{"id":73858,"date":"2018-01-18T08:43:04","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T15:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=73858"},"modified":"2018-01-18T08:43:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T15:43:04","slug":"that-curious-creature-called-civil-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/01\/18\/that-curious-creature-called-civil-society\/","title":{"rendered":"That curious creature called \u2018civil society\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
\u00a0Words are easy for politicians and in politics.\u00a0\u00a0Take \u2018the people\u2019 for example.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s hard to think of a term that has been as abused.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all \u2018in the name of the people\u2019 isn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0There are of course other useful (and cheap) words in the lexicon of politics.\u00a0\u00a0\u2018The nation\u2019 has a lot of utility value, for example and has been used and abused all over the world and across history.\u00a0\u00a0And then, there is \u2018civil society\u2019.<\/div>\n
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Civil society is defined as the aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens” and includes the family and the private sphere, referred to as the “third sector” of society, distinct from government and business.\u201d\u00a0 It is supposed to refer to a community of citizens linked by common interests and collective activity\u201d and as such implies all manner of collectives, regardless of size.\u00a0 However in usage it is the exaggeration of this definition that dominates.\u00a0 It\u2019s useful, this exaggeration, for political purposes.\u00a0 In usage, it would (like to) count every single citizen who is not a politician or a business owner.\u00a0 Perhaps this is why those who call themselves representatives of civil society see \u2018civil society\u2019 as an alternative to states and governments.<\/span><\/div>\n
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What really is civil society in Sri Lanka?\u00a0 How representative are those who claim to speak on behalf of those whose memberships are assumed but not necessarily \u2018membered\u2019 in the term?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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These are not questions that the self-appointed \u2018reps of civil-soc\u2019 (RCS) will like to answer. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Let\u2019s consider a few examples.\u00a0 In the early years of the new millennium there was a protest at Lipton\u2019s Circus.\u00a0 It was a \u2018peace demonstration\u2019 or rather a demonstration for peace, meaning agitation to put a stop to military activity.\u00a0 Most of the key voices in that collective were and still are ardent advocates of federalism, some on occasion endorsing moves to confer parity of status to the LTTE vis-a-vis the Government of Sri Lanka.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what is important here. What\u2019s interesting is that it was a demonstration by \u2018100 women\u2019s organizations\u2019.\u00a0 What\u2019s telling is that less than 100 turned up! \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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In 2006 February, another captain of this interesting industry was asked on the sidelines of talks between the then government and the LTTE in Celigny, Switzerland, how many people he could bring to a demonstration if he didn\u2019t receive funds from donor agencies.\u00a0 He was honest.\u00a0 None, he said. Membership, even temporary membership, has a price tag then\u00a0 Not too different to the rice packet, alcohol and a few hundred bucks plus transport that are spent to purchase support for the two major parties in the country, one observes. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Civil society, however, assumes the kind of purity (of purpose and practice) that politicians dare not demand or, as of late, would not bother claiming.\u00a0 On the one hand, politicians seek and obtain votes.\u00a0 They are up for election.\u00a0 They are up for rejection.\u00a0 Even if one considers the fact that only those with money or are supported by the moneyed can reasonably expect to win, there is some rudimentary representational claim that they can make.\u00a0 The lords and ladies of civil society don\u2019t have even that!<\/span><\/div>\n
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What\u2019s civil society?\u00a0 Ask those who are counted in as members but have never met the lords and ladies who claim to represent them.\u00a0 Ask them their names.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t have a clue.\u00a0 \u2018Civil society\u2019 is the \u2018other\u2019 of what they are not.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Some are lords, some ladies and some are wannabe lords and wannabe ladies.\u00a0 Some genuinely think they are the subaltern they like to believe the entire enterprise is, but even among them only a handful would not be getting paid at the end of the day. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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The lords and ladies, then, make pronouncements on behalf of a largely non-existent membership.\u00a0 They attach themselves (typically) to political formations that are for the most part admiring of the West, it\u2019s dominant paradigms of development, it\u2019s preferred economic policy regimes and the narratives of history and progress it prefers.\u00a0 In the name of the people, mind you.\u00a0 In the best interest of the nation, remember. Don\u2019t be fooled, tell yourself. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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People talk of majorities as though they are pickpockets or worse.\u00a0 People talk of majoritarianism as though it is a cuss word.\u00a0 Haven\u2019t heard of minoritarianism being used anywhere, even though minorities of the ethnic kind have unleashed violence and caused destruction throughout history.\u00a0 No?\u00a0 Well, research \u2018English\u2019, \u2018Portuguese\u2019 and \u2018Dutch\u2019 histories in Sri Lanka, not to mention Dravidian hordes, Tamil-speaking and otherwise, who\u2019ve adventured here.\u00a0 Well, forget all that \u2014 think of the Europeans who \u2018discovered\u2019 a new (sic) world across the Atlantic. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Krisantha Sri Bhaggiyadatta wrote a book titled \u2018The only minority is the bourgeoisie\u2019 way back in 1985.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember if it was in this collection but he had a pithy line in one of his books, perhaps, \u2018The 52nd state of amnesia\u2019: \u2018when they say you are a visible minority, it means you\u2019re a sitting duck!\u2019\u00a0 Well, the bourgeoisie is not the only minority.\u00a0 It is a minority that is visible and perhaps so powerful that its minority status misses the eye.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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The bourgeoisie is a silent, pernicious and destructive minority.\u00a0 \u2018Civil society\u2019 can\u2019t hold a candle to the bourgeoisie of course but it is still pernicious.\u00a0 Not invisible in the bandying of terms, but made visible by the fact of that which it invisibles, if one were to use the term, namely the non-existent membership in whose name it operates.\u00a0 Pernicious is an apt descriptive.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Consider who civil society backed to the hilt over the past 30 years.\u00a0 Among politicians, they were behind Chandrika Kumaratunga.\u00a0 They were, rather reluctantly forced to back Sarath Fonseka in 2010, a man they had previously vilified since he was on the \u2018other side\u2019 of their preferred victor in the war, namely the LTTE.\u00a0 They were less reluctant in their support of Maithripala Sirisena of course, but today while some of them mutter dismay over pronouncements made by the President, they treat the Prime Minister as a holy cow.\u00a0 If the election of Kumaratunga was a victory for the progressives, then yes they played a role, albeit a role smaller than claims.\u00a0 So too with the victory of January 8, 2015.\u00a0 Both Kumaratunga and Sirisena have proven that celebration was early and unwarranted.\u00a0 Civil society, anyway, is supposed to go beyond personalities and parties. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Let\u2019s conclude. If we talk of minorities or sections of minorities that are as bad or worse as chauvinistic majorities, ethnically speaking Sri Lanka has wholesome minorities.\u00a0 Compared to that peculiar minority called \u2018civil society\u2019.\u00a0 The kind we\u2019ve discussed above.\u00a0 Just to clear confusion, if you talk of the collective of\u00a0maranaadhaara samithi\u00a0<\/i>(death-donation societies) or thrift and credit cooperatives or Sarvodaya societies, they are far more numerous, do much more in real terms to uplift communities and get a lot more done.\u00a0 They too are legitimately part of \u2018civil society\u2019.\u00a0 And, if we talk membership that is known, understood, acknowledged and evident in practice, they are a majority that outnumbers many times over the collective assumed to be represented by the lords and ladies of civil society. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Civil society.\u00a0 It needs to be unpacked, clearly.\u00a0 If done comprehensively perhaps a true civil society might emerge and a far more useful one too.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer.\u00a0 Email:\u00a0<\/i>malindasene@gmail.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0Twitter: malindasene.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE \u00a0Words are easy for politicians and in politics.\u00a0\u00a0Take \u2018the people\u2019 for example.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s hard to think of a term that has been as abused.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all \u2018in the name of the people\u2019 isn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0There are of course other useful (and cheap) words in the lexicon of politics.\u00a0\u00a0\u2018The nation\u2019 has a lot of utility value, […]<\/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-73858","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\/73858","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=73858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}