By Medea Benjamin
As we close this year on the low of a devastating conflict in Iraq and
a President contemplating sending yet more troops to fight and die in
an unwinnable war, let us not forget that it was a year of many positive
gains for the progressive movement. Here are
just ten.
1. First, of course, is the November
elections, when voters gave Repubicans an "electoral thumpin'".
From California's Jerry McNerney to Ohio's Sherrod Brown to Minnesota's
Keith Ellison-Democrats all over the country won elections by slamming
Bush's war. The collapse of one-party rule in Washington reflected a spectacular
repudiation of George Bush and handed Congress a mandate to get out of
Iraq.
2. Latino communities throughout
the United States took center stage in the spring of 2006, putting May
Day back on the map as a day of grassroots mobilizing. From high school
students to union members to community organizers, the spirit and energy
of millions of immigrants demanding to be treated with dignity and respect
took the nation by surprise. Immigrants not only carved out new political
space, but in the age of e-activism, they breathed new life into the importance
of "street heat."
3. After decades of dictating the
rules of the global economy, World Trade Organization talks fell flat
on their face in 2006. Activists the world over celebrated its collapse
after years of work to sink this titanic tool of empire. The work to derail
corporate-dominated trade policies is far from over, with bilateral free
trade agreements taking the place of the WTO. But the WTO and its model
of globalization have been exposed as a dismal failure and opposition
continues to grow worldwide.
4. George Bush opened 2006 with
a State of the Union Address bemoaning our "addiction to oil";
86 prominent Evangelicals called global warming a moral issue; Al Gore
educated millions with his film, An Inconvenient Truth; and Time magazine
declared the Earth is at a tipping point with melting ice, drought, wind,
disease, and fires raging out of control. Historians may one day look
back on 2006 as the "tipping-point" year when human societies-including
the United States as the major superpower and the major polluter-woke
up to the precarious state of our world and decided it was time to find
solutions.
5. As a clear indicator of the shift
from debating global warming to doing something about it, this year California
passed the nation's toughest legislation to curb greenhouse gases. The
groundbreaking bill would require the state to cut back its greenhouse
gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020-a reduction of approximately 25 percent.
A smart politico, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger saw the green
writing on the wall and joined the state's Democrats in setting a new
environmental standard for the rest of the nation to follow.
6. In a year when Enron executives
were found guilty of cooking the books, Muhammad Yunus was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for proving that poor people can be more reliable money
managers than rich ones. Yunus' "microcredit movement" that
started out giving small loans to poor Bangladeshis, mostly women, mushroomed
into a worldwide movement that has extended small loans to millions of
the world's poor. By awarding Yunus the Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel
Committee not only recognized the credit-worthiness of the poor but acknowledged
that poverty is a threat to peace. As Yunus said in his acceptance speech,
"I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of the
poor people is a better strategy [for combating terrorism] than spending
it on guns."
7. While the fighting between Israel
and Lebanon left over 1,000 dead, mostly Lebanese, a ceasefire was achieved
after only 34 days. When the violence threatened to spiral out of control,
the United Nations, the Arab League and individual governments stepped
forward to insist on negotiations, to hammer out a ceasefire agreement
and to provide international peacekeeping forces to serve as monitors.
What could have been a prolonged conflict with devastating consequences
for the entire region was halted. The lessons that SHOULD have been learned
when the powerful Israeli military was unable to "win" the conflict
through force are that military aggression will not solve the deep-seated
problems in the region, and that negotiations and peace processes can
work.
8. Speaking of dialogue, Jimmy Carter,
with his new book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, took on the greatest
taboo in US politics: the gross violation of Palestinian rights and the
unqualified US government support for the Israeli government. Likening
Israel's policies in the Palestinian territories to the racist white rule
in South Africa, Carter has raised a firestorm of controversy. But finally,
FINALLY, someone with the credentials of a statesman, a peacemaker and
a friend of Israel is crying out against Israel's hellish treatment of
Palestinians. The public is embracing his views: his book quickly became
a bestseller and he has been greeted by enthusiastic crowds at appearances
around the country. Hopefully, our elected officials will start listening
as well.
9. In 2006 we managed to stop the
next war from starting! With the US bogged down in Iraq and the public
sick of war, it has been impossible for the Bush administration to launch
an attack against another country like Iran or North Korea. The army doesn't
have enough recruits to fight a new war and the politicians know it would
be political suicide to reinstate the draft. Two major warmongers-Donald
Rumsfeld and John Bolton-were forced out of power. And with Bush obligated
to appoint a new ambassador to the United Nations, perhaps diplomacy will
come back into fashion.
10. Across Latin America, elections
have continued to bring a wave of progressive leadership to power. With
the victories of Daniel Ortega and Rafael Correa, Nicaragua and Ecuador
join Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile and Brazil as governments committed to
improving the lives of the majority. As a sign of the radical changes
in the region, Bolivia's Evo Morales marked May 1 by nationalizing the
country's oil and gas resources. "After today," he declared,
"the hydrocarbons will belong to all Bolivians. Never again will
they be in the hands of transnational corporations. Today the country--la
patria--stands up."
So here's a toast to nations standing up to
greedy transnationals, to people standing up to leaders who abuse their
power, to humanity standing up to save the planet we inhabit-and to bringing
our troops home in 2007!
Medea Benjamin (medea@globalexchange.org) is cofounder of CODEPINK
(www.codepinkalert.org) and Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org).
|