Pick your poison-Resilience or silence?
‘Resilience’ has become a hot word in a plethora of discourses about recovering from the COVID-19 crisis on social media and biopolitical governmentality. To quote Michel Foucault on biopolitics, it is “to ensure, sustain, and multiply life, to put this life in order.” Not only does it encompasses the macro-level of economic and ecological systems, but resilience also pervades our micro-level selves driving us to navigate day-to-day constraints and eventually adapt and recover. In simple terms, our motivation to wake up every morning.
However, unaccountability seems to have been camouflaged in the veil of social resilience, especially in times of disaster, a pandemic and most recently a COVID apocalypse(Yes, I’m referring to India!). It makes me wonder, are we really resilient or just accommodative of decades-old administrative hopelessness? Are we prepared to question our own beliefs and not be blinded by the religiosity of leadership, or are we merely building indifference?
On the surface, there is this sense of “cruel optimism” that vehemently colludes with our sense of being when it comes to being attached to the power of resilience. As a society, we are devoted to these almost unachievable fantasies of upward mobility, “everything will be fine”, “all’s well”, this false sense of comfort that keeps us hoping for a better healthcare system, a better country, a better tomorrow.
Moral resilience and hegemonic ethics have been a victim of the techniques of neoliberal governmentality through self-help books, motivational videos and false affirmations by bureaucratic leaders. I say don't let them delude you into believing that they did everything they could without demanding answers. You deserve to know why, how, and to get more clarity amidst all the confusion and chaos. These questions often haunt me: We want answers but are we ready to listen? We want accountability but are we ready to get involved?
The only way forward is to help each other through and remembering the lives that were lost during the pandemic. But also, not to forget the criminality, callousness and irresponsibility demonstrated by bad governance. Open your eyes and minds to what is real, what is the underlying truth behind that political facade. Resilience has the innate power to help us bounce back, but not at the cost of humanity. So fight back, do not succumb and don't be afraid to exercise your rights!
