Kenya Stockholm Blog

Living The Barack Obama Dream

When he got serious with his White House bid, Barack Obama’s move remained a distant hope but today, Obama has shown what is possible with “The audacity of hope”. He has been nominated as the Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party thereby writing history as the first African-Kenyan aka African-American to have made it to that level.

It terms of race relations, Obama’s stunning achievement is a big plus because it is probably one of the biggest achievement in the fight against racism, not just in the United States but across the world especially in countries where racism is rampant.

In our own Sweden, the government was last month taken to task by the United Nations for its failure to address the thorny issue of racism and discrimination of non white people in this country. According to a report that grabbed headlines in Stockholm City (morning Newspaper), Sweden was lagging behind in the fight against racism because it is one of the countries where Neo-nazi bone-heads still have the luxury of demonstrating against immigrants in the streets with full police protection in the name of freedom of Assembly.

The Swedish Democratic Party, a racist Party which has routinely called for the expulsion of immigrants from Sweden, used terror tactics to try and achieve its objectives and which has a clear racist, anti-immigrant Program, has several elected members sitting in the Councils across the country. The Party was reported to be gaining popularity across Sweden because of the economic crisis Sweden has been plunged in with blame being heaped on Immigrants as the cause of the crisis.

The Swedish Democrats have been reported to be on the verge of getting members elected to Parliament for the first time in Sweden, a chilling piece of news that should concern all non white people resident in Sweden. That is beside the everyday institutionalized State racism and discrimination that the government continues to practice in the housing and job markets, immigration and political life in this country.

Are the Swedes going to learn anything from the Obama experience? Of cause, Nyamko Sabuni, a 39 year old African woman from Zaire who came to Sweden when she was 16 years old is a Cabinet Minister. But that is where it ends. Sabuni does not identify with Africans and is seen more by the African community here as a career-oriented “Uncle Tom” kinda personality than a determined agent of change within the Swedish political establishment. If there is a central message the Obama candidacy is sending to Africans, it is that “We can do it” and rise to the top and that what you need is to move hope a little bit further.

A TIME OF CELEBRATION
For white people, Obama’s candidacy is sending the message that not all whites are racists otherwise how could Obama have made it since African-Americans are a minority group that could not have propelled Obama to where he is today without support from white people?

For the Democratic Party nomination, Obama beat Hilary Clinton, a white woman who had all the credentials to win the nomination. The candidacy of Obama is a demonstration that racism can be set aside and that black and white can unite for a common cause and a common goal depending on what it is. For Blacks and whites in the United States, the unity around Obama is about change.

Obama has accepted the nomination but his next challenge after he occupies White House will be a crisis of expectation. The American government is structured around an imperialistic political design which has been honoured by all previous Presidents including Bill Clinton who endorsed him.

It is this design that prompted the CIA to attempt a coup against President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, moved the US government to bomb Libya in 1986, prompted Clinton to go to war with Iraq, drove Bush to wipe out regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq and forced the US government to engage in countless political interventions across the world in the name defending the superpower status of the United states. Any sitting President of the United States has always danced to the tune of big business and occult Movements. Will Obama be able to break away from this cycle and facilitate change?

The big challenge facing Obama if he is elected President will be a crisis of expectation. African-Americans expect their lives to change because one of their own will be in power. Will Obama stop racist police from killing African-Americans like wild beasts in the streets or address the issue of rampant racism in America?

On the other hand, white Americans will be watching Obama very carefully to see if he is leaning more on Africa/Africans than the United States in his policies. There have been attacks that Obama has not been patriotic enough because initially, he was not wearing the badge of the American flag on his lapel. Michelle, his wife, was accused of not appreciating America before Obama presented himself as a Presidential candidate.

Whatever happens, the issue of the moment is that Obama has made history and other matters will begin to fall into place once he takes office. For now, Black and white across the world should toss for Obama and use this example to unite and come together to overcome what divides the races be they political, economic, social, cultural and other factors. Obama has carried the audacity of hope to new levels that should serve to inspire populations across the world to aim at new and greater heights in whatever they intend to do. KSB says Kudos to Barack Obama.

Okoth Osewe

August 29, 2008 Posted by makozewe | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment