For the love of God, tell me what to do!!

I'm in another transition phase. After eight months in Serbia, it is certain that I am leaving at the end of the month. The question of "what's next," which is what everyone is asking me, is still unclear. Since this is not exactly an ideal time to enter the job market, and because I missed all the deadlines for getting into a graduate program or law school, I'm sort of treading water. Well, that is not entirely true, because I have the Roma paper to write and the ANS Conference to attend at the end of April. So my next weeks are well defined: writing and travelling. I suppose that isn't so bad. But it is the large black hole of unemployment in the post ANS period which is bearing down on me.

But what is the point of writing this? Simply that I find it interesting that I do not see the "freedom" (whatever that means) I currently have as a blessing, but rather as a curse. I mean, I am really free to go anywhere and do anything, yet all I want is for someone to come along and tell me what to do, to give me a job and define things for me. I remember a quote from my good friend Brian who said something like 'we want our freedom only so we can give it away to someone else.' I have to agree with that on many levels: personal and political. For me, thus on the personal level, I hate to be to confined and tied down by material things and jobs, yet when I experience that sensation of being so free, I run for cover and the 'safety' of belonging to something, and thus being tied down again, etc...

You can see this play out on a political level too. People were so eager to be 'free' of Bush, that they went and gave a huge mandate to Obama, rather than trying to reclaim the problems for themselves. Ok, maybe you can argue that in a democratic system the vote is essentially the individuals power to dictate how they think the problems need be addressed. But you can also say, particularly in the American two party system, there is very limited choice, and voting is just shifting power from one side to the other: thus freeing yourself of one party only to rush into the other one. I think this analysis is particularly relevant during the financial crisis (as it would have been following 9/11 also), where Americans are particularly frightened and looking for help. Obama really has a huge amount of power, because the citizens have given him a mandate, and no politician will seriously challenge him at the moment.

But we can also look at places like Kosovo and Montenegro and make a similar assessment. Both of them were so eager to get away from Serbia, thus in a sense freeing themselves of Belgrade. But both expressed immediate intentions to join the EU, thus giving up their sovereignty and adopting EU laws, practices and standards. In order to enter the EU, they must give up a significant amount of power to Brussels. In Kosovo, the situation is even more complex given the power of the EULEX, NATO et al. The international community essentially ruled by decree from 1999 until the declaration of independence in February, 2007, and today they still have control over virtually all the infrastructure and institutions, building them in the western image.

What this tells me is that we don't really like to be totally alone, that there is something of a heard mentality still in us, despite the supposed 'hyper individualism' of Western culture and globalization. I am free to go anywhere, yet to really do that would be to break from the group to which I belong, and renounce, to some degree, the desire to join another one. Just like with Kosovo and Montenegro, it is a precarious position to be in and can be very uncomfortable (because it is not the norm, and visibly sets you apart). Thus it drives me, and the Kosovars and Montenegrians, right back into the arms of another group, which can come in the form of a job, a relationship, a graduate program, EU membership, an ideology, etc...

Open letter to President Obama

Your Excellency,

Though it is a few hours yet 'till your confirmation as the 44th President of the United States of America, allow me to congratulate you on your assuming of the Oval office. No matter what one holds as a personal opinion, this is a historical moment for our country. You have overcome great odds to achieve the highest political office of the land, and Americans have, on one level, overcome a history of profound racism to place you in that office.

I will be the first to admit that I am often cynical when it comes to the political process, to the realities at work in any political system based on a few people making decisions for the rest of us. But on this day I will not get on that soap box. I will instead just take the next few lines to call on you not to forget all the hope your campaign rode in on. And to remember:

REMEMBER the 50+ millions of Americans living without health insurance,

REMEMBER the other millions of Americans whose health insurance is more interested in profit than well being,

REMEMBER the level of greed displayed by our business community that provoked this massive, global, economic crisis,

REMEMBER all the Earthlings who now must stand in bread lines with no idea where the next paycheck is coming from or whether they will still have a roof over their heads at the end of the month,

REMEMBER all the Earthlings who are spending this cold winter with no roof over their heads and no food in their stomach,

REMEMBER all the Earthlings illegally imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay,

REMEMBER your own promise to seek some justice for these same Earthlings,

REMEMBER your promise to close down that place,

REMEMBER all the Earthlings who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan,

REMEMBER your own promises towards those parts of the world,

REMEMBER all the people who lost their lives in the Levant these last days,

REMEMBER they are all Earthlings and entitled to a dignity long denied them, irrespective of ideology,

REMEMBER that you are a public servant, and for the next 4 - 8 years, you work not for your own interests or enrichment, but for the people of the United States,

REMEMBER that you asked for this responsability and it remains yours until the end of your mandate, and even when things get tough, the buck stops with you,

REMEMBER all this, and

REMEMBER to be honest at all times.

Yours, in hope and friendship,

David A. Brown

Earthling

Thinking Matters Abstract

Title: Soccer in Politics: Identity, Power, and Nationalism

"The appeal of soccer to individuals of all cultures, genders, and ethnicities has made it the world sport. This popularity has not come without a price however, as most places with soccer cultures also see violence and discrimination.

Creating a theoretical framework based on theories of nationalism, power and identity will set the stage for this paper, after which a historical narrative of soccer focused on its colonial legacy will be constructed and analyzed. These two elements will provide a picture of a sport used to create myths of national superiority and to stir up tensions. Then, by studying cases of discrimination towards fans and players from “other” communities in Europe, the paper will place the modern game within the historical and theoretical narrative. Emerging from this is a sense of a society still repeating these racist and colonial narratives, through the import of foreign players under suffocating contracts, and the establishment of normative identities.

Left to consider are the questions of how so many international organizations can hold soccer up as panacea for social and economic problems and if the paradox of a sport that unites as it divides leaves the possibility of soccer as a performance of resistance?"

Through the looking glass ~ 1/30/2008

"There is only one place in the world where North and South meet on an equal footing: a soccer field at the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil. The equator cuts through the middle of the Zerao stadium in Amapa, so each team plays one half in the South and the other half in the North." -Eduardo Galeano

My friend Simon (firesidehistory.blogspot.com) sent me "Upside Down" by Galeano, and I found the above quote almost immediately. But, as much as I am enjoying the text so far, I am struck by problems of such ideological polarization. Galeano offers great criticism of the western liberal model, both economic and political, but can't really provide an alternative. I see this so often in these radicalized texts.

So far Peter McClaren's essay on critical multiculturalism, and Denzin's Performance Ethnography are the best in providing a method to subvert problems of race, culture, neo-colonialism, yet again, they fall short in providing a view of how to handle the fall out of change. While it would be great to say its a simple as dismantling systems, I think the collapse we would experience would be even worse.

Again, this is what I like about Denzin and McClaren, they are offering a personal view of internalizing power, thus it is closer to the Daoist view of power in self control and not doing, rather than doing. Because it is impossible to control everybody, and also it is highly paradoxical to even try, we control ourselves, and let others choose of their own "free" will.

Can soccer be used to "promote" or expose this world view? Can a team sport ever be so individualized? Can soccer and its divisive nature be used to subvert political and economic power systems? Can it turn racism around on itself?