08 November, 2008
Certain things happen naturally but end up having so many connotations that one cannot even begin to come to terms with all of them at once.It might not be so easy to rationalize the extent to which they would go.The election of a first black American president has opened a lot of doors for minority groups, colored people, blacks, seeming underdogs and whole lot of different groups too numerous to mention. it also drives home the fact that in essence,anything at all is possible once there is focus in place. Another very important factor that comes into play with the outcome of this election is that racism can finally be placed on death row, on its way to final execution and total elimination.
So many civil liberation and rights activists fought truly and gallantly just to see a day like this and they include people like Rosa Parks, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and whole lot of others who were in the struggle with them. One must also give credit to those people who had tried earlier but were not given the chance or say the time was just not yet right ; people like Jesse Jackson and the other black contestant who lost at their party primaries in previous elections. Whilst Barack Obama’s victory might seem to be the fruit of such a laborious and well organized campaign but it is definitely coming on the back of all those freedom movement fights especially considering the fact that only about 50 years
ago, black Americans could not yet exercise their franchise. Rightly put in his acceptance speech, he said it
had been a long time coming and now it is finally here, the hopes of two and three generations past came in to fruition on that night with the freedom song “we shall overcome” finally transformed into “we have over come”, and the famous “I have a dream” speech, a prophecy long awaited was finally fulfilled. Now minority groups and black Americans alike can hope in the belief that if only you would work towards it, anything at
all is possible.This invariably could cause a reduction in crime rates, unwanted pregnancies, use of drugs, and certain other vices that are so common among minority groups partly due to this new found belief that rather than tow that self destructive line, one now has a hero and model after which life can be shaped. After being finally freed from the throes of believing only some things are possible and that totally wrong stance of feeling like a second class citizen in your own nation since it was only possible to get to a point and not all the way in the quest for success and the bid to achieve the American dream. There is also the belief that change has come especially since youths who form a major part of the population can finally have a say in the matter of who gets to rule , proving against earlier set
projections and barriers that elections are really not determined by the history of voting patterns but on current trends and ho w well people are carried along. Youths can now officially say they have become stake holders in determining their future and that of their great nation especially since the future belongs to them and they would have to bear the consequences of the decisions they make now.
For the world at large,it is freedom from a world virtually led by George Bush filled with so much paranoia and the belief that it was such a scary place to live in and a place where every one was after your life. His wrong approach to the war against terrorism cost so much ; where he would have had a much more effective war if he had created trusts and friendly partnerships with nations around the world, but he chose to make America live in a cocoon of self inflicted isolation devoid of trust and strategy. Earlier he had gone into a justified war in Afghanistan,but lost the plot with a war against Iraq Inspired by personal vendetta rather than reason. These are the major factors responsible for the financial crises America now faces and the world in turn.Rather than pay attention to a fast declining economy, he chose to look the other way concentrating all his energy on the wars and since he and some members o f his government stood to benefit business-wise fro m the production of arms and ammunition, there was no real thought-out strategy to prosecute the wars and the result is what we are seeing to day in Afghanistan where the Taliban are beginning to rally and continuous insecurity is the order of the day in Iraq today. We had recently heard of a retiring top American general in Afghanistan who advised that the solution to this war would have to be dialogue with the Taliban;and in Iraq it has equally been said that failure to dialogue with the Sunnis, Shiites and various other groups, there might be no end in sight for these wars.
Back to the issue of the day, Barack Obama gets to inherit two simultaneous wars,a global financial crisis and a world almost in depression. His first duty would be to inspire confidence in the markets once again especially with his financial policies and a trust built on telling the situation just as it is. He would do himself a whole lot of good by not towing the line of his predecessor who chose to tell about how strong the foundations of the economy were , even on the eve of a depression. The world can also take consolation in the fact that if all of these things are done, it can fin ally hope for recovery even if it has to live in a more realistic atmosphere which would be better off not based on a virtual credit economy. He would have to come out with a systematic plan to withdraw troops from Iraq and focus more on Afghanistan, drastically reducing valuable funds being pumped into an unnecessary war.
Finally his victory signifies a whole lot for people around the world ; Africans, Asians, Europeans and the rest of the citizens of the world especially since he has connections to various parts of the g lobe, and with this new found inspiration that every thing is possible, we dare say it is the dawn of change for a new world.
The world can finally rest in the belief that we can plan for a future that would not be derailed by policies which by the reason of interconnections as a global village affects us in the long and short terms. We can now look forward to a more secured future for us and our children devoid of racism and other factors that can lead to unnecessary instability in our world.
