Old Monk
The Old Monk is a special section of the Forum website maintained by the Forum's International Convenor, Wilfred D' Costa; occasionally maintained by other members of the IC. It features articles, essays and opinions on global issues affecting common people.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
A Motherless Son – a non-legally binding Hopenhagen Accord!
By Willy D'Costa
Once upon a time during the days of the Buddha (Goutama), a King ruling in India had a clever minister who pleased him very much. To show his appreciation he appointed him headman of a remote border village. His duty was to represent the king and collect the king’s taxes from the villagers.
Before long the headman was completely accepted by the villagers. Since he had been sent by the just King, they respected him highly. They came to trust him as much as if he had been born among them.
In addition to being clever, the headman was also very greedy. Collecting the king’s taxes was not enough reward for him. After becoming friendly with a gang of bandits, he thought up a plan to make himself rich.
The headman said to his friends, the robbers, “I will find excuses and reasons to lead all the villagers into the jungle. This will be easy for me, since they trust me as one of their own. I will keep them busy in the jungle, while you invade the village and rob everything of value. Carry everything away before I bring the people home. In return for my help, you must give me half of all the loot!” The bandits agreed, and a date was set.
When the day arrived, the headman assembled all the villagers and led them into the jungle. According to the plan, the bandits entered the unprotected village. They stole everything of value they could find. They also killed all the defenseless village cows, and cooked and ate the meat. At the end of the day, the gang collected all their stolen goods and escaped.
It just so happened that on that very same day a travelling BLACK OLD MONK came to the village. When he saw the bandits he stayed out of sight.
The headman brought all the villagers home in the evening. He ordered them to make a lot of noise by beating drums as they marched towards the village. If the bandits had still been there, they would have heard the villagers coming for sure.
The village people saw that they had been robbed and all their cows were dead and partly eaten. This made them very sad. The Monk appeared and said to them, ‘This treacherous village headman has betrayed your trust in him. He must be a partner of the gang of bandits. Only after they left with all your valuables did he lead you home. beating drums as loudly as possible!
‘This man pretends to know nothing about what has happened - as innocent as a new-born lamb! In truth, it’s as if a son did something so shameful that his mother would say -‘I am not his mother. He is not my son. My son is dead!”’
And that's what Obama did in Copenhagen COP15 in December 2009. He dashed the hopes of most country delegates and typical-NGOs who thought the superman Obama will solve all the problems. But he, along try delegates and typical-NGOs who thought the superman Obama will solve all the problems. But he, along with the repressive-Danish and other imperialists in Annexe 1 dashed all the hopes of Hopenhagen and pulled out a rabbit from his sleeves – the Copenhagen Accord – destroying all little democratic consensual process left in the UNFCCC converting it into a WTO-style arena of bargaining! It was really a HOPELESSHAGEN!
As Naomi Klein comments: There are very few U.S. Presidents who have squandered as many once-in-a-generation opportunities as Barack Obama. More than anyone else, the Copenhagen failure belongs to him.#
A Motherless Son – a non-legally binding Hopenhagen Accord!
By Willy D'Costa
Once upon a time during the days of the Buddha (Goutama), a King ruling in India had a clever minister who pleased him very much. To show his appreciation he appointed him headman of a remote border village. His duty was to represent the king and collect the king’s taxes from the villagers.Before long the headman was completely accepted by the villagers. Since he had been sent by the just King, they respected him highly. They came to trust him as much as if he had been born among them.
In addition to being clever, the headman was also very greedy. Collecting the king’s taxes was not enough reward for him. After becoming friendly with a gang of bandits, he thought up a plan to make himself rich.
The headman said to his friends, the robbers, “I will find excuses and reasons to lead all the villagers into the jungle. This will be easy for me, since they trust me as one of their own. I will keep them busy in the jungle, while you invade the village and rob everything of value. Carry everything away before I bring the people home. In return for my help, you must give me half of all the loot!” The bandits agreed, and a date was set.
When the day arrived, the headman assembled all the villagers and led them into the jungle. According to the plan, the bandits entered the unprotected village. They stole everything of value they could find. They also killed all the defenseless village cows, and cooked and ate the meat. At the end of the day, the gang collected all their stolen goods and escaped.
It just so happened that on that very same day a travelling BLACK OLD MONK came to the village. When he saw the bandits he stayed out of sight.
The headman brought all the villagers home in the evening. He ordered them to make a lot of noise by beating drums as they marched towards the village. If the bandits had still been there, they would have heard the villagers coming for sure.
The village people saw that they had been robbed and all their cows were dead and partly eaten. This made them very sad. The Monk appeared and said to them, ‘This treacherous village headman has betrayed your trust in him. He must be a partner of the gang of bandits. Only after they left with all your valuables did he lead you home. beating drums as loudly as possible!
‘This man pretends to know nothing about what has happened - as innocent as a new-born lamb! In truth, it’s as if a son did something so shameful that his mother would say -‘I am not his mother. He is not my son. My son is dead!”’
And that's what Obama did in Copenhagen COP15 in December 2009. He dashed the hopes of most country delegates and typical-NGOs who thought the superman Obama will solve all the problems. But he, along try delegates and typical-NGOs who thought the superman Obama will solve all the problems. But he, along with the repressive-Danish and other imperialists in Annexe 1 dashed all the hopes of Hopenhagen and pulled out a rabbit from his sleeves – the Copenhagen Accord – destroying all little democratic consensual process left in the UNFCCC converting it into a WTO-style arena of bargaining! It was really a HOPELESSHAGEN!
As Naomi Klein comments: There are very few U.S. Presidents who have squandered as many once-in-a-generation opportunities as Barack Obama. More than anyone else, the Copenhagen failure belongs to him.#
The Old Monk is a special section of the Forum website maintained by the Forum's International Convenor, Wilfred D' Costa. It features articles, essays and opinions on global issues affecting common people.
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