Consistency, thy name is Covid.
This is the third December since we started writing this newsletter and, each December, Covid dutifully makes its presence known — this time wreaking havoc in China where the death toll is drastically climbing, and hospitals and crematoriums are packed. Will it lead to newer variants and yet another global spread? It’s hard to say for now but, it’s safe to say, we’d be happy if we don’t have to write about Covid next December.
Despite the continued presence of the coronavirus in our midst, a lot has happened in this past year — we have 41 issues to prove that. Russia launched an attack on Ukraine which is still ongoing, Sri Lanka went bankrupt and its people drove their president out of the country and women-led protests have been challenging the Iranian government.
In the world of technology, we also learned of many new developments. Like the fact that scientists are closer to growing a baby outside the mother’s womb, or that they have successfully produced lab-grown meat to replace beef, or that scientists can clone your favourite pet, or even that humans can possibly live up to 150 years! Not all technological breakthroughs have been welcomed. No one is happy to be surveilled by their bosses while working from home, nor to be stalked by their exes with wearables, nor are they happy with the increased anxiety coming with Zoom dysmorphia.
What doesn’t come as a surprise is climate change, which continued to make its presence known. In fact, we witnessed first-hand the brutal heatwave that gripped Pakistan this summer followed by catastrophic floods that continue to inundate parts of the country. And when you witness the scale of the disaster, it really makes you wonder. Will trendy headlines on blue food feed the farmers whose entire crops were washed away? Why are 3D houses not being built for the flood victims? Why are rivers getting personhood in places where humans are getting theirs trampled upon?
And that brings us to inequality — a recurring reality of our times. From the waste pickers who stand on the frontlines of the climate fight, the homeless who continue to sleep under the sky, the stateless who struggle to belong, and the women who do not have a choice over their own bodies, we witnessed how inequality plagues our communities and will have to be the foremost goal for any course correction.
What these issues tell us is that we are in the middle of a deep questioning within our society. Traditional institutions and economic systems are being challenged, technology is being critiqued for the role it plays in our lives, and our governments and multilateral organisations are being blamed for their inaction on climate change. Going forward, how many more of these will we see?
Just looking at the social unrest we covered this year shows things are not changing for the better. Russia continues to bomb parts of Ukraine, even if it suffered some blows on its own assets. Iranian protesters continue to be targeted by their government and, sadly, Sri Lankans still struggle to make ends meet. In fact, the man who succeeded the overthrown president has been using social media videos from the upheaval to identify and go after the protesters.
So what are the tools at our disposal to navigate this uncertainty?
An argument could be made for social media as the great big equaliser, a democratising force that has given a voice to everyone. The world would not have known what was going on in Sri Lanka had it not been for social media. Or the authorities may have come down harder on the protesters had the world not been watching. But could social media be the very force that makes all these movements ephemeral? As the social media shifts our attention to something else, Iran or China or Twitter’s new problematic CEO, who’s looking at Sri Lanka’s new president arrest the protesters from earlier this year?
As the year comes to an end, we are reflecting on the role that social media, and media in general, plays in shaping our consciousness. Who decides what we pay attention to and for how long? Does it sacrifice complexity in favour of the simplicity demanded by our attention-based economy? Do we jump at the first chance to offer an opinion, a "hot take", when we should be pausing to hear the whole story? Pausing not for a few minutes, but days and even weeks. Are there times when it’s okay to not have an opinion at all?
We, at The Global Tiller, try to look at what’s happening critically. We look for diverse sources of information to improve our understanding and reflect on what it means for our world now and for the future to come. As we think about next year, we’ll be thinking about our own role in this media landscape. Whose voices do we want to amplify and what spaces can we create for shared meaningful learning?
If you’re thinking about this too, do share your thoughts. We’d love to collaborate with you.
In the meantime, we hope that you find yourself among your loved ones for this time of the year. We’ll see you in the new year.
Happy holidays!
Hira & Philippe
The Global Tiller team