Even Nostradamus, with all his predictive powers and deep astrological insight, couldn’t have foretold with precision and exactitude the flurry of events that ripped through the world in year 2011. The events, mostly saddening, point to the elusiveness of peace and the changing faces of the world. In this special report, EMMANUEL ADENIYI catalogues a number of events within the year that made the world almost a dreary place to live in.

Prologue

IN his book of predictions, Quatrain, Nostradamus predicted the fall of empires, foresaw cataclysm in the ends of the world and projected violence in many parts of the globe many thousands of years ago, yet the events that unfolded alone in year 2011 far outstripped Nostradamus’ ageless predictions. Though some of his predictions came to pass within the year, dominant happenings in year 2011 far outweighed human prophecy.

Within the year, a lot of scary events happened that changed the face of the world. Economies of many nations plummeted; kings were dethroned, kingdoms got toppled, natural catastrophe raged and like wild fire consumed nations, puzzling rulers were demystified, immoralities increased, violent uprisings and wars soared, poverty poached on humans and peace in the world suffered a great loss.

What does year 2011 mean to you?, is it a year of peace or hope or a 365-day agonising experience? Whatever it means many would have wished it never exited. Were it to be an avoidable experience, quite a number of  nations and individuals would have simply avoided it and staged a clinical walk past it, but as a rite of passage everyone one must go through, it jolted some, rattled others, yet left many unhurt.

Events in 2011

Natural disasters

Nature seems to pummel the world in a hard way within the year. Natural disasters, as though waiting for orders, took turns to hit in many parts of the world. Flood, heat waves, drought, cyclone, tornadoes, typhoon, earthquake and hurricane ravaged many parts of the world in an alarming proportion.

Flood and mudslides in Brazil The January 1, 2011 Rio de Janeiro flooding opened the gate of gory events that ushered in the new year. It is the second largest city in Brazil and an important trading centre in South America. The deluge that ravaged the city killed no fewer than 903 people and rendered millions homeless when the state and other towns in south-eastern Brazil got soaked with 144mm of rain in 24 hours, a volume which is more than the usual volume for a whole month. According to the mayor of Teresopolis, Jorge Mario, the deluge was “like an earthquake (that) struck some areas. There are three or four neighbourhoods that were totally destroyed. There are hardly any houses standing there and all the roads and bridges are destroyed.” A resident of the area, Angela Marina de Carvalho Silva, described it as “hell”, because many people disappeared.

Thailand flooding. In Thailand, floods hit central and northern parts of the country in September and did not recede for several months. The flood left about 600 schools submerged and killed hundreds of hapless persons. Floods and mudslides in northern and central provinces of Thailand caused by heavy rainstorms ravaged about 14 provinces in the country for more than three months.

India flooding. Also in September, the death toll from severe flooding in the eastern Indian state of Orissa killed no fewer than 79 while an estimated five million people were said to have been rendered homeless. Two bouts of extremely heavy rain made rivers to overrun their banks, submerging thousands of villages and killing many.

Flood in Nigeria. The August 26th flood that ravaged Ibadan, south west Nigeria, killed hundreds and left many homeless. It was a deluge of rage as volume of rain that poured on the largest West African city shot up, leaving rivers and streams overflowing their banks. The Red Cross Society put the casualty at over 100, but the indigenes believe that it could be more than the figure. Many states in the eastern and northern parts of Nigeria were also affected by flooding at one time or the other leaving a sad tale behind.

Hurricane in the US. The United States of America also woke up in August to the onslaught of Hurricane Irene in August that struck about seven states in the north-eastern part of the country. Death toll from the terrible incident was said to have reached 100 with several homes destroyed while massive power cuts were experienced in the affected areas. The US president, Barak Obama, while urging residents of the affected areas to submit to evacuation plan, described the hurricane as a horrible experience in the history of America, saying “all indications point to this being a historic hurricane.”

Storm in Philippines. No fewer than 900 lost their lives to tropical storm that ravaged the southern Philippines. The December 19th storm, which the local council officials said affected about 167,000 people, followed a downpour that led to flash floods and landslides that equally washed away many homes with their occupants.

Drought in East Africa. Described to be the worst in the last 60 years, the East African countries of Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and part of Sudan, suffered a great drought. In Somalia, the Horn of Africa, about five million people were at the mercy of humanitarian assistance and food aids since rain refused to fall, thereby forcing farmers to eat up their seeds. The famine resulting from the drought, according to the United Nations, has killed thousands of people.

Earthquake in Japan. Though long anticipated, an 8.9 magnitude tremor quake struck north-east Japan off the coast of Honshu in March destroying thousands of lives and many infrastructural facilities. The quake triggered a massive tsunami thus sweeping away cars, ships and buildings by a wall of water. Following the earthquake, a state of emergency was declared at Fukushima nuclear power plant, where pressure was said to have exceeded normal levels. The quake and tsunami claimed no fewer than 1000 lives.

North Africa and Arab Spring

When it started, nobody actually gave it much attention until it became a conflagration that consumed sit-tight leaders in North African countries and other parts of Arab world. It started on the 18th December, 2010 in Tunisia when protesters took to the streets protesting the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in protest of police corruption and maltreatment. The uprising forced the former Tunisian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to flee to Saudi Arabia, while the revolution spread to Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Syria and other parts of Middle East forcing leaders such as the former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak to resign from office, while ex-Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi, was killed by rebel solders after being captured by them.

Occupy Wall Street (OWS). It started in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City’s Wall Street financial district, as a protest movement on September 17th, 2011, which was initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. The protesters are against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed as well as corruption, and the undue influence of financial corporations on government. The protests in New York City have sparked similar protests and movements around the world, especially in Europe where agitation has increased due to the economic crisis in the region.

Deaths of Gadaffi, Osama bin Laden and Kim Jong-il

Following the occupation of Tripoli by NTC fighters in September, the ex-Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi, fled to his home town in Sirte. He was later captured on October 20 and killed immediately by the rebel fighters, thus ending his 42-year-old reign in the oil rich North African country.

Osama bi Laden.

The whole world was stunned on May 2 when the US president, Barak Obama, announced that the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, had been killed in Abbottabad in Pakistan when special military forces from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group also known as DEVGRU raided his compound in Pakistan and killed him. The United States special forces military unit carried out a commando-like operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear involving a team of United States Navy SEALs with the support of CIA operatives on the ground. 24 hours after the raid, US forces took bin Laden’s body to Afghanistan for identification and then buried it at sea.

Kim Jong-il

Kim Jong-il ruled the reclusive Stalinist state of North Korea for 14 years having succeeded his father, Kim Il-sung  who died in 1994 and died of heart attack on December 17th at the age of 69.

While in charge of North Korea, the country suffered a devastating famine and spent the largest part of the country’s revenue on building his army. He also expanded the country’s arsenal of ballistic missiles and made North Korea become the world’s eighth nuclear power.

Laurent Gbagbo’s dethronement

He was a recalcitrant historian, who refused to learn morals from history’s timeless lessons. He led Ivory Coast to war where thousands died in April when he refused to hand over to his opponent who defeated him in a general election. With the help of French forces, he was dethroned, arrested and flown to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Hague to face trial over charges bordering on crimes against humanity, murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence committed between 16th December, 2010 and 12th April, 2011.

Deaths of Steve Job and Joe Frazier

The world lost a gem in Steve Jobs, the successful chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Described as a creative genius and charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution, Jobs’ ingenuity struck strings of hope in people, especially youths, who believed that the world still needs a man like him. Joe Frazier’s death in November also stunned the world, especially his fans. The boxing legend and former world’s heavy weight champion revolutionised boxing and made a rewarding career out of it.

London riot

Nostradamus’ prediction in his book of prediction came to pass about London, a relatively peaceful capital city of the Great Britain. He had predicted that there would one day be a great conflict in London. The prediction found fulfilment in August when youths took to the streets looting shops and setting fire on public buildings in the town. The riot, which was said to have been caused by high rate of parental neglect and joblessness among the youths, was described by the deputy Mayor of London and chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), Kit Malthouse, as “disgusting and shocking”. According to him, “...there are people in this city, sadly, who are intent on violence, who are looking for the opportunity to steal and set fire to buildings and create a sense of mayhem, whether they’re anarchists or part of organised gangs or just feral youth frankly, who fancy a new pair of trainers.”

Baghdad bombings

Few days after the historic pull-out from Iraq by the American troops, a wave of bombings ripped across Baghdad, the Iraqi capital city, killing about 60 people and injuring hundreds. The country has always been torn between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and politicians, who have left sectarian tension rising in the country. Bombings alone have killed close to thousands in the country this year.

Legalising sodomy and bestiality

Immorality and sexual perversion received a boost on December 8th when the United States’ Congress voted 93-7 to approve a defense authorisation bill that includes a provision which not only repeals the military law on sodomy, it also repeals the military ban on sex with animals. On November 15, the Senate Armed Services Committee had unanimously approved Section 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision to repeal Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Article 125 of the UCMJ makes it illegal to engage in sodomy with humans and sex with animals. It states: “(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense. (b) Any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Protests in Moscow

Described as the biggest anti-government rally in the Russian capital, Moscow, since the fall of the Soviet Union, About 50,000 people gathered on an island in Russia to condemn ballot-rigging in parliamentary elections and demand a re-run. Communists, nationalists and Western-leaning liberals turned out together despite divisions between them. The protesters alleged that there was widespread fraud in the polls conducted in the country in September.

Strauss Khan’s sex scandal

Forced to quit as head of the IMF and shelve his aspirations to become the next French president, Strauss Khan’s name was also linked to a high-profile investigation into an alleged prostitution ring at a luxury hotel in Lille, France. Within the year, he was accused of sexually assaulting a housekeeper at a luxury hotel, but was later cleared. Though he is yet to be cleared of the prostitution allegation, he stands out as one of the important world leaders who were disgraced out of office.

Eurozone crisis

Caused largely by a combination of factors such as the globalisation of finance; easy credit conditions during the 2002-2008 period that encouraged high-risk lending and borrowing practices; international trade imbalances; slow growth economic conditions in 2008; risky fiscal policy choices related to government revenues and expenses, the European sovereign debt crisis has become a hard nut to crack for some European countries. The crisis has affected the economies of PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain), thus dragging down the trade performance of Eurozone bloc. Though several bailouts have been mapped out for these countries, they appear to be having difficulty in coming out of the financial crisis and the crisis has reduced confidence in other European economies since it has started to spread to other European countries like Belgium and France.

Over 20 Navy SEALs killed in helicopter shoot-down in Afghanistan

In August, a helicopter crash in Afghanistan was reported when Taliban ambushed a chopper carrying about 31 Americans and seven Afghan soldiers, including about 20 Navy SEALs who were members of Seal Team Six, the same unit that participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Termed to be  a revenge mission, the Taliban deliberately targeted the American fighters to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden.

War and weapons of mass destruction

Apart form Libyan civil war fought between NTC rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gadaffi as well as the Ivorian civil war in the year, other civil unrests were witnessed across the globe. From Sudan to Somalia and Middle East and the rest of the world, humanity was made to suffer untold bashings in the hands of world’s wicked leaders. The nuclear power build-up by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as the similar build-up in North Korea has been described by analysts as a means to further destroy the fragile peace enjoyed in the world.

Secession of South Sudan

It was seen as a fulfilment of Biblical prophecy of Cush gaining independence from its oppressors. Following the referendum in January which resolved that South Sudan should secede from Sudan, the world’s newest and the Africa’s 53rd nation officially gained independence in July, thus reducing internecine wars between Afro-Arabians in the northern part of old Sudan and Africans in the south.

Racist killing in Norway

After accusing the Norwegian government of promoting multiculturalism and relaxing its immigration laws which allow Muslims across the world to migrate to Norway, Andre Behring Breivik, a Christian terrorist, opened fire on youths at a camp on Utoya Island in July, killing about 100.

UNESCO’s recognition of Palestine

Despite threat to cut down aids to Palestine by the US, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) finally accepted Palestine as a full member on October 31st thus putting to rest years of tension between the country and the world body over its recognition as a full member of the organization.  Over 60 per cent of members voted for the admission of Palestine into the UNESCO, though many analysts believe that this could further aggravate the tensed relationship between Palestine and Israel.

Ghana to sell electricity to Nigeria

Due to the worsening condition of energy sector in Nigeria, its neigbhouring country of Ghana has resolved to rise up to the occasion by selling electricity to the country by 2015. The country’s vice president, Mr John Dramani Mahama, who unfolded the plan in Accra, said the government had already embarked on extensive expansion of power infrastructure to enable them achieve the project. Mahama explained that a key motivation for the investment was that Ghana presently has competitive advantage in the area of power supply over other neighbouring countries, including Nigeria, which is still grappling with massive power deficit for its estimated 150 million citizens.

Michael Jackson’s doctor sentenced

Convicted for involuntary manslaughter of the pop legend earlier this month, after a six-week trial, Conrad Murray was sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Niger’s oil refinery

In November, the Republic of Niger joined the league of oil producers with the opening of a refinery run by the state and a Chinese company. The refinery located at Zinder, very close to the Nigerian border, will refine petroleum products for the use of the country, which has up to now imported its petrol.

Boko Haram

2011 could be described as the year of insecurity in Nigeria as insecurity almost reached its zenith. The insecurity further oiled by the dreaded Islamic group, Boko Haram, makes Nigeria one of the dreaded places on earth, because the militant group almost turned the Northern part of the country to a theatre of war bombing public buildings, killing innocent people and involving in guerrilla activities thus making their operations a difficult task to combat by government forces. The August 26 bombing of the UN building in Abuja and scores of others within the region as well as the spate of kidnappings and armed robbery attacks in the southern part of the country make Nigeria a haven of insecurity.

Epilogue

In Chinese Zodiac, year 2011 is the year of the Golden Rabbit, meaning the year of peace. However, unimaginable happenings, mostly sad, have proved this wrong and helped to reinforce a point that the world is gradually changing faces and could be winding up. The world is spinning round as evils seem to be gaining victory over good.

Reasoning is paving way for ignorance, justice for injustice; right for wrong; peace for war and wickedness, while the place of brotherliness appears to have been erased with the wiper of hate and blood.

As we all gaze at the future with unbounded optimism and hope to redress the wrongs of 2011 in the new year; Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World” should be a constant reminder to humanity.