The year is 2000.
(Data from Wikipedia.)
Year 2000 was a leap year, the Chinese Year of the Dragon, the year of Leo in western astrology. In popular culture, it signaled the start of the third Christian millennium.
Millennium celebrations take place throughout the world, and Y2K passes with no major computer failures. A rare conjunction of seven celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, planets Mercury-Jupiter) occurs. Two volcanoes erupt -- Mount Cameron and Mount Etna. A magnitude 6.5 (Richter scale) earthquake hits Iceland on its national day, 17 June.
AOL is bought out by Time Warner for $162 billion -- the largest-ever corporate merger. Nupedia, predecessor to Wikipedia is created. First resident crew enters International Space Station. The 2000 Summer Olympics are held in Sydney, Australia.
It is a year of major leadership changes. Halonen is elected first female president of Finland. Mesic is elected president of Croatia. Chen Shui-bian is elected President of Taiwan, ending decades of Kuomintang rule. Putin is elected President of Rossia. Yoshiro Mori replaces Keizo Obuchi as prime minister of Japan. Fox of the rightist PAN is elected President of Mexico, ending 71 years of PRI rule. Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez is reelected. George W. Bush defeats Al Gore; disputed votes in Florida delay the outcome, until the U.S. SC stops the Florida recount, in effect giving the Presidency to Bush. Fujimori is ousted as president of Peru. Chrétien is re-elected as Prime Minister of Canada.
It is also a year of protests and violence. Some 15,000 anti-globalization protesters fight with police in Prague during the IMF-WB summits. Brazil celebrates its 500th anniversary amid protests, especially from native and black populations. Israel withdraws IDF forces from southern Lebanon after 22 years. The USS Cole is damaged in Yemen by suicide bombers, killing 17 and wounding at least 39.
It's around March of 2000. The vernal equinox* is at hand -- the start of spring in the northern parts of the globe, and traditionally feted as a great occasion to mark the end of winter and to celebrate the regrowth of life.
For
the first time in many years, I join my extended family (mother,
sister, brothers, and their families) for the New Year celebrations to
greet the new millennium. It is with mixed sadness and hope that I
climb a ridge, with the intent of greeting midnight Y2K there, alone.
But I change my mind, and jog back down to the mountain cottage where
my folks are partying. (I blogged about this somewhere.)
In the first half of 2000, I'm working with an alternative law center in a country where the people are subjected to intense repression. I like the work, but the repression worsens. Arrests and raids are done without warrants. Killings and disappearances mount from month to month. It is the Army that practically rules the country, and indigenous communities are subjected to massacres and forced relocations.
Sensing threats to my life and safety, and upon the advice of colleagues and by my own choice, I decide to leave my legal work and become an "embedded journalist" among the guerrilla forces of the armed resistance movement.
Sophie and I are both still trying to make our marriage work. But so many factors are working against us. She is ambivalent about my decision, but she agrees that it is best for both of us.
I remember that fateful night sometime during the 2nd half of 2000, when I left home to join the guerrillas, with two huge backpacks. It is the classic "all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go" scenario. The kids are asleep. Standing on the driveway, with the taxi blowing its horn, Sophie and I hug each other tightly.
It may sound sappy now -- I have made several failed attempts to blog about this scene -- but she really did kiss me, put on a brave smile for me, and held me like she'd never let me go. I gazed at her beautiful face, wiped away her tears, kissed her hands one last time, and boarded the taxi without looking back. It was going to be, once again, a very long journey of a lifetime for me.
In the first half of 2000, I'm working with an alternative law center in a country where the people are subjected to intense repression. I like the work, but the repression worsens. Arrests and raids are done without warrants. Killings and disappearances mount from month to month. It is the Army that practically rules the country, and indigenous communities are subjected to massacres and forced relocations.
Sensing threats to my life and safety, and upon the advice of colleagues and by my own choice, I decide to leave my legal work and become an "embedded journalist" among the guerrilla forces of the armed resistance movement.
Sophie and I are both still trying to make our marriage work. But so many factors are working against us. She is ambivalent about my decision, but she agrees that it is best for both of us.
I remember that fateful night sometime during the 2nd half of 2000, when I left home to join the guerrillas, with two huge backpacks. It is the classic "all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go" scenario. The kids are asleep. Standing on the driveway, with the taxi blowing its horn, Sophie and I hug each other tightly.
It may sound sappy now -- I have made several failed attempts to blog about this scene -- but she really did kiss me, put on a brave smile for me, and held me like she'd never let me go. I gazed at her beautiful face, wiped away her tears, kissed her hands one last time, and boarded the taxi without looking back. It was going to be, once again, a very long journey of a lifetime for me.
How about you? Do you recall your situation during the entire year 2000? Especially around the time of the vernal equinox? Tell us a bit about your work, your family and home, your biggest problems, the dreams you wanted to reach, during that time.
*Note: The vernal equinox, also called the spring equinox in the Northern hemisphere, marks that point in time each year when the Sun's direct vertical sunlight crosses the equator from south to north. On this date -- which falls variably on March 19, 20 or 21 depending on the year and your location -- the length of night exactly equals the length of day in any place on earth. In other words, this day signals the start of spring in the Northern hemisphere, and the start of autumn in the Southern half of the globe.
(Glimpses of the year 1998)
(Glimpses of year 1996)
