November 28, 2016

The absolute best of 2016

editor:	Gurmeet Singh

I've seen my first end-of-year list: The best books of 2016. This is probably the most innocuous list of this kind - an array of products lined up for the Christmas shopping season (that's a really weird phrase, by the way) for sure, but decent products at least. However, one of my colleagues tells me also one of the reasons journalists spend most of December listing the previous year, and most of January listing the forthcoming year, is because basically they're busy - not just shills that've long since sold out to corporations long ago.

So in the spirit of that, here is my brief list of ways 2016 has actually been a transformational year for us all.

1. The collapse of Western certainty: For sure we've all heard too much about Trump and Brexit already, as well as the potential for France and Italy to similarly give in to a wave of populism - all in all, the Western world has gone from being certain, defined, publicly robust and socially liberal, to uncertain, reactionary and socially regressive. This isn't to say these forces haven't always been present in the Western world, it's just that now, in 2016, these are some of the most concretely powerful forces there are.

2. Climate change is a sure-thing: Nothing new there then. But 2016 is the year that those with most power will have turned their backs on the responsibility to act. While smaller nations like Morocco and Bangladesh recently committed to meet their climate change targets, Trump has publicly committed to only having 'an open mind' about what he has previously described as 'bullshit'. Climate change will always have gone ahead, but now, without American commitment to action on climate change, the environment will spin out of control, and we can look forward to a series of man-made catastrophes ahead.

3. Fundamentalism became the norm: This is the year that all kinds of raging emotions and irrationality became the political norm, with any kind of moderation and reasoned discussion dismissed as 'career politics' or worse, 'centrist nonsense'. Populism has been on the rise for at least a decade, but it never was a global norm: Now, traditional right-wing parties and politicians (like Francois Fillon) look totally moderate by comparison.

4. Social media made its mark: A few years ago, people were celebrating the rise of people-power through social media - the Arab Spring came to represent a new political ideal, where people directly impacted the democracies in which they lived through increased connectivity. That may have been a cause worthy of celebration, but the Arab Spring was an anomaly that quickly subsided into reactionary politics. Instead we have seen the impact that social media truly has. By offering personalized (and often fake) news, people have become more divided, and more easily radicalized online. Well done Zuckerberg.

5. Lists have gotten out of control: OK so nothing happened to our desire to list and bullet-point every global going on this year, but it's true - complexity is disappearing, and lists are partly to blame. I'm sorry I wrote this. Have a great rest of the month, and turn your laptop off, read a book and don't waste any resources. We've got a bad year ahead of us.