Strife and Resilience:
As conflicts old and new raged, the
stories of survivors were poignant
reminders to learn from history.
SECRETARY-GENERAL of
the United Nations António Guterres
called for an immediate global cease-
fire when the pandemic began.
“It is time to put armed conflict on
lockdown and focus together on the
true fight of our lives,” he said.
His plea went unheeded. Even
during a public health catastrophe—
one that threatened everyone on the
planet—conflicts raged.
Two years into the pandemic, doz-
ens of ongoing conflicts blaze around
the world. The Armed Conflict Loca-
tion & Event Data Project reports that
since 2016 more than 100,000 people
have died each year in tens of thou-
sands of battles, riots, explosions, pro-
tests, and violence targeting civilians.
In 2021 the Taliban swept through
Afghanistan and back into power after
20 years. Hamas sent rockets into
Israel, which responded with air strikes
into the Gaza Strip. Ethiopia’s war on
its northern state of Tigray sowed a
deadly famine.
In the United States, insurrection-
ists stormed the Capitol, and killings
by police, especially of Black Amer-
icans, drove protesters back into the
streets. Haitian migrants escaped
strife, hunger, and natural disaster
in their homeland, only to encounter
violence at the U.S. border.
The details of conflicts vary: They
take place in different countries within
different cultures, and people fight
over different things. In AfghanistanBY RACHEL HARTIGAN90 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC