Op-Ed Series – Vol.5 Issue: 2
August 14, 2020
Ana Taban: What can Art offer in the fight against COVID-19?
Chimwemwe A. Fabiano*
In Summary
- Art provides potent, unconventional and innovative pathways for raising awareness and mobilising concerted social action towards a common goal – to stop COVID-19.
- The COVID-19 storm has made it clear that effective societal mobilisation is contingent on mutual trust between the state and society.
- In order to gain and retain trust, governments should acquire two forms of legitimacy: the legitimacy that is gained through the conduct of free, fair and credible elections and the legitimacy that is gained through performance.
- The ability to effectively mobilise society to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is and will remain the ultimate test of leadership in crisis.
- It is not accidental that those governments whose legitimacy is disputed have tended to rely on the brazen use of force in their convoluted efforts to enforce COVID-19 responses.
There are three key governance factors and indicators that the COVID-19 pandemic has tested and highlighted, particularly in the African context. First, it has tested the capacity of governments to effectively influence and mobilise society towards a common good, particularly during crisis situations of a never-seen-before nature. Second, it has tested the level of trust which societies have vested in their governments, particularly the willingness and capacity to protect citizens and to search for the common good. And third, it has highlighted the interface between the legitimacy of political authority and its capacity to influence and mobilise societal response, particularly during seismic situations of crisis.
The COVID-19 storm has made it clear that effective societal mobilisation is contingent on mutual trust between the state and society. This is because trust enables citizens to believe that their government has the good-will to work for the common good. It also motivates citizens to cooperate with their government when they are asked to observe measures which are intended to flatten the curve of COVID-19 such as lockdowns, physical distancing, self-isolation and quarantine. In order to gain and retain trust, governments should acquire two forms of legitimacy: the legitimacy that is gained through the conduct of free, fair and credible elections and the legitimacy that is gained through performance, particularly in economic terms. Legitimacy gives governments the justification to exercise political authority, including to mobilise societal response to societal challenges.
Governments whose power to govern is widely accepted by their citizens do not need to rely on the excessive use of force to make citizens comply with COVID-19 regulations. It is therefore not accidental that those governments whose legitimacy is disputed have tended to rely on the brazen use of force in their convoluted efforts to enforce COVID-19 responses. This has witnessed the weaponisation of COVID-19. This weaponisation has been characterised by the torture, beating, harassment, arbitrary arrests and detentions, abuse, maiming and killing of citizens by state security forces. In such contexts, citizens have to comply largely because of the fear of punishment instead of the belief that their government has the right to exercise political authority.
Certainly, effective societal mobilisation is not only a critical factor in efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is also a litmus test for leadership in crisis. What then can art offer in the fight against Covid-19, especially in those contexts where the capacity of the government to mobilise society is limited because of factors such as violent conflict, belligerent state-society relations and elusive legitimacy? The answer is incisive: art offers the capacity to reach out to the wider community because of its ability to transcend boundaries – geographic, political, historic, social, ethnic, economic, cultural and demographic. Art is more capable of mobilising society than governments which are not trusted by their citizens. This op-ed uses the case of South Sudan to highlight how art has generously provided these capabilities in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
South Sudan has recently emerged from an armed conflict which lasted for almost a decade. Sadly, in spite of the peace agreement, hundreds of citizens continue to lose their lives and livelihoods on account of violent conflicts which a member of parliament has blamed on the absence of state leadership. The country also continues to experience challenges such as displacements, poor service delivery, economic stagnation and human rights abuses. With the government’s limited capacity to mobilise society because of these and other challenges, South Sudan’s fight against COVID-19 has been largely driven by civil society groups. It is in this context that Ana Taban is making use of the power of art to #WagifCorona; or simply “Stop Corona”.
Ana Taban, which means ‘I am tired’, is a community of young creatives who seek ‘to see an end to the suffering of the people of South Sudan’. As part of this goal, it is demonstrating the role and agency of art in the fight against Covid-19. Across Africa, artists have produced works of art to raise awareness of COVID-19. For example, in Malawi, Artglo is running the #TipeweCorona Dance Challenge (Prevent Corona Dance Challenge). However, Ana Taban stands out because of the peculiarities of the South Sudanese context where, in February 2020, as COVID-19 swept across the world from its original epicentre in China, the country had just formed the Revitalised Transitional Government for National Unity as part of efforts to resolve the seven-year armed conflict.
The first positive COVID-19 case in South Sudan was announced on 5 April, 2020. Ana Taban quickly shared the announcement on its Facebook and Twitter pages, expressing the cast-iron commitment to mobilise society in the fight against COVID-19 in South Sudan. The group demonstrated its resilience and dexterity in mobilising social action when it adapted and channelled its agency towards the fight against COVID-19. It uses artistic works to enable free thought, expression, speech and the exercise of individual and collective agency. Its artivism emerged from the lived realities of the South Sudanese society; performed through music, graffiti, murals, street theatre, poetry and vibrant social media campaigns.
Ana Taban has painted murals in Juba and other areas to raise community awareness of COVID-19. It has asked citizens and business entities to donate wall spaces in order to paint educative murals so that passers-by in various communities can learn and take preventive measures against the virus. It has presence in other states such as Yei, Wau, Yambio, Bor and Twic. The group is also using music, poetry and cartoons to sensitise society about the COVID-19 pandemic. It plans to conduct a live performance on Facebook to use music, spoken word and comedy to curb the spread of COVID-19.
*Chimwemwe A. Fabiano is a Peace and Security Fellow with the African Leadership Centre.
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