Barack Obama won. SO WHAT?
resist U.S. imperialism; think about what it means for the millions of unemployed, starving Indians. Will their lives change? 

Barack Obama emerged winner in the US presidential elections today. And everybody is celebrating.  Even In India. Big fucking time. The "dean" of our "college" celebrated by distributing sweets among us. In his euphoria and by his absurd colinized, authoritarian and fascist disposition, he assumed that we were all willing to accept this development as a watershed in the history of post-colonial democratic "India". I don't know about the others but to me it just seemed foolish and naive. And it just seems to be growing. I mean does nobody has an opinion anymore? The American Media are manufacturing consent and we are all falling for it. They want us to believe that this IS the biggest event of modern times.

Cultural Imperialism at its best. And this colonized naivety graduates to absurdity...with colleges distributing sweets. Students of i dont know how many countries have by-hearted the entire U.S. electoral process. I don't know about elsewhere, but in India, its crazy. I happened to talk to a friend in college. She knew everything there was to know about the elctions: the constituencies, their voting patterns, their orientations, their locations and a host of other election dynamics. A lot of knowledge i rckon. Definitely. But when i asked her about what party was Mayawati from,  she said BJP. Now i admit that this IS a little dumb and otherwise people would usually know that Maya is from BSP and not BJP. I mean more than 6 states in India at this moment are on the verge of elections. But will they be celebrated? American citizens don't know who Manmohan Singh is. Forget about America. Will they be celebrated in India? I don't know. 

People say Obama's victory is a victory of the subaltern. now why do we have to club every element of subalternism into one lump, one category. hat about Hillary Clinton? She represnts the subaltern. But nobody mourns her exit. It is true. Of all oppressed classes, gender as a category is the most frozen and will take the longest to unfreeze. Besides, who did Obama win against anyway? I mean McCaine was not even half as charismatic as him. Agreed that a black man coming to power in a country with a white majority is a major thing. But don't, please don't hail it as a victory of the subaltern. 

And why do we in India need to care about it? I mean, if a Muslim becomes India's Prime Minister, will the average American even know about it? Will they care? I mean its not substantiated by empirical evidence but fuck it. It doesn't need to be. it is so obvious. They won't. And please don't sell it as a victory of the left. Just because the other hopeful happened to be someone right of the centre, doesn't mean Obama is leftist. 

What will change? Will the U.S. stop its neoliberal market policies? Will they stop pushing for the expansion of the "free" market, which they conveniently term "Globalization?" Will America stop being Uncle fuckin Sam? Will they put an end to their crusades, which they dress up as wars agianst terrorism or even war for oil? Wil they agree that its high time they stopped their agricultural subsidies or let other countries increase theirs? Will they stop the relentless capitalist expansion, colonising countries politically as well as culturally. The very fact that i have to write this in English is testimony enough of our being colonised. Will they acknowledge that Will they stop the civilizational project , telling people in the "third world" to adopt modernist ways through the various U.N organizations; telling us to take to modern medicine, debunking all our traditional knowledge as superstition, in the process, just by accident, expanding the market for their pharma corporations.  Will the White Man unload his fuckin burden? or will he just pass iton to a Black Man? haha. I mean stop it guys. Let us decide what is best for us. 

How many of those who know every bit of the electoral process of the U.S., would be able to merely tell the number of electoral constituencies in India. How many would know all polotical parties of India? How many would be able to tell the names of all the Presidents and Prime Ministers that independent India has known? Fuck it. How many would be able to name all the states falling under the Indian territory. 

And think about it. How many Americans would be able to tell even the name of the Indian PM. How many of those who are celebrating Obama's victory as some kind of victory against the conservatives, wore black bands when Berlusconi in Italy and Sarkozy in France won against the Left parties of their countries? Why do we keep finding faults with Chavez and Castro.  Now if u say that the U.S. is the most powerful nation of the world and so we all ought to know what is going on there; that we have no choice but to accept whatever it does as our own, then there is a problem with your politics.

Mahim Singh