2023 Retrospective

To be honest, it was a mostly shit year for me personally. Most of the projects that I wanted to get done for this year were not nearly complete by the end of it. Most of the lack of engagement with the blog is primarily due to this. All in all, there were technically eleven post I made this year, including the eventual hundredth post on September. Anyway, can’t beat myself up for not doing enough. Here’s an overview of the events that occured this year:

• Lula inaugurated as he begins his third presidential term in Brazil on New Year’s Day; an anti-Lula protest organised by supporters of the previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, and other right-wing elements takes place the following week – culminating into a riot/coup attempt by invading the Brazilian Congress; scores of protestors were arrested, and jailed for their participation; The events of “8/1”, draw comparison to “January 6th” – complete with the presence of a white shaman
• Laughable hysteria around a Chinese “spy” balloon* hovering over North American airspace eventually making it to the United States. The balloon is eventually shot down by the United States Air Force; Biden has to do a ridiculous speech about it
• Former POTUS Donald Trump is indicted on four counts (two state, two federal) between March 2023 to August 2023; Trump has cases to answer for regarding illegal payments, falsifying business records, attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and overturning Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia
• Chinese property crisis leaves the Evergrande Group – the second largest property developer in China – in debt to various banks, retail suppliers, and foreign investors – the crisis affects foreign investment in China
• War breaks out in Sudan between rival military factions; creates massive humanitarian crisis
• King Charles III coronation takes place on 6th May 2023
• Elon Musk formally steps down as CEO of Twitter; Musk manages to oversee rebranding of Twitter to X; Social media website continues slow decline
• Cornel West announces candidacy for President of the United States – switches parties at least three times
• Series of coups across the Sahel region of Africa see Niger and Gabon join Burkina Faso and Mali in the rise of military governance; Standoff between Sahel military governments and ECOWAS over possible intervention ends with the latter backing down once Western countries (particularly France) conclude that it would be too much effort
• Ex-convict, billionaire restaurant owner, and Wagner Group PMC head Yevgeny Prigozhin leads a mutiny against the Russian military, and leads a column from Southwest Russia to Moscow, apparently to resist the scheduled incorporation of Wagner Group into the Ministry of Defence – which would diminish Prigozhin’s influence. With the intervention of Belaroussian President Alexander Lukashenko, a deal was cut with Prigozhin, leading to the withdrawal of the Wagner Group; Vladimir Putin would later denounce Prigozhin’s actions as “betrayal”, which is apparently a death sentence in Russia
• Women’s World Cup 2023 concludes with Spain as the champions; Spanish coach sexually harrassing one of the Spanish football players (Jenni Hormoso) as she receives her award on live television triggers a public row, and leads to the coach’s resignation; Football wasn’t “coming home” with the England’s women’s football team, but they came third, and goalkeeper Mary Earps wins the Golden Glove trophy; Hinata Miyazawa of Japan is the Golden Boot winner with five goals
• Novara Media co-founder Aaron Bastani assaulted in public
• Presidential candidate in Ecuador is assassinated
• Nadine Dorries resigns as MP
• London declared an Ultra Low Emission Zone by Mayor Sadiq Khan, triggering irritation of motorists, with a petit-bourgeois movement shortly coming out of it – critics of Just Stop Oil’s ‘whining’ act even whinier over the desire to drive their cars without receiving a charge for it
• A plane with Wagner Group PMC founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin along with six other members of the mercenary leadership crashed as it flew from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, killing all of the passengers; Wagner Group spokesperson claims that the plane was actually shot down on orders of the Kremlin
• In response to the Abraham Accords – drafted for the Arab states to normalise relations with Israel, Hamas launch an assault on Israel on October 7 – in which over 1,000 were killed. Israel in response launches a bombardment campaign in Gaza, ostensibly to root out Hamas, but in actuality to finalise the elimination of Gaza as a Palestinian territory/initiate the completion of the settler-colonial project; Israel-Hamas war has the United States and the United Kingdom offering support to Israel in its campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide
• Suella Braverman resigns as Home Secretary; James Cleverly succeeds her
• Argentina elects Javier Milei – a libertarian cosplayer who advocates austerity measures to reduce inflation, the closing of the health, education, women’s and culture ministries, and “blowing up” the central bank
• President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro reignites Venezuelan claim of the Esequibo region held in what is now Guyana; Region turns out to be a repository of oil and gas. A referendum was held in Venezuela on 2 December 2023 to make the Esequibo a state; Speculation on regional conflict turns out to be somewhat exaggerated, though context of Guyana’s invitation of American forces and even the closeness of the referendum to election season in Venezuela is scarely mentioned
• COP28 takes place in the United Arab Emirates; very little is agreed or is committed on
• The states of Colorado and Maine have blocked Donald Trump from the electoral register due to his actions in the US Capitol riot of 2021. The decision to block Trump could potentially undermine his chances of seizing the nomination for the Republican Party’s presidential candidate; Remains an open question to see if these ruling will be upheld in the Supreme Court

Culturally speaking, Hip-hop celebrated its 50th anniversary – there was a lot of over-the-top (and pro-capitalist) narratives around the genre changing the world, though thankfully, there was someone around to burst the bubble that cultural production alone is the key to liberation. Doctor Who also had its 60th anniversary in three parts. I don’t have a working TV, so I can’t watch that live. Have a better appreciation for Conway Hall though. Already mentioned the Women’s World Cup this year, which was enjoyable. I left Twitt-sorry X, so I don’t have an idea of all the fun going on there with the bots and shit. Russell Brand is accused of multiple instances of sexual assault – including grooming of underage girls, bullying and other forms of emotional abuse – naturally, the seriousness of the allegations becomes culture war fodder. Pretty much stopped watching Novara Media for all intents and purposes around the time the interview with John Gray was uploaded – ironically I still ended up buying John Gray’s latest book.

Five favourite books that I finished:

My favourite one has to be: Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More by Andrei Yarchuk

Followed by:

• Socialism Betrayed by Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny
• Discourse on Colonialism by Aime Cesaire
• The Lost World of British Communism by Raphael Samuel
• Brexlit by Dulcie Everitt

This really was a toughie. I read 25 books this year. And did it while holding down an intensive job. The secret? Public transport is your friend. So hard disagree with the anti-ULEZ people on my end. Even like the coaches (though there was a day I really didn’t). Read when you wake up, read before you sleep.

Favourite post of 2023:

Easily neoliberalism. This is second. Didn’t update the blog very much, to be honest.

Favourite film of 2023:

Barbie. You heard me.**

Favourite television program of 2023:

Wu-Tang: An American Saga. Glad I watched the whole series this year. It was fitting for their 30th anniversary. And the 50th of hip-hop.

Favourite animated series of 2023:

Don’t fucking know. Barely watched anything, but Monkey D. Luffy going Gear Five was pretty cool.

People we lost:

• Tina Turner
• Paul O’Grady
• Tom Nairn
• Sinead O’Connor
• Bobby Charlton
• Terry Funk
• Terry Venables
• Shane MacGowan
• Samer Abu Daqqah
• The 45 King
• David Jude Jolicoeur aka Trugoy the Dove
• Mystic Meg
• Magoo
• Lance Riddick
• Andre Braugher
• Ahmad Jamal
• “Superstar” Billy Graham
• Glenda Jackson
• Phyllis Coates
• Lisa Loring
• Matthew Perry
• Meco
• Michael Roberts
• Jordan Neeley
• Isabel Crook
• Daniel Ellsberg
• Isaam Abdallah
• Refaat Alareer
• Alexander Buzgalin
• Gboyega Odubanjo
• Doris Sikosana
• Benjamin Zephaniah
• John Pilger

People we were happy to see go:

• Henry Kissinger
• Yevgeny Prigozhin
• Dmitri Utkin
• Silvio Berlusconi
• Martin Amis
• Juanita Castro
• Rolf Harris
• Diane Feinstein
• Ann Clwyd

People we were ‘meh’ about seeing go:

• Mohammed al-Fayed
• Rosalyn Carter
• Vasily Zakharov
• Jerry Springer
• Joe the Plumber
• Nigel Lawson
• Alaistair Darling
• Jacques Delors

Anyway, happy new year and hope to see you then. Unless I get a real job. Then maybe I won’t.

Notes:

*- China claims that it is actually a weather research balloon that went off course. I don’t think anyone really gives a shit apart from how it’s another instance of The Simpsons predicting the future.

**- Watched as part of ‘Barbenheimer’, which I intend to write about at some point. Barbie was better than Oppenheimer in my opinion.