[sustran] Re: No money for good PT or walk/bike infastructure?: India 'world's biggest arms buyer'

[Todd Edelman]

On 03/17/2011 03:08 AM, Pardo wrote:
> Todd, thanks for generating this discussion, even if it started from such a way-off topic.
A PERSONAL TAKE ON THIS, HOPE YOU DON'T MIND: I AM what some would call 
"American" and my motivation for posting that "buses or bombs" comment 
was informed by growing up in the latter days of the American War (what 
"Americans" call the "Vietnam War") - I was 9 in 1975 - when I was also 
watching lots of WW2 documentaries which showed among other things lots 
of bodies being dumped/after being dumped into mass graves, some of whom 
were my relatives. Around this time at school we had "bake sales" to buy 
books in my suburban schools, which resulted in brilliant responses such 
as this one: http://tinyurl.com/6dztkpt.

So my comment should have been a question, and this should have been 
"what makes you safer?". The country of my birth certainly has many 
areas which are below the typically-understood development level of 
India and at the same time it is the world's biggest arms seller and 
owner, both by a large margin. Big countries want something sexy and 
very, very expensive that is frequently useless -- or is Pakistan or 
China about to invade? In the former case war mongering seems to be just 
about generating reasons for politicians being (re-) elected on both 
sides of the border and in the latter.... China is getting more powerful 
by other means.

My approach to sustainable transport starts with social justice (as with 
many on this list) so I naturally - and uncomfortably - occasionally 
mention things like EMBARQ's partner Caterpillar (which sells bulldozers 
to the Israeli Army that they use for ethnic cleansing) - or Barclays 
Cycle Hire is funded in part by the eponymous bank that finances the 
arms industry that makes money from situations which result in 
not-always-welcome refugees... in London.

My comment was about national priorities, and the USA does this really, 
really badly, to the point where any politician who gets elected as 
President becomes a war criminal immediately (and they know what they 
are getting into).

What kind of country do you want to live in? It will be a great day when 
schools, hospitals, libraries, public transport and neighbourhoods get 
everything they need, and the air force has to sell you (insert your 
favourite Indian food) in order to buy bombers.

- T




-- 

Todd Edelman
Green Idea Factory,
a member of the OPENbike team

Mobile: ++49(0)162 814 4081

edelman at greenidea.eu
www.greenidea.eu
todd at openbike.se
www.openbike.se

Skype: toddedelman

Urbanstr. 45
10967 Berlin
Germany

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