{"id":66682,"date":"2017-06-06T22:37:29","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T04:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=66682"},"modified":"2017-06-06T15:21:14","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T22:21:14","slug":"the-nation-rises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/06\/06\/the-nation-rises\/","title":{"rendered":"The nation rises\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Calamity is responded to with horror.\u00a0 It produces grief and helplessness. It prompts anger and finger-pointing.\u00a0 The blame game is a constant undercurrent which gradually rises to the surface, often obliterating tragedy, the need to address post-tragedy relief and rehabilitation issues and the ultimate need to ensure there\u2019s no repetition.\u00a0 There\u2019s blame for flawed or absence of policies, for\u00a0 being unprepared, for being slow, for non-delivery etc., and a manifest non-acknowledgment of contribution.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen all this before.\u00a0 Calamities are painted by these things.\u00a0 And yet, they also bring out the best in human beings.\u00a0 This too we\u2019ve seen before.<\/p>\n

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It would be impossible to enumerate all efforts great and small to rescue people, and provide food, water, clothing, shelter, medicine and where necessary medical treatment.\u00a0 It would be impossible to name all the good people who, individually and collectively, did the little they could to help their fellow citizens.\u00a0 We can speak only of things generally.<\/div>\n
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First, let\u2019s leave the negatives aside. For now.\u00a0 People stood up.\u00a0 Regardless of where they were from, what their vocations were, preferred and ascribed identities, age, gender and so on.\u00a0 I can only speak of people I know personally or are known to me in social media or those involved in rescue and relief work whose contributions slipped into the forums I inhabit.\u00a0 In a word, inspiring. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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They were tireless.\u00a0 They were on the ground.\u00a0 They moved and they moved others to move.\u00a0 They used all communication technologies at their disposal and networks they were part of.\u00a0 They created new networks when such were required to deliver and to ensure the process was efficient.\u00a0 When things went wrong, they innovated.\u00a0 They used whatever information they had, verified whenever this was possible, warned people who were in danger and alerted people in a position to help.\u00a0 Naturally there were frayed tempers, there was frustration and disgust, but they did not allow themselves to be distracted too much by such things. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Naturally, too, one can say \u2018they could have done better\u2019.\u00a0 That goes without saying. They did and are still doing their best.\u00a0 Amidst the cheers, not forgetting the inevitable jeers, one must add. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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No one asked them to.\u00a0 No one demanded that they step in.\u00a0 Aggregate all that and among other things we get a thing called hope.\u00a0 Some may call it a resilient strain in the \u2018National DNA\u2019.\u00a0 This should not surprise because it is ingrained in the vast majority that they have to put aside all difference, past animosities, egos and such and rejoice at the\u00a0magula<\/i>\u00a0and be there at the\u00a0maranaya.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>Metaphorically of course. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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It is hard, as pointed out, to name them all, these national heroes who are not taking \u2018selfies\u2019 of heroics to advertise heroism.\u00a0 There are however some observations (again, of thousands of observations impossible to gather) that say something about the last few days. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Someone wrote and others shared the following: “\u0db8\u0db8” \u0dad\u0dda\u0db8\u0dcf\u0dc0 \u0d9a\u0dbb\u0d9c\u0dad\u0dca\u0dad \u0dc3\u0db8\u0dcf\u0da2\u0dba\u0dda……”\u0d85\u0db4\u0dd2” \u0dad\u0dda\u0db8\u0dcf\u0dc0 \u0d9a\u0dbb\u0d9c\u0dad\u0dca\u0dad \u0d8b\u0db1\u0dca \u0dad\u0db8\u0dba\u0dd2 \u0db8\u0dd2\u0db1\u0dd2\u0dc3\u0dca\u0dc3\u0dd4\u201d (Those who made \u2018us\u2019 the theme in a society that has \u2018I\u2019 as its theme\u2026they are the truly human\u201d). \u00a0 That\u2019s a quality that is deeply resident, I like to think.\u00a0 We call upon it in moments such as this and it always our call, every single time.\u00a0 Of course it would be presumptuous to say that it is a quality peculiar to Sri Lankans.\u00a0 It\u2019s just good, however, that it exists. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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There were more directly political observations.\u00a0 Jonathan Frank reflected on volunteerism and came up with some conclusions: 1. We don’t need a centralized, authoritarian state, 2. People can manage\/ govern their own affairs in their communities through mutual, collectivist association, 3. Given the circumstances the people triumphed and exemplified egalitarian principles [and therefore] an Anarchist\/Socialist society is possible, [so] don’t stop believing!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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I would say that\u2019s easy extrapolation but I will not say \u2018stop deluding yourself\u2019 for there\u2019s spirit there which, at least in times of calamity, makes a difference and in its aftermath prompts us to revisit and evaluate the structures of governance. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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What we can definitely observe is the energy and innovation that this country is endowed with.\u00a0 The citizens were able and more importantly, willing.\u00a0 We have no way of predicting when and where natural tragedy will strike, but here\u2019s an initiative based on the thinking that it is best to be ready.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Sudara Pathirana, Saranga Anjana Wijerathna, Dr Pathum Kemer and 24 others are thinking ahead (as perhaps we all should and should have after what happened a year ago!). They are starting a \u2018Rapid Deployment Unit\u2019.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the gist of the announcement posted by Sudara: \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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This is an initiative that anticipates future floods. This team will have doctors and ex-military guys. We have got a Kayak and some medical equipment already.\u00a0 Pathum Kerner will be the head of medical team and coordination will be done by Saranga and I. We need of your help to buy boats. We have got donations of about 2 lakhs through our friends and we need some more. Also we would like to have volunteers (prefer if you have been trained for disaster management or have experience, but not a must).\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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I am sure there are not the only bunch of young people who are thinking along these lines. \u00a0 They are thinking ahead, all of them.\u00a0 They are not only anticipating calamities but are operating on the assumption that whoever or whatever fails those in distress their fellow-citizens should not and will not.\u00a0 From there, it seems logical that they will go on to disaster mitigation.\u00a0 Of course there\u2019s very little you can do with a few hundred thousand rupees and two or three dozens of volunteers.\u00a0 However, if we\u2019ve learned anything from the past few days it is that people come together fast and collectives grow in numbers. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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There\u2019s, then, a state of citizens that is in the making.\u00a0 They are not calling for insurrection, but what they\u2019ve done so far shows that they can resurrect a system that is clearly showing signs of collapse or rather, replace it with something that actually works.\u00a0 Sooner or later they will encounter the illicit timber feller and all relevant accomplices.\u00a0 They will confront legislation and institutions that stand in the way.\u00a0 They may encounter the perverse ways of a mode of development and how certain state actors who are comrades in arms in rescue and relief operations are then called upon to defend these destructive institutional, legal and political structures processes.\u00a0 They will be tested, this generation that has carried the nation over the past few days. \u00a0 They have generated a lot of hope.\u00a0 Let\u2019s hope they will prevail. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer.\u00a0 Email:\u00a0<\/i>malindasenevi@gmail.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>. <\/i>\u00a0Twitter: malindasene<\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE Calamity is responded to with horror.\u00a0 It produces grief and helplessness. It prompts anger and finger-pointing.\u00a0 The blame game is a constant undercurrent which gradually rises to the surface, often obliterating tragedy, the need to address post-tragedy relief and rehabilitation issues and the ultimate need to ensure there\u2019s no repetition.\u00a0 There\u2019s blame […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-malinda-seneviratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}