The world is experiencing another major surge in the coronavirus epidemic. A vaccine is still beyond reach. Meanwhile, the planet faces other threats, like the climate crisis and nuclear tensions. Economic inequality is growing. Democracy is under attack.
And yet, transformative change can come out of the COVID-19 crisis, which has exposed everything that’s wrong with decades of the world’s governments betting on militarism, competition and wealth creation. A return to sanity and humane governance is still possible. We need a pandemic pivot.
The Pandemic Pivot, a new book from the Institute for Policy Studies, the Transnational Institute, and Focus on the Global South and just published by Seven Stories Press, is both a sobering analysis of the present moment and a hopeful cry on behalf of the power inherent in a global, people-oriented response to the pandemic and the societal breakdown that led to it.
Join us for a conversation about what it will take to execute a pandemic pivot with five people involved in this book project. Books will be available for purchase.
Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, focusing on the Middle East, U.S. wars and UN issues. John Cavanagh is the executive director of the Institute for Policy Studies. John Feffer is the director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. Manuel Perez-Rocha, an associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, is a Mexican national who has led efforts to promote just and sustainable alternative approaches to trade and investment agreements for two decades. Coumba Toure, based in Senegal, is a writer, storyteller, and coordinator of Africans Rising.
Sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies and Seven Stories Press.