Society's Child

Madrid court rejects lockdown because 'it harms fundamental rights and freedoms'

Euronews
Thu, 08 Oct 2020 19:00 UTC

A high court in Madrid on Thursday rejected measures forced on the region by the central government, which included the partial lockdown of the Spanish capital and nine neighbouring municipalities.

The court "rejected the ratification (of the measures), because they harmed the fundamental rights and freedoms" of the 4.5 million inhabitants affected by the partial lockdown, which came into force on Friday evening, the court said in a statement.

As a result of the decision, fines cannot be handed out to citizens who break the rules.

The central government — a coalition of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Unidas Podemos — has locked horns with the conservative-led Madrid regional government over the measures.

The partial lockdown of the city and its suburbs aimed to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Madrid, which is at the epicentre of Europe's second wave of the pandemic.

Comment: Notably it was Madrid's poorest areas targeted by the lockdown decided by central government.

Madrid's regional premier Isabel Díaz Ayuso has previously been unwilling to implement harsher COVID-19 measures arguing they would cause further damage to the economy, but on Thursday she asked inhabitants not to leave the city.

"We once again ask all residents not to leave Madrid and to follow all health recommendations, especially in the coming days with the extended weekend," she said, referring to a national holiday on Monday.

Spain's national government ordered two weeks of new restrictions that started at 10 pm on Friday despite pushback from regional officials.

The measures prohibited all nonessential trips in and out of Madrid and nine of its suburbs — affecting around 4.8 million people.

Restaurants were ordered to close at 11 pm and shops at 10 pm and both were told to limit capacity to 50%.

But Madrid's autonomous authority clashed with Spain's central government over the order, saying it would comply but would simultaneously challenge it in the courts.

The High Court will next rule on whether to suspend the measures as it considers the Madrid government's appeal, having already thrown out an immediate suspension of the restrictions, as requested by the far-right Vox party.

Madrid is leading the resurgence of the virus in Spain, which has Europe's highest cumulative caseload — 870,000 confirmed cases since the onset of the pandemic.

The surge of cases in the Spanish capital has hit hospitals hard, with officials saying that over 40% of the region's ICU capacity is now being used to treat COVID-19 patients.

Comment: Let's hope Madrid is just the beginning, because these same peculiar and tyrannical orders are being enforced by a number of European governments. However, since these governments are clearly acting in an unsually coordinated manner, taking the same actions within days of each other, claiming to be fighting the virus, why is that they're not also sharing with each other the fact that the lockdowns aren't working? Unless this isn't really (only) about stopping a virus anymore? UK gov admits lockdowns aren't working but is mulling HARSHER measures and new lockdowns in northern England anyway

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Nada · 2020-10-08T21:17:22Z

Scenarios for the Future of Technology

This report was produced by The Rockefeller Foundation and Global Business Network.May 2010

The results of our first scenario planning exercise demonstrate a provocative and engaging exploration of the role of technology and the future of globalization, as you will see in the following pages. This report is crucial reading for anyone interested in creatively considering the multiple, divergent ways in which our world could evolve...

One important — and novel — component of our strategy toolkit is scenario planning, a process of creating narratives about the future based on factors likely to affect a particular set of challenges and opportunities. We believe that scenario planning has great potential for use in philanthropy to identify unique interventions, simulate and rehearse important decisions that could have profound implications, and highlight previously undiscovered areas of connection and intersection.

LOCK STEP

Scenario Narratives

A world of tighter top-down government control and more authoritarian leadership, with limited innovation and growing citizen pushbackIn 2012, the pandemic that the world had been anticipating for years finally hit. Unlike 2009’s H1N1, this new influenza strain — originating from wild geese — was extremely virulent and deadly. Even the most pandemic-prepared nations were quickly overwhelmed when the virus streaked around the world, infecting nearly 20 percent of the global population and killing 8 million in just seven months, the majority of them healthy young adults. The pandemic also had a deadly effect on economies:

The United States’s initial policy of “strongly discouraging” citizens from flying proved deadly in its leniency, accelerating the spread of the virus not just within the U.S. but across borders. However, a few countries did fare better — China in particular. The Chinese government’s quick imposition and enforcement of mandatory quarantine for all citizens, as well as its instant and near-hermetic sealing off of all borders, saved millions of lives, stopping the spread of the virus far earlier than in other countries and enabling a swifter post-pandemic recovery.

During the pandemic, national leaders around the world flexed their authority and imposed airtight rules and restrictions, from the mandatory wearing of face masks to body-temperature checks at the entries to communal spaces like train stations and supermarkets. Even after the pandemic faded, this more authoritarian control and oversight of citizens and their activities stuck and even intensified. In order to protect themselves from the spread of increasingly global problems — from pandemics and transnational terrorism to environmental crises and rising poverty — leaders around the world took a firmer grip on power.At first, the notion of a more controlled world gained wide acceptance and approval. Citizens willingly gave up some of their sovereignty — and their privacy — to more paternalistic states in exchange for greater safety and stability. Citizens were more tolerant, and even eager, for top-down direction and oversight, and national leaders had more latitude to impose order in the ways they saw fit.

By 2025, people seemed to be growing weary of so much top-down control and letting leaders and authorities make choices for them.

Wherever national interests clashed with individual interests, there was conflict. Sporadic pushback became increasingly organized and coordinated, as disaffected youth and people who had seen their status and opportunities slip away — largely in developing countries — incited civil unrest. In 2026, protestors in Nigeria brought down the government, fed up with the entrenched cronyism and corruption. Even those who liked the greater stability and predictability of this world began to grow uncomfortable and constrained by so many tight rules and by the strictness of national boundaries. The feeling lingered that sooner or later, something would inevitably upset the neat order that the world’s governments had worked so hard to establish

Technological innovation in “Lock Step” is largely driven by government and is focused on issues of national security and health and safety. Most technological improvements are created by and for developed countries, shaped by governments’ dual desire to control and to monitor their citizens. In states with poor governance, large-scale projects that fail to progress abound.

Scenario Narratives

LOCK STEP

While there is no way of accurately predicting what the important technological advancements will be in the future, the scenario narratives point to areas where conditions may enable or accelerate the development of certain kinds of technologies. Thus for each scenario we offer a sense of the context for technological innovation, taking into consideration the pace, geography, and key creators. We also suggest a few technology trends and applications that could flourish in each scenario. Technological innovation in “Lock Step” is largely driven by government and is focused on issues of national security and health and safety. Most technological improvements are created by and for developed countries, shaped by governments’ dual desire to control and to monitor their citizens. In states with poor governance, large-scale projects that fail to progress abound.

Technology trends and applications we might see:

• Scanners using advanced functional magnetic resonance imaging (f MRI) technology become the norm at airports and other public areas to detect abnormal behavior that may indicate “antisocial intent.”

• In the aftermath of pandemic scares, smarter packaging for food and beverages is applied first by big companies and producers in a business-to-business environment, and then adopted for individual products and consumers.

• New diagnostics are developed to detect communicable diseases. The application of health screening also changes; screening becomes a prerequisite for release from a hospital or prison, successfully slowing the spread of many diseases.

• Tele-presence technologies respond to the demand for less expensive, lower-bandwidth, sophisticated communications systems for populations whose travel is restricted.

• Driven by protectionism and national security concerns, nations create their own independent, regionally defined IT networks, mimicking China’s firewalls. Governments have varying degrees of success in policing internet traffic, but these efforts nevertheless fracture the “World Wide” Web

:barf:

ReRan · 2020-10-09T01:55:34Z

Nada Thanks for bringing that forward. Good to be aware.

Nada · 2020-10-09T02:08:25Z

ReRan Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development [Link]

“

Quote of the Day

"We have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the peoples of Asia. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction."

~ US State Department, 1948

- George Kennan

”

UFO -> UAP. Another pointless word-smithing exercise.

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Society's Child

Madrid court rejects lockdown because 'it harms fundamental rights and freedoms'

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