Them and us.

Two days back, after 3 days of protests, the government of Shifang in the southwest of Sichuan province in China stopped the construction of a copper alloy plant. The locals were protesting because they feared that the plant would poison the environment. After melamine in baby milk powder and the recent forced abortion of a woman 7 months pregnant no one in China has any faith in official reassurances. Yesterday 3 people were killed in Peru for protesting against Conga mining project by the US based Newmont company. This is an open cast gold mine 3700 meters or 12140 feet above sea level which involves the drainage of 4 lakes high in the mountains which supply water for drinking and irrigation to the local populace. The company claims that the water will be drained into reservoirs built by the company and all environmental risks have been considered. The government of Peru says that it will suspend freedom of assembly in the region. In India people around the Russian built Kudankulum nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu are protesting against the start of the plant because they fear that it will poison the sea and the fish on which they depend for livelihood. They also worry that it will be unable to withstand a tsunami like the one at Fukushima. The Indian government has responded by charging 6800 people with " sedition " and " waging war against the state " and has sent psychiatrists to " get a peek into protesters' minds ". HT 5 June. A recent report by Russian nuclear safety experts says that Russian reactors are under prepared and have 31 " serious flaws ". There is a nexus between politicians, civil servants and big business which sees the people as cattle, to be fed during elections and then milked for ever. It is the fault of the people to keep voting for their enemies but given a choice between one set of scoundrels against another set of villains what choice do they have? Elections are won by promising free handouts which are received gratefully by the hungry, naked aam aadmi not understanding that they will have to return much more in the form of taxes on everything they may desire. Thus an Indian flies once every 10 years while an American flies 1.8 times a year on average. This is because of the stubborn Public Private Partnership model which allows a company monopoly rights to tax people from building roads and airports. The same model called Private Finance Initiative has been a disaster in the UK where rail fares, energy costs and water charges have soared while services have declined. Yet David Cameron is bent on privatising the NHS. This Westminster form of government is a failure. We urgently need citizens corporations to hold the scoundrels to account.