If this pandemic has revealed anything it's that the Netherlands finds itself in the stranglehold of a neoliberal politics of indifference: towards the immense loss of life, the crushing pressure on healthcare workers, and finally, indifference towards each other. https://twitter.com/mikofLohr/status/1320062677574705152

So it's gatherings in the Hague like these, and the indifference they exude towards the disaster that is unfolding before our eyes, that are just heart-breaking to witness.

Not only has the sitting cabinet been demonstrably negligent in its duty of care to the Dutch people since the pandemic began, it has fostered a culture of indifference and opaqueness, and exacerbated extant fault lines in society that may prove irreparable.

The constant emphasis on personal responsibility throughout this crisis tells me one thing: that the government simply does not care what happens to me, to you, to us, as long as hospitals can cope with the influx of covid-patients.

What's worse is that government institutions aren't even pretending they are aiming to protect ALL citizens and break the chain of infection as much as possible. Rather, they are focusing on expending the minimum amount of effort to avoid being held accountable, whilst

willfully ignoring knowledge and experiences gained in various Asian countries, whose citizens are constantly being painted as collectivist dupes that bend to the slightest sign of authority, in classic orientalist fashion.

What worries me are the societal ramifications of the neo-liberal Dutch covid-policy, one that is indifferent to loss of life and views these deaths as inconvenient collateral damage in an effort to keep the economy moving, when this pandemic will end.

Already some Dutch philosophers are arguing that we should view the widespread mortality of the current pandemic as an inevitable, yet acceptable part of life. But this is too easy, and another lazy excuse not to reexamine the basic principles with which we tackle this crisis.

The neoliberal strategy will not save people, because this faceless fiction simply does not care about people. It would behoove Mr Rutte and the entirety of the Dutch government and related institutions to reconsider their tack, because neoliberalism has clearly run its course.

Because if we stay this indifferent in future crises that might even be worse in scope and destructiveness than the current one, the future looks really, really bleak.