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Did you expect me to remain silent in the aftermath of the election?
Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, a promoter of a one party state, and one of dad’s idols from his university studies, once remarked,
The United States is also a one-party state, but with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.
My dad thinks this about sums up the US election.
Dad believes while the progressives jump for joy in the streets and sing “the witch is dead”, the system will use Joe Biden’s pearly white smile and Kamala Harris for cover. The system will continue to perpetuate the injustices that Trump’s presidency stripped the veneer from. Joe Biden will continue to smile and Kamala Harris will continue to be Kamala Harris; both of them having gotten what they wanted but not without a price. The result is similar to a comment dad read recently in reference to Pinochet’s Constitution of Liberty, “. . . the results of a democracy protected from too much democracy!”.
Rapid amnesia
One day I overheard dad telling mom about rapid amnesia — poor mom! Dad couldn’t remember who put the idea in his head. Though he made sure mom understood that it wasn’t his idea — which mom had already figured out! Dad said it was a brilliant idea when it came to politics, and some pregnancies: promises made, promises not kept. Something similar to Einstein’s classic definition of insanity,
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
To this end, Americans have gone out and through the majority’s, slim as it may be, collective rapid amnesia, inflicted upon the world the same administrative team minus Obama. A team, that promised oh so much. There is now a sequel, minus Obama but not his legacy.
It is a sequel to the administration that kept the US at war for all eight years of it’s tenure; filled the military coffers and took the lives of thousands of innocents. Apparently Obama was, and still is, the first two-term president with that distinction. Joe Biden, can safely claim to be the first two-term Vice President with the same distinction. Together, their administration launched airstrikes or military raids in at least seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Obama even managed a Nobel Peace Prize before embarking on the carnage!
Dad’s voice drones on in the background while I watch my videos. I am in a transfixed state, much like the voters; or much like the one where mom starts shovelling food, I may or may not like, into my mouth with me offering little in way of protest.
Speaking of protest, dad says we shouldn’t forget that it was under this same administration, the first version not the sequel, that Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matters, the Dreamers, fossil fuel divestment, No Keystone XL, Standing Rock all came to the fore. Dad found the list in an article by Naomi Klein “Now We Have to Fight Trump’s Tin-Pot-Coup – and Biden’s Worst Instincts“.
Dad is very fond of Naomi Klein. He likes to tell the story of her participation in a talk at Massey Hall during the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto. Near the end of the evening she went up to the microphone and invited people to join her on a walk to to Allan Gardens where “her friends” the activists had set up a tent city. Dad, mom and a couple of thousand other middle aged whites lined up on the street and headed to Allan Gardens. The cops who had been out of control the whole weekend panicked. These people were white, middle class, old and going to join those long-haired, tattooed rebel rousers who are perhaps their children. Dad says the cops honestly didn’t know what to do. “Optics, optics” dad was sure the words were pounding away in each and everyone of their heads.
Meanwhile, back to the sequel with Biden and Harris, and all the protest movements that survived and grew throughout the Trump presidency, there’s a risk of going down a path of making reconciliation and healing all about polite again; reinstalling the veneer. Dad thinks we really mustn’t allow this to happen.
Whatever happened to Russia?
Dad wonders if Russia would have been blamed again should Trump have won? Turns out that just today, we learn that Biden won because of interference from China and in particular, Venezuela. Go figure! This is while maintaining a non-partisan demonization of Russia!
All about COVID 19
Heather Mallick’s recent article, “Are businesses worth more than human lives? In Doug Ford’s Ontario, the answer is yes” dad thought it, the question, was surely rhetorical. Alas it was serious enough for Heather to examine and answer in her article. Not to mention, serious enough for dad to read.
The question was something dad has asked his uncle, an economist, four months ago. Dad thought that if Heather and the Toronto Star really cared, they too, could have asked the question sooner. The question could have stood on its own. It did not need to be qualified with “Doug Ford’s Ontario”, setting aside that it is not his Ontario.
Marc Lamont Hill has just published an entire book, “We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest, and Possibility“. Dad discovered Marc from an online discussion he was listening to because, what else are you going to do these days? In the book, he examines the interest of businesses superseding human life. In the book he talks about many things, but one of the things that caught dad’s attention was referred to as American logic: the moment you are no longer exploitable, you become death-eligible. Dad immediately extended the logic to empire and foreign leaders. The moment a leader resisted American exploitation, was their moment of becoming death eligible. Their fate became the same as the elderly in long term homes; for profit homes of course.
Dad thinks everyone should read the book. I can’t read it. It’s easier to write about it.
And final thoughts of happiness
Michele Landsberg, award winning journalist; mother-in-law to Naomi Klein, has joined Independent Jewish Voices. Dad couldn’t be happier.
Michele wrote,
“I recently joined IJV. For profound historical reasons, it has taken many Jews a long time to move away from uncritical allegiance to Israel. I’ve worked on this myself for years – especially as Israel has changed so radically – and I am glad to have arrived at this point. If you share this journey, please consider joining!”
Perhaps Stephen will join next? Who knows? The world is full of surprises.
Victor! You look so big in this photo… I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the US election, which are pretty similar to my own, but oh so much better supported…. I saw Suad Friday and we are missing our film series… and you and your family…..