February 13, 2012
At 12:30 this afternoon, two trucks with police protection, carrying 90 tonnes of garbage from the city moved into the village of Vilapilshala. The city corporation had ordered the reopening of the garbage processing plant that had been shut and sealed by the village local administration. Though it is called a processing plant, there was precious little processing going on there. The fact that it is an inefficient piece of junk is clear to anyone who drives through the village and feels the stench. The underground water of the village has been polluted by the seepage from the mountains of filth. It stands as a product of decades of corruption of the corporation.
Hundreds of cities across the world and even many in India handle their garbage according to state of the art technology. But for tiny Thiruvananthapuram, most of the money meant for technology disappears in greasing the palms of the insatiable powers-that-be. The result is an utterly unhealthy environment for a village. After 11 years, the people who suffered through it finally said enough is enough.
Since 6 am, more than 5000 men, women and children packed the roads leading to the garbage plant refusing to let the police enter. The 500 strong police force was quickly surrounded by the people. When forced arrests of the front lines of the protesters was attempted, stones rained on the police. The villagers sealed off all routes that led in and out of the village. Some tear gas was fired. Some men were roughed up by the police. But with the TV channels bringing the visuals live all over the state, it was clear within a couple of hours that this would be a disaster if prolonged. The images of women, young and old, squatting on the road in the unbearable hot sun, drinking "kanji" from steel plates using jackfruit leaves as spoon would have touched a chord in the hearts of anyone with even a shard of humanity left. As some of these women were hauled away by the police, instantly others took their places. It was an impossible stalemate.
At 3pm, the officer in charge of the operation announced that the police and the garbage trucks will leave for the day, calling off the attempt. It was a court that ordered the reopening of the garbage plant. I wonder if the judge had ever driven through the village, much less lived there. Today, an entire village had stood up against the executive and the judiciary. And displayed a rare glimpse of that ideal called democracy which has been smothered under the obese obscenities of wealth and power.
With the UDF coalition forming the state government and the LDF in power in the city corporation, it was obvious that both these major political outfits cared little about the poor folks of the village. But for this one day, they had to bow. The police force, the muscle of the executive, had to retreat.
The people danced on the streets when the pullback was announced. The TV channels reported that the Chief Minister's office had interfered after seeing what was going on. The leaders of the agitation promised to carry on the fight till the plant was closed for good.
For me, this simply happens to be a close to home example of the perpetual clash of the cultures. As much as I sympathize with the villagers, I am aware shamefully about which side of this battle I belong. Civilization encroaches. Cities expand to swallow. In the past, they only required sources of resources that can be ruthlessly exploited. Nowadays, they also need space to dump the filth excreted from the rapid, mindless consumption.
In our planet this happens in a gloriously fractal fashion. Neighbors clandestinely dump on each other's yards, housing colonies dump theirs on uninhabited land, cities dump theirs on the villages, nations dump into the ocean, first world dumps into the third world!
Those who bear the brunt are conveniently labeled savages. Theirs a lifestyle not worth preserving, we pretend to reason. Theirs an always losing battle....since the time of the myths as reinforced by those very myths.
Dear Savage, we will invent mythology, social and economic theories to justify our actions, we will create new political machinery and fantastic ideologies to trample over your rights, we will write new technological lexicons to erase your epitaphs because we never want to admit that your children must die so that ours can live.
But for one day, cherish your victory! Take a bow for the triumph of that elusive human spirit, of a camaraderie that was born out of sheer desperation and the love for life than any puerile ideology.
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