Iran, Iraq and Cairo

First America shocked the world and itself by electing an African as President. Now millions of Iranian citizens, in a 48 hour period, obliterated the stereotype of a Middle-Eastern country filled with jihadists.

This simplistic image of a country that has historically incorporated western ideals was propagated by neo-cons to justify their unilateral pursuit of the war in Iraq. And it is apparent, from the unfolding events in Iraq, that a majority of Iranians did not despise America; they just hate the Bush administration.

Over the last several days, the world has witnesses a digital mosaic of peaceful people marching silently, but demanding that their voices be heard. Iranian citizens are tweeting and texting, risking life and limb to keep the ember of Democracy lit in Iran.

The Iranians have reminded the world that most people want self-determination in some form of a Democratic system. It is amazing how often in the face of repression, these fires burn, and even more astounding, is how often the world appears caught off guard when it happens.

In Iran, a bearded, unsophisticated, political troglodyte, military and radical clerics, are trying desperately to hold onto the 1979 revolution. They are facing a determined citizenry, driven by young Iranians fighting, not with weapons but with online social networks. This revolution is not being televised, it is being tweeted.

In many ways what’s happening in Iran is an affirmation of George Bush’s belief that Democracy can flourish in the Middle-East, if given a chance. It would be naive not to acknowledge that Iranians watching millions of Iraqis lining up to vote did not have an impact on how they view the transfer of political power. It does not matter whether the elections were flawed and rife with corruption; there is something about the birth of Democracy –even in a primitive form- that is compelling.

Unfortunately for Iraq and the United States, Bush did not understand that Democracy cannot be imposed from the outside by a superpower. Freedom does not start with shock and awe. It starts with one man or woman looking in a mirror and saying: "Today I am going to be free." When a critical mass of these individuals coalesce around an event or personality, you have revolution. Freedom is born inside the individual and not in a war room in the basement of the White House.

It is also naïve to not believe that Barack Obama's speech in Cairo altered the political debate in the Middle East. When Obama spoke in Cairo, he was not seen as the leader of the United States or even the West. He was, and is the most influential political figure in the Muslim world.

Barack Obama is an African. He walks like an African, talk likes an African and, most important for the rest of the world, he thinks like an African. To Muslims, he is one of them. I am not talking about the conspiratorial right-wing fantasy that he is a Muslim parading as a Christian. Nor am I saying Obama is pro-Palestinian or, for that matter, pro anything. Obama has this mythical quality of being a human slate that different groups can project their stories.

Consequently, Muslims see Obama as an honest broker, because he has lived his life as an African who has immersed himself in its history and culture. When he speaks of Palestinian pain, it is authentic because he carries that same hurt inside. We Africans, whether we are oppressed in the suburbs of Paris, the slums of Brazil, the white beaches of the Caribbean or the ghettos of California, all carry within us the damage of displacement. For all of us living in the Diaspora, history has carved a hole in our hearts that can never be filled. Meshell Ndegocello described it as "crying like a baby that has been snatched away."

Many Muslims see Obama's rise, from humble beginnings, to leader of the greatest power in the world, as a vision of hope. I am not talking about a corny political slogan. True hope is often born out of suffering. It is optimism in the face of overwhelming despair.

David Brooks and others criticized Obama because, in directing the Palestinians away from violence, he invoked the struggle of black Americans. Brooks implied that the Palestinian problem did not have the moral equivalency of the civil rights struggle. First of all, how the hell does he know, having never walked in either shoes? But what Obama was saying is that the world will stand with you in a peaceful non-violent struggle. The opposition leaders in Iran have been Ghandi-like in ensuring that the mass marches across the country be peaceful and silent.

In Iran, it does not matter whether the ruling clerics and military snuff out the demonstrations and force Democracy underground; their downfall has already been sealed. What America restated to the world in 2008 is that Democracy, at its darkest hour, has the ability to transform itself. It just may be that Democracy is the first great pandemic of the 21st century. You see Democracy, like twitter is viral.

The Silencing Of Jerimiah Wright

I am contemplating the impact of Rev Jeremiah Wright on Barack Oboma's steady march toward the democratic nomination. The fact that Wright has become the latest racial boogey man of the “corporate owned media” as Wright righteously refers to them says more about America and the state of race relations than it does about Wrights’ controversial comments.

I was introduced to Rev Wright’s sermons over a decade ago. I immediately became a follower. His sermons represent the essence of the black theological tradition at its best. Wrights’ combination of intellect, showmanship and natural born talents to preach has no equal. His courage and willingness to speak truth to power, and most importantly put the teaching of Christ to practice in his south side neighborhood by helping ‘the least among us’ went against the trend of wealth theology, now so prominent in many of America’s black mega-churches.

Then a strange and wonderful thing happened. One of his members stood several hundred delegates from capturing the democratic nomination. But then that demented child called race that we keep locked up in our mental attics escaped, and all hell broke loose.

Wright became the Louis Farrakhan incarnate and most damaging he had polluted the mind of the wonder Negro Oboma, and his little brown children too.

What has been done to Wright by Fox News and right wing radio with the tacit complicity of the mainstream media is nothing less than criminal. A who man joined the marines when Dick Cheney and other neo-cons were hiding out at the academy, a man who put to sleep and woke up the President of the United States when he had surgery was painted as unpatriotic. A man who possesses two master degrees, a PHD from the most respected theological school in the world, speaks five languages, is a gifted musician and is one of America’s greatest living biblical scholars was redefined as a demagogue and crucified all because he dared to criticize Rome. The liberal paper of record New York Times called him a racist. Less we forget they called Martin King Vietnam speech a grave “error”

Barack Oboma is a politician. However, I believe him when he says he is outraged by some of Rev. Wright’s comments. I understand that after Wrights latest media tour he will be compelled to further distance himself from Wright. The truth is he should have distanced himself from Wright more forcefully when Wright first became a political issue.

However, Jeremiah Wright has every right to defend himself and his life work as forcefully as he sees fit no matter the cost to Oboma. Wright was in no way actively involved in the Oboma campaign. He was quietly moving toward retirement when the right-wing press drug him into a maelstrom.

Now the white media is telling Wright we can say any god damn thing we want about you and you are required to be silent. If Wright is allowed to be silenced it only reinforces the white supremacist notion that an indigenous black voice from the bottom of the well has no place in our civic discourse. African-American criticism of America’ foreign policy is now deemed to be both deficient and racist.

The call from the talking heads of the corporate media for Wright to stay invisible reeks of hypocrisy One need only to turn on talk radio and you will hear such racist and xenophobic spewing, that it makes one rethink the wisdom of the First Amendment. Never mind that some of America’s most prominent conservative politicians prize a 5 minute interview with the Hannitys and Limbaughs who communicate that filth. But silence reigns among a supposedly shocked corporate media as they participated in the skin game by failing to tell a complete picture of Wright, his good and bad.

No one wants Oboma to be elected President more than me, more than black people in this country. But if the price of electing a black President is the silencing of authentic indigenous voices like Wright then that price is to high.

Each one of us knew that at some point it was going to come to this. America was going to have to confront its racist tendencies. It always does. If not Wright, then it would be some other manufactured issue. But that is okay, to be free of our racist past we had to have our Jeremiah Wright moment.

Several months ago I wrote how hopeful I have become because of Oboma’s candidacy. That hope has only grown. Despite what the corporate media says, THIS RACE IS OVER. However, Oboma has been forced to do the unthinkable, campaign in every state and fight for every vote. Guam’s with just four delegates and its citizens unable to vote in the general election was coveted. This is truly remarkable in that a political party will finally produce a nominee that the whole country and its territories had a say in nominating. And with the whole world watching no less.

So my hope is not dampened by the race baiting of the Wright story. North Carolina and Indiana affirmed that hope. In the end I believe that fifty-one percent of us, of all races, religions, regions, genders, sexual orientation and political parties will choose a new way in the general election. I have hope.