The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Friday January 28th, 2022 – Data Protection Day
Arise, #Pandemic Profiteers by Dr. Binoy Kampmark
History’s annals are filled with war profiteers and hustlers for the opportunistic return. They come in the form of hoarders, arms manufacturers and wily business folk making a steal on slaughter and mayhem. But the other conflict – that of battling a pandemic – has also shown that profits exist for those willing to exploit the crisis.
With the global surge of SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, there were early signs that saving money, notably for large corporations, and earning greater revenue from such a lethal crisis, was possible. Work remotely as Zoom zombies – if you can. Retreat to the second or third abode, preferably in a remote location – if you have them. The sardine-packed proles toiling and providing essential services could endure the heavier burden of suffering.
Other historical periods also suggest sharp social inequalities in the face of disease and despair. That sublime Italian writer, Giovanni Boccaccio, who wrote The Decameron, a collection of 100 tales, gives us more than just a bird’s eye view into the horror of plague and affliction. The Black Death gathered somewhere between 40% to 50% of the European populace between 1347 and 1351. While Boccaccio cites the proverb that, “It is inherently human to show pity to those who are afflicted”, his colourful spread of characters suggests something quite different. The wealthy find fine seclusion amidst their provisions; the essential workers of the time go about their doomed labours, contracting the plague and dying in the process.
Continue reading HERE!
“Spark” #poem by Jan Sand
“What joins wit to weight is matter
In filigreed ionic fields
That seine sensation from the scatter,
Covet it in horny shields”
Continue reading HERE!
Sceptic feathers #027 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas
For more Sceptic feathers, HERE!
For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!
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