Life in the colonies

Every morning when I take a shower, I am reminded of how far Australia (or for that part Hong Kong, Canada or Singapore) has advanced beyond Britain itself. Be it in terms of water pressure, mass transit or the overall built environment, it is clear that Britain has not quite recovered from the world wars nor from the costs associated with its early entry into industrialism (much of its infrastructure is now literally falling apart due to old age).

Yet, the old homeland has The Guardian Weekly. Its format is particular suitable for long journeys into the unknown, you can tuck it away in the backpack for a while and when you pick it up, it will still have a few more days to go until “expiration date”. In a world of global instantaneous news, The Guardian Weekly reminds you of how it used to be, especially here in the “colonies”, far away from all decency.

Yesterday, my flatmate Lillian took me along for a Sunday excursion to historic Williamstown, the seafaring town which provided a natural harbour until the Yarra River was deepened and the Port of Melbourne was developed in the 1880’s. There, in the sun along its pavements, I was struck by how Australia has been able to cherry-pick its favourites from the planetary smorgasbord: Italian ice-cream next to Nepalese specialities, French crêpes competing with Mexican nachos. Being here in Australia tends to trigger a lot of thinking about such issues, about integration and assimilation, about how much idealism it will take to prevent the dark Huntingtonian fantasy of cultural disintegration from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy (for more on that, I encourage you to read Göran Rosenberg’s new series in Dagens Nyheter - unfortunately only available in the Muppet language).

Well, back to The Guardian Weekly in which Jonathan Freedland has a good piece on the US election and why the world rightfully should be concerned about November 4. Until global democracy is realized, America remains the de facto leader of the free world. Not only will the new president be charged with leading the world through the present economic convulsion, much of our common future will depend on what policies America will pursue in the coming decade. Be it in energy, security or free trade, without American leadership, the world will be left drifting and even more valuable time will be lost.

As much as I hope for an Obama victory, it was still heartwarming to witness McCain's immediate response to a woman, who at a recent rally in suburban Minesota, accused Obama of being an "arab", reminding me of that some parts of America still aspires to be that “shining embassy on the hill”.