Why am I so fascinated by election campaigning in the US and the imminent election? Partly it is a function of not having much to do at work at the moment and so being free to surf the news sites. But my free time could be spent checking the latest nba scores or checking out the surf report. There's something so addictive though about the election-related output of the 24/7 news machine. Partly it's because the contest itself is so fascinating. The brash, impulsive ageing ex-navy captain, versus the steady, smooth first term senator makes for a vivid set of contrasts. The awesome scale of investment in proceedings, combined with the continual scrambling for the iconic image, pithy line, or damning bit of evidence make for an endless and gripping narrative. To more clearly express my bias I would further describe the contest as between a candidate who is truly inspiring and one who represents much of what has been wrong about US politics for the past 8 years. Oops, there I go regurgitating one of the key concepts in the Obama campaign - that McCain represents the same economic and other policies as the Bush administration. I'm not even American, and have never put foot on the continent, but I find myself desperately hoping that the American people do not choose someone who may continue in the same vein things have been going for what seems like an eternity. My fascination with the events unfolding must have something to do with the way the world is so inter-connected, as cliched as that sounds. I feel invested in the outcome because I know that America's future is in a way my future, our future. Perhaps it was my introduction to and love for science fiction from a young age that has implanted in me a desire for us humans to live, to survive, to persist - and to do so for a long, long time, preferably till the end of time. I think that is one of the most basic instincts a person can have, and it may seem hackneyed but for the frequency I hear people say things like, "people will die out, just like every dominant species has done so before", or "there's no chance mankind will survive, we will either use up all our resources or kill each other". Hey, what happened to some good, old fashioned American-style positive thinking? I want us to be whizzing around in space ships ala "Star Trek" come the year AD 4522. Why not? I fully believe that's possible. All we need is to master nuclear fusion and we're golden, right? My sense is that, for that vision of a technologically powerful race bravely venturing out into the universe to have a decent shot at coming to fruition, we need to get through this tricky period right now. Sure, there will be delicate times in the future, but this is the most delicate time we have yet encountered, and how we deal with it may determine whether we ever make it to alpha minor, or explore the Milky Way.
Let me explain how all this relates to the US election. War: a McCain presidency is more likely to encourage antagonism towards the US internationally which could spark conflict on a bigger scale than that which is currently waged. An Obama presidency could help to both defuse current conflicts and tone down war-like rhetoric generally. The Environment and International Cooperation: surely the most pressing issues facing the world right now are the interrelated concerns of dwindling resources and the environmental problems which accompany such resource use. For us to make the transition to a post-oil, and then post-fossil fuel system, requires clear thinking, forward planning, massive amounts of investment, and cooperation between nations. An America under clear thinking leadership which recognises the shared destiny of the world's various nations, is more likely to facilitate the meeting of these challenges, instead of stymieing them through a short-sighted scramble to preserve the SUV-driving, criminally wasteful lifestyle many people have become used to.
There is also something harder to define at issue here. It is something to do with the collective imagination of people. As we spin through space on this shimmering orb, so we steadily cover its surface with all manner of edifices, and fill our minds and societies with all manner of beliefs and rules. That is a flexible set of things, it can be moulded and every change reverberates through time. Wouldn't an Obama presidency reverberate through time a whole lot better than a McCain/Palin presidency? I see fields of green... and a red spaceship or two...
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Will the real ANC please stand up
It's official. I'm no longer a supporter or admirer of the ANC. I remember voting excitedly for the ANC in 1996 when I was 18. My excitment came partly from knowing that few of my white friends would be doing the same, and partly from feeling that they were wrong in so (not) doing. The ANC meant change, it meant dignity, it meant a realignment of priorities and principles in all the right ways. My thinking was that the vast parliamentary majority the ANC was sure to capture was in the interests of the country. I felt that my tiny contribution was to add further impetus to the huge boulder already rolling through the landscape of policy and discourse, helping to reshape the world into an altogether better place. In the years since that first vote cast, my views have changed gradually to incorporate the need for a stronger opposition. In my mind I pictured that this would lead to strident debates in various forums, leading to more rigorously formulated policies and the abandonment of untenable views and planned courses of action. But still, the ANC retained my confidence as capable of plotting our course gradually towards the achievement of the myriad noble goals established (and admittedley continuously reviewed) post-1994.
This is no longer the case. Without fail, every time a member of the ANC is quoted in the media nowadays, I feel a deep and sickening repulsion to what I hear. This does not originate from some kind of prejudice. As I've explained, I would, if anything, be prejudiced in favour of the ANC. Those favourable feelings have been rapidly depleted however in response to the facile and vindictive pronouncements that have become ubiquitous and synonymous with the "new ANC". This is not an ANC I can relate to. This is a bunch of nasty characters. The sacking of Mbeki forced me to revisit my uninterrogated views of him as "a good guy" because he "seems like a good intellectual" not prone to the machiavellian machinations I, even as a supposedly progressive "whitey", privately feared. It turns out I was wrong. Mbeki had not an insubstantial amount of Machiavelli inside him, and made the fatal mistake of allowing forment to brew while he pursued his intellectual ambitions of the "African Rennaissance". Still, the way he was sacked put paid to the whole notion of the sanctity of unity within the ANC and towards its principles. This is the whole problem. The astounding level of hypocrisy currently prevailing in all ANC discourse. Mbeki is a respected "comrade" who has served the movement well - then why was he dumped in so undignified a manner? The ANC is a dignified and proud organisation - then why are those quitting the organisation referred to as "dogs", and why, in soundbites from every ANC meeting, can one hear sinister laughter in response to each increasingly churlish remark, inciting the crowd to ever more gleeful affirmations of the speakers twisted rationale. This is scary stuff. Gwede Mantashe employs his particular brand of logic, replete with faux Marxist discourse to rationalise the changes taking place and lend an illusory sense of historical inevitability to events, especially of the historical inevitability of failure of the current break-away faction of displeased ANC members. Mothlanthe was supposed to be the level-headed and even-handed leader, but he has uttered the same thinly veiled threats. Zuma's softly modulated, reasonable sounding reassurances seem hollow when placed next to the overtly violent references of his signature song "Umshini Wam". Need I even mention Malema? These are not the kinds of people I can ever admire, respect, or vote for.
At least people aren't buying it - at least not those one hears guffawing in such an offensive way in ANC meetings. The media has been unrelentingly harsh on the ANC recently, and this is heartening. We may live in a de facto one party state, but it is not a propaganda state.
This is no longer the case. Without fail, every time a member of the ANC is quoted in the media nowadays, I feel a deep and sickening repulsion to what I hear. This does not originate from some kind of prejudice. As I've explained, I would, if anything, be prejudiced in favour of the ANC. Those favourable feelings have been rapidly depleted however in response to the facile and vindictive pronouncements that have become ubiquitous and synonymous with the "new ANC". This is not an ANC I can relate to. This is a bunch of nasty characters. The sacking of Mbeki forced me to revisit my uninterrogated views of him as "a good guy" because he "seems like a good intellectual" not prone to the machiavellian machinations I, even as a supposedly progressive "whitey", privately feared. It turns out I was wrong. Mbeki had not an insubstantial amount of Machiavelli inside him, and made the fatal mistake of allowing forment to brew while he pursued his intellectual ambitions of the "African Rennaissance". Still, the way he was sacked put paid to the whole notion of the sanctity of unity within the ANC and towards its principles. This is the whole problem. The astounding level of hypocrisy currently prevailing in all ANC discourse. Mbeki is a respected "comrade" who has served the movement well - then why was he dumped in so undignified a manner? The ANC is a dignified and proud organisation - then why are those quitting the organisation referred to as "dogs", and why, in soundbites from every ANC meeting, can one hear sinister laughter in response to each increasingly churlish remark, inciting the crowd to ever more gleeful affirmations of the speakers twisted rationale. This is scary stuff. Gwede Mantashe employs his particular brand of logic, replete with faux Marxist discourse to rationalise the changes taking place and lend an illusory sense of historical inevitability to events, especially of the historical inevitability of failure of the current break-away faction of displeased ANC members. Mothlanthe was supposed to be the level-headed and even-handed leader, but he has uttered the same thinly veiled threats. Zuma's softly modulated, reasonable sounding reassurances seem hollow when placed next to the overtly violent references of his signature song "Umshini Wam". Need I even mention Malema? These are not the kinds of people I can ever admire, respect, or vote for.
At least people aren't buying it - at least not those one hears guffawing in such an offensive way in ANC meetings. The media has been unrelentingly harsh on the ANC recently, and this is heartening. We may live in a de facto one party state, but it is not a propaganda state.
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