Divide and conquer seems to be in full force in the United States. It reminds me of the stance taken after 9/11 when George W. Bush said, “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
Rather than adopt that attitude, are there areas where we can connect rather than divide? For example, can we agree on these three?
- CUBA. End the blockade! The 60-year-old blockade has failed to achieve the US goal of regime change in Cuba, and meanwhile the blockade has harmed millions of people and damaged the way the world sees the United States. In 2023 Biden followed Trump, not Obama, when he kept Cuba on the “State Sponsor of Terrorism” list. Almost 10 years ago Obama had removed Cuba as a step toward normalization of relations.
- NUCLEAR ARSENAL. Can we agree that no country on earth needs to upgrade its nuclear arsenal? The US government apparently agrees in some way, because it bombed and invaded Iraq on the assertion – which turned out to be false – that Iraq was preparing to develop nuclear weapons. As a result the Iraqi president and countless Iraqis died, with estimates ranging from well over 100,000 to over a million. Over 4,000 American soldiers were killed, and a countless number suffer from PTSD after their military service.
- SANCTIONS. Economic sanctions are not a healthy, non-lethal alternative to war; they are a weapon of war. An estimated one-third of the world’s population is affected by these unilateral coercive measures applied by the US even though they are prohibited by the United Nations charter. As noted peace advocate Phyllis Bennis says here, “We also know, again from too many of our own government’s actions, that imposing broad economic sanctions — the kind that target whole populations — doesn’t work. They aren’t an alternative to war. They’re a weapon of war that hurts ordinary people, while leaders and their powerful cohorts thrive.”
The photo for this piece is from the 2011 book by Harry Belafonte, My Song: A Memoir of Art, Race, and Defiance, showing him with Martin Luther King, Jr. The photo both honors activist Belafonte, who died in late April, and shares the marvel of seeing the serious and dignified MLK Jr. laughing, “looking almost like a baby” as a friend said. (Since I love to dance, I can’t resist another note about his joyfulness. I read that MLK’s brother said, “he was crazy about dances, and just about the best jitterbug in town.”)
As reported here: Harry Belafonte was asked by [Democracy Now!] host Amy Goodman whether he’d used his occasional access to directly share his many critical and valuable public policy insights with the White House. Belafonte replied that his only access to the president has been for a few seconds at a time, not long enough for any substantive discussion. But, he said, at one such event President Barack Obama approached him to inquire when Belafonte and Cornel West were going “to cut me some slack.” “What makes you think we haven’t?” Belafonte replied to the president. At this point the brief encounter was over. (This lack of a real “make me do it” attitude was also reported by Black Agenda Report.)
Cornel West, mentioned above, has entered into the Green Party presidential nomination process. It is exciting to me that he plans to connect with everyone across the often fabricated divides of the political spectrum. This interview provides a great introduction to Cornel West. During the interview he said, “It’s a matter of finding something that allows you to stay in contact with the humanity of others, so that it leaves you open to some sense of possibility, that you’re never ever feeling as if you’re fatalistic about anybody.”
Laura
LauraWells.org
@LauraWellsCA