Wish for a New World Vision as America Celebrates Birthday

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land:
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The great experiment that is the United States of America was barely into its second century in 1883 when Emma Lazarus penned her powerful sonnet, The New Colossus.

These words were later inscribed at the base of the statue, Liberty Enlightening the World. No mythical god here, no fierce warrior, but a woman, a woman with the broken chains of tyranny at her feet and the torch of liberty held high for all the world to see.

The statue, which came to be known simply as the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France in celebration of the joint revolutionary aspirations of both peoples. The French had rid themselves of an oppressive monarchy, and the Americans, provoked by a haughty British king but supported by the French, had violently exchanged colonial status for independence.

But it is easier to aspire than to achieve. The French betrayed their revolution in rivers of blood and for generations maintained a vast empire with colonies on several continents.

The Americans became powerful very quickly and sometimes succumbed to imperial hubris while at home black men and women were not allowed to breathe free. Still, both countries continued to celebrate the revolutionary objectives of freedom, equality and brotherhood.

Today much of the world regards the United States with some anxiety but with a hope that the aspirations of many, represented by the lady with the welcoming lamp, will in the end triumph over the arrogance and stultifying ideology of the few who would trade in the lady for a grotesque colossus.

Perhaps it is true that every nation is a bag of contradictions and the US is no exception. Former Czech President Vaclav Havel apparently saw it that way when he said in 1997, “I believe that, for the rest of the world, contemporary America is an almost symbolic concentration of all the best and the worst of our civilization.”

He saw the best as including “its profound commitment to enhancing civil liberty and to maintaining the strength of its democratic institutions, and the fantastic developments in science and technology which have contributed so much to our well-being”.

Then he went on to talk about the worst, including the worship of perpetual economic growth and consumption, disregard for the environment and the promotion of uniformity and banality by the mass media.

Today the worry is more about American adventurism and double standards in the world as well as the erosion of civil liberties at home, huge budget deficits, a skyrocketing national debt and tax cuts for the rich.

There is nothing new about American adventurism, of course. There is a long history of that, especially in Latin America and especially during the cold war. Cold war attitudes are still very much in evidence among those who continue to support the unjust isolation of Cuba.

The cold war was used to justify the disastrous intervention in Vietnam that resulted in the first major military defeat for the US. Nearly all the policy-makers who contributed to that costly debacle have since confessed that they were wrong -- some, like Robert McNamara, with tears in their eyes.

The combination of ideological conceit and military power can lead even great men into trouble, and trouble can become disaster if racial, ethnic and religious considerations are added to the mix.

The architects of the Vietnam intervention were so blinded by ideology and carried away by military might that they could not see that the Vietnamese struggle was more about patriotism and national integrity than ideology.

The Vietnamese had fought and defeated the French who tried to reimpose their imperial hegemony after World War II and the Japanese occupation. As their leader Ho Chi Minh said, they would have fought the Americans for 10, 20 or 100 years. No doubt they would also have resisted their ideological fellow-travellers the Russians and the Chinese.

The situation in the Middle East today is different from that of Indochina back in the Sixties. For one thing, this region is far more complex with its centuries-old religious and ethnic conflicts, imperial exploitation and manipulation, unrealistic national boundaries and the presence of rich natural resources.

But the same old toxic mix of ideological and military hubris led the current US administration into another disastrous war, and on a thin pretext. That, together with a worrying tilt towards unilateralism and antagonism towards the United Nations, is mainly why so many people look anxiously at America today.

Fortunately, as in the case of Vietnam, the American people are waking up to the realization that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake and that it had nothing to do with the war on terror and weapons of mass destruction. Now, perhaps, friends of America can hope for – and help to find – a way out of that sink-hole.

The world desperately needs stability in the Middle East. But it also needs a strong, prosperous and just America, an America with consistent principles and in possession of its moral authority, an America capable of producing leaders with broad vision.

Only that kind of America can help lead the world safely through one of the great phases of human history, a period fraught with danger but also brimming with opportunities.

Many countries are struggling with the stubborn legacy of recent colonial domination and exploitation and new power centres are rapidly developing in the world. These developments cannot be positively influenced by the unilateral exercise of military power and economic coercion.

The old way of the jungle is dangerous for everybody, certainly for small and developing nations but also for big and powerful nations which have the capacity to destroy one another and the world along them.

America must arm itself morally and intellectually to deal with the new order of things. It can no longer portray to its own people that problems and conflicts can be cast in black and white and lend themselves to easy solutions. Neither can it pretend that some problems do not exist, as in the case of global warming.

The way forward must be based on a universal system of law and order so that all nations will see the possibility of achieving justice and peace without bloodshed. That is what the whole idea of civilization is about in the first place.

Americans, and other people who enjoy democracy, tend to take their good fortune for granted, but they should remember the long road they travelled, the battles they fought, and sometimes the sheer accidents of history and geography which led to their happy state.

America and the other democracies, acting primarily through the United Nations and its agencies, can do a lot to help other countries on their own journey to self-determination and fulfillment. But it will take time and patience because the circumstances, history and culture of each nation are different.

As America observes another anniversary of its independence and the noble concepts upon which it was founded, Bahamians join in the celebration with a wish that the lady will hold high the lamp at the golden door of freedom for all the world to see.

Comments

[Carl Cleveland]

I must respond to Sir Arthur's article and the opinions of others who have written to the editor concerning America/Iraq and her other problems.

I suggest very strongly you take a serious look at your own country's serious problems.

In contrast to the Bahamas, those parties who participated in the prisoner abuse in Iraq were prosecuted and are serving lengthy sentences in a US military prison. What about the felonious assault on Mario Vallejo the news reporter from Univision at the detention center? We have heard nothing of that.What about the abuse of the 2 prisoners at the prison after the escape captured on a cell phone camera? What about the conditions at your squalid detention center captured internationally after the mishandling of the 2 Cuban dentists?There have been several reports of abuse at both the prison and the detention center;But non have been investigated.

How about your public school education mess?F+ is something to be ashamed of and will not be addressed properly.

Your crime rate is escalating at an alarming rate.Much of this is the result of the failed public school mess.My father came here in the 50s and 60s and there was not the crime there is today.By the way our crime rate has come down dramatically. A bahamian was on ch 12 last night and I heard her lamenting as to the out of control crime rate and she also drew comparisons to the 50 and 60's. Maybe this crime rate is symbolic of a government who spends 3.5 million on an airplane and it's pilots cannot fly it since their on the US "stop list". No wonder they are sobbing and moaning over Mr. Rumsfeld's decision to pull the air assets from here.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.Why don't you have the Chinese forgo the propaganda sports stadium and redirect the monies for education.The last thing the Bahamas need in any more emphasis on sports, while the education system fails and crime escalates.

This is far fom a complete list.I strongly suggest Bahamians "look under your own hood"and recognize your own serious problems.It's tough to critize the most successful 230 year old "experiment" in the history of mankind and you should enjoy our success as you have greatly benefited from it.I think many Bahamians forget that.

[shon]

I must commend Sir Arthur Foulkes for his balanced, intelligent commentary on the political and cultural condition of the Unites States. He is insightful to point out that America, now the world's leader in many arenas, has made some regrettable blunders in recent times. His commentary is, however, not without praise for this great Nation which has, as he points out, built an admirable democratic system supported by the rule of law, and has furthered the cause of scientific exploration.

Another reviewer who posted a harsh review of Sir Foulkes' commentary, siting the poor conditions in the Bahamas as justification for his hostility, seems to have missed the message of the commentary entirely. Sir Foulkes' comments were clearly not meant to be an inditement on America, but a balanced assesment of this nations progress. Anyone that imagines that America is, or has ever been, a peaceful, fun loving nation had better take a history course. America is, as is often pointed out by American politicians, the world's only super power. As such, America has a responsibility, not only to its citizens, but to the world community to use its power wisely. It can become, as Sir Foulkes commentary suggests, a shining beacon for the rest of the world to follow.