THREAD: here are some examples of anti-rights rhetoric #CapitalizingOnCovid to fuel existing discrimination and oppression against marginalized communities. https://twitter.com/PRAEyesRight/status/1253010725079076866

We are witnessing disinformation about the origins or spread of the virus, #CapitalizingOnCovid to fuel existing discrimination and oppressive world-views. For example, in Malaysia, public officials and politicians have suggested the LGBTQ community was to blame for the pandemic

This echoes other contexts where conspiracy theories claim that ‘modern changes’, feminism, or progressive movements are somehow responsible for #Covid19. #CapitalizingOnCovid

In India, the Hindu nationalist establishment & its backers are #CapitalizingOnCovid to further fuel anti-Muslim sentiment, exploiting, for eg., the fact that some Muslim religious gatherings had contributed to virus transmission, while overlooking the same at Hindu gatherings.

The scapegoating is a power-consolidation tactic. For example in Malaysia, state officials & anti-rights NGOs are pushing to "solve the LGBT & apostasy problem" to distract the public from failures to handle the crisis & non-democratic power shifts happening #CapitalizingOnCovid

Anti-rights groups are #CapitalizingOnCovid to push harmful conception of 'family'. A Christian fundamentalist org has said it's an opportunity to restore a home where “a man & a woman are allowed to live according to their true nature, & not expected to pursue androgynous lives”

The same Christian fundamentalist org talks about the opportunity for home-schooling to flourish “with greatly curtailed state-interference”. As @herong points out, we must keep an eye on anti-rights actors #CapitalizingOnCovid to meddle in home-schooling: https://bit.ly/3auV0Ma 

We’re also seeing an alarming normalization of security & war rhetoric. Regressive states are #CapitalizingOnCovid to increase militarization of public space and borders. As always, increased militarization = increased #GBV intersecting with race, class, immigration status & SOGI

Alarmingly #ecofacist tropes are appearing in mainstream discourse around Covid. We must resist narratives like “humans are the virus” (which cast certain bodies as expendable) and re-affirm that capitalism and extractivism are the problem #CapitalizingOnCovid

Another #CapitalizingOnCovid trend: co-optation of rights & justice language. We see this from corporations using terms like “mutual aid” & "relief funds". There's also feminist messages like #MyBodyMyChoice being used by right wing groups protesting Covid restrictions in the US