Obama’s Fragile Dream
Published in El Pais
(Spain) on 19 November 2010
by Cristo Antonov (link to original)
(Spain) on 19 November 2010
by Cristo Antonov (link to original)
Translated from
by Elizabeth Marcus.
Edited by Sam Carter.
Forty years have passed since Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech until Obama’s “Yes, We Can.” The former’s dream came true the moment the latter was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States.
But Obama’s dream is being shattered since he made a mistake in his calculations. He thought that his powerful electoral speech would start to change an American society highly reactionary in nature — the society of those strong-rooted values of the American essence of the conservatives, represented by the tea party.
Obama’s dream is not impossible to achieve. Martin Luther King’s also seemed that way. The question is in knowing how long it will take to expel the backward forces that do not want to admit that no society can really consider themselves human until an authentic social justice exists in its core, not suppressed by the dictates of savage capitalism that are currently prevalent.
The day that those dictates cannot impose their unjust rules of convenience and laws that solidify true equality among all citizens without exception prevail, Obama’s dream will have come true, even if it takes 40 more years.
But Obama’s dream is being shattered since he made a mistake in his calculations. He thought that his powerful electoral speech would start to change an American society highly reactionary in nature — the society of those strong-rooted values of the American essence of the conservatives, represented by the tea party.
Obama’s dream is not impossible to achieve. Martin Luther King’s also seemed that way. The question is in knowing how long it will take to expel the backward forces that do not want to admit that no society can really consider themselves human until an authentic social justice exists in its core, not suppressed by the dictates of savage capitalism that are currently prevalent.
The day that those dictates cannot impose their unjust rules of convenience and laws that solidify true equality among all citizens without exception prevail, Obama’s dream will have come true, even if it takes 40 more years.