by In Trieste
Raj Patel, a famous British Indian academic, journalist, activist and writer presented his book “Inflamed” during Link Festival 2022.
“It is ironic that I am now stuck in NYC due to an inflammation,” said Patel, whose flight from America has been delayed and thus he was connected via web with Triestine audience.
“There’s a direct relationship between the environment and body,” said Patel. “Both Marya (the co-author or the book-ed.) and I have suffered from long Covid. There are two hypothesis about this virus. First, the virus was created in a laboratory, and secondly there are various organisms living contemporaneously. In US Covid spread really fast and it will remain here for quite some time.”
“We’ve known for years that this pandemic would come,” Patel continued. “However, to understand why Covid spread so fast, it is important to analyze the way healthy people live, outside of the pandemics.”
“If we continue to behave the way we do, the next pandemics is going to happen for sure,” said Patel answering some of his colleagues’ questions. “We can’t stop pandemics which can potentially kill thousands by taking action when it’s already here. We need to change the way we live and we have to do it now.”
“If I lived in Italy and went to the Vatican where my marriage license is not valid, I could cheat on my husband as much as I wanted and then go back and be a faithful. It’s hypocritical. Acting differently today would mean paying our debt. We live in a patriarchal society but not all men act that way and our goal is to find equality. We are the ones who are responsible for what happened and it’s time to stop being hypocritical.”
“We need to change our habits of consumption and strategies of care. These behavioral attitudes have been here for centuries so they are difficult to change.”
“I agree with Gramsci, and his idea of intellect and optimism of willing to change. It’s the underdogs who change the system.”
