2021 – A Year Best Forgotten

This past year saw the continuation of a variety of the uncertainties that plagued us in 2020.

Covid-19 continued to percolate apace, leaving millions of victims in its wake while morphing into new variants. The latest omicron variant poses real danger of mass contagion. We are facing yet another major Covid-19 crisis and any promise of returning to pre-Covid days seems remote indeed. Thanks to the proliferation of vaccines, however, death rates are down as more of us get protected from the most dangerous ravages of this rapidly evolving disease.

The politicization of Covid-19 continues as millions of people around the world believe in the “big lie” about the dangers of the vaccine propelled by unscrupulous leaders who see this as an opportunity to exert influence over their populations.

The attacks against fact-based science, institutions and new organizations continues in many countries, as ignorance is unwittingly embraced by significant numbers who have come to mistrust these traditional sources of information.

On January 6th, the world witnessed an insurrection at the U.S. capitol by thousands of followers of former President Trump, millions of whom continue to buy into false narratives and who refuse to believe that he lost the 2020 presidential election. 

Thus the U.S. continued its decline in the eyes of many as state governments attacked voting rights for minorities. One can question if the U.S. is losing its democracy, as it becomes increasingly divided between those who support democracy and those who seek a more autocratic form of government. This may sound like an exaggeration, but it is a view that I hold and that seems to be increasingly buttressed by developments in that country.

Divisions in the U.S. reflected divisions globally, as the U.S. and other liberal democratic countries sought ways to counter aggressive policies by Russia and China to establish authoritarian rule as the model for the future.

Indeed, President Biden hosted a summit of democracies to create a synergy capable of containing authoritarianism and enhancing democracy.

I believe that the summit will not lead to much.

Over 110 countries were invited to attend the virtual two-day gabfest, including several countries with questionable democratic credentials. Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are two that come to mind. In the 1950’s then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles excused U.S. support for dictatorships saying, “their leaders may be sons of bitches, but they are our sons of bitches”. The same appears to have happened in the case of selecting guests to this conclave, leaving some to question the validity of this process. 

According to The Guardian, 2020 was the fifth consecutive year in which countries veering towards authoritarianism outnumbered those experiencing democratisation. 

International IDEA, a highly credible think tank,  expects this trend to continue for 2022. The number of backsliding democracies has doubled in the past decade, accounting for a quarter of the world’s population. In addition to “established democracies” such as the US, the list includes EU member states Hungary, Poland and Slovenia.

We will see what progress is made when this summit meets again next December.

Reading the above, one may conclude that I have a gloomy vision of 2022 given the situation the world find itself in in 2021. 

That is correct.

Dozens of local wars continue unabated in many regions. Russia and the West are embroiled in a dangerous game of brinksmanship over Ukraine, and China continues to threaten Taiwan with invasion and annexation, setting the stage for a potential military confrontation with the U.S. and its allies.

The United Nations and other regional multilateral organizations appear to be incapable of addressing these many issues, as member states severely limit any mandate to do good if it conflicts with their own national interests.

Thus, although I am pleased to see the back of 2021, I will definitely embrace 2022 with much trepidation.

Let’s hope that I am wrong!

Edición: Laura Espejo