Notes From The Week #20

Welcome back all. Hope you’re doing well. December for me always invites a season of rest and reflection. I was talking to some friends earlier today about end of year rituals. I wanted to know how they spent the last days of a respective calendar year. I appreciated the responses: travel, year reflections, think weeks and new year planning. What about yourself? How are you spending the last few weeks of the year?

This week I’ve been reflecting on the US Senate and its controversial filibuster. I’ll also provide a quick breakdown of one of the best theatre shows I caught this year and end with a discussion of the man who kept popping up in everyone’s Spotify Wrapped this year—Mr Money with the vibes right now a.k.a Asake.

The Filibuster’s Racial History

With the US Senate Georgia general runoff election set to take place on the 6th December. I’ve been thinking through the US Senate as a political construct. US politics is one of my favourite topics to discuss and learn about. I believe that it provides a unique context in nation-building as the US balances an ever-changing demography and contends with a power shift of extreme magnitude as the People’s Republic of China looks set to succeed them this decade as the world’s largest economic power.

A filibuster is a tactic used in the U.S. Senate to delay or block a vote on a measure by preventing debate on it from ending. Its name comes from a Dutch word for “pirate”—because the filibuster is, in essence, a hijacking of debate in the U.S. Senate. It’s also one of the most controversial traditions in American politics. To win approval in the Senate, most legislation requires only a simple majority, or 51 votes. But to bring an end to the debate over a piece of legislation, the threshold is higher: the votes of three-fifths of the members present, or 60 senators, are required to cut off debate. If there aren’t enough votes for cloture, a single senator who refuses to yield the floor during a debate, or delays it with unnecessary parliamentary motions, can prevent the end of debate—and thus, the passage or defeat of the legislation.

The concept of the filibuster dates to ancient Rome. The Roman senate had no time limit on how long members could be able to speak. Historians record that this was first exploited in 60 B.C. by Cato the Younger in a debate over contracts with private tax collector. Cato also used the filibuster to foil the plans of his political opponent, Julius Caesar.

The U.S. Constitution doesn’t specifically address the filibuster. Although some of the framers made clear that they supported majority rule—including Alexander Hamilton, who described the minority veto as “a poison” in the Federalist Papers—the Constitution left it up to lawmakers to set the rules that would govern their chambers.

The most famous use of the filibuster was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In which, opponents of the Act filibustered for a record-breaking 60 working days. The use of the filibuster to try and prevent racial equality legislation enacted into law is not an isolated event. In fact, the longest recorded single-person filibuster in United States Senate history came from Strom Thurmond—a United States senator from South Carolina. Strom Thurmond undertook a filibuster of 24 hours and 18 minutes to prevent the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He began his extended speech on August 28, 1957 at 8:54pm and concluded his speech the next day at 9:12pm. If we go back further we see that the Anti-Lynching Bill (which was only passed earlier this year) that was presented to Congress in the early 1920s was also defeated by the use of filibusters amongst Democratic Southern governors. W.E. Du Bois said at the turn of the 20th century that the great divider in America would be the color line1—no where has this been demonstrated more than in the US Senate.

The Father & The Assassin

As I was getting ready to book a few theatre outings for December I was reminded of the great play I caught at the Royal National Theatre in London in the summer: The Father & The Assassin. I’ll be honest and say that I’m as elementary in Indian history as it gets2. Sure I’ve heard of Ghandi and referenced briefly the Wikipedia of Nehru but I’ve never really dived into history of what is now the second most populous nation in the world and the largest democratic nation. So The Father and The Assassin provided a nice treat for me to learn the nuances of India’s fight for independence and the impact of Mahatma Ghandi.The Father and The Assassin voyages thirty years through the course of India’s struggle for independence. The play follows the protagonist, Nathuram Godse, through his ideological journey from a firm believer in Ghandi to a staunch religious fundamentalist. Discussing the themes of colonialism and self-determination—I couldn’t help but think of the comparative experiences pre-Independent India must have shared with so many nations at the time navigating independence from their colonial rulers.

The play filled the Olivier Theatre so well. I’ve never seen a play use a space’s full potential so well. The circular movement of the stage helped to visually demonstrate the arc of Godse’s ideological journey. When presented with new experiences, it’s always interesting to note how beliefs can change but fundamental truths will always remain.

The Rise of Asake

If you’ve been observing the Afrobeats scene this year then you’ll know that there’s been one artist that’s taken the airwaves by force. Asake has imprinted his name alongside the current crop of African superstars with a well-constructed debut album that was the culmination of an even more impressive year-long roll-out of singles that had us all completely enthralled with the vibes of the acclaimed Mr Money. Ahmed Ololade—whose stage name, Asake, is a demonstration of honour to his mother (whose first name is Asake)—put out his Olalade Asake EP at the top of the year followed by back to back singles (some shown below) which provided a strong sense of anticipation for his album. Releasing his album “Mr Money with the Vibe” on the 7th September—which received strong praise from listeners.

The run has been impeccable to witness. I can vividly recall times in the year where I had only managed to get the lyrics of one of his songs fully memorised and ready to be recited in the next function to be presented with the new assignment of learning another song he had recently dropped. What a time it’s been. It could be a long time before we see an equally great single run. As I wait—I’ll be okay running through Mr Money’s catalogue. It’s only right for the year he gave us.

Until next week. Peace.