A Year of dashed hopes & Disappointments
No irony was greater, no hope more callously dashed than living through a year that promised a return to normalcy but ended up rudderless, with more chaos than the one that preceded it.
January:
Coronavirus was still ravaging the world when the new
year came along, and with it, a lot of hope, partially because of the availability
of vaccines, though many governments continued to weigh the possibility of
lockdowns. In the U.S., while former President Donald Trump continued to
contest the outcome of the 2020 Presidential elections, the two remaining Senate
races in Giorgia were won by Democrats, dealing a further blow to his grip on American
politics through Congress. Then one of the most significant political events in
American history happened when Trump encouraged his supporters to storm the
Capitol to prevent the certification of a new President, an event that has been
likened to an attempted coup. No matter, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th
President of the United States, and, at his inauguration, a new poet was born.
February:
The second month of the year arrived with its surprises,
even though hope for a return to
normalcy was still high. In the U.S., as in
many parts of Europe, the distribution of vaccines had begun in earnest and so
had the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump for inciting the January 6th
insurrection. Then a familiar element—a shooting in Oklahoma quickly established
the mood that would eventually become a defining disposition of the soul of America
throughout the year. Elsewhere, the Army Generals in Myanmar, with whom Nobel
laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, had collaborated and even defended over the
Rohingya genocide, staged a coup that rubbished her victory at the polls. The
bad news kept rolling in, with tensions continuing to flare in Russia over its
deteriorating relationship with Ukraine, and an Ebola outbreak in Guinea. But
it was not all bad news: In the U.S., the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, and
Marijuana was decriminalized in New Jersey.
March:
This month witnessed what was described as the
deadliest day in the military’s reaction to the Myanmar coup protests. It also witnessed
the death of a head of state, John Magufuli, the 61-year-old president of
Tanzania, a noted coronavirus skeptic who was believed to be killed, ironically,
by the coronavirus. What followed were several more deaths by the virus in many
parts of the world, and by a bomb explosion in Somalia.
April:
For a month that’s easily identified by April Fool’s
pranks, not much of what happened in April was laughable. Certainly not with
the rising tension in Jerusalem between Arabs and Israeli soldiers, or with the
violence that gripped Northern Ireland due to sore points in the Brexit deal.
Or when Egypt seized the giant EverGreen ship that blocked the Suez Canal for
two weeks. Or even when a fire in the Ibn
al-Khatib hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, left 82 people dead and 110 others
injured. In the U.K., Prince Philip, the queen’s husband of 75 years, died at
age 99. And in Texas, a law that added several new restrictions and criminal
penalties relating to voting came into effect, creating alarm and protests.
May:
The month was heralded by protests and violence and
death. There was a stabbing in New Zealand, a deadly drug raid in Brazil, a
violent clash at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a school shooting in Russia,
a bomb attack at a Kabul school in Afghanistan, and protests in Colombia and
Berlin, mainly against coronavirus restrictions and the resultant economic
difficulties. A Cable Car accident in Italy brought the country to tears and
shattered the hopes of the tourism industry just as the nation was reopening
after months of lockdown. In unrelated developments, hundreds of remains were
found in Canada of indigenous people, renewing awareness of the atrocities
perpetrated against them decades earlier.
June:
In the U.S., the perennial gun violence did not
disappoint. There were shootings throughout an entire week and an orgy of
violent attacks across the country. While this was going on, Juneteenth was
made a holiday by an act of Congress. In Africa, the military staged a coup in
Mali, and the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, banned Twitter in
retaliation for having his tweet about glorifying violence flagged. On the
other side of the world, Israeli voters toppled long-time prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, and the country formed a multi-party coalition government. The month
ended the way it began—in sorrow—when the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo
building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed.
July:
As Florida struggled to come to terms with the aftermath
of the collapse of the Champlain Towers, violence continued unabated across the
U.S. A standoff in the Texas parliament led to lawmakers from the Democratic
Party leaving the state. July also marked the seizure of firearms in Denver,
Utah sandstorm crash, a political crisis in Nicaragua, rising tensions in
Afghanistan, a plane crash in the Philipines, and the assassination of Haitian
President, Jovenel Moise.
August:
After making steady gains across the country, it was
not surprising when the Taliban took
control of Afghanistan and chaos erupted
as the U.S. struggled to evacuate both its citizens and its Afghan allies. In
Zambia, opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema defeated President Edgar Lungu in
a shocking landslide election victory. And Britain faced a rare mass shooting
in Plymouth when a 22-year-old shot people across multiple areas, killing five
and terrorizing the seaside town. In Lebanon, a fuel tank exploded in the Akkar
region, killing 20 and injuring 75. At a German university, seven people were poisoned,
and in Nigeria, on a rare bright note, kidnapped school children were released.
In the meantime, the Tokyo Olympics continued.
September:
Bombings in Somalia, a coup in Guinea, and a terrorist
attack in New Zealand ushered in the new month, which went downhill from there.
A gunman at the Perm State University in Russia killed 8 students and wounded
many, and, in an unneighborly disposition, both South and North Korea, launched
missiles, creating fear of a renewed conflict. Ecuador saw its deadliest prison
riot on record, allegedly sparked by clashes between rival gangs linked to drug
trafficking at the Penitenciaria del Litoral, a facility in the coastal city of
Guayaquil which resulted in the death of 119 inmates. Meanwhile, Afghanistan
teetered on the verge of economic collapse as Lebanon announced the formation
of a new government.
October:
Across the world, as hope faded, violent protests,
fuel shortages, and tragedies rocked many countries. In Haiti, a territory
already in turmoil following the assassination of its president, a gang called
Mawozo, kidnapped 17 missionaries of the Christian Aid Ministries—five men,
seven women, and five children—demanding a $17 million ransom: $1million for
each person. In Sudan, a military coup toppled the interim government, a low
voter turnout marked the Iraqi election, and, amid this madness, amazingly,
North Korea opened communication with South Korea.
November:
December:
With about a week to go before the end of the year, it
seemed 2021 would end the way it began—on its knees.
