yeah, the media spin around the situation in india is to treat them as a developing country that needs foreign aid. that's very frustrating to see at this stage in history, and not what i said at all.

the reason that countries like canada and the united states want to focus on stopping the spread in places like india is that the variants are going to end up back here, in the end. you can't build a wall to keep the virus out - and that comparison is deeply applicable, in fact. i've argued repeatedly in this space that the best way to reduce the flow of central american migrants is to invest in living conditions in central america, which isn't about "foreign aid" and isn't an act of altruism, but is about realizing that this is actually in our own collective self-interest. but, both parties are controlled by a small elite that benefits from access to cheap labour, so nobody wants to address the root causes. reducing the supply of cheap labour would be the best thing we could do to help rebuild the union movement, which is exactly why nobody wants to do it.

at least with the virus, the class interests are minimized, so we should be able to see that helping them is the best way to help us. there's never been a wall that kept the barbarians out, and there's never been a travel ban that's stopped a virus from spreading. if you want to stop this, you need to send them doctors, not put an end to international travel.

and, yes - the same thing was true in the united states, not that long ago. at the time, i called for the same thing in the united states; it was fairly early in the pandemic that i actually called for doctors without borders to set up shop in the united states, and i was laughed at. in hindsight, maybe that wasn't so laughable. but, now the situation has shifted to india, and so i'm calling for a redeployment of resources there, instead.

but, the media is just using it as an example to set up a hierarchy and is framing it in the language of foreign aid. again, it's hubris, it's arrogance - and it's out of touch with reality.

travel bans will solve nothing. if we don't find a way to work together and deploy global resources to areas it's required when hotspots pop up, this will continue forever - or at least until we decide it's now "normal".