Politics
Ranil Senanayake
Current politics has degraded to a race to get control of the state’s resources in order to implement ‘development’ projects that line our path to ‘progress’ towards some unknown goal. No one proposes any clear path for the future well-being of the nation, only calls for the public to support their particular push for ‘development’ projects. This is then measured as progress. As Ananda Coomaraswamy notes ‘We who call art significant, not knowing of what, are also proud to progress, not knowing wither’. It seems we have not changed much since that time, merely continuing creating ‘development processes, as long as there are loans or money available. Often, many ‘development processes’ are not progressive but retrogressive, as seen in the plans for investment in coal as an energy source.
It is common knowledge that burning coal is a heath hazard. Innumerable studies have demonstrated the massive negative impact on human health and on cultural artifacts through the burning of coal, but the political system seems totally ignorant of such knowledge. This ignorance enables them justify the large losses in health to be suffered by the population. It is such ignorance that allows ‘agreements’ and contracts have greater value than the health and well being of the citizens of this nation. As an example, consider the debacle of the ‘Port City.’ A project implemented without any consideration of the reduced air quality of Colombo city, without informing the citizens of the price they will have to pay, is presumed valid because, the political powers subverted the laws of the land to approve it.
The current global development agenda is in many ways, anti-human. It seeks the development of an economic and monetary system its primary goal. The ‘Development of the Economy’, has become a mantra that will allow the discounting of human life. The Current Pope is one of the very few world leaders to speak directly to the problem; he has spoken out against the “idolatrous” capitalist economic models that “sacrifice human lives on the altar of money”. Will our current political contenders ever recognize the danger looming before us, move away from the current model and opt for a different vision of what development should mean? Can our religious leaders understand what the Pope is telling us?Read More
