not being a civilized nation

8/3/2019 Not Being a Civilized Nation

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NOT...


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Not being a civilized nation, we pretend to be one. This pretence is a greater

offence than being uncivilized.

We are not a civilized nation. But before we become civilized again, it is very

important that the pretence should go. Let the mask of respectability come off.

Until then we will not know who we are...

We are sinking back to a more familiar, more realistic and more pragmatic form

of governance, eliminating in some ways the unnecessary clash between written

ideals and absolutes and a reality with far too many rough edges to fit back into

the Westminster model.

In effect, the revolution of 1956 has run its course, jathika chinthanaya has run

its course and triumphed over a backboneless and rootless Colombo elite.

There is a total sell out on the economic front and there is no social vision

whatsoever. The only change is that the entire constitutional order has reverted

to a feudal (a polite word for mafia style criminality) and also regional (a more

legitimate form of belonging) with the army cum private security and a pseudo

sasana being the new de facto centralizing features of a new constitutional order

in which the President etc can do no wrong. I have also played my part (in this

and former lives) in bringing this about and I will work to change this.

For the great beast that rules this

uncivilized land it is useful to have people

going around in their professional garbs

and speaking the professional talk. It does

not matter that this is sometimes against

the great beast. What is important is

maintaining pretence of decency, of culture

and of learning.


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Without a measure of equality sovereignty is just a fiction that enables the

powerful and the rich to control the powerless and the poor.

To support this fiction there are other concepts like democracy, rule of law,

human rights, independence of the judiciary and public service.

All these concepts pre-suppose organic growth. In Sri Lanka they were top

down impositions of a colonizer turned lawgiver implemented by a loyal English

Educated Elite class. As such these concepts are a creation and creature of the

elite; a justification of a fundamentally unjust, unequal and divided social order

that is sought to be maintained through the mystic of these grand symbols.

Once the deception and symbolism fails the Government must revert to gross

coercion to enforce its will. What is lacking is the true consent of the people to be

governed in this way. They were in chains when this new for of governance was

being established.

As Tagore reminded India in 1919, we must learn to face facts, understand our

own limited capacity and start small.

When the National Council of Education was being founded in Bengal, I asked one of its

enthusiastic workers whether he really believed that the great spreading tree of a

university could come into being, with root and branch and foliage all complete, in a day.

His reply was that if not, it would not succeed in capturing the imagination of the

country; so that the complete thing must be held forth from the beginning. Well it was

duly held forth, the imagination of the country was captured, money flowed in, and

nothing seemed to be wanting except just one causal factor the truth the truth which

never disdains small beginning, which is never ashamed to carry its immense future in a

tiny frail package. And the imitation tree, after vainly trying to prove its fruitfulness, has


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shrunk and shriveled to such fragile precariousness that it does not have material

enough to deceive even itself.1

We need organic growth of relative freedom without being confused and

confounded by institutional lies. Scarce water must be directed to nourish the

roots without being wasted on branches, leaves, fruits and flowers. Our social

reality had defeated all noble intentions put on paper, in constitutions and laws.

We need to return to that reality with a vision of interpersonal and social justice.

Without it we will be praying vainly to that impassive lady of justice and the

empty rhetoric of impersonal and legal justice we have clothed her with.

1 Tagore, Rabindranath (1919) from the first lecture delivered in English in India inMadras on February 9, 1919. The Centre of Indian Culture Rupa New Delhi (2003) p 13.


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This flawed system has been essentially the product of a culture of imitation and

keeping up with the joneses by a middle class that sought to be part of the club

of civilized nations.

In the process the need for organic growth was completely overlooked. Today

the concepts are scattered here and there like artificial flowers, sans roots and

sans life.

I am NOT sajeeva samaranayake.

not being a civilized nation

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