Pandemics, wars, politics, calamities, the year 2022 has been a rollercoaster ride for all of us and as we're on the final week of the year, it's time to do the Year in Review segment where we get to sum up the twenty things we've learned from 2022.
1) The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics - Amid controversies and political boycotts from the Western powers, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics went ahead as planned. From the 4th to the 20th of February, athletes from a multitude of countries are competing in different sports not just for medals but for the honor of their home countries. In the end, Norway has crowned the overall winner with 37 overall medals and 16 gold medals.
2) The War in Ukraine - In Late February 2022, days after the Beijing Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a "special military operation" in eastern Ukraine, according to reports. This marks the beginning of the war in Ukraine that killed thousands of people. The impact of the war in Ukraine is drastic. Those who witnessed the carnage have sanctioned everything Russian and such triggered the worst economic downturn in decades. Worse, the war caused a drastic gas price hike which caused prices to spike at unexpected levels.
3) South Korean Presidential Elections - The 2022 South Korean presidential elections became known as the "election of the unfavorable" as both Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Suk-yeol are hammered with controversies even before the March 9 elections. In the end, the right-leaning Yoon Suk-yeol became the 20th South Korean president after a razor-thin victory against Jae-myung.
4) 2022 Academy Awards - The 2022 Academy Awards became the talk of the town because of Chris Rock getting slapped by Will Smith following a joke that angered Smith. Amid the slapping incident, the movie CODA was named best picture while the sci-fi epic Dune wins big.
5) Musk buys Twitter - Tesla CEO Elon Musk made headlines this year when he purchased Twitter for 44 billion dollars. It was announced in late April but he later declined, triggering a legal battle between him and the social media company that forced him to take over Twitter. Musk's Twitter takeover is met with a firestorm of controversies because of Musk welcoming back so-called hatemongers to the platform, especially conservatives.
6) Uvalde shooting incident - In late May 2022 saw a school in Uvalde, Texas, got caught in a terrifying massacre when a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers, marking it the deadliest US school shooting in nearly a decade.
7) PH Presidential Elections - May 9th saw the entire Philippines voting for the next president. This 2022 presidential election is a rematch between Leni Robredo and Bongbong Marcos, this time for the presidency. Unlike their vice-presidential race in 2016, it seems the whole public became one with Bongbong Marcos and that is why Bongbong Marcos, the son of the late Ferdinand Marcos, won the presidential elections. Many have feared the return of the Marcoses in the Malacanang would spark history revisionism in the Philippines.
8) Heard v Depp - The defamation legal battle between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp became one of this year's trending topics. In early June, the US jury ruled that Amber Heard defamed Johnny Depp in a six-week trial that featured explicit and graphic evidence and testimony detailing the former Hollywood couple's soured relationship.
9) Roe v Wade overturned - Late June 2022 saw a five-decade-old ruling crumbled as the Conservative-led US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade ruling, paving way for conservative-led states to ban abortion. This ruling angered women's rights activists across the US.
10) Abe got assassinated - On the 8th of July, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot to death while campaigning for a parliamentary election. Abe was shot by an assailant as he spoke at a crowd in Nara. It was the first assassination of a sitting or former Japanese premier since the days of prewar militarism in the 1930s.
11) UK PM dilemma - As Boris Johnson resigned as UK Prime Minister in early July, the UK Conservative Party are seeking their replacement. After months of voting, they named Liz Truss their newest prime minister in September. Sadly, controversies regarding her tax reforms forced Truss to step down after 44 days, making her the shortest-serving UK PM in history. Rishi Sunak became the new Prime Minister following Truss's abrupt departure.
12) Queen Elizabeth II's final days - Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in UK history, celebrated her Platinum Jubilee on the 5th of June, 2022. Months after her Platinum Jubilee, the longest-serving monarch sadly passed away on the 8th of September at the age of 96. Her death was confirmed by Buckingham Palace. Her remains were buried at St. George's Chapel next to her late husband, Prince Philip.
13) Sri Lanka crisis - Sri Lanka was plunged into the worst economic crisis in decades as the country defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in mid-April and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a possible bailout. That economic crisis led to violent protests that caused the fall of the Rajapaksa brothers; President Gotabaya and Prime Minister Mahinda. The Sri Lanka crisis became a wake-up call to other countries, centering the perils of sovereign debt.
14) The fall of Pedro Castillo - After a year in office, Pedro Castillo was ousted by the Peruvian congress in early December and was later arrested and charged with rebellion and conspiracy, moments after he was impeached by Congress. Dina Boluarte took over as the new president of Peru but she's facing revolts following the impeachment of Castillo.
15) Itaewon Stampede - On the 29th of October, there was a Halloween event somewhere in Itaewon, Seoul, South Korea. That festivity turned into a tragedy as a stampede occurred and more than 150 people died in a crush. An estimated 100,000 people came to celebrate there to mark the first Halloween since the start of the pandemic where gathering sizes were not limited and people did not need to wear masks outside.
16) The November 2022 US Midterm Elections - The November 8 US Midterm elections are the most controversial midterm elections to date as it will serve as the test for the Biden administration. With gun violence, inflation, and the overturning of Roe v Wade dominating US politics, voters are betting their lives on the Democrats. In the end, the Republicans won a razor-thin majority of the House of Representatives while the Democrats won control of the Senate, thus plunging the country into another political gridlock. Following the Republicans' House victory, Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign kicked in amid legal battles.
17) 2022 Supercars - The 2022 Repco Supercars Championship marked the final Supercars season for Holden as the Chevrolet Camaro machines are taking over in the 2023 season. From Shane van Gisbergen scoring another championship title to Broc Feeney becoming the last-ever Holden driver to win a Supercars race in Adelaide, Holden's final Supercars journey truly is the true ending Australia's motoring icon deserves.
18) F1 2022 - The 2022 season of the Formula 1 introduced a new look for F1 machines. This season also marked the final season for Sebastian Vettel as he will retire from the sport after this season. Although it didn't live up to last season's hype, Max Verstappen has secured his second championship title.
19) FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup from the 20th of November to the 19th of December amid controversies but it went successfully as planned with Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, taking home the title.
20) The passing of Joma Sison - Jose Maria Sison, the founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines, passed away on the 16th of December at the age of 83. Joma died after two weeks of confinement in the hospital, according to the rebel group. The Philippine military called Joma's death a "symbol of the crumbling hierarchy of the CPP-NPA-NDF". The Philippine government and the CPP have been at war for over five decades now, considered one of the longest insurgencies in the world.
As the saying goes; "end of one nightmare, prelude to the another". So, what will the year 2023 bring us? Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst for what the year 2023 will bring us. Until then, have a happy new year.
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