A human-powered float at the 2010 edition of the Bahamas’ Junkanoo festival, which takes place on December 26 and January 1 each year. Photo by Cathy T (CC BY 2.0).

Happy new year, folks! Thanks to everyone for all your contributions in the last month of the crazy year that was 2021. In this post we take a look at the highlights from December as well as a few from the year overall:

Stepping down from his core team role as Lingua Manager at the end of December was the indomitable Mohamed ElGohary, who takes up a position as Network Engagement Specialist with IFEX this month. Gohary's presence on the core team will be greatly missed, but he remains a member of the Global Voices board and will also resume duties as translation manager for Arabic Lingua. We'll be announcing plans for recruiting new Lingua management soon.

Welcome to the following new contributors who published their first GV story or translation in December 2021!

A. Sasil Sánchez Chan, Andreja Stojkovski, Ather Zia, Chloë Tanguy, Léa Bailleux, Mariana Schutt, Menna Adel, Mihoko Tsuji, Rafaela Landikusic, Sarah Khaled, Sofia Bressi, Tassos Christopoulos, Tomiwa Ilori, Tommy MOUR, Youpeul, Zoila Antonio.

Welcome to the new translation managers of the Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Danish, French and Ukrainian Lingua sites: Mohamed ElGohary, Yanne C, Ina Melgaard, Fidèle Juliette and Volodymyr Tyravskyi.

And congratulations to the following authors and translators who produced the top ten highest number of posts in 2021: 

1. Gabriela García Calderón Orbe – 918 posts
2. Oiwan Lam – 420 posts
3. Veroniki Bacharidi-Krikoni – 364 posts
4. Arzu Geybullayeva – 340 posts
5. Marta Capua – 305 posts
6. Tanya Lokot – 225 posts
7. Rezwan – 207 posts
8. Janine Mendes-Franco – 201 posts
9. Véronique Danzé – 152 posts
10. Nevin Thompson – 144 posts

We added one new media partner in December: Central Asia Barometer

GV media and conference appearances:

• December 3: Ivan appeared on a roundtable discussion on Disinformation and the Threat to Democracy at the 17th edition of the e-Society.mk international conference in North Macedonia
• December 8: Rising Voices (RV) presented a panel titled Building the wiki-way for low-resource languages at the 2021 Internet Governance Forum in collaboration with O Foundation, featuring RV's director Eddie.
• December 9-10: Melissa represented Global Voices in person at the Council of Europe's Lisbon Forum 2021, which addressed the topic of Intercultural Dialogue in the Infodemic era. Melissa appeared on a panel titled “Break your bubble for global solidarity and social justice.”
• December 10: Ivan appeared on the panel discussion Disinformation is a Virus · Fake News & the Pandemic hosted by Disruption Lab as part of their Disruptive Fridays series.

Number of stories published on GV in English in December 2021: 92 (down from 93 in November)

Total number of stories published on GV in English in 2021: 1,165 (down from 1,198 in 2020)

Total pageviews (all sites) in December: 368,658 (down from 427,130 in November)

Total pageviews (all sites) in 2021: 5,776,619

Top 10 posts by pageviews in December 2021 (includes only recent posts):

1. 香港政府、警察への襲撃を「単独テロ」と断定 translation by Mihoko Tsuji of the post Hong Kong government defines assault on police as ‘lone wolf terrorism’ by Oiwan Lam – 3,581 views
2. Despite widespread opposition, Japan plans to dump water from Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean by Mong Palatino and Nevin Thompson – 3,311 views
3. Malawian scientist who forewarned about Omicron-type variant speaks out by Steve Sharra – 2,477 views
4. U20世界陸上競技選手権大会　ナミビア女子選手 女子選手の出場資格規定により中距離種目出場不可に　短距離へ種目変更し好成績を収める translation by Masato Kaneko of the post
   Namibian female sprinters are victorious at World Under-20 Athletics Championship amidst bans over discriminatory tests by Richard Wanjohi – 2,176 views
5. Turkish finance minister wrecks economy ‘with a twinkle in his eye’ by Arzu Geybullayeva – 2,079 views
6. Barbados forges a digital path by becoming the first country to establish an embassy in the metaverse by Janine Mendes-Franco – 1,238 views
7. A sweeping spate of murders rivals COVID-19's ‘third wave’ in Jamaica by Emma Lewis – 1,005 views
8. New Caledonia votes to stay with France in referendum boycotted by the Indigenous population by Mong Palatino – 999 views
9. In photos: Could the mountains of the Caribbean be an opportunity for sustainable tourism? by Emma Lewis – 882 views
10. Not just ‘Jingle Bells:’ Listen to these Christmas songs from Latin America by Melissa Vida, Fabiola Gutiérrez, Belen Febres, Lully, Fernanda Canofre, Kelly Chaib De Mares, Gabriela Mesones Rojo, Talita Fernandes, Aza Delgado Orduño, Luis Rodriguez – 838 views

Top 10 posts by pageviews in 2021:

1. Bangladesh moves to revive production of muslin, fabric of legend by Rezwan – 42,455 views
2. How a swimming pool became Puerto Rico’s symbol of climate change and corruption by Ángel Carrión – Ángel Carrión – 42,264 views
3. The Uyghur issue, China’s greatest fear, is looming in Afghanistan  by Kok Bayraq – 35,136 views
4. The story of a potato biscuit-chips fusion — how a Bangladeshi brand mesmerised India by Abhinash – 21,527 views
5. Hypocrisy vs history debate follows death of former Yugoslav actress Mira Furlan by Filip Stojanovski – 18,540 views
6. Pesquisadores de ciências humanas se tornaram ‘inimigos da nação’ no Brasil, diz antropóloga by Talita Fernandes – 17,736 views
7. The misty beauty of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains captured on camera by Emma Lewis – 17,696 views
8. Religious cleric criticizes Turkey’s women volleyball team for their appearance in Tokyo Olympics by Arzu Geybullayeva – 17,642 views
9. The origins of ‘liming’ in Trinidad and Tobago by Janine Mendes-Franco – 17,432 views
10. Residents prepare for possible evacuation as St. Vincent’s La Soufrière volcano heats up by Janine Mendes-Franco – 14,388 views