[Reader-list] Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project - Blueprint for an ecological disaster

[Pawan Durani]

Inder ,

A nice way to divert the issue...................whats your take on the Ram
Sethu viz a viz faith & ecology.

And what do you intend to do.......

Pawan


On 9/21/07, inder salim <indersalim at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> dear Pawan ji
>
> After Shuddha responded ur mail with the opening line :
> " This is one of the rare occasions where I think I am in near total
> agreement with Pawan Durani "
> .....It was just a matter of time that  DIL KI BAAT ZUBAN PA AHI GAI
>
> Now u write:
>
> " Where are Arundhatis and Medhas of this world ?
> I am sure they dont care about this issue and hence would stay back in
> their AS rooms polluting the atmosphere"
>
> now this includes lot of people.  i ask you mr. pawan, Is POLLUTING THE
> ATMOSPHERE' not unparliamentary, as u expressed in one of your replies to
> ur
> mails. Why cant we be decent with the other ?
>
> My guess is right, that people who are closer to faith care a little less
> about ecology and the other. Octavio Paz observes in Monkey Grammerian
> that
> people in India people worship 'the wind god' but forget  'the wind'.  So,
> ecology in the deeper sense of the term, which perhaps includes  the
> conceptual understanding about society, environment and other aspects of
> human mind.  I am  not saying anything against 'believers' but do we still
> feel that religion has a cure for all our ills?  If so, then India is
> surely
> in mess. Please note that ' believers' who live in sync with their
> respective ecologies care a lot about their surrounding,  which is
> markedly
> different from the patterns of 'believers' living in big cities.
>
> u say, that VHP/BJP is good for you as long as they suit you. No, my dear,
> it is on the contrary. You are good to them as long it suits them.
>
> We need to know, what form faith takes in cities, and exploits the simpler
> version of it in rural India and elsewhere. I believe, that true lovers of
> ecology need to be careful about this disguised appropriation
> by the right wingers.  I dont mind being labelled as Left winger, though i
> am as on date.
>
> love
> is
>
>
>
>
>
> On 9/18/07, Tapas Ray <tapasrayx at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Dear Pawan,
> >
> > The BJP, VHP. etc., should be shunned because while they fill the void,
> > they fill it with hate and violence, whereas the issue at hand is life -
> > survival of an ecosystem and of fisherfolk. If Sethusamudram is
> > projected as a Hindu issue, why should Muslim or Christian fisherfolk
> > and others worry about it? If it is an ecological issue and one of
> > livelihood for fisherfolk regardless of religion, everybody will be
> > concerned.
> >
> > I do not know whether the prominent activists you refer to have taken it
> > up or not, but if they in deed have not, I would imagine they might be
> > wary of being viewed as associating themselves with a group that
> > promotes hate and thrives on violence, and has been openly hostile in
> > the past (on Narmada, etc.). In other words, I think the cause of
> > Sethusamudram would have been well served if the BJP and VHP had left it
> > alone and not turned it into a religious issue.
> >
> > I cannot, and do not want to, speak for the communists. But my personal
> > - and possibly limited - understanding is that they have no concern for
> > environmental issues whatsoever, just like the Hindutva bloc. In any
> > stand they take, on any issue, the sole concern is power - namely,
> > whether it is congruent with the aim of gaining political power or not.
> > (In my very limited knowledge, this is the legacy of Lenin and Stalin.)
> > Once one understands this, it is easy to understand every action of
> > theirs.
> >
> > But the question remains - do you think Sethusamudram would deserve your
> > attention even if there was no mythology attached to it?
> >
> > Tapas
> >
> >
> > Pawan Durani wrote:
> > > Dear Mr Ray ,
> > >
> > > I would not have cared for BJP /VHP protesting against Sethu Samundram
> > > project , had the same "bunch" of people come out in streets and held
> > > demonstrarions against the project , who had earlier protested narmada
> > > project and were part of Chipko movement.
> > >
> > > Where are Arundhatis and Medhas of this world ?
> > >
> > > I am sure they dont care about this issue and hence would stay back in
> > > their AS rooms polluting the atmosphere.
> > >
> > > Since they did not step in , why shouldnt I support BJP or VHP ...they
> > > are filling in the void.
> > >
> > > And so far i havent come across the stand of the Communist ? Is it the
> > > same as that of Karunnadhi ?
> > >
> > > Pawan
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 9/17/07, *Tapas Ray* <tapasrayx at gmail.com
> > > <mailto:tapasrayx at gmail.com>> wrote:
> > >
> > >     Pawan,
> > >
> > >     If you care about ecology, don't you think that should be because
> it
> > has
> > >     a value in itself, regardless of whether or not it has value as
> > sacred
> > >     ground/water? If the channel had no mythology attached, would it
> be
> > ok
> > >     to alter its ecosystem? The meaning of "more so" is not clear to
> me.
> > The
> > >     way I see it, it is either worth preserving or it is not. Can't be
> > >     both.
> > >
> > >     As for the BJP and VHP, which have shown complete insensitivity to
> > >     ecological issues, would you like to see them hijack a major
> > ecological
> > >     issue for their own political ends? As someone who is concerned
> > about
> > >     ecology, are you not concerned that this would hurt the eco
> > movement?
> > >
> > >     Tapas
> > >
> > _________________________________________
> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> > Critiques & Collaborations
> > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> > subscribe in the subject header.
> > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> > List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> http://indersalim.livejournal.com
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>