rapa
08-21-2006, 06:28 PM
Editorial
Doves, hawks and those in between
It is unfortunate that Thursday’s peace march was marred by a scuffle. A group of protesters including some Buddhist monks thought it fit to force themselves onto the stage and display banners with messages that ran counter to the very theme of the event. Those intruders had no business there and they should have let the peace activists continue their campaign peacefully. In a democracy, everybody must be prepared to stomach dissent, however difficult it may be in some situations. Tolerance constitutes one of the pillars of democracy. So, those disruptive elements, irrespective of their political or religious backgrounds, must be condemned for their reprehensible action.
There could be no sane person who is not desirous of living in a peaceful country. But then why is it that peace activists in this country have failed to take everybody on board? And why is there stiff resistance to their peace building campaign? One main reason is that those who lead the anti-war campaign have failed to prove that their peace intentions are genuine and their policies consistent.
Any movement, be it pro peace or anti terror, is identified with its leaders. And who is at the forefront of Sri Lanka’s anti-war campaign? A couple of big time foreign funded NGOs and a group of politicians including some political rejects! The main allegation that the anti-terror front levels against the anti-war campaign is that the NGOs concerned are pliable tools in the hands of some foreign powers that have a vested interest in Sri Lanka’s conflict and are supportive of the LTTE. The anti-terror activists argue that those organisations are on a campaign to ‘erode the will of the state to battle terrorism’. They seek to bolster their argument by citing the quantum of foreign funds those organisations get and the background of their key activists, some of whom are alleged to have a history of supporting rebel groups both here and abroad.
Sadly, as it is said in this country, when one bull breaks a fence, all the cattle get beaten. Similarly, a handful of errant NGOs, which are functioning not like community based organisations but like private companies with the darlings of the foreign embassies accused of being sympathetic to the LTTE controlling them, have brought the entire NGO sector to disrepute. There is said to be an NGO mafia throwing money around and buying various people including media personnel to peddle a hidden agenda.
The anti-war campaign is conspicuous in the LTTE controlled areas by its absence, though it is there that such a campaign is needed most. The LTTE has militarised those areas through forcible conscription etc and is obviously preparing for an all out war. The anti-terror lobby asks why the anti-war activists are campaigning only in the South. The anti-war activists must allay the doubts created in the public mind by explaining why they have steered clear of the LTTE controlled areas. They must also counter the argument of their critics that they become active only when the LTTE suffers defeats at the battle front and they are silent when the LTTE is on a winning streak.
The raison d’etre of an anti-war front is nonviolence. While the march was on, Vasudeva Nanayakkara criticised the military action that the government had resorted to wrest control of the Mawilaru anicut. The offensive to restore water supply to 15,000 families had resulted in the displacement of over 100,000 people, he said. If the anti-war front believes the Mawilaru dispute could have been settled without resorting to violence, then it ought to explain why on earth it couldn’t sort out its problems with the protesters who tried to disrupt its peace event, without resorting to violence.
On the other hand, launching military offensives or declaring war are matters determined by the Executive President to whom Vasu is an advisor. So, if Vasu is opposed to the on-going military offensives against the LTTE, launched by his political boss, he should, first of all, resign as his advisor. If he is the peace loving man that he claims to be, he must tell the public whether or not he subscribed to the state sponsored counter terror campaign which crushed the JVP’s reign of terror in 1989. He must explain why the NSSP and other leftists obtained weapons from the then UNP government to defend themselves and didn’t return them. He must be aware of the automatic weapons that were recovered from behind a false wall in an NSSP offices in Colombo, some years ago.
Deputy Minister Dilan Perera, wearing his heart on his sleeve, condemned war but played it safe by denying that there was a war. He claimed that the President had said there was no war. The JVP and the JHU were trying to plunge the country into war, he declared. If he believes his President’s claim that there is no war, then he has no reason to worry! Why should he get so worked up? We can’t understand his gobbledygook. He is running with the President and hunting with the peace lobby. Moreover, he is today sitting with one of the suspects in the killing of his bosom pal Nalanda Ellawala. What moral right does he have to condemn violence elsewhere while remaining in a government which has taken on board the suspect in his friend’s killing? When the suspect concerned returned to Parliament after being released on bail—as a UNP MP—Dilan went into tantrums in the Parliamentary restaurant, abusing and condemning him for the killing. But today he is silent! Explain it, Mr. Perera!
UNP MP Rajitha Senaratne condemned the JVP and reminisced of its terror campaign in the late 1980s. But how did he respond to the JVP violence? He fully endorsed the violent suppression of the JVP, didn’t he? The counter terror campaign launched by the People’s Revolutionary Red Army (PRRA)—a ruthless vigilante group consisting of leftists—matched the barbaric terror of the JVP at that time. Nay, we don’t fault Rajitha for the defensive action the United Socialist Alliance of which he was a member, adopted against the JVP barbarism; the JVP pushed its rivals to that position. Hadn’t the JVP been stopped in its tracks, it would have killed thousands more. The UNP government did what it had to do, and many people, it should be recalled, lit firecrackers when Wijeweera was done to a violent death. We don’t intend to open old wounds and hurt anyone but that is part of this country’s history that cannot be forgotten. What moral right does anyone, who supported a ruthless campaign to quell southern terrorism, have to condemn military action against northern terrorism? As much as the JVP hijacked the cause of the downtrodden sections of the southern populace to justify its terror, the LTTE has, mutatis mutandis, hijacked the cause of the people of the northern and eastern parts of the country to justify its terror.
Our gorges were rising at the sight of Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva on the peace platform. A little bit of cow dung, so goes the saying, is sufficient to spoil a pot of milk. In the person of Mervyn, the organisers of the peace march had not just only a little bit of cow dung but a cartload of it, which they emptied into their pot of milk! He spoiled the event in no small measure. Night club owners shudder at the mention of him or his son. Remember Clancy’s, which was demolished the other day? Remember how his son assaulted a group of Police Narcotics Bureau officers with his revolver butt at a Colombo night club? Remember that notorious mobile phone attack on the private parts of a Buddhist monk in Parliament? How can such an aggressive element claim to be a peace maker?
The peace activists who turned violent made a mockery of their anti-war slogans. What they proved to the world, through their violence, was that they didn’t practise what they preached. Those who want the government to remain unprovoked in the face of the LTTE violence went berserk, unable to counter a protest of their rivals, through peaceful means!
Mahatma Gandhi once staged a death fast to tame such aggressive followers, as he knew they would cause more damage to his nonviolent campaign than the British.
We unreservedly condemn the disruption of the peace rally together with those who were responsible for those deplorable acts of provocation. However, we cannot but say that an anti-war campaign that is devoid of ahimsa is not worthy of its name. One is reminded of the famous Salt March of Mahatma in 1930 and how he shook the British Empire to its foundation through his non violence. Had he been burdened with a group of followers like the ones who resorted to violence on Thursday in Colombo, Mahatma’s ‘Salt March’ would have been turned into something like General Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’.
Peace makers must learn to remain unprovoked if their intentions are genuine. They don’t need to turn to the modern day conflict resolution specialists who have made a business of peace making: Instead, they could follow what the great religions teach. They ought to either practise ‘turning the other cheek’ or abide by ‘Nahi Verena Verani...’ The Buddha, they should remember, didn’t turn around and give Angulimala a flying kick, when the latter came running behind him brandishing a knife or Jesus didn’t send those who flogged and nailed him to the cross, flying, despite the super human feats they were capable of. Mahatma brought a mighty empire to its knees through nonviolence.
Dissenters must be won over not subjected to violence. If they are to be suppressed, we don’t need peace makers—we have Mervyn and his boys or the striped friends in the North. They will do a much better job of it! Doves must be different from Hawks, mustn’t they?
The success of a peace movement hinges on not funds, advertising or gimmicks but a genuine leadership capable of mobilising all sections of the people and bringing pressure to bear on both parties to the conflict to eschew violence, without campaigning from a safe distance. Peace making is too noble a task to be left to a few organisations that view it as yet another project with which to gain more funds or to a group of rotten politicians bellowing empty rhetoric.
While the deplorable intrusion which spoiled the peace march must be condemned by all right thinking people, there is a pressing need for the peace activists to turn the search light inward.
Doves, hawks and those in between
It is unfortunate that Thursday’s peace march was marred by a scuffle. A group of protesters including some Buddhist monks thought it fit to force themselves onto the stage and display banners with messages that ran counter to the very theme of the event. Those intruders had no business there and they should have let the peace activists continue their campaign peacefully. In a democracy, everybody must be prepared to stomach dissent, however difficult it may be in some situations. Tolerance constitutes one of the pillars of democracy. So, those disruptive elements, irrespective of their political or religious backgrounds, must be condemned for their reprehensible action.
There could be no sane person who is not desirous of living in a peaceful country. But then why is it that peace activists in this country have failed to take everybody on board? And why is there stiff resistance to their peace building campaign? One main reason is that those who lead the anti-war campaign have failed to prove that their peace intentions are genuine and their policies consistent.
Any movement, be it pro peace or anti terror, is identified with its leaders. And who is at the forefront of Sri Lanka’s anti-war campaign? A couple of big time foreign funded NGOs and a group of politicians including some political rejects! The main allegation that the anti-terror front levels against the anti-war campaign is that the NGOs concerned are pliable tools in the hands of some foreign powers that have a vested interest in Sri Lanka’s conflict and are supportive of the LTTE. The anti-terror activists argue that those organisations are on a campaign to ‘erode the will of the state to battle terrorism’. They seek to bolster their argument by citing the quantum of foreign funds those organisations get and the background of their key activists, some of whom are alleged to have a history of supporting rebel groups both here and abroad.
Sadly, as it is said in this country, when one bull breaks a fence, all the cattle get beaten. Similarly, a handful of errant NGOs, which are functioning not like community based organisations but like private companies with the darlings of the foreign embassies accused of being sympathetic to the LTTE controlling them, have brought the entire NGO sector to disrepute. There is said to be an NGO mafia throwing money around and buying various people including media personnel to peddle a hidden agenda.
The anti-war campaign is conspicuous in the LTTE controlled areas by its absence, though it is there that such a campaign is needed most. The LTTE has militarised those areas through forcible conscription etc and is obviously preparing for an all out war. The anti-terror lobby asks why the anti-war activists are campaigning only in the South. The anti-war activists must allay the doubts created in the public mind by explaining why they have steered clear of the LTTE controlled areas. They must also counter the argument of their critics that they become active only when the LTTE suffers defeats at the battle front and they are silent when the LTTE is on a winning streak.
The raison d’etre of an anti-war front is nonviolence. While the march was on, Vasudeva Nanayakkara criticised the military action that the government had resorted to wrest control of the Mawilaru anicut. The offensive to restore water supply to 15,000 families had resulted in the displacement of over 100,000 people, he said. If the anti-war front believes the Mawilaru dispute could have been settled without resorting to violence, then it ought to explain why on earth it couldn’t sort out its problems with the protesters who tried to disrupt its peace event, without resorting to violence.
On the other hand, launching military offensives or declaring war are matters determined by the Executive President to whom Vasu is an advisor. So, if Vasu is opposed to the on-going military offensives against the LTTE, launched by his political boss, he should, first of all, resign as his advisor. If he is the peace loving man that he claims to be, he must tell the public whether or not he subscribed to the state sponsored counter terror campaign which crushed the JVP’s reign of terror in 1989. He must explain why the NSSP and other leftists obtained weapons from the then UNP government to defend themselves and didn’t return them. He must be aware of the automatic weapons that were recovered from behind a false wall in an NSSP offices in Colombo, some years ago.
Deputy Minister Dilan Perera, wearing his heart on his sleeve, condemned war but played it safe by denying that there was a war. He claimed that the President had said there was no war. The JVP and the JHU were trying to plunge the country into war, he declared. If he believes his President’s claim that there is no war, then he has no reason to worry! Why should he get so worked up? We can’t understand his gobbledygook. He is running with the President and hunting with the peace lobby. Moreover, he is today sitting with one of the suspects in the killing of his bosom pal Nalanda Ellawala. What moral right does he have to condemn violence elsewhere while remaining in a government which has taken on board the suspect in his friend’s killing? When the suspect concerned returned to Parliament after being released on bail—as a UNP MP—Dilan went into tantrums in the Parliamentary restaurant, abusing and condemning him for the killing. But today he is silent! Explain it, Mr. Perera!
UNP MP Rajitha Senaratne condemned the JVP and reminisced of its terror campaign in the late 1980s. But how did he respond to the JVP violence? He fully endorsed the violent suppression of the JVP, didn’t he? The counter terror campaign launched by the People’s Revolutionary Red Army (PRRA)—a ruthless vigilante group consisting of leftists—matched the barbaric terror of the JVP at that time. Nay, we don’t fault Rajitha for the defensive action the United Socialist Alliance of which he was a member, adopted against the JVP barbarism; the JVP pushed its rivals to that position. Hadn’t the JVP been stopped in its tracks, it would have killed thousands more. The UNP government did what it had to do, and many people, it should be recalled, lit firecrackers when Wijeweera was done to a violent death. We don’t intend to open old wounds and hurt anyone but that is part of this country’s history that cannot be forgotten. What moral right does anyone, who supported a ruthless campaign to quell southern terrorism, have to condemn military action against northern terrorism? As much as the JVP hijacked the cause of the downtrodden sections of the southern populace to justify its terror, the LTTE has, mutatis mutandis, hijacked the cause of the people of the northern and eastern parts of the country to justify its terror.
Our gorges were rising at the sight of Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva on the peace platform. A little bit of cow dung, so goes the saying, is sufficient to spoil a pot of milk. In the person of Mervyn, the organisers of the peace march had not just only a little bit of cow dung but a cartload of it, which they emptied into their pot of milk! He spoiled the event in no small measure. Night club owners shudder at the mention of him or his son. Remember Clancy’s, which was demolished the other day? Remember how his son assaulted a group of Police Narcotics Bureau officers with his revolver butt at a Colombo night club? Remember that notorious mobile phone attack on the private parts of a Buddhist monk in Parliament? How can such an aggressive element claim to be a peace maker?
The peace activists who turned violent made a mockery of their anti-war slogans. What they proved to the world, through their violence, was that they didn’t practise what they preached. Those who want the government to remain unprovoked in the face of the LTTE violence went berserk, unable to counter a protest of their rivals, through peaceful means!
Mahatma Gandhi once staged a death fast to tame such aggressive followers, as he knew they would cause more damage to his nonviolent campaign than the British.
We unreservedly condemn the disruption of the peace rally together with those who were responsible for those deplorable acts of provocation. However, we cannot but say that an anti-war campaign that is devoid of ahimsa is not worthy of its name. One is reminded of the famous Salt March of Mahatma in 1930 and how he shook the British Empire to its foundation through his non violence. Had he been burdened with a group of followers like the ones who resorted to violence on Thursday in Colombo, Mahatma’s ‘Salt March’ would have been turned into something like General Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’.
Peace makers must learn to remain unprovoked if their intentions are genuine. They don’t need to turn to the modern day conflict resolution specialists who have made a business of peace making: Instead, they could follow what the great religions teach. They ought to either practise ‘turning the other cheek’ or abide by ‘Nahi Verena Verani...’ The Buddha, they should remember, didn’t turn around and give Angulimala a flying kick, when the latter came running behind him brandishing a knife or Jesus didn’t send those who flogged and nailed him to the cross, flying, despite the super human feats they were capable of. Mahatma brought a mighty empire to its knees through nonviolence.
Dissenters must be won over not subjected to violence. If they are to be suppressed, we don’t need peace makers—we have Mervyn and his boys or the striped friends in the North. They will do a much better job of it! Doves must be different from Hawks, mustn’t they?
The success of a peace movement hinges on not funds, advertising or gimmicks but a genuine leadership capable of mobilising all sections of the people and bringing pressure to bear on both parties to the conflict to eschew violence, without campaigning from a safe distance. Peace making is too noble a task to be left to a few organisations that view it as yet another project with which to gain more funds or to a group of rotten politicians bellowing empty rhetoric.
While the deplorable intrusion which spoiled the peace march must be condemned by all right thinking people, there is a pressing need for the peace activists to turn the search light inward.