I had the graduating seniors very much in mind as I stood in protest on the Colby College campus a week ago, listening to graduation speaker Tony Blair. Today’s students have activist models of principled leadership who were unknown to me at the time of my own Colby commencement nearly 50 years ago — influential figures such as Howard Zinn, Wendell Berry, Ralph Nader, Chris Hedges, Bill McKibben and other outspoken reformers who denounce the corrupting influence of corporate polluters and military strategists.
Holding a sign reading “globalization kills,” in solidarity with others whose banners demanded “Bring our war dollars home,” I wondered how the students and faculty felt about the commencement speaker. They had no role in choosing him; the invitation was issued by a personal friend of Blair’s, Robert Diamond, chair of the Colby board of trustees and father of a graduating student. Diamond is CEO of Barclays Capital of London, which, after its acquisition of Lehman Brothers in 2008, is on the way to becoming the world’s premier investment bank.
Tony Blair delivered the usual bromides: “Never stop learning.” “Be optimistic.” “Have fun along the way.” But some advice was nuanced: “Be a doer, not a critic.” “…[T]he 20th century belonged to us … Are we an empire that’s fading?” (Who are “we” — the G-8 empire?) “Despite the perils of globalization, graduates should embrace it.”
The subtext is: “Don’t let the 21st century belong to some other [third-world] imperialist … We [the Western powers] must remain No.1, so don’t challenge authority.”
While the former British prime minister’s complicity in interventionist wars around the world is well known, less discussed (and downplayed in the Colby address) is the conflation of religious faith and globalization, which are the talking points of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
In a speech given in London in 2008, Blair said: “Faith makes globalization work … Faith can transform and humanize the impersonal forces of globalization and shape the values of the … economic and power relationships of the early 21st century … Faith can help unify around common values what otherwise might be a battle for dominion.”
Really? Sounds like New Age appeasement. Faith in what? What values? Little wonder that critics are calling the Blair initiative a messianic plan for world domination, being hatched in collusion with Yale University and other rich world power brokers — the 1 percent.
The Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz warned a decade ago that globalization was making rich nations richer and poor nations poorer. As a result, he was forced out of his position as World Bank chief economist. More recently, in defense of the Occupy movement, he said, “The best government that money can buy is no longer good enough.”
Instead of continuing the downward spiral of death and destruction caused by the international corporate power structure in the name of “progress,” I suggest that we need another way, articles of faith to live by, all grounded in the precautionary principle: nonviolent conflict resolution, not fouling our nest with any more industrial pollution, the creative economy (the renewing power of art and music), small local economies, organic agriculture.
The problem is that green values are in conflict with industrial objectives, and we lack a voice in high-level policy decisions, which are made by corporate profiteers.
Today, when graduates’ job opportunities are diminished and no thinking person doubts that human-caused global climate disruption threatens every life form, the challenge of mere survival is greater than ever before in history. It will take more than “faith” to make a decent living in this world, and it will take a moral compass that is not to be found in any of Tony Blair’s pieties.
Here’s the best advice I’d offer to the class of 2012: A critic is a doer. Speaking out to expose high crimes is to prevent greater harms from occurring — another article of faith to live by. As we saw last week, it takes only six individuals to send a story virally around the world — five to howl in protest and grab the headlines, one to stay silent until the press shows up to pose questions. We need a new generation to speak truth to power and to do it with persistence, repeatedly, using every form of mass communication to get the word out.
The demonstration at Colby was not a theoretical exercise targeting an arch villain in international politics. Attention must be paid to specific threats from globalization that impoverish us all. So graduates, if you care that this beautiful place should remain a respite from the industrial wastelands elsewhere, seize the day: Get involved.
Jody Spear is an art-history editor living in Harborside.
Criticism is one thing, but being ignorant and derisive is far more corrupting than money, corporations and globalization. The problem with people like you, as amplified by the Occupy movement, is that all of your energy is wasted. That is what Blair meant. Instead of camping out and complaining, do something that actually helps others.
Well said! Criticism is fine, and in many cases potentially productive, but it is most certainly NOT doing. Get on with it Occupiers: you’ve made your noise, now go and DO something to implement the changes you want.
And, I imagine they do that on a daily basis.
That would certainly take quite an imagination. In reality not so much. They are waiting for someone to do something for them. You know….the entitlements they so richly deserve.
Oh now you are being short sighted. When did you last volunteer at a soup kitchen?
Didn’t work at a soup kitchen… but Saturday I was out on outer Hammond St dropping off the kids. On the way back a young man was hitchhiking so I stopped to give him a ride. He plopped in next to me and started telling me his story.. to wit. He was 21 and sleeping on his friends couch out in sec 8 housing. He was out today gathering bottles from the side of the road as he told me he didn’t have a job but he knew where he could get one if he only had an ID. (no license) He said the ID would only cost $5.00 and he didn’t have the money. The conversation fell to other things and just before I dropped him off at his friends home I asked him what he was going to do with the returnable money. He said he was going to buy a package of cigarettes.
In case you missed it….. He had the possibility of getting an ID (and a job) with the returnables money but he choose a pack of smokes instead… Horse… water….. jeesh.
Yes, we can all tell stories about failures and cycles of failure. Keeps us from having to look at our own. Amazes me how few people are self-reflective, but quick to judge others. But until you walk a mile in their shoes you cannot really know what it like to be them. Most of us would rather not know that.
Today. 103 for lunch. Don’t try and out do me on that front. I volunteer regularly, work 60 plus hours a week, raise and support three children, and care for my own home which I paid off in less than 10 years. No one gave me anything. What I have I have earned. This great country gave me the opportunity to be successful and with hard work I have achieved it. You might outsmart me but you won’t out work me. Occupiers need to take advantage of the same opportunity.
Well said, Harry. Good for you.
And, I applaud all of that….. well, maybe not the overworking ’cause the kids might rather have those 20 hours for them. But, hey, it is what is required now. Who requires this? The engineers of our capitalist system. Many people have done what you have done and Occupiers are included in that group. Be fair in your comments. Avoid sweeping generalities. I am an Occupier who raised two, own my own home, work, pay my taxes and help out where I can. Most of us are good people. Let’s give credit where credit is due. To people who are trying to make a difference in whatever way makes sense to them. Raising awareness about inequity and atrocity is the responsibility of every citizen. Protesting is one way to do that.
How do suppose that the engineers of a non-capitalist system are going to make things any different?
This might give you some insight: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/22-2 Kind of like the mammals in the Mesozoic period.
You have got to be kidding. I bet the list of what these people do to help others would put yours to shame.
I am an extreme leftist, an outright socialist; but even I find the means and justifications of the so-called “occupiers” to be simply nothing more than anarchists at play. No one is ever going to take the so-called movement seriously until it incorporates mainstream America – anarchy and the inability to articulate a message that resounds with the middle-class sunk the legitimacy of the s0-called movement last year, better find a new soap box because even the hardcore left finds the movement to be unacceptable. The graduation at Colby was for the graduates, not self-styled anarchists with only the intent to disrupt social order. Good bye Occupy nonsense.
That you are writing about Occupiers is testimony to the effect they have had. They focused a light on a subject your mainstream America just wanted to ignore. Income disparity is now a mainstream conversation. Ending corporate control of our legislatures is now a mainstream movement. I think you’d best remove the blinders.
As usual, the people who are trying to say something bold and important, something ethically imperative, are being attacked by those like you, who seem afraid to face the truth: George W. Bush, along with Tony Blair, launched us–through lies–into a badly bungled war that resulted in huge profits for Dick Cheney’s corporate pals (Halliburton/KBR) and misery for millions of human beings, including hundreds of thousands of deaths. It is one of the great unspeakable crimes of our times.
I repeat: IT IS ONE OF THE GREAT UNSPEAKABLE CRIMES OF OUR TIMES.
Get your head out of the sand.
Was Blair talking about Occupy? I did not hear about that. Now that is testimony that Occupy has had an effect. All attempts to dismiss discourse give credence to the import of that very discourse.
The Occupy Protesters created conversation and thought and woke a lot of people up to the reality of America in 2012. They started something that every media outlet tried to ignore for weeks and weeks until they couldn’t ignore it any more. I call that Doing.
Thank you for speaking truth to power Ms. Spear. You are a brave woman to lay your neck on the line knowing how much discontent and ignorance is out there.
As I see it, The majority of nay sayers to your action are whistling in the dark, afraid to accept the simple truth that Tony Blair is indeed a war criminal, and thus, their entire worldviews are upside down.
“truth to power’
I always liked that phrase. Makes me feel all tingly.
Thank you, Jody. Very well put. I was/am honored to have been a small part of that demonstration of truth and justice.
Tony Blair started off well enough as prime-minister but in the end he turned out not so much a doer as a follower by joining the misguided neo-con inspired invasion of Iraq. Now it turns out that he had an embarassingly close relationship with Rupert Murdoch, whose newspapers hyped the alleged Iraqi chemical weapons capabilities. Just imagine a US president traveling to Australia, as Blair did, just to meet with the manipulative media mogul.
Colby College should have been fully aware of the controversiality of its decision to invite Blair as the inspirational speaker to address its graduating students. Had the event drawn more attention outside of Maine, there surely would have been many more protesters.
Demonizing globalization as part of any anti-Blair sentiments, however, makes little sense. Globalization can be a force for good as much as a curse. It all depends on the motivations involved and that is as true in domestic as it is in international policy.
I am growing very tired indeed of such preeners, and such media outlets that cannot help but provide platforms for such preeners.
Interesting that exercising your constitutional rights to free speech is called preening now. How about you write something the BDN can publish? Inspire us with your observations of the laudableness of the status quo.
Yeah – but he didn’t disrupt a celebration to do it – get a life!
You were talking about the media attention in your first post. That was what my response focused on. We all can write and submit to the BDN anything we have on our mind.
Good Lord, not again! Two smug op-eds about the Colby demonstration get the collective raspberry from the BDN’s readers and its editors shove a third exercise in self-congratulation down the public’s throat? Does this keep on until we all cry uncle and proclaim how admirable the protesters were?
Actually your few raspberries brought out the ire of many who think we have been fed enough pablum. Therein is crux of this media event. See what you created?
Yes, they will keep on pounding us with this lefty drivel until we believe it, or stop reading. It’s kind of like counting and recounting and recounting the votes until you get the result you want, and then stopping
No mas. No mas. Uncle. Uncle. You protesters are the best. I see it now. How selfish of us to side with graduates and their families celebrating hard work and accomplishment in a once in their lifetime ceremony. That is just wrong. If only Sean Penn had been available or George Clooney instead of Tony Blair. Larry and Jody could have had reason to celebrate instead of protesting. Shame.
Nah, I cannot think of one inspiring speaker to suggest. They do not exist in America anymore. Long time passing.
I feel very sorry for you. You obviously are one of the people who think America’s best days are behind her. Not so. The future is bright, opportunity still exists and we have the most important thing of all…..freedom.
Harry, I agree with you. Just do not see any one out there who can inspire us to greatness. That comes not just from words, but from deeds. There are a lot of good people doing good things, but they are not at the top of any political system I know of. And, there seems to be no political agenda to move us towards greatness. Just more war and torture, distrust of each other, attacks on workers, on the poor, on the sick and lots and lots of fear mongering. Nothing great about that.
“You obviously are one of the people who think America’s best days are behind her.”
No, she’s one of the people who realizes that if we don’t want America’s best days to be behind her, the American people are going to have to start standing up and working to fix the flaws in our society.
I once was blind but now I see.
You got me, Jody. I’m digging out all those old Mother Earth News from the attic and gettin’ creative and organic and stuff. I feel morally superior already!
Nah, the blind never see. Well, not until a crisis opens their eyes. One is on the way I hear.
Another good piece. Thanks Jodi. Your message is much more inspiring than the blah, blah, blah of those who rise to the top of the political world. There is not much of substance that they have to say. I truly do not know of one political figure I would invite to speak at a graduation. I would much prefer hearing a speech that challenges the status quo, breaks through the hegemony that has hypnotized so many.
Wahh Wahhh, cry, cry… Nobody liked our stupid protest. Maybe if we whine louder and more often that will help. Yeah, thats the ticket…
A desperate plea for attention by a bunch of adolescents. If we all would just ignore them, they would go away. Thanks (not) BDN, for continuing to feed their craven craving.
Actually this kind of comment is more representative of an adolescent stage of development. Ridicule and name calling is something most of us outgrow. And, you can put blinders on, but I do not think they will go away. They made a call in their protest that I expect to see other pick up.
Now _this_ is how you go about it–respectful, well-thought-out, intelligent discussion of the substance of the issue(s). I don’t agree with everything Ms. Spear said, but I agree with some of it, and I read and considered all of it. The key here is that, by focusing on the issues, expressing her opinions appropriately, being respectful of other people, and NOT turning all the attention on herself, Ms. Spear has a much better chance of being listened to, and of changing people’s minds on the issue. Bravo.
And as for the reference in the title of the article, I like to believe that Mr. Blair’s point was that no one accomplishes anything important JUST by being a critic. It is easy to tear down, disrupt, and find fault–and it is rarely productive. It is harder to look at those things you want to disrupt and find viable alternatives, work to foster _constructive_ dialog around them, make people think about solutions, not just problems. Shouting “Warmonger” at a private ceremony is being a critic–it’s the easy way out (and it’s a distraction) and it makes you easy to dismiss. Writing a thoughtful, persuasive, letter to a newspaper that shines a light on the larger issues in a wider context and hopefully has some productive outcome takes the next step into being a doer.
Well stated. Both Lawrence and Jody did exactly that in their op-ed pieces. And, none of this would have happened if they had chosen to skip this opportunity. Protesting is ‘doing’ and is encouraged by our Constitution. That surely is ‘doing’ more than sitting back and ‘doing’ nothing about what you see is wrong, wrong, wrong. Much easier to put blinders on and just go about your lives without reflecting on what is happening around you.
“A critic is a doer”…..not really. A critic is a whiner. A doer is someone who keeps their big yap shut, puts their head down and actually DOES something useful and constructive.
So you’re not a doer then are you?
“A
critic is a doer”…..not really. A critic is a whiner. A doer is
someone who keeps their big yap shut, puts their head down and actually
DOES something useful and constructive. –SO IN YOUR VIEW, THOSE WHO STARTED WHAT BECAME THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION SHOULD HAVE SAID NOTHING AND HAVE REMAINED LOYAL TO THE EVER MORE OPPRESSIVE BRITISH GOVT. DITTO MANY OTHER REVS. THAT REQUIRE CRITICISM IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. YEH, LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE 1% WHO, IN MITT ROMNEY’S, GEORGE W. BUSH’S, AND DICK CHEYNEY’S CALCULUS ARE THE UNSUNG AND UNAPPRECIATED HEROES OF THE PAST DECADES. NO DOUBT YOU’D HAVE SAID THE SAME THING ABOUT VICTIMS OF NAZI, STALINIST, AND MAOIST OPPRESSION WHO DIDN’T SIMPLY GO ALONG WITH THE FLOW (OF BLOOD, ETC.). PATHETIC.
Yelling is pathetic, rude and not nice. It still makes you wrong…just louder.
Just so you know, edited out of my commentary was the “specific threat to globalization” I was leading up to at the end: namely, the East West corridor proposed through the heart of the North Woods. It’s a monstrous scheme to globalize Maine — a state that needs to get back to “the way life should be” after LePage is gone. I want folks to go to http://www.defendingwaterforlife.net and “get involved.”