[Xmca-l] Re: General check-in?
James Ma
jamesma320@gmail.com
Wed Apr 8 05:59:11 PDT 2020
Din, just skim read the first one...
On Wed, 8 Apr 2020 at 13:18, robsub@ariadne.org.uk <robsub@ariadne.org.uk>
wrote:
> I am self isolating in a cabin. Picture attached.
>
> I have a cold. 99% certain it is not covid. Isolating because my family
> includes one member with no immune system.
>
> Acutely aware of my privilege here in the UK. This cabin is my temporary
> home at the back of our property. Billions of people spend their entire
> lives in less.
>
> In addition I have clean running water. And wifi.
>
> I celebrated my birthday in isolation, hence the cards on the windowsill.
>
> I have been able, from behind a closed door, to help set up my village's
> response to the crisis, which has been magnificent. We are very good in a
> crisis. But there will be enormous pressure, when the crisis has passed, to
> go back to the way things were - the pressure coming of course from those
> who benefit from the lethlly unfair way the world was run until a few weeks
> ago.
>
> At a wider level, we are headed in the UK by a man who is brilliant at
> obtaining power and terrible at exercising it, who is now in hospital, most
> likely because of his own deliberate insouciance. He has left a power
> vacuum, not because he wielded a lot of power hiself, but because he is
> incapable of forming a functional collective.
>
> Our planning for such an event has been vitiated by forty years of
> ruination of a once formidable civil service, and by twenty years of
> systematic underfunding and privatisation of the health service. And the
> knock on effects are widespread. Some new cancer patients are being told
> they will not be treated because of the effect of the pandemic. One report
> suggests that London has run out of dialysis machines - we are still coming
> to terms with the reality that covid19 does not just attack the lungs but
> can result in multi organ failure.
>
> And yet I have to remember the many parts of the world where there is no
> cancer treatment and there are no dialysis machines to start with.
>
> My master plan to spend my retirement becoming more familiar with
> Vygotsky, and perhaps contributing to the literature, is still stuck at
> step 1. I did manage to read recently Peter Smagorinsky's article on
> deconflating the ZPD and instructional scaffolding, which resonated a great
> deal with my thinking. Thank you, Peter. But my plan to write an activity
> theory based article on teaching and learning how to operate a dialysis
> machine remains on its three year hold.
>
> Now I return to a thread in which a request for a translation of a
> decidedly lewd Albanian phrase has turned into a detailed and culturally
> sensitive discussion of the uses of the optative mood.
>
> Good health, everyone, and stay distant.
>
> Rob
>
> On 08/04/2020 11:04, Carol Macdonald wrote:
>
> Hi Mary
>
> We do have one factor that may be helping us. Sorry I don't have the url
> for this.
>
> Apparently countries where there is a widespread or universal requirement
> for BCG vaccine seem to experience a lower level of infection.
>
> South africa has a policy of BCG vaccination -- it's used for
> resistance to TB, which of course in South Africa is a problem. This helps
> people who contract HIV in resisting TB infection, but now it seems to work
> the same in resisting COVID-19. The mechanism is not yet clear.
>
> Otherwise I support your analysis, but want to emphasise that social
> distancing is only possible for the upper working class and middle class.
> It's not possible in slums and informal settlements.
>
> We await information from our President Cyril Ramaphosa as to whether the
> lockdown is going to be extended from 16th April. while the measures have
> been amongst the most severe in the world, they were put in place "early"
> and so may pay dividends.
>
> Carol Macdonald
>
>
> ----------------------------
> Carol A Macdonald Ph.D (Edin)
> 082 562 1050
> Editlab.Net
> The Matthew Project: Reading to Learn
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 8 Apr 2020 at 09:40, Mary van der Riet <VanDerRiet@ukzn.ac.za>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone
>> Here is South Africa we are in lockdown until 16 April. This means only
>> trips to grocery shops, doctors and pharmacies. Unfortunately no walking or
>> exercise outside one's property. This seems to have slowed the infection
>> rate 1749 cases and 13 deaths (58 million population). Cases were initially
>> related to international travel, but are now also internal (health care
>> workers, the elderly, church goers. whether the lock down is extended is
>> under review
>>
>> Hotly contested issues are
>>
>> - a restriction on the number of people allowed to travel in mini-bus
>> taxis - people need to travel to get to essential service jobs, and to shop
>> (apartheid planning still means that people are far from city centres)
>> - whether a ban on cigarette and alcohol sales is constitutional; a
>> ban on buying anything non essential (the topic today is whether baby
>> clothes giving change in season are now an essential item)
>> - the banning of religious events (we are coming up to Easter), and
>> ceremonies around funerals are restricted in size. Hotspots of infection
>> have been related to church gatherings.
>> - an increase in domestic and gender based violence incidence
>> (although an decline in overall crime figures)
>> - a concern that being restricted to one's 'home' is very challenging
>> for those living in informal settlements (shacks) and living with many
>> people in one space.
>> - a massive impact on small businesses and the informal economy
>> (which involves most of the SA population - street hawkers, small 'spaza'
>> shops (the government is trying to address this through tax breaks, a fund
>> that people can apply to, and possibly increasing the social grant
>> allocations - pensioners, child care grant etc)
>> - a loss of jobs as businesses retrench under lockdown
>> - conspiracy theories about how it is spread (at least two arrests of
>> people circulating fake information - such as the nasal swab testing with
>> an earbud is infecting people with the virus - a video made by a white
>> male). There seems to be an anti-government stance developing in SA;
>> including fake news that 5G spreads Corona (a white male pastor saying
>> this); scams and hacking of social media are also occuring. Government is
>> making Whatsapp admin liable for the spread of fake news in SA
>> - an increase in human rights violations by the defence force and
>> police ,and private security companies (abuse of people who have flouted
>> the lock down regulations). In the media I have seen of these instances it
>> feels as if this is unchecked. Government response has been 'people must
>> obey the rules and report incidences of abuse'. There are echoes of armies
>> in the townships in the 70'and 80's and rather disturbing images. I fear a
>> return to a police state (surveillance is happening through cell phones, we
>> are asked to report on neighbours whom we suspect have the virus, we are
>> jailed if we escape lockdown or resist testing)
>> - the policing, surveillance and criminalisation of the homeless (who
>> have been moved to temporary shelters)
>> - a real concern about the continuation of schooling and university
>> education. Most South Africans do not have internet access - online and
>> home schooling will be a problem both because of lack of resources, but
>> also because of lack of space to study, lack of skills amongst parents to
>> help; teachers and lecturers are being asked to train themselves, use
>> resources etc, but they are also amongst the under-resourced
>> - most South Africans not having adequate access to proper sanitation
>> (water especially), this constraints health care practices related to
>> preventing the prevention such as handwashing.
>> - most South Africans also cant afford masks or hand sanitisers
>> - lack of protective clothing for health care workers (there have
>> been protests about this, and the government does seem to be responding
>>
>> (Im sure other SAfricans on the list could correct me and add to this)
>>
>> It feels as if this is the relative calm before the storm. We dont know
>> what is going to happen. It is making people very anxious.
>> We have a huge population of people who are HIV positive. Many but not
>> all are using ARV treatment and this might help. Many South Africans also
>> have TB, and not all are on treatment. These conditions compromise the
>> immune system and might make the spread faster (once it gets into the
>> general population). On the other hand some of these health issues have
>> allowed a mechanism for increasing testing - there is now a roll out of
>> testing using TB health systems and community mobile services. These are
>> being directly at hotspots
>>
>> On the more positive side, this situation seems to have united political
>> parties and shown President Cyril Ramaphosa's leadership skills .
>> And there is a proliferation of online cultural activity (see the Centre
>> for the less good idea - livestreaming premiers - really good SA theatre)
>> which I can now attend as I am 'at home'
>>
>> Personally I am trying to manage the multiple tasks which come from
>> working from home, solo parenting, doing child care and house care, whilst
>> also managing my own existential anxiety. The pressure to 'be productive'
>> and 'use the time' and 'take a break' are competing and contradictory, let
>> alone take on online teaching, train oneself up etc. I think there is an
>> extreme burden on women to hold the family fort, produce meals, entertain
>> children, keep the peace, and of course, work (like Newton - publish more,
>> focus more). And there is 'online fatigue', a wonderful expression that a
>> friend used.
>>
>> However, I'm also trying to explore ways to engage in research online -
>> constrained here in SA, and for qualitative research it feels 'wrong' as it
>> might only access the more wealthy, resourced parts of our population.
>>
>> I really appreciate the global community at this time. For example the
>> ISCHP listserve had a wonderful question about how to do community and
>> participatory research in this time and there were a flood of responses. I
>> also participated in a Zoom sessions of the European Community Psychology
>> Association and learnt a lot from many of the Italians in the group.
>>
>> But, we are ok. I keep telling myself it will be ok. I hope
>>
>> best wishes
>>
>> Mary
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> on behalf of Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, 08 April 2020 02:25
>> *To:* xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> *Subject:* [Xmca-l] Re: General check-in?
>>
>>
>> Thanks for summing up the situation here in Oz, John. I think you are
>> more connected than me. But it remains the case that we have had 50 deaths
>> from COVID-19 in a country of 25 million, overwhelmingly from virus
>> acquired overseas or directly traceable to overseas cases.
>>
>> This outcome corresponds to a transformation of the political landscape
>> is which unbelievable, but everything depends on how we respond to these
>> changes. So I call this not an "existential crisis", but a world-
>> *perezhivanie*. China may well return to almost-normal but that is
>> unlikely in the neo-liberal world. It is impossible to predict what the
>> outcome will be, but it will be a self-transformation of the world activity.
>>
>> Andy
>> ------------------------------
>> *Andy Blunden*
>> Hegel for Social Movements
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/h09GCP1JWRtKLn5khzfF74?domain=brill.com>
>> Home Page
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/fUxrCQ1LgVtkwLNyuPXkVb?domain=ethicalpolitics.org>
>> On 8/04/2020 8:34 am, John Cripps Clark wrote:
>>
>> Dear Helena and David
>>
>>
>>
>> Here in Australia we have (after a shaky start with returning travellers not
>> taking self-isolation seriously
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/XovKCRgBjWSv3XgzcP4lAE?domain=theage.com.au>
>> and not quarantining cruise ship passengers) we seem to be following South
>> Korea in containing the virus. The outcry over cruise ships has been
>> revealing. There is a police investigation
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/84XKCVmZn1Fxp8PRhJ9nbh?domain=abc.net.au>
>> into one of them (it did lead to over 600 new cases and a few deaths). The
>> hysteria recalls Australia’s experience in the nineteenth century of
>> epidemics
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/bQ8zCWnBo2f5n8yWumo2UQ?domain=dictionaryofsydney.org>
>> and isolating ourselves from plague ships
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/oNm9CX6Vp3CXLZMzF9-1rg?domain=shop.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au>.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> As always it is the poor and disadvantaged that are suffering. We have
>> tried to isolate the most vulnerable such as remote aboriginal
>> communities
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/y14ECY6Xq4CLyX64C3J2Yn?domain=abc.net.au>
>> and it remains to see whether we will provide the resources necessary for
>> these communities. Past experience is not encouraging since these
>> communities would not be in the present state if we were serious about
>> combatting disadvantage and poverty
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/iTGgCZ4Xr5C5WYopuNUUeJ?domain=theconversation.com>
>> .
>>
>>
>>
>> On a more parochial level, with extended shutdown and the universities
>> under financial stress (partly this is our own fault by becoming dependent
>> on overseas student fees
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/-vlFC1j735fMQXE9hm01LL?domain=campusmorningmail.com.au/>
>> to supplement the steady erosion of government funding) we also need to
>> support families with children who are cooped up together trying to juggle
>> work, with childcare, with online education over the next two to ten
>> months.
>>
>>
>>
>> I think there are three ways in which we as, a relatively privileged,
>> community of scholars can contribute:
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. Supporting our colleagues – we have unprecedently powerful
>> communication technologies at our disposal – use them for good rather than
>> evil. This is especially important in Africa and South America where the
>> tidal wave (and I use this term advisedly recalling the 2004 Indian
>> Ocean tsunami
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/o84CC2RJD6SpDQE9Uv0G5r?domain=journals.openedition.org>)
>> is about to hit.
>> 2. Considering the influence of culture (it is in our title) on the
>> worldwide response to Covid-19. David has already flagged the work unit as
>> a unit of social organisation in China.
>> 3. We need to prepare for the post-Covid-19 bounceback once we have a
>> vaccine. The existential crisis (and again I use the word with trepidation
>> after the disastrous record of a former Prime Minister’s use of the
>> adjective
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/o84CC2RJD6SpDQE9Uv0G5r?domain=journals.openedition.org>)
>> we have is climate change and we can use the present crisis to delay or
>> accelerate action. I have heard a frequent cry of “It will be different
>> from now on” and history tells us that this is will not be true unless we
>> make it so. There are powerful conservative forces (in Australia, U.S.A.,
>> Brazil etc.) who will try and use this crisis to increase the mining and
>> use of hydrocarbons. As Martin said we are living in the Anthropocene and
>> our success in rapidly reducing the production and sequestering atmospheric
>> carbon dioxide that will determine our future far more than our confused
>> response to Covid-19 (and future communicable diseases).
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>> *From: *<xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of David Kellogg
>> <dkellogg60@gmail.com> <dkellogg60@gmail.com>
>> *Reply-To: *"eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> *Date: *Wednesday, 8 April 2020 at 7:09 am
>> *To: *"eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>> *Subject: *[Xmca-l] Re: General check-in?
>>
>>
>>
>> Helena--
>>
>>
>>
>> Situation in China, courtesy my sister-in-law: life in Beijing is pretty
>> much back to normal at least on the face of it. People are going out to
>> their work units (but there is more work from home than before the
>> crisis). Classes still largely taught from ZOOM. My nephew is in
>> Shanghai, where the situation is somewhat tighter (proximity to
>> Wuhan). Wuhan opened up for real yesterday--people can leave (I lived there
>> for two years in the mid-eighties, but I can barely recognize what I see on
>> the news now....) I have students in Chengdu (who attend my class via
>> ZOOM). People are mostly shopping on line with delivery to the gate of the
>> housing unit rather than to their flat (as we do here in Korea). Air
>> quality better than it's been in decades.
>>
>>
>>
>> Situation here in South Korea: We just extended our lockdown for another
>> two weeks. This is in response to a few days of new infections over a
>> hundred, but the infections are mostly (80%) Koreans from the US and Europe
>> who want to live in a place where the medical system has not broken down or
>> is not in the process of breaking down. There are still some "hotspots" of
>> community transmission, but these are almost all connected with churches or
>> PC cafes. Schools reopen on the 16th, but only online. We have elections in
>> a week, and there is a lot of campaigning going on, including the usual
>> street based campaigning (the right wing opposition campaigns around the
>> curious notion that the government has done absolutely nothing, and the
>> government ignores everybody who is not an actual virus). People shop in
>> stores, and there is no panic buying or disruption of supply chains. The
>> main changes in economic life seem to have to do with transport, and it
>> seems like this too will be permanent (electric scooters are everywhere
>> now). Bowing instead of shaking hands is really not a bad idea, and
>> coffee-shops always were over-rated and over-priced....
>>
>>
>>
>> But what about you, Helena? (One of the things I have learned on this
>> list is that you get more or less what you give--people tend to use what
>> you write as a model for writing back!) Are you still in Vietnam? Your
>> address says Berkeley and your email says Illinois--those are three very
>> different venues for the virus and the economy. Can you give us a brief
>> account of the situation in each?
>>
>>
>>
>> Stay safe, wherever you are!
>>
>>
>> David Kellogg
>>
>> Sangmyung University
>>
>>
>>
>> Book Review: 'Fees, Beets, and Music: A critical perusal of *Critical
>> Pedagogy and Marx, Vygotsky and Freire: Phenomenal forms and educational
>> action research *
>>
>> in *Mind Culture and Activity*
>>
>>
>>
>> *https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10749039.2020.1745847
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/NpbJC3lJV7CprvREUjJjOa?domain=tandfonline.com>*
>>
>>
>>
>> Some free e-prints available at:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/QBBGIZNKAHPMM4ZVCWVX/full?target=10.1080/10749039.2020.1745847
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/EJYKC48KGgtBwx7vUzV4Du?domain=tandfonline.com>
>>
>>
>>
>> New Translation with Nikolai Veresov: "L.S. Vygotsky's Pedological Works
>> Volume One: Foundations of Pedology"
>>
>>
>>
>> https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811505270
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/BTf8C580KjtZr1WDCAgtDN?domain=springer.com>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 8, 2020 at 4:30 AM Martin Packer <mpacker@cantab.net> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Helena,
>>
>>
>>
>> I share your concerns. And, despite its challenges, this situation seems
>> a great opportunity to apply our distributed expertise(s). I tried to get
>> some discussion going in a group concerned with the Anthropocene, but
>> people seemed disinclined.
>>
>>
>>
>> Martin
>>
>>
>>
>> Here’s the first message that I sent…
>>
>>
>>
>> The current situation is producing important evidence about the probable
>> consequences of the strategies proposed to mitigate climate change.
>> Satellites are showing significant reductions in pollution:
>>
>>
>> https://www.space.com/italy-coronavirus-outbreak-response-reduces-emissions-satellite-images.html
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/kUREC66VKkCr4JGBSDsTMo?domain=space.com>
>>
>> Experts are suggesting that as a result the coronavirus may save more
>> lives than it takes:
>>
>>
>> https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/03/11/coronavirus-lockdown-may-save-more-lives-from-pollution-and-climate-than-from-virus/#4a39bb3c5764
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/mQd3C76JVlCABYWJs4nkH-?domain=forbes.com>
>>
>> So when skeptics ask “How can you know that reducing air travel will help
>> with climate change?” there is now clear evidence with which to answer them.
>>
>>
>>
>> Also in China:
>>
>>
>> https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/04/811019032/why-chinas-air-has-been-cleaner-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/uVjPC8qYKmU6ygwKtV93yh?domain=npr.org>
>>
>>
>>
>> At the same time, I am starting to wonder whether the current health
>> guidelines regarding coronvirus are culturally biased. Can they work in
>> ‘collectivist’ cultures (to use the shorthand)? The CDC guidelines, for
>> example, include the recommendations to “Stay home when you are sick,” but
>> also that other members of the household should “Avoid close contact with
>> people who are sick” and should “Choose a room in your home that can be
>> used to separate sick household members from those who are healthy.
>> Identify a separate bathroom for the sick person to use, if possible.”
>>
>> This advice is simply not practicable for many households in Colombia.
>> There are not enough rooms; there is no second bathroom. In addition, many
>> infants and young children here are cared for by grandparents, or even
>> great-grandparents (many women here have a baby when young, so an infant
>> may have a grandmother who is in her late 30s and a great-grandmother in
>> her late 50s). The evidence shows that children don’t become very ill, but
>> they do get infected and they can infect other people, among whom elderly
>> caregivers will be the most at risk.
>>
>> So I don’t think social distance and auto-quarantine will work in
>> Colombia. Consider what the Chinese did: they went door-to-door to identify
>> infected family members and removed them to massive collective quarantine
>> setttings. People in the West considered this to be draconian, even cruel.
>> But it made sense: much more cross-infection occurred in Chinese homes than
>> in places like restaurants.
>>
>> Unless the authorities can come up with strategies that are more
>> appropriate to local circumstances and practices, there is likely to be a
>> rapid and elevated peak of infections in Latin American countries.
>>
>>
>>
>> And I see there is a related point here, on ageism:
>>
>> https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200313155256.htm
>> <https://protect-za.mimecast.com/s/NZ11C98XYntkwjYpuwt4Zj?domain=sciencedaily.com>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Apr 7, 2020, at 1:56 PM, Helena Worthen <helenaworthen@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Hello, XMCA-ers -
>>
>>
>>
>> I don’t remember ever having read that this list was going to shut down
>> or even be allowed to fade away. So now I’m writing, as if in the dark, to
>> the whole list. We’ve now got a major — maybe “the” major crisis of the
>> anthropocene on our hands and the distant but connected network represented
>> by the conversations on this list seem to me to be a treasure more precious
>> than gold - and I’m not speaking metaphorically.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am concerned about some of the people who have been pillars and
>> resources on his list, people whom I have reached out to over the years and
>> heard back from with information and perspectives that I would never have
>> been able to access on my own. Where are you now? What are you doing? Are
>> you safe and healthy? Do you have information about friends who are unable
>> to read or respond to this request?
>>
>>
>>
>> I hope to hear some responses to this message.
>>
>>
>>
>> Take care of yourselves, please —
>>
>>
>>
>> Helena
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Helena Worthen
>>
>> hworthen@illinois.edu
>>
>> 21 San Mateo Road, Berkeley, CA 94707
>> <https://www.google.com/maps/search/21+San+Mateo+Road,+Berkeley,%0D%0A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++CA+94707?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> * Important Notice: The contents of this email are intended solely for
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>
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