Gandhi Without Comfort
by Richard Martin Oxman

I had monumentally important contact with Devinder Sharma and Noam Chomsky yesterday (10/04/09). Separately. I have much to share, but I will limit this piece to one concern for now. That is, deadlines.

With regard to climate change, one can get on board or not regarding Ban Ki-moon’s urgent U.N. plea for the nations of the world to come to some meaningful agreement in the next few days. So that the much heralded upcoming rendezvous in Copenhagen will have a chance at producing significant change in time. Ban Ki-moon and Bill McKibben and a host of others — many hosts, actually — can seem like Chicken Little, blaring out “The Sky is Falling!” (unnecessarily) to many people. Huge numbers of those people will not be converted until it is too late. Too late to turn around our ecocidal climate change momentum.

But let’s make believe that Ban and Bill et al. ARE Chicken Little and Chicken Little’s Twin. Let’s make believe that we’re not headed for a worldwide, macroscopic counterpart to the Twin Towers coming down. Let’s make believe that shortly 9/11 emergency calls will not be either (inevitably) ineffective or impossible to generate.

Why? Because I want readers to focus on what the situation actually is at present in — for example — San Jose, California as I write. Regarding air quality. San Jose is not — like much of L.A. and Salt Lake City and a number of other spots — virtually uninhabitable in terms of air quality. But it’s close. Very close. In spite of how it seems to the uninformed naked eye. See Jeffrey St. Clair’s http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair12262008.html for starters, if you’re (an understandable) Doubting Thomas, and have no time to check out what’s easily available from the very conservative Environmental Defense (Fund) Air Quality figures/people.

In short, there’s a world of difference — for a number of reasons respecting air quality factors — between where I live in Santa Cruz County and most of Santa Clara County… which includes San Jose. The latter county scores in the 90th percentile in terms of carcinogenic air nationwide. That’s very bad. And their groundwater is not much better. [That said, it's noteworthy that Santa Cruz County -- with its overrated environmental pluses -- has a fast deteriorating situation on all fronts too.]

I had told Devinder at lunch yesterday that one of the “deadlines” I felt had to do with people’s compassion. I didn’t use the word atomization, but I was underscoring that I felt that we were fast approaching a point where people would — seemingly — no longer be able to care. Please note that there’s a quantum leap difference between that state and simply… not caring at a given moment, or tending not to care.

It’s one thing for Devinder and other sweet, well-educated, well-intentioned, dedicated souls to be traveling around incessantly spreading the word, helping the public to become aware. Some form of that must take place, should be supported. But the question is begged as to what will be accomplished if people are devoid of compassion. Again, it’s one thing to inform people about, say, farm suicides in India. It’s another thing to ask them to move to action regarding the issue. And it’s yet quite another “thing” to — in the midst of both activities — to contemplate the possibility of one’s audience becoming constitutionally incapable of the desired action. To consider when we all might reach that turning point, and tweak our efforts accordingly.

But let’s get off of that Destiny for Compassion Track, for conversation’s sake at the moment. Let’s imagine that I’m way off in my thinking about that realm.

Last night as I pulled into my driveway, I was listening to a popular left-oriented talk show where the participants discussing farm suicides — What a coincidence, yes?! — exchanged expressions of horror over the fact that thousands of farmers had been forced by the likes of Monsanto to do away with themselves. One guest didn’t know anything about the horror prior to the show. Okay, that’s to be expected perhaps. BUT… the participants who did claim to be aware of the thousands of deaths showed no sense of the fact that there have been OVER TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND such suicides in a relatively short time. When they spoke of “thousands” it felt as if they had to be thinking of one or two, not 200,000 Indian citizens.

That led me to think again about the effect that the years of “spreading the word” has had. Made me reconsider my thoughts about awareness amongst the public. [Pause.] Not only was the issue of compassion problematic, but the rate at which the public might become aware started to feel distinctly like it was moving at an arthritic snail’s pace. A pace… a rate… at which — unless something changed — would not meet any deadlines that might exist.

No, I believe that people ‘cross the board will virtually never be aware enough, not in enough numbers to make a difference. That even if such awareness were widespread enough, the necessary degree of compassion (for one reason or another) would be lacking. Unless something else — something unprecedented — is thrown into the mix. Blended in, so to speak.

I see only one solution for this (for want of a better expression) dilemma. That is, we must provide a 9/11-level shock to the system, for the public’s welfare. Not anything violent, of course, but a shock nonetheless. Something that might have a chance at shaking things up enough so that people become more open.

I submit that we must create something akin to what happened — again, not violent — when the Twin Towers came down. We missed the window of opportunity there. The oppportunity — How many times has this been said? — to look inside of ourselves. To review our history from a different perspective. To embrace a new outlook, to take unprecedented action.

I’m not attached to what’s delineated at TOSCA http://oxtogrind.org/archive/364, but — without having an alternative plan to consider at present — I urge people to get behind our effort to put OUR GOVERNOR into place. For he/she (actually, the twelve non-politician TOSCA citizens) would be able to help the public to self-educate. AND… would do what no politician in history has ever had an interest in doing. To wit, encourage the masses to feel and act humanely day after day after day.

To bounce off of the fact that Gandhi’s name was invoked yesterday repeatedly at lunch, I ask what any leader could do at present to mobilize the masses above and beyond what I am suggesting. I was asked HOW what I’m suggesting could be realized in this cynical, selfish world. My (feeble? enthusiastic? naive? idealistic?) answers did not satisfy, but… what does that matter? Sometimes the (effective) means become apparent only by taking inspired steps into the dark. I ask HOW Ghandi himself — were he alive today — might go about creating the fever that’ll be necessary to transform life on earth… given what’s now in motion. In time.

I thought that it’s wonderful that Devinder Sharma is one of those rare individuals who is willing to go to “the other side” to confront the powers that be at places like Monsanto Headquarters and the English Parliament. But I couldn’t help but wonder how long such planted seeds would take to blossom.

It’s comfortable to not have deadlines.

Richard can be reached at tosca.2010[at]yahoo.com
P.S. I opened by noting that I met Chomsky and Devinder separately. It’s virtually impossible for most people to arrange for group get-togethers. But something tells me that if people like me can be — more of the time — in situations which will encourage a meeting of several movers and shakers at once… it might produce more ripples than what any given leader might create. I’m not big on so-called leaders. I tend not to wait for Godot. Oh, that’s not to say that I wouldn’t follow an inspired voice, but… most activists worthy of the label seem to know that, say, Martin Luther King got lots of leverage from the backs of simple (unknown) citizens… who… eventually… provided… the ground on which he could walk. The grounds for belief, urgency, and everything else that was beautiful about his public life. Seventy-one years before Rosa Parks there was Ida B. Wells… refusing to move from her seat on a segregated train. The tracks go way back… and can’t be traced to leaders.

I almost ended the piece with “It’s comfortable to not have deadlines, even if you’re having trouble breathing.” What do you think, Devinder? What do you think, Karthik? What do you think, Suchithra? How ’bout you, Anu?