“The parties were bigger. The pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were loser and the liquor was cheaper.”
- F. Scot Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
A grandeur and outlandish depiction of the lifestyle and the world in the 20’s. Fitzgerald was describing the second turn of the decade of the 20th century – a time of prosperity, growth and lavishness. That’s how all major reports of the decade are. Major world-shaping events took place like, the League of Nations established – a symbol of peace between nations.
Women across the free – world revolted against injustice and secure the right to vote.
Literature and art bloomed in this modernist world and print media, government accountability and transparency excelled in the age with the birth of mass media and the rise of pragmatic world leaders.
It was the decade which was once described to be pinnacle of freedom, luxury and all things good with humanity.
This was how the second decade of the last century faired up. A glaring image of success, the sequel promises to be much more different. As the return of the term the 20’ s is imminent with the world entering the decade and year of 2020, this century has stood in blatant contrast to the events of the last century. We have entered the decade with crisis after crisis which the world as a collective has not been able to tackle.
Above is a graphical representation of the most well – known issues the countries of the world have face just in the first 6 months of the start of the decade.
The beginning of the new decade is plagued with what the majority call horrors.
Environmental: A state of emergency was declared in New South Wales, Australia as a fire rapidly spreading through all states amassed an area equivalent of total land area of South Korea.
It was concluded by researchers that the wildfires spread due to dry weather and rising thermometer levels caused majorly by the level increased level of Co2 emissions – i.e. Climate Change.
Political: The assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani as a result of a USA sanctioned drone strike. The reasoning provided for the assassination was alleged proof of involvement of general Soleimani in organised and lethal attacks on American diplomats, workers and interests. In retaliation of these attacks the world came close to see remnants of a worldwide conflict as retaliatory missile strikes were conducted by Iran which even resulted in the ‘unintentional’ death of 176 people aboard a Ukraine passenger jet shot down due to ‘human error.’
Political: In 2020, after an intense battle against House of representative Democrats regarding the alleged impeachable actions of USA President Donald J. Trump, the House of Representatives inaugurated him to a wall shared by just two more US presidents – Andrew Johnson in 1868 (facing 11 articles of impeachment for abuse of power) and Bill Clinton in 1998 (Facing two articles of impeachment – perjury and obstruction of justice). Note: Nixon even though widely believed to be impeached resigned from office and received a pardon from his Vice President after succession.
Trump was charged with two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of congress as he allegedly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate possible wrongdoings of his political rival – Joe Biden. Trump was late impeached in the House but the Senate in February found him not guilty. The entire situation was widely recognised and used as a way to display the hypocrisy of both the political right and left as they used the supreme powers of congress to push forward their party agendas instead of the country’s.
Social: Protests in multiple parts of the world held a mirror to society and its injustices in a way which has rarely been seen, some protests even turned violent taking shapes of riots which also eclipsed the cause it was highlighting and this ongoing scenario has plagued the world in a manner which has not been seen since the unrests akin to the woman’s march of the 1920s and Stonewall protests/riots of the late 1960s.
The ongoing Hong Kong protests urging for democracy and autonomy turned violent due to the intervention of the police forces under instructions from Mainland China as it tries to maintain control over the region.
The continuing protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act continued in India as peacefully it can with abrupt interventions of the police force in riot gear under the command from of the central and local governments.
The French continued their peaceful but rather ineffective protests against the reform in the countries pension system.
Now to the most recent and the most current protests against police brutality after the brutal murder recorded of Geroge Flyod who has now become the most famous image among many highlighting race relations and its reality in modern day America. The protest/riot has received worldwide support and condemnation for its message and brutality respectively. The protest has sparked a global movement highlighting the divide between Blacks and Whites and also an example for the violent and destructive nature of people pressurised through years of soci-economic issues.
With the world moving in such progressive and at the same time destructive measures, it warrants a deeper exploration on the concept of revolution vs reform and the effectiveness or the lack of it both the school of thoughts has. Even though this warrants a deeper exploration one aspect of it needs to be highlighted immediately. The unexpected ‘wokeness’ of many international brands stemming through these protests which is used as nothing more than a marketing stunt as companies like Apple and Disney etc. speak on these issues and regularly violate human and labour rights through their immoral practices like sweatshops and inhumane handling of their workers. All this will be covered more deeply in our next posts as the actions of people across the world continue, so will the coverage and debate on these issues.
Health: Talking about plagues we come to the mother-load of the issues affecting the global community right now – A pandemic by the name of Novel Coronavirus or COVID – 19. The virus which has brought the entire world to its knees in this new decade affecting all factors of society from its economic, social and political impact on world business, human psychology and government efficiency and elections respectively. Many of the topics being affected by the COVID – 19 virus will be covered in our posts for this month.
Now that we have discussed the multiple issues which have emerge and seemed to darken the start of the decade which less than a century ago was a time of prosperity and growth, it’s time we look at how this has impacted humans. Tiresome is a word which describes it well personally and on an institutional level. People are feeling the burden of these issue on their mental health due to the emergences of personal economic and social issues and governments and countries feel its pressure as it affects their economy and political institutions.
One thing we did not touch on is the taxing parts of the 1920s as well. We talked about the multiple victories and laurels of the time but even that decade faced similar issues as with prosperity and gain comes eventual downfall. We did not even touch on an incident which started in the 1920s whose effect is still being felt today –
The re-emergence of Klu Klux Klan after their brief disappearance in the 1870s was fuelled by multiple effects of the ‘roaring 20’s’ some of which were considered laurels like prohibition.
The point here is that all years, all decades and every minute spent by the human race has been met by both its darkest times and it’s brightest. This year, this tiresome year in many ways is one of our darker times but the hope we all collectively channel as human beings to come off better and stronger should not diminish due to the depressing elements of our times. Like it’s said, “Humanity’s darkest days have always been followed by its brightest.” As long as that thought exists and persists in the minds of every individual in the 21’st century - change will follow, and we can only hope for it to be brighter than our present.
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