Why We Can’t Wait
An urgent call to revive Martin Luther King’s vision for a just and harmonious world.
A few days ago, MLK day passed by once again with another reminder of all that is good and just. For the sake of humanity and its future, it is imperative to remember and celebrate the spirit of the courageous and inspiring leader by revisiting his universal and timeless sentiments.
For the promised land is still very far from our reach.
With a historic transition underway that is meant to usher in a new dawn, let us not wait for change — let us sensibly engage with understanding and a commitment to overcome the malignant status quo that continues to endanger our lives and our planet.
We have a long way to go before a change is gonna come.
“A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.” — Hunter S Thompson
During this time of turbulence and uncertainty in the midst of a global pandemic, people all around the world are desperately seeking a lifeline from the effects of a virus that continues to have devastating consequences. Though right now, the world will fix its attention to a drastic change in administration that many anticipate will bring about a renewal of hope.
As the transition between the coveted position of ‘Leader of the Free World’ begins, one could not help but see the irony in the title and the implication that there exists a free world. The world is neither free in monetary terms nor in human liberty. At the center of this irony is that the United States carries a privileged position and also prides itself on the notion of freedom but on the contrary, is implicit in stagnating the progress of freedom not just in its own country but all around the world. This is evident in the high levels of income and wealth inequality, poverty, incarceration rates, racial discrimination and injustices, and so on. Not forgetting its continued reign of destruction through its perilous warmongering and imperialist expansion policies.
Heeding the words of MLK, who consciously bridged the relationship between all kinds of injustices; from economic to racial, helps give us a glimpse of the interconnectedness of the dilemmas we face- another reason for his universal reverence. For he never neglected the sufferings of all people around the world in his fight for equality and justice.
From behind bars in a Birmingham Jail, MLK declared that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This serves as an important lesson for understanding that the root of our problems is tied, as are the consequences. We really are all in this together.
If that sentiment was not enough, acclaimed author, Viet Thanh Nguyen reminds us of a more rousing and insightful speech made by Dr. King in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War, where he delves deeper into the sinister nature of the supposed regime that threatens our freedoms and livelihood. He goes as far as calling the U.S, ‘the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today,’ and decades later it continues to ring true.
The remnants of this global domination are evident. Whether it be South East Asia, South America, the Middle East- there’s no end to the ensuing carnage. And that only scratches at the surface.
As we shift our focus on change by welcoming the exit of the outgoing POTUS for reasons obvious, we have to be wary of abandoning caution by surrendering our will and hopes to a new figure that is supposedly convincing of us ‘delivering change’ change. Sure, through some executive orders, he has proven himself much more presidential than his predecessor (Paris Accord, Keystone Pipeline), but behind the scenes, what we are really getting is a continuing system/entity, albeit run by different faces. We should not ignore this.
Until we change the system that enabled everything that came before, we cannot expect anything different from it going forward. In other words, we should not blindly follow leaders or better yet ignore history.
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Before anything can change in our world, we must understand it is important to be reminded of the atrocities of the past and the injustices that have continued to persist. This should lead us to question the true progress of our society.
Ushering in a new president will not cure our society’s ills. It can only be done with true change. This means a change in values and consequently eradicating a system that was built on injustice, slavery, pillaging, and destruction. Neither political party is exempt from such actions. And perceived better values of one party on paper do not equate to excusing its negative actions.
Throughout history, progress has been stagnant due to the ways of the powerful; the government, the elites... Among the culprits are not only governments that lack accountability but the institutions operating alongside it that continue to impede progress for their own gains. This failure of accountability only gives more reason for the people to distrust its leaders.
So before we place our faith in leaders, we must demand a true commitment from them to invest in the livelihoods of the people and the future, not profits and power. Enacting true social change will involve dismantling a system that purports social progress through means of growth and prosperity but as seen through its actions, only seem to drive further inequality and exploitation.
“All for ourselves and nothing for other people seems, in every age of the world, have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind,” — remarked the ‘father of modern economics’, Adam Smith. Ironically, the principal group he refers to, ‘the masters of mankind’, essentially the powerful, gladly ignores freedom other than market freedom. It only illustrates the failure to see the inherent attitudes held by leaders in such positions — only further proving human nature's propensity for greed and indifference, if left unchecked. Perhaps we need a greater measure of the suitability of our leaders.
Political movements on the rise in the past decade such as the Arab Spring and Occupy Movements suggest that the people want a true change. They are tired of the ongoing farce of corrupt governments, outright exploitation, and oppression from the mega-rich and powerful, who at any cost spend the very same resources to compound efforts for a true revolution. Neo-liberalist models have virtually taken over every government in the world. The influence of media in subjugating the everyday person through misinformation is outright ludicrous. Then there are corporations with enormous amounts of power to quash and exploit the poor and vulnerable.
Though the movement tempers, there is still indignation. If the reaction to the Panama Papers or WikiLeaks were anything to go on, then we know that leaders are not worthy of our votes and confidence.
America itself would not warrant pride from its citizens if they too examined their own environment and the state of their fellow people, and not just in the past four years but through its long history of slavery, exploitation, and subjugation. The concern is, that if outrage is limited to an obscene president or election results, then what hope is there for those who truly suffer?
The plight and invisibility of Native Americans show the extent to which the U.S government does almost nothing to repair and improve the welfare of its populations. So how could it truly go forward with progress, when nothing is sacred!
Talking about history repeating itself. It only proves that the subjugation of vulnerable peoples and environmental destruction are of the same ilk, done by those who benefit, all the same, those with vested interests that profit from wars and oppression.
Here in Australia, our indigenous population continues to face similar injustices. The legacy of colonialism continues to rear its ugly head. Back in 2008, the world had deluded itself into thinking that ‘a change was gonna come’, in the form of Barack Obama. Or when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said ‘sorry’.
Not that it needs to be said but a sorry is not enough. Even in the present Indigenous Australians, continue to endure their neverending plight, with no hope of reconciliation. Some of the issues have no end in sight it even prompted a much-needed hearing this week.
And this is what we need more of, pressures from external bodies that can follow up and hold such entities accountable.
“Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species — man — acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.” — Rachel Carson
We have continued to watch plights over the world persist. Though it's not surprising when in the past, such acts like segregation were normalized (still is) as well as unjust actions of governments all around the world (largely ignored). By now, we’ve even normalized war and bombings. To make a complete mockery of such wickedness, such actions do not even exclude you from being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
As Caitlin Johnstone writes, as long as the victims are strangers in a far distant land, we continue to be outraged by far trivial things.
If we as people are willing to police the importance of matters, then perhaps we should exact the same standard on policing actions, especially those who are meant to represent and serve us. No one should be above the law, no matter how powerful they are.
In the esteemed words of Noam Chomsky, ‘If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged.’ This is something we should remember, as we go forward attempting to circumvent history in search of a new and brighter day.
If the depraved foreign policies of the most powerful entities in the world and their record of human rights injustices do not warrant any attention, then try ignoring a none graver concern that will ultimately affect every single one of us and the proceeding generations; the threat of global warming and rising sea levels, also enabled by the very same machine.
Rising sea levels threaten to wipe out large amounts of coastal cities around the world and by 2050, large portions of our cities will be underwater. There is no escaping that. But if we sit back and wonder if it's too late, which it probably is, there is still time to hold the wrongdoers accountable. Still, should we not try to reverse the damage and prevent further devastation? That is something we would have to live with if we just wait at bay hoping the day never comes.
Though somehow, there is hope for the climate change movement. We have seen demonstrations all over the world led by children, of all groups. Perhaps there exists some belief that they can change things. That is something we should aspire to. If figures in the past like MLK had waited for leaders to right the wrongs of history, our progress surely would have been much more gradual. Still, there is a long way to go.
So if we’re still waiting for the ‘change to come’ whether we’re still longing for that feeling we had in 2008 or now? Need we be reminded that hope in such institutions and systems was misguided? And even if the worse of what we thought had come is no longer in office (Trump). Let us remember that such sentiments are not born overnight and that there was never true unity. The divisions will continue to exist in an unjust and unequal society. Politics aside, our true division exists in the hierarchy of class, race, sex, and so on.
So it may help to not emphasize the left or the right. We should concern ourselves with what is right or wrong!
As we shift forward with a ‘new beginning’, just remember that supposed better values may only appear in the guise of goodness. True rightness and what is truly good exist in inclusive policies that place more emphasis on freedoms than a broader interest in securing power or in an actual sustaining of livelihoods rather than maintaining a system that allows for continued inequality, poverty, environmental degradations, and human rights injustices.
“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.” — George Orwell
As the world watches the ushering of a new era, let’s not forget the ways of the old. For if we accept the system that perpetuates injustices, we only allow it to prosper everywhere. We need full accountability and there need to be consequences. We cannot override actions of the past and we cannot move forward harmoniously if justice is not served and if we are not all considered equal.
Only we can make the choice to act and end the cycle. In protesting the status quo and truly making sense of the troubles around us is the moment we can truly be united. Through a collective effort, through a call for unity and action.
Lastly, as the new leader of the free world, declared in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that “Help is on the way”. We can only hope that sentiment spreads around for everyone under the sun. But let’s not just hope.
Just as we cannot afford to just hope and wait;
For the voices of the suffering to be heard…
For the voices of the oppressed to not be silent…
For freedom of people all around the world to be from manipulation, exploitation, oppression, suppression, destruction, poverty, sickness…
For true justice and equality to be achieved…
So until then…We can no longer wait.
Why We Can’t Wait is an excerpt from my upcoming book ‘Conducere’.
Compliment the sentiments with a recommended reading of Martin Luther King’s very own ‘Why We Can’t Wait’ from which I draw upon to illustrate the necessary call to continue the fight for justice and equality before it's too late.
