Joe Biden – Kamala Harris
The third time he claimed the US Presidency proved to be the lucky one for Joe Biden. On January 20, 2021, he will take over the reins of the United States, with Kamala Harris as the country’s first female and black Vice President. 78 years-old US President Joe Biden and the oldest President in the country’s history are facing the enormous challenges of an economic, health and environmental crisis respectively in an increasingly unstable international environment.
Angela Merkel
The German Chancellor ended fifteen consecutive years in the Presidency of the German Government with her popularity soaring, breaking every record on the German and EU political scene, respectively. It is credited, inter alia, with the successful management of the Covid-19 pandemic and the historic agreement to address the economic impact of measures to tackle the health crisis in the EU.
Dr Li Wenliang
A central figure in the wave of popular discontent on the part of citizens towards their state is dr. Li Wenliang who left his last breath in the early hours of Friday, February 07, 2020 in Wuhan city, China, which is at the heart of the epidemic. Dr Li Wenliang, using the pontium of social networks, had warned former classmates of the existence of a dangerous virus in the hospital where he was working. After a few days, Chinese law enforcement and law enforcement authorities accused this doctor along with seven other doctors of spreading “illegal and false” news. The local authorities in Wuhan hid for more than forty-five days the number of cases and the fact that this virus was transmitted from person to person. By February 07, 2020, the virus had sickened 31,211 people in China, killing more than 637 people.
The death of ophthalmologist Dr Li Wenliang has sparked a wave of emotion and great anger towards the Chinese authorities who have long hidden the truth about the epidemic. The rage turned into a river of protest, making the slogan “I want freedom of speech” heard in its passage. The Chinese authorities have begun to make the most aggressive comments to the Government. Chinese citizens in reaction to the practices of silentness implemented by the Chinese authorities have massively reproduced Dr Li’s comments to the independent media (Caixin). “A healthy society should not have only one voice” Dr Li Wenliang. The death of Dr Li Wenliang acted in the mass anger of the citizens, provoking emotion, and anger over the manipulation of information, thus overstranging their fears by creating the basis for the future demand for the guarantee of freedom of speech as a first step towards the full liberalisation of Chinese society.
Boris Johnson
The beginning of 2020 found the British Prime Minister at an extraordinary political level with fresh impressions of the Tory election triumph in the December 2019 election and with Brexit taking place on 1 January. However, he then presented a contradictory and ineffective management of the Covid-19 pandemic (the UK has the most victims of all European countries) which caused a serious political blow to his government, while he was seriously ill with the virus and at risk of dying. Given that from 1 January 2021 the UK leaves the EU and is called upon to manage the challenges of this decision it is foreshadowed that in 2021 the British Prime Minister will hopefully star positively rather than negatively.
George Floyd
His last words before he lost his life “I can’t breathe” of the 46-year-old African American and father of five children, while the white police officer pressed his neck with his knee on the pavement, where he was first immobilized by handcuffing him became the slogan that shocked the U.S. and mobilized the black American community against Donald Trump, resulting in him losing the election. His murder was a catalyst for the explosive growth of the Black Lives Matter movement on US soil. The social outrage was so great that protesters were urgently calling for the reining in police arbitrariness, going so far as to destroy historical monuments of figures linked to slavery and racism in the US and Europe.
Samuel Patti
On the afternoon of 16 October, the 47-year-old middle school history and geography teacher, returning from school, was attacked by an 18-year-old jihadist who stalked him by killing him and then beheading him. The assailant was named as Abdullah Anzarov and was a Russian jihadist from Chechnya. Ten days before his murder, the French teacher was teaching a class on freedom of expression as part of his Civic education course, showing students some of the controversial cartoons with Mohammed, published by Charlie Hebdo magazine, which had become the target of terrorist attacks in 2015. The French professor’s murder prompted the French government of Emmanuel Macron to take tough measures against radical Islam, provoking fierce opposition against France in several Muslim countries.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
At the age of 87, this legendary figure of American Justice died on September 18, 2020. A member of the Supreme Court since 1993, RBG, as it was widely known, was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve the institution of American Justice since that office, while making history for its progressive positions on issues related to minority rights and female emancipation. Her death enabled President Donald Trump and the Republican party to fill the vacancy with also female judge Amy Comey Barrett, forming a 6-3 majority in favor of conservatives in the U.S. supreme court.
Vladimir Putin
The Russian President reaffirmed his political hegemony once again, as his proposals for a constitutional revision were approved in the referendum of 26 June – 1 July 2020 with 79%. In addition to provisions to strengthen the social state and traditional values, constitutional reform enables the Russian President to claim another two six years in the Presidential post, lifting the earlier restrictions. On the international political scene, Russia as the main guarantor contributed to the peace agreements in Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh, and was one of the first countries to find the vaccine (Sputnik V) against Covid-19.
Jeff Bezos
In the global social and economic storm caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the richest man on the planet became one of the great winners by multiplying his vast fortune. On July 20, while unemployment had swelled to a record high with Amazon’s online sales soaring thanks to consumer lockdown, Jeff Bezos’ personal fortune rose by $13bn in a single day as his company’s stock soared. But Amazon added 400,000 jobs during 2020.
Alexei Navalny
On August 20, one of Vladimir Putin’s most famous critics fell into a coma inside the plane carrying him from Tomsk, Siberia, to Moscow. After a few days of hospitalization at a local hospital he was transferred to Berlin, where German doctors announced that he had contracted the neurotoxic substance Novichok. Suspicions turned against the Kremlin, but it denied any involvement. With his anti-corruption campaign, 44-year-old Alexei Navalny had created many enemies and the real circumstances of the poisoning remain unclear. But when Alexei Navalny returns to Russia, it will be an even greater nuisance for the Kremlin.
Juan Carlos
King of Spain for four decades (1975-2014), he was forced into the humiliating choice to self-rule in the United Arab Emirates last August, as the Supreme Court launched an investigation against him for scandalous dealings with Saudi Arabia. The case came to light following allegations by a former mistress of Juan Carlos, putting his son and heir to the throne, King Felipe, in an exceedingly difficult position and contributing to the obsolescence of the monarchy in a large proportion of Spanish public opinion.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
By May 29, she was just an English teacher, translator, and mother of two. That day, Belarusian authorities arrested Sergei Tikhanovskay’s husband, a popular blogger and activist, who was due to run in August’s presidential election against Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994. With her husband in prison, 38-year-old Tyhanovskaya rushed to fill the void and managed to unite the opposition around her face. Lukashenko’s elections were denounced because of opposition rigging, starting unprecedented-sized protests. He was forced into exile first in Lithuania and then in Poland.
Qasem Soleimani and Mohsen Fahrizandh
Two particularly important figures of Iran were exterminated in the past year by the enemies of the Islamic Republic. On January 3, 2020, Major General Qasem Soleimani, head of the elite Al-Quds force unit and leader of the Revolutionary Guards, was killed by an American missile, commanded by President Trump, at Baghdad airport.
On November 27, 2020, the distinguished Physicist Mohsen Fahrizandh, who until then had made a major contribution to the Iranian program, was ambushed (Iran points to Israel) about 80 kilometers east of Tehran.
Harvey Weinstein
The 68-year-old fallen Hollywood producer was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault and taken to prison. His arrest two years earlier and chain revelations have giant the #MeToo movement, pushing many women around the world to break their silence on cases of sexual abuse.
