March 1, 2008

Ved Prakash Vatuk, Poems of Unkinship (New Delhi: Usha, 1981).

From the introduction:

America is a nation always at war. It began with a war, it expanded itself by conquering others' territories. It always found new frontiers. It conquers space, nature and everything else.

When it's own frontiers were not enough America went abroad and waged wars. It destroyed cultures it never wanted to understand or respect in the name of saving them. In the name of democracy it established dictatorships.

America is a nation which proclaimed all men are created equal while keeping slaves.

America is there to win, to expand, to be successful. Success means power, and money. The fast buck.

America is a land of experts. But experts never get involved in their subjects, especially if they happen to be human. An entamologist may love ants, but I have yet to find an Anthropologist who truly loved the society he studied. And yet who overnight does not declare to be the all-knowing person about his people.

America is the land of salesmen. America is the nation of propaganda. Everything is for sale here, and every lie is to be proved right.