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They say if you take Ohio, then the Whitehouse is next!
Remembering our emails about Ideal World and holistic approaches...
Natalia
Highlights from an interview:
“Peace is possible, peace is inevitable”
by Monte Leach An interview with US congressman and
Presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, highlighting his
core
values of peace, activism, sharing, human rights and environmental sustainability. (1878 words) July-August 2003 US Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio, first came to US national prominence in 1977 when he was elected mayor of Cleveland at age 31, the youngest person ever elected to lead a major American city. In 1978, Cleveland ’s banks demanded that he sell the city’s municipally-owned electric power system to a privately-owned utility company as a precondition of extending credit to city government. Kucinich refused to sell, and in an incident unprecedented in American politics, the Cleveland banks plunged the city into default for a mere $15 million. Kucinich lost his re-election bid in 1979, but 15 years later won election to the Ohio Senate on the strength of the expansion of Cleveland ’s electricity system which provides low-cost power to almost half the residents of the city. In 1998, the Cleveland City Council honoured him for “having the courage and foresight to refuse to sell the city’s municipal electric system”. As a US Congressman, Kucinich
led
Congressional opposition to the 2003 war in Iraq. In his current campaign for the US Presidency, he combines a powerful activism with a spiritual sense of the essential interconnectedness of living things. Kucinich’s world view carries with it a passionate commitment to public service, peace, human rights and the environment. Share International: Peace
and
justice issues are central to your presidential campaign and your entire political approach. Why have you chosen those areas to focus on? Dennis Kucinich: All of us have a
purpose in life that relates to trying to affirm
the
society in which we live. We do it in different ways. Some of us are doctors, lawyers, architects, teachers, mothers, fathers, municipal workers, bakers, waiters. All of us have a place and aspire to more and more possibilities. For myself, I have felt a commitment to social and economic justice from an early age. When we see the possibilities of life, reflected in our own life, the quest for peace in the external world has to be preceded by a quest for peace in one’s internal world. Having had the opportunity for such an activity in my own life, I understand that peace is possible, peace is inevitable, if we work towards it. To share my understanding, my
learning, which we all do with respect to our
own
experience, is a great joy. To work towards it in our own governmental structures is an important responsibility which I’ve undertaken because I believe we can create a more peaceful society, and certainly peace and justice go hand in hand. My commitment comes from an understanding of purpose, and a belief that one person can make a difference, and indeed each one of us can make a difference. Each person should consider carefully what we can do, in our own lives, to try to expand the potential of our own humanity. What can we do, each of us in our own lives, to each day reach a little bit higher and embrace more possibilities, to send more love into the world, and try to bring our talents and abilities to bear in each moment. There are such possibilities for creativity in our world. They all begin within us. We just have to have the confidence within ourselves, and in our ability to make a difference. SI: You referred to some of them, but
are there spiritual or religious ideals
or
principles that guide you in your approach to life and politics? DK: My view of the world is a holistic
one. I view the world as being interconnected
and
interdependent. All things have a way of expressing their identity through one powerful immanent reality. As each one of us makes a choice, that choice impacts the world. We can then come to a realization of the power that each individual has, and the tremendous expressiveness and potential of our existence. The principles that animate my life and involvement have to do with this understanding of the essential interconnectedness of all humanity. Therefore, we should be aware that we affect others in the choices that we make. We affect not only other people, we affect other species as well. So we must take care to be respectful of this planet and of all those who participate in the life of this planet. SI: How did you arrive at such a
profound view of the world? Was it a
particular
experience that you had, or did your views evolve over time? DK: My views are consistent with the
strains of thinking that created this nation,
the
thoughts about human liberty of Thomas Jefferson, the American Transcendental movement, the English Romantic poets, certainly my own connection to Catholicism, but beyond that, to all religions. All this results in a kind of synthesis, leading to a world view of the possibilities of human unity and human potential. SI: What are your views regarding the
role and importance of the United Nations and its
various
agencies in the world today? DK: As president I would strengthen
the United Nations and work to insure the US ’s
participation
in all structures that affirm international order and international law. The UN has been a very powerful vehicle for human unity and it is so important that the United States works to assure that the United Nations is effective. Unfortunately, our nation in recent years has attempted to undermine the role of the United Nations and the Security Council in international decision-making. The war in Iraq was a glaring example of the destructive path that the present Administration has taken in ignoring the concerns expressed by the United Nations, ignoring the Security Council, ignoring the work of inspectors, and determining to proceed upon a unilateral path of action. I do not believe that such policies are consistent with the role of a great nation, nor are they consistent with trying to promote and assure human unity. As President of the United States, I would set aside policies of pre-emption and unilateralism and create policies for co-operation in order to assure the security of all nations and the security of this nation in particular. |
