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From: Eldis Notification <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 2008/11/6
Subject: How it went on November 4th in Chicago.
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Poster: ivo falcazo
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My Blog--
How it went on November 4th in Chicago.
How it went on November 4th in Chicago. By Arrey Mbongaya Ivo Date:
November, 2008 African Centre for Community and Development. P.O.Box
181, Limbe, Cameroon 46 Ascot Parade, BD7 4NJ, Bradford, UK
http://www.africancentreforcommunity.com :
http://www.africancentreforcommunity.com/
[EMAIL PROTECTED] :
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On November 4th 2008,
throngs of Americans voted for a new
president. They were faced with tough choices. Voting a Black man or
restituting the legacy of a failed regime symbolized with the Republican
ticket. They were faced with choice of whether they as a nation should
cling on the past or clutch the future which in many ways represents the
empowerment of minorities which historically were the powerless.
As they voted, the Obama campaign secured Grant Park in Chicago as the
venue for their yet to be proclaimed victory party.
Voters of every shade and generation, of every disposition or ideological
underpinning thronged the electoral offices in order to be participants of
an historical event which also see Sarah Palin being the first woman to be
vice president in the world's biggest democracy.
As they voted and waited for the results especially in battleground states
like Pennsylvania and Florida so too throngs of people in Obama Japan,
Kogelo Kenya, in deserts of Iraq, the streets of Indonesia, China etc waited
to know who will be elected the leader of the so called "free world".
They waited not only for a historic moment but also to know who will
inherit the Global credit crunch, tackle the war in Iraq, manage an emergent
Russia, a powerful China and India, Global food and fertilizer crises, the
question of Darfur, Congo and Global poverty.
They watched to see whether in the selection of an American President Clues
of how the international state system will function can be identified. They
watched to see whether the man to lead America will base the war on
terrorism as a civilization fight, an ideological or religious clash.
They watched to see how the maverick war time hero and the descendent of
Kenya immigrant will end their close to two years of campaigning. This was
vital as Mc Cain had spent close to a billion US dollars while Obama had
spent an unbelievable 1.6 billion dollars.
Economists like Alan Greenspan say the credit crises is far from over hence
the electorates were like their fellow country man waiting to see who will
inherit the ditch and build the ladder for Americans and even the world to
climb out once more into prosperity.
Then those who clung on the CNN from across the world waited on Wolf
Blitzer and the gymnastics of John King to stake on the next US president.
As they waited so too 200,000 strong American people thronged Grant Park,
in Chicago to wait for history. The Mc Cain campaign had reserved 40,000
seats for their event too. The wait in all camps was palpitating and spiced
by musical interludes.
Then CNN and other main TV and radio stations broke to the world that Obama
had beaten Mc Cain in a landslide. Obama had secured over 338 electoral
votes while Mc Cain had just 168.
The Euphoria in Grant Park was deafening and the world in a moment became
one and possibly the true drawing of the Divine conception. People of all
races and from all corners of the world had kept vigil and their candidate
Barack Obama had just been sworn to command the world's biggest constituted
democracy.
In Kenya throngs with green branches danced across streets while Harlem was
rejuvenated in to what it should probably have been.
Then John Mc Cain gave a splendid concession speech in which he recognized
the abilities of his former rival and stated he will always be a servant to
America despite the defeat.
George Bush telephoned Obama to polish the traditions once more of American
democracy and invited Obama to the White House that has been his for about 8
years.
While all this happened the crowd waited in earnest the arrival of the
president elect. And he did come.
Obama staged a remarkable walk in with his daughters and wife Michelle yet
with a subtle calm that overtook keen observers across the world. The
campaigner was now president of the USA. The tiny kid with not so small ears
and difficult names was now on the hubris of political power and fame. In
his speech there of, he stated that he was only elected by the efforts of
all including the young and old, the gays and straight which many political
pundits hold helped in fracturing the conservative Base of Mc Cain and to
sway independent and undecided voters. He meant it was the almost "movement"
orientation of his campaign and his followers that may have given him the
ticket to the White House.
He stated that "change" had come to America and respected his opponent
graciously as the latter had done earlier. He also made it pellucid he was
the president of all Americans and that the election had demonstrated that
America was not "a collection of red or blue states" but the United States
of America.
While he had been blamed for too much liberalism during the campaign he
sounded just the other way when he warned the terrorists "we will defeat
you". Probably, hinting a presidency that may be heading towards Afghanistan
and the borders of Pakistan or taking war towards Alqaeda.
The poise despite the loss of an instrumental Grand mother was lost in the
somber words of Obama "I know my grand mother is watching". These were an
unconscious electrification probably of the African logic of ancestral
veneration. After all his father came from Kogelo, Kenya.
He praised the efforts of his efficient campaign manger whom he described
as "the unsung hero" responsible for the best political campaign in the
history of the United States of America.
He asserted his place in the Black community by invoking the experiences of
106 years old Black woman voter. She had gone through slavery, the right not
to vote to voting electronically because America was the land of
opportunities and transitions. This symbolism could only be well achieved
via references to incidents at Montgomery which saw Rosa Park and others
boycott segregated buses in the 1960s and to the legendary "I have a dream"
speech Rev. Dr Martin Luther King Junior who prophesized this dawn in which
American children may not be judged by the colour of their skins but by the
contents of their characters.
This brought rivers of tears from Rev Jesse Jackson and even the most
powerful woman Oprah Winfrey who endorsed Obama long before any one could
believe in him and who denied Sarah Palin a publicity stunt in her talk
show. Their tears mingled with millions across the world and attest once
more humanity may be one if man tries.
Rev. Bernice King the daughter of Rev. Martin Luther King also called this
moment over CNN "a new dawn in America" which by extrapolation could be a
new dawn in the world as many will confirm when America sneezes, the rest of
the world catches cold. If you contest recall the recent credit crunch
globally.
So all things are possible and there is a time for everything under the
sun. A time to be borne and a time to die. A time to rule, and a time to
quit power. Greatest of all is the fact that life on earth may be in cycles.
Obama's victory reiterates a forgotten past in which African rulers and
diplomats were important stakeholders in European countries. In 1486 the
Benin Empire traded ambassadors with Portugal for instance. Queen Charlotte
the wife of George III was from Africa and together they brought forth 15
noble children (nine boys and six girls) that ended up managing politics and
affairs from Portugal, Germany to the English monarchy. More so, in 1638
Cardinal Richelieu of France was only a favorite Ethiopian ambassador sent
by Negus to France hence African.
History may thus have repeated itself but now it's the time for Obama to
prove that doubts of race only defeated after many centuries since the
creation of America were indeed unfounded. It is the time to rewrite history
and revisit forgotten history and to live up to the true needs of the
American creed that all men by their creation have unalienable rights to
freedom, the pursuit of happiness, freedom, liberty and dignity. It is the
time to resell democracy as the best form of governance in a world drifting
in many ways towards authoritarianism.
It is also time to reconsider whether America needs more synergies to rule
the world or whether poverty and disease can truly be eradicated. A
veritable and giant leap for humanity.
(c)2008 African Centre for Community and Development. All rights reserved.
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