This article looks at the British government’s handling of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. We argue that to analyse the government’s handling of this situation, we need to synergize insights from critical race theory (CRT) with decolonial thought. CRT shows how the pandemic has revealed and exacerbated racial inequalities within Britain, while these inequalities are then explained away through a post-racial ideology. Contrastingly, decolonial thought helps us to understand how Britain practises western and little Englander universalisms; neglecting other countries’ successful strategies of handling the pandemic, as they seek to pursue a ‘world-beating’ strategy to defeat the virus rather than help forge a global solidarity.

本文着眼于英国政府对第一轮冠状病毒大流行的处理。我们认为，要分析政府对这种情况的处理方式，我们需要将批判性种族理论（CRT）中的见解与协同思想相结合。CRT展示了这种流行病如何揭示并加剧了英国内部的种族不平等现象，而这些不平等现象则通过后种族意识形态加以解释。相反，殖民主义思想帮助我们了解英国如何实践西方和小英格兰人的普遍主义。忽视其他国家成功应对大流行的战略，因为它们寻求采取“世界一流”的战略来战胜该病毒，而不是帮助建立全球团结。