Mar 18, 2020
The
COVID-19 pandemic is ravaging the globe, leaving immeasurable human
suffering in its wake. Who is left behind, struggling to survive on
the frontlines of precarity, is – as with all things – determined
primarily by wealth, privilege, and access to resources and
political capital.
This
fact has been starkly on display in recent days, as Congressional
Democrats began debating their response to the crisis:
corporations, wealthy investors and industry were prioritized,
formal wage workers were given crumbs, and the undocumented and
informal economy workers – such as domestic caregivers;
undocumented workers; sex workers; and freelance, contract, and
off-the-books workers – were ignored completely.
On
this week's episode, we analyze a 48-hour time period of coverage
in The New York
Times and
The Washington Post
when the discussion of who was
going to be prioritized and aided – and who wasn't – cemented in
popular discourse with little logic or meaningful
debate.
We
are joined by Fahd Ahmed, Executive Director of Desis Rising Up and
Moving (DRUM).