We are officially a few days into the New Year: Happy New Year, everyone! Whether you celebrated at home, with family or friends, whether you welcomed the 1st of January in bed or out and about, whether you set New Year resolutions or simply plan to take it day by day, I hope you had a good start to 2025!
If the New Year were a person, she would, almost unnoticed, sneak in through the door and move through the room, being nowhere and everywhere at once. She would wear shiny jewellery bearing the promise of success and achievements, and the hopeful glimmer of new beginnings in her eyes. But she would also flaunt a heavy scarf made of expectations around her shoulders while carrying around a scruffy backpack, old baggage she inherited from her predecessor. It’s a new year - but it’s the same fight for many people around the world.
Across the world and of course, in Gaza, the fight for Palestine’s freedom must persist. Israeli air strikes continue to kill civilians, journalists, and police officers alike, including in designated safe zones, driving the death toll in Gaza up to at least 71 in recent days only. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has banned news outlet Al Jazeera from reporting in the occupied West Bank, a move that is being criticised as a “crime against journalism”. With the start of the New Year, we mustn’t give imperial warmongerers a blank slate but continue to keep them accountable for their crimes.
In their search for a safer haven, 20 passengers of a boat heading towards Italy fell overboard and are missing. According to seven survivors, the boat started taking water only five hours after their departure from Libya and tilted. The Italian police patrol had started a search and rescue operation around the south-west of Lampedusa, where the vessel was found, but gave up when hearing how early the incident had happened. We are all alike in our quest to create better lives for ourselves. As we move into the New Year, let’s not turn a page on extending empathy to each other, and let’s continue fighting for better opportunities for all, especially those who suffer under social, political, and economic injustice.
After a Jeju airplane crash on Sunday, the families of the 179 victims await the results from the plane’s black box that has been flown to the US for further investigation. A memorial service took place on Wednesday on the site of the crash while the South Korean government has begun safety inspections of all 101 Boeing 737-800s operated by the country’s domestic airlines in light of the nation’s deadliest aviation disaster in decades. South Korea has also made headlines for its impeached president Yoon instigating a standoff with anti-corruption investigators, effectively halting his arrest. Yoon’s impeachment was prompted by his short-lived imposition of martial law to presumably protect the nation from North Korea. However, experts see his decision as an attempt to silence his opposition amidst “clashes with the opposition-controlled parliament over budgets and investigations”. In the New Year, let’s work on building a stronger global community to support others and show solidarity through their grief as well as fight against corruption and oppression.
In an effort to consume less, people across the internet are setting low- or no-buy targets as New Year resolutions. This effort is much needed against the backdrop of 2024 being the first year that global warming has exceeded 1.5 degrees - the limit set in the Paris Agreement. Meanwhile, the fast fashion industry contributes to 10% of global carbon emissions and drives pollution, exploiting garment workers and the planet. Mindless consumer habits and fashion giants alike are killing the Earth - the fight against climate change must continue in 2025.
Last week has also called attention to the consequences of an “ecosystem in crisis”. An orca mother, classified as an endangered southern resident killer whale species, has been sighted in Puget Sound, Canada, carrying around her second deceased calf in an assumed act of grief. The southern resident killer whale population has dropped to 73, eliciting calls for an emergency order to protect the species on the verge of extirpation. Let 2025 be another opportunity to recognise our intertwinedness with all life and foster awareness and appreciation for the chance of wandering on Earth.
If the New Year were a person, she would be a librarian, starting an archive to draw from for our “2025 wrapped” compilation on Instagram. She would collect, keep, observe, and classify our memories. But she would not make waves by herself. So don’t let 2025 be a year of passivity and silent acceptance but of taking a stand for humanity and the planet.
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