I have always had a love/hate relationship with the United States of America. The first Americans with whom I interacted when I was a young reporter and youth activist in the early 1980s were brash, loud and arrogant and this put me off from visiting the country until I was in my 30s.
I have visited many times since and have made some great friends in the country that, in my young, revolutionary mind, always represented the worst of capitalism. It probably still does.
Over the past four years, I have often sympathised with my American friends – who could all be described as progressive or at the very least liberal – and I could feel their relief today that they have an opportunity to have a new beginning, ironically under their oldest-ever president who, at 78, has reached the average life span of an American male.
Like many people throughout the world, I watched Joe Biden’s inauguration with great interest. Yes, I was interested to see whether any of the right-wingers who stormed the Capitol a few weeks ago would turn up today, even though I knew they would not risk taking on 25 000 members of the National Guard. But I was also interested to see how the new president was going to deal with a country that has become so divided, especially over the past four years, with, in my opinion which is shared by many others, no hope of unity ever again.
I had fallen in love with America when Bill Clinton was president and admired him, despite all his many imperfections. I bought into the notion that he was the closest thing to a black president that America could ever have.
I fell in love with America again when a real black man in Barack Obama became president and gave hope that this racist country had finally turned the corner. I realised very quickly that, in the final analysis, Obama remained an American and despite his beautiful speeches which appeared to embrace all humanity, he would always act in America’s interest first, even if it meant killing people of a different nationality perceived to be terrorists by Americans, often on foreign soil.
But I loved the symbolism of a man from a minority group in America – and yes, South Africans, blacks are a minority in America – becoming president in such a messed-up country.
When Obama had to step down after serving two terms, it allowed an opportunist of note by the name of Donald Trump to stir up hatred among the many people who considered themselves Americans. Trump’s definition of Americans was basically anyone who was white and Christian. Those who were not white or Christian were not welcome. He made life difficult for anyone who did not fit into his definition of American.
And so, four years ago almost to the day, began one of the most hateful periods in American history and it reminded me why, as a progressive young man, I had hated America with every bit of my body and my soul.
Today, as I watched Trump’s pitiful last speech as president and Biden’s first, very touching speech, I felt like I might be ready to fall in love with America again.
I don’t know what it is, because I am not a sentimental person. But I felt touched by the warm reception given to the Obamas. I felt touched by the powerful rendition of the American national anthem by Lady Gaga, who I have always rated as a singer despite hating her earlier gimmicks which she used to gain popularity. I loved the symbolism in the first Latino judge swearing in the first woman vice president who happens to be black. I absolutely loved the beautiful and thoughtful poem read by a black woman, Amanda Gorman, aged 22. Her poem spelled out the challenges America faces with greater clarity than even the new president’s speech.
Not that the president’s speech was bad. In fact, it was really good and perfect for the occasion. He spoke about unity and humanity and urged all Americans to work together.
In the end, I found myself thinking why I was so interested in this inauguration and what the implications are for my beloved country, South Africa.
America’s democracy is not perfect. It is not much more than a two-party system, but it is working, and we can learn from it. One of the main things that I am taking away from the inauguration is that the president of the country should always try to be a president for everyone and not just for the people or the party who elected him. Our president needs to learn that sometimes he needs to take decisions that might not find favour in his own party but could be in the interest of the country. The party should not always come first.
I learned that, despite how much one might hate racists and people who promote other intolerances, it is sometimes better to try and convince them with good arguments and not through shouting them down or shutting them out. In fact, I knew this already, because this is what we did in South Africa when we negotiated with the apartheid Nationalist Party leadership. But I temporarily forgot it.
I learned that despite all our best intentions, you will never be able to change the world unless you involve the people with privilege and resources. On a global scale, it might be good for South Africa to be involved in BRICS and other such initiatives, but we can never ignore America because of its economic and other powers. On a local level in South Africa, we need to find more ways of engaging those with economic power if want to effect true change in our country. There will never be proper change as long as they hold onto their economic power. I don’t always blame them, because nobody has given them a good enough reason to give up this power.
America has colonised the world in many ways, sometimes even without an American setting foot in most countries. But they have used their economic might to promote their culture, their music, their movies and even their poor coffee and fast foods.
Maybe instead of only being obsessed with American music, movies and other cultural stuff, we should look more closely at the political culture and what we can learn from it. If Joe Biden delivers on everything he said in his inauguration speech, America will be a much better place. And if more political leaders from other countries follows his example, the world might also become a better place.
At this time in our history, when the world is still under threat from a killer virus, we should learn to set aside partisanship and work together. It requires, as Biden said, unity and decency, something that is often alien to politicians. I still hate it when an American is right.
(Written exclusively for this website)
