Racing Tanks with Bicycles: A Parable of ‘Reconciliation’ in Sri Lanka
Photo via Facebook photo set by Akiy Photography, direct link here. Note that original photo does not blur the face of the child.
Some photographs of ‘aid’ being provided to Sri Lankan Tamils in Keppapilavu were recently posted online. The Keppapilavu community were the last to be released from the Menik Farm Camp, but were not allowed to return home, and instead were forcibly re-displaced into the wilderness. The aid was being provided by a youth group called ‘Sri Lanka Unites’ – whose objective is to promote reconciliation in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the ‘Foundation of Goodness’ – a charity set up by a few Sri Lankan cricketers.
Four thoughts came to mind while browsing the pictures:
- The scenes depicted were reminiscent of aid campaigns that characterised Africa in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Benevolent philanthropists extending a charitable arm to needy and helpless victims. Affluence meeting impoverishment, with the brash arrogance of those who have – that those who do not – only (or first) need material support. In these images there was no place for equality or dignity (for the displaced), mutual learning or forgiveness (for the affluent).
- The military was central to the whole affair. They were handing out bicycles and school bags to little children of a community which recently had suffered immensely in a ruthless war between this same military and the LTTE. Despite the best efforts of the government, stories of the horrors of the end of the war have surfaced and will continue to do so, as will the demand for accountability, truth and justice.
- Despite the ostentatious display of money available to ‘Sri Lanka Unites’, the sheer tokenism of their charitable gifts was hard to ignore. School bags for those with no access to a decent education. Bicycles for those who cannot move freely. Chairs for those whose land has been stolen. Material support to a community denied the right to remember their dead, protect their youth, manage their lives. It all rang hollow and counter-intuitive.
- Finally, the ‘branding’ of the aid with the names, pictures and logos of the ‘donors’ – again reminiscent of the way many western and international agencies carry out their affairs – struck a distasteful and disrespectful chord; in other words, completely in keeping with both this series of photographs and the way many Sri Lankans have responded to the post-war situation.
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