Voices from around the World

[N4mddissent]

I agree with you .. but he'll also be constrained by an unseen element that I've felt all my life. As overly simplistic and obvious as it sounds .. he's black. His every decision, every move will be tempered by the fact that he's black and he has to judge how he will be seen as a black man.

Can he be seen publicly eating chicken? .. Sounds stupid doesn't it .. but it's real.

I've lived with that unseen element/weight/encumberance everyday of my life .. in fact, we teach it to our children. I live with it even on this site since I've identified myself as black. I lived with it everyday in the corporate world .. which was my inspiration to create my own business so I can use when and how I choose to use it.

A bit off-topic but one of my best inspirations was JayJay on Good Times. I was determined that the world would not see me as that motherfucker. I think all inner city kids should be forced to watch reruns of Good Times.

I think Obama is very self-aware on these issues and will make decisions after careful weighing of the benefits and costs. I also think he will explain his decisions and their basis to the American people in frank and honest terms similar to his speech on race. Hopefully, that will help reduce these effects.

And about inspiration, now you may use JayJay as an example of what not to be, but perhaps also use the president as a positive inspiration of what is possible. I hope that this election indirectly has a lot of positive effects on some of the African-American youth in this country. I've often worked with young people in predominantly African-American communities and tried to inspire or make them aware of their own potential if they use their voice. I have tried to make them aware of both the bonds placed upon them by society and the bonds they place upon themselves by choices they make and encourage them to struggle against both. But it is not an easy task, and doubly so since I am white and that means frequently my arguments are met with suspicion or my attempts are sometimes seen as illegitimate. I understand that there is a difference in that I can never "truly" walk a mile in your shoes and feel the unseen element you mention. But likewise, I fight my own social demons- admittedly not as obvious as the color of my skin- but some pretty close and many are more acceptable to scorn and disparage publicly than race. So we understand we are different, but look for the common goals and principles to unite us and allow our differences to complement each other rather than erect barriers. And Obama coming from both worlds, I hope will help be an inspirational bridge to facilitate some of that unity.

 

[tymebeta]

World Leaders Congratulate Obama

Very interesting and insightful read. This is the window that the world sees us. I've always felt after 9/11, we've missed a lot of opportunities to rally the world behind us. Lets see what our president can do.

 

[Diuretic]

Most of the world has an inherently positive disposition towards the US. While we - not speaking for everyone, only for me but in a generalised manner - are aware of the dirty tricks carried out by previous administrations as foreign policy, for some reason we find ourselves deliberately forgetting them. Perhaps it's a realisation that were the international influence of the US to wane to extinction then the space would be filled by another country that would be even worse (eg China).

That inherent positive disposition was overflowing in the wake of 9/11. As a French newspaper put it, "we are all Americans now". Well we know that feeling was dashed and we know why but I don't want to pick at that scab.

That inherently positive disposition is back. I was listening to my local radio (national broadcaster a bit like a super-NPR) and people were calling in and expressing their happiness - yes, happiness - that Barack Obama was elected. One elderly woman called in and said that she felt that the election of Barack was the culmination of Martin Luther King's dream.

Ordinary Australians are delighted with the result, the goodwill is palpable. But so is the realism. The strong message in the discourse here is that we know the problems that face Barack and the US. But we seem to feel that if anyone can do it then he can (no pun intended by the way).

I just heard a journalist on radio explaining some of the reactions. He cited the example of his daughter who had just got out of school for the day. He said he received a text message from her which simply read, "Obama, Obama, Obama".

I hope he gets to visit Australia during his presidency. He would be warmly welcomed.

 

[N4mddissent]

hope he gets to visit Australia during his presidency. He would be warmly welcomed.

It's hard to imagine places where he would not be warmly welcomed in the international community. It's another opportunity, maybe not as intense, but in many ways similar to post 9-11. Two opportunities to bring together the world to solve common problems in an atmosphere of cooperation in such a short time is amazing. I do hope we will take advantage of the situation.

What I don't think some Americans have stopped to really consider is the real power of Obama's international popularity. If Obama supports some treaty or agreement, then people may tend to more readily view it favorably rather than meet it with suspicion. And if the proposal is popular in the least, leaders of other democratic states may have to consider the real political repercussions in their own electorate for choosing to oppose an Obama proposition.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

I think Obama is very self-aware on these issues and will make decisions after careful weighing of the benefits and costs. I also think he will explain his decisions and their basis to the American people in frank and honest terms similar to his speech on race. Hopefully, that will help reduce these effects.

And about inspiration, now you may use JayJay as an example of what not to be, but perhaps also use the president as a positive inspiration of what is possible. I hope that this election indirectly has a lot of positive effects on some of the African-American youth in this country. I've often worked with young people in predominantly African-American communities and tried to inspire or make them aware of their own potential if they use their voice. I have tried to make them aware of both the bonds placed upon them by society and the bonds they place upon themselves by choices they make and encourage them to struggle against both. But it is not an easy task, and doubly so since I am white and that means frequently my arguments are met with suspicion or my attempts are sometimes seen as illegitimate. I understand that there is a difference in that I can never "truly" walk a mile in your shoes and feel the unseen element you mention. But likewise, I fight my own social demons- admittedly not as obvious as the color of my skin- but some pretty close and many are more acceptable to scorn and disparage publicly than race. So we understand we are different, but look for the common goals and principles to unite us and allow our differences to complement each other rather than erect barriers. And Obama coming from both worlds, I hope will help be an inspirational bridge to facilitate some of that unity.

I appreciate your perspective my brother, and I greatly appreciate that which you give of yourself to the community.

Thr role models I admired growing up were all fighters .. the warrior class among us. Dr. King was OK, but I more admired Malcolm, Ali, Davis, Coleman Young, and others who were not gong to turn the other cheek when they got hit. Getting attacked by dogs, hosed, beaten, and pelted with rocks was not my idea of civil disobedience. I'm from Detroit and we didn't roll like that.

Even in my youth I was full of rage against the system. One day my father took me to a union meeting at Chrysler were he worked for 33 years. I was about 16 years old. When we went into the hall my father left me and went into a meeting in a back room. As I was standing there, my eyes caught glimpse of an attractive white woman .. couldn't take my eyes off her. It's 1965, so staring at white women is unacceptable behavior, so I tried avoiding her seeing me staring.

As the meeting began I took a seat and waited for my father to come out. The room was packed, but there was an empty seat next to me .. and the woman who I had been trying not to look at came over and sat next to me. I was sweating bullets and although I wanted to stare at her, I wanted to do it from a distance so she souldn't see me. I was uncomfortable sitting next to her. She turned to me, said hello, and reached out her hand to shake mine. I built up the nerve to look her in her eyes as I shook her hand and I was lost .. my mind turned to jelly. She said, my name is Viola, what's yours? I mumbled something, not sure if I told her my name or my mothers. My mind was gone .. I was lost in her eyes.

Soon after, I noticed an elderly woman standing near us and I got up and offered her my seat. The attractive woman named Viola smiled as I walked away and I knew she could sense my jelly-fish conditioned nature. I found myself a spot near the back of the room where I could stare at her without being noticed. When my father came out he went on the stage so I had to reposition myself where I could look at her without my father catching me.

When the meeting ended, the crowd covered her exit so I didn't get a chance to watch her walk away. On the way home I told my father about the pretty white woman I saw .. he just said "Uh-huh"

About a month later I was watching TV with my brothers when the face of that attractive woman came on the screen. She had been murdered by klansman when she went to Selma. Alabama to participate in the second historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. Her name was Viola Liuzzo, and she went to Selma after watching the massacre that took place in the first march there.

That moment change me forever. I still had much anger for the atrocities of that day, but I no longer hated, I was no longer filled with the same rage. Viola Liuzzo helped to change me and she never knew she did.

My point is that in your efforts, you may touch someone who needs it and you may never know. I hope you're not discouraged by the challenge you face as a white person reaching out to black youth. They resist when I reach out .. but it's because they are aware of the challenges they face just because of who they are.

Do the world and yourself a favor brother .. keep reaching out. You never know who you touch.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

Most of the world has an inherently positive disposition towards the US. While we - not speaking for everyone, only for me but in a generalised manner - are aware of the dirty tricks carried out by previous administrations as foreign policy, for some reason we find ourselves deliberately forgetting them. Perhaps it's a realisation that were the international influence of the US to wane to extinction then the space would be filled by another country that would be even worse (eg China).

That inherent positive disposition was overflowing in the wake of 9/11. As a French newspaper put it, "we are all Americans now". Well we know that feeling was dashed and we know why but I don't want to pick at that scab.

That inherently positive disposition is back. I was listening to my local radio (national broadcaster a bit like a super-NPR) and people were calling in and expressing their happiness - yes, happiness - that Barack Obama was elected. One elderly woman called in and said that she felt that the election of Barack was the culmination of Martin Luther King's dream.

Ordinary Australians are delighted with the result, the goodwill is palpable. But so is the realism. The strong message in the discourse here is that we know the problems that face Barack and the US. But we seem to feel that if anyone can do it then he can (no pun intended by the way).

I just heard a journalist on radio explaining some of the reactions. He cited the example of his daughter who had just got out of school for the day. He said he received a text message from her which simply read, "Obama, Obama, Obama".

I hope he gets to visit Australia during his presidency. He would be warmly welcomed.

Did you ever get around to seeing "Rabbit-Proof Fence?"

As an Australian, what did you think of it.

Still can't watch that movie without getting emotional.

 

[jillian]

If Bryzenski, his brain on foreign policy, convinces him to keep pushing the Russians and put ABM's in their backyard, his honeymoon will be short.

If he doesn't truly seek balance in the middle east and simply continues the same US policy of Israel first and only, the honeymoon will be over .. back to square Bush.

He needs to leash Brzynski for more reasons than that.

And I find it difficult to believe that you would think Obama telling Isael to stick it would somehow a) make him successful; and b) would have any real effect whatsoever on our relatioships in the middle east. For some reason, that seems to be a horrible blind spot in both the extree left and extreme right of our political spectrum.

If we kicked Israel to the curb, it wouldn't make the fundamentalists nicer to us. Fundamentalism of any stripe exists outside of the reealm of logic that would lead to that type of cost benefit analysis. Moreover, if you really want to change our situation in the middle east, it would be more appropos for us to become energy independent so we stopped funding people who hate us.

And they don't hate us for our freedoms. Nor do they hate us for Israel. They hate us for aggression and little ole things like air strikes and forcing our will on arab countries.

Israel is just their way of finding a subject that they can all equally hate.... kind of like rush limbaugh and annie coulter screaming about "libs".

Also, on a final note, Obama asked for our votes by saying he wouldn't hurt our people in Israel. He won't get those votes again if he does.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

He needs to leash Brzynski for more reasons than that.

And I find it difficult to believe that you would think Obama telling Isael to stick it would somehow a) make him successful; and b) would have any real effect whatsoever on our relatioships in the middle east. For some reason, that seems to be a horrible blind spot in both the extree left and extreme right of our political spectrum.

If we kicked Israel to the curb, it wouldn't make the fundamentalists nicer to us. Fundamentalism of any stripe exists outside of the reealm of logic that would lead to that type of cost benefit analysis. Moreover, if you really want to change our situation in the middle east, it would be more appropos for us to become energy independent so we stopped funding people who hate us.

And they don't hate us for our freedoms. Nor do they hate us for Israel. They hate us for aggression and little ole things like air strikes and forcing our will on arab countries.

Israel is just their way of finding a subject that they can all equally hate.... kind of like rush limbaugh and annie coulter screaming about "libs".

Also, on a final note, Obama asked for our votes by saying he wouldn't hurt our people in Israel. He won't get those votes again if he does.

I apologize for not being more clear. I am not advocating sticking it to Israel at all. What I'm advocationg is finding a balance that is acceptable to Israelis and arabs. I think Obama has a unique opportunity to achieve that .. and I believe that can be done and also protect the Israelis people as well.

I believe the Israeli people are just as much hostage to their government as Americans are to ours. My argument is not with the Israeli people, it's with the Israeli government .. just as many people all over the world stand against our government but not necessarily the American people.

I know there are Israelis who see this as I do because I've worked with some of them doing coalition building .. including with a group called Neturel Karta, a group of orthodox Jews against zionism.

I have no desire to see any harm come to Israelis as I have no desire to see harm come to arabs.

I think Obama has an opportunity to lead in the middle east and I hope he takes advantage of it .. although I kinda' doubt he will.

 

[N4mddissent]

Thanks for the story BlackasCoal, that's amazing. Frustration comes in working with disadvantaged youth not from just my own inability to make them understand. I don't care if they put their life on a positive road due to me or some other influence. It only gets hard when nothing seems to get through and you see them fall into that cycle of underachievment when you know they have potential for more. And while the inner cities get most of the attention, I have worked with children in the rural south. There may be a little less violence (though you'd be surprised) and slightly fewer drugs, but there are also much fewer opportunities. There is nowhere to take them to help inspire young minds. No museums, no affluent African-American businessmen to come and hopefully inspire them to strive for more, no big community festivals, few non-profit programs aimed at helping youth succeed. These children are the detritus of slavery. I don't mean that as a pejorative toward them, only that by living in these rural areas for generation after generation, they have never been exposed to much more than limits from Jim Crow. I have been in a classroom of 7th graders, all African-American, and asked who knew Martin Luther King Jr. Every hand went up. Then I asked who knows what he did or what he stood for. No hands were raised. Somebody spoke a moment later and asked if he stopped Hitler in WWII. Didn't mean to get so off topic, but sometimes it helps to just get it out. Because living in the deep south, in rural areas with very racist tendencies still ingrained in the community, these are not things you can share with members of one's own community. And communities being very segregated still around here, it is difficult to reach across community lines in a social way without repercussions on both sides.

Anyway, I tried to rep your story, but I have to "spread the wealth" a little first. I thought about how your story mentioned the more aggressive black movement versus the more moderate black movement during civil rights. A similar debate splits the non-religious community today. Atheists struggle among themselves as to whether a more confrontational approach (like Dawkins or Hitchens) or a more cooperative approach with religious moderates would serve to make their place in American society more recognized. I considered how at least I can hide my beliefs by keeping them to myself and thus to a degree, shielding myself from the effects of the bigotry toward atheists, while race is something one is forced to expose to the world and the bigotry that it encounters is unavoidable. But then I began thinking, if you could hide the color of your skin and thus avoid the hateful elements that accompany it, would you? How would you feel knowing your true self must be kept private or you would be despised almost uniformly by society? Or to know, that though you have advocated for some people of a different race, not to your own direct benefit, but because it was right, yet some of those same people would reject you and despise you if you revealed who you really are because they don't share the same view?

There are hard questions in this world my brother, and it's a long way from perfect. I just hope that all these efforts to understand one another will bring us a little closer to judging content of character and not color of skin, nor absence of faith, nor sexual orientation, nor political views.

 

[Diuretic]

Did you ever get around to seeing "Rabbit-Proof Fence?"

As an Australian, what did you think of it.

Still can't watch that movie without getting emotional.

I certainly did see it. I actually use a few of the clips in a bit of my work - the scene with Kenneth Branagh lecturing the ladies group is one I particularly like.

Feeling? Shame that those conditions existed. Hopeful that it will never happen again and that we can actually improve living conditions for our indigenous people. Not new to me, I was working in isolated communities in the outback thirty five years ago and wondering if anyone back in the cities really gave a rat's about what things were like. After a few years I came to the conclusion that it was out of sight, out of mind.

 

[editec]

The possibilities are endless.

The question is will Obama and the democrats meet the expectations.

If, henceforth, for every drop of rain that falls, a flower does not grow?

I'm blaming Obama!

 

[editec]

I believe the Israeli people are just as much hostage to their government as Americans are to ours.

As are most people in the rest world, I fear.

I deal with Iranian translators who inform me they think their government has gone mad, as much as I think ours has.

History is replete with examples of governments gone mad.

Look at World War I...

The secret interlocking treaties of failing empires vieing for world power, set into motion, not only that war, but much of modern world history.

The effects of that madness are still resonating throughout the world even to this day.

The triumph of the Bolshviks; the rise of Fascism; World War II; the cold war; the unsettled Middle east that plagues us today; the economic disorder we are still coping with right now; all have their roots in the madness of that time, and the arrogance of the solutions of the victors of that terrible war that came to us as World Wars -- part I and II.

People thoughout the world for the last four generations have been trying to deal with the unsettled dust of that collapse of colonialism.

So I believe that citizens, even in democratic representational goverments, are seldom responsible for the madness of their governments.

Honestly, our world governments remind me of petulant children in a play room stroom with toys, but still squabbling over this toy or that, as though there wasn't more than enough for all of them if but only they could learn to share.

I think this is the millenium where mankind either finds some way to get the adults in charge of their governments, or one of those children is going to discover that Armageddon-in-the box that finally settles the dispute permanently.

 

[Diuretic]

Letters Blog | The Australian

This is today's letters section in one of the two national newspapers (this is a Murdoch rag). I hope the link works. Anyway it's some of our thoughts.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Letters Blog | The Australian

This is today's letters section in one of the two national newspapers (this is a Murdoch rag). I hope the link works. Anyway it's some of our thoughts.

Thanks for the link, Oddball! Very interesting read... I never thought I would have been proud of American politics as seen on the world stage.

-Joe