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Politics in 2009
A new Beginning
Elected
in November 2008 and assuming the office in January 2009, Barack Obama is the
first Afro-American President of the American nation. His election came as a relief
for many, after the previous tenures, in times of war and within a financial crisis
that was affecting all sectors of the American economy
By ROXANA CIUPARIU (roxana.ciupariu@wavemagazine.net)
from
Bucharest, ROMANIA
The year 2009 was characterized by many
political events, and it stood, all the time, under the influence of the financial
crisis that affected the Globe since the last semester of 2008. Many of the political
decision and elections underwent this year were taken under the auspice of this
crisis, and questions were raised about the potential outcomes of some political
choices that were made, and the inevitable "what could have been" was
definitely present.
Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States
Elected in November 2008 and assuming the office in January 2009,
Barack Obama is the first Afro-American President of the American nation.
His election came as a relief for many, after the previous tenures, in times of
war and within a financial crisis that was affecting all sectors of the American
economy. His candidacy brought up, involuntarily, issues of racism, religion,
war and peace, and was finalised with his election as the 44th President
of the USA.
While keeping up with the promises he made to the American
people during his campaign, Obama firtstly issued orders to deploy military
from Iraq (and then from Afghanistan in December 2009), reversed some of
the former Bush-administration laws in order to grant better health insurance
to children who were previously not insured and to fund new research on embryonic
stem cells, and encouraged better steps towards curbing the global warming.
The economic crisis was an important topic on his list and found its resolution
in the Economic Stimulus Package, which, on the long run, has proved to
be a successful move.
He made attempts to reconcile with the Arab World
stating that this is "a new beginning" - as the May US edition
of Reuters quoted him, for the relations between the Muslim and Christian
worlds, and promoted Middle East Peace, a successful idea, since he later got
the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace. He called for a health care reform to be
approved by the Congress by the end of the year, as Yahoo! News informed
the readers, supporting the public health insurance option. The bill was passed
with an amendment in November, and in December a version of the bill passed in
the Senate.
Fall
of the Berlin Wall: commemoration and celebration after 20 years
On
November the 9th, 1989, the Berlin Wall, the barrier separating
families and friends and entire nation, the barrier between East and West of Germany,
as well as East and West of Europe, was brought down. 20 years after its fall,
Europe decided to celebrate, to commemorate the innocent deaths of patriots, to
remember the times of famine, the atrocities, the mural depictions on the wall.
The Festival in Berlin, whose centre was the Brandenburg Gate, was called
"The
Festival of Freedom" and it included people from all over the world.
But this was not all: German embassies organized different events, especially
in the countries once found on one side or another of the wall. Also, in order
to draw attention on the importance of reconnection and unity, 20 symbolic
bricks were sent to countries all over the world that experience problem
of borders and division. The MTV Europe Music Awards served partially
as a stage for remembrance, with famous German band Tokio Hotel and Irish band
U2 interpreting songs about those times. The purpose of the whole series of events
and celebrations was to draw attention of what has been and what must never repeat.
Lisbon
Treaty: Ireland and Czech ratification helped the entry into force
The
Lisbon Treaty was threatened in 2009 by the second Irish referendum, by
the stubbornness of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, to not
sign anything before a result from Ireland comes out, as well as by the Czech
Constitutional Court that was considering the Treaty not compatible to the
national constitution.
The positive vote from the part of the Irish, perhaps
an influence of the way the crisis was affecting them, as France24 International
News presented it, and, hence, a mild cry for help from the EU, was the successful
turn on events, as the Polish President signed the instrument for ratification
on 10th of October 2009, a week after the favourable Irish Refernedum;
the Czechs did not delay in ratifying it either, on the 3rd of November 2009,
which contributed to its entry into force on 1st of December 2009, nearly
one year after its desired entry.
What it will bring in practice, with
its list of amendments is yet to be seen, as Spain just took over the Presidency
of the Council of the EU, being the first country to do this after the adoption
of the Lisbon Treaty.
Political Elections, 2009 edition: Germany, Iran
and Japan
At the end of September 2009, Germany held elections
for the members of the Bundestag, its federal Parliament. These elections
came in the same year with the elections for the European Parliament, which were
held in June, and also the elections of the President of Germany, that were held
on the 23rd of May. Angela Merkel won the elections, further maintaining
its position as Chancellor, with its party, the Christian Democratic Union
(CDU) continuing to govern, this time in a centre-right government, in coalition
with the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU), as previously, as well
as with the Free Democratic Party (FDP), their former coalition partner.
The former government party, the SPD, received the worst votes ever in a federal
election, while the Left and Greens surprised by the number of votes received.
On the 12th of June 2009, Iran held its presidential elections,
which ended up with the victory of the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with
62% of the votes as opposed to 34% of the independent Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
While the religious leaders of Iran, starting with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah
expressed their satisfaction and considered this as "divine assessment",
countries were divided in their opinion: states like China, Russia and
Brazil have congratulated the incumbent president, while UK, US, Canada and the
EU have considered that some irregularities have happened. Triggered by the declaration
of Mousavi that he will not give up that easy and, perhaps, fuelled by the international
reaction, protest broke up. The torching of Mousavi's office at the beginning
of June, the communication problems on the day of elections, and the potential
fraud of which Ahmadinejad and his followers were suspected, triggered a response
from the part of the population. What was supposed to be a peaceful protest,
turned out in a violent one, as protesters encountered the police forces.
The aftermath of these events were people being arrested and even killed, all
happening over a period of three months, even after 5th of August which was the
day of investment of Ahmadinejad as President. As Fatima Abdas, exchange
student in Italy said, "we are a country made majority of the youth and the
youth wants change. Still, there are the old ones who run us".
In
Japan, in the same summer that the Iran events were taking place, but in
the month of August, elections were held for the House of Representatives.
The Democratic Party of Japan, the opposition party, managed to defeat
the ruling coalition formed of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito
Party. This is an important moment in Japanese history since the Liberal
Democratic Party has ruled Japan with only a small 11-months break since 1955,
when it was formed. This result assured Yukio Hatoyama as the new Prime
Minister, which he became one month later, in September, and it was viewed as
the hardest defeat of a governing party in modern Japan.
The end of
War in Sri Lanka
On one happier tone this year, the civil war in
Sri Lanka finally ended after 26 years of continuous fighting. The Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (commonly known as the Tamil Tigers), whose ways
were deemed as terrorist actions by several governments, including the USA and,
member nations of the EU, were defeated by the governmental forces, by gaining
control of its areas, one by one, until they admitted defeat on May 17th, 2009.
However, the end of the war brought also an awakening regarding the number of
innocent deaths, on both sides, but, more precisely, of the civilians. Also, nobody
can guarantee for sure that this is the last time we will hear of the Tigers,
as the political situation of the country lies uncertain in front of the international
public.
And the list remains open...
2009 was a full year,
with other events worth to be mentioning as well, such as: Iceland's decision
to go on with negotiations of becoming EU member, negotiations made possible
mostly by the way the economical crisis has affected this small country; the Presidential
elections in Romania that followed the demission of the Government almost
two months prior, which tightened the score between the candidates; the ceasefire
from the part of the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, followed by the Hamas
ceasefire, 12 hours later, which mean the end of fighting; Russia's decision
not to fuel Europe with gas through Ukraine, which lead to fear, debates and
a weakening of the already not so good relations between the two states; the International
Criminal Court's (ICC) conviction of the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir
of crimes against humanity and war crimes, on the grounds of the Darfur situation,
making this the first time a sitting head of state is convicted by the ICC.
(Published: 15.01.2010.)
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