The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the urgent need for solidarity in a closely connected world in order to preserve not only our lives but also the principles our lives are based on.
In Nassim Taleb’s words, the coronavirus is not a black, but a white swan. The pandemic could have been prevented if governments had started to act earlier, but precious time was lost for various reasons. The world was unprepared for the pandemic, and Ukraine is not an exception. Moreover, as a young country, we are extremely vulnerable to the coronavirus attack, and this concerns both our healthcare and our economy.
The outbreak of the disease and its fast spread all over the planet have become a true shock for people. The pandemic has shown that no man – and no country – is an island nowadays. Quarantine measures of different severity have been imposed by governments. And sometimes it seems that they should be even more severe to stop the pandemic and save lives. There are people who call the experience of China a ‘success story’ and use it to justify the restriction of civil liberties. “These steps are temporary and reasonable,” they say, “they are for your own good.”
Well, does it mean that autocracy could be better than democracy, at least in some situations? I do not think so. Not only our healthcare systems and economies are put to the test, but our main principles are tested as well. A lot of autocratic regimes may use the pandemic to demonstrate their ‘effectiveness’. And some European governments – including that of Ukraine – are very close to taking advantage of the situation and amplify extending their powers at the expense of the rights of citizens. This is a threat we cannot ignore.
I don’t believe, however, that Chinese experience is the best example. If the authorities in China had provided full information about the coronavirus from the very beginning, the rest of the world would have had more time to prepare. More than a month had passed since the first cases were detected in Wuhan before the officials acknowledged that the virus can be transferred from human to human. It took a month and a half to impose a strict quarantine, after millions of people had traveled in and out of the province. Time was lost. What happened later is well-known: outbreaks in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, America – and a global ‘shutdown‘.
Therefore, the coronavirus is a challenge for the entire free world to prove that our principles based on political honesty, individual freedom and responsibility are effective. More effective than the policy of concealing the truth and limiting civil liberties.
Since I was holding the position of the Prime Minister of Ukraine during fall 2019 – winter 2020, I am also responsible for what is going on here. Located between two worlds and two systems, between democracies of the West and autocracies of the East, Ukraine is extremely fragile. These days we are fighting not only the coronavirus and economic decline. We continue the fight for our freedom and independence, defending our choice to live in a democracy. The war against Russian aggression is still going on. That is why, I believe, it is so important for us and for the entire free world to preserve our democracy even in such hard conditions.
A year ago the new generation came to power in Ukraine. In 2019 the newly elected President proclaimed that oligarchs, the éminences grises of Ukrainian politics, would not hold sway over the country any more. The new Cabinet was formed and our efforts were directed at the elimination of all sorts of illegal schemes. A package of fundamental legislative acts to ensure further growth of Ukraine was drafted. Among them were the land reform bill (we started the reform that had been frozen for 20 years), the bill on the deshadowing of the labour market, and the bill preventing return of nationalized banks to their former owners. The last bill is especially unacceptable to some pressure groups who got used to milking the national financial system for decades.
I believe that we have established the proper course for the country. It could boost Ukraine’s economy in good times and keep it afloat in bad times. It could make Ukraine more democratic because democracy is vulnerable in poor states and strong in developed ones. It seems that now we witness a ‘mortal combat’ between the new course and old practices. And the main task for Ukrainian authorities now is to keep moving ahead and ignore the voices that whisper siren calls to play games with the international community, like declaring default, or return to the autocratic methods of the past.
So, no man is an island. Unfortunately, the coronavirus is just one of many crises the world will face in the near future. There are a lot of problems ahead: ecological, social and political. Our success and survival depend on our ability to cooperate. The international institutions will help along the way – thus the IMF and other IFIs have already announced their intentions to increase financial assistance to mitigate the consequences of the ‘coronacrisis’ for states that need such support. The bigger and stronger the liberal world is, the more chances we have to win in the long run.
The main lesson the coronavirus is teaching us is that in a global world we have to be team players. We have no chances to survive alone. And the only way not to be alone is to act honestly and responsibly. Because solidarity is impossible without trust.
