At the end of a decade

A year is about to end, and with it a decade as well. And it has been a very eventful one. If anything, this decade has been the decade of revolutions. This decade was also one with the biggest humanitarian crises, refugees on the rises and many civil wars. Virtually every country has a war ridden neighbor from where people fled; sometimes with other nations, sometimes with itself. This decade has also seen the worst form state sponsored terrorism and authoritarianism. This is the decade where I have learned about double tap strikes and poison gas attacks. This is the decade when we chose to ignore and look aside when people have been ruthlessly killed; we sent them thoughts and prayers from the comfort of our couch. 

This is the decade when fearmongers and dividers in chief came to power. This is the decade when information is weaponized; and propaganda was re-invented. This is the decade when we saw the meteoric rise of hate sellers to the most powerful positions in the world. This is the decade when the countries, which were the beacon of democracy and freedom, fell into fascism and intolerance, one way or another. This is the decade which gave power to far right thorughout the world. This decade saw the rise of anti-vaccine advocates. This is the decade when the right to privacy is an all-time low; this is the decade where police states took seat in our back porch. 

This is the decade when we have seen the worst climate crisis and disaster. There wasn’t a month that went by without a record breaking, never seen in our life kind of disaster striking some place in the world: Biggest floods, fiercest hurricanes, coldest winters, and hottest summers were seen in this decade. We have lost a lot of forests to corporate greed and some more to fires. Biggest cities in the world gasped for clean air. And we have also seen the worst contributors to this crisis flatly rejecting these facts. 

But it was not all bad. We have also seen a few sparkles of light here and there. Whistleblowers who risked everything, including life, to bring shady deeds of states to light. We had loudest voices championing sustainable development. We have seen kind hearts rushing to the rescue of people in the most dangerous corners of world. We had voices asking for good education, responsible governance, and ever-growing number of youths saying “enough is enough” and don’t hesitate to call a spade a spade. 

The next decade, and the particularly the next year could be the most significant one of our lives. This should be the year where we take definitive action on climate. This will be the year we have the fiercest battles with fascism. This will be the year of action against false propaganda and information warfare. This should be the year where we start paying attention to the politics, and identify the voices of truth and justice. This will be the year where we back the existing and new voices asking for these. This will be the year that we save humanity as we know it. But, most important of all, this is the year that we prove that humanity is still worth saving.