STAY Home, we were told. And outside, the world’s dimensions shifted. Time and space as we knew them cracked open, reconfigured according to new rhythms, new boundaries, new measures – the home; the neighbourhood; inter-district; inter-state; 1 metre distance; 10km radius; 14 days; the press briefings twice a day. Each day we were given numbers and maps: new cases; new clusters; recoveries; deaths; green zones; yellow zones; red zones.
But many of us could not stay still. For some, relinquishing control brought a new kind of responsibility – enforcing and maintaining distance, to keep us safe. We fortified our boundaries. We mobilised and went to war. Not with the virus, but with the figure of the external enemy we had forged with our own hands.
Movement was everywhere. Boats of refugees were pushed away from our shores. Petitions fanning hatred against genocide survivors spread. Families who fled from war in their homelands were evicted onto our streets in the midst of a pandemic. Migrant mothers delivered babies while being reported to immigration. Men, women and children, including those who built our cities and served us food, hauled to detention centres; many were deported.
You are not us; you are not welcome here. In order that we Stay Home, you must Stay Away. – The Vibes, December 19, 2020
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