An Alternate Witness

I was clued into this YouTube video on this article on NPR. As someone said at our house the other night, the women of the Arab world are so eloquent, and don't get nearly enough air time!

There's all kinds of ranting and raving going on around the United States and among Americans abroad about the new stimulus package Pres. Barack Obama is trying to put through Congress, about how it's too little too late, how it's just the same as the Bush stimulus that didn't work. People are complaining that the government isn't coming down more harshly on AIG for using government bailout award bonuses to their executives (contractually obligated bonuses which, incidentally, amount to only 0.03% of the government's total AIG bailout). My roommate's new complaint is that Pres. Obama is now reversing his campaign slogan of "the fundamentals of the economy are wrong" to echo the old Bush comment that "the fundamentals of the ecnomy are strong."

All of this is justified criticism, and since the early Bush years, I've applauded any critique of governmental policy, because genuine critical thinking about the government became a scarce commodity under George W. Without a doubt, Pres. Obama ran on a platform that included fixing what's wrong with the economy, and he should be expected to follow through on that promise. And I believe that he will, not merely because it will help get him re-elected in 2012, but also because I think he genuinely believes in the American promise.

However, we cannot and should not rely on the goverment alone to fix the problem. For a start, the government can't do it alone. Indeed, for the government alone to make any sort of dent in the economic crisis would mean mortgaging our grandchildren and great-grandchildren's futures with an even greater ballooning of the national debt than George W. Bush foisted upon them. Even if the government had the money to make a difference, though, would they really be able to implement quick and effective policies? National government is by definition cumbersome and slow, and it is exactly that quality of our goverment that helps protect us from too much dictatorship and oppression. Primarily, however, the goverment is too large and impersonal to see what individual communities need and what solutions individual problems warrant.

That's why I've been so excited to see a trend of Do-It-Yourself Stimulus peppering the news.

Sit-In Leads To Green Revolution
The first inkling I got of this was when my roommate started talking about a factory in Chicago where 240 workers were staging a sit-in after their factory was foreclosed with just 3 days notice. The complaints included the fact that Bank of America had been awarded funds in the stimulus package precisely to keep it from foreclosing on businesses and pushing up unemployment. This commentary by UC Santa Barbara's Prof. Nelson Lichtenstein explains why factory sit-ins are both rare and significant. The conclusion of this event is even more exciting than the effectiveness of this kind of civil disobedience. Just a month ago, the factory was bought by a California company making energy-efficient windows, making this a green revolution, too!

Several other cases have come to my attention more recently of mid-sized businesses and even individuals stepping up to the plate and sacrificing to help those even worse off in this economic crisis.

Hospital Cutbacks
From the Boston Globe came the story of the President and CEO of Beth Israel Hospital who, faced with the need to slim the budget, took a hard look at "the people who polish the corridors, who strip the sheets, who empty the trash cans, and he realized that a lot of them are immigrants, many of them had second jobs, most of them were just scraping by." He also recognized that the interactions of food servers and people who pushed wheelchairs with patients were a vital part of the practice of medicine at his hospital. So instead of announcing job cuts as he had originally thought, he asked his employees to

"...do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners - the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don't want to put an additional burden on them.

"Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice," he continued. "It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits."

He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause.

And, having been asked, his workers were more than happy to give up cost-of-living increases, bonuses, a few vacation days and a little sick leave if it meant that everyone would keep their jobs.

Public Defenders
I remember reading a year or two ago that the Public Defenders office somewhere in the Upper Midwest was unable to keep lawyers on their payrolls. With mounting costs of law school and little to no chance of scholarships and other financial aid, new lawyers had so much debt piled on their shoulders that they couldn't afford to work for the public good, no matter how desperately they might have wanted to. The goverment was considering options to forgive those loans just to keep enough lawyers in the Public Defenders office to do what the Constitution demands. According to this article, the economic crisis may be helping public services, and at a time when lawyers are desperately needed to deal with the flood of foreclosures and bankrupcies rocking the country.

Philanthropy Rising
Even individuals are ponying up and doing what they can to help those worst effected by the economic crisis. This article explains how Salvation Army Kettles have raised record donations this past Christmas season, funds desperately needed in such times. I've also read that donations to church social action funds are also on the rise.

So while the economic situation in America may be bleak, I think that for many people, this crisis is bringing out the very best parts of the American spirit, that can-do attitude that got our nation to the top of the global pigpile to begin with. It renews my faith in the power of human compassion. I just watched Will Smith's "Independence Day" yesterday, and I still believe that what that movie says is true:
When the going gets tough, Americans get going!

The Israelis aren't letting foreign journalists into the Gaza Strip to cover the incursion, despite widespread agreement that having journalists on the ground in times of war is good for international opinion and justice:

"The barring of outside news organizations from Gaza hampers the flow of unbiased information of vital interest to the entire world. Authorities on all sides should work to allow access by journalists in keeping with the aims of press freedom," said John Daniszewski, the AP's managing editor for international news.

The Israeli government has long banned Israeli journalists from entering Gaza because of fears for their safety, but foreign reporters previously were permitted in, even during times of heavy fighting.

Human Rights Watch urged Israel to open Gaza to journalists and human rights monitors to report on the actions of both sides. "Their presence can discourage abuse by warring parties and help save lives," the New York-based organization said.

There are plenty of theories floating about the blogosphere about why: They don't want the rest of the world to observe their war crimes. They don't want anyone to know that they're mostly guessing at where the militants might be. They're worried about the effects of collateral damage on Israel's image and security. They can't guarantee the safety of the press. They don't believe that foreign media reports objectively on Israel.

It doesn't matter, though. Word still leaks out. The networks are interviewing doctors in Gaza's hospital by phone, or monitoring statistics from the UN. Bloggers around the world are posting images of bloody children. Last night, right here in Jebal Amman's al-Balad Theater, the names of the victims were read by a chorus of actors, in solidarity with the families they've left behind. And, of course, Gaza has its own native journalistic forces, who are getting out pieces like this beautiful elegy of a city by Ibrahim Barzak of the Associated Press.

There are other pictures that haunt me. The Israeli army issued a video of the bombing of the Hamas-run government compound, which it posted on YouTube. In it, I also can see my home being destroyed, and I watch it obsessively.

Even when Israel tries to use the digital age to it advantage, it still works against them.

The Hadi grocery where we once shopped is closed. Food is scarce all over town.

....

Samir, who is 9, told me his family has no water at home and he wanted to bring enough for a bath because he and his brother smell.

That's a problem for most people in Gaza right now.

In my father-in-law's building, residents throw out bags of spoiled food. With no power, refrigerators don't run and fresh food quickly rots.

And if you think that's bad, things are going to get worse, according to the UN.

But then, of course, it's never that easy, as Marty Kaplan so eloquently points out. He highlights exactly my dilemma in this whole issue. Both sides have legitimate arguments, and how can you come down entirely on one side?

It was the description of the difference between American airports and public transportation, and that of the rest of the world, that first drew me into this article by recent Nobel Prize winner Thomas Friedman. My father likes to compare the Swiss train stations, which apologized profusely when a train was just 2 minutes behind schedule, with the traffic reports we listened to after we got back from Switzerland that habitually indicated 45 minute delays on the commuter trains into the US capital! Just this week I was fuming to someone about how luggage carts are free(or at most require a 25 cent refundable deposit) in every airport I've ever been to EXCEPT in the States, where they cost $3 and, in my experience, are often broken. (I had one in Philadelphia towards the end of my 24 hour trip home from Peace Corps that would only turn left, but there was no way I was paying another $3 for another cart!)

However, it should come as no surprise that the winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics had very cogent things to say about the future of the American economy.

Because of the financial crisis, Barack Obama has the bipartisan support to spend $1 trillion in stimulus. But we must make certain that every bailout dollar, which we’re borrowing from our kids’ future, is spent wisely.

It has to go into training teachers, educating scientists and engineers, paying for research and building the most productivity-enhancing infrastructure — without building white elephants. Generally, I’d like to see fewer government dollars shoveled out and more creative tax incentives to stimulate the private sector to catalyze new industries and new markets. If we allow this money to be spent on pork, it will be the end of us.

America still has the right stuff to thrive. We still have the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society — in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage. China may have great airports, but last week it went back to censoring The New York Times and other Western news sites. Censorship restricts your people’s imaginations. That’s really, really dumb. And that’s why for all our missteps, the 21st century is still up for grabs.

John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.

Here are a couple interesting blog entries by friends about blogging in the Arab world: from kinziblogs with some interesting comments by the very Jordanians effected, and about a Saudi blogger whose neighbors can't see what he writes.

I feel somewhat protected by being an American in Jordan, which depends heavily on American funds to run its government and its economy, and is therefore loathe to offend the American public. However, rest assured, it has crossed my mind more than once that blogging in this part of the world is not without risk.

I filter my writing carefully anyway. I know that friends, family and potential employers all have access to my blogs, as well as the friends, family and current or potential employers of those whom I mention in my blog. I definitely don't want to offend those people, who are important to me, nor jeapordize their personal or business relationships. I also have a definite agenda to help Westerners see this region in a more sympathetic, positive light.

All of this, however, is about my own personal concerns. As a US American, as a humanist, and as a writer, I find government control of information appalling.

The following anonymous comment (that sounds an awful lot like it came from my sister!) was left on my blog entry "New Teachers Needed":

As a student (victim, survivor?) of the American school system and a current cubicle jockey, I must ask, what world are the children not prepared for? I am numbered and accounted for at every turn. Recently I was sent to the principal’s office (DMV) for not having my hall pass (work order for my car) signed. Never mind that I fixed the problem promptly. I have a job where I write- and I am expected to be empathetic and caring, within the proscribed limits. I must hold the position for a year before I am allowed to move up, no matter how fast my learning curve is. I am also struggling- as I did in elementary, middle, and high school, to simplify my responses to customer queries in order to cater to the least common denominator. I have been placed on a “Career Path” by my supervisor, who is currently working to get me more exposure to the same department on another site so that my year-end evaluation (grades) will be higher and stack up better against my peers. There are two main cliques that lunch together, and a few of us floaters that wander between groups. How is this different than school?

Yes, you're right, public schools definitely prepare us for the scenario you describe. But the "Shift Happens" video I posted before, or the TED speeches by Sir Ken Robinson and Ray Kurzweil all suggest that, while this model still works at T. Rowe Price, Merril Lynch and Ford, they won't sustain us too far into the future.

But wait a minute! It's not working for Merril Lynch and Ford, is it? And I don't think it's the way things are working in the most successful segments of Google, Zappos and other new companies that are taking the Twenty-First century by storm. Some of the newest success stories are a matter of wikinomics or built on the open-source model of Linux and OpenOffice.org.

I think, in fact, that you've gotten the point exactly. Public education, as it emerged out of the Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, has been designed to train and prepare students for the kind of corporate culture that has produced the cubicle jockey. In fact, however, this model is becoming obsolete, and while it may work for our generation, I believe Sir Ken Robinson when he says that it will not be relevant for today's first graders.