Publications
The Myth of Sustainable development
By Nirmala Nair (Director ZERI-Southern Africa)
2/September/2004
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They told me
Our life is no good
In the buntus,
In the villages,
In deeps
Beyond the cities
Eating like my elders did
Living like my elders did
It took me a long time
To change the way I live.
But change - I did
To develop myself
And my children
To become civilized
Modern,
My elders
They tilled their soil
waited for the moon
Listened to the birds
looked for signs
in the meadows
when to sow
and what to sow
No slave to money and machines,
They lived long and healthy
In the mountains and meadows
Valleys and creeks
With reverence to the sacred land
That nurtured their soul
That fed their body
But
My elders were called ignorant
Primitive and backward
So they sent me to school
To become modern and forward
To become civilized and developed
I changed my food
Eating food I no longer
know where from
Whose farm
No-name food
no-man’s land
Food Fed by poisons
Shaped by machines
Slick and smart
With artificial colorants and flavors
It no longer feeds my soul
Just bloats my stomach
Sluggish and sick
With no real energy
I became a bundle of ailments
My GP my medical-aid
Happy and smiling
Making a living
On perpetually sick living
Then came the day
When I was sent off to
Some big meetings
Full of experts and
Know-it-all talkers
By the time they finished,
I felt cheated and robbed
While pretending to be the experts
All they gave was
The story of my elders.
First they told my people
They were backward and primitive
Then they made my generation sick and lost
Then they stole the wisdom from my elders
And now they sell it back to me and my children
For a price
A big price
And call it
Sustainable development
But they can't read
the signs
They don't follow the moon
Nor do they know
How to read weather
From blossom’s on the meadows
Tell me how they can sustain
This thing called Sustainable development
When it has never been lived
By the experts.
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This poem was an input as part of a panel discussion on values and personal belief systems required to implement Sustainable development in South Africa - + 2 Johannesburg Conference on the 2nd anniversary WSSD.
I also had the opportunity to share it with the 10 anniversary ZERI World Congress in Tokyo. I have had overwhelming response to this poem from so many people, I thought of sharing it with the Berkana community as well. © 2004
