As 2023 draws to a close, I provide a reflection on the turbulence and conflicts that have emerged over the past year. Ranging from economic instability and widening inequality to geopolitical tensions heightened by the war in Ukraine and the flare-up of violence between Israel and Palestine, these crises have exacerbated polarisation, radicalisation, and ethno-religious tensions across societies. Yet amidst the turmoil, there is reason for hope in the groundswell of grassroots solidarity transcending divides as ordinary people unite to demand justice and human rights. By calling for compassionate leadership to heal rifts and build bridges, communities can come together with openness, courage, and cooperation to address complex problems and slowly forge a more peaceful path forward. I highlight both the challenges ahead and the possibility of progress through empathy and unity.
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2023 is about to end, and it is now time to reflect on the year, think ahead to what may come in 2024, and plan accordingly if at all possible. It’s been a turbulent year as policymakers continue to steer the global economy back to a level of stability knocked aside by covid. However, ‘greedflation’ became a word on its own as it became apparent that corporations have been keeping prices artificially high in order to extract surplus value while keeping consumers on edge as they struggle with cost-of-living crises. Various governments have hiked interest rates to curb domestic demand as a means to cool down spending, but unless carefully managed, recessions will occur even though those wage increases have been in line with inflation, although, as always, the public sector lags behind the private, which has accelerated ahead. However, if central banks pivot at the right moment, fear and gloom may be avoided, and a healthy bounce back could be restored. Markets have priced in interest rate cuts in 2004, with the S&P500 surging ahead based effectively on nine tech stocks, which many argue are overbought. The fact that neoliberal economics continues to dominate the political and cultural landscape of economics is not surprising to critical thinkers, who argue that the reality of a well-worn system is likely to create more failures in the future.
One of the implications of the neoliberal, small-government, low-tax models, in particular in Western Europe, is that they lead to widening economic disparities, which also create the conditions for polarisation and social divisions that dogmatic hegemonic political elites are only too willing to exploit because they do not have the answers to the problems facing ordinary members of society. These populist and more authoritarian actors are well aware that their colleagues in the city have other interests, frequently driven by oligarchic monopolies that seek to maximise shareholder returns at all costs, so they choose to take advantage of divisions for political purposes rather than try to eliminate them entirely. Years of wage stagnation have amplified polarisation across societies, eroding social cohesion. Poverty and hardship have deepened for disadvantaged communities as support systems fail to meet growing needs. Consequently, distrust in the political establishment has taken root, with disengagement and disillusionment regarding governance surging. This breakdown threatens democracy in traditionally stable Western nations. It leads not just to polarisation but also, in some cases, radicalisation and, in some cases, violent extremism.
While the war in Ukraine has raged on, with neither side claiming anything near victory, this slow-burning war continues to rattle the minds of westerners transfixed by the idea of good vs. evil but has few solutions except to arm one side while simultaneously economically destabilising the other with little real effect. The long and unnecessary war remains a concern for Western economies, but there seems to be limited genuine interest in ending it. Meanwhile, on October 7, something else was to occupy the minds of many around the globe, not just the West. The armed wing of Hamas and other Islamist fighters carried out a daring raid. In response, the incessant Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza, which has thus far killed over 20,000 people, including over 9,000 children, has effectively razed Gaza to the ground, rendering 1.9 million Gazans homeless. This all came in response to the intensified Hamas rocket attacks in October and the unprecedented attack on a Kibbutz and Supernova Music Festival outside of the perimeters of Gaza, carried out by 2,000 fighters who emerged from the ground to hold siege to hundreds of Israelis, killing 1,137, which includes many innocent men, women, and children, while kidnapping over 250 in an attack that lasted 7 hours. Geopolitical divisions have come to the fore as a result of the initial Hamas-led attack and the full might of the Israeli war machine. Global reactions displayed a split along historical alliances: while Western governments voiced solidarity with Israel, general citizens protested what they saw as disproportionate aggression. As a result of the hateful rhetoric surrounding this crisis, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic prejudice have grown in the aftermath. Tensions from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have reinforced exclusionary narratives, heightening hostility towards already highly visible (and highly invisible) minority groups.
This recent attack on Gaza has divided politics in society in the most stark of ways. Politicians have expressed hitherto unrestricted support for ‘Israel to defend itself’ until a few brave leaders have changed their tune in recent weeks and are beginning to call out the brutal actions of the Israeli government. Millions of people have lined the streets of capital cities every weekend since the conflict started. This division between state actors and ordinary citizens continues to grow as governments speak against the protesters rather than the occupiers in a land that has seen bloody conflict for over 75 years, largely meted out by the dominant against the dominated and the suppressor against the suppressed. To call out Israel has to be done in a sensitive way; otherwise, one faces the charge of anti-Semitism. Numerous scholars, journalists, and broadcasters have been silenced by their institutions for expressing justifiable moral outrage against what is routinely felt to be an asymmetric response against a body of people who have seen pain and suffering as the norm. Before the recent events, Gaza was routinely described as an ‘open prison’, although the concept of prison needs to be taken with a pinch of salt because it suggests that somehow and in some way the people within those walls have done something wrong. ‘Concentration camp’ would perhaps be potentially sensitive because it alludes to what were essentially death camps during the Second World War that killed 6 million Jews and 12 million others, such as the Roma, leftists, Poles, Soviet civilians, intellectuals, and anybody with seemingly physiologically anomalous features such as a nose that was perhaps a little too wide. Currently, Gaza is a hellhole where millions of people are homeless and starving, with aid blocked or made impossible to access due to the severity of the ongoing conflict. The view that somehow the political leaders do not see Gazans as humans in the same way as Ukrainians is taking hold among many who feel that the protests are not heard in some cases and, in others, brutally put down. Given the unprecedented attacks by Hamas-led fighters on 7 October, the response was always going to be extreme, but few could have imagined that more than three months later, the killing of Palestinians not just in Gaza but in the occupied West Bank is as fierce as it was at the start of the Israeli operations, with little sign of it abating.
Back in Europe, socioeconomic forces, widening inequality, and geopolitical conflicts have trapped Muslim populations at the intersection of converging crises, as some blame them collectively for militant actions and direct vitriolic attacks against them. This convergence creates an increasingly toxic environment for Muslim minority groups across global contexts. However, a notable bright light has emerged: grassroots solidarity transcending political and social divides. People from all walks of life have taken part in large-scale protests around the world to demand justice and human rights for Palestinians who have been the victims of recent violence. Jews, Muslims, and Christians are united against the wall of silence from political actors who continue to justify the attacks on Gaza while at the same time continuing to support the Israeli war machinery through supplies of sophisticated weaponry and its associated technology. Politicians foolishly cling to their version of the truth as the only viable narrative, ignoring the outcries and anguish of ordinary people who see, feel, and respond to the cries and tears of Palestinians—a people forgotten due to the willful blindness of Western politicians and their patently one-sided relationship with the military-media-industrial complex.This organic groundwell offers a ray of hope that empathy and unity can overcome divisions. Perhaps such consensus-building can provide a path forward in addressing complex root causes of tensions at both local and global levels in the long term.
The tempestuous events of late 2023 underscore an urgent need for nuanced, compassionate leadership to heal societal rifts and build bridges across differences. With openness and courage, communities can come together through shared priorities for justice, inclusion, and human dignity. Though the road ahead remains challenging, the solidarity emerging on the ground provides hope that complex problems can be addressed through cooperation rather than fracture. With active care and courage, a more peaceful path forward may slowly emerge.