Liberation, France
Why Obama's
Victory is 'Decisive to Our Fate'
"Since the 1980s, the
progressives of the planet have been on the defensive. The forces of
individualism and money confiscated the very idea of progress. Progressives had
the idea of progress stolen from them. Now they have taken it back."
By Laurent Joffrin
Translated By Kate Davis
November 6, 2008
France
- Liberation - Original Article (French)
The future has changed sides.
For over 20 years, the conservatives had a corner on it. They just lost it. We
have celebrated the victory of a man who represents the pariahs of American
history, the emergence of a messenger of the new century which is mixed,
globalized and where the West will no longer be the center of the world.
We had a hundred reasons to
feel right. The tears of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who saw the dream of his
mentor Martin Luther King materialize before his brimming eyes, will remain in
the memory of all marginalized people. A land of discrimination and relegation,
the United States has taken a major step toward redemption.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
But the election of Barack
Obama has another meaning just as decisive to our fate. Since the 1980s, the
progressives of the planet have been on the defensive. The forces of
individualism and money confiscated the very idea of progress. Business and
finance, combined with technology and free trade, were the engines of a
revolution that shook the planet, changed work habits and transformed the relationships
between people. The exuberance of the markets and the energy of individual
selfishness have pushed humanity forward without it knowing where it was going.
Capitalism, according to Marx’ theory, has revolutionized life. Suddenly, the
words changed and reform, innovation, audacity and creativity moved to the
right. Although the term doesn’t have the same meaning in the United States,
even if Barack Obama, somewhat like the Kennedys, is also a proven politician,
centrist in many ways, a tough competitor and able to maneuver, these words
have now come back to the left. By a huge margin, without question, Americans
wanted to say that this society is too hard on people, that inequality is not
the ideal for citizens of globalization, that the Earth is not infinite and
indestructible, and that the rich must lose at least some of their arrogance. Progressives
had the idea of progress stolen from them. Now they have taken it back. What a
lesson for the European left, which has been weakened, has no real plans and,
above all, lack a new ideal!
That said,
Europeans would be absolutely wrong to project upon the president-elect, whom
they don’t really know, their social and peaceful hopes. A citizen of the
world, Barack Obama is still an American. He supports the unrestricted sale of firearms,
the death penalty and the primacy of free trade. He wants to intensify the war
in Afghanistan. America’s self interest will always remain a priority for him.
The hopes he has raised are so strong that disappointment will be his enemy
from his very first day. We mush embrace this hope but also couch it in
reasonable terms. The magic of an election, whatever talent and sangfroid
demonstrated by an exceptional Democrat, cannot suddenly dispel the misfortune
of the moment.
So what can we expect?
Deliberate action against the recession; attention to the plight of the poor;
better protection against the cruelties of the market; a foreign policy that is
less solitary and less domineering; an effort that is rational, patient and at
the same time, audacious; so that the citizen finally takes control of his own
future from the unpredictability of the economy. Barack Obama is not the
supreme savior. But he may be a new Roosevelt who has the advantage of being
elected three months, not three years, after the breakout of a great depression.
The world awaits the New Deal of the new century. Not a revolution but human,
coherent and efficient reforms. In short a concrete utopia which
is so lacking on the Old Continent. Will the man rise to his destiny? He
certainly has the talent. Yes, he can …
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VERSION
[Posted by
WORLDMEETS.US November 12, 7:42pm]
