American Politics
After intensely following 3 American elections in my life - which entails being glued to the TV just like any other riveting thriller or drama film , taking sides, making running commentary - it's clear we consume American politics, too, the way we consume everything that is American. We know everything about the Presidential races although our knowledge of the Primaries and, other local ones may be lacking.
We have big fat opinions. We passionately argue our cases.
International news media vigorously covers the elections and the election year. Social media too has added another dimension to the way we consume these elections. We read analysis after analysis online.
US Elections 2020 were yet again another garish spectacle: billions were strewn to win seats. High-school level debates were held to pass off as some time of intellectual sparring. On one hand we had the ultra ugly machinations of Trump and Co and, then we had old man polite Biden and the 'Polites.' It was at really at this point, of seeing the liberal mainstream drivel about polite and decent Democrats , that I realised how far I'd come from 2008.
Gone are the days when we couldn't quite see clearly and, how romantic our ideas were about American Presidents coming to power. I hadn't quite grasped ideological perspectives on politics.
I and many of my girlfriends drooled over him. In fact, half of us were fantasising about him. He kept appearing vividly in our dreams.
"Bastard" was what I mustered when I shared an article about his new book with this headline Obama says 'took no joy' in drone strikes but 'couldn't afford to look soft on terrorism'.
How far I've come from romanticising Obama and, seeing him for what his legacy represents as a Democrat President. Just another war monger. Just another Wall Street capitalist. All in the guise of politeness.
I guess the problem is we saw him only as a black man who had finally come to take his place at the helm, representative of black people, long enslaved, exploited, killed, abused and marginalised. We cheered for Obama and symbolism of him coming to power.
It's what critics of liberal feminism say : just because you got a female elected to power doesn't mean shit. Just because there's a female CEO of a big ass company, doesn't mean shit.
I think the first time critique of mainstream feminism really started to make sense to me was a programme on Al Jazeera. I believe it was Mahdi Hassan's Upfront and his question to his interviewees was whether or not Beyoncé was a feminist icon. A woman explained to him that as a capitalist profiting from the music industry, she can't be a feminist icon. It was a little while later when I finally started to understand this fine point.
That just because you've managed to put someone on the top of a very rotten unequal and unjust system, doesn't mean victory. Unless that whole system is re-hauled and cleaned up, individual victories are merely symbolic. Moreover, we have to look past appearances and look for ideological positions on capitalism, wealth distribution, violence against women, patriarchal attitudes, race, environment, historical injustice, the whole shebang.
How far I've come in terms of how I now see politics.
What lessons could feminists learn from BLM?
And, then we have the other bleeding side of American Politics: black people protesting for their very lives.
Polite, decent America has nothing to do with this. Polite, decent America has nothing earth-shattering to say about the condition of black people. Presidents don't come to power in the US on a platform of good old justice. Even now they are blabbering about healing from Trump. Healing from Trump. That old man Biden and his 'Polites' are going to heal the nation.
If I were black, whether it's a Republican or Democrat, how do I feel about Presidents and 'Polites' in power? I really wonder what black people think in America.
Well, we got some idea in 2020 when the streets were engulfed in protests after the horrific and torturous killing of George Floyd which we all saw on TV, wincing in shock and pain, at seeing a man choke to death, literally begging for air and calling his mother.
My best friend is Zimbabwean-Liberian-American and, she tells me she's always "in a state of simmering rage."
During the months of following the protests , how they engulfed not only the US but Europe too, with calls to take down colonial statues of slave traders and colonial bastards, and how these protests were met by security forces in US, there was a lot to take in and process.
I think one of the main thoughts I had was that not only is democracy a sham in the US but how important social movements are in understanding the times. These movements may be small or massive but how they pop up , how they gather momentum, how they express their demands, and how they are perceived and 'dealt' with by authority and people is so incredibly important to understand our times.
Of course there are many right wing movements too but surely they are important to understand.
Electoral cycles are now TV games. They are cash games. Who's got more cash? Who can get more TV ads?
In other parts of the world which Americans usually know little of - which their 'Polites' are regularly bombing or exploiting - elections are mired in ultra violence, blood. Elections in other parts more aptly display what elections are all about : power.
And, Americans experienced electoral violence too now on 6 Jan. What an irony.
So, I have derailed.
What did I learn from BLM that can be applied to feminist activism , especially in Pakistan:
1. You don't get to call yourself my ally. Do the work first.
2. The movement needs allies but not for legitimacy, identity or strength.
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