Identity politics, populism, hatred, and division are prominent features in the international community today. This is because of tribalism; religious prejudice, racial bias, and delusions of grandeur over others, be it based on language or race and more importantly.
by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne in Montreal
“In order to solve this problem, the politics of our country needs to be changed. We need to transform our country into a new economy of social cohesion where people’s participation in the country’s production is given pride of place. Also a fair share of production should go to the people”. ~ Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Leader of the Opposition
On 4th February each year, we commemorate the day Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) gained independence in 1948. I don’t know whether Sri Lankans actually celebrate it in the literal sense of the word. This was independence from British colonialism, meaning, Britain allowed Ceylon to govern itself, within what was, and is still called the Commonwealth of Nations – a dying vestige of British superiority. We retained the Governor General (a ceremonial reminder and figurehead of the shadow of British Royalty) and The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as our highest appellate court of adjudication. Our lawyers had to catch a flight to London to argue an appeal on Buddhist Temporality Law.
Not until May 1972 did we get rid of these useless appendages and burdened our nation (and State) with the daunting and paradoxically convoluted title The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Still, our national carrier remained as Air Ceylon and our major export was stuck in nomenclature as Ceylon Tea (at least it is a world-renowned brand). But happily, we were able to chart our own destiny judicially and politically.
In the years that followed 1948, the pervasive Western influence that was the status quo ante refused to take leave of itself, dividing society into what the author came to know as the Kultur camp and the Haramanis camp as he underwent the pernicious “rag” when he entered the hallowed portals of Colombo University. Some of us who were labelled as belonging to the former, had attended private schools which emersed us in Wordsworth and Chesterton, Byron, Keats and Shelley, while the majority in the country were unceremoniously categorised as belonging to the latter camp. The divisive elements were of course proficiency in English and the resulting entitlement to be adorned in a pair of trousers. Others rendered destitute of these privileges were bestowed the humiliating sobriquet “ sarong johnnies”.
Thankfully, the sarong johnnies eventually graduated to trousers but were still deprived of access to the Queen’s language.
Businessdictionary.com says, if you are independent, then, you are “not controlled by any outside factors including opinions and regulations”. Admittedly, Sri Lanka today is independent politically with a parliamentary democracy of elected representatives as well as being endowed with an invaluable and deeply historical culture which other nations admire and respect. Whether it is independent in other areas may be another issue and is outside this essay.
Aqheel S, Writing in The Companion of 15 August 2014 on Indian independence (again from the British) says: “On the eve of independence I started my day browsing on the internet and searching for the literal meaning of the word Independence and this is what I found, ‘Self-governance’, ‘Self-sufficiency’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Liberty’, then a thought popped up in my mind, ‘Are we really Independent?’
To this question is inextricably linked the question, “what are we dependent on”?
On the 42nd anniversary of Grenada’s independence Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, in his address to the nation, advised the people of Granada: “This is a new era. Because something has always been a particular way, does not mean that we cannot change course. There is never a bad time to change direction when it is a change for better”. This is true of any nation, at any time. Brian Francis says sagely in Nation News: “[A] more pragmatic approach to this issue is for us as a people to cast aside all of the material religious, political and cultural things that divide us and begin to ask some tough but relevant questions about the existing state of affairs in our various countries, several years after gaining political independence. That sort of critical self-examination is an effective way to approach the question of whether we are truly independent, as people, as countries”.
Identity politics, populism, hatred, and division are prominent features in the international community today. This is because of tribalism; religious prejudice, racial bias, and delusions of grandeur over others, be it based on language or race and more importantly. Fear mongering.
The fundamental reality of independence lies in the question “is society divided”? In other words, we should ask ourselves on this Independence Day, “are we independent of bias”. As mentioned at the commencement of this article, we gained political independence but not independence from division and discrimination. At the root of all this is one concept – human dignity. Human dignity is enshrined in equality in public discourse irrespective of prejudice, whatever form that may take. A nation is not measured by its successes and achievements but by its compassion.
Perhaps what Anura Kumara Dissanayake - who has been vociferous in his speech against division and social inequality - said can be found in international covenants. Article 2 of The International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination requires States parties, at all levels, to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination and to prohibit any form of racial discrimination by any persons, groups or organizations and, Article 4 requires States to adopt measures to prohibit any forms of dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, incitement to racial discrimination and acts of violence and incitement of such acts, and any form of assistance to such activities.
Article 1of The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination - a human rights proclamation issued by the United Nations General Assembly - states that discrimination on the basis of race, colour or ethnicity is "an offence to human dignity" and condemns it as a violation of the principles underlying the United Nations Charter, a violation of human rights and a threat to peace and security.
Civilized societies around the globe recognize such a thing as “The Rule of Law” as the fundamental premise of human rights and democracy. This is embodied in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - that no one is above the law – and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.
It was Dr. Martin Luther King in his speech I have a Dream who said: “I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” I am sure all of us would like this famous quote now to apply to little Latino girls and boys, and little Chinese boys and girls as well. Of course, all little Asian boys and girls should also be included. I m sure Dr. King would have fought equally, for all of them.
Nelson Mandela supported Dr. King by saying: “Let it never be said by future generations that indifference, cynicism or selfishness made us fail to live up to the ideals of humanism which the Nobel Peace Prize encapsulates. Let the strivings of us all, prove Martin Luther King Jr. to have been correct, when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war”.
In addition to what the above statements refer to, it must be said that true independence and social liberation will be found in independence from separation, division and discrimination from perspectives in education, economics and equality of opportunity.
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