Maoist

If you are against the destruction of the environment

To enrich Big Business

To turn forests into charcoal and slag

And tear the heart from the earth’s dark breast

Then you are a Maoist.

If you’re filled with rage

When villagers are killed, houses burnt

By the police and the state’s death squads

Looted, raped, locked away without charge,

You are a Maoist.

If you think crony capitalism is evil

And sucks the blood of the poor

If you think that riches never trickle down

And the poor get only poorer

You are a Maoist.

If you think an inflow of foreign money

Is not the way to prosperity for all –

If you point out that the British first came as merchants

And that when they pay you, they buy you

Then you are a Maoist.

If you are against competitive corruption

Of the politicians, and say

That they are all on the same side – theirs, only

And that they only work for themselves

Then you are a Maoist.

If you think democracy is rule for the people, by the people

And does not mean just holding elections, and numbers of seats won

Alliances made, promises betrayed –

If you believe the system has failed, was meant to fail

You are a Maoist.

If your ears ring to the screams of tortured people

In the prisons, trampled under police boots

If you refuse to be diverted by the latest cricket scores

The latest political shadow-play

You are a Maoist.

If you think land should not be taken from peasants

To give to companies to build factories, at gunpoint,

If you think a thousand cars are not worth one drop of blood

One dammed, murdered river, one trickling tear

You are a Maoist.

If you think the government should serve the people

And not stock market figures,

If you think “growth” for the sake of “growth”

Is not a worthy goal for anyone

You are a Maoist.

If you point out the hypocrisy, and the lies

The fairy tales told by the media,

If you mock the Muddle Class

And hold up a mirror for it to see

You are a Maoist. 

You don’t have to take up a gun

Or even throw a stone.

You just have to think for yourself,

And have the courage to speak out.

And even if you never heard of Mao

They will call you an enemy of the nation

They will call you a traitor to the state

They will try to silence you

Yes they will crush you down

And they will call you Maoist.

Copyright B Purkayastha 2013