2015 was not all doom and gloom. I’m not normally one for excessive optimism but every element of positivity (or is it naivety?) in me would like to believe that. I must admit, it’s a tall order: every week, the headlines inspired little more than sadness, despair and an overwhelming desire to roll over, go back to sleep and hope tomorrow will be better. From floods to brutal and terrifying terrorist attacks, to widening and deepening domestic and global equality, 2015 had more than its fair share of bad news. But there has to have been at least one or two silver linings – a glimmer of hope in a world so devastatingly darkened and embittered by ignorance, injustice and violence – surely?
I see 2015 as a year of bad news demanding good responses. Many would argue that the general election in May was one of those bits of bad news. The Conservative majority had not been predicted by anyone, and so came as a shock for everyone on the political left, right, and centre. Of course for many, election night was an all-nighter worth pulling: an outright Tory victory saw an end to the constraints of coalition government and an opportunity to fully implement George Osborne’s beloved ‘long term economic plan’. But for others, the surprising exit poll was a depressing start to a long night, and an undeniable sense of impending doom descended over the lefties of England and Wales (though notably not in Scotland with its surge in support for the SNP). The rain cloud emoji hovered above our heads, while the smiley sun beamed down on every triumphant Tory voter and MP. (Ah, if only Osborne was merely an emoji…). The election result seemed like a setback for positive progression, and non-Tory commentators wasted no time in either attacking Conservative voters for their choice of allegiance or constructing a plan of action for the next five years, the latter being the more constructive response. The aftermath of the general election saw the rise of the ‘politics of hope’ and with that came a surge in opportunities for collective action and a chance to form an effective and unified opposition to the Conservatives. That was the positive outcome of a negative situation.
Elsewhere in politics, September saw the remarkable election of Jeremy Corbyn as new Labour leader (bye, Ed. Miss you already). This was the culmination of the post-General Election ‘politics of hope’, with Corbyn’s inclusive, friendly politics striking a chord with thousands across the country who rallied behind him for the many weeks of campaigning and, ultimately, voted to give him the largest mandate a Labour leader has ever won. Since then, inevitably, it has not been plain sailing for Jez. Call me idealistic and deluded but I like to think of Corbyn’s leadership as one step towards shifting public opinion to the left over the next five years – an attempt to counteract what, in his book The Establishment, Owen Jones sees as the normalisation of right-wing ideas and policies that have become embedded in British society since Thatcher’s premiership. My ‘politics of hope’ is that even if Corbyn isn’t Labour’s candidate in 2020 his ‘nice’ politics will have seeped into both Parliament and society.
The post-election shake-up also saw UKIP’s fall to the wayside, the growing prominence of feminist ideas in the media and online (and all the trials and tribulations it has and will continue to face) and the success of protests and online petitions in forcing political progress. On New Year’s Eve I received an email from 38 Degrees – a non-profit political-activism site – listing all the things we, the members, achieved in 2015. The list was impressive: with its members’ and petition-signers’ help, it had successfully put pressure on the government on key issues such as cutting tax credits, the potentially damaging and thus far undemocratic discussions over TTIP, and saving the bees. Collective action had a victory in the junior doctor protests and the threat of a strike, which prompted Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to backtrack on proposed changes to their contract, and vital progress was made in creating a unified response to rapidly increasing climate change at the Paris climate summit in November. All positive, albeit baby steps!
If 2015 wasn’t the year for left-wing British politics, it was the year for science and technology. The first full-face transplant was successfully completed by surgeons in New York on a retired fireman and was hailed as “a major milestone and [a] critically important contribution to the advancement of science and medicine” by Robert Grossman, dean of New York University’s Langone Medical Center. In astronomy, NASA found solid evidence of liquid water on Mars and discovered ‘Earth 2.0’, “the closest twin to Earth” outside the solar system. Back on the ground, absorbent concrete was somehow created. Topmix Permeable was revealed in September and can absorb up to 4,000 litres of water in 60 seconds, and a further 600 litres per minute, per metre squadron after that. (Its first big test could have been in Cumbria and Yorkshire during December’s devastating floods…) Significant advances were also made in electric car development, though overshadowed by VW’s emissions scandal.
Any review of 2015 cannot ignore the horrific atrocities committed around the world and the thousands of lives lost to this war of ideologies in which we now find ourselves. The year began, sadly, as it meant to go on: the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris by ISIS gunmen set the tone of violence and barbarity that has so painfully stained the memory of 2015. The terrorist attacks in Beirut, Paris and the U.S., to name but a few, are prime examples of tragic events demanding constructive, considered responses. Unfortunately this is not what they received. Be it the British government’s vote to extend airstrikes to Syria to fight ISIS or Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s offensive and, quite frankly, disgusting calls for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” (which, by the way, Donald, makes no grammatical sense), the reaction by those in positions of power was rushed, populist and critically lacking in both foresight and any regard for history. The response in Britain and many other states in and beyond Europe to the refugee crisis was similarly disheartening and, at least initially, looked a lot like governments burying their collective heads in the sand. Angela Merkel was the only beacon of hope for a human response to what was and is a grave humanitarian catastrophe, but (depressingly predictably) other countries did not follow in Germany’s footsteps.
You could say I’m clutching at straws – 2015 was a year of headlines that metaphorically resembled Storm Frank: grey, depressing and creating a lot of debate – but if we cannot believe there is hope in the darkest of situations, how can we believe in the possibility of change? The solutions to the most influential events of 2015 will continue to be discussed and developed long into 2016 and beyond, and those in power cannot lose sight of hope. On a basic level, hope can be taken from prominent BBC journalists Bridget Kendall and Lyce Doucet who have predicted that 2016 will see the election of both the first woman Secretary General of the United Nations and the first woman president of the U.S., as well as significant setbacks to the establishment of an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (their predictions were right for 2015!). But, ultimately, hope must come from us, not politicians, bankers or media tycoons. We must continue to press for positive change and to learn from the mistakes of 2015. Most critically, we must recognise that we are all human, and if 2015 has taught us anything it is that empathy and hope must go hand-in-hand. Happy new year.
Words by Frankie Vera