The Year That Was

A year ago, few people had Heard of Volodymyr Zelensky, and those who had thought of the comedian turned politician as a lightweight. 

What a difference a year makes!

As Shakespeare once wrote, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”.

The invasion of Ukraine in February saw Zelensky rise to greatness as a wartime leader capable of galvanizing Ukrainians while inspiring support from people everywhere to fight against the Russian aggression. 

He stood up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has shown the world what a true leader is. He has never faltered throughout this difficult year and has demonstrated a level of courage and competence rarely seen these days.

A few days ago, TIME magazine named Zelensky “Man of the Year” – a well-deserved honor for a man who has taught us so much.

This was a spark of light in an otherwise difficult year.

The United Kingdom saw three Prime Ministers in three months as highly controversial Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned, his successor, Liz Truss, lasted only 45 days before Rishi Sunak took over. 

In addition, Queen Elizabeth II passed away and left the Kingdom in the hands of her son, Charles III. Her legacy is well cemented in the UK, in the fifteen countries in which she reined, and throughout the Commonwealth and the rest of the world.

Her son has huge shoes to fill and many wonder whether his reign will be successful or whether the monarchy will be questioned by a growing number of Brits, Canadians, Australians and others over whom he reigns.

COVID continued to spread and infect hundreds of thousands around the world while political leaders loosened regulations calling for global masking, preferring to give in to peoples’ demands and act as if there were no danger. Schools, a major source of COVID spread, reopened with no masking provisions exposing all to the disease. 

Indeed, China avoided this posture and, as a result, faced huge demonstrations that threatened the very existence of the Communist government of Xi Jinping. While many leaders were remiss in continuing sensible measures, the Chinese government reverted to draconian measures that raised the ire of its citizens. The resulting repression the government unleashed only fueled the protests more and led to the government rescinding some of these measures and giving in to protesters demands. 

It remains to be seen if this will dampen protests or whether Xi’s decision to revert to greater centralism and Marxist policies will motivate further demonstrations and create the instability many hope will result in real change.

Iran’s morality police murdered a young lady, Mahla Amini, for not wearing her headscarf properly. The demonstrations have been violent and massive, bringing together all sectors of society against a brutal Islamic dictatorship. Strongman Ayatollah Khamenei’s own sister issued a statement in support of the demonstrators and against her brother’s regime and policies. 

As the death toll rises, the demonstrators appear to be more highly motivated. A number of protestors have been executed by the government. However, demonstrations continue apace. Iran was removed from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and rightfully so. A number of countries shamefully voted in favor of Iran or abstained. This will forever stain their commitment to women’s rights as a basic human right all must respect.

The big question is whether the current demonstrations can prevail and, in fact, produce a major change in this country and lead to a government that respects human rights and joins the mainstream international order.

Latin America continued its shift towards the left with the election of former and future President Lula da Silva who beat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Thus, another right-wing populist was defeated, and Lula is expected to usher in a more moderate government and return Brazil to its former role in geopolitics.

Leftist Peruvian President Pedro Castillo dissolved Congress in the midst of myriad investigations into his financial state and called for elections to elect a new congress with powers to draft a new constitution. In turn, the Congress stripped him of power, and he was arrested by police. 

While some leftist populist leaders have supported Castillo, Chile’s leftist President Gabriel Boric and Brazil’s Lula supported the move by Peru’s congress to remove Castillo for unconstitutional acts. 

This illustrates the fact that some on the Latin American left are maturing from the 20th century knee jerk ideology. Rather, they are looking at making the politics of the left respectful of constitutional governance and democratic institutions and while creating a modern political force that melds social progress with full respect for fundamental human rights.

Finally, global leaders underwhelmed us all with their inability to effectively and decisively address global warming, preferring piecemeal approaches while the world runs out of time.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told thousands of delegates gathered at the Montreal biodiversity conference that, “humanity seems hellbent on destruction. We are waging war on nature…We are treating nature like a toilet. And ultimately, we are committing suicide by proxy”.

The world is crying out for the strong and visionary leadership that President Zelensky has demonstrated.

Instead, we are generally not getting the leadership we need, and this will likely cost us all tremendously as we leave our children a world bereft of clean air and water and full of resentment for our generation that did little to stem the growth of global warming and destruction.

This is my take on the world this year, and on the year that was.

I wish it could be better.

I wish you all a very happy holiday season and much enjoyment of whichever holiday you celebrate. Back again in the New Year!

[email protected] 

Edición: Ana Ordaz