Some quick thoughts on Obama's win and what it means

Some immediate random thoughts on the momentous events that transpired today, in no particular order:

1) Needless to say, I am extremely glad not only to see Obama elected as the first African American president in history but also to see the end of the Reign of Terror of George Bush and the neoconservative fringe lunatics of the past eight years... The economic crisis and hypocritical response of world leaders marked the death blow to neoliberal ideology, and the ousting of the Republicans from the White House marks the death blow to the extremist far-right ideology of neoconservatism which has held sway since the end of the Cold War. For that I am happy.

2) One thing to keep in mind is that Obama is not the creator of change, but rather a SYMPTOM of changes that have already been underway for some time. I am happy that he won the election, not so much because of him as one man, but because America has changed enough to have made his election possible. If this is possible (and many people thought it wasn't), just imagine what else is possible.

3) Through this election, ordinary people have said enough to extremist neoconservativism and unfettered neoliberal economics. One way in which they expressed this is voting for Obama, but they will express this in many other ways too.. Time for social movements to sieze the moment.

4) Obama is not left by any means - he is a centrist with progressive rhetoric... but there is no denying the fact that there was been a leftward swing in the attitudes of the American people.. this is good news for radicals, who can work to deepen and extend this leftward progression and capitalise on it to raise more radical critiques. The environment within which social movements operate is now much more conducive.

5) Obama himself will be limited in the change that he can implement in Washington; If change is going to happen it will be because of a groundswell of ordinary people at the grassroots, not because of Obama as just one man... at the same time, however, I wouldn't under-estimate the symbolic power that Obama's election has on the psyche of African Americans.. Obama's presence in the White House will alter the way in which African Americans and other minorities see themselves.. This is huge. A crack in history has opened.

6) This is huge for the Iraqi people too. Finally they are going to see the end of the occupation. Obama won't change the world as much as some of us would like, but his election will have real material effects.. Iraq is just one example. This is one small victory for the anti-war movement (yes there is still the issue of Afghanistan, but that's where grassroots accountability comes in), as well as a belated victory for the civil rights movement all those years ago.

7) What Obama's election means is a radical change of context. It is that context - the sum of the myriad interconnected relationships of millions of people across the world - through which change will take place, but this change cannot come from any single centre - not even Obama himself. Obama has merely been the catalyst. Just think of Gorbachev's modest reforms in the Eighties, known as Glasnost and Perestroika. They were modest reforms, but after Gorbachev opened that crack in history, the floodgates were open, and he was soon overrun by revolutionary upheavals which didn't stop until the entire Soviet bureaucracy was overturned. It is up to us to exploit the crack that Obama has now opened, and turn it into a floodgate.

8) With regards to the economic crisis, we know that all Obama will do is to try desperately to save capitalism. I am certain that he will try to pacify/contain any unrest with a Roosevelt-style New Deal (a new contract between capital and labour).. Americans will probably be too busy worrying about not being able to afford their decadent consumerist lifestyles anymore to push for more radical changes..

9) Lastly, I just want to say that even though I'm a revolutionary Leftist, I do not think that being extremely happy about this election win compromises my revolutionary integrity in any way (as some of my more cynical comrades would have it). Any sophisticated analysis must take into account the potential for change inherent within the CONTEXT in which Obama's win was made possible, and not just the potential of Obama as one person to make that change. It is this new context - a veritable paradigm-shift - that I'm most excited about.

Obama

Fox News interviewed Ralph Nader as soon as it became apparent to them that Obama had won. Nader had said earlier that Obama is either going to be an 'Uncle Sam of the people' or an 'Uncle Tom for the corporations'. Fox went after him, accusing him, basically, of being a racist and bringing down the celebrations of the rest of 'us' (apparently, now including Fox who until that point had been attacking Obama and his 'radicals').

Nader handled it all very well, he stood his ground and noted that Obama had been meeting with corporate reps, that he had an atrocious policy on Afghanistan, that he voted for the bailout, that he speaks only for the nebulous 'middle class' but it is clear that he doesn't have a solution for the poor or working class, etc.

It is a shame that Nader has only so far received 1% of the vote.

However it will be interesting to see how the American people react in six months time when it becomes clear that Obama does not intend to change a goddamn thing.

Anyway here is more optimistic view from US Socialist Worker...

History is made
11:00 p.m. CST

AS SOON as it became clear that Obama was over the top, the tone of the media changed to one of reverence in recognition of the historic significance of the election of the first African American president.

And yet, coming out of the mouth of someone like MSNBC's Chris Matthews, it was a travesty. Matthews used the opportunity of Obama's moment of victory to brag about how great America is--having done, he claimed, what no other advanced country had in electing a Black head of state.

What hollow cant in the face of America's long and vicious history of racist barbarism--a country founded on slavery and made into a "great power" with the use of systematic racism.

But not even this hot air could overshadow the sense of exhilaration and tear-filled celebration among ordinary people, wherever they were gathered:

In Harlem in New York City, Brian Jones reports:

Several solid blocks of people celebrating. A giant mural depicts Malcolm X and Obama. Out of a sound system came the song "Ain't No Stopping Us Now," and the streets turned into a giant dance party. On the jumbo-tron, McCain is conceding, but the sound is breaking up. But no one wants to hear him anyway, so they put on Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours."

Outside the White House, a spontaneous crowd gathered to celebrate Obama's victory and jeer George Bush, who is reported to have called Obama to congratulate him. The contrast between Obama's sweeping win that has transformed the so-called "electoral map," and Bush's theft of the White House in 2000, on the basis of the disenfranchisement of African American voters in Florida, could not be more stark.

And in Grant Park in downtown Chicago, there are at least 1 million people, maybe 2 million, filling every visible corner of the huge lakefront area. The pictures on media really are worth a thousand words: dozens of young people with their fists raised in triumph, whole families dancing in the cramped space, tears flowing down the faces of older African American women, flags waving, singing and chanting.

As Lee Sustar described from downtown.

As Obama was headed in his motorcade to speak, people were still streaming toward Grant Park. The crowd is very racially mixed. All ages, though mostly young.

I just encountered a group of 10 Sri Lankan sisters and brothers, non-citizens who came down. "This is a moment to remember," they told me. "We're living through a moment of history. I want to be able to tell my children and grandchildren I was here to cheer on Barack Obama."

To them, Obama's victory represents something that they have seen only very rarely in the past generation. They know that the door is closing on an old era, and that a new one is beginning.

--Alan Maass

Poems by Stephanie Chen

I know this is a discussion board but I though I'd throw in a few poems just to inspire people. It's also for self-promo I guess but who isn't guilty of that. One has to get one's name/work out there somehow. Enjoy people...

GETTING MARRIED AND RAPED ON A PANE OF GLASS

the condemned do not smell
nothing nothing nothing
the fools are out to sell
something something something

the doctors go to hell
golfing golfing golfing
the condemned do not smell
nothing nothing nothing

like your hopes: nothing
like your shopping malls: nothing
like your idols: nothing
like your politicians: nothing
like your sports heroes: nothing
like your artists: nothing
like your religions: nothing
like your policemen: nothing

i will sell my arse to you for nothing
nothing nothing nothing
but stay the fuck away from my soul
nothing nothing nothing

i will sell my arse to you for nothing
nothing nothing nothing
but stay the fuck away from my soul
nothing nothing nothing

hammer to the bride stripped bare
hammer to the bride stripped bare
hammer to the bride stripped bare
hammer to the bride stripped bare
hammer to the bride stripped bare
hammer to the bride stripped bare
hammer to the bride stripped bare
hammer to the bride stripped bare

by Stephanie Chen

28/10/08

http://poeticiansparadise.blogspot.com/

LATTE WITH A DASH OF CREAM

bar code scanners and table manners
art school trendoids and Northbridge drunkards
is there no escaping this nightmare
it's like an asylum drugged funfair

trade in your days off for pints of beer
stay in the same shit job out of fear
when you knock off it's time for soma
spend all your spare time in a coma

we are all afforded our affluence at the expense of the other
we sit in trendy cafes sipping latte while our sisters suffer
we are all guaranteed our survival at the expense of our brothers
we sit on comfy couches watching tv while their children suffer

leftist banners and Marxist pamphlets
bombs are falling down in the desert
is there no defeating the US
one nation consuming to excess

no-one likes the price of oil these days
but it's the price for war we all must pay
talk that talk but never look within
drive your car all the way to the gym

we are all afforded our affluence at the expense of the other
we sit in trendy cafes sipping latte while our sisters suffer
we are all guaranteed our survival at the expense of our brothers
we sit on comfy couches watching tv while their children suffer

are you afraid of dying in a plane crash?
are you afraid of dying in a car crash?
are you afraid of another stock market crash?
are you afraid of dying from boredom?

are you afraid of dying in a plane crash?
are you afraid of dying in a car crash?
are you afraid of another stock market crash?
are you afraid of dying from boredom?

we are all afforded our affluence at the expense of the other
we sit in trendy cafes sipping latte while our sisters suffer
we are all guaranteed our survival at the expense of our brothers
we sit on comfy couches watching tv while their children suffer

by Stephanie Chen

29/10/08

COMATOSE TV JUNKIE CRACK WHORE

dollar signs are all that you see
rather be free, rather be me
see the deception when you plead
you are bound by the chains of greed

in your mind: insecurities
i have my own, rather be free
sycophant, get down on your knees
such a tool, always out to please

gimme gimme gimme gimme another fix of tv
soma soma soma soma: opiate of the masses
gimme gimme gimme gimme another hit of money
coma coma coma coma, decadence and affluence

dollar signs are all that you see
rather save trees, rather be free
fill the void, retail therapy
commercials in your memory

nothing inside, you are empty
fuck the homeless, keep your pennies
you have no heart, keep them hungry
you bow down to your enemies

gimme gimme gimme gimme another fix of tv
soma soma soma soma: opiate of the masses
gimme gimme gimme gimme another hit of money
coma coma coma coma, decadence and affluence

welcome to the new world order
the same as the old world order
the rich get rich, poor get poorer
the same as the old world order

welcome to the new world order
the same as the old world order
the rich get rich, poor get poorer
the same as the old world order

gimme gimme gimme gimme another fix of tv
soma soma soma soma: opiate of the masses
gimme gimme gimme gimme another hit of money
coma coma coma coma, decadence and affluence

by Stephanie Chen

24/10/08

http://poeticiansparadise.blogspot.com

What could $700 billion do for the rest of us?