January Newsletter - Laura in India

07-08 India - Beth and Laura
Originally uploaded by YAGM

"Colors of the Wind"

We recently attended a seminar: 'Globalization: Life and Livelihood
Issues.' Indian social activists, community leaders, pastors, and
many others attended the three-day event. My processing of this
seminar will continue far after my time here is completed, for the
other volunteers and myself were the manifestation of western culture;
a culture that is breeding multi-national corporations to strip the
marginalized of what little they still hold. Listening to the stories
of our seminar colleagues, those combating these companies, was one of
the most inspiring and empowering experiences. But, even more, I left
deeply humbled.

These were days of understanding how the decisions in America directly
affect the lives of those literally on the other side of the world;
these were days of facing my economic ignorance for in order to
survive, many have been forced to understand American politics,
history and foreign affairs; these were days of listening, absorbing,
and supporting. The following is a few highlights from one of the
speakers.

"You think you own whatever land you land on,
The Earth is just a dead place you can claim..."

Mr. C.R. Neelakantan, a well-respected social activist, spoke of his
experience fighting an established Coca-Cola plant in a small village
in Kerala. Among many things, the company was stripping the villagers
of their water. The water they used for generations was taken by the
factory at the rate of 1,500,000 liters a day to make 500,000 liters
of Coke. Besides this, the factory was leaving the surrounding water
heavily polluted. What was once seen as a simple human right, access
to healthy drinking water, was now a commodity. Their water was being
put in bottles for their purchase. With angry villagers at hand, the
company agreed to have water delivered to each family. The Coca-Cola
plant would provide a ration of water each day, free of charge.
Convinced that this was a reasonable option, Mr. Neelakantan consulted
his partner, an elderly woman of the village who was leading the
protest against the company. He soon saw why she was not satisfied
with the bargain. It was a matter of thinking organically versus
inorganically.

"If we depend on Coca-Cola to provide our water," she told him, "what
will happen when our wells are dry? They will leave. They will leave
an empty factory and empty wells. They will shut down the plant and
establish in another village. And we will be left. With nothing."

As a city-dweller, Mr. Neelakantan's notion of water was its existence
in pipes and tubes. Water came from turning a knob, a nozzle, or
spout; his image of water was one of inorganic thinking, believing
life's necessities are provided by paying monthly bills. The
villagers understood water came from the land. If the land is
exhausted, polluted and destroyed, how would water be found and
harvested? This is a mindset of organic thinking, understanding the
land provides for every need, not businesses, not corporations, and
not name brands. Organic thinking sees that we are only nurtured when
we nurture nature.

What if our world began thinking organically? What if we each
realized electricity does not come from a switch, clothes do not come
from the bargain rack, and salad does not come from bags? What if?

"But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger,
You'll learn things you never knew, you never knew..."

Our world is redefined. What was once third-world, is now developing;
what was first-world, is developed. India has been labeled developing
and America, developed. In fact, America is the standard for
development, the model for the world's developing nations. Mr.
Neelakantan, then raised a question: if a country's model for
development is America, then to be considered developed, will a
country be forced to more American? Does the American lifestyle
become the lifestyle of other countries in their progress towards
development? If so, can you imagine the consequences?

India has three times the population of America, with a third of the
land. The Indian masses currently use buses, trains and other public
transportation, for owning private wheels is a luxury of the few. In
its journey to development, India recently developed the Nano: a
100,000 Rupee car, the first of its kind that's decently affordable.
The issue arising, though, is the quantity of cars to be sold. What
if the majority of India's population bought a Nano, living to the
developed, American standard?

The cost of such development would be unbelievable. For one, freeway
systems would have to be established, leaving the rural roads, the
land of bullock carts, eliminated; what used to be a simple crossing
of the road for the farmer to his land would become a day's journey to
the nearest highway junction. Time spent in the field would mean time
spent traveling. All in the name of development; this is progress.
Really? Is it?

Mr. Neelakantan forced me to evaluate the life I have lived: leaving
lights on, fans on, driving 30 minutes to and from work, using plastic
bag after plastic bag, etc. In my mind, I knew there were more
resourceful ways of living, but the excuse of "it's just me" always
quieted my resurrecting guilt. But, the truth is, it's not just me.
And it's not just you. The way we live life is defining how others
should live theirs. By establishing our standards of living, we are
setting the standards for global development. What if everyone lived
the way we do? What if?

"And we are all connected to each other,
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends..."