The Pandemic as an Opportunity to Change

WWhen Covid was declared a pandemic, it was evident that the clock will stop. What we did not know then, and still do not now, was when it will start again and from which point. Will we try to go “back to normality” like nothing has happened or will we grab the chance and make significant systemic changes? After all, only a few years ago there was a financial crisis that shook the world, but eventually no fundamental changes occurred. Our economies are still in conflict with sustainable growth and the socio-economic inequalities were soaring even before Covid-19.  We know for sure that we will be hit hard and the recovery will be tough. But the threat is double: not only going to “business as usual” will hamper our future, but there is a fear that restraining measures imposed by the emergent pandemic situation are here to stay. Thus, the decision we have to make is whether we will try to undo our past shenanigans and be well-prepared, or even better avoid,  for the next crisis, which can be provoked either by the environmental milking of the last centuries, or by any societal danger that neoliberalism has exaggerated.