?Absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows,? Mr Tharoor had replied to a question on whether he would travel ?cattle class? to Kerala the next time.
Mr. Tharoor is a minister in the Union Cabinet and an author of best selling books.
Humor and politics, can they mix ?
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Child's Guide To United States Foreign Policy
Q: Daddy, why did we have to attack Iraq?
A: Because they had weapons of mass destruction honey.
Q: But the inspectors didn't find any weapons of mass destruction.
A: That's because the Iraqis were hiding them.
Q: And that's why we invaded Iraq?
A: Yep. Invasions always work better than inspections.
Q: But after we invaded them, we STILL didn't find any weapons of mass destruction, did we?
A: That's because the weapons are so well hidden. Don't worry, we'll find something, probably right before the 2008 election.
Q: Why did Iraq want all those weapons of mass destruction?
A: To use them in a war, silly.
Q: I'm confused. If they had all those weapons that they planned to use in a war, then why didn't they use any of those weapons when we went to war with them?
A: Well, obviously they didn't want anyone to know they had those weapons, so they chose to die by the thousands rather than defend themselves.
Q: That doesn't make sense Daddy. Why would they choose to die if they had all those big weapons to fight us back with?
A: It's a different culture. It's not supposed to make sense.
Q: I don't know about you, but I don't think they had any of those weapons our government said they did.
A: Well, you know, it doesn't matter whether or not they had those weapons. We had another good reason to invade them anyway.
Q: And what was that?
A: Even if Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was a cruel dictator, which is another good reason to invade another country.
Q: Why? What does a cruel dictator do that makes it OK to invade his country?
A: Well, for one thing, he tortured his own people.
Q: Kind of like what they do in China?
A: Don't go comparing China to Iraq. China is a good economic competitor, where millions of people work for slave wages in sweatshops to make U.S. corporations richer.
Q: So if a country lets its people be exploited for American corporate gain, it's a good country, even if that country tortures people?
A: Right.
Q: Why were people in Iraq being tortured?
A: For political crimes, mostly, like criticizing the government. People who criticized the government in Iraq were sent to prison and tortured.
Q: Isn't that exactly what happens in China?
A: I told you, China is different.
Q: What's the difference between China and Iraq?
A: Well, for one thing, Iraq was ruled by the Ba'ath party, while China is Communist.
Q: Didn't you once tell me Communists were bad?
A: No, just Cuban Communists are bad.
Q: How are the Cuban Communists bad?
A: Well, for one thing, people who criticize the government in Cuba are sent to prison and tortured.
Q: Like in Iraq?
A: Exactly.
Q: And like in China, too?
A: I told you, China's a good economic competitor. Cuba, on the other hand, is not.
Q: How come Cuba isn't a good economic competitor?
A: Well, you see, back in the early 1960s, our government passed some laws that made it illegal for Americans to trade or do any business with Cuba until they stopped being communists and started being capitalists like us.
Q: But if we got rid of those laws, opened up trade with Cuba, and started doing business with them, wouldn't that help the Cubans become capitalists?
A: Don't be a smart-ass.
Q: I didn't think I was being one.
A: Well, anyway, they also don't have freedom of religion in Cuba.
Q: Kind of like China and the Falun Gong movement?
A: I told you, stop saying bad things about China. Anyway, Saddam Hussein came to power through a military coup, so he's not really a legitimate leader anyway.
Q: What's a military coup?
A: That's when a military general takes over the government of a country by force, instead of holding free elections like we do in the United States...
Q: Didn't the ruler of Pakistan come to power by a military coup?
A: You mean General Pervez Musharraf? Uh, yeah, he did, but Pakistan is our friend.
Q: Why is Pakistan our friend if their leader is illegitimate?
A: I never said Pervez Musharraf was illegitimate.
Q: Didn't you just say a military general who comes to power by forcibly overthrowing the legitimate government of a nation is an illegitimate leader?
A: Only Saddam Hussein. Pervez Musharraf is our friend, because he helped us invade Afghanistan.
Q: Why did we invade Afghanistan?
A: Because of what they did to us on September 11th.
Q: What did Afghanistan do to us on September 11th?
A: Well, on September 11th, nineteen men, fifteen of them Saudi Arabians, hijacked four airplanes and flew three of them into buildings, killing over 3,000 Americans.
Q: So how did Afghanistan figure into all that?
A: Afghanistan was where those bad men trained, under the oppressive rule of the Taliban..
Q: Aren't the Taliban those bad radical Islamics who chopped off people's heads and hands?
A: Yes, that's exactly who they were. Not only did they chop off people's heads and hands, but they oppressed women, too.
Q: Didn't the Bush administration give the Taliban 43 million dollars back in May of 2001?
A: Yes, but that money was a reward because they did such a good job fighting drugs.
Q: Fighting drugs?
A: Yes, the Taliban were very helpful in stopping people from growing opium poppies.
Q: How did they do such a good job?
A: Simple. If people were caught growing opium poppies, the Taliban would have their hands and heads cut off.
Q: So, when the Taliban cut off people's heads and hands for growing flowers, that was OK, but not if they cut people's heads and hands off for other reasons?
A: Yes. It's OK with us if radical Islamic fundamentalists cut off people's hands for growing flowers, but it's cruel if they cut off people's hands for stealing bread.
Q: Don't they also cut off people's hands and heads in Saudi Arabia?
A: That's different. Afghanistan was ruled by a tyrannical patriarchy that oppressed women and forced them to wear burqas whenever they were in public, with death by stoning as the penalty for women who did not comply.
Q: Don't Saudi women have to wear burqas in public, too?
A: No, Saudi women merely wear a traditional Islamic body covering.
Q: What's the difference?
A: The traditional Islamic covering worn by Saudi women is a modest yet fashionable garment that covers all of a woman's body except for her eyes and fingers. The burqa, on the other hand, is an evil tool of patriarchal oppression that covers all of a woman's body except for her eyes and fingers.
Q: It sounds like the same thing with a different name.
A: Now, don't go comparing Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are our friends.
Q: But I thought you said 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11th were from Saudi Arabia.
A: Yes, but they trained in Afghanistan.
Q: Who trained them?
A: A very bad man named Osama bin Laden.
Q: Was he from Afghanistan?
A: Uh, no, he was from Saudi Arabia too. But he was a bad man, a very bad man.
Q: I seem to recall he was our friend once.
A: Only when we helped him and the mujahadeen repel the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan back in the 1980s.
Q: Who are the Soviets? Was that the Evil Communist Empire Ronald Reagan talked about?
A: There are no more Soviets. The Soviet Union broke up in 1990 or thereabouts, and now they have elections and capitalism like us. We call them Russians now.
Q: So the Soviets ? I mean, the Russians ? are now our friends?
A: Well, not really. You see, they were our friends for many years after they stopped being Soviets, but then they decided not to support our invasion of Iraq, so we're mad at them now. We're also mad at the French and the Germans because they didn't help us invade Iraq either.
Q: So the French and Germans are evil, too?
A: Not exactly evil, but just bad enough that we had to rename French fries and French toast to Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast.
Q: Do we always rename foods whenever another country doesn't do what we want them to do?
A: No, we just do that to our friends. Our enemies, we invade.
Q: But wasn't Iraq one of our friends back in the 1980s?
A: Well, yeah. For a while.
Q: Was Saddam Hussein ruler of Iraq back then?
A: Yes, but at the time he was fighting against Iran, which made him our friend, temporarily.
Q: Why did that make him our friend?
A: Because at that time, Iran was our enemy.
Q: Isn't that when he gassed the Kurds?
A: Yeah, but since he was fighting against Iran at the time, we looked the other way, to show him we were his friend.
Q: So anyone who fights against one of our enemies automatically becomes our friend?
A: Most of the time, yes.
Q: And anyone who fights against one of our friends is automatically an enemy?
A: Sometimes that's true, too. However, if American corporations can profit by selling weapons to both sides at the same time, all the better.
Q: Why?
A: Because war is good for the economy, which means war is good for America Also, since God is on America's side, anyone who opposes war is a godless un-American Communist. Do you understand now why we attacked Iraq?
Q: I think so. We attacked them because God wanted us to, right?
A: Yes.
Q: But how did we know God wanted us to attack Iraq?
A: Well, you see, God personally speaks to George W. Bush and tells him what to do.
Q: So basically, what you're saying is that we attacked Iraq because George W. Bush hears voices in his head?
A: Yes! You finally understand how the world works. Now close your eyes, make yourself comfortable, and go to sleep. Good night.
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* *******
A: Because they had weapons of mass destruction honey.
Q: But the inspectors didn't find any weapons of mass destruction.
A: That's because the Iraqis were hiding them.
Q: And that's why we invaded Iraq?
A: Yep. Invasions always work better than inspections.
Q: But after we invaded them, we STILL didn't find any weapons of mass destruction, did we?
A: That's because the weapons are so well hidden. Don't worry, we'll find something, probably right before the 2008 election.
Q: Why did Iraq want all those weapons of mass destruction?
A: To use them in a war, silly.
Q: I'm confused. If they had all those weapons that they planned to use in a war, then why didn't they use any of those weapons when we went to war with them?
A: Well, obviously they didn't want anyone to know they had those weapons, so they chose to die by the thousands rather than defend themselves.
Q: That doesn't make sense Daddy. Why would they choose to die if they had all those big weapons to fight us back with?
A: It's a different culture. It's not supposed to make sense.
Q: I don't know about you, but I don't think they had any of those weapons our government said they did.
A: Well, you know, it doesn't matter whether or not they had those weapons. We had another good reason to invade them anyway.
Q: And what was that?
A: Even if Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was a cruel dictator, which is another good reason to invade another country.
Q: Why? What does a cruel dictator do that makes it OK to invade his country?
A: Well, for one thing, he tortured his own people.
Q: Kind of like what they do in China?
A: Don't go comparing China to Iraq. China is a good economic competitor, where millions of people work for slave wages in sweatshops to make U.S. corporations richer.
Q: So if a country lets its people be exploited for American corporate gain, it's a good country, even if that country tortures people?
A: Right.
Q: Why were people in Iraq being tortured?
A: For political crimes, mostly, like criticizing the government. People who criticized the government in Iraq were sent to prison and tortured.
Q: Isn't that exactly what happens in China?
A: I told you, China is different.
Q: What's the difference between China and Iraq?
A: Well, for one thing, Iraq was ruled by the Ba'ath party, while China is Communist.
Q: Didn't you once tell me Communists were bad?
A: No, just Cuban Communists are bad.
Q: How are the Cuban Communists bad?
A: Well, for one thing, people who criticize the government in Cuba are sent to prison and tortured.
Q: Like in Iraq?
A: Exactly.
Q: And like in China, too?
A: I told you, China's a good economic competitor. Cuba, on the other hand, is not.
Q: How come Cuba isn't a good economic competitor?
A: Well, you see, back in the early 1960s, our government passed some laws that made it illegal for Americans to trade or do any business with Cuba until they stopped being communists and started being capitalists like us.
Q: But if we got rid of those laws, opened up trade with Cuba, and started doing business with them, wouldn't that help the Cubans become capitalists?
A: Don't be a smart-ass.
Q: I didn't think I was being one.
A: Well, anyway, they also don't have freedom of religion in Cuba.
Q: Kind of like China and the Falun Gong movement?
A: I told you, stop saying bad things about China. Anyway, Saddam Hussein came to power through a military coup, so he's not really a legitimate leader anyway.
Q: What's a military coup?
A: That's when a military general takes over the government of a country by force, instead of holding free elections like we do in the United States...
Q: Didn't the ruler of Pakistan come to power by a military coup?
A: You mean General Pervez Musharraf? Uh, yeah, he did, but Pakistan is our friend.
Q: Why is Pakistan our friend if their leader is illegitimate?
A: I never said Pervez Musharraf was illegitimate.
Q: Didn't you just say a military general who comes to power by forcibly overthrowing the legitimate government of a nation is an illegitimate leader?
A: Only Saddam Hussein. Pervez Musharraf is our friend, because he helped us invade Afghanistan.
Q: Why did we invade Afghanistan?
A: Because of what they did to us on September 11th.
Q: What did Afghanistan do to us on September 11th?
A: Well, on September 11th, nineteen men, fifteen of them Saudi Arabians, hijacked four airplanes and flew three of them into buildings, killing over 3,000 Americans.
Q: So how did Afghanistan figure into all that?
A: Afghanistan was where those bad men trained, under the oppressive rule of the Taliban..
Q: Aren't the Taliban those bad radical Islamics who chopped off people's heads and hands?
A: Yes, that's exactly who they were. Not only did they chop off people's heads and hands, but they oppressed women, too.
Q: Didn't the Bush administration give the Taliban 43 million dollars back in May of 2001?
A: Yes, but that money was a reward because they did such a good job fighting drugs.
Q: Fighting drugs?
A: Yes, the Taliban were very helpful in stopping people from growing opium poppies.
Q: How did they do such a good job?
A: Simple. If people were caught growing opium poppies, the Taliban would have their hands and heads cut off.
Q: So, when the Taliban cut off people's heads and hands for growing flowers, that was OK, but not if they cut people's heads and hands off for other reasons?
A: Yes. It's OK with us if radical Islamic fundamentalists cut off people's hands for growing flowers, but it's cruel if they cut off people's hands for stealing bread.
Q: Don't they also cut off people's hands and heads in Saudi Arabia?
A: That's different. Afghanistan was ruled by a tyrannical patriarchy that oppressed women and forced them to wear burqas whenever they were in public, with death by stoning as the penalty for women who did not comply.
Q: Don't Saudi women have to wear burqas in public, too?
A: No, Saudi women merely wear a traditional Islamic body covering.
Q: What's the difference?
A: The traditional Islamic covering worn by Saudi women is a modest yet fashionable garment that covers all of a woman's body except for her eyes and fingers. The burqa, on the other hand, is an evil tool of patriarchal oppression that covers all of a woman's body except for her eyes and fingers.
Q: It sounds like the same thing with a different name.
A: Now, don't go comparing Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are our friends.
Q: But I thought you said 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11th were from Saudi Arabia.
A: Yes, but they trained in Afghanistan.
Q: Who trained them?
A: A very bad man named Osama bin Laden.
Q: Was he from Afghanistan?
A: Uh, no, he was from Saudi Arabia too. But he was a bad man, a very bad man.
Q: I seem to recall he was our friend once.
A: Only when we helped him and the mujahadeen repel the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan back in the 1980s.
Q: Who are the Soviets? Was that the Evil Communist Empire Ronald Reagan talked about?
A: There are no more Soviets. The Soviet Union broke up in 1990 or thereabouts, and now they have elections and capitalism like us. We call them Russians now.
Q: So the Soviets ? I mean, the Russians ? are now our friends?
A: Well, not really. You see, they were our friends for many years after they stopped being Soviets, but then they decided not to support our invasion of Iraq, so we're mad at them now. We're also mad at the French and the Germans because they didn't help us invade Iraq either.
Q: So the French and Germans are evil, too?
A: Not exactly evil, but just bad enough that we had to rename French fries and French toast to Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast.
Q: Do we always rename foods whenever another country doesn't do what we want them to do?
A: No, we just do that to our friends. Our enemies, we invade.
Q: But wasn't Iraq one of our friends back in the 1980s?
A: Well, yeah. For a while.
Q: Was Saddam Hussein ruler of Iraq back then?
A: Yes, but at the time he was fighting against Iran, which made him our friend, temporarily.
Q: Why did that make him our friend?
A: Because at that time, Iran was our enemy.
Q: Isn't that when he gassed the Kurds?
A: Yeah, but since he was fighting against Iran at the time, we looked the other way, to show him we were his friend.
Q: So anyone who fights against one of our enemies automatically becomes our friend?
A: Most of the time, yes.
Q: And anyone who fights against one of our friends is automatically an enemy?
A: Sometimes that's true, too. However, if American corporations can profit by selling weapons to both sides at the same time, all the better.
Q: Why?
A: Because war is good for the economy, which means war is good for America Also, since God is on America's side, anyone who opposes war is a godless un-American Communist. Do you understand now why we attacked Iraq?
Q: I think so. We attacked them because God wanted us to, right?
A: Yes.
Q: But how did we know God wanted us to attack Iraq?
A: Well, you see, God personally speaks to George W. Bush and tells him what to do.
Q: So basically, what you're saying is that we attacked Iraq because George W. Bush hears voices in his head?
A: Yes! You finally understand how the world works. Now close your eyes, make yourself comfortable, and go to sleep. Good night.
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* *******
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Boris...the spider
As the New York times says in its take on Yeltsin and his era, 
No one recognized more than he how far short he fell of his goal. In his resignation speech, he told the Russian people: “I ask forgiveness for not justifying some hopes of those people who believed that at one stroke, in one spurt, we could leap from the gray, stagnant, totalitarian past into the light, rich, civilized future.”
At the end, he was a man worn down. “I feel like a runner who has just completed a supermarathon of 40,000 kilometers,” he wrote in his memoir. “I gave it my all. I put my whole heart and soul into running my presidential marathon. I honestly went the distance. If I have to justify anything, here is what I will say: If you think you can do it better, just try. Run those 40,000 kilometers. Try to do it faster, better, more elegantly, or more easily. Because I did it.”
In an era of manufactured political leaders, Yeltsin was the last of the old school politico's. Someone who could orate, who could mingle, who could get drunk, who could shake a leg, who would use the local transport, who would remember what it meant to be poor and disenfranchised and who would get angry at the state of things around him. Power corrupts and Yeltsin too left the stage to polite applause and muttered whispers, but for a brief moment in time, he was the man who dared raise his voice and take a hammer to the machine-state.
Perhaps it would have been better if he had been a spider, able to weave his web and hang by a thread, play the parlour games and tread lightly on the ground...
Still we must judge a man by his actions in his youth and middle age, not in his dotage. For those who remember, Boris was not a spider, but a bear of a man, poking his nose where it wasnt appreciated, shoving his way into places where he wasnt welcome and forever ready to stand up and climb on tanks and talk to the people directly.
Look, he's crawling up my wall
Black and hairy, very small
Now he's up above my head
Hanging by a little thread
Boris the spider
Boris the spider
Now he's dropped on to the floor
Heading for the bedroom door
Maybe he's as scared as me
Where's he gone now, I can't see
Boris the spider
Boris the spider
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
There he is wrapped in a ball
Doesn't seem to move at all
Perhaps he's dead, I'll just make sure
Pick this book up off the floor
Boris the spider
Boris the spider
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
He's come to a sticky end
Don't think he will ever mend
Never more will he crawl 'round
He's embedded in the ground
Boris the spider
Boris the spider
No one recognized more than he how far short he fell of his goal. In his resignation speech, he told the Russian people: “I ask forgiveness for not justifying some hopes of those people who believed that at one stroke, in one spurt, we could leap from the gray, stagnant, totalitarian past into the light, rich, civilized future.”
At the end, he was a man worn down. “I feel like a runner who has just completed a supermarathon of 40,000 kilometers,” he wrote in his memoir. “I gave it my all. I put my whole heart and soul into running my presidential marathon. I honestly went the distance. If I have to justify anything, here is what I will say: If you think you can do it better, just try. Run those 40,000 kilometers. Try to do it faster, better, more elegantly, or more easily. Because I did it.”
In an era of manufactured political leaders, Yeltsin was the last of the old school politico's. Someone who could orate, who could mingle, who could get drunk, who could shake a leg, who would use the local transport, who would remember what it meant to be poor and disenfranchised and who would get angry at the state of things around him. Power corrupts and Yeltsin too left the stage to polite applause and muttered whispers, but for a brief moment in time, he was the man who dared raise his voice and take a hammer to the machine-state.
Perhaps it would have been better if he had been a spider, able to weave his web and hang by a thread, play the parlour games and tread lightly on the ground...
Still we must judge a man by his actions in his youth and middle age, not in his dotage. For those who remember, Boris was not a spider, but a bear of a man, poking his nose where it wasnt appreciated, shoving his way into places where he wasnt welcome and forever ready to stand up and climb on tanks and talk to the people directly.
Look, he's crawling up my wall
Black and hairy, very small
Now he's up above my head
Hanging by a little thread
Boris the spider
Boris the spider
Now he's dropped on to the floor
Heading for the bedroom door
Maybe he's as scared as me
Where's he gone now, I can't see
Boris the spider
Boris the spider
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
There he is wrapped in a ball
Doesn't seem to move at all
Perhaps he's dead, I'll just make sure
Pick this book up off the floor
Boris the spider
Boris the spider
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
He's come to a sticky end
Don't think he will ever mend
Never more will he crawl 'round
He's embedded in the ground
Boris the spider
Boris the spider
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
musharraf on the daily show
just saw pervez musharraf talking to jon stewart on the daily show. Talking about his book and about the taliban etc. He seemed less cocky and more weary. The sophistication and the suaveness were less noticeable than say in Agra. He gave a portrayal of a man caught in an indefensible position...viz ..a rock and a hard place.
To his credit he still talks sense and is a good comunicator. It did seem however that he doesnt wield any real power, but is rather a frontpiece doing a tough job for a long time and getting rather weary of it.
To his credit he still talks sense and is a good comunicator. It did seem however that he doesnt wield any real power, but is rather a frontpiece doing a tough job for a long time and getting rather weary of it.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The weeks that were and the world that was
The last few weeks have seen us cross the anniversary of the defining moment of the decade, the fall of the twin towers. Five years ago I was in a cycle rickshaw on my way to a bar, when my sister called me with the news. I immediately ran up to the bar and grabbing a fistful of salted peanuts and a cold beer, settled down to watch the second plane hit the towers. It seemed so unreal but not unexpected. What used to be surprising to us was that how did america escape for so long. We had seen the rage of the terrorists. The people who were drunk on easy money, easy guns, easy narcotics and easy glory. We knew they burnt and destroyed and killed so many of us indians. We also knew that they considered us small fry and what they really hated was the other culture. The culture of the west, with its blue jeans, its rock music, its movies where everyone had sex all the time, its free environment which worked without the hand of god. It was tough for them to invoke religous beliefs and the religious way, when on the other side of the world, america seemed to be having one endless party without any need to include god in the debate.
Soon we will not even remember that world that passed away on 9/11. For a few years there was hope for everyone. Extremists, terrorists, rightists, leftists, militarists, fundamentalists, industrialists, economists all had been rendered trivial. The world had realised that we didnt need a bunch of fancy jargon, we just needed to connect and work together and everything could work just fine. We didnt need a president who was bold and courageous and a shrewd military tactician, we just needed someone sensible who would put in 8 hours in the office and do his job.
In 98 I had moved to Lucknow, the capital of one of the provinces that Vishal Bharadwaj calls "states of abject lawlessness". I had a degree from india's best college, a 98 percentile test score in americas favourite graduate test and fairly well-off parents who were only to willing to see their son go to harvard or something. Yet, inspite of all these options, I went to Lucknow and lived there for two years. Those were the years of the dot com boom. 1998 -2000. I understood what was happening, albeit only as far as a guy just out of college could understand it. So I went to Lucknow and lived among the bhaisabs and the bhaiyas, the good citizens of lucknow for two years. All I did was make sure I checked my email everyday. That was my only rule. At first i would get one message a week. Still I checked it. I wrote to friends, sent emails to magazines, surfed the web, chatted online, made a website, preached the power of the coming webolution to anyone who would listen.
Those were good times and I would experience first hand the power of the new digital revolution. Sitting in Lucknow I stayed close to my friends in the US. I even made some new friends all over the world online, some of whom are still close to me today. I wrote articles for a magazine based out of bombay and was invited down there to spend some time at their office. I researched on the internet and was able to do cutting edge graphic design and 3D work which still amazes me, I met girls in chatrooms and went to other cities on weekends to meet them and date them, I consulted for IT companies in Lucknow and helped traditional manufacturers get new techniques from the internet, I helped people make their webpages and I helped businesses computerize their operations. Oh, and I build buildings too. And I drank a lot and roamed far and afield on my trusty kawasaki. I made friends in the inner city, in the muslim areas and spent many happy evenings drinking tea and discussing life. It was so much fun.
That world that I knew didnt last long. In 2001, the planes crashed into the towers. The towers fell. The elections in Florida earlier had given a lot of us a sinking feeling in our stomachs. We knew the leadership of the free world was in the hands of the USA, and when something wierd like the florida elections/the bush-gore chaos happened, we felt uneasy. The freedoms we took for granted no longer seemed secure. If democracy and transparency and decency and legality could be in doubt in the USA, then what hope for the rest of the world. That had made us uneasy, but we hoped the momentum of the clinton years would carry on and be difficult to turn back. It was not to be. There were a series of crashes. The nasdaq crashed, the dot com boom crashed and suddenly it seemed the 80's were back.
An Indian airliner was hijacked and flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan. The government in Afghanistan was a friend of the government in Pakistan. The government in Pakistan was a friend of the government in the USA. Our plane was standing in Afghanistan and we were watching it on television. We believed that the community of nations would not let us down. The United Nations would condemn the acts of the Afghan Government, the Taliban. The US would lean on Pakistan and Taliban, and our plane would be set free. It was only when the hijackers took a knife and stabbed Rupen Katiyal in the chest several times, that we understood that we were on our own and this was serious.
Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zarga were taken out of indian jails and sent to Afghanistan along with oodles of cash. We got our people and our plane back, except for Rupen, who I think was on his honeymoon when the hijack happened. We felt uneasy because it foretold something. It foretold that the world was not the free and fair place that we thought. The world allowed places like Afghanistan to exist, where the government was in cahoots with hijackers and terrorists. They were madmen and they were friends of pakistan who was a friend of america. That was wierd. We knew they were madmen for sure when they broke down 2000 year old statues of Buddha which had existed peacefully and werent really doing anything to threaten them.
This wasnt the world I knew in Lucknow. It had changed.
Omar Sheikh whom we had to release, went on to plan and carry out the killing of Daniel Pearl, a young wall street journal reporter and then released the video of how they cut his throat for the world to see. This raised him so high in the estimation of the taliban leadership that he became a right hand man to Osama Bin Laden. This London School of Economics trained, urbane british muslim, became the financial mastermind for the Al Qaeda. Legend has it that he betted on airline stocks by shorting them before 9-11 and made more than enough money on this single transaction on Dubai stock exchange to finance the entire operation. He has been cited as the key financier of Mohammed Atta.
This man, whom we had in our jails and were forced to let go. This man who pioneered the art of making video films of murders. This man who financed the key hijacker in 9-11. This man is in a jail in Pakistan, still awaiting his sentence to be carried out, still waiting for his appeals to be heard and still meeting and talking to would be terrorists. The world has changed a lot since he was an arm wrestling champion and master debater at the London School of Economics. He is still around to influence events and so are his leaders in the taliban and al-qaeda. It is a strange world. It would seem that in 5 years something would have been done. America would have meted out justice, but no, theres something else happening. Theres a war in Iraq to take care of first. The world really has changed.
What really has changed?
The Internet still chugs along, witness this blog.
The world gets closer and closer together, witness the global supply chain and outsourcing.
but no, there are some things that have changed.
Chevron is back as the largest corporation. The new economy pretenders have been pushed back and the old barons are back in the saddle.
The pope makes speeches where he shows a serious lack of concern for the feelings of other religions.
Israel feels free to destroy a neighbour from the air. It bombs bridges, roads, power stations. Its like trying to starve someone to death to cure them. The world watches.
Iraq is what it is. Too many dead bodies. Too many atrocities. Too many feuds. Too many guns.
India loses its voice. It now meekly echoes whatever the US tells it.
Strong leaders, Religious leaders, Military leaders are now much in demand. Moderates all over the world who were just doing a quiet job of governing are being pushed aside by the need of the hour. The need of the hour seems to be very confrontationist. The one world - one mission - one voice - one internet - one idea days seem so long ago.
5 years ago the towers fell. Now on my first visit to America, I see the changes and the ones that will come. The voices on TV are shrill, the Flag waving is grimfaced, the hole in the ground in ground zero is still a hole in the ground. Somewhere someone is not doing a regular 8 hour a day job of running things. There is less hope. There is less freedom. There are more checks. There are more warnings. We have now started to look over our shoulder more and less at the stars above.
the world is truly changing...welcome to the brave new world.
Soon we will not even remember that world that passed away on 9/11. For a few years there was hope for everyone. Extremists, terrorists, rightists, leftists, militarists, fundamentalists, industrialists, economists all had been rendered trivial. The world had realised that we didnt need a bunch of fancy jargon, we just needed to connect and work together and everything could work just fine. We didnt need a president who was bold and courageous and a shrewd military tactician, we just needed someone sensible who would put in 8 hours in the office and do his job.
In 98 I had moved to Lucknow, the capital of one of the provinces that Vishal Bharadwaj calls "states of abject lawlessness". I had a degree from india's best college, a 98 percentile test score in americas favourite graduate test and fairly well-off parents who were only to willing to see their son go to harvard or something. Yet, inspite of all these options, I went to Lucknow and lived there for two years. Those were the years of the dot com boom. 1998 -2000. I understood what was happening, albeit only as far as a guy just out of college could understand it. So I went to Lucknow and lived among the bhaisabs and the bhaiyas, the good citizens of lucknow for two years. All I did was make sure I checked my email everyday. That was my only rule. At first i would get one message a week. Still I checked it. I wrote to friends, sent emails to magazines, surfed the web, chatted online, made a website, preached the power of the coming webolution to anyone who would listen.
Those were good times and I would experience first hand the power of the new digital revolution. Sitting in Lucknow I stayed close to my friends in the US. I even made some new friends all over the world online, some of whom are still close to me today. I wrote articles for a magazine based out of bombay and was invited down there to spend some time at their office. I researched on the internet and was able to do cutting edge graphic design and 3D work which still amazes me, I met girls in chatrooms and went to other cities on weekends to meet them and date them, I consulted for IT companies in Lucknow and helped traditional manufacturers get new techniques from the internet, I helped people make their webpages and I helped businesses computerize their operations. Oh, and I build buildings too. And I drank a lot and roamed far and afield on my trusty kawasaki. I made friends in the inner city, in the muslim areas and spent many happy evenings drinking tea and discussing life. It was so much fun.
That world that I knew didnt last long. In 2001, the planes crashed into the towers. The towers fell. The elections in Florida earlier had given a lot of us a sinking feeling in our stomachs. We knew the leadership of the free world was in the hands of the USA, and when something wierd like the florida elections/the bush-gore chaos happened, we felt uneasy. The freedoms we took for granted no longer seemed secure. If democracy and transparency and decency and legality could be in doubt in the USA, then what hope for the rest of the world. That had made us uneasy, but we hoped the momentum of the clinton years would carry on and be difficult to turn back. It was not to be. There were a series of crashes. The nasdaq crashed, the dot com boom crashed and suddenly it seemed the 80's were back.
An Indian airliner was hijacked and flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan. The government in Afghanistan was a friend of the government in Pakistan. The government in Pakistan was a friend of the government in the USA. Our plane was standing in Afghanistan and we were watching it on television. We believed that the community of nations would not let us down. The United Nations would condemn the acts of the Afghan Government, the Taliban. The US would lean on Pakistan and Taliban, and our plane would be set free. It was only when the hijackers took a knife and stabbed Rupen Katiyal in the chest several times, that we understood that we were on our own and this was serious.
Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zarga were taken out of indian jails and sent to Afghanistan along with oodles of cash. We got our people and our plane back, except for Rupen, who I think was on his honeymoon when the hijack happened. We felt uneasy because it foretold something. It foretold that the world was not the free and fair place that we thought. The world allowed places like Afghanistan to exist, where the government was in cahoots with hijackers and terrorists. They were madmen and they were friends of pakistan who was a friend of america. That was wierd. We knew they were madmen for sure when they broke down 2000 year old statues of Buddha which had existed peacefully and werent really doing anything to threaten them.
This wasnt the world I knew in Lucknow. It had changed.
Omar Sheikh whom we had to release, went on to plan and carry out the killing of Daniel Pearl, a young wall street journal reporter and then released the video of how they cut his throat for the world to see. This raised him so high in the estimation of the taliban leadership that he became a right hand man to Osama Bin Laden. This London School of Economics trained, urbane british muslim, became the financial mastermind for the Al Qaeda. Legend has it that he betted on airline stocks by shorting them before 9-11 and made more than enough money on this single transaction on Dubai stock exchange to finance the entire operation. He has been cited as the key financier of Mohammed Atta.
This man, whom we had in our jails and were forced to let go. This man who pioneered the art of making video films of murders. This man who financed the key hijacker in 9-11. This man is in a jail in Pakistan, still awaiting his sentence to be carried out, still waiting for his appeals to be heard and still meeting and talking to would be terrorists. The world has changed a lot since he was an arm wrestling champion and master debater at the London School of Economics. He is still around to influence events and so are his leaders in the taliban and al-qaeda. It is a strange world. It would seem that in 5 years something would have been done. America would have meted out justice, but no, theres something else happening. Theres a war in Iraq to take care of first. The world really has changed.
What really has changed?
The Internet still chugs along, witness this blog.
The world gets closer and closer together, witness the global supply chain and outsourcing.
but no, there are some things that have changed.
Chevron is back as the largest corporation. The new economy pretenders have been pushed back and the old barons are back in the saddle.
The pope makes speeches where he shows a serious lack of concern for the feelings of other religions.
Israel feels free to destroy a neighbour from the air. It bombs bridges, roads, power stations. Its like trying to starve someone to death to cure them. The world watches.
Iraq is what it is. Too many dead bodies. Too many atrocities. Too many feuds. Too many guns.
India loses its voice. It now meekly echoes whatever the US tells it.
Strong leaders, Religious leaders, Military leaders are now much in demand. Moderates all over the world who were just doing a quiet job of governing are being pushed aside by the need of the hour. The need of the hour seems to be very confrontationist. The one world - one mission - one voice - one internet - one idea days seem so long ago.
5 years ago the towers fell. Now on my first visit to America, I see the changes and the ones that will come. The voices on TV are shrill, the Flag waving is grimfaced, the hole in the ground in ground zero is still a hole in the ground. Somewhere someone is not doing a regular 8 hour a day job of running things. There is less hope. There is less freedom. There are more checks. There are more warnings. We have now started to look over our shoulder more and less at the stars above.
the world is truly changing...welcome to the brave new world.
Monday, August 14, 2006
coke and pepsi banned?
The state government of Kerala in south India has banned the production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the state. The companies will be asked to close their operations entirely.
Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan stated today that the ban was being imposed because of the health hazards posed by Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
This must be the shot that will be heard around the world. First the US will protest and put lots of pressure on India to stop this...then there will be an outcry in the US media and senate..then the Indian government in the centre and the media there will launch a PR blitz to counter this. Then the Supreme court in India will declare the Kerala governments actions unconstitutional, then the CPI a coalition partner in the central government will make a big fuss and bring down the government...
earlier...someone once said... they dont have bread? why dont they eat cake ?...
now its.. they dont have drinking water? why dont they drink coke ?
:)
Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan stated today that the ban was being imposed because of the health hazards posed by Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
This must be the shot that will be heard around the world. First the US will protest and put lots of pressure on India to stop this...then there will be an outcry in the US media and senate..then the Indian government in the centre and the media there will launch a PR blitz to counter this. Then the Supreme court in India will declare the Kerala governments actions unconstitutional, then the CPI a coalition partner in the central government will make a big fuss and bring down the government...
earlier...someone once said... they dont have bread? why dont they eat cake ?...
now its.. they dont have drinking water? why dont they drink coke ?
:)
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
and chomsky weighs in
No doubt Chomsky is correct when he states that Hizbollah’s daring assault exposes Lebanese people to the violence of the Zionist army. Chomsky offered no alternative. The Israeli state still occupies a section of Lebanon; it still infringes on Lebanese airspace; it still humiliates Arabs and occupies their land. What should Hizbollah do?
whats up in bay root ? (beirut)
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Lebanon/200843
this is a good place to start reading on this topic.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_allen_l__060717_lebanon_is_an_outrag.htm
the zionist conspiracy point of view -
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m24725&l=i&size=1&hd=0
this is a good place to start reading on this topic.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_allen_l__060717_lebanon_is_an_outrag.htm
the zionist conspiracy point of view -
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m24725&l=i&size=1&hd=0
guns on your shoulder
"The Israelis were yesterday trumpeting the fact that the missile was made in Iran as proof of Iran's involvement in the Lebanon war. This was odd reasoning. Since almost all the missiles used to kill the civilians of Lebanon over the past four days were made in Seattle, Duluth and Miami in the United States, their use already suggests to millions of Lebanese that America is behind the bombardment of their country. "
So the iranians and the american missiles are fighting each other. Why cant they fight each other directly as they seem to be itching to do...and why do they have to involve the jews ( who were persecuted by the europeans for so long that they have a permanent victim complex ) and the lebanese who are struggling to rebuild a country torn apart by war.
So the iranians and the american missiles are fighting each other. Why cant they fight each other directly as they seem to be itching to do...and why do they have to involve the jews ( who were persecuted by the europeans for so long that they have a permanent victim complex ) and the lebanese who are struggling to rebuild a country torn apart by war.
Monday, July 10, 2006
mexico
so the right wing candidate won in Mexico. It was a pretty well planned and smooth win. First someone hacked the leftist candidates website and put up a letter saying that if they lost then people should come out on the streets. The rightwingers made a huge fuss and got the leftists to publicly declare that they would peacefully accept the result of the election. Big Mistake :). A few days later the elections happened and surprise surprise, the rightwingers won by the narrowest of margins.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Govt announces 27% reservations for other backwards castes in India in educations of higher learning based on the Mandal Commisions report ... YAWWWN
When I read about the Reservation issue, one fact strikes me. That it is a old report...somewhere in the 70's.
Why is this being treated like the Gita and Koran rolled into one? With so much money and brainpower at his disposal, why cannot a new commission be appointed which looks into this issue and comes up with a real Mandal II report.
It may not necessarily be an attempt to denigrate the earlier work done by Mr. Mandal, but simply an acknowledgement that much water has flown under the bridge since then, and a fresh stocktaking might be useful.
Suppose a renowned experts were called from all over India ( and the world maybe ) and given a good salary, a team of legworkers, assistants etc, and a years time to examine the issue in depth and come up with a report. Would that necessarily be viewed as a bad thing? Can we not find 20 wise men who still have credibility? Lets take a fresh look.
I wonder why this never happens? Maybe the Mandal report was a definitive report and took decades to accomplish...still this new commission can add on to it...like notes added to an old book which comes out in a new edition...
Why is this being treated like the Gita and Koran rolled into one? With so much money and brainpower at his disposal, why cannot a new commission be appointed which looks into this issue and comes up with a real Mandal II report.
It may not necessarily be an attempt to denigrate the earlier work done by Mr. Mandal, but simply an acknowledgement that much water has flown under the bridge since then, and a fresh stocktaking might be useful.
Suppose a renowned experts were called from all over India ( and the world maybe ) and given a good salary, a team of legworkers, assistants etc, and a years time to examine the issue in depth and come up with a report. Would that necessarily be viewed as a bad thing? Can we not find 20 wise men who still have credibility? Lets take a fresh look.
I wonder why this never happens? Maybe the Mandal report was a definitive report and took decades to accomplish...still this new commission can add on to it...like notes added to an old book which comes out in a new edition...
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
against the grain
A little off subject, there is a book out talking about WTO and how it has allowed for the patenting of GRAIN so that food supply in places like India are completely controlled by five companies. Ouch. These guys didnt come up with the idea. I'd rather see little people fight these monopolies on ideas than back down and be intimidated by giant corporations.
In Stolen Harvest, Vandana Shiva charts the implacts of globalized, corporate agriculture on small farmers, the environment, and the quality of the food we eat. With chapters on genetically engineered seeds, patents o life, mad cows and sacred cows, and the debate on shrimp farming, this is an impassioned and inspiring book that will shape the debate about genetic engineering and commercial agriculture for years to come.
Quotes from Stolen Harvest
"Over the past two decades every issue I have been engaged in as an ecological activist and organic intellectual has revealed that what the industrial economy calls "growth" is really a form of theft from nature and people.
"It is true that cutting down forests or converting natural forests into monocultures of pine and wucalyptus for industrial raw material generates revenues and growth. But this growth is based on robbing
Vandana Shiva is one of the world's most dynamic and provacative thinkers. A physicist, ecologist, and activist, she won the Right Livelihood Award in 1993. She directs the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy in New Delhi, India, and is an Associate Editor of The Ecologist magazine. Before becoming an activist, Shiva was one of India's leading physicists
Quote from Vandana Shiva -
"The primary threat to nature and people today comes from centralising and monopolising power and control. Not until diversity is made the logic of production will there be a chance for sustainability, justice and peace. Cultivating and conserving diversity is no luxury in our times: it is a survival imperative."
Her books include:
Water Wars
Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge
Ecofeminism with Maria Mies
The Violence of the Green Revolution : Third World Agriculture, Ecology and Politics
Monocultures of the Mind : Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology
Biopolitics : A Feminist and Ecological Reader on Biotechnology, editor with Ingunn Moser
Biodiversity : Social and Ecological Consequences
Read more about her here
read her interview here - http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=573
In Stolen Harvest, Vandana Shiva charts the implacts of globalized, corporate agriculture on small farmers, the environment, and the quality of the food we eat. With chapters on genetically engineered seeds, patents o life, mad cows and sacred cows, and the debate on shrimp farming, this is an impassioned and inspiring book that will shape the debate about genetic engineering and commercial agriculture for years to come.
Quotes from Stolen Harvest
"Over the past two decades every issue I have been engaged in as an ecological activist and organic intellectual has revealed that what the industrial economy calls "growth" is really a form of theft from nature and people.
"It is true that cutting down forests or converting natural forests into monocultures of pine and wucalyptus for industrial raw material generates revenues and growth. But this growth is based on robbing
Vandana Shiva is one of the world's most dynamic and provacative thinkers. A physicist, ecologist, and activist, she won the Right Livelihood Award in 1993. She directs the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy in New Delhi, India, and is an Associate Editor of The Ecologist magazine. Before becoming an activist, Shiva was one of India's leading physicists
Quote from Vandana Shiva -
"The primary threat to nature and people today comes from centralising and monopolising power and control. Not until diversity is made the logic of production will there be a chance for sustainability, justice and peace. Cultivating and conserving diversity is no luxury in our times: it is a survival imperative."
Her books include:
Water Wars
Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge
Ecofeminism with Maria Mies
The Violence of the Green Revolution : Third World Agriculture, Ecology and Politics
Monocultures of the Mind : Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology
Biopolitics : A Feminist and Ecological Reader on Biotechnology, editor with Ingunn Moser
Biodiversity : Social and Ecological Consequences
Read more about her here
read her interview here - http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=573
On Water
Barely 15 months ago, Uruguay made history with its referendum on the issue of water. The outcome was a first-ever in the world. Close to two-thirds of voters came out in favour of an amendment to their Constitution (now Article 47). One that would assert: "water is a natural resource essential to life." Also that access to water and sanitation are "fundamental human rights." And that "public service of water supply for human consumption will be served exclusively and directly by state legal persons." (Which rules out a private takeover of water.)
Among the many burning issues of the day, is the issue of water. As the referendum in Uruguay showed, there is a very simple way to tackle this problem at its very root. We cannot expect Madame Sonia, or Master Rahul or Sri KamalNath or Mr Jaitley or Missus Sushma or Hon. Arjun Singh to consider this of any importance. Let alone holding a referendum or having MP's support a similar amendment to the constitution. However, the insidious activity of elected hooligans selling off state assets will reach to a point when they will sell off all the water to Bechtel and Haliburton and Coca Cola and whatever. The rivers will be stored in huge concrete dams and sold at a rate of $ per drop. So get the message out to every man in india who drinks water...maybe this can be stopped.
Among the many burning issues of the day, is the issue of water. As the referendum in Uruguay showed, there is a very simple way to tackle this problem at its very root. We cannot expect Madame Sonia, or Master Rahul or Sri KamalNath or Mr Jaitley or Missus Sushma or Hon. Arjun Singh to consider this of any importance. Let alone holding a referendum or having MP's support a similar amendment to the constitution. However, the insidious activity of elected hooligans selling off state assets will reach to a point when they will sell off all the water to Bechtel and Haliburton and Coca Cola and whatever. The rivers will be stored in huge concrete dams and sold at a rate of $ per drop. So get the message out to every man in india who drinks water...maybe this can be stopped.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
malcomX
"I'm not an American. I'm one of the twenty-two million Black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million Black people who are the victims of democracy--nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver--no, not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare."
-- MALCOLM X
-- MALCOLM X
Thursday, April 06, 2006
isnt communism the opposite of democracy?
Police arrested about 300 activists from different parties early Thursday, the first day of the opposition's anti-monarchy demonstrations across Nepal's capital, a top opposition leader said.............
Top students leaders, women's activists and members of the country's seven main political parties were among those arrested, said Khadga Prasad Oli, a top communist leader and one of the organizers of the four-day nationwide strike to pressure King Gyanendra to restore democracy more than a year after he seized control of the government
A communist leader wanting to restore democracy??
The statement of a communist leader wanting to restore democracy sounds strange to a lot of us who think that communnism is the opposite of democracy. I too used to think that, till one day a communist student leader gently told me something about what he did.
communism is the opposite of capitalism, not democracy.
in a country, profits are divided between the labour and the
capitalist ( owner ). This was true in classical industrial situations
like factories, mills, agriculture etc.
Now in america you see wages remaining stagnant or even going down a
little while companies report enormous profit growth ( eg Walmart ).
The share of profits going to the labour force used to be very small
earlier, then came the unionization, government regulation and then
shortage of labor force, which led to a steady increase in the share
of profits that went to labor. Now with India and China entering the
global labor pool, employers in developed countries, like US, are
moving their production/work to cheaper locations. This has led to the
decline in the share of profits going to labor in the last 10 years or
so.
Communism emerged as an alternative to this model, where it was the
vision of Karl Marx that workers of the world would unite and take
control of the means of production ( employee owned factories /
collective farms ). During the Clinton dot.com era, surprisingly, a
lot of communist principles were in play in the market, like employee
ownership of their companies ( stock options ). Communism also aims at
a fair redistribution of wealth. They talk of taking all the land from
the landowners and then redistributing it equally to all people. Also
of free education, free healthcare, free housing etc etc to all people
provided by the state. This means that the difference in standard of
living between the upper layer and the bottom layer is very less.
What they did say was that in most capitalist countries, democracy has
become controlled by people with money. There has emerged a upper
elite of rich men who control most things. In such cases if there is
no other way then it is better to bring a revolution and change the
system.
As with most systems, the practical implementation of these ideals
proved to be difficult. Once the communist systems were in place,
there emerged a ruling elite who started to control the system and
dictators like Stalin, Mao gave it a bad name.
The lessons the communists learned from the previous century ( which
can also be called the communist century ) were many. One lesson, was
that a communist movement must remain connected to the poor, the
workers, the labor and the countryside. This was shown in Vietnam and
in China, where peoples armies won victories and ended up ruling the
country. Another lesson learned is that there is a tendency of
communist systems to become like dictatorships, so there must be
strong democratic systems inside the communist party which allow the
people to have a strong voice in the system. The third lesson learned
was that even though communist systems are unglamorous, with run down
cars and industrial style buildings, they still do a very good job of
providing education, security and healthcare to their citizens.
The crime rate in USSR was very low, Cuba has excellent healthcare and
education. Earlier jokes were made about east european and soviet
countries, about how people stood in line for hours etc. and how their
cars were tincans on wheels. Capitalism swept into these countries
after the fall of the berlin wall. Then came the mafia, prostitution,
homeless, breakdown in healthcare for the poor, drop in literacy
levels and enornous amounts of theft, robbery and bribery. Say what
you may about Cuba, but the same hurricanes hit Cuba and Louisiana.
The poor and underpriviliged were left exposed in US and their
condition was exposed for everyone to see.
For a long time in many countries, the communists have entered the
mainstream, formed political parties and fought elections aiming to
use the democratic structure to come into power. In India, communists
have consistently ruled two states, through victories in elections, a
good organised grassroots party structure and consistent pro poor
policies. Kerala and Bengal have had communist party governments and
they have not done too badly. In fact kerala has education and
healthcare levels comparable to the best in the world. In bengal, it
has been a mixed success, capital and factories fled when the
communists came to power. They however did carry out a successful land
redistribution programme among the farmers and landless labourers.
There is a marked difference visible in the living standards and
mentality of the poorest of the poor in these places. There is a lack
of mercedes benzes and five star hotels though and the flight of
capital has led to tremendous unemployment. Still now, with education
levels and basic infrastructure being very good in Bengal, factories
and software companies, outsourcing shops etc are returning there and
they are very much part of the boom.
Communism probably should be understood as "community ruled" or
"community based". It emphasises the role of communities and groups
and unions and collectives. Capitalism emphasises individuality and
money, capital and millionaires. Therefore to think that communism
automatically rules out democracy is a wrong assumption. Communism has
slogans like " Power to the people". Capitalism has slogans like "
Survival of the fittest".
In nepal, the communist party fought elections whenever possible. The
party had been formed to struggle against imperialism and feudalism,
as symbolised by the rule of the Rana kings in Nepal. Their moment of
truth came in 1991 elections. The results of the elections,
demonstrated that a coalition of various communist parties was a major
political force in Nepalese politics
Now in Nepal, there was an incident which makes a mockery, both of
free speech, media reporting, law and order, international diplomacy
and many other things. Having turned over most power to the parliament
and democratically elected governments, the king was taking a backseat
in politics. This was a threat to the entrenched vested interests,
like the Generals in the army, the large landowners, the power brokers
et al. So one fine day, a few years ago, the entire royal family was
gunned down at their own dining table. The story was released that the
crown prince had a tragic romance, which upset him, and he killed his
whole family and then shot himself. Of the people in the room, only
one cousin survived. Co incidentally that cousin is now the crown
prince of nepal and his father Gyanendra is now the new king.
Gyanendra gradually consolidated power, dissolved parliament and
kicked out all elected representatives. The political parties could do
not much but protest, since the Royal Nepal Army was on the side of
Gyanendra. It was the communists who retreated back into the
underground, into the villages and hills and launched a grassroots
movement, which has been fighting the Army for control of the land. At
last estimates, the communists controlled more than 60% of nepal,
running parallel governments, collecting taxes, running tribunals,
hospitals, courts etc.
The support for the King is dwindling. India which had earlier
supported him, now strongly urges him to hold elections again and
restore democracy. China too, does not look too kindly on his
activites. To continue the fight against the Communists, the King
needs weapons. China and India both are reluctant to give them to him.
Who else can he turn to. Surprise!, there is one country which is
willing to support him and send him weapons, the USA. They probably
feel that having a brutal despotic murdering ruler is preferable to a
democratically elected communist government.
Thats what my opinion of the situation in Nepal is. I grew up about 50
miles from the india - nepalese border. I travelled through its roads
and villages and mountains a lot and some of my best friends are
nepalese. It was indeed a sad day for all of us, and a dark day for
justice and truth, when the royal family was massacred and the new
king siezed power. That is the relevant question, of why the world
stood by and let it happen. The fact that communists are fighting him
and want to restore democracy and fight elections is not such a
strange thing.
read my earlier blog entry
http://dotook.blogspot.com/2006/02/interview-with-communist-leader-of.html
for the interview with Prachanda who is heading the communist party
movement in nepal.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
update - medha patkar arrested
In a dramatic swoop late Wednesday night, Delhi police arrested Medha Patkar, leader, Narmada Bachao Andolan and took her to a hospital, following extreme deterioration in her condition. Patkar was arrested on the charge of attempting to commit suicide. The scores of NBA activists who clashed with the police, shouting anti-government slogans and protesting Patkar's arrest were also arrested on charges of rioting. They were taken to the Parliament Street police station. To arrest a weak Patkar, police had to broke the cordon of these activists, who had surrounded her; she was lying on a bed on a pavement near Jantar Mantar. Even an hour after the arrest, several activists continued to protest and the area has remained tense.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
dont worship the dead..save the living
The construction of large dams on the River Narmada in central India and its impact on millions of people living in the river valley has become one of the most important social issues in contemporary India.
The recent decision by the authorities to raise the SSP dam height to 121m is in violation of the Supreme Court rulings of Oct 2000 and March 2005 that unambiguously state that further construction cannot happen until rehabilitation of temporaorily and permanently affected families is completed as per the Narmada Tribunal Award. Families are yet to be rehabilitated even at the 110m level.
Three representatives from the Narmada valley (Jamsing Nargave from village Amlali Badwani district, Bhagwatibai Jatpuria from village Nissarpur Dhar district and Medha Patkar) are on indefinite hunger strike at Jantar mantar.
Medha Patkar shown in the photo opposite has a simple point. How can a state, flood thousands of villages and cities, submerge temples, inundate ancestral land, uproot a whole population without even consulting them. What manner of arrogance is this.
After peaceful protests, approaching the courts and arguing their case in a civilised way there had been some headway. Then came the decision last week, by the government to raise the height of the dam another 12 metres. This would increase the area being flooded and uproot even more villages. This while the earlier villagers hadnt been resettled and rehabilitated yet. This move is also in direct violation of the Supreme courts orders, which had stopped further construction till the displaced people were resettled. The nonviolent protests earlier were dealt with brutally by the authorities. So, in the oldest tradition of India, this frail old woman lay down in the capital city and stopped eating. Its been seven days and counting and she is there, doing a gandhi.
We still worship Gandhi, pay lip service to his ideals and declare him the father of our nation. The man who wished to live as poorly as the rest of his countrymen, who fasted to stir the conscience of his people and their rulers, who felt the pain of the downtrodden. We admire him today. We call his path the right path. He is dead and long gone, killed by an assassins bullet.
Medha has gone 7 days without food. Let us try to imagine what that means. Let us probe further into why an old lady is starving herself to death in the heart of the capital city. Let us stop worshipping the dead and look at the living. All those who can, please visit the Jantar Mantar in CP in Delhi and show your solidarity, if not for her cause then at least for her courage.
related links -
BBC
Medha Patkars press release
Visit the Narmada Bachao Andolan website here ( Save Narmada Movement )
The build up to this protest, when everything else fails.
an interview with Medha a few years ago.
Medha Patkar turns down PM’s request
Arrested and released.
Editorial in HT - For many Indians, the word ‘development’ sends a shudder down their spines. What should have been a term eliciting optimism and giving flesh to progress has become a cuss word. One prime reason for things coming to such a pass is that governments have allowed development to become synonymous with misery for many. One key element of many a developmental project involves mass displacement. This involves necessary social disruption that requires compensation and rehabilitation of the displaced. On paper, all public developmental projects have rehabilitation measures built into them. But the reality is that while successive governments have tom-tommed their socialist credentials, the second part of the development-rehabilitation exercise is either forgotten or is forcibly jettisoned. That is the reason why people like Medha Patkar are forced to go on a hunger strike so that the injustice meted out to the displaced in the name of development is addressed and corrected.
Read More of " Development and People"
Friday, March 17, 2006
empire and energy
The end of previous empires, Phillips explains, also corresponded with the obsolescence of their dominant energy source. The Netherlands was the "the wind and water hegemon" from 1590 to the 1720s. In the mid-18th century, Britain, harnessing the newly discovered power of coal, became the leading world power, only to be left behind by oil-fueled America. "The evidence is that leading world economic powers, after an energy golden era, lose their magic -- and not by accident," he writes. "The infrastructures created by these unusual, even quirky, successes eventually became economic obstacle courses and inertia-bound burdens."
the full article is here...u will have to watch a free ad to read it...but its worth it...
the full article is here...u will have to watch a free ad to read it...but its worth it...
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
the state of the nation
In Jangpura, a small neighborhood in Delhi, my friends Bela Malik and Tommy Mathew planned to welcome Laura Bush. As with all State visits, between the negotiations and the meetings, the hosts arrange for the dignitaries to tour safe "soft" sites that become front-page photo opportunities. As if to send a signal to their Evangelical base, on March 2 Laura Bush planned to visit a small NGO run by the Missionaries of Charity. Bela, Tommy and other friends stitched a couple of bed sheets together and made a banner that read: "Laura Bush, how about a photo-op with the orphaned, maimed, dead children of Iraq?" It was a loud question, written in a quiet way, and hung from a modest balcony. A few hours before Laura Bush's cavalcade was to go down the road, US secret service flooded the neighborhood. In their wake came the Area Station House officer who entered Bela and Tommy's apartment, confiscated the banner, refused to allow Tommy entry into his own flat, and posted a police officer on the balcony. A thousand of Delhi's finest overran Jangpura.
Laura Bush never got to the Missionaries of Charity. Something else came up.
In an email message, Bela wrote, "I came closest to feeling what being under an imperialist system was and feeling first-hand the might of an armed invasion. It wasn't that in a real sense, but for a few hours, it was that. 'Security' is a funny term in the way it is used."
read entire article here
Laura Bush never got to the Missionaries of Charity. Something else came up.
In an email message, Bela wrote, "I came closest to feeling what being under an imperialist system was and feeling first-hand the might of an armed invasion. It wasn't that in a real sense, but for a few hours, it was that. 'Security' is a funny term in the way it is used."
read entire article here
Monday, March 06, 2006
Whats it like in eye raan
The greatest opportunity came after September 11, of course, when Iran sought to help the US break al Qaeda, a common enemy that threatened both nations. But Bush and his circle, as we now know, were not interested in breaking al Qaeda or fighting terrorism; they were interested in "establishing a military footprint" in Iraq, as part of a wide-ranging plan to "project dominance" over the energy resources of the Middle East and Central Asia, while fomenting "creative destruction" throughout the region, in the belief that when the resultant rivers of blood had at last subsided, there would be a series of obedient client regimes installed in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere--including, in the dreams of some of the crankiest cronies, new, even more obedient American satraps in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Therefore, there could be no accommodation with moderate elements in Iran; on the contrary, the existence of a moderate faction within the Iranian power structure could only be a hindrance to the Bushists' avowed goals. How could you maintain the profitable, fear-fomenting image of a dastardly nation--a member of the "axis of evil," no less--bent on the destruction of "the American way of life," if its leaders are trying reach an accommodation with you, if they speak of moderation, of a "dialogue among civilizations"? Khatami--already hemmed in by the hardline mullahs, unable to deliver all of his promised domestic reforms--was also left with nothing to show for his moderate foreign policy. Instead, Bush confirmed the mullah's criticism of Khatami: "You reach out to the infidels, and what do you get? They spit in your face, they try to destroy us." read original article
Khatami served as Iran's president from 1997 to 2005. Now that he is out, and a hardliner is in place, it kinda helps Bush paint the situation in black and white.
14 days to go and counting.... 20th March is Irans National day, and they are planning to open their Oil Bourse ( oil trading exchange ) on that date, where they will also, I repeat also, accept payment in Euros for sale of barrels full of oil.
Therefore, there could be no accommodation with moderate elements in Iran; on the contrary, the existence of a moderate faction within the Iranian power structure could only be a hindrance to the Bushists' avowed goals. How could you maintain the profitable, fear-fomenting image of a dastardly nation--a member of the "axis of evil," no less--bent on the destruction of "the American way of life," if its leaders are trying reach an accommodation with you, if they speak of moderation, of a "dialogue among civilizations"? Khatami--already hemmed in by the hardline mullahs, unable to deliver all of his promised domestic reforms--was also left with nothing to show for his moderate foreign policy. Instead, Bush confirmed the mullah's criticism of Khatami: "You reach out to the infidels, and what do you get? They spit in your face, they try to destroy us." read original article
Khatami served as Iran's president from 1997 to 2005. Now that he is out, and a hardliner is in place, it kinda helps Bush paint the situation in black and white.
14 days to go and counting.... 20th March is Irans National day, and they are planning to open their Oil Bourse ( oil trading exchange ) on that date, where they will also, I repeat also, accept payment in Euros for sale of barrels full of oil.
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