Balance

I hinted at the idea of balance in my first post, but I wanted to expand upon it in light of our congress. I ran into some Americans the other morning who said they had been coming to Hanoi every year or so since the early 1990's and said that at that time, there were no cars and all of the motorbikes here now were bicycles then. Old Hanoi had certainly changed, but there were still vestiges of that time and I didn’t get the feeling that the people here were as frenetic as the pace seemed to suggest. There seems to be a certain balance between the pace and the culture. Amidst madness on the streets, there is no “road rage”—in fact it seems like people think it’s hysterical when the traffic gets out of control. Yesterday, I watched as ten or so motorbikes tried to untie an impossible entanglement in a narrow alley and the level of stress never seemed to escalate. Maybe I made more of this occurrence than it deserved, but that could never happen in the high stress world of Los Angeles.
Amidst the development in Vietnam, it needs to be able to develop in way that balances respect for culture, the environment, and social rights. I suppose that the mere fact that GDP gores up doesn’t necessarily mean that development is taking place if these aspects of society are not considered and protected.
I hope that as lawyers we are able to achieve balance as well. I think that most people would observe our congress and accuse us of being idealists in some way and feel that the world we envision cannot be achieved. I disagree. First, I think that it takes a certain level of realism to recognize the problems of our world and to decide to try and face them head on, not just by protests (which can also be effective), but also by addressing the fundamental deficiencies in our system, the clear injustices allowed by our institutions of power and the global and holistic impact (economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts) of our actions. We have discussed the right to peace, the need for an independent judiciary, the need for prosecution of crimes against humanity and the requirement to respect the rights of workers and the environment.
We tend to place seemingly conflicting ideas on opposite ends of a spectrum—liberalism versus conservatism, tradition versus progress, industrialization versus environmentalism and idealism versus realism for example. Our challenge is to find harmony between these ideas because it is only by realizing this balance that we are going to be able to move forward in a healthy and sustainable way.
How do we accomplish this harmony? Quite simply, a balanced and well informed approach necessitates awareness which is accomplished by discussion and transparency. President Obama was recently criticized for his frequent acknowledgment of “extreme Islam” during his recent speech in Cairo. By doing so, it was argued that Obama empowered these radical religious groups and endangered both the United States and its allies by doing so. In fact, I would argue that the opposite is true. By opening the lines of communication and recognizing the presence of these religious views in a high profile situation, Obama humanized this group of people and by doing so, the unknown becomes known and the menacing becomes manageable.
By creating transparency and dialogue, fear is reduced and common interests can be recognized. In other words, peace becomes possible. When Obama said in his Cairo speech that his name was in fact Barack Hussein Obama and that he had Muslim blood lines somewhere in his ancestry, he created common ground which could be more easily traversed. In breaking from the “you are either with us or against us” mentality of the prior administration which was used to create fear and animosity, Obama has attempted to say “you are us and we are you.” We have common desires. We have common needs. We have common goals. In an increasingly interdependent world, we can only accomplish those goals by working together and creating solid relationships with one another. Competition must be transformed into cooperation. Obviously this can only be done through communication which can lead to understanding and respect. These realities must be allowed to permeate our system.
Balance will allow us to create a system where we are able to justify what has historically been understood to be diametrically opposed. Balance will allow us to accomplish development as well as conservation. Working to attain balance will force us to consider to holistic effects of our actions. We are but one living organism on this planet and it is only through the effective imposition of peace that we will not only survive, but thrive.
This seems to be one of the goals of this conference and to have the opportunity to sit in the same room as progressive lawyers from all over the world whose collective focus is to reshape the system of law and politics to allow for greater equality and peace is both beautiful and incredibly powerful.
Dan Parziale, Loyola Law School