Dismantling ‘Us and Them’ Divide

by Shanie

Our neighbours are strange creatures
All the furniture with
unfitting colours,
Smelling dried fish
one cannot stand
The sound of party
that is deafening
(the lines of pop songs make walls collapse)
Really crazy…

Not like us
When we look around the world
Quite frankly
we are the only
human beings:
Myself and my people
Really crazy…
Not like them.

(July 31, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) This poem is part of a larger one that a young Sinhala poet Upali Ubayasekera wrote in 2008 and is quoted in an essay that Liyanage Amarakeerthi wrote earlier this year. Amarakeerthi, a University Don from Peradeniya’s Sinhala Department, was writing about the current state of Sinhala writing and urging greater cosmopolitanism and less nationalism in Sinhala writing. In that essay, he stated that there were however emerging young writers like Ubayasekera who were prepared to critique both economic globalization and cultural nationalism. In the poem (which was translated from the Sinhala by Amarakeerthi himself), the young poet refers to the mind-set of many people to artificially create a divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’. By this mental division, we try to create an illusion that we are different and, by definition, superior to ‘them’. Such a state of mind can be quite self-destructive. We are unwilling to examine ourselves or to engage in any form of self-criticism.

In that essay, Amarakeerthi wrote: "Even after the demise of the LTTE, the Sinhala nationalists continue to talk of ‘Western conspiracies’ and the like. For them, all NGOs are pro-Western, and anyone speaking of freedom of expression, devolution of power or simply ‘peace’ is automatically to be considered a paid agent of the West. From this we can see that if ‘mental colonialism’ did not end with Independence in Sri Lanka, that mindset is today being propagated by nationalists (this despite most of these intellectuals themselves being Western-educated). By continuing to place such emphasis on the West, the key players of the Sinhala nationalist discourse are in fact the main propagators of Western dominance in Sri Lanka, simply by over-emphasising the boundary between the purported West and East." Although Amarakeerthi’s was only writing about the current state of Sinhala writing, his critique is equally applicable to many Sri Lankans today. Across the ethnic divide, the mind-set is ‘us’ and ‘them’. One has only to read the inane comments that are posted in web blogs and even in the mainline newspapers to realize the self-destructive path that our people are taking.

The defeat of the northern insurgency presented an opportunity to forge national reconciliation and for us to reach out to the ‘other’. But the politicians saw that only as an opportunity to create greater political space for themselves, inventing conspiracies and treacheries, but in reality reinforcing the ‘us and them’ mind-ser. That this was taking the country down the slippery path of self-destruction did not seem to matter so long as it provided short-term political gain. It is here that we need an enlightened civil society and intellectuals like Amarakeerthi to speak up and urge that we engage in self-examination and self-criticism rather than attach the label of ‘traitors’ and ‘paid agents of conspirators’ to all who express a point of view different from us. The need of the hour is reconciliation in all areas of our national life but sadly we are becoming captives to narrow nationalism.

In the aftermath of her election victory in 1994, the then President Chandrika Kumaratunga sent groups of political and civil society leaders to the North as ambassadors for reconciliation. Her thinking, quite rightly, was that it would prepare the ground work for a negotiated political settlement to the National Question. These ‘ambassadors’ were mobbed as they went around Jaffna and a tremendous mood was created for dialogue to end the insurgency. The kind of euphoric reception that Chandrika Kumaratungaambassadors received in Jaffna obviously alarmed the LTTE leadership. They saw the groundswell of support that was growing for the Chandrika initiative and thought that their hold over the people would soon be lost. And they found a lame pretext to resume the war.

A negotiated settlement of any conflict can only come about if there is mutual trust between the parties involved. This was what Chandrika Kumaratunga hoped to establish by her initiative. Negotiations would have floundered unless there was this trust. And the LTTE leadership knew this well and therefore sought to crush it. This is where one has to question the strategy of the present political leadership. No attempt is being made to establish trust. Indeed, what is being created is a feeling of deep distrust. The continued occupation of private lands and the statement that more private lands may have to be occupied to ensure ‘security’ has disturbed the local people in the North and East that there is a hidden agenda to change the ethnic distribution of the population. The government statement that permanent settlements of military personnel and their families are going to established in the North simply reinforces that fear. Soldiers do not remain permanently in any station. To provide them with land, housing and facilities for cultivation in the Vanni, as reportedly being proposed, is therefore inexplicable in purely military terms.

What adds further fuel to feelings of distrust is the setting up Buddhist shrines all over the North. The JHU is discovering new archaeological sites of Sinhala Buddhist presence in the North and East. Several years ago, archaeologists had found ancient Buddhist ruins in Kandarodai and elsewhere in the North. These dated back to the period between the 3rd and 6th centuries when Buddhism flourished in South India, from where missionaries were sent to various countries. Buddhist scholars in South India at that time included monks like Buddhagosha, Buddhadatta and Dhammapala, the last-named a Tamil scholar as well. Many of the rulers were patrons of Buddhism and undoubtedly Theravada Buddhism was a prominent religion among the elite of Jaffna at that time. But archaeological research must be left to trained archaeologists devoted to scholarship with no particular agenda. It appears that, n addition to the springing up of Buddhist shrines under every Bo tree in the North, the site of Sanghamitta’s landing in Sri Lanka has been "discovered" in a place near Mathagal; the area has been cordoned off and a monument erected to commemorate the historic visit of this Buddhist missionary. If these were the result of research by scholars, they would have been perfectly acceptable. But the manner in which these new sites are being discovered at this time and the erection by the military of plaques identifying these sites creates doubt and distrust. It is hardly the way forward to establish peace and reconciliation in the country.

Extremist elements, both among the Tamil and Sinhala people, have repeatedly taken this country to ethnic conflict. Our people and our political leadership must break free from being captives to these extremists. We can save ourselves from international isolationism and economic and social ruin only if the religious, civil society and political leadership is prepared to take bold decisions to break free and follow a path of reconciliation with and tolerance of the ‘other’. The ‘us and them’ mind-set must be rooted out.

Soli Sorabjee was a former Attorney General of India. In an article included in the Civil Rights Movement’s excellent series of booklets on the Value of Dissent, he writes: "Tolerance is the basis of a democratic and pluralist society. The recent resurgence of various forms of intolerance and fanaticism in India poses a serious threat to democracy in our country….Our Supreme Court regards freedom if expression as ‘the most cherished and valued freedom in a democracy’…. Deep regard for tolerance impelled the Supreme Court to strike down the expulsion from school of three students belonging to the Jehovah’s Witness faith who refused to sing the national anthem though they respectfully stood up in attention when it was sung. Justice Chinnappa Reddy speaking for the Court declared: "Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches tolerance; our Constitution practices tolerance; let us not dilute it."

Following some ant-Muslim rioting in India, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the Nation in the following terms: "India is a country of many communities and unless we can live in harmony with each other, respecting each other’s beliefs and habits, we cannot build up a great and united nation…. I earnestly trust our efforts will be directed towards creating communal harmony and that all our people and especially our newspapers will appreciate the grave dangers that are caused by communal conflict and disharmony…Thus only can we serve our motherland and help in making her great, united and strong."