The Virus and The Parasite

We are in the grips of a virus that has transformed life for people around the world. In a very brief time, facts that used to be abstract have become concrete and palpable: that we are intimately connected with distant lives and processes; that our casual, habitual actions can have serious, unexpected repercussions, from the local to the global level; that our lifestyles are fragile and unsustainable; that there is no “normal” to return to. Sites of everyday life have become charged with anxiety and tension, and relationships of care, support and exploitation that were formerly backstage have become foregrounded.

In the midst of destabilizing realizations and adjustments, as we struggle to keep our balance on a weekly, daily and hourly basis, we should remain focused on the knowledge that the current crisis has been developing for a long time—long before a virus migrated from bats to humans in the markets of Wuhan.  As we wait for a vaccine to return our sense of confidence in public space and sociality, we need to reflect upon the fact that the current crisis has not been caused by a virus, but by a virus coupled with a parasite.

The virus has put our lives on hold, made us fearful, anxious and possibly hopeful for a better world to emerge from the crisis. But this better world only has a chance if we focus attention on the parasite that has delivered us, collectively, to a place where a microorganism could wreak such havoc with our lives and societies.

Like the virus, the parasite is a-moral: it is indifferent to human values, except to the extent that they advance or hinder the parasite’s own survival. The parasite survives by draining our resources. It weakens us by pitting us against each other, and against the world that sustains us. For several decades, it has been steadily devouring the collective resources and institutions that people struggled, for many generations, to secure. Prolonged hosting of the parasite has left us collectively weakened, individually isolated, and forgetful of the values and skills that allowed us to work together in the past, towards a common good.

In our weakened and fearful state, the parasite has encouraged us to turn against each other and take refuge in whatever fantasies of exceptionalism offer some promise of survival. Yet the virus that has followed the parasite has shown us that such forms of tribalism are limited, that we are all vulnerable, and that we have lost the spaces that allowed us to come together and struggle for a better, more egalitarian and sustainable world. We lost these spaces first as an effect of the parasite, which hollowed them out, and then by the virus, which literally sequestered us in our homes.

The parasite and the virus are similar in that they both need to constantly expand to survive, but they are different in that our defensive response to the virus has gotten in the way of the parasites’ growth imperative. The virus is temporarily starving the parasite. And, while we are trapped in uncomfortable isolation, the virus is teaching us how to think and act collectively, once again. In a crafty and inexplicable way, the virus is encouraging us to remember skills the parasite would like us to forget.

Drawing by Junji Ito

We are remembering that ordinary, everyday workers are the backbone of society, even though they are the worst paid. We are remembering the amount of unpaid, care giving and support that women and minorities are most often made to provide to keep everyday life going. We are remembering the amount of unpaid personal work that goes into reproducing our ability to show up for work. We are remembering the kinds of exploitation that a managerial class exerts through forms of discourse and motivation that are now laid bare as control structures. We are remembering the aggressive individualization of risk that austerity forces upon us, even while collective resources are expropriated and privatized. We are remembering the amount of affluence and waste that our economic systems generates for a privileged few, even while the majority of us struggle with insecurity and need. We are remembering the way the poor and the old, the sick and injured, dedicated workers and the environment itself are equally treated as expendable by employers the moment it becomes advantageous for them to do so.  We are remembering the way a prolonged state of anxiety has become accepted as “normal,” making us ill in ways that have become simply a part of living. We are remembering the way our hope and belief that life could be different have become paralyzed by decades of rhetoric, disappointment and propaganda. And we are remembering that we can live and feel differently.

The virus has caused the most damage in the country where the parasite has the deepest hold, which also happens to be the wealthiest country in the world. There, the parasite has so weakened collective institutions and leadership that effectively responding to the virus has been very difficult, to devastating and tragic results.  Immunologist Anthony Fauci has pointed out that, to effectively respond to modern viruses we need, not merely vaccines that react to immediate threats, but a universal vaccine distributed to everyone in the world, that provides baseline immunity to whole families of disease. This is the kind of thinking that can address the underlying parasite, as well. Our recovery demands we begin exercising long-atrophied muscles, and to re-learn how to think in ways that have been systematically discredited, to the advantage of the parasite. The virus is simply a catalyst, a warning and a motivation.

Just like a universal vaccine would provide us, collectively and globally, with the kind of protection we need to stave off viruses, so too would institutions like socialized healthcare, a universal, guaranteed income, and truly collective management of energy and resources generate the kind of stamina and strength we need to tackle the challenges that face us as a species on planet Earth. Only global, socialized responses to inequality and need have the hope of rekindling our societies in a way that will allow us to respond more effectively the kinds of global crises that characterize our times. If we begin to cultivate and nourish these skills, institutions and relationships, we have a chance of surviving the coming challenges. If, however, we continue to allow the parasite to weaken our individual and collective resources, social systems and cultures, the next global crisis will arrive to find us that much less able to respond. I don’t think we can afford that risk. Do you?