Down But Not Under: In “No Worries” Australia, Worries About America

Also in Zimbabwe, Ireland, Lithuania, Russia (yes, even Russia)…

By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” column in the Benicia Herald, Mar 23, 2025

My wife and I recently returned from a vacation in Australia, a land of beautiful beaches, other natural splendors, kangaroos galore and remarkably friendly people concerned about what America’s current course means for their country.

From Worries to Outrage to Sorrow

Chats with friends and other folks we met Down Under, along with glimpses of Australia’s national news, illuminated a lengthy list of worries in a land where “No worries” is a favorite catchphrase.

The lead TV news story one night was how Trump’s tariffs would hurt Australia’s crucial steel and aluminum exports. Arguments over how to handle him loom large in its national elections this spring.

His televised Oval Office confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy triggered considerable press coverage and doubts about America’s reliability: Australian “officials, politicians and diplomats woke up and watched, slack-jawed, as the spectacular theatre of the Trump-Zelenskyy confrontation played out in the Oval Office and on their screens.”

Many folks we met highlighted his erratic economic policies and statements as threats to the global economy, and more specifically to the Australian stock market and their retirement savings.

One couple understandably fretted over their daughter’s plan to visit the United States in August, even wondering whether there would be a civil war here by then.

Several individuals voiced fear about how an unstable individual with his finger on the nuclear button would manage tensions with China.

In view of Trump’s actions undermining Ukraine and his desire to make Canada the 51^st state, others doubted his commitment to our equally loyal ally Australia, particularly in view of mounting Chinese economic and military pressure. (That pressure includes an unannounced, unprecedented live fire drill by Chinese warships in waters not far from Sydney and Melbourne last month, forcing dozens of commercial flight diversions.)

On our way out his door for our flight home, an outraged Aussie friend, by no means a political type, showed us a clip of Fox News host Jesse Watters somehow finding it “personally offensive” that Canadians don’t want “to be taken over by the United States of America” since “that’s what everyone else in the world wants.”

A few Aussies went as far as to share their sentiments on the state of the United States: “We feel sorry for you.”

The sorrow was certainly understandable. In fact, it was the way I sometimes felt during my international development career, when visiting societies repressed and ripped off by corrupt, autocratic regimes. Except the people in those societies typically did not vote such regimes into office.

Not Just Aussies

It wasn’t just Australians who were upset by what America is doing to itself and the world. We met others similarly alarmed. A white Zimbabwean mining executive, apparently no flaming liberal, was aghast at what Trump was doing to democracy and world order.

And then there was the diverse array of fellow travelers (so to speak) with whom we spent several days touring parts of Australia’s beautiful southeastern island of Tasmania. The thirteen participants hailed from America, Australia, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Russia and the United Kingdom. Except for the polite-to-the-point-of-reticence Japanese, they were troubled by Trump’s ascendance.

My wife and I hadn’t intended to indulge in so much discussion of American politics on a trip through a place about as far from America as you can get. But it kept popping up. And we couldn’t resist soliciting their thoughts.

The (anti-Putin) Russian warned that she saw the United States going down a path similar to what Russia experienced at the start of Putin’s reign. In a different chat, and despite my own confusion, I tried to explain to our new Irish friend why so much had gone so awry in our country.

The Lithuanian expressed trepidation over the fact that if Putin could get away with attacking Ukraine, her tiny nation was at great risk. She shared that right after Trump’s election Lithuanians held out hope that, just maybe, he might stand up to such potential aggression against their homeland (a NATO ally). But before long, they concluded that “He’s just an [expletive].”

If there was one comment that cut across the Aussies’ and the foreigners’ reactions to Trump’s election, it was, “How did this happen?”

Down, But Not Knuckling Under

My wife and I returned to America glad to be back home even as we knew home to be in crisis. But we also arrived to a blizzard of emails from friends and neighbors here, about matters local and national.

The local focus was the increasingly promising fight for Benicia (the small Bay Area city where we live) to enact an Industrial Safety Ordinance that would force Texas-based oil giant Valero to be more transparent and accountable regarding its Benicia refinery’s accidents and emissions. Things can change, but our City Council is barely a week away from the vote that will likely seal that deal.

The emails’ national focus comprised discussions of meetings, rallies, strategies and steps to save our freedom and survive Trump’s political onslaught. These initial signs of activism, admittedly in need of much refinement but repeated across the country, constitute seeds of hope in a bleak landscape.

Having just returned from abroad, I wish more than ever that Trump supporters in the United States could hear from folks in other nations, as a counterbalance to Jesse Watters’ jingoism. I wish they could appreciate why, halfway across the world and in many places in-between, so many foreigners fear that what’s happening in America harms not just us but them. I wish they could grasp why those foreigners so strongly back the fight against authoritarianism here.

While it’s ultimately up to Americans whether our democracy sinks or swims, we should take heart from such overseas sentiments. We’re down, but we’re not knuckling under. Our battle to save democracy is just starting.

It takes a Penguin – Sometimes the silliest things inspire the strongest sentiments….

By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” column in the Benicia Herald, Mar 2, 2025

Perhaps like some of you, I’ve been despairing lately about what America’s current course means for the country and the world. That course includes the Trump Administration: siding with Russia regarding its mass-murdering war on Ukraine; backing a German Neo-Nazi party; letting the world’s richest man gut foreign aid, thus facilitating thousands of poor people’s deaths; and otherwise preaching and practicing cruelty as policy. Combined with other Far Right transgressions in other nations, it’s left me eager for something to recharge my faith in humanity.

And then I saw the penguin, or more specifically a penguin nicknamed Dindim, or even more specifically the movie “My Penguin Friend.” The dramatization is based on the true story of a small penguin that got separated from its colony and soaked by an oil spill during the colony’s annual 5,000-mile migration from southern Argentina to near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, only to be rescued on the verge of death by an elderly villager. The Brazilian, Joao Pereira de Souza, nursed the bird back to health, whereupon it stayed with him and his wife for months before undertaking the return trip south.

The element that converts a heartwarming tale into incredible inspiration, though, is the fact that Dindim returned annually to Joao’s seaside home for eight years, each time spending months in his fishing village before returning to Argentina. When a fellow villager refers to the bird as a pet, Joao says no, he’s his friend.

If you see the film, you see why. Years before Dindim’s arrival, a tragic death led to Joao living a life of grief. The penguin’s friendship filled a void, restoring Joao’s love for  life and community.

Which brings me back to America. I’m not hopeless by any means; I see sparks of pro-democracy resilience and resurgence. But when I also see so many developments here and abroad driven by lies, hate and retribution, I have flickers of doubt about not just where we are as a country, but where humanity is as a species.

In its small but heartwarming way,  “My Penguin Friend” counters all that. It portrays admirable qualities that we humans are capable  of, not least love for a stranded animal, considerable kindness and remarkable resilience. It testifies to the many wonderful, amazing things we don’t fully understand, including how a little creature decided each year to separate himself from the security of his colony’s migration to visit his friend.

The saga of Joao and Dindim reminds us that the best of humanity and the world is beautiful and that we can find that beauty in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

That being said, to call this film corny and sappy and a tearjerker would be a major understatement. It also takes some considerable (and unnecessary)  liberties in telling the tale of the penguin and his human friend. But the movie remains true to its remarkable core story.

As someone who could use tears of joy rather than tears of sorrow these days, I heartily recommend it. So many sayings highlight how overcoming tough times hinges on hope, heart, determination or a village. I’ll add one more variation: It takes a penguin.

I believe that “My Penguin Friend” is available via Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube TV and perhaps other streaming services, but since I saw it on a plane and am out of the country right now, I can’t vouch for that for sure. Regardless, it’s worth searching or waiting for. (Being out of the country, I regrettably won’t be preparing a column for the next two weeks.)

Another thing well worth doing is attending or zooming into the Tuesday, March 4 City Council meeting, starting at 6 pm, at which it will take the crucial vote that will help prevent toxic pollution (including the kind of oil spills that nearly killed Dindim), explosions and fires at the Valero refinery and other hazardous facilities in Benicia. If the Council passes the proposed Industrial Safety Ordinance, which Council Members Kari Birdseye and Terry Scott as well as Fire Chief Josh Chadwick and Management Analyst Della Ohm have labored over for well over a year, we’ll join all the other Bay Area refinery-hosting communities that already have such ordinances.

 

By Stephen Golub, Benicia resident and author, “Benicia and Beyond” column in the Benicia Herald, Feb 9, 2025

This past Tuesday’s City Council meeting considered for the first time a nearly final draft of an industrial safety ordinance (ISO) that will help protect our city against toxic emissions, fires and explosions from hazardous facilities here, particularly but not only the Valero refinery.

I’ve never been so proud to be a Benician. I’d guess 80-90 people packed the Council Chambers at City Hall, with about 29 others Zooming in. The large majority comprised folks whom I’d never seen or heard speak up on this issue. The entire crowd seemed to support the unanimous pro-ISO consensus among the 30-plus speakers who ranged from expert engineers to laypersons with kids to protect.

One such engineer, a Valero retiree, didn’t doubt refinery employees’ personal commitments to safety, but pointed out that refinery management is under extraordinary pressure to reduce costs. He emphasized that the ISO could actually help the current refinery engineers maintain safety. (I’ll again state my respect and affection for our Valero-employed friends and neighbors in Benicia, and distinguish them from the huge Texas-based corporation that owns the refinery and calls the shots.)

A parent who attended the meeting with his (I assume) wife and toddler, chimed in to favor the ordinance. Several persons prefaced their remarks by saying “I didn’t intend to speak,” then went on to describe their concerns and support. At least  one speaker pointed out that if Valero had an accident like last weekend’s huge Martinez fire and if the wind were blowing the wrong way, our entire town could have been endangered.

All in all, our community came together in numbers and passion spread across a spectrum of perspectives, but united in an unprecedented way in support for the ISO.

Valero representatives did not attend the meeting.

The big news emerging from the meeting is that Mayor Steve Young declared his backing for the ISO for the first time. Vice Mayor Trevor Macenski and Council Member Lionel Largaespada hinted at similar support; Largaespada, whose election campaigns Valero had indirectly backed through political action committees in the past, voiced a belief in strong industrial regulation and oversight.

Kudos to Young for his endorsement of the measure; this would seem to  ensure a Council majority for passage, though not counting our chickens before they hatch comes to mind. Let’s hope Macenski and Largaespada join him.

Speaking of kudos: pro-ISO Council Members Kari Birdseye and Terry Scott, who along with Fire Chief Josh Chadwick and other City staff had worked tirelessly to on the ISO for over a year, played particularly powerful roles in the Council meeting’s deliberations.

Birdseye hit the bullseye in a number of illuminating exchanges with fellow Council members. For instance, when Largaespada suggested instructing City staff to review certain administrative and other details (which could in effect delay a final vote on the ISO indefinitely), she pointed out that tremendous work had already gone into thrashing out details in the document and that it was time to move ahead. (As a former New York City government management analyst and international development policy analyst, I couldn’t agree more; you can work forever on tweaking a document and never reach closure.)

Birdseye similarly pushed back successfully and forcefully when it was suggested that the Council approve formal ex officio (non-voting) membership on the ISO’s citizen Oversight Commission for Valero or other regulated businesses. As she asserted, we don’t want “the fox in the henhouse.”

Scott had his own “Great Scott!” moments. Young suggested that Valero be consulted yet again to ascertain whether the ISO could be altered to address its concerns. In response, Scott pointed out the many, many times that the City had sought constructive Valero input over the course of over a year of ISO preparation, only to be met repeatedly by dozens of pages of legalistic criticism and unhelpful feedback. He also noted that Valero had not even attended Tuesday’s Council meeting.

There are miles to ago and at least two additional Council meetings to hold before it  finally votes on the ISO – which, it should be noted, is the kind of ordinance every other Bay Area refinery community has. Lots could go wrong, but so much could go right. I’ll save that for another day.

For today, I’ll just say that if Texas-based Valero seeks to block the ISO, it will be taking on not just a city but a very motivated community. Last Tuesday’s Council meeting proved that.