Another election victory to be happy about

Hugo Chavez has been re-elected in Venezuela, his win was greeted by street celebrations and parties, like another recent election victory.

Let's hope Chavez will continue to thumb his nose at American - and other - imperialism.

The BBC reckons he'll widen social programmes. The Morning Star says his work to increase free healthcare and education; reduce illiteracy and raise living standards has had a huge influence on the country, which had experienced years of the usual exploitation of resources by a minority.

As far as I'm aware, the programmes have been funded from oil revenues, yikes, I want the world to move away from oil, but I know people need healthcare, education and enough to eat. Oh well, I like a nice simple generalisation, so for now I'm going with Viva Chavez

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What's your vision for Obama's first 100 days?

Those lovely people at Alternet.org have had a great idea: What's Your Vision in 100 Words for Obama's First 100 Days?

My contribution, inspired by a northern soul t-shirt of the 1980s/90s which read All-night dancin' Hand-clappin' Foot shufflin' etc, is:

Honest-talkin’ Iraq-war-endin’ Health-carin’ Green-collarin’
Wealth-sharin’ Educatin’ Communicatin’ Equal-rightin’
Urban-renewin’ Internetin’ Veteran-carin’ Active-listenin'
Respectin’ Volunteerin’ Lifelong-learnin’ Civil-rightin’
Job-creatin’ Renewable-energy-promotin’ American-WMD-reducin’
Wealth-taxin; Toleratin’Family-cohesion-promotin’ Science-promotin'
LGBT-rights-supportin’ Climate-change-actin’ GM-reducin’

Send them your ideas via 100@AlterNet.org

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Buy Nothing Day - coming soon!

I found out today that it's Buy Nothing Day on Saturday (or Friday in the US).

I accidentally celebrated Buy Nothing Day last Saturday, so lucky me I've got an excuse for avoiding the crowds this coming Saturday too, hurrah!

If you'd like to celebrate this great day, which helps us focus on what's really important in life, do take a look at http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/ for the UK, or http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd for the international view.

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Miriam Makeba: over-sholom

It's very sad to hear that Miriam Makeba, music legend and Apartheid-survivor has died.

I feel Nelson Mandela has expressed the sadness very well, you can read his tribute to Mama Afrika.

Obama's win - balancing joy, hope and reality

A friend of mine set his Facebook status to "thrilled that one prospective manager of the interests of Capital beat another prospective manager of the interests of Capital.
on Wednesday." While I think this summary is true, I sense it isn't the whole truth.

Tackling the first part of my somewhat contradictory view: I'm not such an Obamaniac to think that he'll usher in the era of a fair shares for all, not least because that will take a mass movement. Despite voting against the Iraq war, it looks like Obama will look after the interests of Western oil-related companies by not withdrawing troops from Iraq quickly and by increasing troops in Afghanistan.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports on the death of racism are greatly exaggerated. Based on the date slavery was outlawed in the US and the date African-American men were given the vote, both I understand in the 1860s - an African-American US President is about 140 years overdue.

Moving onto the second part of my statement: in the 2008 US election, many hundreds of thousands of people felt enfranchised for the first time in their lives. Mainstream media around the world has been filled with the images and words of people who are unhappy with the way the world is and who want things to be different. When is the last time that happened?

This election victory sends a powerful challenge to other nations about their own racism and lack of diversity in so-called mainstream political leaders. (Here in Blighty, the Cabinet appears to be completely white, while the Shadow Cabinet manages to contain one British-Asian.)

For those of us who are concerned that Obama's words may be empty platitudes merely capitalising on the credit crunch and frustration with the past eight years of Republican government, maybe these words of his will strike a chord: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change we seek." (I hear some chanelling of Gandhi there, to accompany the channelling of Martin Luther King and Sam Cooke that appeared in Obama's acceptance speech!)

To conclude, while Obama's Presidency will not bring all the change we seek, it can be seen as encouragement for all who want the world to be a more equitable place.

GObama! {Thanks to the UK's Daily Mirror for that headline}

What else could possibly be interesting me today but the US election result?

A massive thank you to all Americans.

I really hope this will get you the healthcare you deserve and bring back your sons and daughters from Iraq and Afghanistan ASAP. I also wish you sensible energy plans for the era of climate change, secure jobs with decent pay and education accessible to all...but the first two would be a major improvement.

I'm thrilled the Republican party has been unceremoniously booted-out and it's truly wonderful that a black person is the President-elect. I would have loved to see a female President or Vice-President, maybe next time? (As long as it's not a certain Governor of Alaska, please.)

There are huge challenges for actual delivery, but for today, I'm saying Yes You Did.