“Castro has been strengthened by the support of the public that he gets, and without the public supporting a leader gets, he or she is not in a position to give that kind of leadership continuously. President Rajapakse would have learned from these experiences and we would expect him to take a tough line against the "international community" and the other bullies.”____________________________________
by Prof. Nalin de Silva
(The views expressed are his own)
(February 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) For the first time since 1977, Sri Lanka is making an attempt to act as a sovereign state. Though the non aligned nations do not exercise any influence in world politics, as they are now not aligned only to USA, the get-together of the leaders showed how much respect each state was able to command from the others. In recent times Sri Lanka has stood well up to the might not only of the so called international community, but of India as well. Nobody whether a friend or foe should be allowed to take charge of the affairs of the country, and dictate terms. The political leadership has given the armed forces the necessary backing to defeat the LTTE, at least in the operations they have undertaken so far, and it is the political leadership and not the backing of the so called international community that has enabled the armed forces to carry out their duties by the nation and the state. The "international community" would not deviate from their policy of supporting the LTTE or some other organisation against Sinhalathva, as they consider the latter as their number one enemy after Muslim "nationalism" in the world.
Solheim and the other Norwegians who tried to fix dates for "negotiations without any conditions", between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE as equal partners, had to eat their words when the government made it very clear that no such decisions regarding negotiations had been made. The co chairs looking for their bearings in their customary ko ko statements tried to blame the government for the violation of the CFA. The Norwegians, co chairs, the aid group, India or any other nation or body of nations should not be allowed exert pressure on the country. It is not only the LTTE that had been inflated by the western media led by the Boru Begal Company (BBC), but the "international community" as well. The Sri Lankans, especially the Sinhalas were given the impression that the country had just to carry on with what the "international community" wished as it was thought that they were the present wielders of power. In this regard the statement by the President to the effect that Norway cannot take decisions on behalf of the country has to be appreciated.
The international Community can dictate terms to a country only if the relevant country is prepared to be dictated, and not otherwise. This is the lesson that Sri Lanka, hopefully would have learnt from Cuba, when the President met the Cuban Leader, Fidel Castro in that country. Cuba has refused to bow down to the pressures exerted by the mighty USA in spite of being very close to the latter. One would say that initially Cuba had the support of Soviet Russia, but even after the dissolution of the communist regime, Fidel Castro has been able to tell the USA where they should go when pressure was exerted. Whether one is in favour of the policies of Castro or not, one has to admire the political leadership given by him against the sole super power of the world that get assistance from Blair, the house boy of the White House.
Castro has been strengthened by the support of the public that he gets, and without the public supporting a leader gets, he or she is not in a position to give that kind of leadership continuously. President Rajapakse would have learned from these experiences and we would expect him to take a tough line against the "international community" and the other bullies. The Sinhala people have been made to believe that they have to abide by the decisions of the "international community" and others who are in effect no more than agents of the former, at least in order to survive. This has been driven into their minds by the specialists in so called Geopolitics where the knowledge as in the other fields is created in the west. The westerners whether in Geopolitics, Sociology or Physics have been creating knowledge relative to their culture and have been successful in formulating theories with which they could rule the world even in the absence of direct political agents such as governors and viceroys. They have coined terms such as neo-colonialism and post colonialism to describe this phenomenon, however as usual deviating our attention from the most important to secondary matters such as control of economy, trade surpluses and deficits, world bank policies. These concepts are very often created by left of centre academics who seemingly are not in total agreement with the policies of their governments. However, whether right of centre or left of centre they belong to the same culture and they invariably come out with theories and concepts that make sure that the western system survives.
The so called post colonialism is nothing but colonialism where the cultural component has become the dominant component, and knowledge, being part of culture has taken the driving seat in directing western Christian colonialism. As we have said on number of occasions western Christian colonialism which is a product of western Christian modernity has three components namely political, economical and cultural. In the initial period of colonialism it was the political component that became the dominant. This period was followed by the economic period where the economical component became the dominant component. With so called post colonialism or neo colonialism we have entered the third phase of western Christian colonialism where the dominant component is the cultural component. The NGOs that have been created in this phase, play an important role by transmitting knowledge created in the west to the people at grass root level. The universities and the schools established by the westerners in our parts of the world are now acting as direct agents of western Christian colonialism through which western knowledge is imparted to the society. The NGO s in this respect are complementary to the universities and schools, and no wonder that there are so many academics who are members of NGOs INGOs as well. In the third phase of western Christian colonialism we do not find white governors, armies commanded by white officers but brown and dark academics, and of course failed academics especially in the NGOs, imparting knowledge that is passed onto them by their white masters and mistresses in the west, to the innocent students and people. In the process the latter become not so innocent and we are driven from pillar to post. The pillars in the senate building of the University of Peradeniya not only provide "pillaring" space for the young lovers but remind us the precarious position we are in.
It is the theories of the westerners transmitted by their agents that have imprisoned the minds of the Sinhala people. The Sinhala elite is more subservient than I suppose any other elite, and it may be one of the reasons that the British had when they gave universal franchise to us long before the "privilege" was conferred to any other country in the colonies. The Sinhala elite and gradually the others have been conditioned to believe that they cannot go against the wish of the "international community". How long the Sinhalas have taken to realise the role played by Norway is only an example in this regard. Until very recently the Sinhala people believed that the boru begal company provided them with an impartial account of news without commentary. They had been told by the British that the BBC was independent, impartial, and that their news was free from comments etc., and the people always tuned to their wave lengths and not to Rupavahini in order to listen to authentic news. The Sinhala people should have realised long ago that the only impartial people are dead men and women. All knowledge is relative to the sense organs, the mind and the culture and only no knowledge (anna) can be considered as not relative. However, the white man had been successful in getting rid of his burden at least as far as the Sinhala people are concerned by educating the latter to believe the former. We are still a long way from achieving independence, and creating our own theories (Ape Pravada) but we are happy that we have made a start in this direction. We have to drive away the white man in our heads ( sudda oluwe phenomenon) if we are to achieve independence.
We do not know for how long the President Rajapakse would be in a position to tell the west that we do not appreciate what they have been doing. It has to be told to them that we are capable of finding solutions not only to our problems but even to those created by the west. The diplomats in Sri Lanka could represent their respective countries without telling us what we have to do. The British High Commissioner Dominick Chilcott has opened his mouth again to remind that a military solution is not the answer to the problem created by his forefathers in this country. It is the British governors in Sri Lanka who manoeuvred the Tamils against the Sinhalas, who are directly responsible for the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka, and the British High Commissioner is further trying to make the problem worse every time he opens his mouth. Do we have to allow all these diplomats who think no end in themselves to interfere with the affairs of the country? The British High Commissioner has to be reminded that he is not a successor to Manning and others who came to this country as governors and went back leaving us a problem to solve. We have to tell him that with or without a so called political solution we will solve the problem that they created. In this regard he has to be reminded also of the fact that our problem meaning the problem they created for us is entirely different from the Irish problem. Ireland was an independent country before the English went there and made a mess of it prior to going to the other parts of the world to make a mess everywhere, and if Ireland had been given freedom long ago there would not have been a problem to solve. In Sri Lanka the history is different and there had been no Tamil kingdom as such anytime anywhere in the country, for Sinhalas to conquer. Mr. Chilcott got his wires crossed when he talked of three kingdoms in Sri Lanka when the English Christian colonialists arrived in this country, and if he is prepared he could come to the University of Kelaniya (Vidyalankara) and defend his thesis. If he is reluctant to come to Kelaniya with its connections to the Buddhist Pirivena, he could come to the Public Library Auditorium in Colombo.
(Professor Nalin de Silva is a Sri Lankan theoretical physicist, philosopher and a political analyst. He is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.)
by Prof. Nalin de Silva
(The views expressed are his own)
(February 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) For the first time since 1977, Sri Lanka is making an attempt to act as a sovereign state. Though the non aligned nations do not exercise any influence in world politics, as they are now not aligned only to USA, the get-together of the leaders showed how much respect each state was able to command from the others. In recent times Sri Lanka has stood well up to the might not only of the so called international community, but of India as well. Nobody whether a friend or foe should be allowed to take charge of the affairs of the country, and dictate terms. The political leadership has given the armed forces the necessary backing to defeat the LTTE, at least in the operations they have undertaken so far, and it is the political leadership and not the backing of the so called international community that has enabled the armed forces to carry out their duties by the nation and the state. The "international community" would not deviate from their policy of supporting the LTTE or some other organisation against Sinhalathva, as they consider the latter as their number one enemy after Muslim "nationalism" in the world.
Solheim and the other Norwegians who tried to fix dates for "negotiations without any conditions", between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE as equal partners, had to eat their words when the government made it very clear that no such decisions regarding negotiations had been made. The co chairs looking for their bearings in their customary ko ko statements tried to blame the government for the violation of the CFA. The Norwegians, co chairs, the aid group, India or any other nation or body of nations should not be allowed exert pressure on the country. It is not only the LTTE that had been inflated by the western media led by the Boru Begal Company (BBC), but the "international community" as well. The Sri Lankans, especially the Sinhalas were given the impression that the country had just to carry on with what the "international community" wished as it was thought that they were the present wielders of power. In this regard the statement by the President to the effect that Norway cannot take decisions on behalf of the country has to be appreciated.
The international Community can dictate terms to a country only if the relevant country is prepared to be dictated, and not otherwise. This is the lesson that Sri Lanka, hopefully would have learnt from Cuba, when the President met the Cuban Leader, Fidel Castro in that country. Cuba has refused to bow down to the pressures exerted by the mighty USA in spite of being very close to the latter. One would say that initially Cuba had the support of Soviet Russia, but even after the dissolution of the communist regime, Fidel Castro has been able to tell the USA where they should go when pressure was exerted. Whether one is in favour of the policies of Castro or not, one has to admire the political leadership given by him against the sole super power of the world that get assistance from Blair, the house boy of the White House.
Castro has been strengthened by the support of the public that he gets, and without the public supporting a leader gets, he or she is not in a position to give that kind of leadership continuously. President Rajapakse would have learned from these experiences and we would expect him to take a tough line against the "international community" and the other bullies. The Sinhala people have been made to believe that they have to abide by the decisions of the "international community" and others who are in effect no more than agents of the former, at least in order to survive. This has been driven into their minds by the specialists in so called Geopolitics where the knowledge as in the other fields is created in the west. The westerners whether in Geopolitics, Sociology or Physics have been creating knowledge relative to their culture and have been successful in formulating theories with which they could rule the world even in the absence of direct political agents such as governors and viceroys. They have coined terms such as neo-colonialism and post colonialism to describe this phenomenon, however as usual deviating our attention from the most important to secondary matters such as control of economy, trade surpluses and deficits, world bank policies. These concepts are very often created by left of centre academics who seemingly are not in total agreement with the policies of their governments. However, whether right of centre or left of centre they belong to the same culture and they invariably come out with theories and concepts that make sure that the western system survives.
The so called post colonialism is nothing but colonialism where the cultural component has become the dominant component, and knowledge, being part of culture has taken the driving seat in directing western Christian colonialism. As we have said on number of occasions western Christian colonialism which is a product of western Christian modernity has three components namely political, economical and cultural. In the initial period of colonialism it was the political component that became the dominant. This period was followed by the economic period where the economical component became the dominant component. With so called post colonialism or neo colonialism we have entered the third phase of western Christian colonialism where the dominant component is the cultural component. The NGOs that have been created in this phase, play an important role by transmitting knowledge created in the west to the people at grass root level. The universities and the schools established by the westerners in our parts of the world are now acting as direct agents of western Christian colonialism through which western knowledge is imparted to the society. The NGO s in this respect are complementary to the universities and schools, and no wonder that there are so many academics who are members of NGOs INGOs as well. In the third phase of western Christian colonialism we do not find white governors, armies commanded by white officers but brown and dark academics, and of course failed academics especially in the NGOs, imparting knowledge that is passed onto them by their white masters and mistresses in the west, to the innocent students and people. In the process the latter become not so innocent and we are driven from pillar to post. The pillars in the senate building of the University of Peradeniya not only provide "pillaring" space for the young lovers but remind us the precarious position we are in.
It is the theories of the westerners transmitted by their agents that have imprisoned the minds of the Sinhala people. The Sinhala elite is more subservient than I suppose any other elite, and it may be one of the reasons that the British had when they gave universal franchise to us long before the "privilege" was conferred to any other country in the colonies. The Sinhala elite and gradually the others have been conditioned to believe that they cannot go against the wish of the "international community". How long the Sinhalas have taken to realise the role played by Norway is only an example in this regard. Until very recently the Sinhala people believed that the boru begal company provided them with an impartial account of news without commentary. They had been told by the British that the BBC was independent, impartial, and that their news was free from comments etc., and the people always tuned to their wave lengths and not to Rupavahini in order to listen to authentic news. The Sinhala people should have realised long ago that the only impartial people are dead men and women. All knowledge is relative to the sense organs, the mind and the culture and only no knowledge (anna) can be considered as not relative. However, the white man had been successful in getting rid of his burden at least as far as the Sinhala people are concerned by educating the latter to believe the former. We are still a long way from achieving independence, and creating our own theories (Ape Pravada) but we are happy that we have made a start in this direction. We have to drive away the white man in our heads ( sudda oluwe phenomenon) if we are to achieve independence.
We do not know for how long the President Rajapakse would be in a position to tell the west that we do not appreciate what they have been doing. It has to be told to them that we are capable of finding solutions not only to our problems but even to those created by the west. The diplomats in Sri Lanka could represent their respective countries without telling us what we have to do. The British High Commissioner Dominick Chilcott has opened his mouth again to remind that a military solution is not the answer to the problem created by his forefathers in this country. It is the British governors in Sri Lanka who manoeuvred the Tamils against the Sinhalas, who are directly responsible for the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka, and the British High Commissioner is further trying to make the problem worse every time he opens his mouth. Do we have to allow all these diplomats who think no end in themselves to interfere with the affairs of the country? The British High Commissioner has to be reminded that he is not a successor to Manning and others who came to this country as governors and went back leaving us a problem to solve. We have to tell him that with or without a so called political solution we will solve the problem that they created. In this regard he has to be reminded also of the fact that our problem meaning the problem they created for us is entirely different from the Irish problem. Ireland was an independent country before the English went there and made a mess of it prior to going to the other parts of the world to make a mess everywhere, and if Ireland had been given freedom long ago there would not have been a problem to solve. In Sri Lanka the history is different and there had been no Tamil kingdom as such anytime anywhere in the country, for Sinhalas to conquer. Mr. Chilcott got his wires crossed when he talked of three kingdoms in Sri Lanka when the English Christian colonialists arrived in this country, and if he is prepared he could come to the University of Kelaniya (Vidyalankara) and defend his thesis. If he is reluctant to come to Kelaniya with its connections to the Buddhist Pirivena, he could come to the Public Library Auditorium in Colombo.
(Professor Nalin de Silva is a Sri Lankan theoretical physicist, philosopher and a political analyst. He is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.)
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