The Congenial Relationship Between Cricket, Chauvinism And National Oppression
By Athithan Jayapalan -April 10, 2014 |
Athithan Jayapalan
The Sri Lankan victory at the T20 Cricket World Cup on 06.04.2014 was marked with an outburst of euphoria all around the Sri Lankan south. What can be observed during the celebrations is the heavy reproduction of major state symbols such as the Sri Lankan flag, and the national emblem, the Sinhala lion, and nationalist slogans. The notion and idea of the nation state is in effect legitimized, reproduced and perpetuated through the large public veneration of Sri Lanka. By evocating national feeling and solidarity centered on the state and its symbols, the public is embodying the national spirit which the nationalist discourse espouses. When the glorified state is involved in unfettered national oppression, the public also becomes dangerously implicated in legitimizing its actions. For the Sri Lankan state national public celebrations become intrinsic in empowering the state and perpetuating its national projects; a genocidal regime in the Tamil homeland in the North-East and a dictatorial rule in the Sinhala south.
Incidentally such triumphant moods in the south were also observable during the last war, reaching its zenith on 18.05.2009, upon the conclusion of the genocidal massacres at Mulluvaykal. As the war ravaged the north, entire Tamil villages were eradicated, and thousands of Tamil civilians were mercilessly slaughtered and maimed by the deliberate government bombardment. In contrast the south witnessed the ecstatic Sinhalese who took to the streets with the lion flag and chanted patriotic slogans cheering their armed forces in the war against the Tamils. For every Tamil village that burned, the south would embark upon a heightened carnival of festivities and rejoice. This was a historical point at which Sinhala chauvinism was manifest in its most crystallized form, with conquest, genocide and national subjugation being the crux of state ceremony, national identity, prestige and public veneration.
The annual 19th of May Victory Day staged by the state to mark its “victory over terrorism” has since 2009 been a national event which more blatantly displays the Sri Lankan public participation in the celebration of the state violence against Tamils. Aligned with state propaganda such public actions promote discourses and actions which brazenly deny genocide and silence Tamil grievances. Moreover it reaffirms the Sinhala nationalist ideology which denies Tamils nationhood, demonizes their resistance, suppresses their collective memories and represses Tamil demands for justice and equality. The lavish military parade draws large public attention and the subsequent display of military might annually revokes the lingering of a triumphant Sinhala chauvinism among the Sri Lankan citizens.
