During a recent visit to South Africa, this observation was reaffirmed. What struck me more than anything else was the fear of the potential future actions of the U.S. government. While virtually everyone I encountered had concluded a long time ago that President Bush is simply out of control and represents a danger to the future survival of this planet, this did not mean that they saw in John Kerry the coming of the savior. Rather, and time again, people would simply say that they did not know whether the planet could survive another four years of Bush.

The comments actually went far deeper than one might at first gather. The concern about the U.S. went beyond the personality and actions of any one individual, or for that matter, any one administration. What they spoke to was a growing distrust of the objectives, and indeed, the word of the U.S.A. Specifically, did the U.S. government and the people of U.S. more generally, understand that something needed to change in the way that this country relates to the rest of the planet?

In South Africa I was regularly asked about U.S. foreign policy matters that most of us here either conveniently ignore or are unaware of entirely. I was asked about what ever happened to President Bush's alleged commitment to contribute substantial assistance to the fight against HIV/AIDS? I was certainly asked again and again about the Iraq war. I was asked about what will happen to post-coup Haiti, which seems to be in a state of perpetual and low-intensity civil war, usually with some degree of U.S. involvement.

What struck me in this visit, however, was a question that was posed to me by a South African college student. She wanted to know what it would take for the people of the United States to realize how the U.S. is viewed overseas. She asked, in a very serious tone, at what point will people in the U.S.A. refuse to accept the rationales offered to us by various administration for interfering in the internal affairs of other countries?

In all honesty, I had a very qualified answer. I pointed out that the emergence of an anti-war movement prior to the U.S. aggression against Iraq was a very good sign, but that it was absolutely the case that too many people in the U.S.A. have surrounded themselves with a bubble through which they often refuse to receive information about the outside world. Perhaps, I suggested, the truth about the implications of U.S. foreign policy is too painful for us to accept. Perhaps we fear that should we face reality that it will be the equivalent of looking into the face of the Gorgon, turning us into stone.

The South African student considered my words, and prior to walking off to her class commented that at some point we, the people of the U.S.A. will be judged based upon the leaders we choose. At some point, she offered, there is something called accountability. Fear of the USA by the rest of the world does not make for a very stable, let alone peaceful situation. At some point the resentment will boil over.

As the student headed off, I was left standing there wondering something strange: Are the people of the USA perceived as being those who believe that if we do not hear a tree falling in a distant forest, then that must mean that the tree has not fallen?

Bill Fletcher Jr. is president of TransAfrica Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit educational and organizing center formed to raise awareness in the United States about issues facing the nations and peoples of Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. He also is co-chair of the anti-war coalition, United for Peace and Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org). He can be reached at bfletcher@transafricaforum.org.

© 2004 The Sacramento Observer