In Defence of 2020: Why we shouldn't blame a calendar for our global calamities.

The year 2020 and the word "unprecedented" go together like peanut butter and jam.  No doubt a lot of firsts occurred in the past 12 months, and a lot of them were pretty awful.  Australian wildfires, passenger planes shot down, racial violence, war in Yemen, civil unrest in Algeria, harsh sanctions against Cuba, and of course, murder hornets, and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people have foolishly associated these challenges to the calendar year itself.  In this season of GDP, we're taking back 2020.  This season will serve as a sound reminder that wildfires occur because of climate change, food systems make us vulnerable to pandemics, sanctions cause hardship because of short-sighted policy, and racial inequalities need to be overcome by restructuring the institutions that produce racism.  None of this is because of a calendar date, but all of it is because of a global system of development that has become wildly inequitable.   Tune in to GDP to learn more, and in the mean time, be kind to each other as we wrap up 2020.  Celebrate birthdays, weddings, new horizons and each other.  We all deserve better than blaming a calendar date for our hardships.  We deserve the chance to ask hard questions about the systems that cause these problems in the first place. Thanks as always to TAS and the Semi-Superheroes for cutting the music to GDP.  And remember, these podcasts are available as a course offered in the Department of International Development Studies  at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter:  @ProfessorHuish