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| Sunday, 6 February 2005 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429239 / 2331181 Fax : 94 11 2429230 Yet another anniversary Sri Lanka celebrated its 57th anniversary of independence last Friday. Though it was held on a low key albeit with military parades and evening fireworks, there was no dearth of customary resolutions, pledges and calls to the nation. Anniversaries like birthdays are occasions for new resolutions. Every year you resolve to do things that you failed earlier. Having heard the same resolutions, same pledges and same promises year after year one is a little sceptical now. One wonders whether there is anything beyond the sweet and soothing voices, fine phraseology and loud rhetoric in these anniversary resolutions. It has to be admitted that despite the lapse of 57 years we have failed to weld a unified society. The social fabric has been torn asunder by ethnic strife and politico-economic injustice. Dark clouds of religious strife are looming large in the horizon. Even the worst disaster in history that befell the land has failed to convince the leaders of the futility of sectarian politics and power games. If one is to believe the media, intrigues and conspiracies are afoot even to deny the tsunami victims and the devastated land urgent international relief in order to support narrow political agendas. The Jekyll and Hyde syndrome continues to haunt our body politic. Before making resolutions and pledges we have to take a hard look at the independence won and the achievements gained since then. It would not be too harsh to conclude that the hard fought struggle for full independence was bartered away for mere dominion status by the top rung of the reformist leadership in the national movement and the people had to wait for more than two decades to get rid of the demeaning allegiance to a foreign sovereign. Political independence without economic independence meant nothing for the masses. That is why even the tangible gains of the 1956 cultural revolution had been reversed today with the enthroning of a new set of Brown Sahibs aping the West and following obediently the dictates of the Washington Consensus. The sabre (kaduwa) that was wielded by the comprador bourgeois in 1948 has fallen into the hands of a new collaborative bourgeoise in whose ranks ironically sons of the revolution of 1956 find secure abode. The open economy embraced with open arms with the declared intention of establishing a 'dharmishta society' (Just society) has made the rich richer and the poor poorer. Unequal terms of trade and other harmful features of the global economic order are draining the country of both physical and human resources. Our economic dependence is increasing despite the reported increase in the GDP. The rich-poor divide not only among countries but also within the country is rapidly increasing. New divisions, new alienations threaten the poor. The digital divide is a case in point. The so-called post-independence development is so skewed that four-fifth of its results are enjoyed by a single district - the Western. All the worst features of the post-independence development has been intensified many times by the fratricidal war that engulfed us for nearly two decades. Though a fragile negative peace exists, there are still no signs of permanent peace that alone could ensure sustainable development. The juggernaut of capitalist globalization not only subjugates Third World nations like ours, it also sweeps overboard traditional cultures and value systems by imposing a hegemonic alien culture in their place. In the aftermath of the tsunami disaster we have to look hard where we are heading for. Are we being led down the garden path by world powers? Are we facing the danger of becoming pawns in their power games of the 21st Century? One thing is clear. The neo-liberal solutions are not capable of delivering the goods for the world's poor. Alternative policies are required. One has to look forward to a better world. As the World Social Forum declares 'A better World is possible'. Several front ranking nations in the Third World are already pioneering an independent path as characterised at various international fora such as the World Trade Organization. On the 57th anniversary of our independence we have to ponder deeply whether we are to follow the same servile course chartered hitherto or join the front ranking nations in the Third World in the fight for a better world. Such a brave new course cannot be chartered without genuine commitment on the part of the people and their leaders to serve the country. Unless the leaders show an example by serving the people instead of serving themselves it would be an uphill task. What is required is a complete reform of the entire gamut of political and social structures on the basis of a broad national dialogue and consensus. Failure to do so would make a major social upheaval, a social revolution both inevitable and necessary. |
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