Gin and Tonic, Imperialism, and COVID-19

Gin and Tonic is a great drink, and if you look into the history, you can see hints of the current fascination with hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug (and also a lupus drug).

The gin was used to make the tonic, quinine, more palatable.

It was invented by the British East India Company, one of the early capitalist imperialist ventures, to give to crew, so they wouldn’t suffer malaria, as they entered and exploited India.

So, the drug was used as a prophylactic, to prevent malaria. Imagine how powerful they felt, drunk on gin and tonic, watching as the colonized people died.