By Sasha Lilley
Against the Grain, KPFA
March 16th, 2020
When looking back at pandemics in modern history, the 1918 Spanish influenza stands out. It took the lives of somewhere between 50 and 100 million people — and while it devastated the countries of the Global North, it took its greatest toll in the Global South. Science writer Laura Spinney reflects on the similarities — and significant differences — between the Spanish flu and Covid-19. She discusses how the pandemic took hold at the end of WW1 and struck down the young, and how many of the affected countries adopted universal healthcare in its wake.
Sasha Lilley is a writer and radio broadcaster. She is the co-founder and host of the critically acclaimed program of radical ideas, Against the Grain. As program director of KPFA Radio, the flagship station of the Pacifica Network, she headed up such award-winning national broadcasts as Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan. Sasha Lilley is the series editor of PM Press’s political economy imprint, Spectre.
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