Sundeep Waslekar Director of Strategic Foresight Guest Columnist printable version send your friend message to author add comment ()

Friday, 21 November 2008

The election of Barack Obama is a victory for the underdog. It is a victory for democracy. It is a victory for the United States of America. It is a victory for the world. But, most important, it is a victory for the concept of hope. It is a victory for the underdog because it proves that a person born in the weakest segment of society can reach the highest office in the world. It is a victory for democracy because democracy has proved time and again to be capable of peacefully changing the destiny of nations. It is a victory for the United States because it proves that the American people are capable of rejecting the unfair and unreasonable and embracing the fair and reasonable. It is a victory for the world because the world has proved capable of rejecting the world’s greatest military power when it pursues a wrong track and accepting it whole-heartedly within seconds of its correcting the course. It is a victory for hope because it proves that hope enables us to preserve our belief in the triumph of the good. I had anticipated Barack Obama’s victory much before he announced his candidature for the Democratic primaries. When I addressed a group of IT professionals in the Berkeley area in California during the heyday of the Bush presidency, someone in the audience asked my views of America’s standing in the world. I said in response: “The United States is respected in the world because its soul is made of core human values such as freedom, justice and trust. The Bush administration has defeated the spirit of America by tearing apart the soul of your nation. It is difficult for the world to respect America without its soul.” As I said these words, several women in the audience started weeping, with tears rolling down their eyes. I realised that evening how deeply ordinary Americans cared for the soul of their nation. All they needed was a leader who could stitch it together. The world has a large share in Barack Obama’s victory. Several public opinion surveys around the world told the Americans that their arrogance was not acceptable. The Americans needed a leader who would establish the credibility of their nation. It is to the credit of the world’s people that they forgot all their disdain for the United States within seconds of Obama’s victory. When the verdict was finally announced, there were celebrations in every continent. These developments prove that a positive change is desired as well as possible. Of course, we need a facilitator who has an ability to harness our belief in the core human values. We need a facilitator who has the courage of conviction to give up a potentially prosperous career in public interest. We need a facilitator who believes in the audacity of hope. The world must take a lesson from these elections. It is not essential for corrupt and divisive leaders to govern societies merely because they have a monopoly on force. If the people are willing to work hard to fabricate an alternative, hope is possible. It is not essential for leaders to use a tribal, communal, sectarian, caste, racial or ideological platform merely because they can mobilise parochial loyalties. If people are willing to rise above their artificial differences, unity is possible. It is not essential to respect strategic elite with great power ambitions. If people are willing to support global social justice, greatness of nation renders greatness of power irrelevant. Will the people of the world who rejected American arrogance and contributed to a change in that country have the courage to use these lessons in their own societies? Will people in the former Soviet Union, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America embrace change? In the last century when they did show such courage and determination, they managed to liberate their countries from foreign rule. Will they now believe that freedom from foreign rule is not enough and it is necessary to liberate our countries from the corrupt, arrogant, unfair and powerful among us? One of the biggest conflicts in the world is between despair and hope. Those who believe in despair choose authoritarianism, extremism and hatred of the other. Those who believe in hope choose democracy, tolerance and cooperation. The belief system of any society is a product of the inner feelings of its constituents. A mindset of despair is easy. It enables us to cry injustice, glorify death on the battleground, support absolutist ideologies and hanker for power. A mindset of hope is difficult. It compels us to take responsibility, cherish life, coexist with others and either ignore or challenge power. One of the biggest questions of our time is how many people in how many of the 200 countries in the world have the audacity of hope. November 2008