I once saw a young glassblower in Istanbul, still new to his craft, shatter a beautiful vase while taking it out of the furnace. The artisan master standing by his side calmly nodded and said something that I still think about. He told him: “You put too much pressure on it, you kept it unbalanced and you forgot that it, too, has a heart.”

The year we are leaving behind has been plagued from the start by a series of social, economic, environmental, technological and institutional challenges, all happening with such speed and intensity that we are yet to fully comprehend their impact on our lives, let alone on future generations. As the overwhelming strain of domestic and geopolitical changes continues to build up, I cannot help but remember the man’s words. Too much pressure. Unstable, uncertain and replete with deep inequalities. This could well be the year we forgot that the Earth, too, has a heart. It definitely feels like the year when the world was broken.

In 2024, to be fair, many of the current problems were already present and growing. But there was also a strong wave of positive expectations and public excitement as more than 1.6 billion people went to the polls. It was a time of unparalleled concentrated democratic activity full of promises, incautious confidence, passionate speeches and fiery oratory. Many voters were keen to express their anger and discontent, and express it they did. The mammoth year of elections revealed the importance of not only the ballot box, but also of the surrounding democratic institutions and norms. Language matters. How we talk to each other matters. Democratic decline always starts with words. When political opponents are treated as “enemies”, or even worse “enemies of the people”, the whole system suffers.

Compared with that, the past 12 months have been marked by an emotional and intellectual fatigue for many people across different borders. What we are used to calling “the liberal international order” no longer carries weight. Deeply fractured and unable to hide its cracks, it is coming apart. The housing crisis, the lack of affordable rents and equal opportunities, and social and economic........

© The Guardian