Biopolitics in the Covid-19 epidemic in Brazil (2020)

an analysis of actions to combat disease and anti-quarantine opposition

Abstract

This paper analyzed the Covid-19 epydemic in Brazil, addressing from its beginning diagnosed at the end of February until the end of August, when there is a strong decline in the maintenance of measures to combat the disease. For data collection, scientific articles on the epidemic, official reports published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and data produced by Brazilian Ministry of Health, were used. In addition to these sources, we used journalistic publications to learn about the repercussions of the disease. To carry out this study, we analyzed some of the decisions adopted by the Federal and State Government and their repercussions in the country, focusing on understanding how the population reacted to such measures designed for this moment of crisis. Addressing the political and social problems of implementing public health policies. Therefore, we adopted the use of the concepts of biopolitics and biopower, by the French philosopher Michel Foucault, applying his ideas to the Brazilian context, showing a disagreement about whether to perceive biopolitics as something positive or negative. At this point, we used authors like Agamben, Boaventura dos Santos, Žižek, Safatle and Mbembe to talk about the political intentions behind the epidemic. Where we came to the conclusion that the disease was treated at various times as a conspiracy theory, farce, media sensationalism and a political dispute between Right vs. Left.