 |
| BEAUTY OF CREATION |
OPPRESSION AND LIBERATION
- POOR AND RICH…… ............
- THE REIGN OF VIOLENCE ...............
 |
| MUTTOM (Anish's Village) |
Takes a few coconuts
From his rich neighbor’s land
To feed his children who are in need,
That is robbery,
According to the law
He can be convicted,
Perhaps even jailed When a rich man lives in wanton luxury,
Spends infinitely more than he needs
On food, clothes, amusements,
While others are starving, naked, wretched, that is legitimate.
There is no law to convict him.
The laws are made by the rich
Who make them, not to convict themselves
But to oppress the poor.
 |
| MUTTOM LIGHT HOUSE |
The rich may then be seen in their true color. When a rich man owns a hundred or thousands of acres, while there are others
Who do not own an inch,
That is not robbery that is because we must,
At all cost, safeguard the sacredness of private property, which means just reward for the labor of ancestors so that descendants may not labor.
When an employer pays himself infinitely more than the worker- than his own servant
That is not robbery that is merely just reward
For education and culture, that is the way to encourage initiative and enterprise.
When a poor man in desperation,
Gets drunk, picks a quarrel draws a knife, kills
That obliviously is murder-violence, punishable by death. When company directors sack workers with impunity and so condemn whole families to penury and want, that is not violence,
Because no knife has been used.
No knife need be used, a peremptory word suffices. Labor tribunals need not be feared overmuch, loopholes can be found, laws delays, political influence.
When politicians and government officials-
Whatever the party in power –ignore basic needs and just complaints of the people, on a vast scale, daily, continuously, that is not violence because no blow have been dealt visibly, materially. No blows need be dealt because power, authority, influence is on their side, and the might of the armed services and police stands behind them. When religious leaders…
Embrace vested interest, exert various dubious moral pressures, enjoin passive compliance on the people, in the name of religion and peace that is not violence- only religious obligation and duty. They talk endlessly, mounthing empty phrases in outdated language on obstruse doctrines,
Slaves to useless customs and superstitious ceremonies, raising funds continuously from people, for buildings and institutions and for bolstering their tottering position and prestige. but they are silent and inactive on the things that really matter,
 |
| MUTTOM BEACH (T.N.) |
Social change, land reform, employment, human relationships, human dignity. Involvement with the people in dialogue; for without dialogue, without a truly sensitive and truly human relationship, there can be no inspiration, no teaching, no learning, no communion. So our religious, by and large, remain aloof, out of touch, clueless, irrelevant, unheeding and unheeded…
Basically, the system stinks, the system of law and order, the system dominates individuals the ultimate sanctions rest on violence, no less violence, because it is often hidden, indirect, subtle violence, not recognized as violence. Yet, in our society there is legalized robbery and violence in normal times—
Respectable men of power in sanga, church, and state, robbing in broad daylight, violent, spilling the blood of the people continuously in complete freedom, with impunity, proud and unrepentant, self-righteous, complacent.
So established law and order
it is not as simple as all that.
There is established injustice,
established disorder, massive institutionalized disorder,
naked oppression, masquerading under the guise of law and order,
continuously, at all time…
No comments:
Post a Comment