At the beginning of December, I facilitated a four-day meeting for the Core Team of Global Voices, a platform that makes the world’s citizen media available to everyone. As an American living full-time in the United Kingdom, for most of 2018, I’ve been absorbed by stories that are consuming the discourse in both countries, Brexit and Trump. Compelling but ultimately not very uplifting. I took the opportunity to ask the Core Team to share stories and trends in 2018 they found positive and inspiring. Here’s what they told me:
- Trinidad and Tobago moved to repeal their buggery laws and took a historic legal step towards LGBT Equality
- The transgender community in Guyana is celebrating the repeal of a Victorian-era cross-dressing law.
- Protests and unrest in Ethiopia led to Prime Minister Desalegn’s Resignation.
- The Canadian Government has legalised marijuana and is poised to pardon people who have a conviction for possessing up to 30 grams.
- Residents of Cochabamba, Bolivia are fighting the construction of a football field in order to preserve an urban forest,
- By the end of 2018, 51 countries have banned single-use plastic bags.
- Local & municipal governments are becoming forces against nationalism.
- Ireland voted to repeal their Anti-Abortion law.
- The public has been rapidly losing trust in big tech, partially due to the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data scandal, but also in a good way thanks to GDPR enforcement raising awareness about data privacy.
Again, special thanks to Global Voices Core Team: Eduardo Avila, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Jer Clarke, Filip Noubel, Georgia Popplewell, & Ivan Sigal,