The Legacy of Barack Obama

As 8 years of the Obama Presidency comes to close, I look at his legacy, and what he leaves for Trump & the world at the large.

What is Obama's legacy?  When he became President 8 years ago,  he was elected on the idea of "Hope". How has this transformed in his Presidency?  And what is the legacy he leaves behind? 

Is it Obamacare, the first National healthcare plan in the US? Is it the Legalization and support for Same-Sex marriage?

or is it the continued fracture of American Politics, ending in the election of Trump? or Syria & Ukraine going to hell?

Inevitably,  both 'good' and 'bad' are part of his legacy. Obama's presidency rapidly transformed American society into a progressive one, yet with inevitable faults. While many gasped for a Post-Racial America, that dream is all but dead now. Not only has continued instances of Black Unarmed civilians being shot by Police officers bought into the forefront the implicit racism of law enforcement officers, but the response to the 'Black Lives Matter' Protesters, 'Blue Lives matter' shows the disconnect between the two major parties.

Race and racial issues- which by the 90s were no longer a source of conflict, have now become an issue again. The cultural wars, of course, are over, and the left has unequivocally triumphed. In my opinion, this is the most monumental achievement of the Obama Presidency: Marriage Equality & repeal of Don't Ask & Don't Tell. It would be most probably what his presidency would be remembered for in America. Other than being the first African American President.

In the international arena, Obama's strategic failure in the middle east cannot be discounted. and don't forget Russia. Obama's administration failed to counter Russia in Ukraine, and the humanitarian crisis in Syria. On the other hand, Positives include the Paris climate deal, but is on the way to being  gutted(maybe).  

Don't forget the drones. Some even argue this was his worst legacy. Relations with India, of course, improved, but it would have anyways; India enjoys huge bipartisan support.

What about Obamacare, you may ask? Is that not his greatest legacy? It could have been: Obama achieved what Clinton and Democratic Presidents could not before: a National healthcare plan. But it is needlessly complicated, as a result of Obama trying  to find a consensus  with the Republicans.   And its well on the way to being repealed.

Obama failed the  Democrats domestically, and there is no doubt about that. His failure to help his party in domestic elections has led the democrats to a minority in State Governorships, Legislatures, and didn't get a democratic house since  2008-10.  Obama might have led the economy out of the 2008 recession, but the economic fracture led, in some ways, for the Trump Vote.

Is he the most successful Democrat since FDR?. the most consequential Democrat, yes. His success is debatable. One most however not forget that he was a dignified man, a humane person, who strived to do right by him.

Obama leaves a fractured world order, a hyperpartisian domestic arena, and a weak democratic party, which will be unable to preserve his legacy, or take a meanigful stand in the House.

Extra Reading

Politico:Re-Alignment of American Politics

NY Times: On race, silence is Bipartisian

The Atlantic: Racism by any other name

Brookings institution: America's Race relations

Foreign Policy: Barack Obama's Foreign policy failure

The System is broken.

Regarding the Mass Molestation at Bangalore & related incidents. 

The system is broken.

But you don’t need me to tell you that.

You know it.  You’ve experienced it.  You’ve seen & experienced things that you shouldn’t have.

When the Home Minister of a state says,  nay,  declares with impunity that “Such Incidents do happen”  and then an SP  MLA, then comes in with his own BS opinion,  and then men on twitter respond with #Notallmen,  you know the system is broken. It is not long ago that Mulayam Singh Yadav, the patriarch of the Samjiwadi Party said that “boys will be boys”.

I don’t need to point to more examples. You know it. Insensitive and undignified comment after comment.

But back to the issue at hand.

You have in all probability experienced it.  Or if you’re a boy,  you’ve (most probably) seen it.  It might have been your mother,  your sister or a friend.  You’ve seen how Women are treated in a public place.

I wouldn’t say that things haven’t improved.It definitely has. Women are given and afforded freedoms that they weren’t given even 25 years ago.  But that is not enough. Thre Nirabhaya Protests of 2012 resulted in an amendment in Criminal Law that was years past necessary. But that’s not enough.

To be a modern and developed country,  to give justice and equality to all sections of society, that isn’t enough.  That is never enough.

The Republic of India has not given its due to the female gender. We have failed in ensuring to our female citizens the states basic function: of providing the freedoms they are guaranteed. Forget that, we have ensured that our Police and Judicial system is apathetic to the victims of these crimes.

Our society, is patriarchal and conservative in its very nature. The response of the political class- that of shifting blame to the women, and that of men – that of shifting blame to a minority of men, exemplify its very nature.

Being Apathetic, being a mute spectator to such an  act is as big an offense as the actual one.

Back to the issue:

All these incidents follow a similar pattern now, doesn’t it?

An incident that is extremely shameful & undignified occurs, All of us collectively outrage, some idiotic politician make insensitive comments, we outrage over that, some protests happen- here there, We discuss this for one or two more weeks, then the next thing takes over the media circus & kills any further discussion.

This HAS  to change. We have to change this. Don’t abandon hope saying that Society can’t be altered. Keep in mind that you too are part of ‘society’.

Organize yourself.

Teach your children about the Importance of bodily autonomy.

Teach them that mental, physical and verbal abuse is wrong.

Teach them that all Humans have their dignity.

Support your local Women’s self help groups.

Support Women’s advocacy groups.

AND DON’T STAY SILENT. SILENCE IS THE FIRST STEP TO ACCEPTANCE.

NEVER NORMALIZE THESE INCIDENTS.

DON’T VOTE FOR POLITICIANS WHO DO.

IF they can’t accept that Men & women have the same rights under law, well, DON’T VOTE FOR THEM.

Never accept sexism & misogyny.If you find people accepting, or making such comments: Name them and Shame them.

NEVER LOSE HOPE. No person is irredeemable. No person is unreformable. NO goal is unachievable. 

The system is broken. But We can fix it.

As a person of the male gender, I cannot aspire to understand all the pressures and experiences that women experience as a result of misogyny, sexism & victim-shaming. I can only aspire to empathize with it. This privilege that I have – of being  a male in a patriarchal society must be kept in mind while assessing my opinion here.

धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah

Those who protect Dharma will be protected by it. 

Originally posted in Wordpress

Dhulgarh:The Great Deception

In a post on 31 December, blogger extraordinaire Arnab Ray noted that Media "[Do not report] anything that does not conform to their[media establishments] political narrative, of the fascism of the Hindu majoritarian rule in Delhi, no matter the human cost of what they choose to ignore."

The fact that most of us, constant news guzzling citizens are unaware of what happened in Dhulgarh is frightening: We know of the riot and the loss of life only due to the information spreading on Social Media. The Mainstream Establishments continue to gloss over the happenings in Dhulgrah almost 4 weeks after it occurred. This points to a political agenda to the Media that is pursuing.

If for a second imagine if these riots and attacks happened against Muslims in say, Madhya Pradesh. How would the media report it ? What would be the reaction of the great Rajdeep Sardesai, who tweeted with impunity:

Little later did his own news channel, India Today report the incident, probably mindful of TRPs that its competitor, Zee news would have gained. Zee, of course, is associated closely with the BJP and had its own agenda in covering the incident. Regardless, not many have condemned the FIR filed against Zee for reporting on the incident, probably because principles in Media is a rare commodity nowadays. The Editors Guild, otherwise the first to condemn any perceived violation of Freedom of speech: FakingNews, a satire website published this report, which might seem to be a satirical piece, but seems to be the real situation in Indian Media.

The Press Council of India, too, has been rather conspicuously silent on it.

All this information, of course has been facilitated and has come out in the open only because of the media-neutral entity that the Internet is. I shudder to think if we had no such source, how would we have known of these incidents? what would become of those who lost their home & hearth because of this?

This is the Great Deception. While the mainstream English Language Media assume itself to be the center of the Universe, continues to drone over the effects of Demonetization & air incoherent discussions on it, the real, human cost of Dhulgarh is lost to us. The belief in Media, of course, is at an all time low, as demonstrated by the success of Donald Trump & Brexit in the Western World.

In Urban Upper Middle Class India, the same phenomenon has been replicating. The trust in the Media is declining because of self inflicted injuries more than anything.

Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minsiter of West Bengal, when asked what happened in Dhulgarh replied: "Nothing".  From the Hon'ble Chief Minister,  though, its a classic answer.

All these incidents create the violent perception of the "tyranny of the Minority", which will of course, result in more liberal members of the majority community being swayed to the BJP (Eh!, no surprises there)

Ironically, the creation of this perception and the continued appeasment of the Minority community results in Hindutva politics raising its head in Bengal.

In conclusion, Kudos to the Internet!

And I sincerely hope the communal Tinderbox that is Bengal changes.

(Note of appreciation to Sitaram Yechury & CPM, who attempted to conduct their own enquiry, but was stopped by the Police.)