The thick and humid heat that invades the massive windows which surround the airport’s terminal  make me daydream about the day when teleporting will be an option. Or perhaps better air conditioning. I would settle for better air conditioning. Regardless, it’s the last week of December and the intense sunlight makes it even harder to believe  that December is already here.

The major events that constitute 2011 run through my head as though to prove to myself that this year did in fact take place.  This year did not go by quickly because of a lack of events, 2011 went by quickly because it has undeniably been one of the most eventful years of the past couple decades.

It starts horribly, with mass flooding in both Australia and Brazil. News of thousands being displaced is barely reported in North America because of the shooting of twenty-two people  in Arizona a couple days earlier, nearly killing Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Both of these issues are quickly overshadowed by the fall of the Tunisian  government in what would become known as the Tunisian Revolution. Just as soon as people are able to come to terms with everything that has occurred in this short period of time, there’s a huge bombing in Moscow’s airport. Almost two-hundred are hurt and nearly forty dead. News of this too would be limited as media attention quickly turns to Egypt, where unprecedented protests have started. Egyptians are tired of the socio-economic limitations enabled by Hosni Mubarak’s regime and they’re tired of Mubarak himself. It’s time for democracy and that’s what they are demanding.

This all occurred in the first month of 2011.


The rest of the year is a blur of uprisings and protests. Protests take place throughout the world; against illegitimate governments, against corruption, against a lack of fair representation and transparency. Much of the world is finally on the same page, although no part is as successful as the Middle East in a collective movement that would come to be known as the Arab Spring. Somewhere in between, civil war breaks out in Libya and Japan is devastated by a catastrophic earthquake that would leave its northern region in ruins. A tsunami follows and an extensive amount of radiation is leaked. Thousands are forced to evacuate. Back to Libya, the international community gets involved, declares a no-fly zone, and eventually intervenes.

If 2011 is to be dedicated to anything, it is the year of the fallen dictator. There is a warrant out for Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Mubarak is on trial. Gaddafi is dead. Kim Jong-Il thought it would be best to leave on his own terms.

Meanwhile Syria is ignored. Somalia starves. The Greek economy fails. Will marries Kate. Osama bin Laden is killed. Norway suffers a horrendous attack. The nation of South Sudan is born. President Mahmoud Abbas pleads with the United Nations for the recognition of his state. India and Bangladesh end a four-decade dispute. “Occupy” protests emerge. Steve Jobs passes away. Protests begin in Russia. The end of the Iraq War is officially declared by the US. Thirteen countries recognize Kosovo.

And the world goes on.

We come to the conclusion of this year with the impossibility of predicting the next. If there is anything 2011 has taught us, it’s that much of world’s future is unforeseeable. It’s that no matter how limited people’s rights are, the voice of the oppressed will eventually prevail. And especially, 2011 has taught us to appreciate what we have, because many around the world are risking their lives to obtain a minuscule percentage of what we fail to appreciate.

It is with my sincerest hopes that I wish a Happy New Year to the readers of Kosovo 2.0 and to the young nation of Kosovo itself. May 2012 finish what 2011 started, and may it expand far beyond the places it has already affected.

Gëzuar vitin e ri.

The article was originally written in English.  

Photo Credit (Thumbnail): Carcharoth (Commons) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo Credit: Takeaway (Commons) [CC-BY-SA-3.0
(www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons 
 
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