Most of us have heard the saying about a red sky at night or a red sky in the morning but few can sleep under a sky that remains red throughout the night. A fire has lighted the sky and the animals of the forest know to run from it. We humans seem to lack the instinct to tell us which way to run.
It was a fire that was lit in the Arab countries and we called it the Arab Spring. For all we know, it could also portend an Arab Winter. Fools rejoiced at the revolution but how could they know the intent of the emerging rulers. NATO helped the revolutionaries of Libya but who has vetted these new rulers? What is their future?
The Greeks rioted over the inequities of their government trying to collect oppressive taxes. Imperious Americans and Canadians told the Europeans to fix their financial house of cards. And yet, like the vaunted Oriental stability, our economies are built on the shifting sands of greed and the dictates of those who gain from our mistakes.
The red sky has come to the Americas. People are protesting. They are setting fire to Wall Street, to the streets of America. They are lighting a fire among the supposedly acquiescent Canadians. They want the rich to pay but know that will not solve the problems. They know that the 99 per cent they claim to be are not blameless. It is their frustration that is palpable. They lack demands because they have no answers.
We listen to the experts and we know even less. One expert says the world’s systems are collapsing and another expert says we are on the edge of accelerated growth. And the bankers demand the police protect them from the anarchy of the masses that make no demands. Even the anarchists are at a loss because anarchy has failed them as a cause.
Each of us has our frustration. Our investments have failed us. Costs keep rising. The politicians promise answers and deliver confusion and posturing. Those who raise the prices on the commodities we need use the money to pay themselves more. We cannot see tomorrow. All we see is the red sky.
There is no leadership in the red sky. It disquiets. It threatens. It frustrates us. It begs leadership. And the leadership will come. It might not be the leadership we want.
It will not be the rhetoric of an Obama. The American right wing has eviscerated Barrack Obama. He rescued General Motors and Wall Street and earned the enmity of his constituency. Canadians are faced with four years of a Stephen Harper who won office by crudely attacking his opponent and lying to Canadians. Canadian liberals are leaderless and lack direction. The NDP are lost in a revolution which their philosophy cannot comprehend. There is no succour in sight.
Only a new politics can put its arms around the needs of the red sky. Only new thinking can overcome the fire that burns through the night. We must speak out for the people.
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Copyright 2011 © Peter Lowry
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