By R.M.B Senanayake.
Buddha preached ahimsa or non violence against all beings including animals. He intervened to settle a dispute between two rulers using negotiation instead of allowing war to take place.
Jesus Christ said “love your enemies, do good to them that hate you†Are we to ignore these teachings? My friend Thilak Wijesinghe’ seems to think so. He argues that Buddha only provides a way of individual salvation. It may be true that Buddhism has not engaged itself in social questions although I don’t agree entirely. But is religion to be confined to the private realm and not exercise any influence on social questions and their resolution. The monks do not often take this stand consistently. Some agitate for banning such social evils as smoking, alcohol and gambling. The ‘Mahanayakes’ have told the Archbishop of Canterbury that no religious hierarchy should engage in the issues of human rights violations but leave the government to carry on with their task of defeating the LTTE.
The Church in the West originally refused Holy Communion to soldiers. But after the conversion of Emperor Constantine and Christianity became the official religion, the Christians were faced with the issue of whether to join the army or not. They would be accused of not protecting their motherland if they continued with their previous stand. So the Church compromised with the just war doctrine enunciated by Church philosophers like St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas.
They argued that War is always evil and there are no just wars as such. But although war is evil there are even worse evils. People may be oppressed as the ancient Israelites were oppressed by the Egyptians or the oppression of the Bangladeshis by the Pakistan Army or the killing of innocent people by the Pol Pot regime. These were greater evils than war itself. Was intervention by India or Vietnam to suppress these evils justified? Some who believe in unlimited absolute national sovereignty would say no. But World opinion accepted such military interventions by foreign armies to resolve these evils. Do the Tamils who complain of oppression by the Sinhala majority have a claim to take to arms? Many Tamils would say yes and so may some in the International community. But the just war theorists would accept the necessary evil of war to stop a greater evil only if it has a reasonable chance of success. They laid down other conditions which would make a war just. One of the prime conditions was that it should be a defensive war. Since the war with the LTTE is raging now this particular issue has become academic. Many Tamils would say the war is justified as a means of overcoming their oppression by the government. They would point to the abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings going on even now, which are by and large confined to their community members as stated by the Defense Secretary himself who trivialized the issue with such words.
They also laid down conditions that would have to be followed if the war was to be fought as a just war. An important principle was that the war should be confined to combatants only and not include the non-combatant civilians. Another rule was that the enemy soldiers who are injured should be treated medically and not tortured or killed. Prisoners were to be treated humanely.
So the just war traditions would accept the necessary evil of war to stop a greater evil. So the government may be justified in waging war against the LTTE. But such a war must be carried out with the sole purpose of terminating the greater evil and not for other extraneous purpose such as to strengthen the political power of the government vis a vis the people in the South. Such a war must also lead to the restoration of peace and reconciliation which can only come through a political settlement. These norms have been incorporated in International Conventions like the Geneva Convention and are being called the Laws of War. Soldiers of our Armed Forces have been taught these laws at least those in the higher ranks, who are expected to see that these laws are followed by their soldiers. There are also war crimes and President Milosevic and KarawanRadowich the Serb Commander have been charged with war crimes for such incidents as the Srebrenica massacre.
Of course the Western nations cannot take a ‘holier than thou attitude’ in such matters. Some of the worst crimes against humanity were committed by these nations. They still do violate humanitarian laws and there is a movement to impeach President Bush and bring him before a War Crimes Tribunal.
Social and spiritual consequences of war
What we need to be concerned with is not their attitude but our own moral values. Any war brutalizes people and we have already seen the heinous crimes committed in our society. War has linkages with social tendencies, political events and cultural processes. War triggers political disorder, social conflict and economic disruption. Faith in order, harmony, progress and reason all deteriorate during a prolonged war. War causes a breakdown in order and a loss of faith in political institutions. Aren’t we witnessing these tendencies today? Shouldn’t we be concerned with our spiritual values? Can we ignore the human rights of people? Our liberal democratic values like freedom of the press are being undermined, because of the alleged necessity not to undermine the morale of the armed forces. Has democracy and liberal values to be sacrificed for the sake of war? We have to look these issues in the eye instead of sweeping them under the carpet in the name of patriotism.
Does Patriotism Over-ride moral and spiritual values?
Should our patriotism be only a Sinhala nationalist oriented patriotism as assumed by some elements of the Buddhist clergy and the extremist political parties? If so would it not also justify Tamil nationalism? The United Nations recognized the right of the black people in South Africa to take to arms against the Apartheid regime there. Can patriotism afford to degenerate into racism? In Kosovo the European Powers are contemplating independence for the Kosovo Muslims because of the many atrocities perpetrated against them by the Serbs.
The government may be genuinely incapable of stopping the abductions and extra-judicial killings by armed groups since the emergence of warlordism is a common phenomenon in to prolonged war where there are para-military forces and army deserters. Recently a powerful under-world character Prince Colum was killed. It may be another unresolved murder like those of Nawala Nihal or Baddeganne Sanjeewa. These are the signs of a society sliding into anarchy.
“Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. “In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. “The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.†James Madison, April 20, 1795
Recently the government invoked the Public Security Ordinance to vest police powers in the Armed Forces. It is true that it has been done before. Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. But it is also a threat to liberal democratic values. One hopes the powers will not be abused. The problem is that the Armed Forces are not used to the normal interactions with civilians and no checks &balances on them. Of course other political leaders cannot claim to be holier than thou. Rohana Kumara was killed during CBK’s regime and Victor Ivan has charged her in his book “The Queen of Deceitâ€Â. During a previous UNP regime writer Richard De Zoysa was killed. So it is incumbent on the government, any government to inquire into crimes, None of these political leaders have been brought to justice for they were assassinated while in office and enjoyed presidential immunity for crimes and misdemeanors.
Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes that he also believes to be true: Demosthenes
“As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocitiesâ€Â: Voltaire
Do we sacrifice Liberal Values in the name of patriotism?
The Leader of the Opposition has been taken to task for his campaign to bring the human rights violations and erosion of freedom of expression taking place in the country before foreign governments. If one places a higher value on Sinhala patriotism rather than liberal democratic values one can fault him. But should one do so? This was the same argument invoked by Hitler in the 1930s. Does war justify the suppression of liberal humanitarian values? Some may say yes while others will say no. Democracies like the UK and USA fought the Second World War without any serious curtailment of liberal values. In fact the Germans preferred to believe the BBC news about the progress of the war than their own radio which broadcast Goebbels war propaganda. Radio Free Europe exposed the lies, corruption and vile misconduct of the Communist leaders and people listened to it and ultimately Communism collapsed without a fight. It took a long time but liberal values ultimately triumphed. It is only the silence of good men that makes evil to triumph.