With low level skirmishes between Gardaí and Nigerians over the death of a knife wielding black man, and the potential for genuine racial strife to arrive on our shores per the American model, the year 2020 comes to a thundering end.
In a year defined by the pandemic and the coordinated shutdown of our economic future, one world sums it all up — acceleration. A mere twelve measly months has raised the temperature on the global body politic and the cultural sphere more than a dozen since the Great Recession of 2008, with the tempo only set to increase. Any sense of a return to neoliberal normalcy hoped by centrists kicked the bucket this year, as the left hit the global accelerator on all matters, leaving many in the dust.
Domestically we are witnessing the final gasps of the political duopoly that has ruled the state for a century, with a looming left populist regime coming closer and closer over the horizon. While 2020 wasn’t a year for rightist electoral breakthroughs, and it is unlikely that 2021 will be either, this is the first year it can be said Ireland is in possession of a radical right which in turn has garnered the attention of some in power, showing more trepidation that they otherwise exhibit openly.
As the country bears the scars of 9 months of crude and ill planned lockdowns and stands at the cusp of falling into the hands of a Great Reset, eyes must invariably turn to America which finishes the year considerably diminished in prestige. Whatever one’s position on Washington, it is impossible not to chalk the year up as being an annus horribilis for the senescent superpower.
On the part of this publication, 2020 has been a year of blossoming, from the scalps accrued during our investigative work to a constant uptick of articles and additional coverage. While as a working rule we retain the right of our writing and editorial staff to maintain a degree of anonymity, considering the professional Zeitgeist we firmly believe we have formed a nucleus for future endeavours as the years tick by.
With the New Year, we come closer to the execution of a variety of new projects, some secret for now and others not so much. Per this magazine’s DNA, we aim to surprise if nothing else, and have our door firmly ajar to any prospective writers or those wishing to pitch ideas.
While internally this publication has undergone something of an ideological passing of the torch from previous years, we maintain a lasting wish to cultivate the beginnings of a professionalised student based right, and in our short lifespan have lived up to that charge.
Onward to 2021, the old order is more debilitated than it appears, and even if we have to broadcast our articles out of Hazel Chu’s hate speech dungeons we aim to be a constant factor in the year ahead.
Good Luck to The Burkean and its staff in all its endeavors from this side of the Atlantic!