10 Good Things About 2009!
Posted by Medea -
Sat, Dec 19, 2009
Accountability, Afghanistan, Citizen Diplomacy, Gaza/Israel, Obama, Remind Obama
My almost annual list of ten good things about the waning year has never before posed such a tremendous challenge. In the face of this challenge, I decided to try a minimalist thought experiment, blocking out the many baneful events that colored 2009, and instead seeking out the small, yet powerfully bright notes to inspire and give us hope for the year head.
1. Tens of thousands of people from around the world took to the streets of Copenhagen to call for meaningful action to address climate change, despite continuous attempts to squelch it. Inside Copenhagen’s meeting halls, indigenous peoples from small island nations and the Himalayas spoke powerfully about their rights and their needs.
2. According to recent polls a majority of Americans now see the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting, and seventy-five percent say no new troops should be sent to that country. Public opinion is on our side. We can take heart from vocal women in Afghanistan, from member of Parliament Malalai Joya who rails against warlords to women standing up against harmful rape laws and government corruption.
3. The creative use of Twitter by protesters in Iran brought thousands of people into the streets of Teheran, including students, young people and thousands of young women. Their courageous and innovative use of social media kept the rest of the world informed of events, slipping out from under the country’s blanket of censorship.
4. The Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement to pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights garnered the support of many groups around the world. The growing list of BDS successes is too long to enumerate here, but to choose only one: In February South African dockworkers, remembering the long history of Apartheid in their country, refused to offload an Israeli ZIM Lines ship in Durban.
5. One of Obama’s first acts in office was to lift the Global Gag Rule, which ended restrictions on U.S. funding for organizations that provide family planning services and that are often the first responders for women in the fight against HIV.
6. The Washington, DC City Council voted in mid-December to legalize same-sex marriage, making it the first jurisdiction south of the Mason-Dixon Line to do so. Same-sex marriage is now legal in Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut and will be legal in New Hampshire on January 1st. DC Mayor Fenty signed the bill on December 18, 2009.
7. Michelle Obama planted the White House’s first organic vegetable garden, a garden that provided food for her own family’s table and helped to educate the nation’s children about healthy eating and the impact of mass-produced food on the environment.
8. 2009 may go down as the beginning of the end of the failed “War on Drugs”. The Obama administration announced that the federal government would no longer arrest and prosecute medical marijuana patients and caregivers as long as they were following their state’s medical marijuana laws.
9. Last year, CODEPINK launched a campaign calling upon the FBI to add Luis Posada Carilles, a ruthless terrorist who was responsible for downing a Cuban airplane in 1976, to the Most Wanted List and arrest him. On April 8, he was indicted on 11 counts.
10. Obama’s Nobel Prize victory sparked a global debate about what it takes to be a real peacemaker. While many of us were aghast that a president who has escalated a war was receiving the world’s principal peace honor, the aspirational goal of the prize is an added pressure on both the Obama administration and us at the grass roots. We realized that we are the ones who have to make peace, that the impetus is as much on us to turn hope into action.
Even after all the disappointments of this year, the items on this list and our own strength and persistence give me immense hope in the possibilities to come as we greet the New Year.
So here’s a toast to our power and our passion—we have our work cut out for us in 2010!
Tags: 2009
February 18th, 2010 at 7:38 am
Wow! Has this group lost it’s primary focus?
Afghanistan has had double the casualties in 2009 than any other year. Did Bush actually keep are troops safe?
also
#7 Michelle Obama was not the first, only the most recent. Eleanor Roosevelt’s had a victory garden in World War II, and she wasn’t the first. (SPIN)
Name one campaign promise that Obama kept. Shouldn’t be that hard, I’m only asking for one.
And really the Nobel Peace Prize; Didn’t Hitler win that a couple years before he fired up the furnaces. Sorry, that groups praise has no credibility with me.
February 24th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Hi Kirk,
I am unclear as to what you mean about CODEPINK losing her primary focus. We have been adamantly against the Afghanistan escalation, and I would say it would be a stretch to assume that Bush kept the troops safe–but that’s just my opinion. Regarding #7 on our list, I am more than happy to give Eleanor Roosevelt and the Victory Garden movement props! They were mostly to promote cutting food costs during war and I think Michelle Obama and her organic garden are taking it a step further with the quest to highlight healthy eating for kids (and adults) and the obesity epidemic. They all deserve credit!
As for Obama’s promises, the website Politifact has done an excellent job of tracking his broken and kept promises. Check it out! http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/
Last but not least, the Noble Prize’s place on our list. Hitler did not win one, he was nominated in protest by Erik Brandt, a member of the Swedish Parliament. Brandt never intended for this nomination to be seriously considered, and submitted it in protest to the nomination of Neville Chamberlain for the prize. If you read what we wrote, you will see that we take the view that while it is an honor to have our President receive the prize, we believe he has MUCH to do to earn it. And we will keep pushing.
Thanks!
March 10th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
wow, so many thoughts running through my head. As a female that believes in feminist rights, however, a conservative as well, I am appalled. I wonder how many of you feminists have been on the dry hot soil of the middle east. How can you say you want our American Soldiers dead? I feel so sorry for those of you who feel that way, but then again, that is why myself and my other military companions have fought here or elsewhere for EVERYONE’s right to say what they feel w/out their life being threatened, although my life as well as other soldiers/sailors have been threatened by you by that simplistic banner, done in pink, the color of breast cancer survivors (that is another problem I have as my mother is a cancer survivor but when she finds out what else pink can stand for I am sure she will reconsider wearing anything pink again). Why, Why, Why. Where is your pride in country, God and fellow man/woman? Apparently, it has fallen by the wayside, along with morals. No soldier goes into the field w/the idea that they are going to kill, but so much of what we hear in the news, etc says nothing other than the bad…there is good going on there and as one of many that have seen this first hand, shame on you for only considering one side.
March 10th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Hi Tracy,
I’m guessing that your confusion and appall (plus your comment on “how can you say you want American Soldiers dead?”) comes from having viewed this picture here http://www.codepinkalert.org/section.php?id=326
Please read this page that explains that we IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM want anyone to die. That banner was photoshopped by some folks who have some website (it is on the side of the image you saw) and they spread it around and took all reference to it being a fake off of their website. They purposely spread a lie. But we don’t let stuff like that get us down so I hope you can see beyond their prank and look at the work we really do.
Thanks for checking in and for your thoughtful comment!