The ‘strongmen’ have failed

Three countries, the US, Brazil and India, lead the global COVID-19 case count. What connects them are their leaders -Trump, Bolsonaro and Modi – whose policies and polarizing ways have hindered efforts to combat the disease.

July 17, 2020 by Peoples Dispatch

What happens when three strongmen deny science, prioritize profits and put their populations at risk? The people of their countries suffer. Today the United States, Brazil and India are global leaders in case counts and daily new numbers of cases, and their respective death tolls continue to soar. The xenophobic and hateful discourses of these leaders have served to polarize their respective countries, weakening the response to the pandemic. One has to only look at their neighbors and other global examples to understand that only the model that puts people above profits, that trusts science and values international collaboration, is capable of confronting this threat to humanity.