What stands out for me is the speed at which the year has flown by. Where has the year gone and can I recall the events that have made an impact on me as increasingly we are being bombarded with images and stories which seem more concerned with looking at people’s lives then reporting on current and important events.

I had to take some time to reflect, check my diary and my poetry in order to jog my memory. With my political and ecological mind I reflect on events that have had a significant impact on the way I think. What I thought happened this year happened in 2006. I remember watching the news in Great Ormond hospital as my daughter was recovering from surgery on her bowel after a car accident. A bottle nosed whale had appeared in the Thames. How strange. What would a creature whose natural habitat is the North Atlantic be doing in the Thames? What was even stranger was the human reaction to it. People came out onto the banks of the river and one guy actually jumped into the river after the whale had tried to beach itself in order to die thinking he was helping. These ancient intelligent creatures know when they want to die but we wouldn’t allow it to. I'm sure it died even more distressed by the noise of the boats and the human intervention.

My question is what are we doing to the planet? Have humans become like parasites on the earth without regard for each other and the many species that share it with? Interestingly enough a friend of mine had a dream the night before the whale appeared it would seem he had picked up its sonic cries. His dream interpreted by another friend of mine spoke of Healing represented by the astrological house of Virgo. I know this sounds strange but stay with me but that was last year not this year. It’s all a blur and that’s my point are we loosing track of time?

As a result of the fear of Terrorist attacks the government begins pushing through legislation to hold suspects for 90 days without charge. The bill doesn’t go through the Lords but this year there has been an agreement to hold people for 45 days without charge. What does this mean for people? It seems our human rights are being eroded by the state which is becoming more and more draconian with ID cards and the taking of organs without peoples permission.

September of this year I was sitting looking out of my office window at the downpour not realising just how serious a storm it was. There was thunder and lightning and I thought to myself ‘this is very much like a tropical storm’. How quickly the water fell and stopped with the sunlight breaking through raising the temperature. This is unusual for England. As I have a river running at the bottom of my garden I assumed it would act as an early warning system for any flooding that could occur but I returned home to find my corridor to my kitchen door flooded as the sewage system become overwhelmed with the quantity of water. Is this why they build the Thames barrier to safeguard a sinking London?

I must admit I have been a student of Malachi Z York and the information he brought to us about Global Climatic Changes in the I AM America map highlighting the prophetic changes to the planet from Native American mythology. These maps which illustrate flooding and landmass shifts have given me another perspective on things. Is this why a whale ‘got lost’ in the Thames due to the shifting of the planet? And why northern England has experienced flooding not seen in 100 years?

I read about Gordon Brown’s one eye (one is glass) in the Guardian a number of years ago and it made me reflect on Revelations and the New World Order. One government, one currency and global control with all of us on big brother style observation to a central information centre where all of our information is held. I know it sounds like another conspiracy theory but anything is possible. Pluto is no longer a planet, scientists have just chosen to redefine it and it’s now a reality. I was astonished but not surprised to see him stepping into power as prime minister after months of Tony Blair telling us he wouldn’t leave until after the general election. With no election yet calling himself ‘Prime Minister Elect’, Gordon Brown was illustrated on the front of the Economist represented not as a prime minister but as a king in full regalia. Unbelievable, and this is what they call democracy? Where was the uproar? It would seem we have become so apathetic we allow anything to pass right under our noses. As we are told nonchalantly that 7 million people’s personal details have just disappeared. No public enquiry, no accountability and in a letter to claimants all the department mention is bank fraud. I'm concerned about my identity and the identity of my children. If we’re cloned would anyone know the difference? Or worse still stitched up for a crime we didn’t commit as my DNA is taken automatically if I am arrested.

As I continue to work with SEEDA a project run by AFFORD I have become more aware of the political state of play of the Global North on an emerging Global South. Now oil has been found in Ghana and Chad the EU continues to spread its fingers into Africa in the hope of finding new deposits to feed our consumption. When I was in Zambia this year I saw so many adverts for tenders by the EU in search of oil and mineral deposits yet the EU and WTO’s unjust Economic Partnership Agreement is set to cripple Africa and the Caribbean’s ability to make their natural resources work for its population. It would seem we are heading for another century of high tech slavery where people of colour are unable to determine their own destinies due to poverty and unfair trade.

So what stands out for me in 2007 is that nothing much has changed we continue to be complicit in our perceived safety with access to everything. Our over consumption and waste is having a massive impact on the rest of the world but as long as we can say ‘I’m alright jack’ we turn a blind eye to the fact that vast numbers of people don’t have access to water and electricity in their homes. It would seem we are growing more and more ignorant as a population regardless of colour, we just don’t seem to care. Our growth is unsustainable as every year we get a new phone upgrade unaware that the environment of Africa is being destroyed just so that we can look good.

This year has been marked by the growing onslaught of the media. Numbing our minds, keeping us focused on the superficial whilst the planet continues to send us messages we refuse to hear.

I asked a friend for some feedback on this article and he informed me that he found it depressing. I had to ask myself ‘was that my intention to depress people? No, when I think of the human spirit and the process of healing I believe in order to come back to balance or health negativity has a part to play in the healing process. How would we know we are happy if we’ve never experienced sadness? Once we have visited the depths of ourselves there is only one way to go. Up.

Ife Piankhi