Amanda Gorman reads her poem ‘The Hill We Climb’ at the Biden-Harris inauguration
It is with a huge sense of relief that the Trump presidency is over. It is too early to say how things will work out under President Biden, but his actions over these past few days seem very positive. He has signed up to the Paris climate agreement, cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline, and rejoined the World Health Organisation and a host of other good initiatives.
Commentators are discussing the deep divisions in American politics. Many are saying that these go back to the 1960’s the Vietnam War and the liberalizing of social values. I think that the roots of division go very much further back.
Ever since its inception the USA has been a country of bizarre contradictions. It was founded upon colonialism, slavery and the genocide of Native Americans and it remains a country of extreme inequalities. Yet it often portrays itself as a beacon of peace, justice and democracy. These contradictions run deep.
USA has long trumpeted democracy while covertly backing coups and installing far right regimes abroad, often with the backing of UK and other governments. Jason Hickel lists some of them: Iran in 1953, Guatemala 1954, Congo 1961, Brazil and British Guiana in 1964, Ghana 1966, Indonesia 1967 and Chile 1973, to name but a few.
What is much less well known is the history of the American’s Nazis during the 1930’s and of a plot led by several wealthy businessmen to overthrow the democratically elected government of Franklin D Roosevelt in 1933.
Far right extremists have long played a major role in American politics. In 1898 in Wilmington, North Carolina, white supremacists burned the offices of the first black owned newspaper, murdered black people and forced the State government to resign, and because they essentially got away with it, this allowed the subsequent growth of the Klu Klux Klan. Much of the Christian church in USA is deeply racist, and reminds me of the Dutch Reformed Church in Apartheid era South Africa.
In a very interesting article the political economist Blair Fix analysis American history through the lens of class struggle. Over the last forty years inequality has rapidly grown more extreme, with mass impoverishment accompanied by extreme and excessive increases in wealth for a tiny minority. It is high time for the neo-liberal era to come to an end.
The inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was a day to celebrate. The young poet Amanda Gorman’s stirring poem ‘The Hill We Climb’ captured this joyous moment in the tangled history of America. Let us hope that America can move forward in the spirit of reconciliation and hope that Gorman calls for. The extent of the climate and ecological emergency, mass impoverishment and deep social divisions are all major challenges requiring a bold new direction, and early indications of the new administration are looking very promising. However the forces of the far right will oppose their actions every step of the way, in ways that may be democratic or deadly.
