The Black Movement in the USA
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by Herminne Tonita -
Abolishing slavery in the USA started a new period in American life: a solution to the problem of black-white co-existence within the country had to be found. It’s interesting to see how the attitude of the blacks towards the situation and social status has been changing throughout the twentieth century.
At the turn of the century Charles W. Chesnutt, one of the major representatives of the Black literary stage, voiced the theory of amalgamation of races. A mulatto himself, Chesnutt used to say that if the white and black races mixed, the problem would vanish entirely. He advocated mutual acceptance of the white and black races mostly by means of Negro assimilation, in reality, his theory was condemned to fail on the white-dominated anti-Negro policy world.
Assimilationist attitudes of the fist decade of the twentieth century were replaced by the Marcus Garvey back to Africa movement, which initiated the emigration of American Negroes to Africa and the colonization of Liberia. However, under the existing circumstances this venture also proved inadequate.
The 1920s developed the concept of the New Negro. It can be traced back to Booker T. Washington, who stressed the need for self-help and self-improvement. The more radical view rejected an inferior position in favor of self- respect and ambition. Bruce insisted upon organized resistance in Negro fights for equal rights. The New Negro was to be race-proud, independent, economically advancing and politically advanced.
The victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s liberalism in the 1940s meant more progressive social-which was, however, curbed under Eisenhower administration.
It was only in 1955, after the successful anti-segregation city buses boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, that Martin Luther King summed up the objectives for the civil rights movement. He stressed that Negroes in America should stick together and believe in themselves; that they should not be afraid of threats and should oppose violence with a new and powerful weapon they had just discovered: non violent resistance. His mass movement of non-violence and passive resistance by means of demonstrations, boycotts, economic pressures-was aimed at integration and assimilation of the Blacks into American society. King’s assassination in 1969 closed this chapter of the Negroes’ long and tiresome fight for acknowledgement of their civil rights.
The Black Movement in the USA written by Herminne Tonita for FamousWhy.com
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Civil Rights Timeline
Separate drinking fountains for whites and blacks. "Colored balconies" in movie theaters. Seats in the back of the bus. Soldiers called out to protect little children who were trying to go to school.
It may be difficult to believe these were examples of conditions in America less than 40 years ago. The struggle to change these conditions, and to win equal protection under the law for citizens of all races, formed the backdrop of Martin Luther King's short life.
1954 Brown vs. Board of Education: U.S. Supreme Court bans segregation in public schools.
1955 Bus boycott launched in Montgomery, Ala., after an African-American woman, Rosa Parks, is arrested December 1 for refusing to give up her seat to a white person .
1956 December 21. After more than a year of boycotting the buses and a legal fight, the Montgomery buses desegregate.
1957 Garfield High School becomes first Seattle high school with more than 50 percent nonwhite student body. At previously all-white Central High in Little Rock, Ark., 1,000 paratroopers are called by President Eisenhower to restore order and escort nine black students.
1960 The sit-in protest movement begins in February at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. and spreads across the nation.
1961 Freedom rides begin from Washington, D.C: Groups of black and white people ride buses through the South to challenge segregation. King makes his only visit to Seattle. He visits numerous places, including two morning assemblies at Garfield High School.
1962 Blacks become the majority at Garfield High, 51 percent of the student population - a first for Seattle. The school district average is 5.3 percent. Two killed, many injured in riots as James Meredith is enrolled as the first black at the University of Mississippi.
1963 Police arrest King and other ministers demonstrating in Birmingham, Ala., then turn fire hoses and police dogs on the marchers.
Medgar Evers, NAACP leader, is murdered June 12 as he enters his home in Jackson, Miss. About 1,300 people march from the Central Area to downtown Seattle, demanding greater job opportunities for blacks in department stores.The Bon Marche promises 30 new jobs for blacks.
About 400 people rally at Seattle City Hall to protest delays in passing an open-housing law. In response, the city forms a 12-member Human Rights Commission but only two blacks are included, prompting a sit-in at City Hall and Seattle's first civil-rights arrests. 250,000 people attend the March on Washington, D.C. urging support for pending civil-rights legislation. The event was highlighted by King's "I have a dream" speech.
The Seattle School District implements a voluntary racial transfer program, mainly aimed at busing black students to mostly white schools.
Four girls killed Sept. 15 in bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.
1964 Seattle City Council agrees to put together an open-housing ordinance but insists on putting it on the ballot. Voters defeat it by a 2-to-1 ratio. It will be four more years before an open-housing ordinance becomes law.
Three civil-rights workers are murdered in Mississippi.
July 2 - President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Out of 955 people employed by the Seattle Fire Department, just two were African American, and only one was Asian --- 0.2 and 0.1 percent of the force, respectively. By the end of 1993, the department was 12.2 percent African American and 5.6 percent Asian
1965 Malcolm X is murdered Feb. 21, 1965. Three men are convicted of his murder.
August 6. President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The act, which King sought, authorized federal examiners to register qualified voters and suspended devices such as literacy tests that aimed to prevent African Americans from voting.
August 11-16: Watts riots leave 34 dead in Los Angeles.
1967 Sam Smith elected Seattle's first black city councilman.
1968 Aaron Dixon becomes first leader of Black Panther Party branch in Seattle.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., unleashing violence in more than 100 cities.
In response to King's death, Seattle residents hurled firebombs, broke windows, and pelted motorists with rocks. Ten thousand people also marched to Seattle Center for a rally in his memory.
Rally at Garfield High in support of Dixon, Larry Gossett, and Carl Miller, sentenced to six months in the King County Jail for unlawful assembly in an earlier demonstration. Before the speakers were finished, firebombs and rocks were flying toward cars coming down 23rd Avenue. Sporadic riots in Seattle's Central Area during the summer.
1969 Edwin Pratt, executive director of the Seattle Urban League and a moderate and respected African American leader, is shot to death while standing in the doorway of his home. The murder has never been solved.
1977 Seattle School Board adopts a plan designed to eliminate racial imblance in schools by fall 1979.
1978 Seattle becomes the largest city in the United States to desegregate its schools without a court order; nearly one-quarter of the school district's students are bused as part of the "Seattle Plan." Two months later, voters pass an anti-busing initiative. It is later ruled unconstitutional
In a blow to efforts to diversify university enrollment, the U.S. Supreme Court outlaws racial quotas in a suit brought by Allan Bakke, a white man who had been turned down by the medical school at University of California, Davis.
1989 Douglas Wilder of Virginia becomes the nation's first African American to be elected state governor.
1992 The first racially based riots in years erupt in Los Angeles and other cities after a jury acquits L.A. police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, an African American.
Source and Copyright 2003 Seattle Times Company
http://www.africanaonline.com/civil_rights_timeline.htm
Political Opportunities and the US Black Movement
Time Line
o 1860-1865 US Civil War
- Slavery Abolished
o 1865 - 1876 Reconstruction
- Civil Rights Amendments
- Union Army occupies the South
- Some progress for Blacks
o 1877-1920 White Counter-Revolution
- White racial superiority recreated under new rules
o 1920-1954 Building Resources and Capacity
o 1954 - 1965 Civil Rights Era
o 1966 - 2000 Post Civil Rights Era
Constitutional Amendments 1865
o 13th: abolishes slavery "except as punishment for a crime"
o 14th: all persons born or naturalized in the US have rights of citizenship regardless of race, religion, national origin, or previous condition of servitude
o 15th: right of men to vote regardless of race etc.
1865-1876 Reconstruction
o Union army occupies the south.
o Blacks vote. Whites who have been in Rebel army cannot. Black elected officials.
o Some reforms. Some improvement for Blacks. Some land reform (has future effects)
o Much turmoil, resistance. Attempts by Whites to re-create racial domination
o Conflicts around 15th amendment disrupt the previous coalition between feminists and supporters of African-American rights.
The End of Reconstruction
o Compromise of 1876 ends Reconstruction to break election deadlock, elect Hayes.
o Union army leaves the south, agreement to let southerners do what they will about race. White southerners can vote again.
o "Healing" White nation by sacrificing Blacks
o Denials that the war was about slavery
o [Later, Confederate soldiers are even made eligible for US veterans' pensions with the same standing as Union soldiers]
1877 - 1920 Era of Explicit Racism
o Slavery was over, but a new racial order was created
o It was created by using proxies for race, circumventing the strictures of the 14th amendment
o Origins teach you how a system was built, once in place hard to see why things are as they are
1870s-1890s
o 90% of all Blacks live in rural areas, 90% in south
- most in cotton farming, dependent on landowners, subject to violent repression.
o Lynchings and KKK terrorism increase
- KKK = local White authorities in sheets
o Blacks demand reparations for slavery immediately after the war. (Whites ignore.)
o Some emigrationism, 500+ actually emigrate to Liberia. Most want to stay.
Creating the New Racial Order
o 1880s - 1890s Southern states pass Jim Crow segregation laws.
o 1893 Plessey vs Furgeson, "Separate but Equal," US Supreme Court effectively guts the 14th amendment.
o Failure of land reform. White elites reconsolidate class privilege
Politics & Race
o Democratic Party = alliance of southern White planters and northern industrialists and working class.
o Republican Party anti-slavery in 1850s (Lincoln).
- 1876-1891 debate whether to support Black rights
- after 1891 abandon Black rights entirely
o Populist movement threatens trans-racial alliance among southern working class
- elite Whites work to disenfranchise Blacks (and working class) to eliminate threat.
Black Disenfranchisement
o No disguise, overt White efforts to disenfranchise Blacks, but accomplish racial goals without explicitly using race (which is illegal)
o Example: Louisiana, 130,344 Blacks registered in 1895, after constitution rewritten, only 5,000 in 1898 and 1,772 in 1916.
o Poll taxes, literacy requirements, personal and periodic registration at difficult-to-reach places, White primaries. "Grandfather clause" protects Whites.
o Same tools in the north disenfranchise White workers especially immigrants.
o Blacks lose all political power.
1895-1920 Virulent Racism
o Presidents Taft and Wilson are explicit racists
o US Supreme Court decisions gut the 14th amendment
o Hundreds of African Americans are lynched (murdered) in the south.
o "Scientific racism" is taught in college science classrooms. This ideology distinguishes northern Aryan from southern Europeans, as well as what we now understand as "races."
o Explicit opposition to any form of mixing of "races." Intermarriage illegal
Black Resistance 1880-1920
o There is resistance to Jim Crow.
o Bus boycotts & consumer boycotts against segregation in the cities.
o Petitions, speeches. Rhetoric of citizenship, equality.
o Northern, educated Blacks speak out for equality, citizenship.
o But lose 1880-1920
Counter-Trends
o Pockets of Black development
o Black migration (cowboys; movements into cities)
o Black schools, colleges
o Black political movements
o Too weak in this era to win, but set up the future (we will return to these)
1910s-1920s
o 1916-1925 Marcus Garvey. Back to Africa. Militant separatist, Black capitalist. Black religious icons.
o 1919 Bloody race riots in many cities, Whites attacking and killing Blacks.
o 1920s NAACP under James Weldon Johnson begins the concerted campaign of lawsuits to chip away at segregation,
- begin the path towards Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954).
- Early victories provide resources that increase Black education.
1920s-1930s
o 1920s - 1940s. A. Philip Randolph. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Strong Black union, political platform.
o 1920s - 1930s Blacks shift voting patterns, become potential swing voters.
- From "knee-jerk Republicans" (holdover from 19th century, Republicans anti-slavery, Lincoln freed the slaves) to willing to vote for whomever supports them and their issues.
o 1936 Blacks play a key role in Roosevelt's New Deal Coalition. Become significant political players.
1940-1960
o 1941 threatened March on Washington, led by Randolph. Called off when FDR agrees to ban racial discrimination in war industries.
o 1942-1945 World War II. Political watershed
o 1945-1960. Post-war politics. Communism and anti-Communism. "Hearts and Minds" Anti-colonialism, independence for African nations. US racial policies become international embarrassment.
What Changed between 1880 and 1960?
Major source:
Doug McAdam. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. University of Chicago Press, 1982.
The Great Migration:
Rural South to Urban North & South
o 1890 Blacks are 90% rural, 90% southern. No political leverage. Economically dependent. Illiterate. Threat of numbers in southern areas leads to extreme measures to keep them suppressed.
o Between 1900 and 1960 Blacks Move:
- South to North. From 90% southern in 1900 to 60% in 1960.
- Rural to Urban. Southern Blacks: from 9% urban in 1890 and 34% in 1930 to 58% in 1960. The 40% of Blacks in the north are virtually all urban.
Consequences of Urbanization
o Voting in North. Swing votes, parts of political machines. Black Congressmen elected.
o Less daily domination. More able to gather, talk politically without White oversight. Positive consequence of physical segregation.
o Able to support independent Black professionals (ministers, morticians, barbers & hairdressers). Economic independence=political independence.
o Rising education, rising incomes, rising political awareness
o Black newspapers, magazines, news sources.
Organizational Infrastructure Grows
o Black Churches. Larger, can support full-time ministers. Autonomous Organizations, meeting places they control themselves. Social gospel movement = role of church in society.
o Black Colleges. Lawsuits force the equal part of separate but equal. Obtain White money. Massive growth in educated youth. Students economically independent of Whites
o NAACP is a White-dominated organization at the national level, but a Black grassroots organization at the local level mobilized to support & defend Blacks.
Rising Political Influence
o 1865-1920 those Blacks who could vote were staunchly Republican (the anti-slavery party, Lincoln freed the slaves). But after 1880, Republicans do nothing for Black rights
o In 1920s, NAACP and others urge Blacks to vote for whatever party will support Black rights, proportion voting Democrat goes up
o In 1930s, Blacks are part of Roosevelt's New Deal coalition, get some benefits; Eleanor Roosevelt supports more strongly
Rising Education
o Growth in Black education & Black colleges a direct result of NAACP litigation in the 1920s and 1930s
o Court cases forced the "equal" in "separate but equal"
o Southern states had to pay for Black education to defend segregation (but Blacks still lagged way behind Whites)
o These lawsuits also laid the groundwork for 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education
Hope
o Major basis of mobilization is the belief that change is possible "cognitive liberation" (McAdam)
o Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 gave Black people hope that change was possible, that the government would intervene.
o Blacks more positive about Whites in the Civil Rights era, believed Whites were ready to change
o Blacks more integrationist when Whites seem willing to change & are open to integration and power sharing, are more separatist when Whites are more racist and conservative
Politics 1930-1960
o After 1930, Blacks become increasingly important "swing vote" in some northern areas, part of the New Deal coalition
o Blacks voting predominantly but not uniformly Democrat 1930-1960
o 1960 both Republicans and Democrats are backing Civil Rights AND trying to gain White southern votes.
o 1960 Close election, Kennedy vs. Nixon. Kennedy wins, Blacks seen as swing vote. Kennedy gives support to civil rights, while trying to keep White southern vote.
The Civil Rights Era 1954-1969
Events & Themes
1950s
o 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education. Bans segregation, but allows graduate implementation.
o 1954 Emmett Till murdered. Widespread publicity among Blacks.
o 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott, rise of Martin Luther King, Jr. Nation-wide publicity.
o 1950s Malcolm X preaching on the streets of Harlem.
o 1957 King founds Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
White Resistance 1950s
o 1954-1970 (and continuing?) White resistance. Violence against Blacks, close public schools, mobilize organizations
o 1957. White riots at Little Rock High (Arkansas) to block small-scale integration. US Troops protect integration.
o 1954-1960s NAACP persecuted in south. Banned as "Communist." Teachers, others fired for being members. (Same people who were members of NAACP involved in other Black organizations, involved in Black churches.)
The Civil Rights Advance 1960s
o 1960- Sit-ins start (SNCC = Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)
o 1961 Freedom Rides (CORE=Congress of Racial Equality)
o 1963-65 major civil rights marches, major civil rights legislation
o 1963 March on Washington
o 1963 Kenney killed. President Johnson (a southerner) vows to be the "civil rights president."
o 1964 Public Accommodations Act
Drama of Civil Rights
o Movement uses nonviolence, claims moral high ground
o Segregationists respond violently
o Confrontation leads to disruption
o Federal government, economic elites want peace, less committed to segregation.
o Disruption + moral high ground of non-violence leads "bystanders" to support the Black movement.
o However, many blame the movement for "causing" the violence by challenging people known to be violent
Separatism 1960s
o Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) Elijah Muhammad.
o 1960 TV show: "The Hate that Hate Produced." Expose, controversy
o Malcolm X: most visible. Charismatic, articulate. Rejected non-violence, said Blacks should defend themselves if attacked
o Controversial among Blacks as well as Whites
1964
o Freedom Summer. White college students go south. Civil rights workers killed.
o Battle over the Mississippi delegation to national convention. Fanny Lou Hamer "Is this America?"
o Johnson re-elected. The shift of the White racist vote to the Republican Party.
o Malcolm X travels to Mecca, embraces nonracial Islam, changes his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
1965-6
o Watts riot 1965.
o 1963-1968 Black urban riots. Militancy. Northern/ western. Policing, poverty - not just "rights." White fears.
o 1965 Malcolm X assassinated
o 1965 Selma, the last big civil rights march. Voting Rights Act
o 1966 "Black power" Stokeley Charmichael and SNCC. Marginalization of Whites in the movement. Power rhetoric frightens Whites.
The End of the Civil Rights Era
o 1966-1967 King takes the movement north. Much less success. "Where Do We Go From Here?" Stresses need to address economic issues
o 1968 ML King assassinated. Huge wave of riots.
o 1966-1971 White students increasing involved in anti-war movement. White campus riots over the Vietnam war.
o 1969 Nixon. "Law and order." The beginning of the decline of Black political influence.
Timing of Black Protests, Riots
Anger and Polarization
o White segregationists resisted even moderate reforms
o Non-violence as tactic (vs religious principle for MLK)
o Growing Black activist anger at White reactions
o Segregation laws a narrow goal: cannot address the economic, political, cultural deprivation of a people
o Riots 1963-1970: Eruptions of the Black lower classes. White responsiveness + White fear
o Belief in possibility of race war by late 1960s
o Black turn to separatism, "Black power," "Black pride" magnifies themes long present in the culture
o White flight. Race-coded "law and order" & "anti-crime" rhetoric.
Black prison admissions & disparity rise 1940-1980
Black Movement Since 1970
Politics 1964-2000
o 1964 election pits strong Civil Rights activist LB Johnson against far right conservative Goldwater. Self-conscious racists shift to Republicans, Democrats come to be viewed as the party of Blacks & civil rights.
o 1968 - 2000 Blacks vote Democratic 95%+. Republicans ignore the Black vote, seek to shore up the White vote with "race coded" appeals. Democrats take Black vote for granted, chase White votes.
1970s Part 1
o Implementation struggles. White resistance changes form.
o Black political organizations become part of the "system."
o Affirmative action policies are initiated
o Cultural nationalism grows: Black (Afro-American) studies departments; Kwanza invented
o Black progress: reduced poverty, increased education, increased college enrollment.
Mobilization precedes external funding
1970s Part 2
o "White backlash." Anti-busing riots oppose school integration: Boston, Louisville. Rhetoric of "neighborhood schools" & racial attacks.
o Generally difficult economic times: stagflation, gas lines. Political left declines, White activists involved in environmentalism, anti-nuclear.
o "War on drugs" begins, Black imprisonment climbs.
o White working class, not Blacks, are the swing votes.
o Split in Nation of Islam 1975: most follow W. Deen Muhammad into mainstream non-racial Islam; Louis Farrakhan leads separatist splinter)
1980s Part 1
o Reaganism. Conservatives strike back. Huge cuts in welfare, college scholarship programs, low-income housing, other social programs. Large tax cuts, S&L bailout create deficits.
o The effective end of federal support for affirmative action in employment. Whites even use MLK's equality rhetoric against Blacks.
o Recessions. "When White America has a cold, Black America has pneumonia." Economic disaster in segregated Black urban areas: unemployment, poverty, hunger, infant mortality, segregation, crime all rise.
1980s part 2
o Black high school graduation continues to rise, but Black college enrollments drop.
o White flight. Limited progress in school integration begins to reverse. By end of the decade, schools are as segregated in 1990 as in 1960. (Trend continues into the 2000s.)
o Race coded use of crime as a political issue: "Willie Horton" 1988.
o Politicized "drug war" leads to massive incarceration of African Americans.
Black Prison admissions & disparity 1983-1999
1990s Economics
o Early 1990s recession followed by long period of boom.
o Late 1990s low unemployment, growing wealth of the top 20% (especially top 1%) of the population.
o Declining real incomes since the 1970s of the bottom 60%, especially the bottom 40%, with only a slight rise at the end of the decade, decline with 2000s recession. Rise in homelessness of families, particularly of Black families.
o Dismantling of the last vestiges of a social welfare system. There is no "safety net" for the poor, few supports for the "working poor."
o Growing self-segregation of the affluent: well-off people rarely even see non-affluent people. More economic segregation than in any prior period.
1990s Race
o Growing Black middle class, college educated. Largely segregated in Black middle class areas, as Whites flee even non-poor Blacks.
o Declining economic well-being of Black lower class.
o Simultaneous growth of integrated, non-racist consciousness among Whites AND of renewed "respectability" of overtly racist images, jokes, language.
o Explicit White racist movements growing.
1990s Events
o 1992 Rodney King beating & trial. Major shift in the anger of the Black middle class.
o 1992 Clinton elected.
o 1995 Million Man March. Louis Farrakahn and the Black masses.
o Growing Afrocentrism, separatism among middle class Black families. Kwanza celebrations spread. (Note: Most Blacks are Christian; Kwanza is a cultural celebration, not religious.)
o 1995 OJ Simpson trial.
o 1995. Oklahoma City bombing by White right-wing anti-government terrorist.
Some Themes of the late 1990s & early 2000s
o Continuing increases in anti-crime rhetoric, building more prisons
o Declining high school graduation for Blacks after gains of the 1970s
o Growing segregation
o Lack of political unity among Black movement organizations
o Debates about affirmative action
The 2000s
o Close election dramatizes problems of voter registration, unequal voting procedures, disenfranchisement of felons.
o WTC attack of 9/11/2001 - "war." Implications for African Americans unclear.
o Economic downturn - consequences for African Americans?
o Attacks on Affirmative Action in college admissions (the last place where it still exists)
- Supreme Court rules strict "formulas" cannot be used, but race may be considered qualitatively
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~oliver/Soc626/Lectures/Political%20Opportunities%20and%20the%20US%20Black%20Movement.doc
Chávez felicita a Obama por "histórica" victoria
miércoles 5 de noviembre de 2008 10:08 GYT
CARACAS (Reuters) - El mandatario venezolano, Hugo Chávez, felicitó el miércoles al demócrata Barack Obama por su "importante victoria" en la elección presidencial de Estados Unidos y el Gobierno del país sudamericano dijo estar dispuesto a restablecer las golpeadas relaciones.
A través de un comunicado de la cancillería, Chávez, un fiero crítico del Gobierno de George W. Bush, igualmente expresó su felicitación a los estadounidenses por el resultado electoral.
"La elección histórica de un afrodescendiente a la cabeza de la nación más poderosa del mundo es el síntoma de que el cambio de época que se ha gestado desde el Sur de la América podría estar tocando a las puertas de los Estados Unidos", dijo la cancillería en la nota oficial.
Las relaciones entre Caracas y Washington han sido tensas desde que el gobernante venezolano asumió el poder en 1999, pese a que el país sudamericano es uno de los principales suplidores de crudo y derivados al mercado estadounidense.
"El Gobierno de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela ratifica su voluntad y su determinación de edificar, sobre la base del respeto absoluto de la soberanía, una agenda bilateral constructiva para el bienestar de los pueblos venezolano y estadounidense", agregó la cancillería.
Chávez, quien afirma liderar una revolución socialista a favor de los pobres, expulsó en septiembre al embajador de Estados Unidos en Venezuela al tiempo que ordenó retirar su delegación diplomática de Washington como apoyo al Gobierno de Bolivia, que había tomado una decisión similar.
"Desde la Patria de Simón Bolívar, estamos convencidos que ha llegado la hora de establecer nuevas relaciones entre nuestros países y con nuestra región, sobre la base de los principios del respeto a la soberanía, la igualdad y la cooperación verdadera", agregó Venezuela en la nota oficial.
Chávez, que esperaba el triunfo de Barack Obama, a quien ha llamado el "hombre negro", le pidió que levantara el embargo a Cuba, sacara las tropas estadounidenses de Irak y cesara en lo que califica los ataques de Washington a Irán y Venezuela.
El gobernante venezolano agregó que está dispuesto a renovar el diálogo con el nuevo presidente de Estados Unidos para reanimar las lastimadas relaciones diplomáticas entre ambos países.
Obama, que se convirtió en el primer presidente negro de Estados Unidos, lideró a los demócratas hacia una victoria aplastante que también expandió las mayorías en ambas cámaras del Congreso, en una señal de que los votantes rechazaron enfáticamente los ocho años de gestión del presidente Bush.
(Por Deisy Buitrago, Editado por Silene Ramírez)
Obama presidency likely to bring changes to U.S.-Cuba policy
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/breaking-news/story/757149.html
Washington State National Guard Sgt. Carlos Lazo -- the Iraq veteran who gained fame when he couldn't visit his kids in Cuba -- last traveled to the island in January 2007. As things stand now, he can't go back until 2010.
But with Barack Obama's White House win, Lazo is hopeful that will change -- soon.
''If Obama lifts family travel restrictions on the 22nd of January, I'm sure that in February I will be in Cuba visiting my family -- and celebrating the new Cuba policies,'' Lazo said.
Lazo, 43, became a cause celebre for some when the stricter family reunification travel restrictions put in place by President Bush in 2004 kept Lazo from visiting his children in Cuba. The kids eventually settled in Washington, and Lazo became an Obama campaign volunteer. He personifies one of the clearest examples of how U.S. Cuba policy could change under an Obama presidency.
On the campaign trail, Obama vowed not just to lift family travel restrictions that force Cuban-Americans to wait three years to visit immediate relatives on the island, but also said he would lift the cap on how much money Cuban-Americans can send to the island. He also indicated he would be willing to meet with Cuban leader Raúl Castro, drawing fire from critics who accused Obama of being naive and weak on foreign policy issues.
''Obama will take away restrictions and establish low-level contacts with Cuba, extending a peace branch,'' Lazo said. ``It will be a change from policies that have given the worst results for 50 years.''
People on both sides of the Cuba policy issue wonder if those measured moves will become the first steps to bigger changes, including the eventual lifting of the U.S. trade embargo. Obama has said he supports the embargo, and lifting it would require an act of Congress.
''Obama is willing to sit down with Castro without preconditions -- that will lead to the lifting sanctions and the embargo,'' said conservative Cuban-American commentator Ninoska Pérez, who supported McCain, referring to a position Obama has since slightly modified. He now says there would be preparations for any meeting.
''Obama says he supports the embargo, but obviously he doesn't. He said he supported it to get a certain number of Cuban votes,'' Pérez added. She predicts Obama will lift all travel restrictions, handing a ''victory to the Cuban regime,'' and boosting its government-run travel industry.
Dear Friend,
"Today we become the nation we dream of being, a place where everyone can rise to the level of their true worth, with no false barriers. Today truth triumphs over lies, hope over fear. Today we become the people who can do the great things that are needed to restore health and balance and abundance for all. Today we take the dream and make it real." --Starhawk
Special Congratulations to our pledge winners Kelli, Buddy and Noelle- our grand prize winner and 2 runners up! Thank you to everyone who worked so hard, in so many ways, to truly embody being a Voter for Peace this election!
Dana, Deidra, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jean, Jodie, Liz, Lori, Medea, Nancy, and Rae
P.S. Read our new Call to Action: Time for a 21st Century Green America! If you'd like to work with us on this campaign contact info[at]codepinkalert.org
GRANMA
November 4, 2008
http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/reflexiones/2008/esp/f031108e.html
United States elections there. It is the most powerful nation on Earth.
Actually, with less than 5% of the world population it swallows every year
great amounts of oil and gas, minerals, raw materials, consumer goods and
sophisticated products brought from overseas. Many of these, particularly
the fuels and those extracted from mines, are non renewable.
complex also has an insatiable domestic market. Its naval and air forces are
deployed in scores of military basis located in the territory of other
nations. The United States strategic warhead-carrying missiles can reach any
place in the world with absolute precision.
original countries and placed at the service of the system. It is a
parasitical and plundering empire.
throughout centuries of slavery is the victim of a marked racial
discrimination.
of that race are predominant in him. He was able to study at a higher
education center where he graduated with outstanding results. He is surely
more clever, better educated and calm than his Republican adversary.
financial crisis –the worst since the 1930s— among many others which have
seriously affected the economy of many nations in the course of over three
fourths of a century.
part of their time to discuss the issue. Obama is considered the best
political speaker of the United States in the past decades. His compatriot
Toni Morrison, a 1993 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, and the first one
from her ethnic group born in the United States who has been awarded such
prize --an excellent author-- has called him the future President and poet
of that nation.
candidate caused much amazement with his nomination in the face of strong
adversaries. He has well articulated ideas which he hammers once and again
into the voters’ minds. He does not hesitate to claim that more than
Republicans or Democrats they are all Americans, the citizens he characterizes
as the most productive in the world. He says he will reduce taxes for the
middle class, where he includes practically everybody, while he will
completely remove them for the poorest and raise them for the wealthiest.
The revenues, he claims, will not be used to bailout banks.
not be paid by the American taxpayers. He will put an end to it and bring
the US troops back home. Perhaps he is mindful of the fact that that country
had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
However, the blood has been shed of thousands of US troops, injured or
killed in battle, and the lives taken of over a million people in that
Muslim nation. It was a war of conquest imposed by the empire seeking oil.
people are more concerned over the economy than the war in Iraq. They are
anguishing over their jobs, the safety of their bank deposits and their
retirement funds, and the fear of loosing the purchasing power of their
money and the houses where they live with their families. They wish to have
the certainty that whatever the circumstances they will receive adequate
medical care and that their children will accede to higher education.
risks in a country where any extremist can legally purchase a sophisticated
modern weapon anywhere, as was the case in the first half of the 18th
century in the west of the United States. He supports his system and he will
get support from it. The pressing problems of the world are not really a
major source of concern to Obama, much less to the candidate who as a war
pilot dropped tens of tons of bombs on Hanoi City, that is, more than 9,375
miles away from Washington, and this with no remorse.
already mentioned in my Reflections of October 31, I literally wrote:
“Racism and discrimination have been present in the American society ever
since its birth, over two centuries ago. Latin Americans and blacks have
always been discriminated against there. Its citizens have been brought up
under consumerism. Humanity is objectively threatened by its mass
extermination weapons.”
McCain is an old, bellicose and uneducated man; he is not very smart and he
is in poor health.”
Republican candidate won the Presidency, the danger of a war would increase
and the peoples’ opportunities to progress would be reduced. Nevertheless,
we need to fight and to build awareness about this, whoever it is who wins
this election.”
time to say that I wrote something that could be used by any candidate to
advance his campaign. I had to be, and I have been, neutral in this
electoral competition. It is not “interference in the internal affairs of
the United States”, as the State Department would put it, as respectful as
it is of other countries’ sovereignty.
November 3, 2008
4:10 p.m.
lo que en Estados Unidos ocurra con las elecciones. Se trata de la nación
más poderosa del planeta. Con menos del 5 por ciento de la población del
mundo succiona cada año enormes cantidades de petróleo y gas, minerales,
materias primas, bienes de consumo y productos sofisticados procedentes del
exterior; muchos de ellos, en especial los combustibles y los extraídos de
las minas, que no son renovables.
cuenta, además, con un insaciable mercado en el propio país. Sus fuerzas
aéreas y navales se concentran en decenas de bases militares ubicadas en el
territorio de otras naciones. Los cohetes estratégicos de Estados Unidos,
portadores de cabezas nucleares, pueden alcanzar con total precisión
cualquier punto del mundo.
de origen y puestas al servicio del sistema. Es un imperio parasitario y
saqueador.
el territorio de Estados Unidos a lo largo de siglos, es víctima de una
fuerte discriminació
n racial.
el color oscuro y otros rasgos físicos de dicha raza. Pudo estudiar en un
centro de educación superior donde se graduó con notas brillantes. Es sin
duda más inteligente, culto y ecuánime que su adversario republicano.
financiera, la peor desde los años 30, entre otras muchas que a lo largo de
más de tres cuartos de siglo han afectado seriamente la economía de
numerosos países.
políticos, emplean parte del tiempo en el tema. Se considera a Obama como el
mejor orador político de Estados Unidos en las últimas décadas. Su
compatriota Toni Morrison, Premio Nobel de Literatura del año 1993, la
primera de su etnia nacida en Estados Unidos que obtiene ese laureado
título, y excelente escritora, lo califica de futuro Presidente y poeta de
esa nación.
He observado la lucha entre ambos contendientes. El candidato negro, que
tanto asombró al obtener su nominación en la pugna frente a fuertes
adversarios, tiene bien articuladas sus ideas y golpea una y otra vez con
ellas en la mente de los votantes. No vacila en afirmar que por encima de
todo, más que republicanos y demócratas, son estadounidenses, ciudadanos que
califica como los más productivos del mundo; que reducirá los impuestos a la
clase media, en la que incluye a casi todos; los eliminará a los más pobres,
y los elevará a los más ricos. Los ingresos no estarán destinados a salvar a
los bancos.
no deben ser costeados por los contribuyentes norteamericanos. Le pondrá fin
y traerá de regreso a los soldados de Estados Unidos. Tal vez tuvo presente
que ese país nada tuvo que ver con los atentados terroristas del 11 de
septiembre de 2001. Ha costado la sangre de miles de soldados de Estados
Unidos, muertos o heridos en los combates, y más de un millón de vidas a esa
nación musulmana. Fue una guerra de conquista impuesta por el imperio en
busca de petróleo.
norteamericanos les preocupa más en estos instantes la economía que la
guerra de Iraq. Los atormenta la preocupación por sus puestos de trabajo, la
seguridad de los ahorros depositados en los bancos, los fondos de
jubilación; el temor de perder el poder adquisitivo de su dinero y las
viviendas donde residen con sus familiares. Desean la seguridad de recibir
en cualquier circunstancia los servicios médicos adecuados y la garantía del
derecho a que sus hijos reciban educación superior.
el país donde un extremista puede adquirir por ley un arma sofisticada
moderna en cualquier esquina como en la primera mitad del siglo XVIII al
Oeste del territorio de Estados Unidos. Apoya su sistema y se apoyará en él.
La preocupación por los agobiantes problemas del mundo no ocupan realmente
un lugar importante en la mente de Obama, y mucho menos en la del candidato
que, como piloto de guerra, descargó decenas de toneladas de bombas sobre la
ciudad de Hanoi, a más de 15 mil kilómetros de Washington, sin remordimiento
alguno de conciencia.
reflexión del 31 de octubre, le expresé textualmente en mi carta: "El
racismo y la discriminación existen en la sociedad estadounidense desde que
nació, hace más de dos siglos. Negros y latinoamericanos han sido allí
siempre discriminados. Sus ciudadanos fueron educados en el consumismo. La
humanidad está objetivamente amenazada por sus armas de exterminio masivo."
Iraq. McCain es viejo, belicoso, inculto, poco inteligente y sin salud."
todas formas se impusiera y el candidato republicano obtuviese la
Presidencia, el peligro de guerra se incrementaría y las oportunidades de
los pueblos para salir adelante se reducirían. A pesar de todo, hay que
luchar y crear conciencia sobre esto, gane quien gane esas elecciones."
para decir que escribí algo que pueda ser utilizado por alguno de los
candidatos en favor de su campaña. Debía ser, y he sido, neutral en la
contienda electoral. No es "una injerencia en los asuntos internos de
Estados Unidos", como diría el Departamento de Estado, tan respetuoso de la
soberanía de los demás países.
As much prejudice as there still exisits in this country toward people of other colors it's a miracle. This should show once and for all how much digust the people of America had toward Presdient Bush and his policies,
Look at the huge difference in electorial votes cast. Don't ever forget that it was the Bush policies of de-regulation which McCaine, Barney Frank and the majority of Congress supported that caused the banks collapse. And the credit card Industry will soon be needing bailout because this will continue to escallate as more people who have lost their jobs will be unable to make their payments.
Let me remind you of some of the illegal things that Bush
did while President. We went to war with Iraq based on lies. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have died because of this. President Bush stepped all over our Constitution and overstepped his powers as President in the process. He is a traitor to the American people and the world.
The Patriot Act which we were told would be temporary is Constitutional and illegal. We lost many of our rights throught this including the right to be secure in our homes from illegal search and seizure and our right to privacy and being spied upon. But that wasn't enough for Bush he then implimented the "Military Comission Act" which is also Constitutionally illegal. That law took away the right to a jury trial, the right to bail, the right to confront your accuser, the right to a speedy trial, the right to be told why you are being held. It eliminated Habias Corpus rights. All they need to do is label you an "enemy combatent" and you lose all rights and can be held indefinately in a prison and tortured.
Now for those who do not know this, our Constitution is the SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND". It is the highest law. This means that no law can legally overpower it. This makes the Patirot Act, Military Comission Act and the Presidential signing statements that Bush implimented criminal laws because they attempt to overpower our Constitution. The office of the President doesn't have that power!
President Bush attempted to overthrow our Constitution. Yet it was our Constitution although tattered and torn by Bush attacks on our Liberty that defeated him. For the maximum term any President can assume is 2- 4 year terms. No more! This was placed in our Constitution to keep from having someone stay in power forever. It assured the United States that they would never have a King like King George..
For 8 years Bush policies have been rewarding the rich and Corporate America and leaving the crumbs leftover for the poor and middle class. Now finally the rich can pay the taxes they have avoided and we can have some fairness in this country.
John
I will make this short; I salute Senator Obama and his campaign, and I am proud to be an American!
No question, Senator Obama was not my choice for President, but this election is but one example, of why our Nation still remains the greatest Nation on earth! We all have reason to be proud, I am cognizant of what this election means to all Americans but especially to African Americans, and last night, as President elect Obama so eloquently emphasized, so much better than I could even attempt, this election demostrates that our Nation is strong, and our democracy is a model for all Nation-States.
Congratulations to President elect Obama, Vice President elect Biden, and the Democrat Party.
Respectfully,
Keith In Tampa
This was a LANDSLIDE watershed moment for America.
November 5, 2008
Sean Lewis
THIS WAS A MANDATE BUSH REPUBLICANS!
Democrats will show you how you USE a mandate for
the benefit of the COUNTRY not your PARTY!
It is a time for REAL change and a REAL chance
for unity!
The hatred, anger and division of the country is about to end.
The rule of law will return. Accountability will return.
America's Preeminence will return.
Once again when an American President says 'Trust
Me I am telling you the TRUTH' the world will believe him!
If Republicans do not get on board, then kiss your asses goodbye.
It will not be easy, there are some HARD TIMES AHEAD, and
sacrifice will be asked for from EVERYONE, not just a few.
But for now, it is a time for the COUNTRY to celebrate
and the world to breath easy again!
Troops hope Obama brings them home responsibly
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4A441P20081105?feedType...
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Watching election results that showed Barack
Obama
would be their new commander-in-chief, U.S. soldiers in Iraq said
they
hoped he would fulfill his promise to bring them home quickly and
responsibly.
Breakfast was already being served in Baghdad on Wednesday morning
when Tuesday's polls closed back home, and at Forward Operating Base
Prosperity all eyes in the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st
Airborne were on the dining hall's giant TVs.
Someone whooped when NBC called the election, but mostly the troops
sat in rapt silence, eyeing their new president while eating their
eggs.
"What soldier's going to say they don't want to go home? I have a
wife
and four kids. I want to go home. But one thing we all want is to
make
sure the friends we lost over here weren't for nothing," said Captain
Ryan Morrison, from Colorado Springs.
"We have to pull out responsibly. I have the feeling he wants to do
it
responsibly," he said.
Obama has pledged to pull U.S. combat troops out of Iraq within 16
months of taking office, a promise that seemed bold when he first
made
it last year but now coincides roughly with the timetable favored by
Iraq's government.
"I'm excited. He's going to be president and he's going to pull us
from over here," said Sergeant First Class Norman Brown.
"If McCain had won we'd be over here for years, and I mean years and
years. I reckon even people here don't want us here."
With levels of violence falling -- last month saw the fewest violent
deaths among both Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops since the war began
-- Iraqis increasingly express their hope that the force of more than
150,000 U.S. troops can leave soon.
"I as an Iraqi am asking Obama to keep his promises about the
withdrawal of the U.S. security forces from our land," said Baqi
Naqid, a Baghdad journalist. "We don't need an occupation."
IRAQI GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATES WITHDRAWAL
The Iraqi government is negotiating a security pact with the outgoing
administration of President George W. Bush that would require U.S.
troops to exit by the end of 2011. But some Iraqis still fear
violence
may return if U.S. troops leave too rapidly.
"They came on a mission. They should complete it. There should be 100
percent security before they leave," said Baghdad housewife Um Saba,
58. She said she preferred the Republicans for supporting an increase
of troops last year that she credited with helping to curb violence.
Among U.S. troops, political loyalties were divided and debate
spirited during the long campaign. African American soldiers
described
Obama's victory as inspirational.
"It gives me hope that anybody can accomplish anything no matter what
your race, color or creed," said Los Angeles native Staff Sergeant
Andre Frazier, adding he hoped it would improve the U.S. image
abroad. Continued...
'Big conspiracy' going on to destabilise India: Centre
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Agencies
Posted: Nov 05, 2008 at 1417 hrs IST
New Delhi, November 5: As the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested a Lieutenant Colonel in connection with the Malegaon blasts, the Centre on Wednesday said it was a matter of ‘grave concern’ that an Army officer was found to be involved in terror acts.
"It is a matter of grave concern that such a person (Lt Colonel) is found to be involved there. The investigating agencies arrest any person only after gathering sufficient evidence," Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said.
Jaiswal said a ‘big conspiracy’ was going on to destabilise the country by destroying country's communal harmony but thankfully the investigating agencies have busted the module and arrested the persons involved in it.
Asked whether the Centre was contemplating to impose a ban on Bajrang Dal, the Minister said investigations into various incidents were yet to be completed.
"Let the investigations complete, then we will see," he said.
The ATS on Wednesday arrested Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit in connection with the September 29 Malegaon blasts. He will be produced before a Nashik court later in the day.
Purohit was interrogated two days back by the ATS in connection with the blasts in the powerloom town.
The army officer, who came under the scanner for his alleged role in the blasts, was stationed at the Army Education Corps Training College and Centre at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh and was picked up by the ATS for questioning last week.
Karuna does it again, flays Hindus for sporting tilaks
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Agencies
Posted: Nov 05, 2008 at 1640 hrs IST
Chennai, November 5: Flaying the Hindu practice of smearing ash or saffron or sporting a 'tilak' on the forehead for yet another time, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi questioned the need for ‘such things in a country which preached equality of all religions’.
Karunanidhi also questioned the rationale behind Brahmins wearing sacred thread.
"What is the need for these things in a country that has accepted all religions and preached equality of the same," he asked in a poem penned by him in the wake of caste-related violence in Madurai on Tuesday in which one person was killed in police firing.
He had on earlier occasions also ridiculed the practice of smearing ash or saffron on the forehead.
The DMK chief had made similar remarks on certain other Hindu customs earlier and described Hindus as ‘robbers’.
But later he clarified that he meant Hindus were robbers ‘who stole hearts’.
In the height of the Sethusamudram controversy, he had described Lord Ram as a ‘drunkard’ and wondered whether he was a qualified engineer to have built the Ramasethu.
In the poem, Karunanidhi described truth as God, adding that all people were equal before God and described as ‘ignorance’ those who were not aware of it.
"Caste differences are the offshoot of the branches called differences based on religion. Let’s chop off not only the branches but also uproot the tree to witness the emergence of a beautiful concept called equality," he said.
He also described as useless the face-off between believers and non-believers on the concept of God and said there was no point fighting over which faith was supreme.
Barack Obama already hard at work building his team
BY THOMAS M. DeFRANK, KENNETH R. BAZINET and MICHAEL McAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Wednesday, November 5th 2008, 8:24 AM
Raedle/Getty/Getty Images
There is plenty of hard work ahead for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
President-elect Barack Obama is wasting no time getting ready to take over the White House 76 days from today - with two wars raging and an economic crisis clogging his in-box.
Fresh off his historic triumph, he may quickly unveil the leaders of his transition team - all of whom have been working anonymously for weeks - and announce his White House chief of staff by week's end. A new treasury secretary may follow soon thereafter.
RELATED: JOB 1: PICK THE RIGHT TEAM
"Change has come to America," the nation's soon-to-be 44th President proclaimed in his victory speech to an adoring Chicago crowd estimated at 240,000.
The Daily News reported last week that Obama will run a turbocharged transition. The FBI has vetted scores of job candidates, but Team Obama has signaled Tuesday it wants to be careful.
RELATED: OBAMA, OUR FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT, IS AN INSPIRATION
"Sen. Obama has thought this through," said top adviser David Axelrod on MSNBC last night. "I think he will move as quickly as he can, but I think he's also going to be deliberative about it and make sure that he gets the right people in the right slots.
"These folks are going to have an enormous task in front of them. You want to make sure you get it right. So speed has its virtues, but getting it right is also important, and I think he will strike a balance moving forward."
RELATED: READ FULL TEXT OF OBAMA'S SPEECH
The biggest name on the President-elect's transition depth chart is John Podesta, Bill Clinton's last chief of staff.
His transition operation will begin moving today into 120,000 square feet on three floors of a federal office building near the District of Columbia courthouse in Northwest Washington.
Obama, a rookie senator from Illinois cloaked in a mantle of hope and change, trounced John McCain decisively to bring down the curtain on eight years of Republican rule.
The Democrat, whose eloquence inspired legions to his side, rode overwhelming disenchantment with the Bush-Cheney brand and the collapse of financial markets toward a historic victory. On Jan. 20, he will take the oath to become the first African-American in the Oval Office.
A beaming Obama, who strode on stage with his wife, Michelle, and two young daughters, spoke to a sea of cheering, weeping and hugging supporters at Chicago's Grant Park.
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama added, drawing raucous applause from the multitude gathered on a crisp autumn night.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/11/05/2008-11-05_barack_obama_already_hard_at_work_buildi.html
South Asia Leaders Congratulate Obama, Point to Challenges
By Barry Newhouse
Kabul
05 November 2008
Leaders from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan praised Barack Obama's presidential election win, calling it an inspiration to people within the United States and around the world. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Kabul on the reaction in a region that holds critical challenges for the future U.S. president.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during press conference at presidential palace in Kabul, 05 Nov 2008
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he hoped Barack Obama's election will take the United States and the world into a new era where race and ethnicity will disappear as a factor in politics.
He said he has high hopes for what Mr. Obama's leadership will mean to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.
"I hope that this election and President Obama's coming into office will bring peace to Afghanistan, life to Afghanistan and prosperity to the Afghan people and the rest of the world," he said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India and the United States are bound by shared commitments to common ideals. In a statement that was read by spokesman Shahbaz Hasibi, the prime minister said he looked forward to boosting cooperation.
"Our two countries working together to address global issues and challenges will be an important factor for world peace, stability and progress," he said.
President-elect Barack Obama smiles during his acceptance speech at Grant Park in Chicago, 4 Nov. 2008
Debates over U.S. strategy in the war in Afghanistan and the struggle against terrorist networks in Pakistan dominated the presidential campaign. Last week, Mr. Obama suggested that helping to resolve the dispute between Pakistan and India over Kashmir would allow Pakistan to better focus on threats from al-Qaida and Taliban militants.
Pakistan's former foreign minister Humayun Khan said the striking image of Mr. Obama's election could help alleviate some of the anti-American sentiment among Pakistanis who feel the U.S. war against terrorism has been misguided.
"Obama seems to be the sort of person who will try to examine all aspects of our problem and will understand all the complexities of our problems which will mean he will not approach it with a one track mind. So the chances of him listening to Pakistan I think are probably going to be better," said Humayun Khan.
Seven years after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, there are growing signs of tension between Washington and the U.S. friendly governments in Kabul and Islamabad.
U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, left, talks with Pakistan's Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar during a meeting in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 03 Nov 2008
This week, Pakistani leaders urged visiting U.S. commander General David Petraeus to stop missile strikes against militant targets in Pakistan's tribal regions.
In Kabul, while Mr. Karzai praised Mr. Obama's election in English, he was more critical when he addressed Afghans while speaking in Dari.
He said the first demand from the president elect, when he gets into office, will be to stop the civilian casualties in Afghanistan and to bring the war to those areas where the terrorists have hideouts, which are not in Afghanistan.
Mr. Karzai said mounting civilian casualties are tarnishing the image of the foreign troops in Afghanistan.
http://voanews.com/english/2008-11-05-voa36.cfm
Much Of Arab World Rejoices Over Obama Election
By Edward Yeranian
Cairo
05 November 2008
Yeranian report - Download (MP3)
Yeranian report - Listen (MP3)
Much of the Arab press, as well as ordinary people in the street, are rejoicing over the election of Democrat Barak Obama as the next president of the United States. Nevertheless, as Edward Yeranian reports from Cairo, there are misgivings in certain quarters.
A man reads al-Akhbar newspaper covering Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. Presidential election in Beirut, Lebanon, 05 Nov 2008
People on the streets here in Cairo, and across much of the Arab world, appear elated by the election of Democrat Barak Obama as the next president of the United States, despite some apprehension in the Gulf and in Lebanon.
Commentators on Al-Jazeera TV, which has consistently criticized the outgoing Bush administration for its policies towards the Arab world, appeared almost jubilant over Mr. Obama's election, with many hailing the results of the election as a "positive for the Arab world."
The Syrian daily Techrine writes in Wednesday's editorial that "any president will be better than George W. Bush, and any administration will be better than his administration." Damascus is the subject of U.S. sanctions for its behavior towards both Lebanon and Iraq.
Egyptian Ahmed Fathi, from the city of Dakalia, writes on Al-Arabiya TV's Web site "God bless Obama. He's good for the world and will solve its problems, Inshallah."
Leyla, a Lebanese Christian, however, says that she and those around her are "not very enthusiastic about Mr. Obama's victory," but that she hopes "he'll turn out OK, just the same."
Mustapha Ghalayini, a Lebanese man who works in Kuwait, thinks that many Kuwait's are pleased by Mr. Obama's election, even if they don't think he'll be especially good for the interests of the Arab world.
"The Kuwaiti people don't believe that Obama will be a real help to the Arabs, but they believe he will be a new experience for the Arabs and the world, and they are happy at his winning the elections of the United States," he said.
Uraib Rantawi, director of the Al-Quds Center for Political Studies in Amman, Jordan, says that many Arabs and many Arab governments are pleased by the Obama victory, but not all.
"It was a great win for Mr. Obama in yesterday's elections, for some Arab countries and people, especially the Palestinians, the Syrians, even the Jordanians," he said. "I think they have welcomed this great victory from the democrats and Obama."
"But, for some Arab Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia and those who deal really with the Bush family and with the Republicans in particular, I think it is not a good moment for them; they prefer to deal with the Republicans and not with the democrats, since the democrats emphasize democracy and human rights and those issues are not welcomed in such countries as Egypt, and Saudi Arabia," he added.
Essam El Aryan, who is a leader of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood was mostly optimistic about Mr. Obama's election and thought it was good for both the Arab and Islamic worlds.
"I've listened to the address made by Obama this morning and I was highly impressed by his charisma and his ideas," he said. "I compliment Mr. Obama and this was a very big victory for himself and also for the American people and I think it will be a great victory for the whole world if he can change America and go to change the world."
"I think after the massacres done by the previous administration of Mr. Bush Jr., I think this will be a new era for the Arabs and the Muslim world for their relations with the USA. We hope that Mr. Obama can change the strategy of America towards the Arabs and the Islamic world, and mainly to be committed to his promise to withdraw from Iraq and to look to the Palestinian issue by another view … thirdly to stop the support for the previous administration, since more than 60 years, to the tyrants of the Arab and Islamic world and to stop support to dictatorship," he continued.
Despite the general tone of optimism in the Arab press over President-elect Barak Obama's victory, the Arab daily Al-Hayat ran a caricature showing an Israeli wielding a gun at an Arab man, joking "heads, Obama, and we win; tails McCain, and you lose," suggesting that the paper thinks neither candidate will really be beneficial to the Arab world.
http://voanews.com/english/2008-11-05-voa42.cfm
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