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Good News

// February 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // World Issues

Rise

// November 5th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // World Issues

A spectator raises her fist in celebration seconds after it was announced that Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008.

A seemingly endless string of disasters, a hardening of the spirit that drew new rifts between us, the elicitation of the corrupt, the incompetent, and the cruel; do we let ourselves believe that these dark times are over? Is this one sign enough to bring the wearying soul even the briefest respite? Is it a crack in these storm clouds that reminds us that the sun lies just beyond? Or is it first ray of a new dawn, that makes us realise the depth of the night and the inevitable direction of change?

As he said himself, “This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change”. It may yet be a symbolic victory, but in a decade that seemed to lose the very meaning of “freedom”, “democracy” and “human rights” as symbolic casualties of war, the promise of new meaning to these symbols is incredibly assuring. It may be simply changing the hands who wield power, but when those hands had become so stained with blood and money, there can be few things more important.

The million stories that have forged this piece of history reveal again that there is something in us which hungers for this light, a common part that yearns for freedom from a yoke that was bought in fear and desperation. It is a light, that no blindness can truly take, because we realise that for all the shadows and the chains that bound us in the cave of ignorance – the light itself was always there, burning from within us all.

May our children mark this as a vital and profound new chapter in the history of our interwoven civilisation. Peace.

Soundbites

// November 4th, 2008 // No Comments » // World Issues

• That this is history.
• It feels freakin’ great to believe.
• Finally, one apocalyptic netherworld we didn’t manage to steer ourselves into.
• Just stay alive Obama…
• Did we just manage to survive the outburst from September 11?
• It was always going to get horribly McCarthyist.
• Please, spend the political capital.
• At least one night before the illusion bursts.
• Did we actually learn something?
• Peace, and sweet rememberance of this Moment.

Barack seeks the Stillness

// October 13th, 2008 // No Comments » // Art, Music & Poetry, World Issues

(Obama minutes before the first Presidential debate)

Barack Obama: He Completes Us

// August 29th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Jon Stewart’s Daily Show develops its own intro for Obama’s acceptance of the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party.

See Obama’s acceptance speech here.

Post 4-11

// August 1st, 2008 // 2 Comments » // World Issues

The build up to the November elections and the inevitable victory of Mr Obama will provide much needed catharsis for a civilisation wearied under the strain of a system turned against itself. In a rare moment of weakness and fear the institutions that safeguard our democracies were shackled and bastardized, corrupted against their intent and against the general moral compass of decency and the humane. Over this interminably long seven years, these chains have bitten more and more deeply into our collective prosperity- war, incompetence, division and the squandering of opportunity and life. The same chains have awakened us to this bondage and have become the source of our cry for freedom. However, the test for leadership is not winning an election, nor addressing millions with a message of hope and change. The real test after November is how quickly the shackles are undone, institutions reempowered, and the Augean levels of corruption and cronyism washed away with transparency and accountability.

I am the last to speak against engaging leadership and a platform of progress, yet charisma means nothing if it does not lead to action that repairs the damage to rule of law, individual liberty and global peace that has been so ruthlessly violated over this past administration. The danger is that we become so engaged in the catharsis of change, that we accept a superficial difference without the fundamental substance that yields true progress. The damage done is huge and the time to repair critically short, as power, once decried from afar, fits the new king as snugly as the old.

Yet, I am optimistic for a number of reasons. First, I believe the American system is developed enough that the vital institutions will largely self-correct, at least back to pre-Sept 11 standards. Increased economic and military competition from regional powers and new pressures to transform environmentally, socially and technologically, will force the U.S. to innovate to survive. Historically America has been well geared for such change, and I feel that institutions will strengthen through their pragmatic use. Simply put, they can no longer afford to divorce their ideology from reality, and reality has come crashing back in.

Second, there’s Dr B.B. Obama’s Lucky-Time Changey McHope Juice. Ok, I have to admit I’ve also been drinking the cool aid on this one. Although it’s true that the measure of success needs to be made from a critical review of actions once in the Presidency, it is at least a very good sign that Obama looks like the critical-thinking, humanistic, reflective and persuasive leader that the U.S. needs, and that the rest of us need the U.S. to have. Politically, he will have a massive grass roots support base and a majority in Washington- a combination that promises hefty potential for reform. Policy analysis is a topic beyond the scope of this piece, but apart from following the traditional line of uncritical support for Israel, and the radioactive complexity of Iraq policy, his policy positions seem to resonate with progressive experts in the field.

Third, I think Australia is an interesting case study, prepared one year earlier. On 3 December 2007, Kevin Rudd was sworn in as the 26th Prime Minister of Australia, ending the 11 year rule of John Howard’s conservative government. Rudd’s first official act, was to sign the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. In February Rudd fulfilled an election promise to apologise to Indigenous Australians for the stolen generation as the parliament’s first order of business. In April he held the Australia 2020 Summit, bringing together 1000 leading Australians to discuss ten areas the government saw as critical for Australia’s future development. And some days ago his government announced an overhaul of the horrific Australian asylum policy which prevented asylum seekers from landing on Australian soil and sent them instead to detention centres on small Pacific islands. These would-be immigrants were kept indefinitely, in legal limbo, and at their own expense. Changes to this policy means that the burden of proving a specific asylum seeker is a risk to Australian society now falls on the government, that the policy will not apply to children, and that cases of around 380 people currently in detention will be reviewed. Rapid and continuing changes of this type should form a litmus test for evaluating Rudd and indeed Obama and his promising administration.

A More Perfect Union

// March 18th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // World Issues

Today Barack Obama delivered one of the greatest political speeches I’ve heard. It was compassionate and revelatory, progressive and pragmatic, visionary and historical, humble and brilliantly spoken. This man will win the presidency.

(P.S. Brodie has raised some poignant points, the comments section is worth a look)