An Autumn of America’s Rage

Opinion


Jumah Boukleb
Tuesday - 17 September 2024

Why is it that we disagree on when autumn begins when compared to the other three seasons? Is it because autumn has unique characteristics that are not found in other seasons? Or is it because, despite also being the season of plowing and sowing, autumn has unfairly been singled out as a metaphor for anger, aging, and the beginning of the end?

The Greek philosopher Aristotle says that one swallow does not make a summer, meaning that the sight of swallows in the sky is a sign that summer has begun. So, what signals the beginning of autumn? Is it the cool breeze, morning fog, rainfall, dropping temperatures, falling leaves, the day becoming as long as the night, or all of them together?

The year is divided into four seasons, each of them three months long, meaning that autumn should begin in September. However, meteorologists say otherwise and agree that autumn does not begin until September 21.

Personally, I take my cue that autumn has begun from the British political calendar. Since arriving in England and choosing to make it my place of residence, I have considered that autumn begins when the annual conferences of the three major political parties are held. Thus, I have stopped paying attention to what meteorologists or other experts say. When I wake up in the morning and hear that British parties are preparing for their annual conferences, I choose to put my summer shirts away, turn to my wardrobe, and take out suits made for the colder autumn weather.

This year, autumn announced its arrival in Britain this past weekend, when the Liberal Democrats held their annual conference. It will soon be followed by the conferences of the other two major parties: Labour and the Conservatives. Labour will celebrate its return to power after an absence of around a decade and a half, and their conference will stand out. It will be the conference of the ruling party, which determines the government’s program. The Conservatives, in their conference, will choose a new leader and begin another long journey, which may last a decade, towards 10 Downing Street, if luck is on their side.

However, the developments we will witness this autumn on the other side of the Atlantic, specifically on November 5 (the US presidential elections), will be more consequential than the British parties’ conferences.

As expected, all eyes are on that fateful day. The world awaits it with both fear and hope. It all depends on which side one stands. With each passing day, this date approaches, the anticipation grows, disputes sharpen, the competition becomes fiercer, and bookmakers become busier.

The US presidential election concerns every nation in the world, not just Americans. That is a fact. Recently, I read online that people of various nationalities are demanding that the people of the world be given the right to help determine who governs the US, that is, the right to a vote. Although the request is strange and unreasonable, I do not believe that it is not without merit.

Interests drive and shape the policies of nations, peoples, and even individuals. They decide the course of history. Interests inherently diverge. For example, Russia has an interest in the Republican candidate being voted into the White House, as he has pledged to stop supporting Ukraine and end the war very quickly. Ukraine’s interests would be served by a Democratic victory, as the party’s candidate has promised to continue supporting the Kyiv government politically, militarily, and economically.

However, autumn is expected to be extremely hot in the US this year, especially after the second attempt on the Republican candidate’s life. The competition between the presidential candidates is intensifying, as indicated by the public opinion polls that affirm the deep divisions in America. There are fears that violence could break out after the results are announced, leaving dire consequences similar to those we saw on January 6, 2020, in the Capitol. That means that this year's autumn could become an autumn of anger in the US, but not due to a government decision to raise the price of bread.

Popular rage engendered by division, in a country like the US, whose constitution grants citizens the right to bear arms, gives rise to ramifications we would not see in another country where only the state, its security agencies, and its arms, enjoy that right. In any case, things have seemingly remained under control in the US so far. The country’s security agencies have certainly drawn lessons from the events that unfolded nearly four years ago, and they are doing everything they can to avoid their recurrence. No one, not in the US nor anywhere else, had expected the attack on the Capitol. It is also worth remembering what recently happened after the elections in Venezuela, though we will probably not see similar scenes in the US. Still, the events that unfolded in the US in January 2020 were all but mirrored in Brazil shortly after its presidential elections.