From Hope To Action

On Friday hundreds of anti-genocide activists will be gathering at the national mall in Washington, D.C. to lobby Barack Obama’s presidential transition team. While many among this crowd supported Obama in Tuesday’s election, they all have recognized one important truth: politics happens every day. They will be lobbying his team less than 72 hours after his victory in order to turn the slogan “Yes We Can” into “Yes We Will” and “Yes We Have”.

Regardless of whom you supported and what issues are most important to you now is the time to put the election behind us and move forward together in improving the country. Supporters of Obama believe that the hope of Obama’s campaign can translate into a stronger economy, a more peaceful foreign policy and an overall healthier society. Although opponents of Obama may have different tactics, their goals are roughly the same. Our votes have been cast and whether our candidate won or lost, we can continue to fight the good fight in strengthening America.

For thousands of activists including myself, bringing about an end to genocide is a critical goal that the new administration must commit itself to. For others it may be healthcare, the economy, college education and many other important causes of our time. Whatever it may be we have a new congress and a new president and we must make our voice heard. We must transform the hope the majority of Americans hold out for the next four years into tangible action and results.

In his victory speech, Obama said that, ”above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.” I would echo and change this as now we must advocate letter by letter, call by call and tough debate by tough debate.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama spoke passionately about the need to end genocide in Darfur and beyond. The President-Elect cannot make this a priority alone. We must raise our voices and do the political groundwork so that his feet are held to the fire and his actions have strength. Without our persistent voices on the issues we each care about, our elected officials including our president are easily led into false direction. I agree with many in believing that Barack Obama will be able to accomplish many of his goals as president, but he needs OUR help.

Democrat or Republican, it is time to take our message to our officials at all levels. Both those officials who we supported and those we did not. Whether you join with me to fight genocide or push for a greener world or for whatever you may be compelled to support, I urge you to unite, organize and advocate. The results are in, the election has ended and there is a lot to do.

In the words of President Josiah Bartlett, my favorite fictional president from The West Wing: “break's over”.

New Orleans

Sadly, new hurricanes have moved public attention finally away from New Orleans.  I have just returned from a trip there doing some rebuilding work and discovered that they need not be forgotten down there in Katrina-land.  Before the trip I had heard many things about that city: sin-city, a disgusting city full of messed up people that God was cleaning up, and people asking why they even return to New Orleans: why not just move to another home?

First, I can say that the work in NOLA is far from over.  I was in a small neighborhood of only about a dozen homes nestled pratically underneath an overpass.  Next to an abandoned NOLA Police storage yard and a busy set of train tracks sits a row of homes, one of which is owned by a man named Troy.  Because this home belonged to his great aunt at the time of Katrina, who passed away three months after the storm and bequeathed it to Troy, he is unable to get any government assistance in rebuilding.  It's the kind of neighborhood that you would dump a body: in fact our first day there a news van pulled up asking for information on a body that had been found the day before down the road.  Another home on his street is completely rebuilt, two others have clearly not been visisted since the storm.  Who knows whether their owners perished or left and haven't returned.

Troy and his neighborhood have fallen off the map (in fact Google Maps had a hard time finding his street) and fallen through the loopholes of government aid.  The remaining work is for them, the forgotten.

So is New Orleans a disgusting city of sin?  I find that all generalizations are dangerous, as Alexander Dumas once quipped.  There are many devoted and real people living there, loving culture and life and working hard to make ends meet day to day.  The church in NOLA is rebuilding and growing.

So why don't people just pack up and close down the city?  Troy took us to his Lutheran church while we were working on his home.  A beautifully rebuilt church of about 250 (it was 500 before Katrina), Troy was immediately greeted by nearly every member upon entering the Oktoberfest party.  A jazz band was playing, old men were grilling bratwurst, and everyone was drinking beer and having a merry time.  As he recounted to us the history of the church (over 150 years) and the history of relationships, I realized that Troy knew every person there, and every person knew him.  They were a family.  One tight-knit family of 250 people.  The truth is that no one wants to leave home.  New Orleans is not just a city, it is a family.  The love that the citizens have for their city and for each other is remarkable: few cities can boast of such a thing.

The work continues in NOLA, and elsewhere that disaster has struck.  Disasters serve as a constant reminder that we are not in control of this world - despite our gains in strength and power and ability, we still can't stop a hurricane.  But neither can a hurricane stop us.

Deja Vu

This all seems so familiar.

Once again, history is playing on repeat. As Russian tanks rolled through Gori, and rumors of a column on the road to Tbilisi surface, the modus operandi of the Russian military – and indeed Vladimir Putin himself – has become quite clear. One image keeps playing through my mind as I watch these tanks and personnel continue their advance past South Ossetia into Georgia proper. The scene is so eerily similar in such a wide variety of ways to one of history’s most obvious lessons. Yet it appears we learned nothing from it. Are we doomed to repeat Czechoslovakia in 1938?

Let’s step back for a moment and take a look at just how similar this all is.

Georgia, a country very much willing to be dependent on the western powers for support and aid, has been in a process of reaching out to the west for the better part of two decades. With the election of a pro-western leader in Mr. Saakashvili, Georgia looked poised to enter into the league of western democracies and eventually the European Union and NATO. With the Russian Bear positioned to strike, Georgia understood the value of friends in high places, even while grossly misjudging their loyalty.

So imagine my surprise when I was reminded of the scene in 1938 when I read of Russian tanks crossing the border on their march to reclaim control over territory they very much feel is rightfully theirs. In Hitler’s march across Central Europe, western governments were silent to the cries of help coming from Silesia and out of Prague during the Western Betrayal, and it appears that not much will be done for the Georgians beyond a few nice words and a showing of solidarity. Is this a second Western Betrayal?

This crisis -- and it is one -- stretches much further than the small former Soviet state. Georgia, a nation roughly the size of South Carolina, has much more significance than its size would lead one to believe. The Russian incursion is a new kind of domino effect, one that has put many CIS countries in a state of unrest and distrust of their neighbors to the east and west.

This wariness stems from past failures and broken promises. Those central and eastern European countries that have faced the Bear before have little doubt that it could happen again and have longed for western Europeans to come to their rescue, but it always happens too late. As the armies of liberations swept across Europe and began their occupations, many felt this could be the beginning of a new era for the continent. But as one half came under the blanket of the Marshall Plan, the other fell beneath the weight of an Iron Curtain.

Today we face this crisis again. The same nations, which longed for a more proactive role from the west in the decades following WWII, find themselves in a similar position once again. The threat of the Bear looms in the distance and only a robust, united western response to the events of the past week will signal to Russia that this kind of Cold War action is no longer acceptable. We are facing a crisis of 21^st century diplomacy squaring off against 20^th century militarism.

Georgia is, as some have described it, a testing ground for how far the west will go to defend its friends in the former Soviet Union. If our response to the South Ossetia crisis is any indication, we have learned nothing from 1938, and we are doomed to see another Czechoslovakia.

The correct action when facing a bear may be to play dead, but not with a Russian bear.

Debate for Activists - The Olympics

For the past few weeks, the Olympics have been a touchy subject.

From the perspective of an activist, the Olympic Games are a great time to make a statement. There's a lot of media attention, a lot of political attention, and a lot of national pride at stake. All of this means that when we speak up about what we think, or put pressure on these groups to act in a certain way, our voice is going to echo - loudly.

However, the Olympics is about a kind of peace. One where we can put all the politics to the side and engage in friendly competition. A brief period of time every few years where our countries and our governments are something we can take pride in. With this perspective, using the Olympics as a means of activism seems horribly wrong.

It is this issue that I want to explore in this blog post.

My name is Karen Bernstein, and I am the Chapter Coordinator of the Harry Potter Alliance – a group that, yes, is taking a stand on the Olympics (and a lot of other things too).

As activists, I believe we should take every opportunity we have to present our views and push for the changes we want to see . Of course, it is important to do this respectfully and lawfully, in a way that matches our personal morals. But every opportunity we have to make a statement or share an opinion, every time we are in a place where we can make our voices echo – we should shout as loud as we can.

The Olympics are a wonderful event – and they truly do symbolize the peace that I would like to see in the world. It is a wonderful way for the Chinese people to show off their rich history and culture. But I want to make sure that symbolism, and the richness of that culture and of so many other groups, is allowed to remain and flourish, not only as symbolism and history, but in reality. In the vivacity of who we are as people and cultures. And in order for that to happen, we need to make sure that China can hear us.

China has allowed horrible atrocities to happen in Darfur and in Burma, in Tibet and even to their own people in China. And while it is important to recognize that Chinese citizens are not responsible for these events, we need to make sure that the government of China hears what we are telling them.

China, my name is Karen, I am a student and an activist who cares about our world, and I don't think what you're doing is right. You should not be funding atrocities such as those in Burma and Darfur. You should not start a cultural genocide in Tibet. You should not terrorize your own people.

And China, I want to make sure you are able to hear me shout these messages. My voice will be echoing throughout the Olympic Games. Listen to me.