LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: What is the impact of a word without substance?

Le 26 octobre 2011 par Correspondance particulière - Dear President, allow me to address you in a manner that might not be appropriate.

My excuses for not respecting the standard of a letter that goes to a person of your rank might not convince you either, but I do believe that you will understand. I am truly sorry as the facts I am about to name in the following lines do not give me the time and the ability to revise the rules that govern an official letter.

It was Mr William Ewart Gladstone, twice British Premier, who brought in the political jargon what he called: “the right policies of foreign policy” (1879) while campaigning for his u-turn in politics. What he meant was the love for world peace, love for freedom for all and the respect of the rights of the minorities and the nations (small or big; strong or weak; rich or poor). For this great statesman, any foreign policies must take into account the fact that the ones these policies are meant to serve are not less human beings than us…
Perhaps my respect for this 19th century great “political animal” is so deep that I would be quoting from him for many times to come. For that, Mr President, you have again, my excuses. So, PM Gladstone criticising Disraeli’s foreign policy that led to the Anglo-Afghan war, said: “Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him. Remember that the happiness of his humble home, remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages…is inviolable in the eyes of Almighty God as can be your own. Remember that He, who has united you together as human beings in the same flesh and blood, has bound you by the law of mutual love…” Is not that splendid and wonderful, Mr President?

Mr President, I do hope that I am not wasting your precious time and annoying you with these words taken from PM Gladstone. And, I dream that these words could make sense to you, am I right? Because, I think that PM Gladstone was great and his words made sense as he ended the Anglo-Afghan war when he returned to Office.
Coming to my concerns, let us recall that, during your campaign to get your party’s nomination to run for the US presidency, you turned simple words into “dreams” and “magic”. You took three common words: “yes” plus “we” plus “can” to make American moving and believing again after two disastrous Bush’s terms that saw the anti-Americanism grew steadily in many parts of the world. What is now called “Obamania” took the world by storms that many generations have not witnessed before your “Yes, we can”. Children, women, men, old and young all together chanted your name and many areas of the world trace yours origins as they wanted to be part of the “New American Dream” through you. In London, I personally met people who claimed to be the friends of some members of your extended family or some people simply claimed to be from the same bloodline back in Kenya. Around the world, millions of people followed the big and historical elections that took place in America. What a dream, what a joy that was. But, as a lone person who is never satisfied, during one of my programmes, at Connexion FM, I claimed that you were not going to be great, was I right or wrong? And, this simple but frank statement cost me dear. My E-mail was flooded with personal attacks. I lost many friends. Then, we turn to your visit to Ghana. During this trip, you urged the African countries to fight for themselves through their Institutions that need to be made stronger than the individuals and, the world again, responded with your magic sentence: “Yes, we can”.
But, what have we seen so far? I would say the world has gone backward. Your promise to the Palestinians seems to be “words without substance”. The promise to withdraw the “boys from Iraq” has produced the opposite; I mean more troops have been added to the ones America has sent there under President Bush. Africa, a continent naturally rich has become more dangerous to travel to than before. There is oil in many African countries, but the continent is said to be the poorest in the world. This paradox is a shame for Africa itself and a ‘back stabbing’ for the developed world that claims to be helping the Africans. From Kenya to Somalia through Ethiopia, we have famine. Children and their parents die every single day in their dozens like mosquitos. Why not think wisely by desalinize the sea that is around the horn of Africa to make the soils fertile like in Israel? Do Africans deserve to die before the eyes of the rest of the world? Are they human beings? Colonel Gaddafi is dead, but what the world should expect from the new leaders? The future will tell. Giving the Iraqi example, I could say no magic will come from Libya. In Ivory Coast, Mr Dramane has been imposed by his powerful friends from the West, especially by France. People are killed randomly on daily basis. But, there are no mouths and no eyes to talk and to see on behalf of the victims. President Gbagbo’s supporters are defenceless and they have no one to turn to in order to escape the fury of the new man in Office and his mercenaries. Even the mother of President Gbagbo, in her 90s, is a refugee in Ghana. And, as nothing is wrong with the assassination of dozens of Ivorians, the world powerful men and women just sleep in peace; they care less about the different abuses that Mr Dramane and his mercenaries converted into soldiers are using as means of intimidation to control the country. Elsewhere, Syria has been inflamed for months. Coming back to the case of Africa, in Egypt, President Mubarak has been treated with less respect than a dog accused of having rabies. Sick, he was judged from his hospital bed. Where is the dignity stipulated by the law in each country and by international rules? Was he able to defend himself? Why the law protecting President Chirac cannot protect an African president. President Chirac, in his trial for corruption was said to be unfit to stand. Why, Mr President, as a lawyer and the chief of the world number one “Powerhouse”, you did not stop the humiliation of a man who used to be “a great friend” of your country, America? Does the law change colour and implementation from one country to another? Where are the “Human Rights” so dear to the UN Security Council and the various “Declarations” concerning the protection of our “Rights” even in the time of war? Why, Mr President, do you keep quiet or turn a blind eye on what the world poor and weak are enduring? Do they have any “Rights” in front of the interests of the world big corporations? Should we wait for decades to see the UN envoys, the EU envoys and other various experts going to Ivory Coast for another “Sorry” as it happened in the cases of Rwanda and Burundi?
Mr President, I did not mean to take much of your time as I have done already. So, I shall be stopping shortly. But, before I go, I would like to say that you still have time to lead the world population to whom you gave a new hope; do not let us down. For what the world needs are words with actions to move forward positively.
Mr President, was I wrong or right? The last word and action are yours. Do you, Mr President, want a world that writes your name down in its history books with hesitation because from “Yes, we can” you went to “Sorry, we failed” or do you want your name to be written with golden alphabetic letters in the history books because the all world benefited from “The New American Dream” that you coined through your “Yes, we can”?
With all due respect, I shall say goodbye and see you soon.

A contribution by SYLVAIN DE BOGOU
(Writer and Political Analyst)