2021, a year to restart
In 2020 we have hit rock bottom in many ways. The pandemic has been a global and profound shake-up, a health and economic crisis that has forced us to react, albeit in an improvised and clumsy manner. We are still in a state of shock. But life goes on, authoritatively, and with the beginning of the year, which has coincided with the arrival of the first anti-covid vaccines, it is time to make a list of intentions, which will now mean starting many things over again, rethinking our collective life in depth.
There are many recommendations on the table. The first and most obvious has to do with the fight against the virus: first, to defeat the scourge; second, to do so without leaving anyone behind (with private patents on vaccines it will be difficult to achieve); third, to revive the economy, which requires a sustained and effective Keynesianism; and fourth, to accompany the social victims of this new crisis, who are many. The challenges are huge.
At a global level, we will see the fall of Trump, which is an opportunity to rebuild international relations from essential multilateralism woven without naivety and with so much effort since the end of the Cold War. The goal must be to stop both populist authoritarianisms and growing inequalities and to seek a western democratic counterbalance in the economic and geopolitical bidding of dictatorial China. In Europe we also have the challenge of making continental unity stronger, more real and more viable, but without the United Kingdom. Who will take over Merkel? At the global level, there are still two urgent objectives: the migration crisis - when will we find a midpoint between the good intentions of some and the demagogy of others, while we stand to look at how NGOs do the work? - and the climate crisis. With regard to the latter, the Glasgow summit would have to set ambitious milestones if we really want to save planet Earth. It sounds very big, to say the least, but this is the situation we are currently in.
On a national level, the elections of February 14 would have to open a new stage of work and government without resignation, with the noble ambition of thinking the country in all its dimensions. The Catalan ballot boxes will also challenge Spain, where the PSOE-Podemos coalition with sovereignist support would have to take courageous steps to reach a political solution in accordance with the real plurinationality of the State. Whilst there are political prisoners and exiles, there will be no way out.
And still, more issues on the table: after hitting rock bottom, Barça needs a serious and reliable management. In the world of education, the first pandemic year has begun well and should continue to improve, taking the bull of innovation and inclusion by the horns. And in the cultural field, the work of reconstruction must be transversal - and prioritized.
