Throwing stones from the glasshouse

We all have that relative that we love dearly, but they embarass us whenever there is a public moment. Whether that be at a family wedding, Christmas or some other major family event, you can rest assured they will put their foot in it and are oblivious to the effect their actions have on others.

The current stupidity happening in Thailand is of epic proportions. Having lived in Thailand, I know the people are sweet and gentle, but act first and think later. They are the Asian continent’s embarassing relative. The current blockading of Suvarnabhumi International airport has demonstrated two things. One, it has shown the strength of the people power movement in Bangkok. It’s impressive. Two, it has highlighted the deep divisions that exist between the rich and the poor in Thailand. However, what it has also demonstrated is an unadulterated level of stupidity that I don’t think we will ever see in our lifetime again.

Protesting outside an airport is fine. Protesting anywhere is fine. But the PAD (People’s Alliance for Democracy) have effectively shut down the airport! Let me remind you that Bangkok is an asian hub for international travellers. If you are travelling anywhere around the world, you either go through Singapore or Bangkok. To have Bangkok airport shut down is ludicrous, expecially when what these people are demanding is not going to happen.

Let me give you a little recent political history lesson and let you into the minds and the logic of the Thai people. As hosts to the stranger, they are divine. They ooze hospitality and make the stranger feel so much at home. As political movers and shakers, they are simply useless. Talk in recent days has hinted at Thailand resolving this conflict in a democratic way. They are a democratic country. The vote is always free and relaxed. It can never be completely fair, but there is no intimidation at polling stations. The unfairness comes in the form of bribes and other corrupt means that will secure a desired result. But, overall, the voice of the Thai people is heard loud and clear. Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted former Prime Minister won two elections democratically. Recently ousted Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was also elected democratically last December. Now, we have the brother-in-law of Mr. Thaksin, Somchai Wongsawat as the new Prime Minister. Let me cut through this for you. Calls have been made for the parliament to be dissolved and new elections called. Waste of time. All that will do is put the same cronies of Mr. Thaksin back into power, just like the last election. They will be voted back in, as country Thailand loved Mr.Thaksin and all that he stood for. He is a country boy, hailing from the northern city of Chiang Mai, so he was one of them. However, Bangkokians hate him, and all his detractors are now partying at the airport.

This is a deep seated problem that goes beyond a simple democratic vote. What Thailand needs is a charismatic, but genuine political leader who can somehow bridge the divide. But, as much as I hate saying this, it will never happen. Thais don’t want corruption to stop, as money slipped to a police officer to quickly resolve a traffic dispute is a good way to stay out of the courts. The wealthy like having their current status, because they can lord it over all those Thais who are just above or below the poverty line. The ‘low class’ Thais are the servants of the ‘upper class’ Thais, and that’s the way it always has been and always will be.

So, in a nutshell, this will not be resolved by blockading an airport. It will not be resolved by having another election. This will be resolved by Thais working together to make their country shine in Asia. I have said before that Thailand will become the laughing stock of Asia. This little charade will lose Thailand millions of tourists in the long run, as well as billions of dollars from not only tourism, but also business. But they don’t think of that. I say again, I love the Thai people, but their idea of forward thinking is thinking about lunch that day, and nothing further ahead than that.

It’s time for Thailand to seriously look at itself. If they choose not to, the international community needs to send a clear message that this level of stupidity and international disruption will not be tolerated.

Let’s hope ASEAN gives Thailand more than just a slap on the wrist when they meet in Thailand next month.

That’s if the leaders can even get there.

Enjoy your day

Democracy. It’s a great word that gets thrown around like popcorn at a children’s movie showing. It’s what we think we need to aspire to; the democratic process. In essence, it’s what we see as the model that all countries should be following. No other model for society is to be tolerated. This is it. This system is God.

The United States is great for telling the world just how ‘undemocratic’ they are. The word ‘freedom’ seems to be constantly coupled with the word democracy. They, and other democratic countries love the system when it swings in their favour, but they get a little bit sour when it doesn’t deliver their desired result.

We have just been filled with a great sense of elation at the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. The democratic process, through the complicated electoral college count, has been upheld. Obama won fair and square, thereby gaining the prize.

However, another vote also took place. But this democratic result did not please some. The vote was fair, the vote was honest. I am talking of the Proposition 8 vote in California.

Proposition 8 was a California State ballot proposition that changed the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman and eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. The proposition did not affect domestic partnerships in California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)

In May of this year, the California Supreme Court made this ruling:

May 16, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — – The California Supreme Court struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage Thursday in a broadly worded decision that would invalidate virtually any law that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gaymarriage16-2008may16,0,6182317.story

This ruling was democratic, but nowhere near as democratic as a vote from the people. We jumped up and down when the Supreme Court ’stole’ the 2000 Presidential election from Al Gore and gave it to George W Bush, ignoring the popular ‘democratic’ vote. But what we are seeing now is the Gay and Lesbian community protesting the democratic process. As much as I am in favour of gay marriage, and I stand with those in California in my deep disappointment in this vote, I must also abide by the democratic process. We cannot have it both ways.

The other important thing to remember here is the Gay and Lesbian community have only seriously rallied to publicly denounce the proposal after it was voted up. There was absolutely no inclination to get out there before the vote and possibly get more people to use their democratic voice to support the court ruling. The Gay and Lesbian community sat on their collective backsides and assumed that liberal California, the home of anything goes, would simply hand them their rights on a plate.

Barack Obama had to fight to where he is now, as did all the great men and women of our time. The Gay and Lesbian community used to have a fighting spirit. Moments in history like Stonewall, the Sydney Mardi Gras beginnings in 1978( which began as a protest for equal rights), AIDS candelight vigils and quilt displays which were held on a regular basis not that long ago. They all sent a clear message that if you wanted your voice heard, you needed to shout from the rooftops, march in the streets, and suffer a bit.

What the voting up of Proposition 8 says to the Gay and Lesbian community is that they have lost their guts. It’s only now that they are jumping up and down because they lost. They are trying desperately to call the vote unconstitutional, but what they are clearly not wanting to admit is that it is their fault for not fighting for this issue as much as they have fought before. Fighting now is akin to closing the gate after the horse has bolted. It’s not too late, but it’s going to take a long while before we find that horse and put it back in the stable.

I want marriage to be available to all, because it is more than just the simple act of standing in front of a celebrant and saying ‘I Do’. Allowing marriage for all allows everyone to be treated equally, fairly, and with dignity. It allows same sex couples to have their relationships validated in the eyes of the community. Just like heterosexual couples have the choice of marriage or not, so should same sex couples.

But as much as I support same sex marriage, that is not my point here. Let this be a wake up call to the Gay and Lesbian community. Nothing should be assumed or taken for granted. The Gay and Lesbian community should continue to fight for what is right, and never take their eye off the ball, as they have with this issue. The 18,000 couples that were married in California are now wondering whether their marriages are legal. Many of them are now regretting that they didn’t get out there with placards before the election.

However, the Gay and Lesbian community should heed the words of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as they start the backward climb up the hill to equality:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed hope that the California Supreme Court would overturn Proposition 8. He urged backers of gay marriage to follow the lesson he learned as a bodybuilder trying to lift weights that were too heavy for him at first: “I learned that you should never ever give up. . . . They should never give up. They should be on it and on it until they get it done.” He also predicted that the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who have already wed would not see their marriages nullified by the initiative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)

This unlikely ally may not be gay or necessarily a great fan of the gay community, but he knows what it means to fight. Maybe the ultimate Hollywood tough guy’s words are what should spur us on to not take our eye off the ball again.

Enjoy your day.

I remember being at school and not wanting to eat my lunch, either because I wasn’t hungry, or I didn’t like what Mum gave me. The teacher would always say, “There are starving children in Africa. They would do just about anything to be able to have that sandwich.” Even I have said the same thing to my former affluent asian students in Bangkok, but with them I used to say, “There are starving children in…in…your own country and would love to have the food you’re turning your nose up at!” We have been pledging money, sponsoring children, and donating everything we have for decades now, but Africa still starves. Yet again we see, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a humanitarian crisis, like in Sudan. Why are we so helpless? The blame lies squarely at the foot of those in charge.

Corrupt governments and rogue militia teams with a score to settle continue to affect this part of the world. Until something positive happens, hell breaks loose with stories coming out of Congo showing Congolese refugees leaving refugee camps to brave the conditions back home because they haven’t eaten. Braving the conditions back home means trying to avoid things like being raped, or at the very worst, being shot dead or seeing this happen to their loved ones.

We have seen this happen in Sudan. Liberians suffered at the hands of former President Charles Taylor. Zimbabwe goes without saying, Kenya has had some issues, and over in the Carribean state of Haiti, chaos and dysfunction are the norm. Add to this the latest building collapse in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince which has killed at least 50, and you have a country that might as well call the ball game off, close the roller door at the front of the shop and declare itself out of business.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is an old, somewhat tired saying. The citizens of these countries, and many others that we could add to it, show that if you have the wrong people in power, or if power becomes just too damn nice, the general population will suffer. How do we stop them? The saddest thing is there is not much any of us can do. Oh yes, we can have Mia Farrow, Angelina Jolie, Madonna, and any other celebrity we like doing the ‘humanitarian thing’, but it needs a concerted effort from good, solid governments all around the world, to have a ‘collective conscience’ and see the world’s citizens as everyone’s responsibility.

As a teacher, I see this ‘collective responsibility’ as vitally important. I may have direct responsibility for one set of students. But I look out for, and help to guide all the other students at the school. The other teachers do the same. The student in my class isn’t just my responsibility. He or she is belongs to us as a teaching staff.

The election of Barack Obama will hopefully set the tone for other countries to follow. Under President Bill Clinton, the Northern Ireland peace process moved tremendously, and it is where it is now largely due to Clinton, Tony Blair, and ex-Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. It technically had nothing to do with Clinton, but he made it his business to put some weight behind it.

I am not saying Barack Obama’s responsibility is to take on the political business of the entire world, but the more the rest of the world sees his leadership and his successes, the more they may want to learn from it. We have good people in charge around the world at the moment. Sarkozy of France, Merkel of Germany, Brown of the UK, Rudd of Australia, Yuduyono of Indonesia, and so many more. Obama’s line in his election night acceptance speech, “This is our moment”, should be the line for all countries. A line for leaders worldwide to stop at and think about where they want to go from this point on. Anything is possible. Just take a look at the last few amazing days.

In the tiny Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, change has also come. The former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck has handed over the kingdom to his son, 28-year-old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, making him the youngest reigning monarch in the world. King Jigme Singye decided to abandon absolute monarchy 2 years ago, and set up a democracy, with democratic elections held a short while ago. He believed that with a new direction for the country politically, should come a new face to the monarchy, thereby appointing his son to be the new king.

What this shows is a ruler who has not let absolute power corrupt him. He has seized the moment to make a statement. Even though Bhutan is a tiny enclave of 600,000 people, it may well be a model for others to follow. The former king obviously saw the effects of a corrupt monarch in neighbouring Nepal, where King Gayanendra and the entire royal family have been removed from the constitutional makeup. Former King Jigme Singye did not want that for his country.

With these two amazingly positive events in the histories of one of the largest nations on earth to one of the smallest, let us hope that continents like Africa, South America, and parts of the Middle East can look at themselves, do some soul searching, and see what their actions are doing to their people.

Enjoy your day

There are those moments in history that we remember very clearly. The day JFK was shot, the day Princess Diana died in that horrific car accident, and of course the day when terrorists attacked the World Trade Centre towers on September 11, 2001. Those days are etched in our memories. We remember exactly where we were and exactly what we were doing. Today is one of those days.

Today has seen the election of the first African-American President of the United States. Never in my lifetime did I think this would happen. The 4th November, 2008, will go down as ‘one of those days in history.’ I am still shaking my head and thinking it could not be real. Seeing President-Elect Obama (still getting used to that) stand before 75,000 people in Grant Park in Chicago, and claim victory brought more than just a tear to my eye. This is beyond amazing, beyond incredible. This is beyond what anybody thought would happen.

I remember talking to an American in a bar in Bangkok, Thailand around mid 2005, not long after George Bush scared people into giving him another 4 years of power. At that stage, we all thought Hillary Clinton was a shoe in. I asked him whether she would win, and he said, “I can’t see Americans going from that far right to that far left in one election.” Well, look where we are now! How far left could you possibly go!

Obama’s acceptance speech was serious, almost sombre. It demonstrated that this will be a different kind of President; a President who means what he says. He knows the enormous challenges facing the United States, and he knows its his job to face them, and tackle them head on. He wanted this poison chalice, now he must drink from it.

The road ahead will be long, the climb will be steep, we will not get there in one year or even in one term,” he said.

“But tonight I have never been so hopeful that we will get there. Block by block, brick by brick, callused hand by callused hand.

“This victory alone is not the change we seek, it is only the chance for us to make that change.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/05/2411304.htm

Never have I heard a victory speech that seems to play down all the smiles, the ‘pats on the back’, the gloating. This man means business, and he is ready, as they have said all through the campaign, ‘from Day One.’

Statistically, it has been said that the south of the United States did not go for Barack Obama as much as they did for John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000. No problem comprehending that one. That’s purely and simply a racially driven preference. But what is interesting to note is that Barack Obama gained a higher percentage of votes in most of the states he lost than Gore or Kerry did. Yes, McCain beat him handsomely, but Obama did better than his predecessors. That is a positive sign for the 2012 race.

So, let’s bask in this wonderful victory. The whole world is looking at President-elect Obama with a smile and the look of hope in their eye. Trust me, in 4 years time, this world will be a much better place…’from sea to shining sea’

Enjoy your day…I certainly will now.

As I type this, we are days away from the most highly anticipated US Presidential election in history. Most people are saying they are sick of it, and in a way I am too. This all started 22 months ago when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the first ones to put up their hands and formally announce that they will be candidates for President of the United States. Twenty two months! Good God, a woman could nearly have 3 full term pregnancies in that time. Even Barack Obama must be saying to Michelle, “Is it over yet?

This election, no matter who wins, has changed everybody. None of us will ever be the same. We can bitch, we can whine, we can mudsling. But when this thing is over on Tuesday, we will be forever changed. I have never ever been so anxious about the result of a Presidential election in my entire life. I am Australian. This election doesn’t concern me or affect me directly. But I am doing everything I can (even praying) to make sure that we see a President-Elect Obama on Wednesday morning. The world needs him more than a baby needs mother’s milk. The whole world has its fingers crossed. The whole world wants change. And even my dearest friend in the world is praying for Obama to become his President. Now let me tell you where he’s originally from…Alabama.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, there is a boy from the deep south of the United States who is praying that a black man will become his President. Alabama has been and continues to be one of the most racist, if not THE most racist state in the south. If there was trouble during the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, it was happening in Alabama. So you know that this election has a lot hinging on it when a man who was raised to call the black man ‘nigger’ and ‘coloured’ and made to think that all they were good for was being your servant, is now wanting a black man to lead him and his country. What a long way he has come. And what a long way Barack Obama has brought us.

Forget the slurs. Forget the rubbish. This will be a defining moment in American history. Martin Luther King himself may even ‘rise up’ and say ‘Amen’. I doubt whether anyone will have ever cried after a Presidential election, but I sure will and I know milllions of others will too. It will be a triumph over hatred. A triumph over racism. A triumph over evil in all its forms. And it will be a victory for all the people of the United States. They will have shown the world how far they have come, and exactly where they want to go. They will say to the world that the last 8 years is a mistake that needs to be rectified. They will be saying that their new path is for a free America, a bright American future, and a place where they can believe in dreams again.

I have never felt more comfortable with a pair of political leaders as I have with Barack Obama and Joe Biden. These are men of strong character and integrity. Men who know how us little people live, and who know what us little people need. As my dear Alabaman friend would say about Obama, “He’s good people.” They are both ‘good people’. That’s what has been lacking in the White House these last 8 years; goodness. We’ve had Bush Jnr, Cheney, Rumsfeld and I am sure Bush Snr was sticking his nose in more than once. The only good person who was part of that team was Colin Powell, and he left in 2004. It was obviously getting too cold in there. Now we find he supports Obama. Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

So I will continue to pray to any God that will listen, whether that be Hindu Gods, Dreamtime Gods, Allah, Buddha, or Jesus. And so will my dear friend.

Obama-Biden 2008. Please.

Enjoy your day.