The last hurrah

A harbinger of hope or the culmination of an extra-ordinary journey.

A big night or a bigger dawn ?

It is yet to be seen if the political will can be renewed or if the potential for participatory democracy been really knocked upon.

Nevertheless, what an inspirational story it has been of personal triumph against all odds.

The "last hurrah" or can there ever be one ?

Sicko

If you are from a country where nearly 400 million people still live below poverty, you should probably not be complaining about the health care system in the United States. But if you have lived in the US for sometime, it would hardly go unnoticed that the health care system is such a farce. 50 odd million people (i.e. nearly 15% of the population) are uninsured (health care without insurance in the US is worse than the worst nightmare!). It doesn't stop there. Even if you are a middle class citizen covered by a "good" health insurance, you would still dread at the thought of visiting a doctor.

Michael Moore is direct, ruthless and when given a chance, strips down his opponents with utter disregard. I was thrilled when "Sicko" was released this friday, especially because the 2008 campaign has just picked up pace. and boy, has he done a good job! It will be interesting to see if the documentary has any influence on the voters or the intent of policy makers at the Capitol.

I can't stop thinking about the pros/cons of organized lobbying and how it would fit in a more complex democratic framework like that of India. Are we much better off now? I don't know.

Political Courage ?

" ...It may perhaps seem odd that in my private life I go around interfering and giving people advice like this without having the courage to come forward in public life before you, the people and give advice on matters of public interest. The reason for this is what you have often heard me talking about in all sorts of places, the kind of divine or supernatural sign that comes to me. Perhaps this is what Meletus was making fun of when he wrote up the charge against me. It started when I was a child, a kind of voice which comes to me and when it comes - always stops me doing what I am just about to do. It never tells me what I should do, it is this which opposes my taking part in politics and rightly opposes it in my opinion.

You can be sure Athenians, that if I had tried in the past to go into politics, I would have been dead long ago and being no use at all either to you or myself. Please don't be anooyed with me for speaking the truth, there is no-one in the world who can get away with deliberately opposing it or any other popular assembly or trying to put a stop to all unjust and unlawful things which are done in politics. It is essential that the true fighter for justice if he is to survive even for a short time should remain a private individual and not go into public life. ..."

Apology(audio or text)
-Socrates as accounted by Plato.

An Inconvenient Truth

It had been some time since I watched a good movie in a theater, and last weekend I happened to watch a very good one: "An Inconvenient Truth", a documentary film by Al Gore about Global Warming and the science and politics surrounding it. The movie is based on Al Gore's works and his mission. I was curious about the movie for two reasons, one the topic and another Al Gore himself, whether he was trying for a comeback after his narrow defeat in the controversial 2000 US Presidential Elections to George Bush and if this movie would hint anything about it.

It took only a little while into the movie to realise that this was not a politically motivated movie but based on his works and interests which have been there for a long time now. Al Gore was introduced to the topic of Global Warming when he took a course at Harvard University under Professor Roger Revelle, who was the first scientist to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Since then he has been consistently rallying on this issue as a senator in the Congress. He authored a book in 1992, "Earth in the Balance" which reached the New York Time's Bestseller list.

To become the President of a nation is the highest ambition of any one's political career. Hardly is there anyone in the history of a democracy to have come so close to achieving it but falling short by a whisker as Al Gore did. After his failed attempt at the presidency in 2000, Al Gore changed his direction in life to combat Global Warming.

Kudos to Davis Guggenheim - the director of the movie, it conveys a very powerful message effectively. Based on Al Gore's book which goes by the same name, it wonderfully weaves in his personal experiencies in American Politics and brings out the seriousness of the problem to a lay man. Al Gore has given slideshows on this topic since 1989 about a thousand times in different cities in the US and some places around the world and the recently released movie and his book attempts to reach this out to a wider audience.

Climate change is a much bigger problem that humanity is facing today than poverty, hunger or terrorism as it brings into question the basic existence of civilization. The ten hottest years ever measured have occured in the last fourteen years. This has a direct correlation to the human produced carbon. The human population has quadrupled in the last century. China is opening a coal fired power-station every 5 days. The rate of melting of ice in the polar caps and greenland has increased ten fold and if it continues for another ten years, the sea levels are going to increase about 20 feet which could be devastating. The wind and ocean currents are undergoing dramatic changes and hurricanes like Katrina are only a warning of more serious catastrophes. The movie brings out several such startling facts into light and points out that we may be entering a point of no-return in as short a period as ten years.

Are the facts that the movie brings out absurdly alarming? Is this an exaggeration? Should Al Gore be believed or is this a political motive? Consider the following.

The scientific community is at a consensus that we are responsible for global warming, there have been 928 peer reviewed papers in scientific journals between 1993 and 2003 and the number of papers which disagree with this is 0. But if you take a similar sampling of stories in the popular media, 53% of the stories try to press that Global Warming is unproven!! Why is this skewed? This is because of a lack of political will and the lobbying of oil and coal companies. Exxon Mobil, the largest company in the US and the world's largest oil company has funded about 40 organisations to brand climate change and it's activists as skeptical.

Why is Al Gore's work and mission in the US crucial ? We all see US as an angel, pollution cannot be percieved here simply because of the vastness of the land and it's limited population. we consider the demons of pollution being the developing world, most notably being China or India, because of their increasing energy needs and their populations. But take a look at some figures. Be it, country wise oil consumption or percentage of emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. The share of US is disproportionately higher to any other country. The contrast is especially stark when you consider the relative populations as well. The fuel and emission standards used in China are better than the standards used in USA!! The Kyoto Protocol brought into effect in February 2005, is an agreement made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases. 163 of the countries around the world have signed this agreement and there are only two countries in the world not to have ratified it: USA and Australia!! and the reason Bush Administration isn't doing it is because of the strain it puts on the economy!! and Whose advise did this administration take to arrive at this decision? - Exxon Mobil. A senior scientist Dr. Robert Watson, who was in favor of Kyoto was removed from the US negotiation team on the advice of Exxon and in came Harlan Watson recommended by Exxon to represent US in the Montreal convention last december.

Al Gore stresses this is not a political issue, but an ethical and more so a spiritual one. Whether he will be able to change the minds of the american people about climate crisis so that the country moves past a tipping point and people demand a solution to this problem when the politicians face the electorate is to be seen. It is a must watch movie, and the movie finely ends with ways each individual can contribute in solving this problem.

The most powerful line of the movie comes towards the end when he points out that there is always an urge to move away from denial to despair without pausing on the intermediate step of actually doing something about the problem. Are we moving away from the truth because we know that the moment we acknowledge it, there is a moral imperative to act upon it? Is it simply more convenient to ignore it. After all, it is an inconvenient truth, or an Ardh Satya.

"The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequence."

-Winston Churchill.


Suggested Links:
--> Movie Trailer
--> Official website of the movie
--> Al Gore's interview on Charlie Rose show
--> Al Gore's interview on Guardian Unlimited

Historic Moments

Hermann Goering: Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. quote verified at snopes.com

Herman Goering was no philosophist, He was a close aide of Hitler but in the above quote makes a very important observation. This was recorded during an interview in a US prison cell after World war II. A tyrant himself probably being completely dejected made the philosopher inside him speak. This has particularly a lot of relevance at this crucial juncture which I believe could go down as one of the most important moments to define the way this nation is headed to.

After a brief hiatus, I am back :). Being in DC for the last two months I have been watching the election campaigns very closely, I can surely say that I have been "at the right place at the right time" :). I have been watching all the presidential debates, vice presidential debate, the republican national convention (the democratic convention was over by the time I was here), the Bill O Reilly, Al Franken shows very religiously. Surprisingly the media here in the US seems to have very biased opinions unlike in India. I almost started hating programs on Fox: Almost every show host was campaigning for the republican party.

Being from the world's largest democracy myself and having enjoyed freedom and liberty that it brings, one unfortunate thing about it is the inability of the majority to assess the things right and even more the inability of contestants to reach across all sections of the society. Well, I should say the Republicans have done their homework pretty good, but it is going to be the Kerry's , the Vajpayee's (I am not trying to compare the two here) to figure out where they went wrong and if they did at all. Anyways let me not predict the results when the american media is expecting it to be resolved in courts !!

Keeping aside the global affairs ;), the last two months have helped me analyze my strengths and weaknesses to some extent and in reflecting the past. After a fairly persistent search for my job, I landed with two job offers. Both are reasonably small companies here in the DC region. I did start with one before I got the second and decided to switch over for a couple of reasons. I would be starting from Monday..

Current Music: Imagine by John Lennon