Democracy, Human (Minority) Rights, and the Impact of Covid

In another sad milestone, Italy bans 'the unclean' [unvaccinated] from using public transport—it’s (past) time for a tax boycott

I was collating a number of legacy media pieces for my next instalment on the Covidistan situation, and then this happened: I saw, over at ORF, a rather long-ish piece on Italy allowing only ‘vaccinated’ and ‘recovered’ individuals to use public transport. So, before I’ll address Covidistan, here’s something you may have missed (yet) about this lunacy.

Here’s the key issue to understand that ties these instances together: Covidistan’s (failed) example of relegating ‘the unvaccinated’ to second-class residents (I’m hesitant to use the word ‘citizens’ here) is now being applied elsewhere.

According to Italian daily La Repubblica, a ‘Super Green Paas’ (certificazione verde rafforzata) has entered into effect as of today, 10 Jan. 2022:

A Super Green Pass’ is now required for all means of transportation, bars, restaurants, and accommodations. It further applies to sporting events, ceremonies, festivals, fairs, and congresses. Hairdressers are exempted until 20 Jan., and from February, Green Passes are also required for gaining admission to banks, offices, and shops.

These developments come at end of an already-busy week of the Italian gov’t, as compiled by Il Fatto Quotidiano in it’s helpful, if exasperating, ‘calendar of Covid rules’

1 Jan.: new quarantine measures were introduced: no-more self-isolation for jabbed-and-boosted residents or those who were ‘fully vaccinated’ less than 4 (!) months ago; if you’re ‘fully jabbed’ more than 4 months ago and asymptomatic, it’s five days of quarantines, with no changes for the ‘unvaccinated’ (in which case one’s quarantine remained 10 days).

3 Jan.: ‘half of Italy is now yellow’ on the government’s ‘traffic light’ colour-coding scheme.

5 Jan.: the government approves the introduction of new regulations (decrees) pertaining to the ‘Super Green Pass’, with the paper noting the dissent of both ‘right-wing’ (whatever that means anymore) Lega and the ‘populist’ Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S, the ‘movement inaugurated by comedian Beppe Grillo), ‘albeit for different reasons’.

6 Jan.: Italy’s famous football (soccer) league, the Serie A, re-commences its matches with 50% capacity in the stadiums; indoor venues are allowed to re-open at 35% capacity.

7 Jan.: in traditionally Catholic countries, 6 Jan. is a public holiday, hence school starts on the first workday thereafter. New rules incl. FFP2 (KN95) masks for teachers and a new differentiation between ‘jabbed’ and ‘non-jabbed’ students, the latter as an additional ‘incentive’ now that ‘vaccination’ has been introduced for kids aged 5-11 years.

These changes bring us to today and the entry into force of the above-related house arrest for the unvaccinated in the mould of Covidistan’s pioneering policy failure of locking up a sizeable chunk of the population. Yes, there were some exceptions for ‘essential services’ so far, but here’s Il Fatto Quotidiano on what’s coming now:

This is the start of the crackdown [stretta] on the unvaccinated, decided by the last decree: a Super Green Pass will be required to board trains, buses, the metro, and all other means of transport, to eat in open-air venues (as well as indoor venues, as already provided for), to enter hotels, to go to fairs, ski resorts, and many other places of socialisation and leisure.

Furthermore, booster jabs are now ‘recommended’ 4 months after one was ‘fully vaccinated’, according to the same piece, ‘but they are not yet mandatory’.

What will the future bring? Well, I’m glad you asked…

From 1 Feb. onwards, the ‘Super Green Pass’ will only be valid for 6 months, i.e., one’s three jabs will keep you out of jail for only half a year, in line with the rest of the EU (and the EEC countries such as those European ‘countries’ outside the EU).

The state of emergency is currently scheduled to expire by 31 March, and presumably the jab mandates and limitations as well, but don’t count on this to remain. ‘As of now, it’s impossible to know whether or not the state of emergency will be extended’, concludes the piece by Il Fatto Quotidiano.

I’m glad we’ve got this settled, in particular as many of the heavy-handed intrusions are derivative of the state of emergency.

Back to the present: what does the ‘Super Green Pass’ mean in practice?

As mentioned in the beginning of this piece, here’s what Covidistan state media reported yesterday.

These new restrictions were met by ‘an outcry by mayors of smaller islands as well as the mayor of Venice’ because some residents would be ‘faced with the threat of “forced exile”, according to Luigi Brugnaro:

Because of the particularities of Venice and its geographical location, I am in close and constant contact with the government so that an exemption can be made.

Why would that be necessary, one might ask?

Well, for two reasons, really: there is, of course, the ‘practical’ argument to be made, which has been done by Francesco Del Deo, President of the Association of Small Island Municipalities (ANCIM), who held that

Water- and airborne traffic…is often the only possible connection with the mainland, and to delimit access to these means of transportations [without a valid Covid Passport] is tantamount to condemn to ‘forced exile’ those of our residents who cannot be vaccinated for various reasons.’

For those who don’t know it, ANCIM represents 35 municipalities spread out over 87 with more than 200,000 permanent residents, a population that grows into millions during the summer holiday season. Most of them don’t have permanent medical institutions, hence these restrictions impose arbitrary and esp. unjustified hardship.

These complaints were finally heard by Rome on Sunday, 9 Jan., which elected to extend exemptions—let it be known: ‘unvaccinated’ may board means of public transportation with a negative PCR test—until 10 Feb. 2022.

The Italian government has further decided that these restrictions aren’t valid for pupils and students attending school, yet, students older than 12 must wear FFP2 (KN95) masks on the bus etc.

Here’s the mayor of the Tuscan island of Giglio (pop. around 1,400 permanent residents, of whom some 80 remain ‘unvaccinated’), Sergio Ortelli:

Personally, I’m for the vaccine mandate, but one cannot ignore the minority who elects to forego vaccination. These individuals cannot get to the mainland anymore and they are prevented from accessing essential services.

ANCIM president De Deo, who also serves as mayor of the island of Ischia just off Naples, added:

This is a complicated situation, but in a democracy, one has to safeguard the rights of minorities.

Other Covid-related Items from Italy

Despite—because of?—the high level of vaccine uptake in Italy (c. 86%), Omicron is causing the state railway company, Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), to cancel a number of connections, in particular affecting regional commuter services.

Since Saturday, 8 Jan. 2022, all residents 50 or older must get vaccinated, and they must comply until 1 Feb. 2022. Failure to get jabbed will result ‘in fines to the tune of 100 € for all unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or those who refuse to get a booster jab’, according or ORF.

The vaccination mandate is in force until 15 June 2022, as of today, and it applies to all residents of Italy 50 years or older. In addition, from 15 Feb. 2022 onwards, access to work-related premises for all over 50 is only legal if one is either ‘vaccinated’ (whatever that means by then) or ‘recovered’. Younger workers may continue to go to work presenting a negative PCR test. Failure to comply comes with the hefty price tag of fines between 600-1,500 €.

Taxation Without Representation Requires—Obliges—One to Act against this Poll Tax

You know, this isn’t a tricky one, legally speaking: tax-paying residents fork over money to local, state, and national governments to provide essential services, such as public transport.

As any historian will tell you, arbitrary taxation isn’t a good policy prescription. Such taxes also fall into the category of ‘poll taxes’, which are utterly incompatible with esp. post-1945 understandings of popular sovereignty, individual rights and liberties, and the limitations of governments to impose arbitrary taxation.

If this ban isn’t a prime example of these, I don’t know what else is.

Also: spread the word, grab a pitchfork, and off we go to protest.