Search

Vaccine passport is a new term that has recently entered the vocabulary of nation-states and those involved in the travel industry. A passport is a tool through which individuals can be mobile internationally and by which they can be identified, tracked, and regulated. Although the introduction of vaccine passports has facilitated the reopening of borders and air travel and assists with reviving economic situations of nation-states, it also means that those who carry proof of immunization are the only ones who may be able to travel freely. The citizens of many countries will not have access to vaccines nor vaccine passports in the near future. As such, the biopolitics of vaccination passports become entangled with preexisting global and domestic inequalities and risk further entrenching the immobilities of people in the periphery. In this article, we discuss the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the meaning of freedom of movement globally and how the introduction of vaccine passports perpetuates and exacerbates existing inequalities in terms of unequal access to international travel and freedom of movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes spatial hierarchies and geopolitical conflicts during the COVID-19 pandemic from a worldsystems perspective. Drawing on data on global vaccine production and distribution, we argue that the trimodal structure of the capitalist world-system--core, semi-periphery, and periphery--has been reproduced through unequal access to vaccines, constituting hierarchically structured "vaccine worlds". These vaccine worlds are geopolitically contested, as Chinese companies compete with American and European corporations for influence and markets. Against this background, we outline the Chinese state-led vaccine internationalization strategy with its focus on the global South, and discuss its achievements and contradictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conceptualisation of the COVID-19 pandemic through the analytic lens of a 'necropolitics as evil' brings to the fore Hannah Arendt's theorisation that evil is both an expression of, and a threat to, humanity and its plurality as an intersectional assemblage, and by extension as freedom in political action. Arendt accepts that while evil—as an expression of our humanity—can never be eradicated, it must—as a threat to our common humanity—be confronted. From this perspective, the functioning of race, gender, and wider structural inequalities as operational hinges of COVID-19 capitalism required spaces for resistance and change within the political economy of global inequalities during the recent pandemic. This (concept) paper explores such a conceptualisation through stories of the pandemic and with a particular focus on Indigenous people, marginalised groups such as migrants and asylum seekers, as well as the homeless. It is through the viral logics of cytopathic COVID-19 capitalisms that we confront and resist theoretical pathologies by re-theorising evil as conceptual currency to confront this conjuncture, critique limitations, and meaningfully translate the current societal landscape through this lens. This allows for engaging in a particular kind of reading of Arendt that is contextualised in terms of the stakes of the paper: the importance of thinking about convivialising solidarities in the ongoing pandemic that has been perpetuated by 'evil political formations/evil governance' under capitalism, and as such, the structural pathologies that exacerbate COVID-19's deathly effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of the topics covered in two texts that explore sustainability from the perspective of the Global South. The first text focuses on the impact of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine on sustainability efforts, emphasizing the need for a just and interconnected approach to sustainability. The second text examines the concept of sacred land in the Thai Buddhist context and the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on children in Egypt, highlighting the importance of including children in sustainability research and addressing global inequalities. Both texts call for a shift in consciousness and a more inclusive approach to sustainability. [Extracted from the article]

The big profits and influence of pharmaceutical firms that again rose to prominence during the COVID pandemic illustrate far more than just the global reach and market power of Big Pharma. Here we instead explain the power of these firms as a consequence of structural cartelisation that is networked and nested across hybrid state and market relations. Global inequalities in access to COVID vaccines exposed the inequity outcomes of the cartelisation of the pharmaceutical sector in dramatic new ways. To come to critical terms with this cartelisation, we describe how it is comprised of three kinds of nested and networked layers of structural collusion: namely, (i) firm-firm collusion, (ii) firm-state collusion; and (iii) firm-state-philanthropy collusion. By suggesting that these kinds of collusional relations are nested, overlapping and deeply networked, we explain how they have come to work together structurally. And, in doing so, we argue, they serve to capture value from biomedical innovation in ways that limit global access to medicines while simultaneously entrenching the dominance of high-income countries, lead firms and the interests of investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines narratives of transnational belonging and transnational practices of care between a group of Ecuadorian migrants in Spain and Italy and their families and friends in Ecuador during the first semester of the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020. Drawing on the concepts of transnational affective economies (Wilding et al., International Journal of Cultural Studies, 2020, 23, 639), the circulation of care (Baldassar & Merla, Transnational families, migration and the circulation of care: understanding mobility and absence in family life. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, London, New York, 2014) and transnational forms of belonging (Boccagni & Baldassar, Emotions, Space and Society, 2015, 16, 73), we look at how despite their still precarious social and labour conditions in destination—which were exacerbated during the pandemic—Ecuadorian migrants activated different forms of belonging and transnational care. Findings reveal that emotions had a crucial role in enabling the transnational circulation of care between family members and friends and a revival of migrants' sense of national belonging. We argue that the crisis generated by COVID‐19 was the occasion for migrants to revisit their sense of belonging as well as their awareness of south–north inequalities since they experienced the crisis simultaneously in Ecuador, Spain and Italy. At the same time, emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger and concern for their families and communities triggered subjective understandings of local and global inequalities that reaffirmed their migration project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in trouble half-way towards their target date of 2030. With increasing global inequalities, and reversal in developmental gains because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as financial and political instability, achieving the goals in the next seven years seems difficult. We undertake an exercise in defining an ecological system of the SDGs to argue that focusing on two sentinel goals of SDGs 5 & 12 ('gender equality' and 'responsible consumption and production') could be key to achieving the other goals. The linkages posited in the SDG ecosystem are based upon our reading of the literature from a political economic and political ecological perspective. Prioritising SDGs 5 and 12 requires more of political rather than a financial commitment. The paper proposes a pathway to achieving some success in realising SDGs during their remaining half-life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic affected most companies' profits negatively, but some companies did exceptionally well, recording excess profits during the pandemic. In this paper, we estimate the scale of the excess profits and the tax revenue potential of an excess profits tax, an additional tax levied by governments on companies' excess profits. To estimate excess profits, we develop a trend-adjusted average earnings methodology. We apply the methodology to firm-level consolidated Orbis data to estimate that large multinational corporations with subsidiaries in the EU generated excess profits of $447 billion in 2020 (42% of their total profits in 2020). Using country-by-country reporting data, we estimate the excess profits arising from each EU member state and find that EU member states could together raise $6 billion with an excess profits tax of 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilises the concepts of social exclusion and precarity to explore the situation of migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on European countries, we first demonstrate how migrants were more likely to experience exclusion prior to the crisis and how they were further marginalised due to the public health measures. Second, we show how inadequate government support exacerbated the exclusion of migrants. Finally, we explore social ties of migrants during the pandemic, with a focus on local and transnational ties. The paper is based on qualitative data collected as part of the European Union (EU)-funded project RESISTIRÉ, which examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable groups across Europe. Over 100 narratives with migrants were gathered during the project, and these were analysed to explore the multiple social exclusions experienced by migrants, as well as the ways they coped with being on the margins of receiving societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2020--2022 pandemic highlighted concerns about "information disorders", pressing for approaches capable of guiding the science-society alliance toward a mutually beneficial direction. This essay advocates for and presents a framework proposing the combination of Open Science (OS) and Science Communication (SciComm) practices. OS encourages public access to scientific material, while SciComm has historically enabled public understanding of scientific knowledge. Despite their similar goals, these two communities are disconnected. We draw on the concepts of "boundary object" and "epistemic trust" to demonstrate how this framework could foster a bond between scientific expertise and public reason toward an informed and inclusive common good. The OS-SciComm framework is based on the notion that ensuring transparency in science also requires "bridging tools" that deal with the complexity of scientific lexicon and processes. It values scientific expertise, but does not undermine citizens' capabilities in information processing and their interest in accessing scientific outputs. Our proposal also acknowledges controversies involving open scientific materials during the COVID-19 pandemic and advises caution when drawing conclusions from cases that are often context-specific. The OS-SciComm framework requires innovative ideas, platforms and actions. We invite both communities to join us in this endeavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an analysis of the international debate on open science that took place during the pandemic. It addresses the question, how did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the debate on open science? The study takes the form of a qualitative analysis of a large corpus of key articles, editorials, blogs and thought pieces about the impact of COVID on open science, published during the pandemic in English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. The findings show that many authors believed that it was clear that the experience of the pandemic had illustrated or strengthened the case for open science, with language such as a "stress test", "catalyst", "revolution" or "tipping point" frequently used. It was commonly believed that open science had played a positive role in the response to the pandemic, creating a clear 'line of sight' between open science and societal benefits. Whilst the arguments about open science deployed in the debate were not substantially new, the focuses of debate changed in some key respects. There was much less attention given to business models for open access and critical perspectives on open science, but open data sharing, preprinting, information quality and misinformation became most prominent in debates. There were also moves to reframe open science conceptually, particularly in connecting science with society and addressing broader questions of equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and response severely impacted people living with non-communicable diseases (PLWNCDs) globally. It exacerbated pre-existing health inequalities, severely disrupted access to care, and worsened clinical outcomes for PLWNCDs, who were at higher risk of morbidity and mortality from the virus. The pandemic's effects were likely magnified in humanitarian settings, where there were pre-existing gaps in continuity of care for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). We sought to explore factors affecting implementation of NCD care in crisis settings during the COVID-19 pandemic and the adaptations made to support implementation. Methods: Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, we undertook an online survey of 98 humanitarian actors from multiple regions and organization types (March-July 2021), followed by in-depth interviews with 13 purposively selected survey respondents (October-December 2021). Survey data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while interview data were analysed thematically, using both deductive and inductive approaches. Results: Initially, humanitarian actors faced challenges influenced by external actors' priorities, such as de-prioritisation of NCD care by governments, travel restrictions and supply chain interruptions. With each infection wave and lockdown, humanitarian actors were better able to adapt and maintain NCD services. The availability of COVID-19 vaccines was a positive turning point, especially for the risk management of people with NCDs and protection of health workers. Key findings include that, despite pre-existing challenges, humanitarian actors largely continued NCD services during the crisis. Enabling factors that supported continuity of NCD services included the ability to quickly pivot to remote means of communication with PLWNCDs, flexibility in medicine dispensing, and successful advocacy to prioritize NCD management within health systems. Key lessons learned included the importance of partnerships and cooperation with other health actors, and the mobilisation or repurposing of community health workers/volunteer networks. Conclusions: The COVID-19 experience should prompt national and global health stakeholders to strengthen inclusion of NCDs in emergency preparedness, response, and resilience planning. Key lessons were learned around remote care provision, including adapting to NCD severity, integrating community health workers, providing context-adapted patient information, combating misinformation, and strengthening cross-sectoral partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted many countries' economic, social, and political systems. The health and well-being sector has been particularly affected, necessitating unprecedented measures from governments globally. These measures were designed to safeguard societies from the virus and ensure the availability of healthcare services for those in need. This article assesses the implementation of the third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)—good health and well-being—in European Union (EU-26) countries before and during the pandemic. The analysis aimed to answer two basic questions: (1) To what extent has the level of implementation of SDG 3 changed in individual EU-26 member states during the study period? and (2) During the analyzed period, has there been a reduction or deepening of disparities in the implementation of SDG 3 between the EU-26 countries? The study covers the years from 2019 to 2021, spanning the pre-pandemic period and its subsequent duration. The evaluation of the goal's implementation was based on indicators monitored by Eurostat and employed the dynamic linear ordering method. The analysis revealed significant variations in SDG 3 implementation among the EU-26 countries. Over the analyzed years, The Netherlands and Sweden consistently occupied the top positions in the rankings, while Lithuania, Latvia, and Romania lagged. The pandemic adversely impacted the achievement of SDG 3, with a decline in the synthetic indicator value observed in 16 of the 26 EU countries. Comparing the first and second years of the pandemic, it was noted that negative changes were especially pronounced in 2021, with the synthetic variable value decreasing in 19 countries relative to 2020. The most significant declines in the synthetic variable value in 2021, compared to 2019, were recorded in Slovakia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In contrast, the greatest increases in the synthetic variable value, indicating notable progress in achieving SDG 3 despite the pandemic, were observed in Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Finland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, projects involving field research were largely restricted or modified due to the increasing complexity of their methodological and ethical realization. Despite the slowly increasing debates on the (im)possibility of field research during that time, the relational dynamics of field research activities during the pandemic have not yet been discussed in detail. I address this gap by using CLARKE's (2005) situational analysis to reflect on a seven-month field research stay in Senegal during the Covid-19 pandemic. By conceiving of the pandemic and myself as the researcher to be an integral part of the research situation, I analyze how the research situation was characterized by relational dynamics which were shaped by different lived realities of the pandemic (politics). Building on this, I show how the encounter of different pandemic-related experiences was accompanied by irritations, uncertainties and joking practices, but also politicized as conflictual dynamics in the research situation. These insights are crucial for understanding the relational dynamics of conducting field research during a global pandemic that was experienced locally. Furthermore, I provide insights into the analytical potential of using situational analysis for a reflexive engagement with field research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have argued against a post-COVID return to normality on the grounds that the pandemic offers an opportunity to break with the past and imagine a different, more just future. In this analysis of pre-kindergarten teachers' reflections on teaching during COVID-19 in the state of Michigan, we take up the notion of the pandemic as a portal to consider how practices that emerged during the pandemic might be carried forward post-pandemic. Through a qualitative interview study with 25 public pre-K teachers in Michigan, we sought to understand how the pandemic altered the nature of family-teacher engagement. Our analysis led us to conceptualize teaching as an improvisational practice that was highly responsive to the circumstances and needs of families. We identified three central themes that animated pre-K teachers' work during the pandemic: supporting families through new types of "offers" (a term from improv theory), making learning accessible, and fostering collectivity by partnering with families. Teachers' practices during the pandemic reveal new avenues for conceptualizing family engagement as an improvisational practice. We draw on the principles of improv theory to outline a framework for this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon 152 in-depth qualitative interviews with residents in Austria carried out in the first year of the pandemic, this article discusses how people's experiences with COVID-19 policies reflect and reshape state–citizen relations. Coinciding with a significant government crisis, the first year of COVID-19 in Austria saw pandemic measures justified with reference to a biological, often medical understanding of health that framed disease prevention in terms of transmission reduction, often with reference to metrics such as hospitalisation rates, etc. Instead of using this biomedical frame, our interviewees, however, drew attention to biopsychosocial dimensions of the crisis and problematised the entanglements between economy and health. We call this the emergence of a biosocial notion of citizenship that is attentive to psychological, social and economic dimensions of health. Insights into the biosocial nature of pandemic citizenship open a window of opportunity for addressing long-standing social injustices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Selcuk Communication / Selcuk Iletisim is the property of Journal of Selcuk Communication and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed significant variation in the scale and form of decommodification across the capitalist world economy. To explore these uneven decommodification geographies this article develops a new conceptual framework that combines a critical Polanyian reading of decommodification with Latin American insights into centre-periphery structures and relations. The decommodification of land and labour in Britain (centre) and Ecuador (periphery) are then analysed from this conceptual perspective. The comparative analysis reveals significant variation in the scale and form of decommodification between the two countries during the pandemic. However, some important similarities are also observed, especially in relation to the (de) commodification of land. Here, the article draws on the corporate food regime literature to better understand similarities and differences between Britain and Ecuador. By revealing the uneven and shifting terrain of decommodification, this article makes a novel contribution to wider debates about the capitalist conjuncture and the intensifying crises of neoliberal capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research about science and publics in the COVID-19 pandemic often focuses on public trust and on identifying and correcting public attitudes. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 209 residents in six countries—Austria, Bolivia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Portugal—this article uses the concept of performativity to explore how participants understand, and relate to science, in the COVID-19 context. By performativity, we mean the ways by which participants understand themselves as particular sorts of publics through identification with, and differentiation from, various other actors in matters that are perceived as controversies surrounding science: COVID-19 vaccination, media communication of science, and the interactions between governments and scientists. The criteria used to construct the similarities and differences among publics were heterogeneous and fluid, showing how epistemic beliefs about the nature of, and trust in, scientific knowledge are intermingled with social and cultural memberships embedded in specific contexts and across disparate places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poetic production in South Africa to theorize connection as a dominant motif in contemporary poetry. In South Africa, poets compensate for the lack of state or market support for the arts through community organizations and collaborations. Under lockdowns, in-person events like open mics were replaced by digital programmes hosted on corporate-owned public platforms like Facebook Live, as artists sought to transmute social capital into material support. Performance poetry, in particular, exploded in popularity, offering comfort and connection amidst isolation. With the turn to the digital, spaces for community formation increasingly reflect the neoliberal logic of the network. The South African literary organization Hear My Voice raised a "Poetry Relief Fund" to pay honoraria for weekly poetry performances on Facebook Live. At the same time, poet and playwright Siphokazi Jonas reconceived her politically urgent poem-play #WeAreDyingHere as an international call to arms, reaching new audiences around the world. These events, alongside international festivals like Zukiswa Wanner's Afrolit Sans Frontières, created new possibilities for understanding connection within the creative economy. But what kind of community is instantiated through those platforms? Who, specifically, is supported, and under which terms? And how does poetry itself mediate those relationships? I analyse both individual poems and the media platforms in which they are embedded to argue that, if relationality and networks represent two different models of sociality, connection offers a paradigm that acknowledges the ascendance of network modes of production without acceding to their logics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of health technologies to mitigate against the spread of the disease and improve care, dominantly including life-saving vaccines. But the pandemic has also highlighted that the current biopharmaceutical business model, based on the enclosure of these technologies and on the immense accumulation of capital it enables, leads to vast inequalities in healthcare particularly in low and middle-income countries. We believe that the pharmaceutical industry has a moral duty to enable and enact global solidarity through tech sharing instead of tech hoarding, but judging by current technology transfer practices we question their willingness to assume their role in organizing healthcare markets through solidaristic principles. In the absence of a voluntary adoption of solidaristic principles and practices by biopharmaceutical firms, the institutionalization of global solidarity as a fundamental organizing principle for healthcare markets is necessary to strengthen resilience and know-how globally. With this call, we add to existing conceptualizations of solidarity by (a) introducing a global level of solidarity and (b) thinking through the concept not as an abstract humanistic stance but as a concrete organizing principle for global healthcare markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catastrophe of Russia's war in Ukraine following on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter-inspired protests raises the possibility of marked changes in people's gendered experiences in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia (CEE&E). Drawing upon recent discussions, events, and publications--with particular attention to Ukrainian voices and reflexivity as to my position as a US-based political scientist mostly trained on Russia--I suggest ways that these developments have begun to, can, and should change gender studies. I raise three questions: (1) Does CEE&E still constitute a meaningful geopolitical context--or region--for understanding gender? (2) Who should have authority to speak about gender in CEE&E? and (3) Have the possibilities for solidarities among feminist activists across CEE&E and beyond CEE&E increased or decreased, and why? Considering these questions, I argue that there is still much to be gained from studying gender in CEE&E as a field if we incorporate intersectional and decolonial lenses and especially if we can keep pushing ourselves through the scholarly debates that have constituted the field. Incorporating this part of the world--elided since Soviet collapse--can help gender studies as a whole deepen and reconsider paradigmatic concepts such as intersectionality, colonialism, and solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various studies show that COVID-19 is widening existing disparities. Given the pre-existing disparities experienced by South African persons with disabilities, the pandemic may disproportionately impact persons with disabilities and deepen inequalities. Thus, we answer the key research question: what are the experiences and perceived challenges of persons with disabilities and their organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa? Based on telephone interviews conducted in South Africa, this paper highlights firstly how ableism is manifested in our response to crisis and secondly how embodied experiences of disabilities and inequalities reveal asymmetrical power relationships. We tease out how COVID-19 differently affected persons with disabilities and strongly link the findings with inequalities and systemic exclusion. Despite disability legislation and frameworks available in South Africa as well as the strong emphasis on disability rights as promulgated in various constitution sections, the responses to the pandemic still lacked a disability focus. Based on the evidence, we conclude by highlighting recommendations for government aimed at potentially reducing the inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we focus on a key concept of sustainability: co-responsibility. To date, the traditional discussion of responsibility in sustainable development has failed to address the world's inequality, particularly the inequality in the Global South resulting from colonization. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates a considerable gap between the Global South and the Global North, both before the start of vaccination and the continuing gap resulting from vaccine distribution. We argue that the responsibility gap exists because of the lack of co-responsibility. Co-responsibility is not shared responsibility in which every individual, institution, or government takes part on the basis of a written document, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but rather is an infinite responsibility divided between several institutions or people and not bound by location. This article contributes to the discussion of sustainability's transformation from colonized to decolonized and highlights the co-responsibility approach to the idea of the development in the sustainable development discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we apply theories of non-citizenship assemblage to conceptualise the dynamic relationship of social determinants of health for international students in Canada who face barriers to accessing COVID-19 vaccines and verifying their vaccination status. Social workers' roles in responding to and reducing these inequities are also discussed with attention to micro practice, meso service integration, and macro public policy advocacy. Through theorising assembled inequities emerging from Canada's COVID-19 vaccination policies, this article offers guidance for future social work research and practice towards promoting justice and equity for transnational populations who are often excluded from domestic social welfare programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of labor-power is a critical element of all commodity chains. This is especially true of laborintensive production processes such as agriculture. The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on this, as well as on many other aspects of the economy and everyday life. The institutions of the modern world-system responded in various ways to the new situation influenced by COVID-19, taking measures to mitigate and avert the detrimental effects. This paper examines these responses and their impact on the availability of labor-power in the agricultural areas of Nakuru County, Kenya, and O'Higgins Region, Chile. By practically applying world-systems analysis, we shed light on the significance of institutions during periods of stagnation and their impact on the availability of labor-power in global commodity chains. This allows us to draw conclusions about the general impact of institutional responses to stagnation phases at the worker level. We show that the institutions studied responded in very different ways to the stagnation phase affected by COVID-19. As a result, O'Higgins Region experienced a labor-power shortage that Nakuru County had not, which may have a lasting impact on labor-power availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Telos is the property of Revista Telos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)