Sanctity
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Photo courtesy Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai
Sanctity, or rather a loss of sanctity, anchors the meditations that you will find in the few passages below. A recent article in the Economist made a mildly facetious account of the current administration’s efforts to create a Sri Lankan society grounded in ‘good values and ethics.’ The article goes on to discuss the paradox of vice-and-virtue squads in the land that also produces Wonderbras, and of the all out war on public displays of affection. Now, the PDA has always does give many a little discomfort, and Internet pornography really is somewhat unnecessary. Our beloved president may be taking things a bit too far with his ‘moral rage’, but admit it, there is a little prude inside all of us that wouldn’t mind a modicum of moderation in society. If this administration were to stop at a little necessary tweaking, one could find a way to compromise with Rajapakse’s moral policing. Unfortunately, the denouement of Rajapakse’s misguided efforts at morality will be reminiscent of the strictest of Protestant ethics, reservation, restriction and censure that have polarized Western society and incited the fundamentalist rage of the modern. The preservation of the sanctity of morality only leads to an increased sense of nihilism, and a loss of the immense beauty that is complexity and difference. What have we lost, and what are we being reduced to? Soulless, culture-less automatons drudging our way through an unquestioned existence?
Note the reaction to Mervyn Silva’s boorish remarks on the Megastar programme; his victim hung her head and stayed silent, and the audience roared with laughter, titillated by the man’s daring, unable to critically understand the implications of the openness of his statement for gender relations, governmental authority and, worse, the state of Sri Lanka’s media. Is this audience to be the receivers, the participants of the much-needed discourse on rights and societal healing that plagues our post-war island? They laughed on cue, in a manner not dissimilar from a tinny laughter track on a bad American sitcom. Rosy Senanayake’s welcome intervention was cowed down, not only by Silva’s oafish squawking, but also by an audience that egged him on. There has been a violation of our receptive sensibilities for the decent and the sacred. There is a fine, fine line between that which is darkly humorous and that which is a dark abomination, and few in the audience seemed to be able to perceive this. There has been a violation of the sanctity of our sense of right. It is a colonization of the mind and the spirit that must be overthrown.
No better example do we have before us of this violation of the sacred that the recent vandalisation of the Jaffna library. Within the walls of a library are housed the receptacles of knowledge, documents carrying the stories of our world, sounds of the furtive whispers of our ancestors telling us our story- giving depth to the meaning of our existence. That a library can become the site of such destructive activity is a visible manifestation of the rot that is eating away at our sense of higher culture, which is reducing sanctity to an unknown ‘Other’. It is symptomatic of the fact that, as a people, we are willingly attaching ourselves to the manipulative logic of a purist, perverted nationalism with not even a moment’s pause for thought.
This article has used the phrase ‘higher culture’, but is not used in an elitist sense. A higher movement, a thought, occurs in a location of the spiritual sense of one’s intellect and one’s soul. We have all had these moments where we experience an appreciation of knowledge, of beauty, and of upliftment. Such experiences are not the sole property of a highly educated, cultured elite. These are universal aesthetics of value and of right, of a moral imperative; why is it so easy for us to let our sense of humanity go? Why is it that we have let the rhetoric of a modern construct of a religio- nationalism divide us from an ethic of social justice? Perhaps one is wrong to worry at this thread of ‘cultural loss’. Building upon this argument, however, the more disturbing element that has emerged is the absence of a moment of resistance. Certainly, those of us who are still concerned about the future of Sri Lanka will continue in our efforts to bear witness, to speak out in our familiar for a, and to document this moment in our history.
Yet, there is a growing sense that such docile engagement is not enough, it only continues in never ending circles of vituperative argument between one camp and the other. What is needed in Sri Lanka, now more than ever, is a significant people’s movement, a harnessing of an ethic of social justice and considerable and aggressive demand, not from the halls of the NGOs or the liberal left, but from the grassroots, for the return to the sanctity of right. This movement must come from the people, from an inner sensibility that must have an incandescent hatred of injustice and intolerance, and through its strength of numbers it must stymie this administration’s narcissistic march toward what will eventually be a totalitarian state, if it is not one already. What is needed is a very significant, and if necessary militant, call to arms. The time for speaking and documenting is over. The people must march, they must strike.
The impetus for this , and the organization of a counter consciousness into  a formally aggressive movement will be the responsibility of civil society, from the liberal left who must find real connections to the grassroots to stir their emotive need for progressive change. Sadly, as the events surrounding September’s 18th Amendment show, only the JVP has the necessary pulling power to bring the masses onto the streets in protest. Civil society, clearly, needs to overcome this disconnect, to step down from abstract and lofty argument within its organization and to redefine its relationship with the grassroots so that the necessary change can be affected. This reconnection, indeed, will be the first step toward the forceful eviction of the Rajapakse regime.
Phew! HEA–VY!
Wouldn’t it be easier, more realistic and effective to simply support an educated and popular young leader of left-liberal views to swiftly take over the leadership of the democratic Opposition and its main party?
Dear Sylvia,
Thank you for sending this in to Groundviews. I rarely comment on articles here – it’s just too much to curate the site as well as regularly join the discussions. Reading through this before I published it, your article gave rise to some observations I thought we could perhaps thrash out with others, like Dayan Jayatilleka writing in before me.
As you’ve done here, to capture elitism as somehow enervated and irrelevant, you have fallen into the trap of believing that progressive political change will come from the grassroots. It does not require one to be present in Sri Lanka to realise that the grassroots, even if there was one homogenous entity that could be captured thus – has never, not once, played a role independent of partisan politics that have always been dominated by an elite, with the Rajapaksa’s being no exception. In other words, the ‘people’s movement’ you seem to want and suggest here has never come about, and I would argue, will never come about without partisan political involvement, which then immediately means that it is driven by an elite. And it is within this ‘elite’ – also not a whole that can easily be capture though often caricatured – that who can channel dissent exist, in a constant struggle to effect change as best they can. The ‘elite’ exist as much in the grassroots in non-English speaking, sarong and amude bearing, slipper donning, beetle spitting, caste conscious Tamil and Sinhala speaking form as much as they inhabit the more popular abodes like the Gallery in Colombo, often the target of barbed comments from commentators who somehow see patronage of these places as a marker of inauthentic patriotism. What are simplistically framed and rather complicated calls to social mobilisation in Sri Lanka, which lacks a civic consciousness one finds say in Nepal or the Philippines, is to place hope in agents of change who are not remotely interested in it, and indeed, lack the capacity to imagine it. One can understand this in any number of ways – as the perverse end of a karmic mentality or the inaction that is the result of private dissent that never makes it to the streets because of clientelist politics. Either way, your article is based on a fundamental fallacy of political change through non-elite, almost spontaneous mass mobilisation galvanised to an outrageous incident in the North. Sadly, won’t happen.
SH
This is a display of political navety.
Sorry ,it should be naivety
Groundviews and Sylvia
I would like to concentrate on one idea you express here, because I too have given some thought to it. That is, as to why the Sri Lankans are inactive as a civil society, compared to our neighbours in Asia?
The Muslims who live here may be an exception, because they seem to be taking part in active protest campaigns against issues ranging from Palestine to Prophet Mohammad’s (B.P.U.H) cartoons and many such local issues affecting them! This may be because the Muslims in Sri Lanka consider themselves as -not merely as Sri Lankans – intricately knitted to the ‘World Brotherhood of Islam’ and all their hopes and aspirations go in tandom with the heart beat of the world Muslim brotherhood.
This may open up a door to my topic; is it a sense of hopelessness that makes the average Sri Lankan an inactive entity? First of all I would like to put forward that the average Sinhalese in Sri Lanka is a person who doesn’t trust his neighbour, a back-stabber who constantly harbours a fear of being cheated, out witted and out-smarted(by the friends,neighbours,relatives, work-mates, officials and finally the government!) a synic and a pessimist, driven by “social status”, money and competition, who has many conspiracy theories just about everything! I woould like to add here that the average Tamil too feels the same in addition to a more hard-line, cast-based and provincial rivalry, but before last year most of them had a glimmer of hope that the seemingly ‘invincible’ LTTE would finally redeem them from this mess of hopelessness. Now their ‘national pride’ is hurt and they are plunged into an unprecedented abyss of misery and alienation.
This is a normal reaction to ages and ages of deception (of both communities by so many successive governments) and wittnessing the fate of many a champion of dissent . Because of these factors the average Lankan(lanket!) has become a deep thinker, a self-made pocket-philosopher. “Lankets are THINKERS! They are in fact big thinkers! First of all they worry whether they would be seen as a ‘laughing stock’, by their fellow countrymen for trying to change something that is percieved as unchangeable. Then they resort to the time-honoured tradition of ‘bearing it up’ and earn a living, minding their own business, rather than risking their “reputation”, “children’s reputation”, “family honour”, “social status” and livlihood!
In spite of what I said above, there are instances where you can see outbursts of anger by the Lankets in public. This has something to do with their ‘lack of patience and respect for others’, which I believe to be a genetic trait in them-including this writer! I think high levels of humidity which is prevalent in most parts of Sri Lanka and noise too has something to do with this!
Now, a few words on the role of ‘elite leardership in public mobilisation’ as stated by S.H. I too believe that still there is an element(or a remnant) of the now discarded feudal system lingering in the Lanket psyche and this is the reason for showing an element of owe and respect for certain families and professions by the Lankets(something akin to the relationship between the vassal and the serf)
Does this have something to do with the belief of Karma by the two main religions in Sri Lanka? My contention is that if this is true, the same must apply to the practisers of the other two religions(Christianity and Islam) in Sri Lanka, because instead of Karma their sense of “contentment with the inevitable (or fate)” is based on the concept of “the God’s wish”!
Finally one word to Sylvia, the writer of the article in question. The act of vandalism occured to the Jaffna Public Library doesn’t look like a planned attack based on anti-Tamil lines going by all the circumstantial evidence. It looks, rather an outpouring of ‘Lanket anger’, as I elaborated above, on the spur of the moment; a sudden outburst against the unfair security staff, a Soda bottle phenomenon of the Lankets! And don’t forget that the Sinhalese too(including this writer) contributed to the re-building of the Jaffna Public Library!
Well this piece is certainly atracting comment!
Politics is the art of the possible and under the current situation it would seem impossible to make drastic changes.
But there has to be a complete change of heart in society and I think it is fair to dream like WS Senior of a “son of Lanka” who will make this change. Whether it is Rajapakse or Wickremasinghe – both of whom have had fathers/uncles who played major roles in building post-independent Sri Lanka – or any other, they are all responsible for the corrupt ossified system that misgoverns Sri Lanka.
We need to dream of a day this system can change.
Arjuna,
Indeed, dream we must. Even King famously did that once, but with a better understanding of his country’s politics at the time. He also inspired others to do the same. On both counts, Sylvia’s dream falls short and Dayapala Thiranagama captures it best. Also, as Pratchett, an author quite adept in conjuring dream worlds noted, “Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages.” Sylvia I would hazard a guess is not someone in need of wages, yet.
And why just a son? There was, not so long ago, a ‘daughter of Lanka’ from whom much was expected. But little again delivered. Perhaps ‘elitist’ fathers are to blame.
SH
thank you all for your comments. I have wondered whether to reply to you all by mounting an all out defence of my position, but I thought perhaps, it would be more constructive to simply clarify my position.
To begin with, yes, I agree that my contribution is tempered with a soupçon of idealism- I hope and believe in change and that, is all. I believe in change, because like all of you who contribute to Groundviews, I want it with every fibre of my being.
When I look around at the situation in Sri Lanka, I see many things that render me quizzical. The violence and chauvinism that the Sinhalese exhibit, not only to non-Sinhalese, but also toward each other. The narcissism of the leader of the opposition ( and to that end I would like to think that Dr Jayatileke is a little more idealistic than I if he thinks that the Oppositon can get its act together). And also, I see leaders and thinkers in civil society who argue for freedom, for rights, for equality and who are neither praised nor heeded but ridiculed and made the objects of hate speech. I see journalists labelled as dissidents and made to go undercover because they dared to speak. I see also one of the most abrasive examples of a radical religio-nationalism that we have in the world today.
Somehow, against all this ‘wrongness,’ Mahinda Rajapakse’s regime which itself is nothing but the symbol of this misplaced ethos, is given more power than, I should think, any other regime in SL’s history.
What’s wrong? Or what is right here? Sanjana , hits the nail on the head. Because we need wages. Wages equals stability and security and for the ‘people’ , perhaps the choice to return MR to power is because he is the best possible way that the order and security they crave in their lives can be maintained. Feelings of fear, distrust, and anxiety are perhaps a little less than they used to be. Nothing else can explain why the message from civil society isn’t getting through. CS, and Ranil Wickremasinghe, who have been made the ‘Other’ are obviously also seen as elements of disorder and chaos. This does not make the ‘elite’ in civil society irrelevant as Sanjana seems to think. It simply means that they need a new strategy. And that, really is how I ended the article.
Yes, state media and the rhetoric of political bhikkus can influence and manipulate ‘the people’ to an extent; but all human beings have intellect and agency, so that they are able to filter and either accept or resist an ideology. Politics is dialogue, and debate. MR and co are the best for this time, for the preservation of their security, and I think everyone who commented here knows this.
the point is, now that there is semblance of order, we need to find dissident voices and organise that into a forceful point of change or atleast strong enough pressure on the government. and of course, the leaders for this will come from civil society and within ‘elite’ figures within the Sinhala community. All I’m asking for is a change in strategy. However, I don’t think I am incorrect in thinking that without the critical mass of bodies that will come from ‘the people’ any form of resistance will descend into no more than fifteen minutes of hysteria.
Of course, I don’t have as much experience as Mr Thiranagama and I bow to his knowledge in the matter. But I do think it is interesting that, thinking that I suggested that ‘elites’- and I was wrong to use the term perhaps- are irrelevant, many of you commented. It is indicative of the fact that CS is perhaps unwilling to see where they have failed. i certainly hope that is not the case. I have every faith and admiration for the wonderful work that is carried out by my friends in civil society.
No, unlike Mr King, I don’t have a dream; I just don’t want to give up. Nor do I ever want to see Meryvn silva’s face on television again.
have these online elites have ever wondered that the expectations of you (which have nothing remotely related to the common man in this country) and the common people are not the same!
@billy
Why do you think comments here are out of touch with the common man? People writing in this forum have been saying things like: (a) when police arrest someone, they shouldn’t beat up the arrested guy, (b) when a minister wants to take action against an employee, he shouldn’t tie the employee to a tree, (c) when a mentally handicapped man throws stones at trains, you shouldn’t beat him until he drowns. What they seek is a framework that is democratic, that has a decent legal system that makes sense and is implemented effectively, so that the kind of things in the above three examples don’t happen; that there is fairness and transparency in the system so that those who act badly cannot hide behind power and influence.
Show me the common man to whom these are not issues?
The groundviews,
I am willing to fall on my two knees before any son or daughter of lanka who is giving me the Kelaniya side to run and ruin forever and ever. Before I am falling to the knees before the Chandrika and I am now falling to the knees before the Mahinda. If Sajith is coming I am also falling to the knes before him. Nothing to worry about the Ranil coming because he is never coming – or going.
The Billy,
Please understand there is no common man in Sri Lanka now. Aftr killing the Prabhakaran and liberating the country everybody is becomiong more and more uncommon. What common man is watching like idiot when fellow common man is tied to tree? What common man lighting cracker and eating the kiri bath when other common man die? What common man watching and saying nothing when the Mervyn gets the Kelaniya side for breaking law and the General getting the Welikada side for contesting election?
Please be thanking the most uncommon man of all His Majesty the Rajapakse for making all of us uncommon and very rare indeed. I am already on my two knees thanking Him for all the uncommon things I am getting.
Uncommon wisdom!
thanks for scattering the high brow stuff I had some difficulty following
I understood one thing – that liberation is not a 9 to 5 thing
do we really need wages or are we attached to them? how do mendicant monks live?
first there is the strength to go hungry if there is no food – I mean Muslims do this every year … and there is also some trust and reliance in the goodness of someone to provide some food to keep you alive. finally there is an amazing sense of gratitude for any food that is given
what comes out is character
less feed – better quality
I knew this buddhist monk (not priest but monk) who lived alone – he died recently – who lived this life – great compassion and selflessness – great sense of humour and humility
when we have more human quality – liberation will happen
till then my learned friends – theorise until death do us part
Today, politics in sri lanka is the art of offering enough to defecters from opposition parties just enough to persuade them to betray those who cast their votes for them,beleiving all what they promised during their election campaigns.
The offering maybe position,perks, power, cash, appointments for kith and kin etc. This is how Mahinda Rajapakse garnered enough sycophants in parliament, to set himself, his family and henchmen up, for life. One MP of the fair sex was even reported to have been assaulted and dragged before the president, by her husband, bruises and all, to pledge allegiance. It was reported that the husband was offered Rs 50 Million by a henchman of MR to ‘persuade’ his wife to defect..
All this is deliberately ignored by sycophants in and out of parliament who drag red herrings about opposition parties & personalities before the public and the media.
Political “Science” has now boiled down to this – the Art of Enticement and Survival.
It is good to see people for what they are – in the flesh and in the raw – very elemental and primordial
sooner or later all pretensions had to go – and we must see ourselves as we are
so all this is very good
I would only suggest to the great intellectuals to start asking a very important question –
whatever your magic formula – and for me this is all magic – first ask
WHAT ARE THE HUMAN QUALITIES THAT WE NEED TO ENSURE THIS WORKS?
Siddhartha in Herman Hesse told the merchant whose employment he sought
I can think
I can fast
I can wait
a pretty tall order – but this is the way forward
most of the talk that assumes that we have the requisite human qualities is I must say IDLE TALK
they do not have the flavour of truth and the ring of conviction because the solutions being advanced are not answers tried and tested in the university of life but simply the product of superior reading, analysis and presentation
our pothe gura’s must become real