Geethanjana Kudaligamage

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The future is that which-tomorrow, latter, next century, will beƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦which is predictable, programmed, scheduled, foreseeable. But there is a future, lƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢avenir (to come) which refers to someone who comes, whose arrival is totally unexpected. For me, that is the real future. That which is totally unpredictable. The ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”OtherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ who comes without my being able to anticipate their arrival. So if there is a real future beyond this other known, it is lƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢avenir, in that, it is the coming of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”OtherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ when I am completely unable to foresee their arrivalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (Jacques Derrida, Movie introduction)

It is this lƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢avenir, the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”arrival of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Other,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ totally unanticipated by the west, which has caused this ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Eastern NightmareƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ of the west. Their fear instigated when they heard the footsteps of the European ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”OtherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢; the footsteps that with irregular intervals of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”crippledƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of colonialism,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ slowly approaching into the future from the void of the horizon. His face is mutilated beyond recognition; missing limbs tells the story of exploitation, torture, torment and the anguish of his brutalized colonial past, and still barely holding his last-stand posture, leaning to the only clutch he received from his by gone forefather, whom was executed by colonizer for chanting the word ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”freedom.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ This ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”crippledƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ takes each and every step extremely cautiously, because the path toward freedom is said to be heavily booby- trapped!

Rajapakse hasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t done any crime by providing this ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”crippledƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ a rest area at Hambantota. By doing so, what he has done is the recurring of the bygone memory of our ancient ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Silk Route,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ the road to Asian glory of the past. Sri Lanka was a part of it ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦yes; Indian Ocean is our destiny brother!!!

In a way of responding to Mr. Fran Dias about Eurocentrism

Mr. Fran Dias (a Lanka Web forum member) submitting his comment for the part two of this series of articles stresses, not to throw Eurocentrism altogether since there is a good and a useful side of it; and also suggests to make it a complement to our own culture. His suggestion actually provokes a long answer, which in turn diverts my original plan of this article. But however, I feel that it is very essential to address these issues head-on, before we go to the next step.

With all respect and admiration to Mr. Fran Dias for his comment, it is extremely vital to state, that there is no good and useful side of Eurocentrism for non-European societies. The word itself suggests that. The only part of the world that Eurocentrism can serve is Europe. The other thing that we mustnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t forget is that Eurocentrism and modernism are two different things. Not in Eurocentrism, but of course, there is a useful side of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”modernismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ for non European societies. The useful aspect has been embedded in the core-principles of it; but not in the capitalist or the communist version of modernism.

At the bleeding end of French revolution, defeating proletariats in the internal power struggle within the revolutionary camp, the bourgeoisies took over the flag of modernity with its core ideals and principles of enlightenment, emancipation, liberty and freedom into their hands. The mercantile bourgeoisies, who had become wealthier due to colonial ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”adventurismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of France, took hold and claimed the ownership of modern ideology. Up until now, what we experienced were the capitalist and the communist extremes of modernism, both were derived from Hegelian Eurocentric theories. But the question is, if there is another version of modernity hidden underneath this historical debris, which we never experienced?

On the other hand, we also must not get confused with the difference between Eurocentrism and modernism, and we must clearly separate them from each other. ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s true that, European philosophy craftily launched the phenomena of modernity wrapped and packaged with Eurocentrism, making them intertwined with each other. Therefore, we find very hard to separate these two. But the difference between post modern critics of modernism and Enrique Dussel is, that DusselƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s entire project has been dedicated to clear the weeds that has been grown around modern thought, and to uncover the core principles of it. Because, although postmodern criticism has been able to uncover the most hegemonic Eurocentric philosophical premises by exposing their epistemological standpoints of western philosophy, still they have never been able to propose any alternative model to replace modernism. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s not easy, because the clarity has been missing, the truth is mutilated, what is left out there is still covered with full of debris accumulated throughout the last three hundred years. But, to my understanding Sri Lanka must be different; although they have forgotten their inherent gift for last couple of centuries, Sri Lankans are still naturally analytical; a cultural habit gifted us through the Buddhist cultural learning of dialectical analysis. I think we can do it. Yes we can! In the coming century folks, Sri Lankans must undertake to develop an ideology, based on Buddhist principles that can save our planet from the perils of the blindness of modernism.

Coming back to the point, this confusion of modernity and Eurocentrism is similar to that of the confusion between postmodernism and globalization. The media materials we accustomed to consume in everyday life, has been continually instigated this myth by synthesizing postmodernism and globalization. It was easier to create this myth because; post modern cultural phenomena occurred only in the late capitalist social environment, in which late capitalism was already on the making of a new global platform, restructuring its latest global apparatus within the atmosphere of newly emerged social realities and relationships, especially with the advancement of communication technology and media. Due to the extensive postmodern (post structuralist) critique of the hegemonic culture of modernity, mistakenly our cultural understanding has associated this critique with globalization to consider, globalization as an emancipative development; and by the deployment of it, it has been thought that we can reach to the point of departure, that would take us to the future utopia of global reconciliation of differences; a kind of utopian notion of a north-south handshake in the middle of the Sinai desert, the meeting point of east and the west. What a grandiose myth!

But in practice, what globalization aims to do is the complete opposite of that myth. The reason for this confusion is, on the one hand, apart from the fact that it has been purposefully cultivated by the parties that benefiting ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ this confusion, and on the other hand, the term ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”postmodernƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ carries the notion of late modernism, which is generally conceived as globalization, because globalization of capital is the characteristic of late capitalism any way. Let us see what Latin American intellectual Walter Mignolo says about globalization.

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Globalization in trans national corporate lingo is conceived as the last of three stages of global transformation since 1945. In a more sociological vocabulary, globalization could be linked with western expansion since 1500ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (Water D. Mgnolo) (The year 1500 marked the European colonial expansion and the year 1945 marked the post second WW era with the shift of the centrality of global power apparatus from Europe to USA)

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This above mural painting depicts the myth of modernity. This was originally painted in the Rockefeller center by the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. In 1933, Diego started work on the mural with the title, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Man at the Crossroads,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in Radio City in the Rockefeller Center in New York.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  However, a conflict arose over a portrait of Lenin, the first leader of the Soviet Union, and the mural was chipped off the wall and destroyed February 9, 1934.

Diego was determined to complete the mural, but in a different place. Then he did a new version of the Crossroads mural, called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Man, Controller of the Universe,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in Mexico City.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Above picture shows the image of the second mural, this time with both Lenin and Trotsky, representing the communist aspect of modernity.

The title itself carries the myth of the narration of the mural. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Man, Controller of the UniverseƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ This notion of the Enlightenment, that man as the controller of the universe, has been proved to be an over blown stupidity of man himself; this notion is the main culprit who is undermining the existence of our planet. It is the reason behind all the peril of the environment. The western philosophical ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”ReasonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ hasnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t found the universal truth of the fundamental principles of Buddhism, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-AnithyaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ the limit of the nature. Therefore modern scientific reason has pushed our planet to its extreme limits, to the verge of a collapse of its ecological balance. That is the reason why this writer suggests formulating an ecological philosophy, based on Buddhism for the next millennium for the whole world. That is one thing we must initiate immediately and get support from NAM and the UNO.

Now let us see what the modern glory that has being influenced the entire global humanity is all aboutƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-There is a mode of vital experience – experience of space and time, of the self and others, of lifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s possibilities and perilsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚that is shared by men and women all over the world today. I will call this body of experience ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”ModernityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. To be modern is to find our selves in an environment that promises adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world – and at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are. Modern environments and experiences cut across all boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and nationality, of religion and ideology; in this sense, modernity can be said to unite all mankind. But it is a paradoxical unity, a unity of disunity; it pours us all into a maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal, of struggle and contradiction, of ambiguity and anguish To be modern is to be a part of a universe in which, as Marx said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”all that is solid melts into airƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (Marshal Berman, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-All that is solid melts into AirƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ 1982) Beautifully said, sounds like divine words.

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Yes, Modernity is chaotic in essence, its sense of insecurity is terrifying, as David Harvey put it, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The only secure thing about modernity is its insecurity, its penchant, even, for totalizing chaosƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ On the other hand, the anti thesis of modern glory can be sensed with this Walter BenjaminƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s poetic expressionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦equally beautifully writtenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-A storm is blowing from paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progressƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

(Walter Benjamin, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Thesis on the Philosophy of History, 1939)

These three sentences symbolically tell us a volume worth of information. Beautifully said! BenjaminƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s intention is to symbolize modernity (capitalist version) as an angel. But the angel has got caught in the violent storm of progress.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The wings, that symbolize the capabilities of modern technological development, can no longer close. The self animated progress (storm) is pushing this angel into the future. But the future is something that angel can never visualize or never want to imagine, because he has turned his back on to it(irrationality of modernity), while the pile of trash of modern consumerism piling up skyward. This Jumble of the Labyrinth or the abyss of future is where we heading with this Eurocentric modernism.

This extraordinary intellectual Walter Benjamin, a born Jew, committed suicide on his exile, fearing Nazi German SS capture during the second WW.

Walter Benjamin was crossing Alps by foot, to reach Swiss border when he determined to kill himself. The only ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”valuableƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in his possession, holding tightly in his hand at that moment was a bag full of handwritten papers ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  manuscript of his own research for the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Arcade ProjectƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, another critique of modernism, a book later published after his death, as an unfinished collection of research material. He lost hope of escape and consumed a large amount of sleeping tablets and died. Second WW and its Holocaust is one more Eurocentric violence that was unleashed upon planetary humanity; another irrational myth of Eurocentric modernity. So what is good in Eurocentrism is the question, because Eurocentrism is meant to put down the European other.

But on the other hand, if there was anything good in the core principles of modernity, Eurocentrism denied even such principles to the rest of the non European humanity, and diverted all benefits of good side and evil side of modernity exclusively for the benefit of Europe. Finding itself in the midst of colonial enterprise, to address the core values of modern principles in relation to its colonial project, Europe had no other alternative than separating European ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”selfƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ from the European ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”OtherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to maintain their colonial rule, its brutality of exploitation, which was based on immoral principles that was complete opposite of the proclaimed principles of French revolution. To this writerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s knowledge, this is the exact point in which European subjectivity begins to seek some self-referential ideology for self-deception, a kind of theoretically ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”aridƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ desert sand region, where this swollen headed European ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-OstrichƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ can comfortably hide his head under the sand, while exposing its rear end still out in the air. So they looked for philosophizing themselves in relation to the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”OtherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to cover-up their crimes. This is the point where Hegel comes into rescuing Europe, by providing a philosophical camouflage to the Eurocentric ideology and its crimes, with the amalgamation of ideals of renaissance, enlightenment and German reformation and not to mention, French revolution.

As this writer stressed earlier, fundamental character of this Eurocentric ideology is, the positioning of Europe above the rest of the humanity. Exclusion of the rest of humanity to its exteriority, to the outside of the center. Philosophizing EuropeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s superiority, making the rest of humanity inferior to Europe, in order to justify its exploitative project of the peripheral world. Its continuation through education, through institutional diplomacy, financial institutions, development aid, politically and militarily.

What we need to do is not to throw away whole modern development whole sale. We canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t do it; but, to extract its true liberties out of Eurocentric trash for our benefit. Whole humanity has contributed for the modern development, including the blood of the first slave took across the Atlantic, including the unborn babies died in wombs of mothers who being slaughtered by British and Portuguese for their greed in Sri Lanka. It is not EuropeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sole property, third world peopleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s blood stained everywhere in modernity. We must liberate from mental slavery, taking off our Eurocentric cloak. There must be a way of liberation, always there is one. Summarizing his critic of modernity and proposing a new paradigm of development named ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Trans Modernity,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Enrique Dussel says,

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦This (trans-modern) position intends to recoup what is redeemable in modernity, and to halt the practices of domination and exclusion in the world system. It is a project of liberation of a periphery negated from the very beginning of modernity. The problem is not the mere superseding of instrumental reason (as it is for Habermas) or of the reason of terror of the post-moderns: (here his complain about post modernity is that of postmodern tendency to lead us to nihilism, and again its Eurocentric episteme) instead, it is a project of overcoming the world-system itself, Such as it has developed for past 500 years until today. The problem is the exhaustion of a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-civilizingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ system that has come to its end. The overcoming of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-cynical managerial reason (planetary administrative), of capitalism (as economic system), of liberalism (as political system), of Eurocentrism (as ideology), of machismo (in erotics, of the reign of the white race (in racism), of the destruction of nature (in ecology), and so on presupposes the liberation of divers types of the oppressed and or excluded. It is in this sense that the ethics of liberation defines itself as Tran-modern because the postmodern are still Eurocentric.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

Above information, I hope will provide the answer for the questions of Priyantha Abewickrama that had been posted in the part 2 of this article as well.

I would like to explain a little more about the post colonial individuality in relation to the apparatus in the regimes of lumpen ruling class of Colombo. This social perspective of the individual of post colonial Sri Lankan society becomes very important, because in a democracy, this individual is the one who select his political future ultimately, however fake it could be to a given situation.

Now let us see how the confusion between modernity and Eurocentrism occurs. This is the funniest part of colonial experience of us all. Usually this happens as we attempt to affiliate ourselves with the above said, glory of modernity. As we strive to pose ourselves as die-hard modern, we line up with Eurocentric ideals and traditions as much as to the scale we desired others to see us as modern sophisticated folks. So we begin to display our modern values from our fashions, speech, our world view, our familiarity with European/Anglo-American ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-things,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ it maybe, Clint Eastwood, Britney Spears, cricket, so on. We never stop there, we even make fun out of people who do not have any connection with the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-thinsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ we newly acquired with; we begin to laugh when someone make a slight mistake of pronouncing an English word. In movie theaters, we begin to laugh in chorus with others, although we donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t understand what really was funny in the scenario unfolded on the screen in English. We try hard to appear as if we also a part of presumed high culture of Europe. We try to familiarize with European customs, food, drinks, and jokes cultural symbols, yarns; say if we can not speak in English, at least we try to use English words in between Sinhala sentences. You can witness these tendencies even in remote villages in Sri Lanka.

There is another thing, In Sri Lankan context, the reason for the Colombo Anglophone class to consider them as a different and high bred community, and different from others, is mainly because of their assumed proximity to the white culture. The reason why they look down the rest of the people in village level is for their (villagerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s) distance from white customs. In the gaze of the Colombians, they are not civilized as they are. So when a village folk come into Colombo with the intention of going up in the professional ladder, due to free education, in most cases, he begins to affiliate himself with this class by trying to approve Colombo lumpen culture. He tries to get membership in colonial symbols, such as Colombo swimming club and golf club etc. Associating even with their political ideals and try to familiarize with those lineages, and also he will try to articulate such ideals loudly as if they are his own ones. (This writer has seen living testimonies of these examples, although this writer associated the peripheral Sri Lanka mostly, he was born raised and educated in Colombo, therefore he had this special opportunity to see the both sides.) Doing so, he always expects Colombians to accept him as one of their own eventually. At the beginning in this process, this village professionalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s, dream to get access to Colombian lumpen society, will make him to do anything even to get access even to the veranda of this society like a dog. That is the story of the feverish one who willingly embraces the lumpen culture.

However, there is another model, the resistant. But the instigation of various systems of power apparatus in this social condition, created in such a way, in which, the indigenous individual can no longer resist without embracing these existing tendencies. On the other hand resistance wouldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t do any good either, because the system in function already has a remedy for that. For the system, such resistance is also attributed to vulgarity, incivility, backwardness, summarizing this whole thing into one word in Sri Lankan society called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Godaya.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ And finally, for such resistance, will be remedied by marginalizing and exclusion. This is what we call ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”internal colonialism,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ which practiced the same apparatus of the by gone colonial master when he was colonizing the country. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The lumpen ruling class of Colombo uses this system to keep the rest under their control or to keep their social exclusivity separate from the rest of the society.

In this process, Colombian ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Other will surrender,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ as I said, the social atmosphere however will not be favorable for the resistant. When the social atmosphere is becoming incresingly unfavorable to the resisting one, the indigenous individual embarks on to exchange his true cultural identification with that of the symbolic identity of something alien to him. He makes up his mind to do that, because his existence in his real identification already being threatened. He has no option, because whose environment is taken over by this alien ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-thing.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ He feels being alienated in his own home. He doesnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t see any way-out. He surrenders. That is how the Eurocentric social apparatus that alienate the indigenous individual. As I said, the system was developed by the white colonial master. Applied it to rule us. Transferred the system to his favored successor at the independence, again this successor is also his own making.

Then this successor rule the country, in the same manner like his white master did, even further strengthening these Eurocentric structures. Reminding the opposite of the proverbial sayingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The donkey begins to do the dogƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s chore even trying to bark and pissing in the same style.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ This writer came to know about a Sri Lankan planter, who performed his planterƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s job exactly in the same way with even including raping of innocent girls in his estate like his white master did earlier. I wonder what he may have planted out there. Not only in Sri Lanka, had all former colonies suffered from this social issue in different variations.

So coming back to our track, as I said before, the confusion between modernity and Eurocentrism begins as we strive to pose ourselves as modern, so we line up ourselves with Eurocentrism as much as to the scale we desired others to see us as modern. What is really happening at this point? To this writerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s understanding, that is the exact location where this ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-individual personalityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ of the non European peripheral culture collapses, and the making of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”colonizedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ emerges, uprooted from his original inheritance, existentially misplaced clown appeared into being; the floating ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”nonbeingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of the void, who suffers from inferiority complex be nurtured. He is the beast, not born in the natural habitat of its own; but born in the laboratory of colonialism; the rat in the white lab; the three dimensional doodle in the hands of unskillful white craftsmen, the image of the scribbling of the uneducated red-neck, British planter; the living doodled cartoonish organism, holding a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Sunday ObserverƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ news paper, not as a source of information, but as a display sign of his class status affiliating him with the presumed hi-culture of white man appeared in the scene- like an exhibitionist taking pleasure of showing his ugly genital in the public. As Frantz Fanon said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-black soul is the artifact in the hands of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-fraudulentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ white man.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ In overall, colonized soul is a pathetic joke. (DonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t forget, not all white people are belonging to this category of this article; I have a lot of white friends do not have any relationship to this type. But I am only referring to the type that is fallen within our inspection, also think of the fact that, the most of the philosophical examples I have brought here are from white intellectuals.)

In our literature in Sri Lanka, this colonized individual characterized as self-deceptive hollowness of the middleclass mentality in our society. But this is only the symptom of the existential deviation of the colonized individual from his roots.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Actually he has no proper connection to any cultural background of his own; he is neither a white European nor a black/brown Asian. (Reed ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Black Skin White MaskƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Frantz Fanon)

I saw a news item of a Sri Lankan who is living in England, had refused to sell anything in his post office for foreign customers who cannot speak proper English. Reasoning his action, he had said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-If they canƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t speak English, I donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t sell anything to them.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ I laughed whole day that day even I got late to go to work.

It is pretty interesting to see how people think about themselves in relation to others. This is the position where this manƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s subjectivity attempts to make his fake identity a real one. He knows for sure that he is not white, he knows very well that English is not his language and also there are millions of Britishes to protect it; and also he knows that he will never receive full assimilation to the white culture just by acting like that as well, to say, he will never be considered by white people as one of them, however he tries to be an imaginary one in his Eurocentric fantasy. It has been his dream unrealizable.

But all of a sudden he sees another for him to exercise his cultivated whiteness temporarily. He sees himself in the white side, strangely standing by shoulder to shoulder with the white man, and makes his customer the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”otherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ who is behind in the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”white line,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in which he is relatively in the front, his subjectivity begins to change. He plays this role-play like we imitated our father and mother in our childhood dollhouse. He turns his post office into his dollhouse in his fantasy. In which he is the white man, the Pakistani customer (I think he was a Pakistani) is the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Other.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ He tries to measure himself in relation to the position of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”otherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ who cannot speak proper English. His action is the same to that of his white master applied against him, when his white master measured his position with the position of the European other, or as Hegel says, in relation to the slave; he realized his position in the high. He enlightens by the white current going through his brain.

The point is, that is the way he affiliates himself with white culture, because, to his Eurocentric belief, white culture considered to be the most advanced culture of all cultures, and the white being is the superior being of all beings. With this affiliation, he begins to think that his position in the civilizational ladder is much closer to the top position, in which the ultimate position is held by white man. The notion behind this mechanism is, to measure our social status by determining the proximity of ourselves with the white European culture.

For another example, imagine a scenario of a five star hotel restaurant in which the guest is less familiar with European dining manners than the waiter. In such situation if the waiter is more familiar with those customs, he begin to look down the guest. Because he begins to feel he is higher than the guest. DonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t forget, this is strictly a colonial situation.

Now, after discussing all these things, how can we believe that Eurocentrism has positive thing that can be compliment to our own culture? The actual damage of Eurocentrism is even worst. When it is actually located in the upper echelons of the bureaucracy and the political circles, it can bring greater damage than the enemies of the nation.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I hope to point out some examples of this aspect in later articles.

(To be continued)