2016 was a leap year. More than the 29 days in February, 2016 made its presence felt by terror attacks in France and Germany, political shocks of Brexit in Europe and Trump triumph in US. The Rio Olympics were the highlight in Brazil and the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff on account of fudging budget deficit was the low light. Syrian war became a tragedy unending while the refugee policies of Europe were applauded and reprimanded by various segments in the world. Global world was shaken by the massive Leaks of Panama Papers and many corporate giants like Samsung saw its brand burning out. The coining of the new Oxford dictionary word of post-truth world became intriguing as truth became clouded in the Social media swamp of uninhibited information.
The year marked a trend of world revolt against the traditional politics. With increasing inequality the divide between rich and poor created rebellion and resentment. The fact that $1.9tn wealth of 80 top billionaires is equal to bottom 50% of rest of world is staggering and itself a fully loaded violence preparator. That is why it was a year marked with widespread violence. Nearly every day of the year some terrorist attack took place somewhere in the world. Turkey became the new center of attacks. The style of attacks varied with gun slingers to truck stampeders that proved equally terrorizing. Turkey suffered from a terrorist attack every fortnight of the year beside the attempted coup to topple Erdogan by some factions of the army. Syria and Yemen became the Afghanistan and Iraq of yesteryears where wars are being waged to suppress terror groups.
This unrest and growing world divide was reflected in desperation for change all over the world. Brexit and US elections was a reflection of people voting against traditional established politics. The choice of segregating Britain from Europe and electing Trump was not as much as being pro these candidates but being anti the existing system that has bred unemployment, insecurity and class divide. Any choice made in anger is bound to be irrational and thus no matter how aghast the world is at what has happened in Europe and US it is a reflection of an imbalance in world economy leading to an imbalance in the rationality of voters and masses around the world. Even the ouster of President Park in South Korea is seen as a sign of rejection of traditional system whereby Korean Chaebols of business like Samsung, LG, Huyndai were monopolizing government policies to their advantage. Hillary Clinton’s campaign funding by big business became a matter of great outrage in many segments of the society.
Many heads rolled this year mostly on charges of corruption. The year started with ministers and ended with Presidents. In January 2016 the first to go was Japan’s Economy Minister Akira Amari who said he resigned amid corruption allegations. MrAmari made the announcement at a press conference in Tokyo. But he again denied personally receiving bribes from a construction company, as had been alleged by a Japanese magazine. In February, Ukraine’s economy minister Aivarus Abromavicius resigned in protest at the slow pace of reform in the country. He said he did not want to provide “cover” for widespread government corruption. President Petro Poroshenko brought Mr Abromavicius from Lithuania to help spearhead Ukraine’s reform campaign. But two years after their pro-Western revolution, many Ukrainians felt there has been little change and their country remains mired in corruption. In May the Brazilian Supreme Court justice in charge of the “Lava Jato” (Car Wash) investigation into the massive Petrobras kickback and bribery scandal ordered the removal Thursday of Eduardo Cunha from his position as the speaker of the lower house of the Brazilian parliament. In the lesser developed world Iraq and India also faced ministers who were facing massive scandals and decided to remove them. Iraq’s parliament voted to remove Defense Minister Khalid Obeidi from office over corruption allegations as the country’s armed forces geared up for a major offensive to retake the Islamic State stronghold Mosul.
Panama Papers brought the downfall of some heavy weights. Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson became the first major casualty of the Panama Papers revelations, stepping down on after leaked files showed his wife owned an offshore firm with big claims on the country’s collapsed banks. The other major heads of state to roll were the two female Presidents, Dilma Rouseff of Brazil and Park of South Korea, both impeached on charges of figure fudging and corruption. The end of the year saw the end of South Korean scandal of nepotism and business ties based on them. For months, prosecutors and opposition lawmakers pursued ties between Park and her friend Choi Soon-sil, as well as the links between the president’s office and the family-run chaebol conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai that dominate the economy. The stream of often lurid revelations swelled anger in the nation’s 50 million population amid widening income inequality, soaring household debt, youth unemployment and a slump in once-mighty steel mills and shipyards. This led to her impeachment.
2016 was thus a year of change; but whether it was change for the better or worse only time will tell. The post-truth world is a world where traditional forecasting methods have been mocked by the explosion of social media. Truth can be photoshoped and shaped and deshaped with devastating closeness to genuineness giving rise to moods and feelings that the traditional research methods have failed to capture. Its power to influence and shape the world is phenomenal. The picture of one Syrian refugee child lying dead on a sea shore going viral made Europe change its refugee policies. Similarly, one picture of the Chaiwala in Pakistan made a poor tea boy become a model.
2017 needs a lot of reflection and introspection. Are these voter trends indicative of permanent and effective choices? Are the capitalistic policies in the world being abused to suit the few at the cost of the many? Are the visuals being shown on social media portraying the reality or is it pulp fiction? Are the wars we are waging, against terror or for terror? The answers to these questions must be sought to carve the right direction, as going by the trend and the tide are a recipe of comfortably numb sinking. The one certain thing out of all this uncertainty is that change is imperative. What is perhaps the most certain thing is that a change based on human values of equality, of integrity, of dignity will always be more sustainable in the long run.
The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at [email protected]