Wiggie Vs Dayan And The Self-Determination As A 21-C Concept
By Kumar David -April 13, 2014
Prof. Kumar David
Wigneswaran and Dayan need to update their categories. Justice CV Wigneswaran (CV) made a splendid presentation at the Bernard Soysa 100-th birth anniversary commemoration and Dr Dayan Jayatilleka (DJ) respondedin newspaper and web. The polemic is about one aspect of CV’s address, Self-Determination. I have the temerity to wade into this clash of giants with a correction; both these mighty intellects are stuck with concepts, which unless refined for modern times, have outlived their usefulness. Concepts likeSelf-Determination and Secession should be used in current discourse, taking into account both their methodological origin (mostly in Leninist discourse) and also accompanied by an exercise in lateral thinking that adapts them to globalised 21-st Century reality.
CV’s use of the terms State and Nation (capital S and N) is impeccably Leninist.
“A State with a capital ‘S’ may mean a self governing political entity recognized by the international community as a distinct state or a division of a federal entity. In the first sense it can be used interchangeably with ‘Country’. But a Nation is a tightly knit group of people who share a common culture and perceive themselves as such. A Nation State is a Nation, which is coterminous with the borders of a State. Nations are groups of people having relatively greater cultural homogeneity, and perceive themselves to be distinctive. They are generally larger than a single tribe or community, and share a common language, institutions or religion or religions, and historical experiences”.
