The Trumpeting of racism
Posted on November 19th, 2016
Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy Island
November 18, 2016, 7:06 pm
Before you take on the next Trump story drink a glass of water, and feel pleased that the price of water will not be raisedfrom December 1st. A hike in the price of water in Sri Lana is something the Trump victory could not do.
It looks like Sri Lanka is gladly stepping into the Age of Trump. He is the new nationalist for Sri Lanka to follow, bringing the message of power to the majority, at a time of what many see as deadly uncertainty, with a new constitution in the making, and words like devolution and federalism threatening the smooth lives of the national thinking clas
Letters to the Editor, features -on politics, foreign policy and international relations, and commentators on TV, are full of the stuff of Trump; the stuff that promises a glorious future for Sri Lanka, without having to bother about the minorities, whoever they may be. Playing the Trump card will soon be the assurance of success for politicians, thinking of new strategies on breaking away from Yahapaalanaya, without telling anyone they are moving to the ranks of the Rajapaksas
Mahinda Rajapaksa was possibly the first in Sri Lanka, and even South Asia, to send a message of congratulations to Donald Trump on his success in the US polls. He recalled the Republican help in declaring the LTTE as terrorists, before Obama came with all his stuff about human rights and the promotion of UNHCR resolutions against Sri Lanka. He may also have recalled the false statement Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, made at the UN Security Council about rape by Sri Lankan troops, and the donations she got from the pro-LTTE ‘Tamils for Clinton”, in her 2008 campaign against Barack Obama
So Trump is the Man of the Moment and also the Man of the Future. He is the hope of those who believe in majoritarian power; the ready response to those who keep talking of reconciliation and understanding, of wholly unnecessary things like missing persons, and anything about war crimes. Let’s not forget that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Hussein, who has been talking so much about hybrid courts and other issues here, did openly oppose Donald Trump’s campaign for election. Seeing the new liberating role of Trump to make America (White) Great Again, is also telling what we should think of Zeid Ra’ad Hussein, and the trends in the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Watch out UNHCR – we will soon be ready to take you on – because Donald Trump will be with us!
Although Trump did not win the actual majority vote in the US elections, the fact that he won, and how he won is what matters. His message went to the “American” majority…the White majority, outside the large cities, in the urban and rural areas of the US, largely those without degrees. That is the comparison of success, which can be repeated in Sri Lanka, when the time comes to change the tune of yahapaalanaya; not having to talk about corruption that remains a huge problem for all sides today.
There is great glory to be seen by these nationalist thinkers in the “Whites Only” graffiti scrawled on an Episcopalian church in Silver Spring, and other doors in Maryland; and swastikas drawn in school bathrooms elsewhere. There is much to be learnt from those anti-Trump demonstrators in their thousands carrying placards that say #Not My President, after a hate filled election. It may not be very much related to us, but the schoolboys in California, who chanted “Build a Wall”, and the words “Heil Trump” outside another church, must be inspiring stuff for those who see Donald Trump and his political trumpet as the answer to the problems faced by the majority Sinhala Buddhists of Sri Lanka; when a new constitution threatens to change the history of this land and its people.
Isn’t it strange that a white, Ecumenical Christian, who was appealing to the white American Christians, of suburban and rural America, faced with huge economic problems due to neo-liberalism and Globalization through decades, gives a message of liberation to the majority Sinhala Buddhists of this country? Such is the stuff of politics and “nationalism”, as it grows within a community and not a nation. The shouts in North Carolina that “Black Lives Don’t Matter” would be a magnet for the majority strategists here. The American Confederate Flag, which is no more the US National Flag, which fluttered in some parts of protesting America, is a good reminder for those interested here to carry the Sinhala Flag with pride, without its supposed distortion by stripes for the minorities.
The Trump Sinhala nationalists may also like to know that November 9, when Donald Trump won the US presidency, was the anniversary of “Kristallnacht” (Crystal Night) – that night in November 9, 1938, when the Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses, killed 100 Jews, and saw the real rise of majority German Nazism in that country. It will be the new “Trumpnacht” that will inspire all majoritarian nationalists.
Keeping in touch with the Trump style of using tweets for effective communication in his campaign, we had an interesting tweet here, from Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who said that Trump’s victory meant the common citizens were fed up with career politicians. The full tweet was: “One of the reasons Donald Trump won was because people are sick of career politicians delivering rhetoric instead of results. This is a lesson for Sri Lanka to consider.” Coming from a man who is formally not a politician, this tells a big story of the place of politicians in our country, present and past. This lesson would be of much value to the Yahapalana leaders, and also his brother – Mahinda, who has a pretty long history as a career politician, seeking a new birth in his political life cycle. Will this lesson be learnt by him and those who see in him the undefeated leader of the majority, with all hopes for the future? Will he be the Trump of the majority that plays down all others?
We will have to see how the Trump trumpet keeps blowing in the years ahead.
November 19th, 2016 at 4:56 am
Dear Lucien
I am sure you are happy now that there are 5 US Indian vermin in the US Congress, all Democrats.
November 19th, 2016 at 7:19 am
Lucien Rajakarunanayake, first of all what you call racism Sinhala Buddhists call indigenous people’s rights or ‘first people’s’ rights. We are the indigenous people of this island and we should have what is called ‘first peoples’ rights which is even practised in the West i.e. the first peoples such as the Inuits of Canada, the Native Americans of the US, the Maoris of New Zealand, the Aborigines of Australia, all these are ‘first peoples’. The Malays and the Orang Asli of Malaysia are also ‘first peoples’ of Malaysia. The Polynesian Fijians are the first peoples of Fiji etc. Therefore there is no harm whatsoever of the first peoples ‘the Sinhala’ of Sri Lanka being provided the same rights as the ‘first peoples’ everywhere else. The Sinhala people should formally ask UNESO to recognise the Sinhala as the ‘first peoples’ of Sri Lanka.
The real minority are the Sinhala people as compared to over 100 million Tamil people worldwide while there are only around 15 million or so Sinhala people in this world. Sinhala is a minority people’s language. Buddhism is a minority religion since adherents worldwide are far less than the other major religions.
the Polynesian Fijians are were the majority of Fiji and are the native Fijians although here are Fijians of Indian origin. The Malays and the Orang Asli are the native peoples of Malaysia although there are Malaysians of Indian and Chinese origin too.
Lucien Rajakarunanayake should stop relying on those thousands of US dollars provided by those foreign funded NGOs and think independently and stop betraying Sri Lanka for thousands of US dollars at least now.
November 19th, 2016 at 7:27 am
Lucien Rajakarunanayake, first of all what you call racism Sinhala Buddhists call indigenous people’s rights or ‘first people’s’ rights. We are the indigenous people of this island and we should have what is called ‘first peoples’ rights which is even practised in the West i.e. the first peoples such as the Inuits of Canada, the Native Americans of the US, the Maoris of New Zealand, the Aborigines of Australia, all these are ‘first peoples’. The Malays and the Orang Asli of Malaysia are also ‘first peoples’ of Malaysia. The Polynesian Fijians are the first peoples of Fiji etc. Therefore there is no harm whatsoever of the first peoples ‘the Sinhala’ of Sri Lanka being provided the same rights as the ‘first peoples’ everywhere else. The Sinhala people should formally ask UNESCO to recognise the Sinhala as the ‘first peoples’ of Sri Lanka.
The real minority are the Sinhala people as compared to over 100 million Tamil people worldwide while there are only around 15 million or so Sinhala people in this world. Sinhala is a minority people’s language. Buddhism is a minority religion since adherents worldwide are far less than the other major religions.
the Polynesian Fijians are were the majority of Fiji and are the native Fijians although here are Fijians of Indian origin. The Malays and the Orang Asli are the native peoples of Malaysia although there are Malaysians of Indian and Chinese origin too.
Lucien Rajakarunanayake should stop relying on those thousands of US dollars provided by those foreign funded NGOs and think independently and stop betraying Sri Lanka for thousands of US dollars at least now.
November 19th, 2016 at 8:14 am
Who is this guy Luecen or whatever. There are no Trump Nationalist in Sri lanka. You must be Yahapalanaya henchman. You should have your shoe in your mouth.
November 19th, 2016 at 6:10 pm
Sri Lanka Army was trained by the US under Pres Obama’s watch, with the MR govt in power.
The LTTE arms ships in the Indian Ocean were located by the US under Pres O’s watch, with the MR govt in power.
November 20th, 2016 at 12:02 am
Hi Folks:
Indian colonial parasites, Indian vermin and Indians put together is the most powerful, rich and wide spread in the world. No other group of people can claim so. The Indian Empire where sun never sets from Fiji to Guyana, From East to West and North to South of the Globe.
Their weapon is nonviolent aggression and oppression and has been and is continue to be used against their subjects.
November 20th, 2016 at 3:30 pm
This author, Lucien Rajakarunanayake seems to be one of those minority agenda affiliated Sri Lankan writers who equate suppression of the rights of majority communities of nations by minority elites with excellence in the exercise of democracy!
NOTHING could be further from the TRUTH!
There is no recognition that various minorities who use new media communication tools, and brainwashed puppet politicians pandering to their block votes, have undermined and dispossed the vast majority of the middle class citizens of many countries of their inalienable rights.
Among those disappearing rights are the right to determine and enforce the immigration laws of the country, the right to demand and enforce that their country serves their needs first, and to ban all special rights accorded to those who flout the basic rule that no one should have rights unavailable to other citizens.
This disaffection was at the heart of the TRUMP Revolution, not RACISM as Lucien would like to term it, in pursuit of his own Christian minority agenda to demonize this Trump’s Revolution and deny it’s benefits to the long suffering majority of Sri Lanka’s people as well.
A REVOLUTION is coming in Sri Lanka that will follow in the footsteps of the Trump Revolution to RESTORE the rights of the MAJORITY of Sri Lanka’s people, irrespective of what professional apologists for minority rule in Sri Lanka may trumpet!
NOTHING can prevent it!
November 20th, 2016 at 6:31 pm
In that case, how about Russia, Japan, Germany and India?
They are also ruled by ultra nationalists that fit the description of racism. All in all, 7 of the world’s largest economies are today governed (or heavily influenced) by ultra nationalists. They all cannot be wrong at the same time.