For Peace Talks
Guy in center was supposed to be Indians, but could be anybody
War brings out the worst in people. You get absolute hate in the comments, and blind repugnance from other bloggers. If you criticize the LTTE you get called racist, if you criticize the government you’re a traitor, and if you speak up at all you’re an elitist who cannot possibly understand. I usually try to ignore the hate, but there’s one point that I think is worth addressing. I would much rather be writing about girls or traffic, but I think it is important to talk about the issues here. In fact, I think discussion of the ethnic conflict is even more important than lining up to fight. This is a democratic society with corrupt and biased media and ‘citizen journalism’ is extremely valuable. Whether you’re rich, poor, foreign, JVP, JHU, LTTE, UNP, IRA, HSBC or whatever, it is important to speak your mind. As long as we’re talking we’re not killing each other, and that’s a good thing.
I dunno what this is meant to be, I guess it’s something for myself to orient myself with the flood of different stuff on Kottu. The main stream media is biased, and I’m used to that, but so is the stuff online. You get people who are knee-jerk anti-army, anti-NGO, anti-LTTE or whatever. I actually don’t read those sites at all, because if you read them once you’ve read them 100 times. There’s no particular nuance, it’s just the same hate sprayed in the same direction every post. If you disagree then they’ll get nasty with you, so I never really learn anything new.
In fact the coverage is often so shrill that the only political sites I read are DBS Jeyaraj and Moju. I also read the comment and posts from people like Electra who aren’t so jobless as to repeat themselves or leave 18 comments on one thread ranting on the same point. But that’s me. As annoying as a lot of commentary is, it is still important, and there is one set of posts which I find more repugnant.
There is one school of thought which simply says ‘Join the Army’. There is an idea that you’re not qualified to talk about the war unless you’re a soldier or cadre. This is wrong on many levels. For one thing, you don’t want your soldiers questioning or even discussing policy on the job. A soldier’s job is to follow orders. To quote Jack Nicholson, if they don’t follow orders they die. A soldier is the blind arm of the state or organization he serves, and it is not his job to do the thinking. After they retire or move up into executive positions they can and do, but the average grunt is derelict in their duty if they engage in the kind of analysis that happens on and offline. They simply don’t have that luxury.
It is, however, the oft neglected duty of Sri Lankan citizens to speak out and participate in our messy democracy. As Child of 25 said in a comment,
Is it not our responsibility as citizens of (an albeit flawed) democracy to air our views and look critically (constructively as well) at the views of others? Or would it be better to stick our heads in the sand and ignore it all simply because we are not on the front lines?
This war as much as any other affects people in every slice of life. For example, I turn the corner past the army base as much as anybody, though usually later at night. Whether we like it or not, everyone in this country is involved in this war because we are fighting terrorists that don’t distinguish between civilians and military. On the other end, Sri Lankan civilians in the North and East are the ones that get their houses destroyed by bombs and lives disrupted by checkpoints. Whether we like it or not, everyone is involved in this war and we all have plenty of experience to comment on.
So, you don’t have to join the Army to comment on the war. You don’t even have to be in Sri Lanka. Pen is mightier than the sword, et cetera. If you simply go out and join the Army or LTTE then you’ll have politicians or tyrants making decisions for you. I don’t know about the LTTE, but the Sri Lankan Army ostensibly serves me, a Sri Lankan citizen, so I’m well in line discussing what I want them to do. Especially with all the shrill extremists out there, it’s more important than ever that moderates and normal people affected by the war speak out. For one, we represent Sri Lankan (in a small way) internationally, and for two, it’s our country. Of course you have a right to speak, and no you don’t have to kill to have an opinion.
I want to visit my friend in China before he comes back. Free place to crash and all. So, I applied for a visa to China, from Colombo. I’m not sure I’ll get it, but this is process to at least apply. For official but incomplete info, check out the 
The Mahavamsa (a history of Sri Lanka) is full of conflicts between generals and kings. Usually, the more bloodthirsty and unscrupulous would win. Our current (elected) ruler Mahinda Rajapaksa has had his own general conflicts, namely with one Sarath Fonseka. In the old days Fonseka would have staged a coup, as in literally try to cut of Mahinda’s head, and Mahinda would – if that failed – tie him to four elephants and split his parts asunder. Can’t do that shit anymore. Instead Fonseka ran for office and lost and Mahinda tossed him in jail.
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
But don’t you think it’s a shame that all these intelligent Sri Lankans, who write, or talk, or blog, or comment, don’t actually do anything to take control of the country?
When this many intelligent people allow rogues, fools, and/or wusses to run the affairs of the country, I don’t think it’s right for them to whine about how things could be better. Everyone has the answers – so why aren’t they making an effort to change things?
This country is going down the toilet because the genuine and/or honest and/or educated and/or wise people are letting it go down the toilet.
All of us are guilty of political apathy. That’s why my attitude is don’t talk. Do something, or shut up.
Talk is ‘doing something’. My limited experience with politics, business and life is that it is 99% communication. Right now I’m sitting in office and I spend most of the day sending emails and making phone calls, and it’s all worthwhile. The Cease-Fire itself itself is a bunch of words that people signed. Our Constitution, the American Bill of Rights, law in general, my job contracts, checks – they’re all just words. The American Revolution was started by people like Thomas Paine and Jefferson writing and talking. Words are so important that repressive governments are terrified of them, restricting speech and assembly. Of course writing and talking is important.
When I was a child I thought the world involved more heavy-lifting, ‘doing something’ as you say. As I grew up I found that it is almost all communication, which is why discussion online and off is important.
Indi,
One of the best posts I’ve read on your blog. Coming full circle, I first started reading and occasionally contributing to your blog one year ago, with news of Sivaram’s murder (Note From Taraki’s Killers & Taraki’s Murderers). Those conversations still hold great value, given that those who were intolerant of his views and chose to silence Sivaram’s voice are still at large (see Free Media Movement joint Press Release)
I may be wrong, but blog comments over the past year seem to have taken a turn for the worse, with vicious personal attacks, trolls and various characters writing under a variety of monikers choosing vitriolic diatribes over meaningful debate (perhaps an inevitable result of the growing popularity of the medium).
I think you highlight an very important point that I too make here:
“No true democracy is bereft of vibrant debate that vigorously challenges decisions of a government. No truer patriot than someone who contests, even to death, the actions taken in his or her name that may well be on account of an inability to envision alternatives.” (http://hellsdireagent.blogsome.com/2006/05/02/the-end-of-the-process/)
The problem is that the voices that call for moderation are silenced when violence is on the ascendant, with those in favour of using “fire to fight fire” stifling those who call for restraint.
I think it’s more important to listen to less vocal but more powerful voices, in Sinhala and Tamil as well as English, which aren’t usually aren’t featured in blogs such as yours or mine, who continue to speak in favour of peace and reconciliation, even in such depressing times.
Take care,
S
Writing and talking is important, yes. I didn’t mean to imply that words were unimportant. But words should lead to action, which is the vehicle for change. Inaction seems to be the order of the day in Sri Lanka.
We can all send emails and make phone calls till the cows come home, but it’s not going to make things any better. This problem has been talked about for over twenty years – where has all that talking got us? Where are we today? Where do you think we’ll be in twenty years’ time? (We’ll be older, wiser, but still talking…)
The educated people of this country have either deserted the country for calmer shores, or they passively allow the politicians to flush this country down the toilet. They all have comments to make, but no amount of commentary will improve the situation. So many people have good, intelligent answers to the problems Sri Lanka faces. But they just don’t seem to have the will to convert these ideas into reality.
I think that’s a tragedy. When I see the public protests in the Ukraine, or Nepal, against what their governments are doing, I feel sad. I can’t see that happening here. A mass public movement for positive change. The most people want to do in Sri Lanka is read what happens in the Sunday papers and talk/email/blog about it.
Communication is key. I admit that. Articulate, wise, knowledgable voices must get their message across to the greater public.
But surely all that is only useful if that message results in action? Without action, all this talking isn’t going to result in any positive changes to our country.
IMO, grouping sittingnut with the other’s is uncalled for.
indi, super post. well said, over all.
i really agree that talking about things in an arena like this is fully important ; it is a beginning.
yo : technically, what can someone like me do? i’m not goint to overthrow the government, i’m not going to plan and carry out the assasination of prabakharan, im not going to picket outside the president’s office. technically, practically, i am powerless. BUT i can blog, tell other people what i think, hear what they have to say. blogging is important because our strength lies in numbers. we’re out there in our way, changing minds, trying daily to get people to see life differently, trying to open our minds and hearts to opinions that are so different from our own that we’re instinctively furious about them. and that’s so integral.
war is about diagreement, misunderstanding, it’s about xenophobia. if i can in some way, change the way i feel about an issue and see it standing in someone else’s shoes, or make someone else see something standing in mine, then i’ve achieved a whole lot because i’m making the difference : i’m understanding, making someone understand. look at us, we’ve failed to unite even over the net ; my mother gets slandered for all the good work she’s done, morquendi gets called pro LTTE because he’s trying to show us the other side of the coin, indi gets called racist because he stands up for the sinhalese people, and ashanthi is all over the place spewing pure and unadulterated negativity because she’s mad at the way it’s turned out, and in turn, we’re all mad at her, even though we’re all equally helpess and hurt.
we’re all so caught up in our feelings and our opinions, and blogging somehow shows us the bigger picture, the world outside, call it what you will.
this is such a good post,
-Whether you’re rich, poor, foreign, JVP, JHU, LTTE, UNP, IRA, HSBC or whatever, it is important to speak your mind. As long as we’re talking we’re not killing each other, and that’s a good thing.-
it’s important to hear what other people are saying, and important to have your own voice heard. it is even more important to be tolerant of different opinions and understanding about different people, after all war and hate happen where that tolerance and that understanding is lacking. of course, this is only the beginning, i do hope all this will amount to something eventually, but a beginning such as this is so crucial. it is so important to use our right to expression wisely and usefully, and well…we’re trying.
I think part of the problem is that people ‘do’ too much. The JVP and LTTE were youth movements that ‘did’ a lot, as in assasinations, murder, hartals, etc. If they’d thought and spoken more there’d be a whole lot less dead people and a lot more books.
In programming we learned that an extra hour of design can save 100 hours of debugging. I never listened and I’d always start coding right away without thinking much. My programs were always shit. In the same way, I think Sri Lankans have been too quick to protest or kill without thinking things through. There’s no particular merit to action without intention, or action that isn’t thought through. I think there’s room for a whole lot more talking before we ‘do’ anything.
You’re not getting my point. All I’m saying is that the people who blog/write/talk/rant should be the people getting involved in the running the country.
For the most part, they have the commitment, the dedication, the honesty and (above all) the passion to take this country to the level she truly deserves to be. Until people like these get involved in the process, we’re only going to keep going downhill.
We must ask ourselves why we have so many intelligent people, yet morons are left to steer the country towards disaster. If we do nothing, we are party to their dishonesty and incompetence.
“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.”
Edmund Burke
I think the problem with getting into politics is that people like us will never survive. From what I see of the bloggers who are balanced, intelligent and passionate, we are all fairly young. Starting out in politics would mean starting out at the bottom for us, not a pretty prospect. By the time we get to the top we will either be dead or twisted by the system into the fools we see at the helm today.
As you pointed out Indi, soldiers implement policy, generals and politicians design policy. This is why it irks me that people are labeled unpatriotic (in the USA) simply because they do not support the Iraq war and accused of betraying the troops. To me it is not the anti-war protestors who are betraying the troops but the people who deployed them under false pretences in the first place. The key is it is us that can influence policy, and this is the main point that people like Morq miss and Indi hit on.
The real problem for us is that there is no way as far as I know for us to influence policy in Sri Lanka. We can only elect the policymakers contingent on the promises they make. The lack of transparency and information makes it impossible for us to obtain a truly objective judgment of how good these people are at following through on their promises. What comes to mind is a news snippet I saw of Mahinda releasing hatchery fish into a reservoir, was this just a media exercise or where there meaningful improvements brought about to that community? Only someone who lives in that community will be able to answer that effectively.
I think this is where the NGO’s and civil society have failed miserably. In the US there are organizations such the League of Conservation Voters who scores elected officials on how they vote on environmental issues. Are there any such organizations, citizens groups in Sri Lanka? For citizens groups to be effective information is also essential and that is another key ingredient missing. The lack of transparency needs to change, how it can be I’m not entirely sure.
I think blogging does help with the spread of information. What we need are more political bloggers, bloggers from outstation (why are all the bloggers from Colombo anyways? I’ve checked my email from Moneragala so internet access is relatively widespread right?), people who can give us as many views over as wide a spectrum as possible. Blogging is the democratization of information, true bloggers can be biased but then so is the Media. The more bloggers we have, the easier it will be to see commonalities in information and sort the wheat from the chaff in terms of what is happening across our country.
To wind up this rather long winded comment (on a temp job and very bored;-) ), lets keep blogging and encourage others to do so as well. The easier it gets to know about how people from all walks of life feel about the common issues we face today in Sri Lanka, the easier it will be to find common ground and maybe effect some meaningful change.
P.S. For those interested in blogs and its effects on how the media operates and the trustability of the international media, check out the We Media conference and associated links:
http://www.mediacenterblog.org/events/06/wemedialondon/program/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wemedia/
http://asterism.blogspot.com/
This is probably the most rational thread I’ve read in a long time. And that’s not Indi writing different, it’s because the people who are commenting on (yet another) good post are people with a couple of brain cells to rub together. It’s nice to see those who are clearly a couple of raisins short of a fruitcaked staying out of this one.
Janapathi before you start – just go fuck yourself.
Yo has a very valid point. We can blog and blog, and we can have a thousand people on this site at any given time but it won’t make a rat’s arse of a difference to the situation. That’s what Yo is trying to drive home I think. It’s not my mind that Electra has to change, or Indi’s mind that Hatts has to change…it’s on a whole different level of communication. And blogging doesn’t even being to address that.
If somehow we can combine the precious resource of intellect which seems abundant among several bloggers, with the JVP grassroots propoganda machine we would be sitting pretty.
But as CO25 says politics is a dirty business…and you’d never end up in any position worth ending up in without a shitload of blood and/or dirt on your hands. And by then, all the the ideals and principles and rationale we expound on these pages will be worth a tinker’s cuss.
I’m sitting here in bloody Antwerp, reading some drivel about masked marauders shooting journos in Jaffna and I’m thinking – do I really want to go back? The answer is – yes. Overwhelmingly. But to do what? Sigh again.
Good post.
I think the key here, as far as converting words into action, is to somehow bring the educated/intelligent/young/old/wise people to a place like this, the blogosphere, where you can be honest and sensible about what you say but can still be anonymous (some times to a certain degree) for various different reasons. See, the people whose opinions really matter to this country, people like the corporate sector, university diaspora, the students in various other universities (foriegn and local), people who are studying/working abroad are not able to let their opinions out without facing arguments from stupid and hatred filled people. But as we have seen in so many discussions at kottu, there is the opportunity to get involved in a sensible argument and learn, from equally well intending,patriotic and intelligent people (of course ignoring the trolls and other like minded stupidos).
And these conversations could be taken further, perhaps to organise a meet up of some sort, like the bloggers meet up, so that we will have the numbers required to push through a point. A powerful voice as mentioned by Sanjana.
But how are we going to get all these people into the blogosphere? beats me.
May be an organistaion like Sarvodaya could be instrumental.
Just my two cents.
(Some time ago there was a discussion about a peace plan among the bloggers where some very good opinions and ideas were discussed, I think at Morquendi’s blog)
null
thanks :-)
ppl who are not prejudiced may want to read this post before judging with regard to my spaying of anti ngo hate and being ‘nasty’.
thanks.
at the risk of starting another “blog incident” null – the bloggers peace plan was posted on nittewa courtesy of Yaroo in Morquendai’s absence. S/nut and various bloggers contributed constructively but I’m afraid that reality defeated us.
It would appear, what is about to happen in S/L is going to catastrophic.
Much as I support s/nut’s right to voice his opinion without being attacked by a bunch of imature nitwits lead by yours truly Indi, fact is NGO’s are going to be the only ones showing people getting killed any mercy at all.
What is about to happen is genocide and let’s make no mistage about it.
ashanthi when did you become so modest ?
yaaro started it (bloggers peace plan) at your suggestion.
if anyone care to read its still there.
bloggers peace plan
-
genocide ? ltte probably wish that in order to label this another darfur. i can think of some ppl here who probably join ltte in that wish but i may be accused of spraying hate.
‘here’ as in sri lanka not this thread.
you realize that DBS is anti-LTTE and a self-hating tamil…
s/nut – get stuffed you’re in the dog house at the moment – and don’t you dare be rude or cheeky to me in front of null – he’s got very nice manners something you could learn about…
to the idiot above who is DBS idiot?
[...] It is also prolly worthwhile to translate anything sent to the English papers into Sinhala and Tamil and send to Sunday Lankadeepa and all. Translation is theoretically cheap, though good is a bit hard to find. And yadda yadda yadda, those are some concrete somethings people could do. As to why that moderate debate and discussion are important in and of themselves, I went into it on the For Peace Talks Post. Suffice it to say that the government, opposition and terrorists are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. What Sri Lanka needs is a little more head. [...]