The Olympic Mantra

| by Victor Cherubim

( August 09, 2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) With 17,000 troops and 7000 private security guards and with 12,500 Police officers pulled from all of London and outstations, patrolling the streets, inside and outside the stadium, London is “rings of steel” rather than the Olympic “rings of peace.” More security guards are also added to this number from every nation participating. Most notable among the elite protection squads are the Bayonet and Shin Bet of Israel, the CO19 unit of GB, the crack unit of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the CIA of USA, and possibly the elite Chinese Torch Guards. Who could think that London is anything but a citadel of security?

Yet none of us living in London could notice the heart beat of this security operation, as everything is covert. That is the strange beauty – the wonder of Britain – to protect the over 50,000 VIP’s attending the Games, without fanfare.

This firewall is a part of the plan to sidetrack the real Olympics, which for all intents, is to win as much medals as possible, in the throes of a double dip recession, but more to showcase how British strength and security can protect internal and external aggression worldwide. “Made in Britain” security hardware and software, is open on offer to the world.

“Greatness knows what practice preparation for war makes.” The Olympics is big and it is business. From security to style, from invention to commercial intrusion, every item is open for business. It is an exhibition not only of sport, but more of technology. Who could imagine that two batteries of star-trek laser guided missiles couched on the roofs of tower blocks of flats in Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, would be only to protect the civilians living in these poorest of the poor pocket boroughs of London, if not to display Britain’s might to the technocrats of governments abroad as well as to their military attaches shopping for the latest weaponry.

How does Britain get away with it? We in Sri Lanka are mesmerised by innovation and look to Britain not only for the flair of style in fashion, the trends in modern design, the rhythm of music, the icon of dance, or the favourite cinema idol. We know what is on offer has been tried and tested and commands a prestige status. We also look in utter amazement at Britain’s sense of wit and humour.

Just think of Boris and nobody needs to know his surname. Just think of what he has said and done to London within the few years he has been Mayor of London. He may, in fact, have created his style of governance, his wry humour when he is quoted as saying:

“How could anyone elect a prat who gets stuck in a zipwire”, as Prime Minister, when he was momentarily suspended on the aerial wire rope over the stadium. With his quirks, fun and frolic, in 11 words Boris stole the show, when he described a scene at the beach volleyball by stating:”the players were glistening like wet otters out of the pool.” He is the joker of the pack but has covertly promoted London by turning a riot torn city within one year to be a spectacle of the world.

What can Sri Lanka learn from the London Olympics?

By George, Britain has excelled in attracting the world to London. Though it has no truck with the Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea), it has no diplomatic recognition in Iran, nor much to be said for its relations with Zimbabwe, yet it has invited even its foes to come to London without restriction and it is covertly selling its weapons abroad.

We in Sri Lanka need to move on from our fear mentality of seeing “the devil in the detail,” our paranoia of the diaspora” But who are our so called diaspora? They comprise both Sinhalese and Tamil living abroad, they comprise our citizenry, and many are termed as the rump of the LTTE, the anti-government movement, the baddies. How very easy it is to lay the blame on these dissidents for every mishap in Sri Lanka? How long can we carry on this stance?

Distinct needs demands distinct solutions. As Sri Lanka is unique and our needs and wants are unique, our approach to managing them should also be unique. “Naming and shaming” has been a tactic to marginalise our nation. By advancing nation building policies over communal interests, by producing a more tolerant society that values different cultural differences rather than producing social conflict based on those differences, a major obstacle can be overcome.

The starting point for most of our problems is in educating our public. We in Sri Lanka need to forget about the calculation of Z scores for university admission; if there have been human errors we have to accept them and move on. If we have not allocated 6 percent of our GDP on education, we need to set a time frame when we could afford to place more emphasis on our free education for the future of our youth. We need to think more on one score – the score to provide employment to our youth.

We are in the process of dragging out university education from three/ four years to six years due to the closure of our universities due to teaching staff on a semi permanent strike.

The best lesson that the Olympics could have taught us, is to invite the world’s students to our universities and institutions of higher learning, rather than the brain drain of our students attending higher education abroad. Britain and the West want to attract our best brains. Our Professors and lecturers have the academic excellence to reach the standards of education abroad, if only they are given the opportunity to research and practice.

The most important aspect in my opinion is to be proud of our nation and proud of our flag. As much as the Union Jack has been displayed everywhere in Britain during the Olympics, even round the beer bellies of many Britons, we in Sri Lanka have to respect our heritage. We need to bring back home not the medals but lessons of the convergences and divergences between the ancient and the modern Olympics – from the perspective of the classical tradition, to the constructed, integrated sportsmanship, of participation and discipline.