I've been pretty depressed by world trends over the past year.
First you have the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt which originally were supposed to be about freedom but now seem to be getting taken over by Islamists. In the hometown of the fruit seller who burned himself a year ago in Tunisia to set off the revolution, a landslide was won by a populist hard-right charlatan living in Europe. Then you had the TV executive whose house was set on fire for broadcasting a documentary that showed an image of Mohammed, despite it being an award-winning Iranian movie (Persepolis) from another Muslim country. Instead of the arsons being brought to justice, the TV executive was the one brought to trial. Meanwhile in Egypt, the Salafists, who are against democracy have won anywhere from 21 to 30 percent of the vote in the first round, which supposedly included all of the most liberal and secular parts of Egypt. Even worse, the secular Egyptian Bloc refuses to represent the interests of the average impoverished Egyptian, leaving that task up to the Salafists. The Egyptian Bloc appears to be a hodgepodge of losers from the former regime, and middle class (read: rich), out of touch neo-liberals. Basically, there is no leftist party in Egypt of any significance whatsoever.