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| Sunday, 6 October 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Can power remain naked ? Balaya (Power) Bertrand Russel, the great intellectual and philosopher who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1950 has written over 35 books. His book "Power" released in 1938 stirred worldwide attention. Wimalasena withanapathirana, a former High Court Registrar who has translated several world class books, has now translated "Power" into Sinhala as "Balaya". In "Power" Russel analyses various aspects of power, forms of power, its limits and interactions and how power could and should be tamed. Russel submits that fundamental concept in social science is power in the same sense energy is fundamental concept in physics. Like energy, power has many forms such as wealth, armaments, civil authority and influence on opinion. No one of these could be regarded as subordinate to the other. Russel disagrees with Marx's theory that economic self-interest could be taken as the fundamental motive in social objectives. When a moderate degree of comfort is assured both individuals and communities will pursue power rather than wealth. They may seek wealth as a means to power or forego increase of wealth to secure power. He contends that it is only by realising the love of power in its true perspective that history, ancient or modern, could be rightly interpreted. He categorises the nature of power as traditional, naked and revolutionary. Where traditional power persists, the character of the regime depends upon its feeling of security or insecurity. Naked power is usually military and may take the form of either internal tyranny or foreign conquest. Power is revolutionary when it depends upon a large group united by a new creed Protestantism, Communism or desire for national independence. When an individual or group wins submission from subjects only through fear that power becomes naked. Nakedness is a matter of degree. In a democratic country power of government is not naked to opposing political parties, but is naked to insurgents. In discussing power and forms of government, Russel observes that Monarchy makes social cohesion easy because it is not so difficult to feel loyalty to an individual, as to abstraction. With the growth of civilisation a king or despot could maintain his power if he is astute in internal politics and successful externally. Political astuteness cannot be an invariable attribute of monarchs. Therefore sooner or later there is revolution and the monarch is either abolished or shorn of its power. After examining all the systems of government from time to time Russel feels that democracy while not a complete solution for good governance but it is an essential part of the solution. Democracy may not ensure ideal government but it prevents certain evils. Democracy has the merit of making governments pay some attention to the welfare of the subjects much more than absolute monarchies, oligarchies or dictatorships. One would find that what Russel has expressed in this book so many decades ago has come true today. Marx has analysed that the capitalists would exploit the proletariat to such an extent that they would be forced to revolt and seize power overthrowing capitalist regimes. Bertrand Russel points out that prudent capitalists would not so exploit the workers for the very consequences Marx has foreseen. What we experience today in Sri Lanka is what Russel has so well expressed. Unfettered privatisation of essential items and services has caused burdens on people and the State is compelled to take measures to bring relief to them. Russel has visualised even globalisation when he has hinted about a world state. Russel asserts that love of power in various forms is universal and people love power for its own sake. In former days men sold themselves to the devil to acquire magical powers. Now they acquire powers from science and find themselves to have become devils. He suggests that if power is to be beneficial it must be bound up with some other end to satisfy desires of others. The ultimate aim of those who have power should be to promote co-operation not in one group as against the other but in the whole human race. Wimalasena Withanapathirana has done a great service by translating this classic work into Sinhala. Although this book is an intellectual pursuit the language and style in the translation are simple and it is readable. This book should be read not only of students of politics but also by those interested in current affairs. This book would widen the horizon of the Sinhala reader. - W.T.A. Leslie Fernando **************** Learning the traditions hardly unknown Guns were Directed Towards the Wrong People by M.S. Sivam Intended to be a political satire it succeeds admirably, though one cannot but feel that it contains traditions hardly known to the present generation and wry admissions of the colonial mentality of the Northerners. A description of a village separated into two sides (pakkams) Maruvoorpakkam (outsiders) and Pattinapakkam in Sri Lanka explaining the layout of ancient (coastal) cities is worth noting. These are preludes to a novel projection of a 'dig' at the 'mighty' nations by way of a school concert followed by a prize-giving. This explains the guns being pointed at the wrong people, ignoring the surveyors of destruction who also set the scenarios. "A century of religious wars" is a wry statement of fact as also is the existence of an agape race. An explanation of the Party system of government (by chance) being clearly from the days of the Whigs and the Tories laying the foundation of majority rule and, 'post hoc' determined as being democratic is still adhered to despite its failure in all countries where the British model was in use. (But then, all systems of governance have failed except the monarchy, where still found, due to their booming economies). Man is admirably defined. The significance of temple festivals is clearly explained as also is the Pada Yatra of Kataragama. A classic case of a "Readers Digest for the arid zone" is also familiar but it is only the bureaucrat who does not see it. There follows a resume of relative prices of essential commodities and the reasons thereto. The mathematics of nuclear decay, zero, approximation is 'explained.' So also is "education." It is indeed a collection of home truths and village (ur) / fair (santhai) / junction (santhi) traditions. - Dr. R. Vignesweren. **************** On moles and molar properties Basic Concepts in Chemical Calculations In our day-to-day life many things are connected with calculations. Calculations form an integral part in education. But many students find it very difficult to handle complex chemical calculations. Therefore there should be some means to overcome this problem. I think this book will help students to overcome this problem to a certain degree. In higher chemistry, the concept 'mole' is very important. It is the SI unit of measuring the quantity of matter. To learn molar properties like molar mass, molar volume, molar concentration, molar heat capacity, molar latent heat of fusion and vaporization etc., the concept mole has to be developed very clearly and firmly in the mind of the students. In this book K. Ariyasinghe has taken great pains to form a very clear picture of what mole is and its applications and also other chemical calculations. I wish this book will be very helpful to our students. |
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