I’ve been thinking a lot about the impact COVID-19 is having on the success of democracy. For background I was sent an article that appeared in Open Democracy about “State repression in the Philippines during COVID-19 and beyond.” Part of the article reads: “The Philippines’ social news network Rappler reported, “As of June 8, the police have arrested a total of 193,779 people for quarantine violations since March 17. Only 34 Filipino healthcare workers have died in the Philippines itself.”I think of Sweden, lovely Sweden with its well established social democracy that decided to veer to the other end of the spectrum, favoring individual and economic freedoms over restricting gatherings of people. “They literally gained nothing,” said Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. It seems evident that pre-covid democratic benchmarks are being compromised as a result, not just in south east Asia but everywhere.

Source: Philippine Star July 10, 2020 15:56 UTC