedy but also as a symbolic gesture to get rid of the culprits of such a fortitude.
Are we, as humans better equipped now than 100 years ago in fighting similar outbreaks? Of course we are because we are beneficiaries of modern science and technology, organization and knowledge. Unfortunately, viruses too have become more vicious in attacking their victims and killing them more efficiently and in reducing the time from infection to the grave in a frightening way. No pandemic in history is as deadly efficient as COVID-19 in spreading in record time and causing record victims.
Back in 1918, some people could be protected from the Spanish flu by fleeing their towns and villages and in taking refuge in monasteries and mountains. The then prevailing thinking was that the various could not reach them if they avoided it by running away. Nowadays, no one is immune from the pandemic and there is no safe place to ran to. Princes and paupers as well prime ministers and proletarians are equally affected. Thos who live in palaces as well as in the streets are equal victims in ways that are baffling and sometimes heartbreaking because the virus seems to go everywhere it wants to as if it has its own vicious mechanism of journeying across societies in all directions and in quite unpredictable ways.
In this way, the disease is proving smarter than humans who are trying to understand their common enemy while the latter is changing its form every time and continues to cause unstoppable ravages, at least for the foreseeable future. If human beings were smarter than the virus, they could have found a cure by now and laughed at the pandemic. They have accumulated tens of thousands of nuclear warheads worth hundreds of trillions of dollars. Unfortunately humans are still begging money for research and development against the common enemy in the midst of the big battles.
The world is changing profoundly since the outbreak of the pandemic. So do ideas and opinions about it. Attitudes, behaviors and even dreams about the future are undergoing changes. Men have started to give priority to their health against to the bad old habit of accumulating wealth as a guarantee for a happy life. From now onwards good health will be valued more than a fat bank account.
Meanwhile Western individualism is discrediting itself in the eyes of the world and human solidarity is seemingly taking the upper hand slowly but surely. The message is clear: there is no way beating the beast unless human beings come together, pull their resources and to fight together against a common enemy. This too is a new approach to fighting the bad days and might soon become the latest craze in human psychology of success. We have to wait until the end of the pandemic to see this change.
The Ethiopian Herald May 3/2020
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
