Because I was asked to be silent
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Portrait of a card-carrying Sri Lankan patriot.
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I am not a patriot. I am not a patriot if it means that to be a patriot I must deny that innocent people have been killed. I am not a patriot if it means that I have to turn a blind eye to the destructive activity of self-righteous members of the Sangha who feel it within their purview to destroy a Muslim shrine. Neither am I a patriot if it means I have to be amongst the Sinhalese who support this crime. Nor am I one if, like the Catholic Church I remain silent or am partisan to the Rajapaksa regime. I am not a patriot if I have to ignore criminality because it grants a certain kind of peace. I am not a patriot if it means I must remain speechless and unresisting. A few short weeks ago, Groundviews carried an article by Meena Serendib on Why the Diaspora must return to Sri Lanka. She cites Indrajit Samarajiva who supposedly avers that radical change demands radical sacrifice, and, while I have not read very much of Mr Samarajiva’s work, I am here to add support to that sentiment and also to the views expressed in Ms. Serendib’s article. Not only must the diaspora return, but the voice of the diaspora and the Sri Lankan middle classes must become a radical, insistent one. The greater crime now, is to remain speechless.
Sri Lankans live in a conditioned peace, not dissimilar to the conditioned freedom we have lived in for the last sixty-three years. Frantz Fanon, the most influential voice of the anti-colonial struggle urged for a ‘greater and more terrible force’ that would counter the oppression of the colonial power. Freedom was meant to be taken, and not simply accepted. Yet, the postcolonial nations have built their lives, meanings and identities on the structures of their colonial parent. Post-colonial, indeed, but hardly decolonized. Decolonisation is a condition that goes beyond the attainment of Independence. While the nation has gained legitimate freedom from the colonial power, such independence is hardly the goal of the Fanonian revolutionary. True decolonisation is not about accepting the condition of freedom or rather a conditioned freedom, it is about taking freedom. Forming a truly free, postcolonial, postracist, decolonized polity is inevitably a dirty and violent process in the Fanonian view – it is a radical process. Violence itself has surfaced quite readily throughout South Asian history. We have fractured, each of us; India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka – and none more so than the latter. Whilst there is still a breath of resistance in the speech and the lives of many members of the Indian and Pakistani public – especially their massive diasporic population[1], Sri Lankans around me dissolve into their usual stance of a carefully negotiated acceptance, indeed we are a nation characterised by that vile little utterance, “What to do , aney?” How terrible to be reduced to such a colloquialism. How terrible that we are still, even with the memories of countless colonizers still fresh in our minds, willing to be bound to yet another regime.
Our postcolonial inheritance is that we must think constantly about freedom, and that we must militate constantly in order to ensure that freedom. With the UN report on Sri Lanka being sent to the human rights council, our meditation must not rest simply on the issue of rights, but upon the freedom that gives birth to the discourse in rights. The freed nation is bound in chains of its own making. These chains, forged in the fires of violent struggle keep the nation viscerally attached to the entity that it sought to be independent from. The nation creates identities, structures, norms, systems and knowledges that are conceived within the womb of its colonizer, each is a nod to the need for acceptance, for inclusion and for recognition from its now distanced parent. Yet, the discourse of its freedom insists that these identities and systems are entirely independent, for each is a new declaration of autonomy and self-hood. Is this truly freedom, or is it freedom only in name? Freed into a name of its own, the nation builds great expectations, and these invariably do not come into fruition; or in manifestation become strange and unholy beasts. A disillusionment bred by the non-fulfilment of the promise of a political-economic order disrupts the heart of the nation and , when its acclaimed identity of independence meets the paradox of its dependant freedom, the nation is thrown into a violent resistance with and against a self it does not know, against its internal Other.
And so, the freed nation takes hold of its inheritance of violence, a history of violent evolution. Postcoloniality presumes freedom, but also accepts that chains exist; chains of structure and institution that refuse a truly independent identity. And yet, Man’s eternal search, indeed freed Man’s eternal search is for the truth of his being. He finds shades of it in fear, in a juxtaposition with external alterity, but such liberation is only found in relation to another. In this way it is almost possible to say that there is no freedom, and that it is in the search for freedom that Man and the Nation he builds for himself is lost and fractured. In seeking a freedom we are seduced into desiring, but yet a freedom we do not and cannot know, we ‘descend’ into many forms of violence. The physical clash of fundamentalisms, identities, into outright civil war; the demonization and dehumanisation of those we fear; slavery; oppression; racism; political branding, and most insidious of all, academic categorizations that positions certain ideas, concepts and movements into points of weakness. Do we not see all of these in the Sri Lankan polity? Perhaps the next step is to mount the final struggle, and to take freedom.
Sri Lanka’s colonial period under the British was not as fraught as those of its South Asian counterpart. Whereas India obtained freedom through long years of both violent and non-violent struggle against an oppressive British regime, the colonial administration treated Sri Lanka in a similar manner as the French did their colonies – indeed in the seminal Buddhism Transformed, Gananath Obeyesekere performs a brief but pithy examination of how middle class activity allowed this to be. In this way, colonization, while eventually having far tighter a grip on the island as it did on India, happened in a rather gentle manner. Similarly, the ‘nationalist’ struggle in Sri Lanka did not have the same intensity as the Quit India movement; neither did it use any militant resistance to the British. Jayadeva Uyangoda and Sunil Bastian, in a paper to the CSDG group of King’s College[2] , describe the anti-colonial movement in Sri Lanka as decidedly ‘conservative’. The strain of conservatism continues, as we complacently accept the face of a self-righteous Sangha, a weakened non-Buddhist leadership, a virtually non-existent political opposition, a civil society that is either mired in decadence or struck voiceless on the charge of ‘Westernism’, and the increasing perversity of this government. There is no sense of accountability, and worse, no militation for accountability. The lesson from Fanon is clear; decolonization happens not only on paper but primarily in our minds and in our attitudes. We must ‘descend’ into the violent struggle; we must militate. When did Sri Lankans, and the Sinhala middle classes especially, forget the potency of resistance? When did we give up the fight?
Remember that the state is not supposed to be the enemy of the people. Here, in Sri Lanka, however, we have a state that has risen up in defence of itself, and indeed continues all out hostilities against its own people. While the civil war against the LTTE is over, a civil war against the Sri Lankan polity continues. The state uses its army, and its network of informants and media personnel to suppress free speech, identity, academia and even now goes as far as to rewrite history and memory. It speaks in terms of absolutes and has no need to, nor any pressure to be accountable for what it does[3]. Lasantha Wickrementunge and countless others have been murdered or tortured for speaking their minds. The Channel 4 documentary revealed to us the brutality of the war crimes performed by the government and the LTTE. Emergency regulations were lifted, only to give way to harsher Anti-Terror legislation. Even during the World Cup – something seemed rather amiss amongst our Cricket team, and the mass resignation of many key players spoke volumes about the level of government fiddling. The stories stream in of inconveniently minded persons and officials who are ‘transferred’ in order to keep silent. This is guerrilla warfare from the state, a conqueror’s tactic to keep all voices beating to the same drum. Arundhati Roy refers to such moves as a form of vertical colonization in a recent interview, and this indeed is what it is. Fanon suggested that the colonizer will perhaps change, but we remain colonized if we do not lash out in a radical vein. The colonial struggle is ongoing, the colonizer now is the government and the system to which your mind is chained. Shed your complacency and militate, so you can truly be free.
[1] Fatima Bhutto, Arundhati Roy, Nivedita Menon, Omar Waraich, Shashi Tharoor, Meena Kandasamy ( ad infinitum)
[2] Paper of June 2008, ‘State Responsiveness to Public Security Needs: The Politics of Security Decision Making’
[3] Nor, it would seem do its satellites. The conversation on the Facebook and Twitter pages of Milinda Moragoda are fascinating. Never has a candidate or his staff found so many ways of not answering a hard question. Indeed, sometimes it falls to complete silence; several hours ago I responded to a tweet from Mr Moragoda’s campaign manager complaining about people trying to shift the debate to larger issues. I suggested that the ‘shift’ people were attempting to make were simple questions of accountability and asked him if it was wrong to force a candidate’s accountability. I am still awaiting his response.
Strong argument!
Is it just me or hasn’t Sri Lanka actually regressed? Certainly the post-colonial period was not the glorious emancipation that one would have expected but to a certain extent there was an incremental progression towards the emergence of a modern nation state with a leaning towards democratic values (albeit at a leisurely pace). It seems to me that even that emerging progression has been radically reversed.
At present, I can’t help but think of places like the former Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko, where anti-colonial rhetoric merely masked the continuation of King Leopold’s policy of raping the Congo for personal benefit. All the flatterers gathered around Mobutu to gorge on the generous hand-outs that he selectively distributed.
In Sri Lanka we have a repeat of the Congo situation although 63 years after independence. All of a sudden there’s a rediscovery of “sovereignty” and anti-colonial outrage… obviously only as a diversion while the country’s coffers are emptied with impunity! “Aney, what to do men?” and may I add “at least the army is conducting leadership training and cleaning up the city, no, aney?”.
georgethebushpig
Mobutu was never an anti colonist and was a darling of the west. in fact I read a glowing piece on him in an old Readers Digest magazine ,and that speaks a lot,doesn’t it !
Your description more accurately fits Zimbabwe under Uncle Bob
Lakshan,
You may want to read Adam Hochschild’s, King Leopold’s Ghost, a well researched piece of work and arguably the best book written on the colonial rape of Africa. The anti-colonial rhetoric was very much a part of Mobutu’s persona punctuated with his leopard skin hat.
On another note, the numerous stadiums and other white elephants being built in Sri Lanka is another commonality with Mobutu’s Zaire. The stadiums were of course multi-purpose; in addition to the big shows such as the Rumble in the Jungle (the classic Muhammed Ali vs George Foreman fight in 1974), below the stadium bleachers were where they tortured the political prisoners.
I hope my depressing pessimism is misplaced… Maybe I should have ignored PresiDunce Bean’s recommendation to watch the Land of the Blind…
@georgethebushpig
I totally agree with you. Just like in former Zaire, today Sri Lanka has a Mobutu Sese Jilmart in power and quite a few Doctors, Professors, Businessmen and flatterers gathered around him and his family to gorge on the generous hand-outs that he selectively distributes.
this regime is similar to any autocratic /despotic regime one way or other, take Egypt for instance , winning every election by a huge margin , even just prior to the popular uprising , Libya another example , ruled by a supposedly a very popular leader with his sons and closed cronies until he was compelled to run for his life , Zimbabwe another case in point , Mugabe found a way to hang on to power by redistributing the white own farm lands , Myanmar another similar case having an election to hoodwink the international community , Iran’s infamous presidential election … which ever you see it , this regime is extremely closer to those repressive tyrannical regimes…….
“…We must ‘descend’ into the violent struggle…” urges Mr/Ms Ranawana.
Hmmm…stirring stuff, eh?
Any takers?
One would have thought that Sri Lanka has experienced enough ‘violent struggle’ for several generations if not centuries to come and the task was to build a sustainable, stable and just peace, with greater democracy and openness.
Oh by the way, as one who was actually indicted on 14 charges under the PTA and the Emergency, pertaining precisely to ‘violent struggle’, may I give the writer a tip? It is easier to ‘ descend’ into it while in the arena, in Sri Lanka or the country concerned, rather than preach it to others, in a language not their own, from far away. It is also more risky. And more credible. Not to mention much more ethical.
I vote in favour with Dr.Jayathilleke on that one!
Peaceful protests and not violence please!
Dear Dr. Jayatilleke,
Fair comment.
But wasn’t it you, just a couple of weeks ago, suggested that we send our kids for military training in preparation for facing an external invasion? So let me get this straight, violent struggle against a mythical invader is ok but against a domestic authoritarian is not?
“One would have thought that Sri Lanka has experienced enough ‘violent struggle’ for several generations if not centuries to come and the task was to build a sustainable, stable and just peace, with greater democracy and openness.” Hmmmm seems awfully similar to the response I had to your suggestion that our kids be sent off to boot camp.
Ah! the many faces of Memphisto: “What do they want from me? After all I’m just an actor”.
@ DJ
Why don’t you reply for the query of Georgebushthepig about your “great success story at Geneva “, look forward to see an answer from you in an objective manner. In case if you missed it, here is the link
http://groundviews.org/2011/09/02/should-sri-lanka%e2%80%99s-youth-get-ready-to-confront-armed-intervention-two-years-after-the-war/#comment-36283
Re the comment from Dayan Jayatillake:
Does it mean that besides the issue of violence,he agrees with the rest of the article from Ranawana?
I hope his masters are not in the habit of reading GV!
The Owl of Minerva
Wow…lovely sentiments…written in high flown English..this is the problem the reader does not understand…the inability of the likes of the author of this article to reach to the ordinary people in this country..speak in a language that they understand…
Only 5% or even less than that of the people in the country woudl have access to this article and able to read it or understand it even if they know english!
What is written here will never gather any force…never materialise.and that is why the current rulers rule this country and has public support…they know what you do not know…they know to reach out to the public..
@ Chandi, Your observation and suggestion would be accepted without any reservation by the like-minded readers and hopefully by GV too. It would enjoy good reception. I too endorse it. Thanks, Nithy!
True.When Jesus Christ spoke, ‘the common man heard Him gladly..’
I totally agree with the sentiments of Chandi and Nithy, though this article is not totally of the sort.
Our inteligetia thinks that if you write simeting in simple English so that those who does not have an Oxford Dictionary at hand would fully understant it then they would be identified with ordinary people and they would not be recognized by English educated elites.
This is one of the main causes for their ideas, however much they are correct, not reaching out to the masses and not becoming a force that would mobilze them. No point of blaming them and the rulers thereafter.
Chandi and Nithy
I agree with you.
http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?735504
Sri Lanka to Shut Down its Largest Displacement Camp, 20 September 2011:
”Preparations have begun to relocate those still at the Manik Farm camp in the northern district of Vavuniya on a 600 acre site elsewhere, the ministry said.”
Camp with barbed wire to camp without barbed wire ??
People should be helped to settle wherever they like to.
Why transfer enmasse ????
@ S.Banda
Government media may euphemistically call this “A Welfare Holiday Camp.” I myself would call it a “Humanitarian Concentration Camp.”
The Daily Mirror has this to say.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/13676-new-village-for-menik-farm-idps.html
Yeah, let’s help them to settle on a minefield perhaps?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/21/us-srilanka-war-landmines-idUSTRE78K0PA20110921?feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt
Hooray for our erstwhile sole representatives!
Banda
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Easy to control 7,000+ Tamils in a ”village” ??
This is a crime by the state that has no shame to commit crimes.
None near the sea reserved for the Sinhalese !!!!!!
There must be space left in the ”village” for building schools, hospital/s, shops, etc