Palitha Senanayake
Recently there has been considerable criticism, in printed as well as
in the social media, of Sri Lanka’s increase ‘dependence’ on the Chinese state,
and this criticism identifies this dependence with the current Rajapakse
regime. The criticism, moreover, appears
to suggest that there is some danger in this dependence vis a vis the country’s
sovereignty and independence.
In this respect it is important to ponder whether
Sri Lanka, as a country, has been truly independent for the past 73 years of
its existence since it was granted ‘independence’ by its colonizers’, the
British, after 145 year imperial subjection.
By the time the British left after all those years, this country had an
elite ring of people who were English educated/ trained and hence always acted
in the way the empire would approve. The world order at that time, being the
post- World War 11 scenario, was inclined in that direction as the WW11 victors
appointed themselves to be the arbiters of world way-forward. The deleterious effect of all that was not just
the emulation of the West, but the servile mentality our rulers inherited. As a
result they were subliminally accustomed to a state where they just could not
see beyond ‘what the Englishman would show you’.
Hence we continued with the same economic
and social values and the changes that took place since then were more in the
form of ‘inevitables’ than in the form of pre- planed. To start with, the
democratic system of governance that was thrust upon us would not have been the
most appropriate governing system given the fact that the country’s literacy
rate at the point of independence was a mere 6 % and its standard of living was
hardly at the barest of necessities. Under the democratic form of governance the
people are the rulers and you could just imagine the wisdom and providence of a
ruler who is only 6 % literate and whose basics needs of life were hardly
fulfilled.
The
fact is that the new nation bequeathed a human stock that had been neglected
for centuries with a life expectancy of only 45 years, per capita income
of 1.5 $ and a literacy rate of a mere 6 % . Thus the post independent democratic
governments had little choice but to give in to the nation’s democratic dictate
to raise the level of the human stock by investing heavily on health and
education. We changed governments, one
after the other, expecting more from the government that succeeded. Lee Kwan
Yew the architect of Singapore’s resurgence
has maintained many a times that, ‘I meet my commonwealth colleagues
every other year at the Commonwealth convention and they complain of their woes
in nation building; democracy has only brought regression and not progression
to them’ . He further maintains that when a country’s people are not educated
and when their basic needs of life are not met, democracy is the last form of
government they should have. The Governor of a country, be it a Sheik or a
King should carry on for at least for 20 years and instead when you have governments
elected for a limited period it is inevitable that such governments will turn
out to be ‘time servers”.
We complain of corruption by politicians
but corruption is a part and parcel of democratic politics. Today an MP needs
Rs. 20 million to do an election and how do we expect him to make that Rs. 20
million every 5 years? Central bank heist was not for a personal aggrandizement
and the funds were needed to do the 2015 UNP election campaign. In America the
presidential campaigns run on corporate finance and as a result today every US
government is elected by the country’s 2 % rich. Agendas of these corporations does not stop
there as the most profitable businesses to day are the arms manufacture and the
manufacture of pharmaceuticals. The
first make money by planting wars and the second by planting decease.
John Perkings is an Economic Hit Man (EHM)
who worked for the World Bank. He has authored a book titled the ‘Confessions
of an Economic Hit man’ and the US government prevented his book from
publishing it for 20 years. It is an interesting episode of how WB consultants
defraud developing countries for billions of dollars in the guise of
‘development finance’ and the final benefactors of such activity are the US
corporations. ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit
man’ details how these operations against smaller nations are carried out with
the sanctions of the Central intelligence Agency of the US. Economic hit men (EHMs)
are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of
trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid”
organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few
wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include
fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, pay offs, extortion, sex, and
murder.
Apart from this confessions, evidence is omnipresent
all over the world with ‘liberation wars’, alleged ‘human rights violations’, ‘Arab
springs,’ ‘export of democracy’ etc. that are disguised to enable the World
Super powers to maintaining the post WW11 status quo. These are modus operands
to ensure that they will always rule the world. The solutions they advocate to
world issues are carefully crafted to ensure that the problems remain permanent
so that their corporations could thrive.
Palestine is only a single case in point and today thousands of women
and children are dying and the perpetrator of that war is backed by US and
Britain. Britain’s economy today is
behind that of its colonial subject India, but thanks to the war in Yemen,
British economy leaped frogged this year. Current state of the world, with so
many man made wars, deceases and hunger is not a state that will reflect well
on its super powers. The Super powers, while they govern their countries with
humane and equitable laws, advocate the ‘laws of the jungle’ for world issues.
That is the reason that why Bill Clinton was almost impeached for having an
illicit affair with a white- house intern, while George Bush who killed
millions in Iraq, on triumphed up WMD charges, was not even considered as
impeachable material.
Take
the case of what Sri Lanka is made to face for vanquishing terrorism that
haunted it for 35 years. On March 23rd in 2021, the UNHRC adopted
Resolution, A/HRC/46/L.1 on Sri Lanka at its 46th session. The resolution was
presented by the United Kingdom sponsored by a core group of Western countries.
The real motive of this resolution is to prevent Sri Lanka from clearing the
shackles of the previous resolution 30/A brought against Sri Lanka in 2015 by
the United States for alleged ‘Human rights violations’, by the SL forces at
the last stages of its war against the LTTE. Lord Naseby has produced very
clear evidence to prove that these allegations are not consistent with the
ground reports of US and British military attaches who were in the thick of
these happenings and also contrary to the census surveys carried out, post war.
The most cynical nature of these allegations is that these two super powers who
express so much concern about the HR violations in Sri Lanka today had no heart
to express their concern in anyway while Sri Lankan people suffered at the
hands of this most ruthless and organized terror outfit in the world causing
the deaths of 80,000 civilians over a period of 35 years. Whenever they were
confronted with this problem they advocated ‘talks’ as the only way out and
finally all the talks successive SL Governments held elevated the LTTE to a
diplomatic status as liberations fighters in the eyes of the west. The irony
however was that the parties who called LTTE, the ‘liberation fighters’ are the
same parties that called Nelson Mandela
a ‘terrorist’ for 40 years.
It
should be clear to all, except of course to those who are naïve and so servile
to the west, that these resolutions on HR violations are now being brought with
the sinister idea of rekindling a problem that has been finally brought to an
end. This is because the western propaganda industry and the west’s arms
manufacturing corporations thrive at the misery of third world countries.
On
the other hand china and Russia helped us to overcome terrorism in this country.
Apart from the physical support they rendered, the position of Sri Lanka in
international forums, if not for China and Russia, could well be imagined. Terrorism
is not just about people being killed and maimed, but it is the uncertainty of
life and the stagnation in development that terrorism accompanies that has plagued
this country. And 35 years is just half the life time of the Sri Lankan nation.
Sri
Lanka is a small country, and in a world scenario where imperial powers are at
each other’s throat for world hegemony, it is difficult to envisage a situation
where small countries could remain 100 % independent. Things in this world continue
to change and according to Buddhism that is the only universal phenomenon that
is permanent. Thus, things will continue
to change and in that this country’s language, culture and even religion will
not be an exception. Thus, in this changing scenario, wise people will change
things for the better while stupid will remain bigoted and servile.
In
the modern world scenario, imperialist, in their quest for hegemony use propaganda
as the forerunner in their invasions. Thus, those who control the news control
the world opinion. This is how they prevent people from having independent
thoughts, based on truth and facts.
Therefore today if you do not read the news; you are uninformed, but if
you read the news; you are misinformed. If you are uninformed you have no
opinion, but if you are misinformed you have the wrong opinion. In the final
analysis, it is better to have no opinion than to have the wrong opinion.
Servile
mentality not only prevents you from seeing beyond your master but also
perceives even those who try to liberate you, as your enemies.
