Drifting towards sleep, reflecting on this week in New York, and anticipating our immanent return to the city i love — small, unsophisticated Vancouver (kidding! Geez, don't get defensive) — i wanted to take stock of all i've seen and done, and learned and thought (and eaten and bought), but i got distracted. A conversation about The Pirate Bay and Louis Riel lead us to wonder today about whether or not we've been sleeping soundly in a state that legally murders its citizens; it seems the answer is yes, but so far (since 1976), only in theory.
Remembering this huge inescapably clear difference between the state to which my passport belongs and this one i am visiting brought Obama back into my thoughts... Naomi Klein says it's time for Obamafans to "stop hoping and start demanding." While i'm a little dismayed by her haphazard choice of words, i naturally agree with the commonsensical thrust of her statement. Her phrase, in context:
"If the superfan culture that brought Obama to power is going to transform itself into an independent political movement, one fierce enough to produce programs capable of meeting the current crises, we are all going to have to stop hoping and start demanding."
I will be one of the very last people on earth to suggest anyone should "stop hoping" but in addition to keeping our hopes alive, and hoping harder (and more imaginatively) than ever, we do indeed need to demand action from those (like Obama) who occupy positions of power that enable them to turn (some of) our more modest hopes into realities. Without the momentum of hope, our demands will be impotent (and ignored).
Demanding things is pretty hard work. To seriously demand concrete action from powerful authorities can also be frightening. Powerful people are often quite intimidating, and speaking to them with sustained conviction can be even more difficult if the powerful individuals happen to be charming, disarming, charismatic and persuasive, as we can probably all agree Obama is. Whether one is setting boundaries with friends, petitioning an MLA, filing a grievance at work, or challenging an interloping neighbour, a creep on the bus or an aggressive police officer, standing up to an authority — and demanding accountability from them — is hard enough; sustaining and following through on demands in the face of smiles and nods (whether patronizing or in good faith) can be exhausting, even confusing and mind-numbing.
So, while i naturally enjoy Klein's contributions to our ballooning collection of Obama-related neologisms (i think hopesick is my favorite today), and i applaud her warnings about a "dangerously deferential" attitude towards charismatic authorities, i remain (surprise!) optimistic about a burgeoning renaissance of both hope and civility, especially in politics, especially in the USA. But the question of how we avoid letting civility become a pretense for obfuscating or avoiding disagreement remains open and, i think, productive. Of course, you may disagree. :)
And while i'm on the subject, here's a current petition from Avaaz, "demanding" Obama end the Embargo against Cuba. You know what to do.
My summary of our NYC adventures will have to wait until a later post. I'll get to it soon, but as much as i love the comfy chair in this hotel, the bed is quite nice too and, after i've spent a few hours there, i hope to get up early enough to enjoy the shiny new gym downstairs, one last time... I'm getting pretty good at being on vacation. Sometimes i surprise myself.
Oh, ps: our first night back in Vancouver there's an "Oscar Wilde & Anarchy" event at Spartacus. I shall be there, in my fanciest pants.
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