Ike Okonta
4 September 2008
opinion
Lagos — 'Fondly do we hope - fervently do we pray - that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away'Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States.
The 20th century was one of the bloodiest in history; perhaps the bloodiest. Eight years into the twenty-first, it is clear that the great task that confronts the world's peoples is perpetual peace and how to make it yield its manifold blessings.
The votaries of 'hard' politics habitually sneer at the prospect of the peaceable global kingdom. Yet two events in the past two weeks, if they can be built upon by international statesmen, politicians and intellectuals of good will, point to enormous possibilities in the path to peace among the nations.
I stayed glued to the television screen two weeks ago as the closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympics unfurled at the Bird's Nest stadium. Commentators have drawn attention to the sheer scale, lavishness and colour of the event, pointing out that it must have cost China a big pot of money to pull off this extravaganza. For me, though, the beauty of Beijing was the spectacle of young and talented athletes, drawn from all corners of the world, mixing freely and having a good time.
That we now live in a global village is a trite observation. Even so, the ubiquity of mobile phones, fast-speed internet, twenty-four hour cable television and sundry telecommunications gadgetry is now only slowly being tapped to grow global understanding and empathy. Quite rightly, victims of devastating wars, hurricanes and famine, forced onto television screens in our living rooms by campaigning NGOs, never fail to elicit a sigh of sympathy and a dollar or two. But it is a world out of kilter that is only united in moments of grief and adversity.
Writers, journalists and other public intellectuals don't make the case, powerfully and regularly enough, that the things that unite the world's peoples are more potent, more varied, and indeed more enduring than the alleged 'primordial' differences the vendors of perpetual conflict delight in highlighting. During international sporting events, as the world witnessed in Beijing, or music festivals beamed live on cable television, the point never fails to strike home that indeed, humanity is one.
If the world's people are to be asked to vote before war is declared in any part of the globe, it seems to me that the advocates of peace will always trump the masters of war. Global institutions, as currently structured, do not as yet represent the interests of the world's peoples, aggregated in countries, when decisions bearing on the vital question of war and peace are taken. The UN, hobbled as it is by the rivalry of the big powers, represent nevertheless a powerful promise - that the peoples of the world can create for themselves a space where goodwill linked to the sheer force of argument are the arbitrators when dispute arise.
It is this promise that the UN and multilateralism represents that took centre stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, last week, shortly after the end of the Beijing Olympics. When Senator Barrack Obama elected to deliver his acceptance speech in an open air stadium in the city instead of the smaller and more intimate convention venue, he was paying respect to two great Americans: President Abraham Lincoln, son of uneducated parents who journeyed from the one-room log cabin where he was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, to the White House; and the Reverend Martin Luther King who marched from the modest church house in Georgia where he was pastor to the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC and there delivered one of the iconic speeches of the 20th century.
It is significant that the man whom Senator Barrack Obama referred to fondly as 'the preacher' gave his 'I have a dream' speech on the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation that helped loosen the chains on African Americans. Significantly too, Senator Obama spoke in Denver, outlining his policies were he to be elected President in November, on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In liberal, thoughtful America history is living tissue, linking the struggles of the past to the exertions of the present and the dreams of the future.
Senator Barrack Obama's policy platform, in matters of foreign policy, seek to chart a bold new path, away from the Bush White House's insistence that 'America can go it alone' and that the UN is a nice-looking tall building in New York city and nothing more. The Democratic Party and its presidential candidate say that dialogue, mutual cooperation, strengthening of international organisations and diplomacy designed to present America's position clearly and win her friends rather than enemies will be their approach to international relations if they win the White House. Said Senator Obama in Denver, 'Needed reform of these alliances and institutions will not come by bullying other countries to ratify American demands.'
Tanks and machine guns were still belching death and smoke as Georgia and Russsia tussled over the breakaway region of South Ossetia even as Senator Obama was unfurling his vision of a new America and a new world. Talking heads in the international media spoke belligerently of a 'new cold war' and a new Russian 'empire' rising from the ashes of the dead Soviet Union. Senator John McCain, presidential candidate of the Republican Party, quickly dispatched his wife to Georgia 'for charity work' while simultaneously positioning himself as the competent and experienced 'Commander-in-Chief' American voters should elect in November.
There is a time for saber-rattling calculated to harvest votes and a time for serious politics. The United States is at war on two fronts at present - Iraq and Afghanistan. The American people expect their new President and Commander-in-Chief in November to speedily resolve Iraq and Afghanistan, not open a third front. America's wealth, power and formidable intellectual endowments must quickly be deployed to implement foreign policy designed to batten down the furnaces of war in restive and conflicted parts of the world. Indeed, the world looks to the new President for leadership, but he can only be taken seriously globally if he is able to demonstrate that the advocates of peace, not war are firmly in charge in the White House.
In major cities across Africa the American presidential election drama is being followed with rapt attention. This is a good thing. A continent that re-emerged on the global stage in the midst of the Cold War, and was subsequently taken over by self-serving dictators, needs to be reminded that there are those in the older democracies who still take seriously President Lincoln's immortal words that ' government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.'
For Africa, the important question is not who emerges America's President in November but the manner in which he emerges President. The hope is that unlike the election that took Mr. George Bush to the White House after Bill Clinton's tenure, marked by bitterness and confusion, the road to November will be marked by civility, enlightened politics, and the realisation that an anxious world is watching.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
