[Peace-discuss] Howard Zinn hopes.

[Brussel Morton K.]

Wishful thinking, written for the Communist Party newspaper in  
Paris.  --mkb

Published on Saturday, November 8, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
Obama's Historic Victory

by Howard Zinn
Those of us on the Left who have criticized Obama, as I have, for his  
failure to take bold positions on the war and on the economy, must  
join the exultation of those Americans, black and white, who shouted  
and wept Tuesday night as they were informed that Barack Obama had  
won the presidential election. It is truly a historic moment, that a  
black man will lead our country. The enthusiasm of the young, black  
and white, the hopes of their elders, cannot simply be ignored.

There was a similar moment a century and a half ago, in the year  
1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Lincoln had been  
criticized harshly by the abolitionists, the anti-slavery movement,  
for his failure to take a clear, bold stand against slavery, for  
acting as a shrewd politician rather than a moral force. But when he  
was elected, the abolitionist leader Wendell Phillips, who had been  
an angry critic of Lincoln's cautiousness, recognized the possibility  
in his election.

Phillips wrote that for the first time in the nation's history "the  
slave has chosen a President of the United States." Lincoln, he said,  
was not an abolitionist, but he in some way "consents to represent an  
antislavery position." Like a pawn on the chessboard, Lincoln had the  
potential, if the American people acted vigorously, to be moved  
across the board, converted into a queen, and, as Phillips said,  
"sweep the board."

Obama, like Lincoln, tends to look first at his political fortunes  
instead of making his decisions on moral grounds. But, as the first  
African American in the White House, elected by an enthusiastic  
citizenry which expects a decisive move towards peace and social  
justice, he presents a possibility for important change.

Obama becomes president in a situation which cries out for such  
change. The nation has been engaged in two futile and immoral wars,  
in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the American people have turned  
decisively against those wars. The economy is shaken by tremendous  
blows, and is in danger of collapsing, as families lose their homes  
and working people, including those in the middle class, lose their  
jobs, So the population is ready for change, indeed, desperate for  
change, and "change" was the word most used by Obama in his campaign.

What kind of change is needed? First, to announce the withdrawal of  
our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and to renounce the Bush  
doctrine of preventive war as well as the Carter doctrine of military  
action to control Mideast oil. He needs to radically change the  
direction of U.S. foreign policy, declare that the U.S. is a peace  
loving country which will not intervene militarily in other parts of  
the world, and start dismantling the military bases we have in over a  
hundred countries. Also he must begin meeting with Medvedev, the  
Russian leader, to reach agreement on the dismantling of the nuclear  
arsenals, in keeping with the Nuclear Anti-Proliferation Treaty.

This turn-around from militarism will free hundreds of billions of  
dollars. A tax program which will sharply increase taxes on the  
richest 1% of the nation, and will tax their wealth as well as their  
income, will yield more hundreds of billions of dollars.

With all that saved money, the government will be able to give free  
health care to everyone, put millions of people to work (which the so- 
called free market has not been able to do. In short, emulate the New  
Deal program, in which millions were given jobs by the government.  
This is just an outline of a program which could transform the United  
States and make it a good neighbor to the world

Howard Zinn grew up in Brooklyn, served as a bombardier in World War  
II, and has been actively engaged in civil rights and antiwar  
movements. He is author of many books, including A Power Governments  
Cannot Suppress published by City Lights Books, www.citylights.com .

Written for L'Humanite in Paris


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