By Laura Bramall (Photo: https://www.preparing4care.co.uk/information/latest-news/memory-haven-is-an-award-winning-app-for-dementia-patients-built-by-teenage-girls.htm)
It is hard to look back on 2020 with much positivity, especially as we stay at home over Christmas and New Year watching the number of cases rising day by day, seemingly unstopped by our dutiful wearing of masks and avoidance of the pub. I’m sure that I speak on behalf of all the writers who have written for Voices when I extend our deepest sympathies to those readers who have lost loved ones or are suffering physically or mentally because of the virus. To those who have spent Christmas alone or who have been confined in an unhappy home during the lockdowns, we are extremely grateful for your selflessness in helping to protect others. In spite of the pain and frustration that this year has brought to so many people all around the world, however, it is vital that we look back with some positivity, and perhaps more importantly, look forwards with hope.
Pandemic aside, it is likely that there has never been a better time to be alive. Those members of our society who have historically been marginalised and oppressed have never had a bigger platform on which to fight, and it is only expanding. The election of Vice-President Kamala Harris is a major victory for women, African Americans, and Asian Americans across the USA, and therefore the world. Her election heralds the end of the Trump administration and the dawn of a new politics that promises to be, at the very least, more aware of female and minority rights. She follows a precedent set by Jacinda Ardern and Katrin Jakobsdottir who have, unsurprisingly, proved to the world that women make powerful and deft political leaders (see Eve Bennet’s piece, originally published in May, and looking back at the first three months of the pandemic). The Biden-Harris camp were victorious at the end of a year which saw the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement all around the world. The tragic murder of George Floyd sparked an international reaction that has rarely been seen before in a clear demonstration that more and more people are willing to fight for justice. On a smaller scale, Harvey Weinstein was jailed for 23 years; a small punishment for the trauma and hurt that he has caused but nevertheless a win for the #MeToo movement and proof that the US justice system is changing.
News that is less likely to have reached British ears is that in May Costa Rica legalised same sex marriage[1]: now 28 countries around the world allow same-sex marriage. Worldwide progress for LGBTQ+ rights may be slow but it is definitely there. Equally positive is that in August the World Health Organisation announced that there had been no new cases of wild poliovirus (polio) on the continent of Africa since 2016. The virus now survives only in Afghanistan and Pakistan;[2] the combination of modern medicine and international logistics in combatting polio is on its way to being completely successful.
On which note, the start of worldwide rollout of two coronavirus vaccines hail the start of a much more positive New Year. 2021 will (with any luck) see the return of our lives to a kind of normal and the restart of all the activities that we love. But there is more to look forward to over the next year. Just one week into the first lockdown, NASA recorded aerosol levels above India at a 20 year low for the time of year.[3] Further, global CO2 emissions have fallen by 7% this year because of lockdowns.[4] This is clear evidence that David Attenborough is right: climate change can be effectively combatted if we act fast. Thanks to the work of many heroes throughout 2020 (thank you Greta!) the next 10 years will see the EU implement some tough new climate laws, starting in July when their ban on single use plastic items will come into effect. It is not just our long-suffering climate that will receive some much needed attention in the near future, but within the next two years Scotland’s 2020 law to make period products free will come into effect across the country’s 32 councils.[5] The implementation of such policies signals a step in the right direction; that new ground will be trodden in 2021 and that it will be improved ground. Support for right wing populist parties has fallen across Europe[6], perhaps as a result of the pandemic, and so there is reason to hope that more positive policies like these are more likely to be voted in.
Reading through the pieces on the blog it is easy to become overwhelmed in the sheer volume and magnitude of issues raised, questions asked, and problems that we need to tackle. But we must also realise what else the blog shows: that there is a body of voices, growing louder and more insistent, fighting for the changes that need to be made. We have been privileged with articles on a wide variety of topics from Abi Watkinson’s and Katie McCarthy’s representations of the fights that the LGBTQ+ community must tackle to John Plowright’s and Will Banks' revelations of what history does (or does not) teach us. This blog is just one very small part of the platform that is developing; 2021 marks another year in the growth of a society that is rapidly widening to include, and (hopefully) listen to, those who have never had chance to voice their opinions and experiences before.
Recovery from the pandemic, and the inequality that it will inevitably cause, will have far reaching impacts and will present a huge task for all to overcome, but we have never been better equipped to deal with a crisis. 2020 brought out the best in humanity, from Captain Tom to the three Nigerian-Irish girls who developed Memory Haven, a pioneering app to help dementia sufferers cope.[7] The New Year will bring a renewed effort for change, from an ever larger and more determined section of society, inspired by heroes such as these. If nothing else, we can look forward to watching the long-anticipated Friends reunion and giving our friends a hug!
[1] https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/26/costa-rica-first-central-america-legalize-same-sex-marriage [2] https://news.sky.com/story/africa-set-to-be-declared-free-of-wild-polio-after-four-years-with-no-new-cases-12056275#:~:text=Africa%20declared%20free%20of%20wild%20polio%20after%20four%20years%20with%20no%20new%20cases,-It%20means%20Afghanistan&text=Africa%20has%20been%20declared%20free,across%20the%20continent%20each%20year. [3] https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146596/airborne-particle-levels-plummet-in-northern-india#:~:text=After%20just%20a%20week%20of,pollution%20in%20many%20Indian%20cities. [4] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/covid-vaccine-climate-change-remote-working-b1768098.html [5] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-51629880 [6] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/26/european-support-for-populist-beliefs-falls-yougov-survey-suggests [7] https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/08/920872666/good-news-story-nigerian-irish-teen-girls-win-prize-for-dementia-app?t=1608761377438