If you've been following news with a little more than a passing interest, you would have noticed all the news about the horrific incidents in Burma. Utterly shamelessly, our nation has not even condemned it in strong terms. How different are we from a rapists' accomplice who tacitly condones the rapists' actions for monetary or other purposes? Shame on you India. Feels horrible. This is not something new. Apart from a brief period after the 8888 uprising, India has been licking the asses of the oppressors in Burma for their gas. Nothing can capture this more vividly than the following cartoon (obtained from the end of this article).
நிரந்தரமானவன் [தே. குமரன்]
4 years ago
6 comments:
Partha,
Good post.
parth and sarv, am not sure how lampooning manmohan here is helpful. as long as we too plug into the gas supply (which seems to be increasingly extracted at the cost of bloodshed around the world) we are guilty as well.. isnt mr.blue-turban at some level our collective face? not tht we shouldnt hold him responsible at all, but am just wondering what to do abt the blood on our hands.. lemme kno if you have any insights plz. thnks and love :)
Afaik, Post-independence India has been a really ethical state. But there have been confusing signals in the past few years. Are we trying to emulate the US here in being an opportunistic state?
Naveen,
I agree partially wrt Mr.Singh. The blue turban does represent us. But I feel its right to lampoon Mr.Singh as the man has the power to avoid such shame for us. Either he is lame or complicit. Neither is acceptable.
We have little choice because this country's democratic system needs an electoral tool like a referendum. Agree it is no easy job for a big nation like ours, but we have a succesful electoral system with both the scalability and robustness required for such a thing.
@naina - absolutely absolutely!! my hands are soaked in blood... its my consumerist/living practices that drive industries to desire their resources so much and which is what drives the politicians to mouth words acceptable to the industry... manmohan singhs photo there is obviously not a personal attack on our PM.. he is our representative... it would make as much sense to put my photo there..
I think I know what best I can do to remove the stain from my hand a little bit. I feel economic disobedience is the best action one can do on the personal front. Of course there are many steps one can take on a social front but on the personal front, economic disobedience is the best step forward. Maybe, Ill pu up another post on what I really mean by economic disobedience.
@KG - We have been pulled into the global economy and such practices are the norm than the exception.
@partha: OUR hands my frnd, OUR hands :))
looking forward to the disobedient post!
Partha,
I tried to find if there is some benefit of doubt for Capitalism in this. Nothing. Pas de touche.
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