The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been fodder for the conspiracy theorists. Talk of NWO take over plots, population thinning, mass tracking and more have been given a massive dose of fuel due to the general lax and slapdash handling of the crisis. The most interesting, and probably the one with the most traction and staying power is the conspiracies surrounding vaccines. On one side the anti-vaxers bolstered by suspicions overly why no AIDS or cancer vaccine or cure has been found after decades of research yet in quick time one for this virus has been found, while the pro-vaxers state with reams of facts and evidence that the vaccine had long been in the works among other reasons for the quick rollout.
Now I am not an anti-vaxer, I who have seen through my ophthalmologist, the ravages of polio will always say give me the shot. I don’t understand the clamour in the first world for this dangerous trend, it is possibly a result of having so few real issues that you need to make some up in order to feel truly human. I do however understand while not subscribing to the strong anti-vax movement which has cropped up in the third world and we in the third world who are pro-vax need to empathise with these people if we are to win them over because at the end of the day unlike their first world counterparts, their fears however misguided are rooted in a large degree of traumatic truth.
A few examples of the traumatic truth which we in the third world have never truly forgotten are needed if their fears are to be understood. It is no secret for example that pharmaceutical companies extensively use the third world as both testing grounds for their drugs as well as dumping grounds for failed vaccines and drugs, drugs and vaccines which have expired or drugs and vaccines which are shunned in their home nations. These facts are so well known that they have reached trope status and entered our literature and film as seen with the book come movie ‘The Constant Gardener’. It is also no secret that these companies in conjunction with global north governments use vaccination drives and general medical drives as covers to gather intelligence on areas they wish to later exploit or as was so vividly shown with Bin Laden in order to track and kill you (a modern twist on colonisation first through Priests, this time drug companies aided by NGO’s).
The children in west Africa who have got polio anyway because they were administered faulty drugs, their apprehension is justified, people in the Caribbean and Latin America who have for decades been used as unwilling human guinea pigs as these companies do research that would make Mengele blush are justified in being sceptical and those of us who rush to defend these new vaccines and condemn our third world brethren have clearly forgotten the past, our past, and need to pause for introspection even as they (and i) agree on the need for this shot. Pfizer is not our friend, GSK is not our chum, Moderna is not going to co-sign a cheque for you, they have historically been our advisories and but for some decent governance, one of the few areas where the government acts solely in the national interest eschewing bribes etc we in the Caribbean would be experiencing what bedevils Africa at this moment.
This is where knowing your friends comes into play, as we also find that the nations pushing these vaccines are coincidentally the nations which house these companies and are also, coincidentally, the nations which have and continue to exploit us through colonialism and neo-colonialism. To be frank, even I who am all for vaccinations even this one am hesitant when I see these Euro-American companies rush to market, and that is with some knowledge of how they managed it, simply because I distrust them and their motives, a distrust which history has shown correct. I am put at ease however when I see my friends coming out and stating that they too have a vaccination and I have no issue taking my friends vaccine because they have not steered me wrong yet.
This friend is Cuba, a nation which despite an inhumane and illegal blockade has come up with a successful vaccine to this virus. I trust Cuba because their actions past and present show me that they have not only their people but all people at heart especially when it comes to health care. I trust my friends the Cubans because they give, even when they do not have and don’t have to. I trust my friends because they have paid the ultimate price for liberation of the motherland while those who shill big pharma vaccines funded to the hilt the apartheid monster and fascist Portugal which sought to keep the motherland occupied and colonised.
In spite of constant propaganda Cuba remains a popular nation especially in the third world. Though they would blush and denounce it, the leaders of the revolution are seen as gods in the eyes of the masses, the people who defeated the colossus which oppresses us all and then aided others in their struggle. Even non-communists in the third world have a love for Cuba which they do not have for their own indigenous movements that is how popular and trusted a name it is.
This line is what we should be pushing, the line of agreeing with the suspicion as we dispel them and then guiding them to our friends who I repeat have not let us down or lied to us. Our government for example, even as they state that we will not be accepting the vaccine have made no move to bar citizens from accessing it a sign that there is only so much bowing to American pressure before self-interest kicks in. Self-interest it seems came out the winner it seems as even our government which has a habit of throwing friends under the bus or ignoring the aid they offer have now stated that we will be accepting the Cuban vaccines.
This pandemic has shown us in stark terms who our friends are, who wants to use any opportunity to squeeze a dollar out of us and who are just plain thieves. It can’t be lost on us that the Cuban nation and people have acted as only friends would, offering doctors, medicine and other treatments freely while European and American assistance remains long in coming and woefully implemented as they insist on total control of operations. CARICOM nations which recently voted to condemn the Cuban blockade and wrote collectively to denounce the labelling of them as a terrorist nation must go further in their solidarity and utilise the vaccine which our friends have come up with, at the very least they must take the lily-livered stance our government takes of not banning citizens from accessing the drug.
They speak of vaccine diplomacy, it is obvious that it is not and has never been the third world who engages in these practices, only entities which cause us harm engage in such practices. This moment highlights the need for third world unity, we can and really should withdraw from western pharmaceutical companies and instead engage with our friends such as the Cubans. Doing so would not just strike a blow against imperialism, and not simply ensure a modicum of independence as we would be creating our own sector, it would also greatly assist in making vaccination programs accepted in the third world, because as mentioned before, who in that region can say hand on heart that the Cubans are not our friends who wish us only prosperity? We must know our friends and use the help they offer that is common sense, let us have it done then.
jamaicachange 