ASEAN and the New Orwellianism
POETRY FORMAT, 17 Mar 2014
Dr. Maung Zarni – TRANSCEND Media Service
(A poem inspired by periodically cancerous haze within ASEAN-Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
Asean mother-fuckers!
Here is a new Orwellianism for you, Brother,
Here leader-guided regional destruction is D-E-V-E-L-O-P-M-E-N-T.
H is for H-A-Z-E
Breathe it for your Ha, Ha, Ha … H-A-P-P-I-N-E-S-S.
It’s only dioxins!
Then index it in orientalized Shangri-La Bhutan
Carefully ignore the poor Nepalese, treated like dogs.
So, now
Meditate on those poisonous particles
You think “Asian Values” politicians give a fuck about you, your welfare, your world?
Welfarism is out
A new Orwellianism is in
with all those “special” Asean characteristics.
Here we have Asean traditions.
Marital rape is legal.
One in four of us, alpha “Asian males”, love to rape our wives!
“Asian Values” equal human rights.
Kleptocracy is ‘democracy’.
Electoral fraud is a norm.
Don’t be too proud, sister.
Your country’s election charade is nothing special.
We have the same kind!
Tolerance and liberalisms upset our multiracist Social Order
We do things differently here.
Women’s equality disrupts gender harmony.
No argument – Father and Husband know best.
Keep the elections for show, Grandpa!
Human Rights? We really ought to go slow.
There are limits and strangeness in this White Man‘s Democracy.
Our old men know best, Brothers and Sisters!
Be grateful! Rejoice! They keep power all in the family.
They won’t buy votes or bribe anyone.
They use fear. Aliens, they say, will slash your throats
Defame your God.
Those votes of hate defend our Race and Faith.
Sons, listen now. . .
Accept the dynastic truth: inheritance is good for nation’s stability.
Don’t ever forget.
It’s best wealth stays in our family.
Public welfare is bad for economy.
And there isn’t such thing as a society.
Citizens are out, consumers are in.
Rising profits lift all boats
But just don’t gloat.
Daughters, you want security?
Focus on “securities and bonds” instead.
You can trade those in.
Human security, communal bonds aren’t “future-smart”.
Communalism is bad for you.
Corporatism brings forth P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S.
Forest burning or clear-cutting
Either way, that’s good for our Asean prosperity.
Who gives a shit about the health of the Planet?
Not even Kipling’s White Man!
It’s only a giant metallic ball
Just go ahead & ignore Lovelock’s GAIA – that earth is a living organism!
So, breathe in, breathe out
It’s only dioxins.
Remember what the Buddha says?
“All life is suffering.
Everything passes
Nothing lasts”.
So, embrace our consensually self-murderous alienating Asean-ism.
Don’t complain about global warming
to our paternal custodians in 3-piece suits,
who ape the West’s homo economicus
with their uncircumcised brains,
Some of them may even be Harvard-trained
They will tell you their policies won’t be a planetary drain.
Breathe in, Breathe out.
Poisonous toxins are good for you.
Human rights harm Asean harmony.
Profits unite, human rights divide.
Thank you, Mr. Orwell.
“War is Peace”, no more.
We have advanced your Orwellianism.
Destruction is now Development.
Profit comes before People.
Bear witness brothers.
See the Asean truths for yourselves sisters.
Come ye back, Mr. Orwell
Come ye back to your old racist Burma
And bear witness to our haze-choked Asean Development!
Zarni, happily breathing dioxins in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
______________________________
Maung Zarni, Associate Fellow, the University of Malaya. Dr. Maung Zarni is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, founder and director of the Free Burma Coalition (1995-2004), and a visiting fellow (2011-13) at the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, Department of International Development, London School of Economics. His forthcoming book on Burma will be published by Yale University Press. He was educated in the US where he lived and worked for 17 years. Visit his website www.maungzarni.com.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 17 Mar 2014.
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