Democrat Obama caught the imagination of the people of
His charisma and youthful charm at 47, his appearance of an honest and sincere wish for a better world, his astute political acumen, adept oratory and debating skill used to calmly thwart and defeat the opposition attacks, which were at times brutal and banal, contributed to establishing his popularity. His declared intent for extricating America from the disastrous ongoing war in Iraq, his careful approach to solving America's greatest financial crisis since the great depression of 1929, his lofty stature as a black man (father a Kenyan black man and mother a white American) that ignited the fire of passion for racial equality to lift the morale of the depressed and deprived 13.4 percent black people of America or for that matter the 34% Americans outside of 66% non-Hispanic Whites, all contributed to the storm.
And how well did his presidential campaign run? The New York Times expressed it with a heading, "Obama's near-flawless run from start to finish". And he did finish it with a resounding victory, which was followed by a victory-celebration speech that spoke of a 'defining moment' for
After celebrations of victory in elections, there always comes the shock awakening of realism. How often does the voters' euphoria of election victory waft into the thin air after the elections? And how often do the dreams of the voters get shattered in countries after countries? And so, the question will inevitably arise: Will Obama make a difference as a President or will he prove to be another run of the mill politician or even a failure, bruised and battered by the neo-conservatives (neocons), whose hold on the economy is hardly shakable?
Obama will take office on 20 January 2009 as the 44th US President. He will immediately face a host of challenges regarding foreign policies as well as policies relating to home affairs. The voters will immediately find out that the most powerful person under the sun does not have a magic wand in his hand and that he is only a cog in the wheel of a system, even though in the system individual ideas matter. So, let us have a brief look at what he is likely to do in the following:
What will happen to the ongoing wars? Obama, in his election pledge, declared his intent to withdraw from
History has shown that the Democrats are as much of imperialists as the Republicans are, there may be a difference of tone or extent. In the Vietnam War (from September 26, 1959 to April 30, 1975) the
Will Obama try for a genuine solution to the
It is true that Obama said he would be "willing to meet, without preconditions, with leaders of countries hostile to the
Will Obama attempt to alleviate poverty in the world? Well, the imperialist system, based on domination and plunder, creates poverty and does not reduce it, and hence Obama as a representative of the imperialist system is likely to follow suit. It is all very well for Nelson Mandela at the age of 90 to pin high hopes on young and spirited Obama to alleviate poverty and bring peace and security in the world by urging him in a letter, which highlights and transmits his own life-long dream, but will Obama be able to back it up by delivering peace, security and alleviation of poverty?
Mandela's historic long struggle and in the end his spectacular victory, broke the barriers of apartheid and he became an iconic personality as the first post-apartheid President of South Africa. Breaking the barrier of apartheid is a great advancement of history. However, we have many miles to tread before we can send imperialism to the scrap heap of history. If it cannot be expected that Obama will be able to deliver much in terms of peace, security and alleviation of poverty in the world, even if he takes some positive steps, it would be welcome. In any case the voters' euphoria in this regard is bound to bite the dust.
Will Obama's presidency promote racial harmony in
Obama fulfilled part of his great dream, even if it is a long way to go before racial harmony in
Will Obama be able to solve the current deep financial crisis of the
These staggering amounts are being spent for the creation of a huge US-Israel oil-empire, except that the war has gone wrong and the
Will Obama's time in the White House be worth anything? Yes, it certainly might be worth a lot, pending favourable circumstances. Needless to say, almost any other President would be better than Bush in the White House. Obama however, is not just any other President. He has all the trappings for a great President, circumstances permitting. We congratulate him for what he has already achieved by defeating the potential replacements of Bush, by creating a great example for racial harmony, by arousing optimism in the world for peace in spite of what he had to concede for election, and by promising to regulate the financial sector to save the world economy from the greed of the neocon rogues. He will of course need to be cautious and vigilant about the neocons, who given a chance will invariably try to pull the rug from under his feet!
Writer: Zoglul Husain
E-mail: zoglul@hotmail.co.uk
Faruque Ahmed
With two distinctly dissimilar facades the country seems to be rolling on the so-called ‘highway’ to election. One is the reactivation of Speedy Trial Courts (STCs) to take major political leaders of BNP and Jamat-e-Islami to face new court action and possible detention, and the other is relaxation of the emergency rule to facilitate poll.
In such a situation, the biggest question that perturbs the public mind is: What is the real motive of the Caretaker Government (CG) behind the double standard in dealing with politicians just ahead of election?
It brings to the fore the question whether the CG really wants a free and fair election participated by all or looking for a ‘selection’ in the name of election as alleged recently by BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.
Observers say a highly politicised administration with anti-BNP functionaries in strategic posts, hostile Election Commission, conspiracies at home and abroad and chasing major politicians at peak election time by the government are some of the biggest threats to the forthcoming election. BNP and Jamat leaders said that they would take their decision whether to take part in election early this week. They further demanded total withdrawal of rule of emergency and delaying of upazila election by at least four weeks after the parliamentary election.
They are also demanding the participation of party leaders to election who have been convicted by the speedy trial courts for different periods. Party leaders say they have filed appeals to higher courts for review of the judgment and have the right to contest the election until final judgments on their prayers were given.
Khelafat Majlish leaders and others meanwhile, blamed the CG, as news reports said, for working on a scheme to bring Awami League to power defeating BNP and its allies.
News report said Sheikh Hasina met senior state department officials last week in
Now the question is whether the CG can deliver a free, fair and credible election to the nation in the emerging situation. Meanwhile the Election Commission (EC) has announced the polls schedule.
But the STCs, which are part of the emergency power of the CG, is still in place and ‘selectively’ taking renewed hearing of cases threatening scores of ‘disliked’ major political leaders of BNP and Jamat-e-Islami at a time when they are preparing for filing nominations.
Political observers say the STCs and election preparation can not go together. These courts should also close the shutters until after the election. The CG should give clear signals to the nation that its main task is to hold election now, not harassing political leaders with fresh trial.
But belying such sentiment, government attorneys last week filed submission to Speedy Trial Courts to carry out arrest orders issued from the lower court against BNP leader former finance minister M Saifur Rahma, Jamat-e-Islami chief Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami and its secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid.
The court has asked these leaders to appear before the designated court and there is a big apprehension that they may be sent to custody at a time when they should have the time and peace of mind to prepare their parties for election.
Moreover, the so-called Boropukuria coal mine case which was earlier shelved by the High Court and released all accused on bail, has been reconstituted by the CG under newly framed allegation to bring the accused to submission.
Responding to government lawyers’ pleas to the STCs for arrest of the frontline BNP and Jamat leaders, the judge of the court at the Jatiya Sangsad premises had asked some of them to surrender before the court immediately. The judge further said he would hold hearing on the submissions on Monday next.
Indications are that he may try to know the signal of the ruling elite in the meantime whether to go for the arrest of those frontline party leaders and put them to custody or act otherwise to keep them free to file election nominations.
Thus the holding of election still remains uncertain although the chief election commissioner (CEC) has already announced the polls schedule.
Hannan Shah’s case
Meanwhile, in a separate development BNP chairperson’s adviser Brig. Gen. Hannan Shah has been sued by Matlab police in Chandpur for taking part at a meeting hosted there by a possible BNP nominee to election.
Police super said he had violated the rule of emergency by taking part in the meeting. Police sued about 200 persons including the host although the event was organised by a charitable organisation for assisting the poor of the locality to help them in their livelihood struggle.
The big question is: What is the government looking for, whether it wants a free, fair and credible election or an election which will bring people of its choice to power. They said the 1/11 change over came on the promise to give the nation a flawless election. Is it on the highway, is the million dollar question at this turning point of our time.
They say the change over was promised to bring qualitative improvement in the country’s politics. But others say it was not achieved and on the contrary proved as a motivated act to reverse the election course that was underway that time.
They said the government can be credited for its anti-corruption crusade but again the arbitrariness with which it was carried out and targeted to a section of political establishment while remaining ‘unmindful’ to some others slowly overshadowed its real praise.
Failure to nab
The worst criticism of the Caretaker Government as observers say may be its failure to nab the criminals who staged the mayhem at the Paltan city centers on October 28, 2006 killing innocent political activists. Although the takeover was justified to cleanse politics, bring qualitative change in political practice and bring reforms to it, the CG’s inaction regarding these matters and bring the killers to justice gives a different signal.
The mid-day mayhem by activists of ‘logi-boitha’ under the command of a major political party and its top leaders had deeply shocked the people of the country and the international community. But it appears that the authorities have decided to ignore it, maybe due to its inability to deal with the issue or for burying further political tension.
But the question remains how this nation can avoid recurrence of such uncivilised incidents. Is there any visible improvement in the country’s political landscape that suggests that such violent activities will not happen again?
As the election is approaching closer, Awami League and its coalition show highly jubilant, while BNP and its allies are weighing the situation. They are blaming lack of a level playing field to take on their opponents under the cover of emergency rule in which the CG is allegedly supportive to it in one hand and their prospective candidates may become easy targets to knock them out of the race on the other.
