Many times in the past days I have been reminded of the title of the famous 1932 book by Aldous Huxley, Brave New World.
Just by the title only for the book's content cannot be referenced to anything in today’s world. The book itself provides a sort of counterpoint to George Orwell's nineteen eighty-four (which actually came later, in 1949). Where Orwell posits a world with no freedom, Huxley speaks about a world with an excess of freedom, most of it irrelevant and inconclusive.
The brave new world I am speaking about is the post-Covid world we now find ourselves in, not just Malta but other countries as well. The new normal, as it has been called, which we are experiencing as from Monday's partial easing.
Not just the new world where we wear masks over our noses and mouths but also the new world where the shops have reopened after the nightmare of staying shut.
Life has not returned to how it was just some months ago, in February or earlier. And there is serious doubt whether that life can be re-created or even whether we really want it back with all its attendant discomforts, the clogged roads to begin with, the polluted air, the noise.
There are, as there would be, people who just want the old world back, warts and all. The mass sports events and the village feasts have massive followers who can’t wait. Bars and restaurants too face economic collapse unless they reopen soon. Similarly the tourist sector including airlines. The health authorities tell us to wait until the overall situation gets better though objectively I cannot see how you can get social distancing, for example, in a packed stadium. Or in a packed plane or metro.
But some principles bear repeating. The Covid 19 virus is a deadly one, which has killed hundreds of thousands in so many countries in an atrocious death, a silent killer that creeps up unnoticed and that is indiscriminate in its victims. It has also wrecked advanced health systems and massively hindered the care of patients with other illnesses.
We may be the victims of our success. Through the strenuous efforts of the health authorities, to whom no gratitude will ever be enough, we have kept the number of deaths down and also of infections. One must consider where we've come from when we even faced refusals to bar the entry of a cruise liner with a suspected case on board and another refusal to stop planes coming from the North Italy hotspot.
The all-important rate of infections has been stably below 1 for days now (at least till early morning on Friday). We have seen the measures being eased and we have taken to the new normal like fish to the water. The mask is a bother at first but people say they got used to it. The social distancing is not a bother at all, as are the queues outside banks.
We may be a proud people but on a day like this we do feel this is a brave new world and we’re part of it.
A core of Malta has been formed, beyond the usual partisan boundaries – those who have stayed in, those who have obeyed the rules, those who as a result have stayed safe despite the hardship.
Outside this core there are those who don’t bother with social distancing, facemasks and the like, or who simply cannot comply. Maybe their work, in construction or public cleaning does not allow them this luxury.
They know, either personally or through others, what a trauma it is to lose your job and have to survive without income. Those whose papers are in order may have obtained help from the state but there are others outside this net.
And outside the narrow confines of this small island, there are many people who are far from this brave new world. It is enough to consider how many would want to come here, far more than we can cope with.
Not many have commented on this but it is a source of satisfaction to consider how the people at the Hal Far centre have complied with the severe restrictions of quarantine. Slowly, maybe against their culture, the structures of this brave new world have made some inroads.
It is a source of pride we have come so far and so well. This is something we cannot forget or lose. Those in authority must not succumb to popular or populistic demands. Safety and health come first.
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