The Roosevelt Institution
The speech by political activist and hip-hop artist Mutulu Olugbala, otherwise known as M-1, drew upwards of 300 people to Goldwin Smith on Friday night, far exceeding the carrying capacity of the auditorium. The event lasted about three hours, which is rather impressive considering that it was Friday night and that M-1 wasn’t there to perform hip-hop. He talked about his early days of political activism in Tallahassee and Chicago, and in the end he didn’t even get to his time as a member of the unabashedly political hip-hop group Dead Prez. He spent some time speaking on issues like America’s neglect for its urban centers and the extent to which real peace and freedom are possible in light of political marginalization. The questions he raised were ones of cultural identity and the politics of exclusion, many of which had highly theoretical substance about framing, discourse, and the English language, and might have seemed more endemic to a class taught by Diane Rubenstein or Sherry Martin. But after about 45 minutes it became clear that the massive group had come not only to hear M-1, but because we too had things to say. The conversation focused on political organization and the frequent self-doubt that arises out of trying to make sure what we study here is actually helping what goes on in the rest of the world, not just reinforcing existing inequalities. This is an issue that I often find myself grappling with, because although I’m fairly confidant in my ability to create some positive change with the material I’m studying, the mere symbolism of the geographic seclusion of Ithaca, or my own disproportionate consumption of resources, can raise doubts about the net impact I’m having on the world right now. Contrasting this to M-1’s recollection of his political involvement in Chicago’s InPDUM movement at the age of 20, it’s understandable that much of the crowd seemed humbled solely by the fact that he had lived in the thick of the nationwide Rodney King riots and could look back on his life without any such doubt about being on the right track. This level of respect, and the entire discussion, was underlined by the general feeling that political activism on college campuses has become stagnant, at least to the degree that is used to be. The “undergraduate activist” interest is no longer a player in the American political sphere, on par in vocality with interests such as gun control or even the religious right, as it once was. It is this silence, in a time that all economic markers, prison demographics and statistics about higher education point to increasing inequalities, that drove so many people to come voice their concerns Friday night.
M-1’s speech wasn’t the only venue for such discussion this weekend, as some of the same exact issues were brought up at the conference entitled The Ethics of Globalization and Development, held Friday afternoon and Saturday morning at the A.D. White house. The same observations that M-1 and the audience made more than clear Friday night were approached from a different angle at the development conference. The progression of logic is simple, and any way you look at it, it boils down to something like this. However much contradictory theory one cares to tote, the current structure of global economics will not allow the majority of global citizens any significant degree of social mobility in their lifetime, nor will the current political trends be able to alleviate this dilemma. Moreover, social stagnation and the inability to accumulate capital are not at all reflections of any lack of motivation or hard work on the part of impoverished communities. South African professor Patrick Bond, giving his presentation at the development conference on water privatization in cities of the global south, concluded from similar premises that “Capitalism is in a crisis.” (Also notable is Bond’s response to the issue of what to replace the World Bank with if it is to be disassembled: “With what would you replace cancer?”) And despite the unnecessary love affair with Noam Chomsky, this is the same sentiment that brought such tumultuous applause at the end of President Chavez’s speech in front the UN. Linking all of these concurrent events is an unimpeachable sense of urgency, for what the professors at the development conference and the undergrads at the M-1 speech all see is the undeniable trend away from social progress and the piercing apathy that follows in its wake. Regardless of whether the solution you prescribe for this crisis is along the lines of reform or something with broader implications, it is essential to find a forum that will give adequate voice to your ideas. Such expression will not be without effect, for even as exclusion and underdevelopment are becoming more and more the norm, many signs point to an increased global awareness and understanding of such difficulties. The Roosevelt Institution’s decision to make the goal of more equal racial and socioeconomic access to higher education the top priority in its policy production initiatives this year shows vast appreciation among college students nationwide not only for the importance of such issues but in our ability to ameliorate them. Professor Lourdes Benería, another presenter at the conference on development, compares economic inequalities to the issue of global warming, pointing out that “Ten years ago, whenever someone wanted to talk about global warming, there always had to be a certain amount of debate as to its existence. Now, at least, we’ve moved past that, and global warming is generally accepted to exist. The same is true with these issues.”
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