Written and published in April 2011, this was my expose on the interference made by external forces on our nation’s affairs at the time. While some of these interventions were based on half truths and we needed to assert ourselves to get the space we needed to move ahead, I believe that the ‘Master Sir’ syndrome to be equally valid to our own in governance. We need to be real in our actions so we could have the moral strength as a nation to face challenges from these external sources. I re-present it again today for your critical review.
My
title today is also the title of a song; an all time favourite of Sri Lankans
from all walks of life. It depicts an appeal of a ‘subject’ to his/her colonial
style ‘master’, for respect and dignity. I guess the song’s wide popularity can
be, for it touched a chord on both sides of the fence; oppressed and the
oppressor alike. Over the years I have heard this song being sung with equal gusto
at political rallies, gatherings of university students, picnic sing-alongs and
charged-up drinking sessions of the elite.
Most everyone, even cutting across language and racial barriers, appreciate this song and some even attempted to understand its meaning. Yet, others chose to ignore what those words meant and focused only on the song’s tantalising melody. Any which way, the song remains a favourite of mine and the yearning and hope it represents often help me better understand events unfolding around me.
Trojan-horses
That very much includes the treatment meted to us, while being touted as an independent member nation of the ‘unity’ of nations. I reflect on the manner in which the ‘dominant west’ is not allowing us to make our own choices for managing our affairs. They seem to ignore the many voices of ordinary Sri Lankans in preference to the voices, of those who have left our shores to become citizens of other lands, some of whom have even formed anti-Sri Lankan lobbies, still seeking a separate state of ‘
In the guise of protecting ‘democratic ideals’ and ‘human rights’ they profess to uphold, we often see moves to protect their own interests and a continuation of treating us as ‘subjects’ in a ‘master – subject’ relationship of a sort. Playing global policemen, for protecting pure economic and business interests, have dominated the agenda of policy-makers of the West. Donor funds and support often come in the form of Trojan-horses. The greater good of human-kind is placed in the back-burners and issues that impact all are weighed on a scale tilting to ‘what’s in it for us’. The likes of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon are but mere actors in side-drama that unfolds in lab-theatres of the mega global theatre.
Business as usual
Research
studies carried out at their own universities, have often being ignored, if
they pointed to the greater good of humans as against those of the ‘masters’ of
dominance. The recent expectations of the ‘Change one can believe in’ have
fizzled to be ‘business as usual’ protecting self-interest and attempts at
maintaining continued dominance.
My objective is to demonstrate that what we see is no isolated phenomenon. It does not relate only to attempts at protecting interests of ‘freedom fighters’ who indeed were proven terrorists as in the case of Sri Lanka, to seeking ‘weapons of mass destruction’ where there were none, as was the case in the Iraqi invasion or the instigation of ‘democratic movements’ in other ‘naughty’ oil rich states. They are indeed about protecting short-term interests of money politics and of big business and the long-term objective of exercising dominance over ownership of and access to, what is left of the limited resource base of the world.
Remarkable individual
From
1973 - 76, I was on a scholarship to read for my post-graduate degree in
resource economics at the University
of Hawaii Manoa , USA
He was spending time with us intermittently from his work at University of
Challenging
dogma
Second to my background in being taught the Buddhist teaching of ‘questioning all’, it was Prof. Watt, who introduced me to the need to challenge dogma, which he, within our workshop work, called “dominant cultural beliefs”. His explorations of dominance in beliefs stretched beyond limits of measurable dogmatic positions to simulations of what can be. To him ecology was a boundless science and sociology was very much a part of it. It was all about what human beings did and how harmful some of it could be to the very survival of the species and societies and nations they formed.
Challenging or taking to task dominant beliefs is indeed not easy. Even after spending US $ 2 million on funds allocated for such research by the Ford Foundation and its publication in the form of a book with the same title, Professor Watt wrote a guest editorial in the scientific journal ‘Simulation’ in its May 1976 issue, titled “Why won’t anyone believe us?”. He wrote about the project and its intended objective in getting changes caused to public policy to ensure that the world’s ecological, economic and social health will be in sound shape in the future. He almost lamented that it was all being ignored and the world was moving as if it was ‘business as usual’.
Dominant
beliefs
In the work that was done by him, dominant cultural beliefs such as ‘growth is good’, ‘chemical fertilizer increases production’, ‘big is better’ and several others were tested with empirical evidence to observe how each withstood the test of time defined as the short, medium and long-terms. Interestingly, in all cases of tested dominant beliefs of the time, none held to be true in the long-term. Only some of it held in the medium-term, while almost all held true in the short term.
His contention was that public policy ought to look at the long-term and not focus on the short. The short-term was driven by business and commercial interests and the role of government and other global organisations was to look after the long-term health of Mother Earth and the living organisms within its spheres.
The
issue at hand in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka
Help
rebuild
Within this context, I am at a loss to understand how a band of terrorists, who used manifold tactics for causing attacks on innocent civilians, with suicide bombings and indiscriminate use of weapons over several decades, were called ‘freedom fighters’ by some influential people and institutions. I also fail to understand how they can be considered to be representing the Tamil citizens of
Indecent hurry
I also fail to understand how any UN committee can forget the continued suffering the LTTE caused this nation and its people - Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and all other races alike - when they unleashed indiscriminate terror on them for nearly three decades. I fail to understand where the proponents of these committees were on the many occasions such indiscriminate killings took place, like the 9/11 type Central Bank bombing in 1996. I also fail to understand the sense of urgency with which the UN Secretary General has resolved to release a report of his ‘advisory panel’, beating the report of Sri Lanka’s own ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee’ due in mid May, just three weeks away.
Master Sir … the days when we took it all in, as ‘our Karma’ are long gone. When wronged, we get hurt and assert ourselves to do the right thing. For we need to have our opportunity to rebuild, learn from our past follies; not only of our own and but also those imposed on us. We know we have many failings and that all is still not well with us. Yet we know the way and need to have our space to build a sustainable future with our resources, be kind and caring towards Mother Nature and ensure that those to be born on this land, regardless of cast, creed or race will have what it takes to stay united, be in peace with each other and optimise on the many opportunities this wonderful Motherland of ours, offer us.
Pix credit: Self
No comments:
Post a Comment