Abstract

VINIEGRA-VELAZQUEZ, Leonardo. Revelations from the COVID-19 pandemic. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant. Mex. [online]. 2021, vol.78, n.1, pp.75-84.  Epub Mar 24, 2021. ISSN 1665-1146.  https://doi.org/10.24875/bmhim.20000160.

“Societies unveil their entrails during a crisis and hide or conceal them in normal situations” is the premise of this essay that offers a propositional critique of the foundations of civilization by characterizing some revelations from the COVID-19 pandemic that seriously compromises the globalized world. Especially the neoliberal myth as the only way of human progress, and technological development as the essence of social progress and main reason for scientific research. Among the significant revelations is the dismantling of the Welfare state and public health services, which render the population’s vulnerability in the face of pandemics. Planetary devastation favors its emergence, and the correlation between the despondency of human activities and the (fleeting) improvement of planetary life, which denotes the radical incompatibility between the permanence of neoliberal capitalism that degrades everything and preservation and care of life in its infinite diversity, including human life! Another notion of human progress is proposed: the rise of values involved in the coexistence, and the spiritual, intellectual, and moral growth of the human condition in harmony with the planetary ecosystem. Regarding the deep reasons for the catastrophe, it is argued that it is humanity itself by its way of being, thinking, acting, living together and relating to the planet. Therefore, the conclusion reached is the urgent need to undertake an alternative path in the search for another possible world, hospitable and dignifying for all forms of life.

Keywords : COVID-19 pandemic; Neoliberalism; Welfare state; Ecocide; Civilizing collapse; Human progress.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )