This year continued the slow push on citizens to abandon individual liberty and align themselves with the collective mass of the state’s ordained greater good. The Enlightenment movement completed its revolution and now firmly sits on the master’s throne. Yet, the question we must ask ourselves moving forward is, can a human be equated to data, can our natural there given humanity be squeezed into parameters we set and have created? What is the limit of science? We should be reminded that the very essence of science is debate, that it can only be a best approximation and that science always awaits to be proven wrong so it may progress forward.
So, 2021 is the year where science stopped becoming man’s tool for liberation and understanding and became his master, an unquestionable dogma co-opted by pharmaceutical giants who have taken advantage of a fragile labour market, fully established western built institutions and government’s nihilism, willful stupidity and quest for control, while both get unimaginably rich and powerful. In the meantime, efficiency and bureaucracy grows in the vacuum of a soulless world that no longer believes in anything but the hand that wields power.
2022 must see a reaffirmation of human values and loving that has been so sorely missed in recent times. All people are good, for they are human. We must look forward with newborn eyes, in wonder of a world we will never fully understand and rejoice in our common existence--the only truth we can hold on to and ever truly know.
Delano stories I worked on that gave me the most satisfaction…
Having only started working for Delano at the beginning of December, every story has been a newfound pleasure and opportunity to learn and grow into the role. However, of course I have enjoyed some more than others.
From a personal point of view, the first article I wrote, , although simple holds a special place in my heart and a reminder to be on the look out for 2021 Luxembourg wine in the future.
On a professional note, articles and their role and partnership with the US military and modern warfare was of particular interest and more recently an investigation into the , Frontex and their growing power in the bloc and influence brought particular satisfaction. Revealing information that governments and institutions would rather be kept in the dark or hidden behind those well-chosen PR words, is I believe, a journalist’s primary duty and responsibility to the people and democracy; to demonstrate the (human) reality of the situation.
What I enjoyed reading this year
Caligula and 3 other plays, Albert Camus
For me there is always one book, every year, I recommend to everyone: Caligula and 3 other plays by Albert Camus. Personally, I believe Camus and George Orwell to be the most important, clear-hearted and talented writers of the 20th century.
The writing of Camus especially, always provides a beautiful defense of the human condition, life and the struggle to find value in a seemingly absurd world devoid of meaning. The four plays in this book: The Misunderstanding, State of Siege and The Just Assassins provide the ultimate overview and insight into Camus’ philosophy and quest for meaning.
Caligula is a stark commentary on the absurd, the shortcomings of communism and the centralisation of power.
The Misunderstanding, a tragedy, centres around the desire for future freedom and what one is willing to do to that end. It also provides one of my favourite quotes “In a world where everything can be denied, there are forces undeniable; and on this earth where nothing’s sure we have our certainties…”.
The third play in the book, is perhaps the most pertinent to our times, a commentary on fascism, which Camus witnessed first-hand at the hand of the Nazis and fought against. The State of Siege, uses a plague to outline all the characteristics of the efficient and cold abstract method of governing that fascism deploys in its management of people and society. Also the longest of the four, it depicts how fear, isolation and one’s sense of self-preservation are all that keep this mode of governance standing.
Finally, The Just Assassins is based on the true story of a group of Russian Socialist-Revolutionaries who assassinated the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1905, and explores the build up to the event and the moral conundrum of the revolutionaries.
Selected Poems, Rumi
Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, Sufi or zen. Not any religion
or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the west, not out of the ocean or up
from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,
am not an entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any
origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body nor soul.
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.
Again this year, throughout lockdown and the seemingly never ending circus, there was one book that provided a stern and unbreakable safety net: Rumi and Selected Poems. A Persian Sufi mystic and scholar from the 13th century, Rumi, is still to this day one of the most read poets. His texts possess a truly transcendental power thanks to his unique use of metaphors and natural imagery to describe our metaphysical reality. Rumi’s poems expose the virtue of the natural and of the inner workings of the soul which are foundational in the Sufi philosophy, describing a natural spirituality to be found in love.
Inside this new love, die
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into colour.
Do it now.
You’re covered with thick cloud.
Slide out the side. Die,
and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign
that you’ve died.
Your old life was a frantic running
from silence.
The speechless full moon
comes out now.
Free, Lea Ypi
And finally, a book that was released this year, and winner of multiple book of the year awards: Free by Lea Ypi. This memoir subtitled A Child and a Country at the End of History explores the cost of freedom and the failure of communism to bring about a promised utopia in the Baltic state of Albania.
Ypi also explores her experience in the early 90s when formally communist states of the East began transitioning to the “free market”, western ideals of freedom and how it introduced a dystopian society of pyramid schemes and organised crime, sucking dry the humanity of communities and their common struggle.
The book is written simply and finds tales of human morality in the most common of anecdotes. Free is an engrossing story in the midst of political upheaval and reveals the difference between ideals and reality, questioning the true nature of freedom.
Events that fed my soul
One of my favourite eating experiences in Luxembourg, Brasserie La Côté Cour, without doubt provided one of the most sumptuous gastronomic experiences of the year. The kitchen is headed by Michelin star chef Rene Mathieu and situated within the 12th century castle of Bourglinster. The adjoining Michelin star restaurant, La Distillerie, was voted the best vegetable restaurant in the world by the “We’re Smart Green Guide” in 2020 and 2021. The fine dining brasserie offers a choice of regional and seasonal dishes with a vegetarian and a flora and fauna tasting menu, at an affordable €55 and €65 respectively.
At the end of summer and beginning of autumn, I managed to visit my brother in Paris for a weekend, where I was able to visit the Centre Pompidou. The museum, with its unique architecture provided a superb history and exposition of modern art. I must admit it is the first time I have appreciated the abstract nature and sometimes artistic folly of contemporary art. It revealed in me a new appreciation of the human condition in the 20th century and how art has mirrored society’s alienation from nature and ever deepening abstract composition.
Looking towards to 2022
I look forward to fully filling out within my new role as political journalist and continue getting to know and help lift my colleagues where possible, as well as Delano to new heights and pushing on with our growth. I also hope to be able to carry on pursuing my journey as a poet and writer and finding the strength to continue developing and establishing my metaphysical philosophy.
At the beginning of 2022 I am eagerly anticipating hosting and moderating a debate over the newly announced 2G and 3G measures between Director of UEL, Jean-Paul Olinger and President of the OGBL, Nora Back for our first print edition of the year.
2022 also holds the promise of being a great sporting year with the winter Olympics in Beijing at the start of the year and the first end of year FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar. Most of all, I hope and pray to see Liverpool lift the Premier League trophy in between both events.
Of course, I enter the new year with optimism in regards to the political situation covid-19 has imposed upon the West and look forward to seeing how democracy, the power of the human spirit, will continue to shift and morph under the strain; hopeful that it will revert back to a more recognisable and inclusive form of governance and being, one which has faith in people and itself, rather than blind numbers and words and the power of self-appointed human knowledge.