Protesters gather in Trafalgar Square in London (Sky News)
2018 has often felt like the year that would never end. The constant torrent of baffling stupidity and incompetence, and waves of ignorance and lies from our politicians, coupled with shocking brutality from across the world, the need for radical climate change action reaching new and higher levels, and revelations of jaw-dropping poverty at home and across the world. All this news brought to us instantly by the smartphones in our pockets that buzz with a new tweet every few hours; an epidemic obsession which spans the twenty-four-hour news cycle before moving onto the next world-ending phenomenon. It is understandable to have spent much of 2018 in a dazed state of confusion, and questioning if this is all truly happening or if we all just fell through the looking-glass after Ed Miliband ate a bacon sandwich awkwardly in 2015.
Indeed, 2018 has felt like the Shawshank Redemption but with no redemption at the end, to borrow a phrase, and at the end of the year nobody in British politics will be dancing into the new year as joyously as Prime Minister Theresa May danced into the Conservative Party Conference back in September. British politics has been dominated by Brexit drama played out in the corridors of Westminster, but rather than being a high society Shakespearean drama, it has resembled more of a shoddy amateur theatre performance being conducted by political figures that could be debated and beaten in a university politics seminar.
The moment we all fell through the looking-glass – Ed Miliband looks awkward eating a sandwich in 2015 (The Metro)
On the face of it, so much has happened: Theresa May battling her own party and winning (or losing) a leadership election, vast swathes of the cabinet resigning every three months, Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party arguing with itself over the definitions of anti-semitism whilst ignoring the Brexit calamity, President Trump arriving in late Summer and advising the Prime Minister to ‘sue the EU’, the continued spectre of Nigel Farage haunting us through the medium of LBC soundwaves and growing momentum for a second referendum dubbed the ‘People’s Vote’ – it would appear to have been a feast for anyone mildly interested in Brexit British Politics. However, not much has changed as Parliament is still no closer to agreeing on a withdrawal agreement then at the start of the year, despite the deal the Prime Minister has proposed. The hard-core disaster Brexiteers in her party, having spent the best part of two decades saying the EU has stolen our sovereignty, have conceded that Theresa May’s deal would actually concede more sovereignty to the EU than staying in the EU would and as such aren’t likely to vote for this deal- nor is the Remain supporting sect of the Conservatives, nor are the Labour Party or any of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Greens and anyone else in Parliament.
And whilst Jeremy Corbyn might think Theresa May is indeed a “stupid woman”, more and more members of the public, and the Labour Party, are starting to think Corbyn might also be a stupid man – gone are the halcyon days of 2017 when we, including myself, were joyously chanting “Jez We Can” and “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”, having been replaced by an ever-growing feeling of maybe, well, “Jez We Can’t”. From Corbyn’s constant struggle to denounce anti-Semitism, and then being caught by the graves of dead terrorists, coupled with the awakening from the collective denial that Corbyn isn’t anti-EU, has led to a crisis of confidence in Corbyn. Despite a year of Parliamentary intrigue and back-stabbing, to quote Theresa May directly, “nothing has changed”. British Brexit politics has felt a lot like the moment a Labour MP grabbed the ceremonial mace in Parliament – a shock moment of “wow, something is happening!” followed by an awkward pause, and a realisation that we are still stuck in paralysis.
Outside of Brexit and the United Kingdom, the rest of the world has also been going through a moment of crisis and collective despair. The European Union is gearing up for a challenge from nationalist forces across the continent in the upcoming European Union Parliamentary elections – tub-thumping nationalists throughout Europe have become emboldened, such as Orban in Hungary and Salvini in Italy, and present a resounding threat to Europe’s liberal democratic order. Across the Atlantic Ocean in the United States… it is perhaps best not to waste words on the Trump administration, which is one of the stupidest we’ve seen from the standpoint of stupidity, despite the President’s “very, very, large brain”. Brazil went on to elect a man who advocated for the sterilisation of black people and mass deforestation of the Amazon, Australia continued to turn away the ‘boat-people’, the grotesque brutality of the Saudi Arabian regime was unveiled as the regime chopped up journalists and starved children in Yemen and, rather more worryingly, the United Nations rang the climate change alarm bell warning us we have only twelve years to drastically reduce emissions if we are to avoid ‘climate catastrophe’.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez leads a protest of young people outside Nancy Pelosi’s Washington office (New Yorker)
To despair is the easy reflex when confronted with all of this – the literal weight of the world. But, to despair is to immediately give up. We must always choose hope and optimism; wherever we look there will always be a source of inspiration, and therefore optimism and hope. This lightness can be felt through the small-scale changes and steps that were made this year: France banning supermarkets from throwing away excess food; numerous animals are no longer endangered; and the steepening efforts to reduce plastic waste in the oceans. There were also a multitude of large-scale social movements that took to stream: abortion became a right in Ireland through referendum; newly elected members of the American congress began drafting a “Green New Deal” to radically address climate change; Bernie Sanders led a charge to stop the US sponsored war in Yemen; Democratic candidates, Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams, ran insurgent and unashamedly progressive campaigns in red states and came within a fraction of winning, proving that progressive politics can appeal to everyone; the art of protest has returned with hundreds of thousands of people turning out across the West, protesting against the likes of Trump, Brexit and Macron’s punitive carbon tax, and thus largely against the failure of neoliberal capitalism.
Indeed, all of this may seem like clutching at straws as we wade through the mud, trying to find our way through the year; but, again, without the ability to look for these nuggets of hope we would all despair and truly nothing would get done. When heading into the new year, the year of 2019, we should be looking at the aforementioned examples for a source of inspiration. But beyond that, we should be looking around at the inspiration found in the people that surround you– nothing continues to inspire myself more than the generation around me, a generation that looks at the current political elite, all heading beyond their fifties, and doesn’t feel disillusioned but rather feels anger. They channel this anger into action, and have become a generation that stands at the crossroads of history with the tenacity and the drive to change our society and world into a better one. So, when the clock ticks into 2019, and 2018 is consigned to history, take the memories of the year not as a burden but as lessons to be learnt- that can help shape 2019 and beyond into better years.
Despair is easy, hope is difficult – but no progress that was ever made was done because it was easy.
Two Angry Voices 