{"id":18805,"date":"2012-04-30T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=18805"},"modified":"2012-11-03T16:58:49","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T16:58:49","slug":"the-plight-of-mr-ordinary-citizen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/04\/the-plight-of-mr-ordinary-citizen\/","title":{"rendered":"The Plight of Mr. Ordinary Citizen"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 22, 2012 (The Earth Day) From Koodankulam Nonviolent Nuclear Protest, India
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Listen to my plight; I am a low class low caste Ordinary Citizen;
\nAnd I\u2019m running from pillar to post with a public interest petition
\nThat imported and imposed nuclear reactors threaten to jettison
\nMy community\u2019s livelihood, resources and the very existence.<\/p>\n

I approached all our political leaders and powerful ministers
\nTo come and listen to our fears and concerns which are sinister.
\nYelled the leaders: \u201cVotes once cast, we could care less, Mister;
\nWe need cuts and commissions to continue to be the Master!\u201d<\/p>\n

I appealed to the executives, bureaucrats, police and justices
\nTo share all the info, honor the rules, and come out of duskiness.
\nThe pen pushers explained age-old customs and colonial practices;
\nThat they write what they are told with all the governing nastiness.<\/p>\n

I prayed to the governments\u2019 expert teams and the member jesters
\nTo listen to what our unlettered folks had to say as a kind gesture.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re all authorities, accomplished people and acclaimed experts;
\nWe\u2019re not used to any listening but can only explain the matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

I begged the savants, specialists, scientists and skilled technocrats
\nWho freely added safety tiers to their Third generation plus reactors.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t we need bombs and progress and supreme power status?
\nYou must trust the scientists and all their nonsense with no hiatus.\u201d<\/p>\n

I turned to the traders, dealers, brokers and business magnets
\nMaking a killing in every manner and giving a slip to dragnets.
\nThey said \u201cmoney is honey for money brings fame and power;
\nThe poor should know they haven\u2019t any and run for good cover.\u201d<\/p>\n

I requested media moguls and barons to report our sad story
\nAnd bring the world\u2019s attention to our state of being so sorry.
\nThe media persons were sympathetic but for business survival
\nThey needed government ads, industry tenders and no rival.<\/p>\n

I asked for the support of NGOs, IGOs, INGOs and the civil society
\nOnly to be driven away by the project managers from their vicinity.
\nThey wanted donations and contributions but no scrutiny of accounts;
\nMore governmental blessings without any administrative hiccups.<\/p>\n

High and dry, I cried to my House of Worship and all its high priests.
\nThey spelled out God\u2019s plan; explained the importance of foreign fees;
\nDescribed the power total submission and prayerful meditation hath
\nAnd wanted to be left alone without divine problems and rulers\u2019 wrath.<\/p>\n

Conversant with the ways of the rich and famous and powerful,
\nConvinced that no one with vested interests would do the needful,
\nI went back to the village to confide in and consult my minions,
\nThe ordinary citizens and the extraordinary ones with millions.<\/p>\n

I saw the disastrous development line drawn on the sand all over
\nAs clear as high and low, North and South, or prince and pauper.
\nIt\u2019s always the case the rich are \u2018The first to gain and the last to die\u2019;
\nThe wretched of the Earth are \u2018The first to die and the last to gain.\u2019<\/p>\n

This is what our ancestors called kismet, karma, fate or providence
\nAnd stressed the need to suffer it all with faith and forbearance.
\nBut revolutionary politics and precepts reinvent human agency
\nAnd emphasize that we make our world with a sense of urgency.
\n____________________<\/p>\n

S.P. Udayakumar, Ph.D. – Tamil Nadu, India:<\/em>
\n * South Asian Community Center for Education and Research (SACCER)<\/em>
\n * TRANSCEND Network, South Asia Convener (TSA) (For Rethinking South Asia)<\/em>
\n * People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)<\/em>
\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 22, 2012 (The Earth Day) From Koodankulam Nonviolent Nuclear Protest, India<\/p>\n

Listen to my plight; I am a low class low caste Ordinary Citizen;
\nAnd I\u2019m running from pillar to post with a public interest petition
\nThat imported and imposed nuclear reactors threaten to jettison
\nMy community\u2019s livelihood, resources and the very existence.<\/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-18805","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\/18805","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=18805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18805\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}