A LITTLE DISCUSSION ON 'OBAMATRONICS'
There is an interesting discussion going on here about an article titled 'Obama and Black American Ethnicity', by Marian Douglas-Ungaro, where I've just posted this comment:
Speaking for myself, one of the two most disturbing facts about the U.S. presidential election of November 2008 is that so many folks - even folks who've never set foot in the United States, are not U.S. citizens, and have never suffered as 3rd, 4th & 5th class Americans on U.S. soil - are so geared up to "elect themselves a black president."
If that is the definition of a ‘Obamatron’, then I guess I fall squarely under it: I am an African who has never lived in America, is not an American citizen and has not lived the Black American historical experience, yet I have been supporting Obama with enthusiasm, and at times even assumed silliness, for most of this campaign. Except that I’ve actually set foot in the US, have close family members living there for decades (one of my sisters is actually a staunch Hillary supporter and has even worked as her campaign staff) and I’ve worked in Africa for a USAID-sponsored project as a Black African within an otherwise all-American, all-White professional team. But that’s not what makes me feel involved in this campaign and it’s not exclusively Obama’s race or ethnicity that makes me support him either.
Also speaking for myself, as the author does, I come from a country – Angola – whose political life has been shaped directly by American politics for at least most part of the last century and continues to be so to this day. And when you are a citizen of a country where politics, economics, election outcomes, war or peace and life or death are so impacted by American politics as happens to my country, as I am sure happens in not a few countries in Africa and around the world, I, willingly or not, have a stake, even if only remote (you can then call me a ‘remote-controlled automaton’ or ‘Obamatron’ if you wish) in American elections and its outcomes.
I wouldn’t, for a moment, claim that my ‘presumed stake’ in that election is bigger, more significant or even equal, than that of US citizens in general, or Black Americans in particular, not least because I am not entitled to vote there, but given a chance, as it was by this internet-cross-boundaries geared campaign, I feel entitled to have my feelings about it known. And that’s just what I have been doing (again, call me a ‘Obamatron’ for that if you wish – I may take offence at it, but that will not stop me from having and expressing my opinions about ‘your’ elections, at least for as long as your country politics, regardless of the particular ideologies underlying it under different administrations, has an impact on mine and on my life, even if only ‘remotely’).
I would like to, but I won’t dwell too much in this occasion on all the discussions about slavery v. colonialism, race v. ethnicity or Black Americans/African Americans v. Africans. I think brother Mzimkhulu and other discussants here already gave significant contributions to those. I would just add that slavery continued in Africa and particularly in former Portuguese colonies for most of the 20th century under other designations such as ‘contract labour’ and, in the case of Southern Africa, as ‘migrant labour’ to the South African mines. I would also like to take this opportunity to mention that in certain African societies, certainly in Angola and other former Portuguese colonies, someone like Rev. Wright, and even someone like Barack Obama, would hardly be considered or identify themselves as ‘black’ and would most certainly not take the kind of stances on race politics they take in the USA.
If that is the definition of a ‘Obamatron’, then I guess I fall squarely under it: I am an African who has never lived in America, is not an American citizen and has not lived the Black American historical experience, yet I have been supporting Obama with enthusiasm, and at times even assumed silliness, for most of this campaign. Except that I’ve actually set foot in the US, have close family members living there for decades (one of my sisters is actually a staunch Hillary supporter and has even worked as her campaign staff) and I’ve worked in Africa for a USAID-sponsored project as a Black African within an otherwise all-American, all-White professional team. But that’s not what makes me feel involved in this campaign and it’s not exclusively Obama’s race or ethnicity that makes me support him either.
Also speaking for myself, as the author does, I come from a country – Angola – whose political life has been shaped directly by American politics for at least most part of the last century and continues to be so to this day. And when you are a citizen of a country where politics, economics, election outcomes, war or peace and life or death are so impacted by American politics as happens to my country, as I am sure happens in not a few countries in Africa and around the world, I, willingly or not, have a stake, even if only remote (you can then call me a ‘remote-controlled automaton’ or ‘Obamatron’ if you wish) in American elections and its outcomes.
I wouldn’t, for a moment, claim that my ‘presumed stake’ in that election is bigger, more significant or even equal, than that of US citizens in general, or Black Americans in particular, not least because I am not entitled to vote there, but given a chance, as it was by this internet-cross-boundaries geared campaign, I feel entitled to have my feelings about it known. And that’s just what I have been doing (again, call me a ‘Obamatron’ for that if you wish – I may take offence at it, but that will not stop me from having and expressing my opinions about ‘your’ elections, at least for as long as your country politics, regardless of the particular ideologies underlying it under different administrations, has an impact on mine and on my life, even if only ‘remotely’).
I would like to, but I won’t dwell too much in this occasion on all the discussions about slavery v. colonialism, race v. ethnicity or Black Americans/African Americans v. Africans. I think brother Mzimkhulu and other discussants here already gave significant contributions to those. I would just add that slavery continued in Africa and particularly in former Portuguese colonies for most of the 20th century under other designations such as ‘contract labour’ and, in the case of Southern Africa, as ‘migrant labour’ to the South African mines. I would also like to take this opportunity to mention that in certain African societies, certainly in Angola and other former Portuguese colonies, someone like Rev. Wright, and even someone like Barack Obama, would hardly be considered or identify themselves as ‘black’ and would most certainly not take the kind of stances on race politics they take in the USA.
Finally, let me cite Mandela in his introduction to a recent publication about the relationships between Black American and Black African political movements, ‘No Easy Victories’: “We were part of a worldwide movement that continues today to redress the economic and social injustices that kill body, mind, and spirit. ‘No Easy Victories’ makes clear that our lives and fortunes around the globe are indeed linked.”
