User:LJRmasters/sandbox/Covid-19 Commons

Commons from Covid- 19 Pandemic:
Commons were formed as a response to the Covid 19, or coronavirus pandemic, and due to the diverse lockdown measures imposed. Depending on the country the restrictions included the closure or reduction in the opening hours of businesses and public institutions. Commons in this context includes free, public and open access to resources like food and medical equipment, testing, pandemic information, and other forms of aid to help people deal with and manage the trauma, loss and inconclusive knowledge about the virus. .

In 2020, once the spread of the virus was labeled a global pandemic, countries around the world began requiring the closure of businesses, schools, and public institutions. For citizens, a stay-in-place, self-isolation, self-quarantine, or curfew mandates were issued in order to curb the rising cases of covid 19. There were strict orders to wear medical masks when out in public, wash hands regularly, and use hand sanitizer or gloves when necessary. Some communities lacked proper access to sufficient masks, hand sanitizer, soaps, clean water, or factual information to protect themselves during this time. Besides that, the partial or total lockdown had intense consequences at the social, economic, and individual levels. Groups suffering from already existing structural inequalities or oppressions were the most affected ones.

Organizations and local citizens around the world came together to help create virtual or physical spaces (commons) for people to receive the supplies, information, and support they needed to confront and cope with the pandemic.

Commons in the Global South:
 Africa: 

In Cameroon, replying to the shortage and price increases of sanitation products during the pandemic, as well as the country's deficient contingencies reactions, Achaleke Christian Leke developed the “ Operation ONE Person ONE Hand Sanitizer' and has been making hand sanitizers using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recipe and donating over 1000 bottles of it to communities in Douala since March 2020. They have also organized young people to distribute factual information and preventive measures of COVID to local communities. Additionally, Mbiydzenyuy Ferdy helped highlight the online platform, Community Mutual Aid Crisis Response which aims to connect people in need and offer support.

In Kenya, new community-targeted initiates were designed to support one another during the pandemic. Mutual Aid Kenya organized by Wevyn Muganda and Suhyl Omar to ensure safe health conditions for everyone. For the informal settlements, Victor Odhiambo set up hand-washing stations and provided mental health care in Nairobi slums. Additionally, the Mathare Foundation launched the Creativity StARTS Here program provides emotional and physiological support to the community through photography and music.

In South Sudan, people are working to expose misinformation about covid-19. A Program Director for #DefyHateNow Nelson Kwaje, worked to launch a collective called #211CHECK, a digital community, which dispels false narratives surrounding remedies, images, and statistics of the coronavirus pandemic. The collective uses the hashtag #COVID19SS to create a digital common space where information can be fact-checked and trusted.

Syria:

In Syria, a medical student named Dana Shubat provided locals with access to Covid-19 resources, like masks and hand sanitizers. She is also using social media platforms to distribute information and news updates on the virus, ensuring that people have accurate details. Dana is also coordinating awareness in her country by translating covid-19 manuals provided by the Young Sustainable Impact program into Arabic.

 Haiti: 

In Haiti, access to clean water is a daily challenge, and with the rapid spread of covid-19, communities needed to receive clean water for handwashing. Haiti’s Boys and Girls Scouts set up mobile handwashing stations. In Port-au-Prince, to attract people, the Scouts play music that contains messages of proper hygiene and sanitation. These mobile hand-washing stations have proven effective and are now set up in other areas of Haiti.

India:

In India, where covid-19 spread rapidly, entrepreneur Amit Ghule crowdfunded to provide communities in Mumbai with face masks, gloves, and PPE kits. Through his 3-D printing business, Ghule also created face shields and donated them throughout Mumbai. In Hyderabad, North Karnataka, Bangalore & Chennai, Safa Society distributed provision packages to communities most affected by COVID-19. The packages contained spices, vegetables, medicines, and washing soaps, and cost about ₹ 500, which was allocated through fundraising and donations.

 Latin America: 

In Colombia, during the beginning of the pandemic, spaces like Colon Theatre launched their program online to motivate people to stay home. The labour done by communitarian networks in both rural and urban areas was paramount to offer tools for sharing knowledge and information, reinforcing the community, and providing good access to education. In the capital, Bogotá, a university group created a ventilator out of a Raspberry-Pi.

In Brasil, citizens organized themselves through diverse methods like the platform #seguraaonda (“flatten the curve”). The city of São Paolo was the scenario for the coordination of information via mobile and internet to help small businesses and shops to survive the lockdown. Thanks to organizations like MariaLab, women could find accessible and free information on the internet about care during pandemics and reporting gender violence.

Inequalities in Argentina regarding the accessibility and use of ICT’s were mitigated thanks to several initiatives like Atalaya Sur. This network had already developed an open and communitarian Wi-Fi service that, during the pandemic, was used and improved to share educational content in one of the most populated neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires, but also to create mutual aid connections.

 China: 

In China, when 7,148 residential communities were locked down in Wuhan, due to the pandemic, a group of civil servants, cadres of state-owned enterprises and volunteers helped the residents to buy food, groceries, medicines, and collect or deliver posts. The mode of Wuhan residential lockdown was copied in other cities throughout China. Additionally, communities (individuals/entrepreneurs/NGOs) from other provinces of China and other countries donated a great amount of necessary supplies to Wuhan.

Support to Hubei farmers: Lujiazui Community Foundation supported Hubei famers who were stuck in Shanghai during the pandemic. They remotely negotiated with village committees to organize volunteers to take care of the farms, package vegetables, and then donate them to frontline workers.

Psychology support to the students: Most universities provided psychological counseling services to students while they were attending online courses.

Support for fallen frontline worker’s children: Give2Asia launched the Heroes Legacy Project to  financially and emotionally support the children of frontline workers who lost their lives during the pandemic until the age of 22 or until they graduate from university.

Commons in the Global North:
 United States of America: 

In California, due to the shortage of medical masks, a campaign called “Operation Masks For All” launched by the Muslim Coalition of America donated masks to people in need. This effort extended to the general public, essential workers, medical workers, and houseless communities. Online, a digital commons was created to provide open-source video and pattern for people to assemble masks at home, and in addition, NanoHack was created, which is an open-source 3-D printing guide for making covid-preventable masks.

Due to the closure of night clubs across the nation, many DJs created virtual night clubs to reach people under lockdown measures. DJs used platforms like Twitch, Mixlr, and Mixcloud Live to bring communities together and to create a safe space for fellow music lovers struggling with the effects of the pandemic. The music from the virtual clubs was collaborative and uploaded for all to access. In October 2020, the streaming platform Twitch issued a letter to users threatening punishment for anyone violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Twitch has since apologized after facing backlash from the music community, but the controversy has started a conversation about ways to make access to music more inclusive and open to the public.

Greece:

In Athens, Greece, The Syrian and Greek Youth Forum, and O Allos Anthropos, two organizations working to feed the most vulnerable local communities, provided free meals to refugees and families largely affected by the pandemic. The Ankaa Project, a nonprofit that teaches necessary skills like language learning and vocational training to refugees, began organizing free and open mask-making workshops, led by Shafigheh Qias from Afghanistan.

Spain:

Numerous neighbourhoods around the Spanish State were the scenario for the creation of care and solidarity networks, some based in existing neighbourhood associations and thanks to the internet and digital tools during the pandemic.

In Madrid, more than 50 mutual aid networks were created to provide families with options when schools and daycare centers were closed but, as the measures fastly went hard, more aid related to food, transportation and basic needs were organized as a way to make up for the lack of attendance from municipal, regional and state administrations. Somos Tribu Vallekas a care and solidarity network based in Vallecas was given the European Citizen award 2020 for their work during the lockdown.

In Barcelona dozens of mutual aid collectives, like the Antiracist Care Network, met citizens’ needs and the health system’s shortfall during the lockdown under the real threat of being fined. Besides that, care networks were also defended as a way of providing alternative and nonprofit entertainment following solidarity values with initiatives like #dinamizatucuarentena, and were the producers behind projects like Madriz Kiwi Fest or Vallekas Corona Fest, artivist festivals to finance community fridges while raising awareness about the cultural situation during the pandemic.