{"id":18458,"date":"2012-04-09T12:00:37","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=18458"},"modified":"2012-11-03T17:00:53","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T17:00:53","slug":"a-prayer-by-indians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/04\/a-prayer-by-indians\/","title":{"rendered":"A Prayer by Indians"},"content":{"rendered":"

S P Udayakumar has been leading nonviolent, peaceful protests by thousands of villagers around Koodankulam in South India, asking for transparency and re-thinking of the commissioning of a nuclear power plant that poses risk to thousands of poor, unprivileged villagers who live around the site.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kumar\u2019s message is intense because he wishes to prevent the poor from a Fukushima like disaster. Our Indian Constitution guarantees the right to free speech and peaceful protest \u2013 a right that has been abused in hands of dirty politics for Kumar and thousands of villagers, who have been blocked food supplies and to be heard by Indian or foreign media.<\/em><\/p>\n

Below is Kumar\u2019s poem in protest of this abuse of their collective fundamental rights and for being treated violently by police forces. Several unjust arrests have been made and the international peace community is watching our dirty \u201cdemocracy\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

— Sumeet Grover <\/em><\/p>\n

*****<\/em><\/p>\n

With Due Apologies to St. Francis, Reinhold Niebuhr\u00a0and St. Patrick<\/p>\n

Oh, Prime Ministerial Lord, make me a sports authority of your games;
\nwhere there is common, let me steal wealth;
\nwhere there is contract, commission;
\nwhere there is agreement, kickbacks;
\nwhere there is deal, cut;
\nwhere there is pact, brokerage;
\nwhere there is bill, fee.
\nOh, Apolitical Master!
\ngrant that I may not so much seek to be taxed as to tax;
\nto be assessed, as to assess;
\nto be looted, as to loot;
\nfor it is in plundering that we receive,
\nit is in funding that we are funded,
\nand it is in boot-licking that we are born to Powerful Life.<\/p>\n

Oh, Neta, grant me the temerity
\nto accept the radioactivity that I cannot avoid;
\nPatriotism to welcome even more activity
\nand stupidity not to know the difference
\nLiving one day at a time;
\nEnjoying one moment at a time;
\nAccepting nuclear plants and bombs as the pathway to peace;
\nTaking, as He –the O-Bomb-Ma– did, this scientific world
\nas it is, not as I would have it;
\nTrusting that His Capitalistic Masters will make all things right
\nif I surrender to Their Corporate Will;
\nThat I may be reasonably radioactive in this life
\nand supremely radiant with PM
\nForever in the next.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0bind unto myself today
\nThe strong Name of the Trinity \u2013Money, Machine, Market
\nBy invocation of the same,
\nThe Three in One and One in Three.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0bind unto myself today
\nThe strong Name of the Trinity \u2013Liberalization, Privatization, Globalization
\nBy invocation of the same,
\nThe Three in One and One in Three.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0bind unto myself today
\nThe strong Name of the Trinity \u2013Communalism, Corruptionism, Capitalism
\nBy invocation of the same,
\nThe Three in One and One in Three.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0bind this day to me forever.
\nBy power of profit, Capitalists’ incarnation;
\nIts baptism in the exploitation river;
\nIts death on Gross for my manipulation;
\nIts bursting from the share market;
\nIts riding up the hedonistic way;
\nIts coming at the day of trading;
\nI bind unto myself today.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0bind unto myself the power
\nOf the great oppression of the powerful;
\nThe sweet ‘Go to Hell’ in judgment hour,
\nThe service of the Political Leaders,
\nBureaucrats’ faith, Scientists’ word,
\nThe businessmen’s prayers, the Military Chiefs’ scrolls,
\nAll good deeds done unto the Foreign Lord,
\nAnd impurity of stinking souls.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0bind unto myself today
\nThe virtues of the First Families,
\nThe glorious sons’ and daughters’ life-sucking way,
\nThe blackness of the night at even,
\nThe flashing of the lightning free,
\nThe whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
\nThe stable earth, the deep salt sea,
\nAround the old eternal rocks.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0bind unto myself today
\nThe power of the PM to hold and lead,
\nHis eye to watch, His might to stay,
\nHis ear to hearken to my need.
\nThe wisdom of the PM’s boss to teach,
\nHer hand to guide, Her shield to ward,
\nThe word of both to silence my speech,
\nTheir foreign host to be my guard.<\/p>\n

Bribe\u00a0be with me, Bribe within me,
\nBribe behind me, Bribe before me,
\nBribe beside me, Bribe to win me,
\nBribe to comfort and restore me.
\nBribe beneath me, Bribe above me,
\nBribe in quiet, Bribe in danger,
\nBribe in hearts of all that love me,
\nBribe in mouth of friend and stranger.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0bind unto myself the Name,
\nThe strong Name of the Corrupt;
\nBy invocation of the same.
\nThe Three in One, and One in Three,
\nOf Whom all politics hath creation,
\nEternal Sycophancy, Nepotism, Favoritism:
\nPraise to the Lords of my exploitation,<\/p>\n

Exploitation is of PM the Lord.<\/p>\n

April 7, 2012<\/em><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/em><\/p>\n

S.P. Udayakumar, Ph.D. – Tamil Nadu, India:<\/em><\/p>\n

* South Asian Community Center for Education and Research (SACCER)
\n* TRANSCEND Network, South Asia Convener (TSA) (For Rethinking South Asia)
\n* People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
\n* National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM) (For a Nuclear-Free India that has No Deals, No Mines, No Reactors, No Dumps, and No Bombs)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sumeet Grover – Originally from India, based in the UK:<\/em><\/p>\n

– Member of the TRANSCEND Art\u00a0& Peace Network<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

– Coordinator of Global Poetry<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

– Msc Software Engineering.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Due Apologies to St. Francis, Reinhold Niebuhr and St. Patrick<\/p>\n

Oh, Prime Ministerial Lord, make me a sports authority of your games;
\nwhere there is common, let me steal wealth;
\nwhere there is contract, commission;
\nwhere there is agreement, kickbacks; …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198,182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kudankulam-anti-nuclear-satyagraha-india","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18458\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}