Friday, October 22, 2004
Whirled Peas
Last night I went to an Artists for Kerry rally, hosted by Garrison Keillor. The evening started out with a haunting mandolin solo, and ended with a poem by Hafiz.
"If the world does not turn to your whims these few days,
Cosmic cycles are preparing to change, don't despair, walk on."
On the eve of the invasion of Iraq, as the government was packing up gun ships and outfitting soldiers, Colman Barks and Robert Bly were frantically translating Persian poets. In a letter Barks sent to President Bush while the bombers were being outfitted, he offered an army of culture seekers, good will ambassadors, 60's hippies, painters and jugglers. Flooding the country with well meaning tourists, he suggested, would be better than body bags in convincing the Middle East that we weren't infidels.
After the bombers, the toppled statues, the tanks, the banners, we've only succeeded in catastrophe.
Anti-Americanism Runs High
With ten days to the election, the Minnesota ACT office is humming with activity.
This warren of little inter-connected rooms, littered with empty coffee cups, is command central for my sense of hope these days. Teams of canvassers are trained in to the background clatter of keystrokes. A graphic artist works on ID cards for scores of incoming staff. There's Hispanics and Somali's, Green/Blue Alliance, Human Rights Coalition people and Moms Opposing Bush.
The African American team is on the phone recruiting church space. Two volunteer coordinators are recruiting Election Day massage therapists. They've come up with a slogan for their flyer. "The future of Democracy is in Your Hands." An image of cupped hands holding a swirling earth appeals to one, but not the other. "It should really be America" grumbles the more literal minded designer.
If the world does not turn to your whims, do not despair.
Bush's vision, drilled daily into the public mind with lectern pounding lectures, is that it's U.S. against the rest of the world. Everyone else must be Americanized so we can be safe. Kerry strives to rattle his sabers even more vigorously than Bush, as if suburban moms aren't sufficiently terrified and titillated. This bunker mentality only leads to increased conflict and militarism.
Much can be resolved by diplomacy, intelligence, negotiation, international cooperation. It turns out that the tedium of reading reports, holding summits, talking to one's enemies, is more dangerous, difficult, and uncertain, but it's the route of peace.
Three things would greatly reduce the threat of terror. One is to divest from Saudi Arabia, pull our bases out, and condemn the corrupt royal regime. The second is to reduce our dependence on oil; immediately, through voluntary conservation and relying more existing alternative fuels, and by developing sustainable alternatives. The third is to put our moral authority behind the Middle East Peace process and stand behind Sharon in his plan to return the Gaza strip.
The world is in our hands, all of our hands. We are in the world's hands.
"If the world does not turn to your whims these few days,
Cosmic cycles are preparing to change, don't despair, walk on."
On the eve of the invasion of Iraq, as the government was packing up gun ships and outfitting soldiers, Colman Barks and Robert Bly were frantically translating Persian poets. In a letter Barks sent to President Bush while the bombers were being outfitted, he offered an army of culture seekers, good will ambassadors, 60's hippies, painters and jugglers. Flooding the country with well meaning tourists, he suggested, would be better than body bags in convincing the Middle East that we weren't infidels.
After the bombers, the toppled statues, the tanks, the banners, we've only succeeded in catastrophe.
Anti-Americanism Runs High
With ten days to the election, the Minnesota ACT office is humming with activity.
This warren of little inter-connected rooms, littered with empty coffee cups, is command central for my sense of hope these days. Teams of canvassers are trained in to the background clatter of keystrokes. A graphic artist works on ID cards for scores of incoming staff. There's Hispanics and Somali's, Green/Blue Alliance, Human Rights Coalition people and Moms Opposing Bush.
The African American team is on the phone recruiting church space. Two volunteer coordinators are recruiting Election Day massage therapists. They've come up with a slogan for their flyer. "The future of Democracy is in Your Hands." An image of cupped hands holding a swirling earth appeals to one, but not the other. "It should really be America" grumbles the more literal minded designer.
If the world does not turn to your whims, do not despair.
Bush's vision, drilled daily into the public mind with lectern pounding lectures, is that it's U.S. against the rest of the world. Everyone else must be Americanized so we can be safe. Kerry strives to rattle his sabers even more vigorously than Bush, as if suburban moms aren't sufficiently terrified and titillated. This bunker mentality only leads to increased conflict and militarism.
Much can be resolved by diplomacy, intelligence, negotiation, international cooperation. It turns out that the tedium of reading reports, holding summits, talking to one's enemies, is more dangerous, difficult, and uncertain, but it's the route of peace.
Three things would greatly reduce the threat of terror. One is to divest from Saudi Arabia, pull our bases out, and condemn the corrupt royal regime. The second is to reduce our dependence on oil; immediately, through voluntary conservation and relying more existing alternative fuels, and by developing sustainable alternatives. The third is to put our moral authority behind the Middle East Peace process and stand behind Sharon in his plan to return the Gaza strip.
The world is in our hands, all of our hands. We are in the world's hands.
