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| Sunday, 2 November 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Dangers of Sinhala extremism : Hiru vs. Hela Urumaya: a draw for now? Observations by LAKSHMAN GUNASEKERA As Sri Lanka moves closer to a re-structuring of the State in order to resolve the ethnic conflict, the more that Sinhala ultra-nationalist blood will begin to boil. In their desperate bid to prevent what they perceive to be a complete disaster for the Sinhala community and nation-state, Sinhala ultra-nationalist groups may begin to go beyond civil agitation and resort to physical violence. What happened at the New Town Hall, Colombo, last Wednesday is, in my view, symptomatic of such a trend. This is a danger that I have warned against several times in these columns over the past few years - see, for example, my column in the Sunday Observer of 16th January, 2000, headlined 'Are the Sinhala ultra-nationalists arming?'. On Wednesday and Thursday last, a Sinhala-Tamil Arts Festival was conducted by the Colombo-based 'Hiru' Group. The attack came within an hour of the start of the festival, just after the keynote addresses, including one by that doyen of Sinhala literary scholars and lexicographers, Professor Sucharitha Gamalath. A small crowd of people rose up inside the hall and began yelling anti-Tamil, anti-LTTE and other hate slogans including accusations that the Festival organisers, being Sinhalas, were 'traitors' to their race, bent on undermining the Sri Lankan State in treacherous collaboration with the LTTE. According to eyewitnesses, the agitators included several known journalists of the Divaina newspaper as well as personalities of the Sihala Urumaya political party. The Hiru Group, which organised the Sinhala-Tamil Arts Festival, is the name adopted by the circle of largely Sinhala social activists, writers, poets and other cultural workers gravitated around the Hiru Sinhala language fortnightly. Hiru is well known for its avant-garde Sinhala cultural output and stringent, social-critical journalism that focuses on and develops fearlessly incisive news coverage of burning social and political issues. Just like many other similar but less creative Sinhala and Tamil journals that articulate the needs, concerns and aspirations of social sectors often left out by the big media, Hiru is a 'poor' journal. That is, a low budget one, struggling to survive on a low income because it has little advertising income given the limited spending capacity of its audience and also the probable reluctance of conventional commercial advertisers to be featured in what is clearly a 'radical' and controversial journal. Its originators and its staff are from the Sinhala middle and lower-middle class intelligentsia known for their social activism as well as their professionalism. Many of its leadership would consider themselves as Marxian or socialist, while some may have post-modernist perspectives. In fact it is this identity of a 'poor' Sinhala journal, for years, actively working for the Sinhala poor, in a fearless manner with much sacrifice and commitment, that gives Hiru the credibility and ethno-national legitimacy that enables it to link up with social groups like non-Sinhala ethnic communities without the risk of being perceived as 'betraying' the Sinhala community. In this, Hiru parallels the JVP, but the Hiru Group vigorously distances itself from the Sinhala hegemonism inherent in the JVP's current campaign against a negotiated settlement of the ethnic conflict. Indeed it is the Hiru Group's active support for a negotiated settlement, on the basis of its acknowledgment of equality of all ethnic and social sectors, that prompted it to organise the Sinhala-Tamil Arts Festival last week. In its stance in support of the peace effort, the Hiru Group is no different from numerous small Left-wing or social activist groups arising from among the less Westernised middle and lower-middle class intelligentsia. There are many such groups, some of them human rights groups, others being social action groups (many in rural and semi-rural areas) dedicated to mobilising specific, marginalised social sectors such a rural poor, farmers, village communities affected by threats to their ecology, women, gays, ethnic minorities etc. There are also groups focusing on issues such as environment, cultural marginalisation (e.g. Veddahs) as well as avant=garde cultural groups. Most of these groups are unlike the more middle class and upper middle class-led urban 'NGOs' which, while often doing much good work for 'beneficiary' sectors or 'target' social sectors, are not socially linked to these sectors and are not accountable to them directly for their credibility or continuity. However, for those who wish to belittle the significance of the radical social action or cultural groups, such as the Hiru, it is easy to brand them as 'NGOs" and thereby dilute their credibility in the eyes of the larger society which would not be familiar with their history or performance. In the case of a well known critical newspaper like Hiru that will not be easy, though. Too many Sinhalas, especially those who have been following national politics through the mass media, know of Hiru's critical and democratic journalism to feel immediately suspicious of Hiru's intentions. Indeed, the Hiru Group must be finding it quite strange today to be held as heroes by much of the mainstream 'elite' or big media which previously either ignored it or tended to brand it as either 'fringe' or as an insincere, 'goody-goody' and misled NGO. Of course, the attack by Hela Urumaya elements on the Arts Festival was not a surprise to Hiru (or, to anyone familiar with the politics of the Urumaya constituency). While the crude propaganda by Urumaya elements as well as certain big media newspapers, that the Arts Fest was merely an LTTE 'Pongu Thamil' held in Colombo, will certainly confuse some Sinhalas, there are significant sections who know Hiru well enough not to immediately doubt its intentions. After all, an increasing number of Sinhalas, easily a majority, are (a) supportive of a negotiated political settlement, (b) impressed enough by the militancy and success of the Tamil nationalist enterprise to give the Tamil community due recognition as a community with credentials similar to the Sinhalas and, (c) anxious to make amends for past sins (of anti-Tamil pogroms) and see the need for inter-communal bridge-building. In fact, it is this very legitimacy of Hiru in the eyes of the mass of the people that enables it to be upheld today by the mainstream media and even receive generous police protection from a Government, which is normally cautious of, if not hostile to, such radical activist groups. Furthermore, the action of the Urumaya supporters in attacking the Arts Fest could be seen as having complex results. At face value, the Urumaya, prevented from completely disrupting the Festival, may claim a 'draw' and some of them have been heard to mutter dark threats hinting at even worse violence against all "Sinhala Koti' and 'traitors' to the Race (Master Race?). But the action by Urumaya elements and related groups may also be seen as a kind of unconscious marginalising of themselves from the 'confused' and 'unheroic' mainstream of Sinhala society. They are already being branded as 'extremist' not just by such esoteric columns as mine or by radical critics, but by the staid mainstream media and top politicians who, at one time, would calmly go along with similar Sinhala hegemonic politics and, have indeed done so to the degree that they have prolonged and worsened the ethnic conflict. The more they are branded as extremist, the more such irrationally behaving elements will feel justified in practising extreme behaviour. While some actions of political violence (whether by State or non-State entities) have some logic and justification based on the interests and concerns of very large sectors of humanity (e.g. wars of independence, social revolutions, wars for 'regime-change'), there are other instances of political violence that may not have that logic or justification (e.g. Hitler's Third Reich, the Aum sect's gassing of a Tokyo subway station). In terms of the ethnic conflict, then, we may see normally marginalised radical social activist groups being drawn into the mainstream, but unfortunately, one time 'mainstream' ultra-nationalist elements may now be driven to the extremities. This is dangerous. Last week some of these elements engaged in fisticuffs. More extreme violence could mean the resort to underground armed actions such as the bombing of homes and institutions of people they target as 'traitors' and even assassinations. It should be recalled that such armed violence has already taken place at a similar significant moment when the PA regime was engaged in peace talks with Norwegian help. There were two instances of hand grenades thrown at offices of Western agencies close to or working parallel with the peace effort. 'Extremism' can go all the way. |
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