The World Is Counting On The USA
By Norman Solomon
02 November, 2004
CommonDreams.org
In the shadow of this election day, across the United States, millions of people are doing more than just hoping -- and more than just voting. With a vast array of activism, progressives have been struggling to make history by defeating the Bush regime.
I don’t know anyone who has enjoyed this election campaign. We’ll be glad to have it behind us. But what remains to be seen -- and what we have the power to make more likely between now and Tuesday night -- is the outcome that people around the world are deeply yearning for.
For those of us living in the United States, amid all the tedium and debates and acrimony of this election year, losing sight of bigger pictures has been easy. But the consequences of choices will soon become clear.
Bush can be defeated. The world is depending on us to make it happen.
Last week, Left Business Observer editor Doug Henwood interviewed the insightful anti-imperialist writer Tariq Ali on WBAI Radio in New York. Ali, a leading international activist for several decades and the author of “Bush in Babylon” and “The Clash of Fundamentalisms,” addressed progressives in the USA. “This is what I constantly say when I'm in this country to people on the left: Look, you have a responsibility to the rest of the world as well. This is no time to fool around. ... Do not mimic the imperial rulers of your country and think exclusively about yourselves and your own interests, whatever these may be. ... Just look at the situation globally and ask yourselves this: Would a defeat for George W. Bush -- how would this defeat be seen in the world?”
Ali went on: “I am 100 percent confident that from the Atlantic to the Urals, through Latin America, in Africa, in the Arab [world], this defeat would be seen as a victory. Now, the response to that comes, ‘Yeah, but Kerry would do the same thing’ -- but that's not the point. The point is Bush decided on this war, Bush took the country to war, the neocons and their supporters devised ... lies which they haven't been able to deliver that this was a war of liberation. It's been a complete and total disaster. Should Bush be punished for going to war or not? If you say ‘yes,’ then you have to punish him, and the best way to punish him is to remove him from office.”
And, Ali continued: “Then you come to Kerry. As I said, pressure should be put on Kerry from Day One. And if he carries on the war, then attack him. But the position would be clear: we removed Bush because he went to war. If you carry on with the war, you could be removed as well. You won't serve a second term either. ... I honestly can’t see any argument against this. And people who say, ‘But we’re not going to vote for Kerry -- are you advocating a vote for Kerry, you sellout?’ But my response to that is: Are you seriously advocating that Bush should stay in power? Because that's the alternative.”
The eyes of the world are on the swing states while the Bush regime desperately fights to win four more years of murderous power.
Norman Solomon is co-author of “Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You.” Audio of Doug Henwood’s Oct. 28 interview with Tariq Ali can be found at: http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html
