Though hurricane season was a little calmer than usual in the Atlantic, earthquakes in places like Turkey and
New Zealand caused widespread damage and loss of life. These of course paled in comparison to the quake off the coast of Japan back in April which triggered a massive tsunami and caused widespread devastation in Japan, and brought that country to the brink of a nuclear disaster as well.
Closer to home, 160 people were killed back in May when a tornado struck Joplin, Missouri. There were heat waves, shark attacks, fires, infrastructure failures and many more tragic events that caused damage and loss of life. However most of 2011’s biggest disasters were caused by man.
Of course topping that list has to be the European debt crisis. After bailouts for Ireland and then Portugal, the state of Greece’s finances has been the focus of the EU for well over a year. Greece however is somewhat of a different story that their fellow PIIGS, as it has come to light that they Greeks joined the Euro fraudulently and with the help of US investment banking giant, Goldman Sachs. While the collapse of the Greek economy in and of itself would not be enough to bring down the mighty Euro, it would clearly create a crisis of confidence which would lead to a chain reaction causing major problems for Europe’s larger economies and eventually crippling the economies of the Euro-Zone.
What we’ve seen in 2011 is that creditors have been increasing the spread (the amount of interest they require) on debt from countries like Italy and Spain. This effectively raises the borrowing costs of these countries and when the rates get high enough it becomes difficult for the borrower to service their debt… thereby increasing the likelihood of their own default. France and Germany have now acknowledged that this would lead to a chain reaction that would eventually have consequences for them and Merkozy has finally decided to take steps towards solving the problem. This after much encouragement from Harper, Obama and their counterparts in Japan, the UK and elsewhere.
Goldman’s actions have caused governments to take on record levels of debt, while companies are making record profits, but won’t spend or create jobs because they don’t have confidence that their profits will last… meanwhile, banks are tightening credit, making small and medium scale stimulus form the private sector more and more difficult. This has given rise to the “Occupy movement”, which then spread from its roots on New York’s Wall Street, to cities across the US and all around the world. While many of these protests have since been dispersed, they are seen by many as the first sign that even citizens in “rich” western democracies are frustrated with the state of global affairs and are beginning to mobilize in an effort to take some power back or affect positive change for the “99%”.
Amid all this turmoil, here in Canada, there was a political “feel-good” story for a change this year… there were elections in nearly every province and territory in 2011. Ironically, several incumbents were re-elected in this year when so many are demanding change. Perhaps the most notable change in Canada’s political landscape was the rise of the NDP, particularly in Quebec where the party had virtually no footprint at all before now. Jack Layton, born in Hudson, Quebec and long-time Toronto city councillor led the party to official opposition status, while Harper’s Tories finally got the majority they’ve been chasing after successive minority governments. The by-product of this was the virtual annihilation of both the Liberal Party of Canada and the Bloc Quebecois as major players in Canadian federal politics. Sadly Layton lost his battle with cancer this summer and the NDP is no in the hands of a few veteran MPs, and dozens of young political rookies. They’ll have a few years until the next election to grow into their roles and it will be interesting to watch their maturation during that period.
What is clear is that the times are changing. US has now withdrawn from Iraq, NASA shuttle program is over, poverty in the US is very high, perhaps shockingly so. 2011 has also seen an alarming rise to a right wing, anti-immigration movement in Europe. It has been building for some time but when Anders Behring Breivik massacred young Norwegians this summer, his beliefs and the question of how to address this type of xenophobia drew global attention.
People of all walks of life seemed to be reaching a breaking point in 2011; many of these individuals sadly are reacting with wild acts of violence and extremism. And one of the biggest movements actually began in late 2010 in Tunisia when Mohammed Bouazizi decided to set himself on fire rather than carry on with life as usual in this repressive Muslim state. Bouazizi could never have known what this lone act of defiance would create. Not only did his home country of Tunisia quickly overthrow its dictator and proceed to free elections… but similar revolutions sprung up across the Arab world. Egypt, Yemen, Libya and Syria have seen blood spilled as their people yearn for social change. Not even Saudi-Arabia was immune… however the house of Saud was very quick to grant changes that would appease the people while solidifying its own power. This kept the uprising in their kingdom to a minimum.
The world also lost some big names this year, from politics, business and the arts. Many of the people on that list helped change the world we know today, be it through revolution, classic performances or providing space aged products no one would have dreamed of just a generation ago. Others were more infamous, but still had an impact on the world, or at least their corner of it.
Though there was a lot of gloom and doom in 2011, it wasn’t all bad news. Just ask people in Winnipeg who got their hockey team back after 15 long Manitoba winters, and they’re about to open a new football stadium there as well. There’s also the story of a young girl who was presumed killed in the tsunami there years ago, and has now been reunited with her family after so many years. Sports provided a big boost to earthquake ravaged New Zealand when their All-Blacks won the 2011 rugby world cup… and the Japanese women’s soccer team seemed to have magic on their side this year and would not be denied in winning the FIFA women’s world cup 2011.
Difficult to concentrate on the positives with so much turmoil both here at home and around the world. Who knows what 2012 will bring as well… we do know there will be an election in the US that will dominate the media in that country for the entire year. It looks now like Russia might be the next political powder-keg overseas. Somehow, many people seem to be optimistic, even though more and more of them are struggling to make ends meat. “Disposable income” seems to be a thing of the past for many people, as wages in most western economies haven’t been keeping up with the cost of living, and people are increasingly going into personal debt to buy the things they want and need. But somehow there is a positivity, and optimism among many that they will overcome these obstacles… that things will get better, so long as they keep fighting.
And so I’ll leave you on that positive note… that yes, the world is in dire straits in many respects… (And the author has consciously omitted environmental issues from this posting), however, each day new children are born into our world of now more than 7 billion. Each day more of them are attending school. The internet and social media allows the people to communicate now with anyone in the world, sharing ideas and concepts in ways that were never possible until recently. The future may indeed be very bright as the human race seems to slowly be gaining the upper hand on the AIDS epidemic and is creating new ideas on renewable energy and conservation every day.
So it seems we’re in the midst of a difficult period for now… but have faith in yourselves and in your fellow man… things will get better for us all, and you too can play a part.
Have a great 2012!
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