November 2008 Archives

Today is called "Black Friday," the big shopping day after Thanksgiving which initiates the push for Christmas spending. Our economy is dependent on consumer spending, and despite the economic meltdown, people rush out to shop frantically. Already, a Walmart employee was trampled and and there was a shooting at a Toys R Us. It's also an odd name, since we're "in the red" economically, and "Black Friday" has also been used to commemorate big drops in the stock markets which occur on Friday.

Today is also Buy Nothing Day, as commemorated in the photo below taken in Japan and shown in the video. It's a conception of AdBusters, which is a network of 80,650 "culturejammers" who use performance to raise awareness. They have their magazine, and also a number of "campaigns" at any given time.

They say:

As the planet starts heating up, maybe it’s time to finally go cold turkey. Take the personal challenge by locking up your debit card, your credit cards, your money clip, and see what it feels like to opt out of consumer culture completely, even if only for 24 hours. Like the millions of people who have done this fast before you, you may be rewarded with a life-changing epiphany. While you’re at it, what better time to point out real alternatives to unbridled consumption – and the climate uncertainty that it entails – by taking your BND spirit to the streets?

Buy Nothing Day is celebrated internationally, and some of the ideas include the following:

Credit card cut up

Volunteers stand in a shopping mall with a pair of scissors and a sign offering a simple service: to put an end to extortionate interest rates and mounting debt with one considerate cut. Be careful though: in some first-world countries, carrying scissors in public can get you arrested as a “terrorist”.

Zombie Walk

The cheerful dead wander around malls, marveling at the blank, comatose expressions on the faces of shoppers. The zombies are happy to be among their own kind, but slightly contemptuous of those who have not yet begun to rot.

Whirl–mart

This activity has the advantage of being most likely to piss off security personnel. You and nine of your closest friends silently drive your shopping carts around in a long, inexplicable conga line without ever actually buying anything.

Granted, some of us want to buy gifts or find bargains, but it's nice to know that there is some thought and practice going on away from the direction of mindless consumerism.

Is anyone thinking about the future like I am? It seems pretty hard to determine where we might be headed, and that the main thing we can try to muster is "hope." We can look at Nostradamus, or Astrology, if we are so inclined. It turns out that the current Pope predicted the economic collapse in a paper written twenty years ago, so maybe someone should have listened to him. My son took a class called "Pacific Rim" which actually predicted a lot of what I will be writing about, especially the coming pre-eminence of Russia, China, India and Brazil. Much like the Roman Empire, the United States has reached the height of its dominance over the planet.

Before Bush took office, a US Global Trends report was released which predicted a high probability of terrorist attacks against high-profile targets in the US. The USS Cole had been struck, and counter-terrorism could have held a higher priority. We will never know what might have been different, but let's hope that the new report is taken seriously. President-Elect Obama faces unprecedented economic and geopolitical turmoil, and appears to have made a strong start. He has already been receiving intelligence briefings and, along with Joe Biden, has been privy to the intelligence reports that come out frequently and go to the President. The transition team seems focussed and forward-thinking, much like the campaign we just experienced. Nevertheless, there will be mine fields to be negotiated.

The complete US Global Trends report is available at the National Intelligence Council website and is not classified. The BBC has summarized them and they are discussed in a host of other news articles. The NIC is an Independent government agency, and bases its reports on trends, to try to speculate about possible and likely futures.

The overriding feature of the report is a world marked by diminished US power, and more people sharing fewer resources. The areas of concern are: US Dominance, Terrorism, Nuclear Weapons, Food and Water, Africa, Global Pandemic and Technology. I will summarize the findings.

US DOMINANCE

The US will remain an important actor but will be less dominant in terms of global influence. The US will retain some military, technological and scientific advantages but will be unable to completely control "irregular warfare," others' long-range weapons or cyber attacks. The US will content with some degree of "anti-Americanism" and will have to help balance opinion in the middle east and Asia, regardless. Others will look to the US to play the part it should in combatting global climate change.

Internal factors in China and Russia will affect US policy, and in general, the balance of economic power will shift from the west to the east. Brazil is likely to be a rising influence. Brazil, China, Russia and India will have benefitted from oil and commodity windfall profits and manufacturing and some services will have beenshifted to Asia. China is expected to have world impact than any country in the next two decades. By 2025 China should have the world's second largest economy and the military to back it up.

TERRORISM

The bad news is that terrorism will probably not disappear by 2025 but the good news is that it may not appeal to youth if they have jobs. Economic progress in the middle east may be helpful in this respect. Terrorist groups can be expected to evolve and shift. A concern will continue to be that groups or individuals could get ahold of weapons capable of mass civilian casualities. Al Quaeda in particular may decrease in influence due to its growing unpopularity with moderate Muslims.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

We have been living with some risk of use of nuclear weapons and it should remain low, yet be a greater risk than currently. India and Pakistan both have the bomb. North Korea could experience regime change or collapse and lose control of their nuclear arsenal. Iran could acquire nuclear weapons but fear of such a possibility could also cause other nations to arm themselves to a greater extent. Were nuclear weapons to be used in the next 15-20 years, the report states that "the international system will be shocked as it experiences immediate humanitarian, economic, and political-military repercussions." Some states would align with nuclear powers, whereas others would push for global nuclear disarmament.

FOOD AND WATER

The demand for food will rise by 50% by 2030, due to growing population but also shift to more expensive western dietary preferences. 21 countries lack stable water supplies and this number is expected to grow to 36 countries, or 1.4 billion peole. Asia and the Middle East are most precarious, and countries may experience difficulty cooperating in order to equitably disperse water. The result could be "water wars."

AFRICA

Sub-Saharan Africa will remain the region most poorly fed and disrupted, therefore unstable. Some countries may supply commodities needed other places in the world, without their own people benefitting economically - due to corrupt governments.

GLOBAL PANDEMIC

We are statistically overdue for a global influenza pandemic and it could spread more rapidly with global travel. Populations might begin to flee to avoid infection or to scramble for limited resources. The avian flu (HPAI) lurks and could become more virulent. Areas with most population density, such as in China, and especially if there is close proximity to animals, could be starting points for epidemics. According to the report, "tens to hundreds of millions of Americans within the US Homeland would become ill and deaths would mount into the tens of millions". One third of the world's population could become ill, and hundreds of millions die - a modern Black Plague.

TECHNOLOGY

We will continue the transition from old fuels to new, and we will also need technology in order to disperse food and water efficiently. Our current technologies are inadequate and the new ones will probably not be ready or widespread enough by 2025 to solve our problems. That is a sobering conclusion indeed.

Any good ideas out there?

Race played a smaller part in the 2008 election, according to studies and exit polls, and the so-called "Bradley effect" was over-stated. Post election incidents have been isolated but not unheard of. The first incident described took place in Mississippi. We have a "winner-take-all" electoral system, so Mississippi is known as a "red" state, but looking at the map, it's easy to see pockets of pink, light blue and dark blue, but it's also one of the states where there was a pattern of racial bifurcation in the voting pattern.

Students in one Mississippi community were not allowed to talk about Obama in school. Angry parents called a local newsroom and told how their kids were threatened with suspension for saying Obama's name or wearing clothing with his name or image. Some did so anonymously because they feared retaliation against their children. The principal did not answer calls but finally issued a statement which essentially blamed individual instructors.

Teachers read a memo after the election which said:

"Seeing history in the making and being a part of that process is a wonderful thing. Many of you are excited because of this. Others are not. It is absolutely critical that we not use this election as a divisive event. We should respect one another by not saying or doing things in the wrong way that would take away from this historical event and possibly cause a disruption here at school. Celebrations at school that cause disruptions are not acceptable and against the law therefore, this should not occur. Please by mindful of this and respect one another regardless of differences in opinion."

Where is the logic in that statement? What was being soft-pedalled? The ACLU of MS continues to express concern over violation of students' free speech. Their number is (601) 354-3408 or 888-354-ACLU (2258).

The following incidents, reported by Black Planet blog, did not receive much press coverage, yet happened around election time - it wasn't all peace and justice. These fit under the category of "racist backlash."

After seeing the hate mobs attracted by the opposition, it's not surprising.

A black church in Springfield, MS burned down on election night.

A black family near Pittsburgh had their car torched outside their house, during Obama's victory speech.

A New York Muslim African-American teen was beaten with bats by a group of white men who yelled "Obama."

A campus walkway was spraypainted with "Shoot Obama" "Kill that nigger" and other racist and violent threats at North Carolina State University.

A football center at Univ. of TX wrote at Facebook, "All the hunters gather up, we have a Nigger in the White House."

The writer who described these events expected even more and hopes that blatant racism has been marginalized by 2008. As he said,

Just like Bloods and Crips don’t represent most black people, and Al Qaeda doesn’t typify the Arab world, bigots and white supremacists do not in any way showcase the general feelings of today’s Americans.

I agree with him that such attacks constitute terrorism.

To send a check to the rebuilding fund for the church that was burned down in Springfield, MA:

Macedonia Church of God in Christ, c/o Greater Springfield Council of Churches

39 Oakland St., Springfield, MA 01108

Donate to the charitable fund set up to support the carbombing victims:

Whiteside Family Relief Fund, c/o First National Bank of PA,

4140 E. State St., Hermitage PA 16148

Lest I give the impression that the Pacific Northwest, where I live, has always been a bastion of liberalism, I want you to leave you with some final evidence to the contrary. I recently looked at some electoral maps from the last 50 years or so, and it wasn't so long ago that OR and WA voted like "red states" (and the eastern counties still do, in parts.)

This story goes back further yet, but was certainly an eye opener!

According to the Seattle Times, Ku Klux Klan were big in Belltown in the 1920s and they used to meet in the basement of the Moore Theater (which used to have a pool down there called the Crystal Pool!)

Here is a picture to prove it!

That is where they operated their state headquarters. This hidden history is being taught as part of a senior-level history class at University of Washington. The KKK had a striking presence here in the 1920s.

The newspaper story relates a wedding of Klan members in full regalia, a night parade in Bellingham and rallies in places like Renton and Issaquah that at times drew crowds of up to 50,000. That is about the size of the biggest antiwar rally since I've lived here (for 30 years.) They are also reported to have helped elect public officials across the state and published a Seattle-based newspaper called Watcher on the Tower.

"People in Washington state really have not known about the strength or impact of the KKK here during the 1920s," said James Gregory, UW professor of history who heads the Web site, called the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.

Since there weren't many blacks in the Pacific NW, they focussed on Catholics and foreigners. They also were big in Oregon, the midwest and the south. They were founded by Confederate Amy vets, to restore white supremacy after the Civil War. During the mid 1920s, they had at least five million members. They appealed to people's Christianity for recruitment, as well as patriotism and xenophobia.

We had Mayors and attorneys locally who were open members. In 1929, the Klan held its state convention in Bellingham and the Grand Wizard was introduced by the Mayor and given the Key to the City. The large local rallies which drew crowds up to 50,000 were not all Klan members. They attracted fervor with their rhetoric, with little effort toward disruption or resistance. They finally imploded due to their own internal scandals, both in OR and WA, but they maintained a presence in both states through the 1930s, with the power base shifting from Seattle to Bellingham.

Some of the photos are newly discovered and advanced UW students have done alot of the research. While some photos came from the WA State Historical Society, others came from the estate of a local Klan member who was a photographer.

The Klan's undoing — at least in Seattle — began around 1924, after it unsuccessfully backed an anti-private-school initiative in this state, aimed at Roman Catholic schools, similar to one it had pushed through in Oregon that was repealed. That plus internal scandals led to the beginning of the Klan's demise.

MOVING ON

We have had a historic election but the pattern was mixed for local initiatives and by area of the country. Some areas persisted in showing a lack of sufficient appreciation for diversity (California!) or racial unity (some of hard-core "Bush states" from the last two elections.) The map was remade, though, and exit polls as well as studies did show a pattern of lessening racial and other discrimination, particularly in the youngest groups! We set an example, for once, and many of us felt something that had become kind of unfamiliar - pride in our collective judgement. We need to keep moving in the direction of Englightenment, not the backlash that would take us back in time.

More from Internet News, which covered the role of the internet in this election, at the Web 2.0 Summit in SF.

This is dedicated to Dick and Karen and all former Kerry bloggers and past, current and future backers and nostalgics alike. It's dedicated to everyone who has stuck with Democracy Cell Project or who peeks in now and then when not too busy and lurkers and even trolls!

There was a time when some of us could not listen to this song without crying. & recently I was very pissed to hear that the McCain campaign was using it, just as they have with Heart, Springsteen, Mellencamp, Jackson Browne and others who had to tell them to back off.

"It's a Beautiful Day" was John Kerry's campaign song. It was playing at Obama's speech in Minneapolis when he accepted the nomination. It has resurfaced from time to time, though "Signed, Sealed and Delivered" was probably the song most associated with the Obama campaign.

John Kerry worked hard and came close and probably should have won. He encouraged Obama to speak at the DNC and around that time people would comment that Barack was presidential quality material. I liked several of the candidates, for various reasons. I felt burned by the last two elections so did not want to become passionately involved or commit til I had to.

When Kerry and Kennedy endorsed Barack, I became curious enough to read his books. I also watched my son and his friends (it was my son who first convinced me to support Kerry when Dean was the favorite.)

Through all of this was woven this song by U2 and I'm sure most of us have many memories associated with it and now we have even more!

My former student and recovering neo-conservative, Aaron, and I tonight in front of the White House. He changed his mind.

(below) Aaron and his boyfriend Nick, who is one of the ways Aaron changed his mind.

Even after all the talk about what Barak Omaba's nomination (and, I hope at this writing, his presidency) means, Washington DC still has some special reminders of the distance we have come.

Voting in Washington DC for president is a special treat for us Washingtonians. While we do not have any representation in the Congress, thanks to the XXIII amendent to the Constitution, our city does get 3 votes in the Electoral College, giving us some small but potentially meaningful representation as citizens in selecting the president.

My wife and I got up early to be online before the polls opened at 7, and on the way home, stopped at Lincoln Park, an open space from L'Enfant's original plan for the city, eleven blocks down East Capitol Street from the Capitol.

We sat overlooking the park's central monument, a large statue celebrating President Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. The statue, which was known as the Freedman's Memorial, was paid for almost entirely with funds raised from former slaves.

The statue, which was dedicated on the 11th anniversary of Lincoln's death in 1876, was controversial from the beginning. As you can see in the photo, it depicts Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation in one hand, with his other hand outstretched over a poorly clothed black man on his knees, with chains still shackled to his wrists, clearly cast in a position of supplication.

The city of Washington DC now has a formal city holiday celebrating Lincoln's signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, which freed 3,000 slaves living in Washington, DC, complete with a ceremony, a parade, and a party. Lincoln did not issue the Emancipation Proclamation covering the entire country until January 1, 1863.

One can only imagine the sense of disbelief and wonder that must have swept across the country as word of Lincoln's actions, first limited to DC only, and then to the nation, spread.

But in thinking about a country freed from the tyrannical policies of George Bush and his minions, I feel at least some of that same sense of disbelief and wonder, that we might now have the opportunity to destroy the shackles which Bush was so assiduously forging: the torture, the unrestrained war presidency, the wiretapping, the destruction of habeas corpus, etc. etc--and begin to reclaim our freedom.

I hope that Obama will do the right thing if he wins, but much as I appreciate the wonderful campaign he has run, I still find it difficult to trust him, or any person, to easily surrender the powers which Bush aggrandized during his eight years. As the great abolitionist Frederick Douglas so eloquently warned us:

"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

"

As the history of Reconstruction so tragically illustrates, an emancipator can only open the doorway to a freer society. It's going to be up to all of us to seize on this amazing opportunity to move forward and to prevent the forces of reaction from pulling us back into the pit.

I woke up early this morning and it did not take long for the tears to come.

Four years ago, I was numb at this point. After almost fifteen straight months of daily and nightly work, of writing and editing and researching and arguing and convincing and listening, there was really no more to say. All I had to do was to monitor and moderate for two more days. The Kerry-Edwards Blog was coming to a close and I was more than ready for it to be over.

Richard's words of the day before had chilled me to the bone, however. As we were getting into the car that Sunday morning, he stopped. I said, "What's wrong?" He paused and then, in a very quiet voice, said "I just have a horrible feeling that all over the country people are hearing in church that they have to vote for George Bush."

We didn't speak much after that. I could see his point, but it was hard to believe that the picture in my head, of busloads of non-thinkers being driven to the polls and marched in to pull the levers to continue the horrors of illegal war, torture, and loss of human rights, would actually happen.

It did.

I spent election day, and election night, and the next day, and the next night, under an onslaught of people's hopes, wishes, dreams, stories, and ultimately, their sense of betrayal, crushing disappointment, and rage. From that was born the Democracy Cell Project, with our hope that by organizing small squads of well-researched and participatory conversations, online and off-, a change would come about.

I've spent the past four years writing, marching, organizing, listening, planning, choreographing, analyzing, creating, thinking, observing, and praying for what is right here, right now. I've argued, despaired, gritted my teeth, heard untold stories and written up some of those tales of courage, fear, yearnings, and losses.

But mostly, I've watched as each of you, dear readers, changed the world.