Humility Good for the goose, but not the gander.

Recently, our unelected, dictatorial President George W. Bush visited Africa, beginning with the country of Senegal in West Africa. According to one Senegal witness, just before his visit 1500 people were arbitrarily arrested and jailed for the duration of his visit. U.S. military planes flew over the capital city of Dakar night and day so the people could not even sleep for the noise. About 700 U.S. security personnel arrived with their dogs, their own cars, and high tech equipment. They would not even let Senegal security personnel near the U.S. President.

Bush even brought his own armchair and furniture and would not use Senegal furnishings. All trees in places where Bush passed were cut down, some of them over 100 years old. All roads going downtown (where schools, hospitals, and businesses are located) were closed down during his visit. People were not allowed to go to school, the hospital, or work. The list of indignities continues. One Senegal economist estimated that this poor country lost an immense amount of money by being shut down in this way by the visit of the American President.

The message, of course, was that the United States is the world dominator and that these poor and weak countries are in effect ours to do what we want with. The arrogance and lack of respect for the people of Senegal are astonishing. These arrangements remind one distinctly of Caesar, Napoleon, the Czar, Hitler, or Stalin. They are the actions of world dominators surveying the empire with utter disdain for the people whose lives and economies they crush.

In times like these. It is appropriate to believe that we underdogs will prevail.

There are times, such as during the euphoria of Mandela's release, when such optimism appears justified. There are others, such as after the Soweto uprising, when it seems deluded. Now, the week after a dismal Labour party conference and the day before Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to become governor of California, it feels like the latter.

In Britain we have a war-mongering, privatising, race-baiting administration that governs in the name of a party set up to represent the interests of working people. In America, the most rightwing Republican party since Nixon's time controls the presidency and both houses of Congress. Israel is intent on building its own version of the Berlin wall through Palestinian land. Fundamentalism, be it Christian, Islamic or Hindu, is on the rise, with all the intolerance and violence that goes with it.

At home, the largest demonstration, produced by one of the most broad-based political movements in British history, failed in its central objective. We did not stop the war. In short, there seems little to feel optimistic about.

And yet it is in these bleakest of moments that optimism on the left is most crucial. Extinguish the flame and there is no torch to pass on in more hopeful times. Wishful thinking will not help us. But a hard-headed assessment of what has been achieved can provide the basis for working out what still can be done.