It’s over! 2016 is over! Out with the old, in with the new! After all, 2017, all bright and shiny and chromed out on the show floor, barely out of the factory, is bound to be much better than last year. Look at all the dubious events and milestones that plagued the past 12 months. The Olympics, held in the impoverished Rio, we were told were a celebration of competition and the indomitable athletic prowess of humans. It seemed to me to be ludicrous that Rio’s inhabitants were quite literally brushed under the carpet so that the rest of the word could host a self-congratulatory sports tournament in the vain hope that it could stand outside the lived realities, political strife, and inequality of our international order. Some tried their best to remind us, as evidenced by Ethiopian marathoner and would-be silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa’s choice to hold his arms over his head in an “X” in protest of the Ethiopian government’s ethnic cleansing of the Oromo ethnic group.
2016 has been a rough year, yes, but not of its own volition. Inequality of every kind (racial, social, economic) worsened while the so-called silent majority, apparently tired of being told that systemic bigotry was alive and well and ought to be addressed, that passive or active discrimination, espoused under the false labels of freedom of speech and nationalism were just not acceptable, cracked down even harder. All of this was, of course, exacerbated by tensions between the U.S. and Russia, as well as an unprecedented refugee crisis in the wake of the Syrian civil war. Radicalization (Christian, Islamist, Conservative, Fascist masquerading as Conservative) seemed to spring up out of the ground almost endlessly as the result of economic and social stagnation. Brexit all but confirmed it: nationalism is the flavour of the day.
But let’s not kid ourselves, none of this has anything to do with what year it is. Personal goals are always good, and we should set them and strive to achieve them regardless of it being New Year’s or not. But to think, relieved, that the strife that so violently shook so many communities throughout 2016 will end simply because the year is up is foolish, and worse, it’s counter-productive.
Oppressed peoples will not be granted rights because the year has changed. Corruption will not subside because the year has changed. Terrorism will not subside because the year has changed. Donald Trump will still have won the election, Brexit will still have been a thing. We can’t erase those events, only deal with their consequences.
So, here’s what I propose: in 2017, let’s not kid ourselves. The year is up, but the struggle is ever-present. If you’re a resolution-making kind of person, here’s a good place to start: in the coming year, challenge all divisiveness. Read up on the history of oppressed peoples, understand that their struggle is just as valid as yours. Open your heart and your arms, but most importantly, open your mind to new points of view, new ideas.
2016 didn’t suck. We sucked. Let’s own up to it. Gang, we collectively dropped the ball. This coming year, let’s pick it back up and do better.
