The Impact and Transformational Appeal of Barack Obama
May 15th, 2008 by WILLIAM KERN
Trying to explain Barack Obama and the impact his appearance is having on people around the world is a gargantuan task.
This article from France’s Liberation takes a good stab at it by examining his influence on young people - especially on those in the French suburbs which are so often areas of violent confrontation between police and that nation’s alienated minority population.
“Products of postcolonial immigration, the older generation - around the age of Obama’s father - say it’s extraordinary to see this in their lifetime and didn’t dare imagine such a fate for their own children. The younger generation, whose hostility against the United States took root during the war in Iraq, are finding something to smile about. One high school student told us that Obama’s victory would mean the “liberation of all Blacks in the world!”
In describing why his mixed-race background is so appealing in France, the duo write:
“French born in France have to fight constantly with employers or in communicating and dealing with police against the idea that “being French is something observable.” Tired of having to respond to the eternal question, “Do you feel more Malian (Cameroonian, etc.) or French?” They have begun to dream of a country where when someone asks a Black person from whence they came, it’s to find out whether they were born in Ohio or California. They recognize themselves in Obama’s ambiguity of identity. …”
But despite Obama’s apparently transcendent significance, Durpaire and Tchicaya warn:
“But we shouldn’t be naively optimistic. First, because the words of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, by reintroducing the specter of racial division, showed that America’s old demons could undermine the dream of this new generation. Republicans will surely play on the senator’s “dubious” origins and on these fears.”
By François Durpaire and Jean-Claude Tchicaya*
Translated By Kate Davis
May 13, 2008
France - Liberation - Original Article (French)
Barack Obama, who now has more superdelegates than his opponent Hillary Clinton, is headed toward the Democratic nomination. Thousands of young Americans voted for the first time during these primaries, seeing themselves in the senator from Illinois. This is first of all due to his social background. While previous presidents have been members of great families, Obama’s mother had to use food stamps to feed her family. It is also due to a connivance of culture. Responding to an American journalist about his musical tastes, Obama spoke of Outkast and Wyclef Jean, while Hillary Clinton said that her daughter had concocted a selection of albums and she promised to start listening to it soon …
But the genesis of the Obama phenomenon is that he has crossed a barrier. While it’s common to see French enthusiasm for Democratic candidates, they run the risk of being disappointed. But neither Al Gore nor John Kerry elicited such enthusiasm in the suburbs. Products of postcolonial immigration, the older generation - around the age of Obama’s father - say it’s extraordinary to see this in their lifetime and didn’t dare imagine such a fate for their own children. The younger generation, whose hostility against the United States took root during the war in Iraq, are finding something to smile about. One high school student told us that Obama’s victory would mean the “liberation of all Blacks in the world!”
All are experiencing the advent of Obama’s rise as a kind of compensation myth. Like the inhabitants of the South Side of Chicago where the senator’s wife is from, many have chosen not to live “as one.” Black, Maghreb [North African], White, Asian, they are all products of this mixture which is called by outsiders “communitarian.” Lacking networks of influence, they see the rise of this son of an African immigrant, raised in a family of modest means, as the symbol of a social mobility that they aren’t acquainted with. Because, in spite of its faults - the power of lobbyists and the influence of money - the American political system has managed to turn out a generation of young Black politicians: Adrian Fenty is the mayor of Washington, Michael Nutter is the mayor of Philadelphia, Cory Booker is the mayor of Newark, etc. This is a long way from France and its suburbs, where the last municipal elections showed that the rotation of political leaders is slow, and in spite of the rhetoric, continues to lack diversity.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, along with continuing translated foreign press coverage of the U.S. election.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 4:44 pm and is filed under Children, Bush Administration, White House, Nicolas Sarkozy, Democratic Party, Integration, Latinos, Black/African-American, Kenya, Superdelegates, Newsweek Blogitics, Young Voters, Newspapers, Hispanics, France, Race, Iraq, Political Cartoons, Immigration, Politics, 2008 Elections, Minorities, Africa, Racism, Crime, Barack Obama, Cartoon Commentary, Democrats, Education. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
