That does not surprise me at all. I think I also remember reading that the response of many African countries to Covid was vastly better than that of wealthy western countries — because of course they had much more recent, extensive experience in national public health responses to pandemics — but that no one was interested in learning from their response, due to the same racism and prejudice.

I also fear that Americans are too used to our civic participation consisting of voting (if we feel sufficiently moved to) or blithering on social media. We don't know how to organize for the long term; we better learn quick.


This is not just limited to Americans, and it's something I've been concerned about for a really long time. The people I know living in war zones and countries at risk of autocracy are extremely good at a) horizonal organisation and coalition building, and b) being really, really persistent and committed to staying in the fight for the long term. These two things do a lot to maintain their resilience and adaptability to changing (including worsening) circumstances, and they are the two things above all that I wish citizens of wealthy, older democracies were capable of learning from them.