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During the Middle Ages, as the bubonic plague advanced across Europe, cities in Italy closed their ports, isolated plague victims, quarantined their families, and restricted the movements of all residents. These were extraordinary measures meant for extraordinary timesthe Black Death killed more than 25 million Europeans in just four years.

The price of these measures was one that human beings have since willfully given up time and time again in exchange for a sense of security: Their rights. And its happening again now.

In order to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus, governments around the world have enacted similar measures, from quarantines and curfews to moves that have essentially paused the global economy. Public health experts say these are necessary to save millions of lives. But they also come with a significant loss of personal liberties. In France and Italy, people can only go outside once a day, armed with a permission form, and are fined if they dont comply. In South Korea, health officials implemented whats known as contract tracing by tracking Covid-19 patients using GPS data from their cars and cellphonesa significant invasion of privacy by most measures.

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Will democracy be the next victim of coronavirus? - Quartz

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EDITORS NOTE: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvels column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrinas column here.The Nation believes that helping readers stay informed about the impact of the coronavirus crisis is a form of public service. For that reason, this article, and all of our coronavirus coverage, is now free. Please subscribe to support our writers and staff, and stay healthy

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The coronavirus pandemic poses a terrifying threat to life and a staggering test to our leaders. The unseemly spectacle of lawmakers scrambling to craft a response in the midst of a corporate lobbying feeding frenzy reveals that neither the president nor the legislators yet comprehend the scope of the action needed. The focus, naturally, has been on how to mobilize to meet health-care needs, help Americans survive an economic calamity that is no fault of their own, and revive the economy without letting Wall Street and corporate lobbies steal us blind. But we must not forget this viruss threat to democracy itself: Any reform package must include dramatic steps to guarantee that Americans can vote this fall. It is time for Congress to pass universal vote-at-home (better known as vote-by-mail) legislation.Ad Policy

The viruss toll on our election system is already plain to see. Several states have postponed their primaries. In states that went ahead, voters increasingly were wary of going to the polls. Many states shut down polling places, moving them out of nursing homes and other places at risk. Many scrambled to find polling workers, as elderly volunteers chose not to risk their lives.

Read the full text of Katrinas column here.

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The Coronavirus's Threat to Democracy Itself - The Nation

Like the rest of the world, much of South Asias 1.89 billion population is now under lockdown to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

While Western citizens can, for the most part, temporarily afford to follow preventive measures such as mandatory lockdown, social distancing, and self-isolation, these are tough options for millions of South Asias poor. Their tales of everyday struggle for food are well-documented.

By imposing lockdowns, the strongman and populist leaders of South Asia such as Narendra Modi of India, Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Imran Khan of Pakistan, Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, and KP Sharma Oli of Nepal seem to be genuinely adamant in their efforts to flatten the coronavirus curve.

However, no real plans are yet visible from South Asian governments for aggressive tracing, testing, and containment of the virus techniques that have reportedly worked well in Taiwan, China, and Singapore, for now.

With the projected number of deaths, loss of income, and increasingly authoritarian governments, it is likely that chaos and protest will break out in South Asian cities.

Army and security forces are being deployed to keep the streets of bustling South Asian cities empty and to enforce lockdowns. Against this backdrop, how the crisis may change the South Asian political outlook is a pertinent question.

Three plausible scenarios present themselves: governments could turn more authoritarian, economies could well plunge, and grievances may generate unrest, anarchy, and radicalism.

Up until recently, democracy in South Asia has been as strong as it ever was with some exception for India. Modis controversial move of framing a National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and his abrogation of the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir have placed Indias secular democratic character into serious question.

In recent times, civil liberty activists in India have been arrested, minorities have been violently abused, universities have been under attack, and state surveillance of activists has been amplified.

It is no surprise, then, that the 2020 Freedom in the World Report has ranked India among the least free democracies, and the World Press Freedom Index 2019 ranked India (140) behind Afghanistan (121).

Political and civil liberties in other South Asian states Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Afghanistan are also being suppressed, with the Freedom of the World Report ranking these countries in the category of partly-free to not free.

Except for Bhutan, enforced disappearances, unlawful detention and assassination of critics and opposition activists, media censorship through tough laws, intimidation, and political inequalities are rampant in these countries.

As democracy is going backwards, military and security establishments are gaining stronger footholds in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, following behind powerful political actors. With the lockdowns imposed to limit the spread of Covid-19, the authoritarian grip on South Asia is likely to get stronger.

Videos from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have surfaced on social media demonstrating physical abuse of citizens by security forces. In the early days of the lockdown, Indian police reportedly beat a man to death when he went to buy milk.

Rights activists and journalists are already pointing out that governments are suppressing the number of deaths related to Covid-19 to prevent mass panic. Some observers believe that South Asia is taking the approach to develop so-called herd immunity, without naming it publicly.

That means millions will need to be infected to become immune, and the virus will eventually wither away. But in such a process, it is inevitable that many would die.

To resist mass protests, it is conceivable that in the future, even lockdowns and surveillance of citizens could increase, and freedom of the press decrease shrinking the space for political pluralism in the name of protecting national interests.

On the economic front, the outlook is equally grim. From 2017, the South Asian economy was slowing down. Moodys Global Macro Outlook 202021 recently downgraded the economic robustness of India with a projected growth rate of 2.5%, whereas Pakistan is in debt and textile-export oriented Bangladesh is set to take a blow as markets in the West are now closed.

Although governments are injecting their economies with billions of dollars to bail out industries and support the vulnerable and the poor, it is not a sustainable option in this region. There are also chances that institutional corruption may get in the way of government bailout money actually reaching recipients, which would further contribute to public outrage.

With the projected number of deaths, loss of income, and increasingly authoritarian governments, it is likely that chaos and protest will break out in South Asian cities. Pre-existing grievances and an increased sense of existential insecurity may also feed growing radicalism

By all accounts, the news for democracy in South Asia is not good.

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Coronavirus and the threat to South Asian democracy - The Interpreter

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On protecting democracy in a pandemic, in the courts, in the legislatures, and in our lives. - Slate

We in the Daily Herald newsroom find ourselves stuck in a novel rut to which readers can also probably relate: Were terribly sick of articles revolving around the coronavirus, but at the same time, the pandemic is infiltrating every corner of our lives so much that there doesnt seem to be much of anything currently deemed worthy of an article.

Its hard to find an area of our lives the current pandemic hasnt affected. Plenty has been said on supporting local businesses, how to social distance, home schooling, etc., but we havent seen much said yet on preserving a crucial element to our society: the democratic process.

The virus has the potential of driving away aspects of the democratic process locally if we dont figure out and promote ways to adapt. Just as school is still happening, but adapted in home-schooling form instead of inside public school classrooms and university buildings, so should our democratic dealings adjust. We cant allow the virus to simply sweep it away.

Government employees and elected officials of cities throughout Utah County are currently grappling with how to handle city council and planning commission meetings, which are, of course, traditionally held in-person and are open to the public. We applaud the efforts of city officials coming up with creative solutions to still allow the public to participate in these meetings.

Many cities, such as Mapleton, are making live stream videos of the meetings available to residents. And some are searching for ways to allow the public to comment and participate virtually in meetings rather than just act as voiceless watchers.

Some cities, including Orem, Lehi and Spanish Fork, already live-streamed their public meetings long before the coronavirus pandemic. But for other cities, like Highland, it is a new process, and we hope cities new to live-streaming persevere till citizens can fully participate in this new way.

But to truly adapt the democratic process of participating in public meetings to our current epidemic, we need more than a meeting streaming somewhere on YouTube. We need these virtual public participation options to be made known to the public. Because lets be honest: There was rarely a well-attended city council meeting in Utah County when we could attend in person. And now that option A, which were all more familiar with, is out the window, its vitally important the word is spread about this socially distanced option B, lest public participation at these meetings falls away altogether.

Is it the city officials job to communicate to their residents about videoed meetings? Yes. We hope Utah Countys officials recognize that they cant just set up a live stream on some digital platform and expect waves of people to hop on. But more so, its our responsibility as citizens to actually participate, and maybe even spread the word about these opportunities ourselves.

Another area of the democratic process hampered by the pandemic is citizens running for office. Weve got a big election coming up. Well be able to vote for a new state governor, new Utah County officials and much more.

But first, all the candidate hopefuls must pass some requirements to get their name on the ballot. One of those requirements is signature-gathering which, as you can imagine, is a pretty tough feat amid calls for social distancing. Accordingly, Gov. Gary Herbert suspended certain requirements in state statute related to signature-gathering, including the need to gather signatures in-person.

When we first heard the announcement, we thought it was a great change. But then we read the fine print: Although signature forms can be sent back and forth electronically, the law still requires a handwritten signature. So candidates must send electronic copies of signature packet pages to interested voters, who will then have to sign the signature page and email, fax or mail it back to the candidate.

That seems like a whole lot of trouble to get one signature.

We worry this convoluted process might hamper some candidate hopefuls, particularly the ones without previous public attention.

In a statement, Gov. Herbert called this easing the requirements of the signature gathering process, but we call it adapting to social distancing unsuccessfully. There must be a less elaborate way for candidates to gather signatures while still preserving signature validation.

Its hard to see how far down the road this pandemic will last, but we hope our officials are also beginning plans on socially distant ballots, if it comes down to it. As former Utah Gov. and U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman tweeted, In a national emergency, its imperative that the governors office preserves our democracy.

Excerpt from:
Herald editorial: Adapting the democratic process in midst of social distancing - Daily Herald