[Reader-list] Ralph Nader, "White" Boy?

[Paul Miller]

Hello Naeem, and hello V - -I'm now writing to you from the far  
northeast of the U.S. where I'm doing an artist residency at Dartmouth  
University.

Sorry about the delay in communication - I had a 9 hour flight from  
Vienna to Washington D.C. then plane transfer to New England etc etc  
This is from my cell phone, so it's brief.

OK - response:

I'm a big fan of looking at things from the viewpoint of hybridity:  
yes, Nader is Lebanese American. Is it an identity he claims in public  
discourse? No.

If a person who was identified as "white" American said that Obama was  
an Uncle Tom on a major news channel it would be greated with outrage  
(as Nader's comment was).

I've lost a lot of respect for Nader from his comments. Imagine if in  
India a minority from the Muslim population (Muslim's make up about  
13% of India's population), became Prime Minister, and these kinds of  
comments started up in the media. I'm sure people would be outraged.  
In any case, I definitely think it was simply a poor choice of words,  
and the intent to critique what Nader views as Obama's agenda got lost  
in the poor choice of rhetoric.

I'm in the middle of releasing a "remix" of DW Griffith's film "Birth  
of a Nation" as an art piece. The film was made in 1915 and showed  
exactly the same kind of sentiments of Nader. I can only say I'm not  
too surprised. Brown on brown racism can sometimes be alot more  
virulent than white on brown racism. Many of my friends in the African  
American community were disgusted with Nader's comments. It's an  
emotional issue, and all I can say is that Nader lost alot of support  
with his comments.

in peace,
Paul
On Nov 9, 2008, at 10:18 PM, V Ramaswamy wrote:

> Nader's "Uncle Tom" comment is not in his "open letter". I believe  
> that was
> made in an interview on Fox tv.
> From what I understood (from an earlier age of literacy), the term  
> "Uncle
> Tom" was used by radical blacks, to refer to what they perceived as a
> servile, non-threatening, accommodating attitude, of accepting the  
> white
> man's game and his domination but seeking something better for oneself
> within that.
>
> The term itself of course comes from the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin", by
> Harriet Beecher Stowe, where the protagonist, a slave, Uncle Tom,  
> silently
> suffers indignities, but never turns against his white masters, whom  
> he
> continues to love and whose overlordship he neither questions nor  
> rejects.
>
> If I am not wrong, Dr Martin Luther King had also been called "Uncle  
> Tom" a
> few times.
>
> Ralph Nader has contested the US presidential election a few times.  
> I don't
> think he or anyone else seriously believes he will ever win. He has a
> specific political objective in contesting the elections. To say  
> certain
> things, to raise certain issues, to ask certain questions. He is  
> ultimately
> a valuable asset to the US democratic system. In fact this time I was
> surprised to learn - 2 days ago - that he had contested. That says how
> marginalised he was in the mainstream media.
>
> Even if no one else does so, perhaps Nader sees it as his task to say
> certain things, to call a spade a spade. For instance, the whole
> Israel-Palestine thing, on which he has elaborated in detail in his  
> "open
> letter". I was struck by the fact that notwithstanding Obama's  
> bending over
> backwards to please Israelis and thus American Jews,  most Israel- 
> based
> Americans apparently did not vote for Obama.
>
> Electoral politics is, as we know, a dicey matter, a game that has  
> to be
> played cunningly. So I suppose non-cunning people should not be in  
> that
> game, and only cunning people will play. But I would like to think  
> that
> "cunning" need not always be a negative term! But I would also like  
> to think
> that by and by, the ways of electoral politics will change, and  
> people can
> by the force of their convictions, speak the truth, be honest, say  
> what has
> to be said, and yet prevail.
>
> I would like to see Nader as a conscience keeper, rather than a sore,
> sour-grapes loser, or sniveler. He is holding up the mirror to  
> Obama. He is
> challenging him with what he must do, if he is to be true to the
> expectations and hope he has unleashed. I have learnt from life that  
> one's
> harshest critics turn out to be one's best supporters. "With enemies  
> like
> these, who needs friends!"
>
> For those interested, I am mailing separately Vinay Lal's article on  
> Obama
> (written before his victory) that appears in the current EPW. And a  
> blog
> post that expressed the feelings unleashed by Obama's victory.
>
> Best
>
> V Ramaswamy
> Calcutta
> cuckooscall.blogspot.com
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