In with the - what?

2009-12-31 22:20

New York - At decade's end, revellers wonder what the future holds. Out with the old and in with the - what?

With America at war on two foreign fronts, the economy uncertain, terrorism a threat and environmental catastrophe on the list of possible destinies, a sense of starting fresh remains elusive for many, who wonder what sort of new legacy they can build beginning on January 1 2010.

"The meaning of the new decade is going to be diminished by the hangover of the last decade," says Bob Batchelor, professor of mass communications at Kent State University and author of The 2000s, published before the decade was even done. "That makes it tough to be as optimistic as Americans usually are."

In the spirit of fresh beginnings, people around the world planned to celebrate the transition. In New York's Times Square, new giant digits are in place to mark the new decade.

Decade of bad news

Sitting with his wife and two daughters in a Manhattan atrium as they discuss plans to celebrate the New Year with family, DJ Alemayehu says he is finding it hard to feel positive about the future after the last decade's jumble of bad news and nagging worries.

"It's very muddled. There's no clear policy. There's no clear direction," says the Englewood, Colorado, resident. "We're not in control of much, individually or as a nation."

For this family, it is left to the younger generation to seize hold of optimism. At the end of the only decade she has known, young Escadar sounds a positive note: "I'm just excited because I'm turning 10!"

She will remember the last decade primarily for the election of America's first black president, Escadar says. And in 10 years, when she's looking ahead to the '20s - and her twenties? Life, she believes, will be even better.

Older observers have a hard time seeing such a clear path.

For 45-year-old Manhattanite Susana Buencamino, the last decade was defined by a single act of terrorism and its myriad repercussions.

9/11

"September 11 2001. That changed the whole decade," the systems analyst says near her midtown office. Looking forward to the coming years, one thing seems certain. "The terrorists will still be around."

"All of us, we're going to be worried. Wherever we are," she says.

Such a wary outlook is no surprise after a 10-year stretch that started with fears of Y2K disaster and never quite regained its footing, says Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.

"If people were looking for an apocalypse, they kind of got one," he says, listing a string of chaotic milestones, beginning with the contested election of 2000 and the September 11 attacks and ending with the economic crisis and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Clean slate

"When one looks at the end of this decade, it's good riddance. ... It's a time to wipe the slate clean," he says.

At Times Square, organisers planned to mix about 10 000 handwritten wishes into the thousands of kilos of confetti to be dropped over the crowds. They include appeals for the safe return of the troops, continued employment and a cure for diabetes.

The hundreds of thousands of New York City revellers brought out heightened police security, displayed a day earlier when police evacuated several blocks around Times Square to investigate a parked van without license plates.

Police and other officials planned radiation sweeps for biological contaminants in the area and a command centre was to be staffed by FBI, New York and regional police. Thousands of officers were to staff Times Square, where revellers will be banned from carrying backpacks and open bottles.

Among the revellers eager to see the ball drop in Times Square are 23-year-old Leonardo Colombo and 31-year-old Gilberto Oliveira - both visiting from Sao Paolo, Brazil, where they have seen the last decade transform their nation with the promise of economic power and new wealth.

Their fears are tempered by a sense of possibility.

Oliveira says the decade now in its final hours was defined by "the development of technology and the evolution of communication," changes he believes will soon give us medical advances and new tools to improve our lives.

His friend adds: "The new year is a time for change."

"What defines the new decade? Hope."

- SAPA