Liberal losers incorporated

By Rajpal Abeynayake

(May 31, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There seems to be a rear-guard action among the so called liberal and the left-leaning, to say that Ranil Wickremesinghe should stay on as the UNP leader, because he is not a mirror image of Mahinda Rajapaksa, and is a good liberal, who entertains the views of other religionists and marginalized groups!

In fact it’s not about Ranil at all - - this is the whole problem with the nebulous anti-government liberals, because they do not see the woods for the trees. Damn right the opposition agenda should not be a mirror image of the ultra pro-nationalist Rajapaksa agenda, if you will...

But does the liberal left, the ostensibly pro-UNP liberal left (!), think that the current agglomeration of forces in the UNP, led by Ranil, furthers the liberal anti Rajapaksa cause? If so, why have the people rejected this motley crew at 14 elections on a trot?

Loony left

If the liberal left - so-called - cannot see that Ranil Wickremesinghe and his cohorts are therefore the worst thing to happen to their anti Rajapaksa cause, they are far more daft than I thought they were.

Is there any merit in saying for instance that Gordon Brown is the best thing for the Labour party, because he is pro-worker, and feels the pain of the Labour class?
If anybody says that in Britain today, Gordon Brown himself would probably present such a person with a personalized and autographed dunce cap.

But this is the problem with the Sri Lankan liberal left — it is a loony left, which finds ingenious ways of losing elections and losing out on their professed causes.

The best antidote to the burgeoning Rajapaksa doctrine, is to find a winning combination to challenge the Rajapaksas at an election, right?

Well, I almost expect the loony liberals to say a resounding NO to that.

If there is no such winning combination at the moment, the pragmatic thing would be to find one, right?

The loony liberal left however does not think so, because they still seem to labour under the illusion that they were repeatedly rejected by the people by some accident, or due to no fault of their own.

In other words their core sentiment is that there is something wrong in the fact that they were rejected — - that it cannot be, that it was some bad dream because the people were bamboozled, or because the people merely had a bad hair day, and just happened to vote for the other side.

“The worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves. We live in denial of what we do, even what we think. We do this because we’re afraid’’ —— RICHARD BACH
The loony liberal left is so afraid of changing the old order that yields place to the new, and has grown so accustomed to defeat, that it constantly sabotages its own progress.

If they are also so clear about the fact that the pro UNP pro liberal (left?!) has been so heroic in embracing marginalized groups, they should ask themselves why the people have rejected them so roundly and so repeatedly.

Nobody is asking the liberals to abandon their liberal ideas or causes, but if the people clearly haven’t been convinced about these, liberal leaders need to get themselves a better communicator at the helm.

They also need to realize that paying lip service to liberal ideals won nobody any fans. What’s the empathy that Ranil Wickremesinghe and his leadership cabal can have for the marginalized religious and interest groups, if Ranil does not empathize with the liberal pro-democratic ideas of his own party membership, who want greater internal democracy in the UNP?

Perpetually on denial

So this is typical of the effete pro UNP Colombo sentiment - - it’s clear they have been feeding themselves a farce, all these past years. They have thought that lofty speeches from elite blue-riband enclaves such as some lawyers association lobby or some glittering boardroom filled with businessman, equates to real empathy for the people.

Old boy networking and appointing certain religionists and other so called liberally minded people to top party posts is the antithesis of empathy for the marginalized. The marginalized do not dine at five star hotels with the party leader on a regular basis and raise the champagne glass to him, if you ask me.

The marginalized are those who suffer in refugee camps, and those who want to speak on behalf of whoever are the underprivileged they represent outside the confines of Colombo lobby rooms and five star hotels.

But our loony liberals are perpetually on denial, and so feel if Ranil appoints more men from Royal College, he is liberal, because after all Rajapaksa appoints most men from rural Medamulana type backgrounds, no?.

What kind of wooly headed liberal elitism is that? Does liberalism mean ensuring the apotheosis of Royal College? Is liberalism the coronation of Colombo lawyers and the five star dinner-set? Oh my god, what leftists and progressives do we have — I recommend that they wear bow and waistcoat and sit to dinner at the Orient club with all effete Ranil loyalists and Royalists. They will fade away and blend into the scenery soon, as they must.