The huge disparities and inequalities that characterise South African society and daily life have come into stark relief. Apartheid geography dictates that most whites still live in some parts of the city, well-resourced in terms of internet access and infrastructure. Brown and black people live in other parts, further away, in crowded conditions with unreliable and scant access to internet, food insecurity and often without running water to wash their hands or the space to allow for physical distancing. But that is not all: the corona virus seeks out compromised immune systems and there is plenty of tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, diabetes and high blood pressure in the poor living conditions of townships. In a cruel reversal, the long-term unemployed who have created ways of coping, are almost better off than those who had employment and have now lost it and find themselves without the means to feed the household.

No wonder ‘fake news’ thrives – who would not want to believe the promise of free data, food, water supplies! Who, scared of infection and troubled by so many people around wearing facemasks so that you cannot be sure of their identity but you know there are many thugs and druglords living in the area, who then would not fall for sensational stories? And when the army is unleashed to ‘protect our citizens’ – that same army and police force that people remember well, chasing and shooting at them, and they are told to cooperate although they are bullied and threatened – how does that make people feel more protected and cared for?

As always (all over the world) it is the women who catch it most. Already breadwinners and carers, parents and counsellors, teachers and housekeepers, they now have additional tasks They try to make sure the children do not venture out of the house, do not eat scarce food now, stay away from an infected uncle or grandfather, wash their hands every time they go outside to the toilet or spaza shop. They wipe down all surfaces and objects with disinfectant that is hard to come by, fashion face-masks, keep themselves and the girls safe from domestic violence and sexual abuse, and organise food parcels. They strategise for the distribution of donations, plan who might have a permit to deliver the parcels to the elderly, children-headed households and disabled people. Many of them have the skills needed to weather rough seas as they organise and mobilise and strategise in the midst of multiple risks.

These are the women who usually come to our education workshops; they make up the bulk of participants. Right now, no one is allowed to leave the house except to shop or to go to the doctor. These women appear to be a captive audience (pun intended) as long as we switch from face to face workshops to phone-based education. However, with the tangible immediate danger of infection and the risk of hospitalisation, education may be far from their minds irrespective of what we have to offer.

Many of us are technologically barely literate – I only just know the rudimentary workings of social messaging. The call for ‘physical distancing' and 'social solidarity’ demands staying apart yet having dialogue. Re-designing popular education workshops requires that we ensure participants have enough data for the phone, food for the household (the meal provided at workshops often supplies a whole household), distracting activities for the children so the mother can concentrate on her lesson even if only for short periods. And then there is the pressure to ensure this lesson is truly worth-while, that it answers some real needs and questions, that it captures the imagination and offers some escape and pleasure. All via a telephone, where a woman remains isolated but crowded in, without the joys of human warmth and laughter.

The most important lessons now, surely, must be lessons that help us to watch that we do not fall back into the old normality but ask ‘What can we as activists do to forge a more democratic, just and free future for all?’

The lockdown will be used for authoritarian purposes and to deepen top-down control with a particular swipe to the Left. Women must be able to recognise authoritarianism, crude populism, militarisation, fake news, and how community activism used for survival can be employed to gain control. How do we use our various expertise so that women develop both insight into the workings of power and the voice to make leaders listen?

How do we stimulate the embracing of localisation of production and consumption, food security, energy generation and use. How do we promote the ideas of debt moratoria and relief, of capital controls in developed countries, of the recognition of the public good like health and education?

We are in a conundrum: on the one hand is the expertise of on-the-ground survival, on the other is the challenge to capture imaginations for real transformation. It is time to be brave and forge new normalities as they suit different communities and countries. Demanding and campaigning for a basic income grant would be a good start – but I fear the person who has stored kilograms of staples will be more concerned about how to sell those – than to link arms with others for a more just future for all.

As educators and community activists, we have to learn more about turning into skilled sailors. We know, ‘when the music changes, so does the dance’ – and our community activist / educator steps will have to follow a light tread and a swift swing, an inventive bend and a fiery rhythm. This dance shall not be the dance of death, nor the frivolous twirls of courtly entertainment – nor should it follow the thud of army boots. But unless the music changes, this new dance will not happen.

1. Mike Davis (2020) on Corona Virus. "In a plague year". https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/mike-davis-coronavirus-outbreak-capitalism-left-international-solidarity