[From Lulas victory in Brazil to a peace treaty ending civil war
in Ethiopia, victorties pushing back Republican reaction in the United
States to the growing presence of indigenous voices on the global
stage, there was some good news this past year.]
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TEN SURPRISINGLY GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN 2022  
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Medea Benjamin
December 23, 2022
CounterPunch
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_ From Lula's victory in Brazil to a peace treaty ending civil war in
Ethiopia, victorties pushing back Republican reaction in the United
States to the growing presence of indigenous voices on the global
stage, there was some good news this past year. _

Brazil’s President-elect Lula with indigenous activists at COP27,
(COP27 Press Pool)

 

With wars raging in Ukraine, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere, Roe v. Wade
overturned and our resources being wasted on militarism instead of
addressing the climate crisis, it can be hard to remember the hard-won
progress being made. As we end a difficult year, let’s pause to
remind ourselves of some of the positive changes that happened in 2022
that should inspire us to do more in the year to come. While some are
only partial gains, they are all steps towards a more just, peaceful
and sustainable world.

1. The growth of Latin America’s “Pink Tide.” Continuing the
wave of progressive wins in 2021, Latin America saw two new critical
electoral victories
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Gustavo Petro in Colombia and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil. 
When President Biden’s June Summit of the Americas excluded Cuba,
Nicaragua and Venezuela, several Latin American leaders declined to
attend, while others used the opportunity to push the United States to
respect the sovereignty of the countries in the region. (Stay tuned
for CODEPINK’s spring forum “In Search of a New U.S. Policy for a
New Latin America.”)

2. The U.S. labor movement caught fire. In 2022 we witnessed the
brilliant organizing of Chris Smalls and the Amazon workers, Starbucks
reached nearly 7,000 unionized workers and close to 300 unionized
stores. Requests to the National Labor Relations Board to hold union
elections were up 58% in the first eight months of 2022
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Labor is back and fighting the good fight.

3. Despite assaults on our elections, people fought back and gained
some notable wins.

Voters delivered victories for progressives in districts across the
country, including in Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Hawaii,
California, Pennsylvania and Vermont, and Democrats kept control of
the Senate. Young people showed up at the polls in record
numbers—one out of eight voters in the midterms was under the age of
30. Abortion rights won
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states where it was on the ballot (California, Michigan and Vermont)
and in the “red” state of Kentucky, voters rejected a proposed
amendment to the Kentucky constitution that would declare there is no
constitutional right to an abortion. Another plus: Every election
denier running to oversee state elections lost
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4. Peace comes to Ethiopia. After a devastating two-year civil war
that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced and facing
starvation, the federal government of Ethiopia and the Tigray
People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed a peace treaty
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November 2, 2022. The surprise deal came out of peace talks convened
by the African Union. So far, the fighting has ceased, and both
parties vowed
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they are determined to make the peace deal last.

5. Mainstream media finally did right by Julian Assange, as his
international support grew.

The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, El País and Der
Spiegel–the media outlets that published WikiLeaks’ revelations 12
years ago—finally called
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President Biden to free Assange. Australian Prime Minister Anthony
Albanese (Assange is an Australian citizen) also finally said 
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has personally urged the U.S. government to end its pursuit of
Assange. More enthusiastic has been his support in Latin America,
with calls for his release
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from President Gustavo Petro in Colombia, Mexico’s President Lopez
Obrador, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, Venezuela’s
President Nicolás Maduro, and Brazil’s President-elect Lula da
Silva.

6. Indigenous and Global South voices were finally heard at the
largest climate summit, COP27.

Thanks to the relentless work of Indigenous peoples and organizers
from the Global South, marginalized communities not only got into
COP27 this year but their voices were finally heard and a historic
loss and damage fund was established
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help vulnerable countries cope with the destructive impacts of climate
change. The development marks an important achievement for civil
society and collective action in the Global South that has been nearly
three decades in the making. Now we have to push the wealthier
countries to come through with the funds, and to finally get serious
about our own transition to clean energy before it is too late to
avoid global catastrophe.

7. Some 200 countries (minus the U.S. and the Vatican) commit to
stemming the loss of nature worldwide. Another critical environmental
gathering, the COP15 Biodiversity Summit in Canada, reached
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watershed agreement pledging to protect nearly one-third of Earth’s
land and oceans as a refuge for the planet’s remaining wild plants
and animals by 2030–dubbed “30 by 30.” This agreement is
critical to stemming the massive loss of diversity—about a million
species are at risk of disappearing forever
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But it will take constant grassroots pressure, and significant
resources from the wealthier countries, to put this 30 by 30 goal into
practice.

8. The passage of the Respect for Marriage Act
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The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015
but the court’s June decision overturning a right to abortion at the
federal level raised concerns that federal protections for same-sex
marriage might be in jeopardy. The Respect for Marriage Act was passed
to address this by guaranteeing federal recognition of any marriage
between two individuals if the union was valid in the state where it
was performed
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It won’t force states to issue same-sex marriage licenses should
nationwide marriage equality be overturned by the Supreme Court but it
will extend equality under the law to all same-sex couples, no matter
which state they got married in. It also protects interracial
marriages.

9. The World Cup put the spotlight on Palestine. The World Cup was a
spectacular event that created a sense of global solidarity and joy,
with Argentina’s win lifting up all of Latin America. But the fans,
especially from Muslim and Arab countries, put the spotlight on
another place in the world: Palestine. Palestinian flags and chants
popped up everywhere–on the field, in the bleachers, on the streets,
while videos showing Israeli journalists being ostracized went viral.
At least for the month of these games, the call to “Free
Palestine” went global.

10. A multi-polar world is here. China’s enormously ambitious Belt
and Road Initiative now encompasses over 80 countries. And with the
U.S. abusing its economic power by imposing extraterritorial sanctions
against countries all over the globe, the push for alternatives to the
dollar has exploded. Over a dozen countries have asked to join
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the powerful economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa), whose countries account for 40 percent of the global
population and 25 percent of the world’s GDP. BRICS members
are already transacting
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local currencies. And new or strengthened non-aligned movements have
emerged in Latin America and Africa. A multi-polar world is already a
reality for much of the world, and this is actually better for people
everywhere–even for Americans–than one where the U.S. keeps using
war, militarism and coercive financial sanctions to try to prolong its
post-Cold War unipolar moment into our new century.

 

_MEDEA BENJAMIN is the co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK and the
human right organization Global Exchange. Follow her on twitter at
@MedeaBenjamin._

_._

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