[Courrier International, France]
Vedomosti,
Russia
Obama: The Color
of Change for Both Russia and Europe
"With Obama's victory, the
societies of other countries with large racial and ethnic minority populations,
in particular France and Britain, will reconsider the possibility of electing
non-White leaders."
"The majority of ethnic
Russian citizens in our country are against someone of a different nationality
heading the government. Russia has yet to internalize the possibility of the
emergence of a 'non-Russian' and non-Eastern Orthodox president."
EDITORIAL
Translated By Yekaterina Blinova
November 6, 2008
Vedemosti - Russia - Original Article (Russian)
The projected victory
of Barack Obama has been met with great emotion in a majority of the world's
countries. McCain's victory would have meant a continuation of the U.S.
policies of previous years. Obama has persuaded his fellow citizens and most of
the world that he will be an agent of change - especially Europeans. Almost 70
percent of French and 73 percent of Spaniards, had they suddenly the right to
vote in the United States, would cast their ballots for Obama … with only 8 and
11 percent for McCain, respectively.
Perhaps the
greatest outpouring of joy over the U.S. electoral outcome has been in Kenya,
Obama's ancestral homeland. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has declared the 5th of November a national holiday.
Minority rights advocates around the world consider Obama's victory a sign of
their own success. It's no accident that the former president of South Africa
and anti-apartheid crusader, Nelson Mandela, was one of the first people to
congratulate Obama. The dark-skinned candidate's victory over candidate McCain,
a White male and Anglo-Saxon Protestant, has become a symbol for many around
the world.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Even recently,
during the 1970s for example, a presidential election victory for a person of
color would have been impossible in the United States: the traditions of racial
oppression and the prejudices born of this oppression were still too strong and
deep-seated. But since then, the situation has changed dramatically. Not long
before the election, ninety percent of people polled by CBS television and the The New York Times said they were ready to
vote for an African-American candidate.
With Obama's
victory, the societies of other countries with large racial and ethnic minority
populations, in particular France and Britain, will reconsider the possibility
of electing non-White leaders. For Russia, home to 130 nationalities and where
minorities constitute about 20 percent of the population (in the United States
it's 31 percent), this is not an idle question. The majority of ethnic Russian
citizens in our country - 64 percent of the population according to the Russian
Center for the Study of Public Opinion - are against someone of a different
nationality heading the government. Russia has yet to internalize the
possibility of the emergence of a "non-Russian" and non-Eastern
Orthodox president.
However,
beginning today, the question of skin color and the access of ethnic minorities
to government control will recede into the background. Obama will have to
confront so many outstanding challenges that he is not to be envied.
CLICK HERE FOR RUSSIAN
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
November 7, 7:30pm]
