Geneva, You, Me And Sri Lanka Incorporated
By Sarath de Alwis –October 6, 2016
Sarath de Alwis
In his fascinating book ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind Israeli Historian Yuval Noah Harari remarks “You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.”
Obviously the celebrated historian is not well informed of the island republic of Sri Lanka.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is probably the least highbrow or cerebral leader to have led independent Sri Lanka. He was also the beneficiary of a cruel twist of fate. Under his watch, the armed forces of the nation, militarily defeated and physically eliminated a ferociously fascist monster- Velupillai Prabhakaran. So, very probably, he would not have known that he himself was a fascist. Eliminating a fascist is no license to be a fascist. Let us be practical.
What constitutes a Fascist state? A Fascist state has some distinctly obvious features. A Fascist regime constantly and consistently relies on nationalism and patriotism interchangeably with slogans and symbols.
It has a pronounced disdain for human rights. It is constantly engaged in persuading the citizenry that human rights can be ignored in order to ensure national security. It considers torture, abduction and disappearances as legitimate tools of governance.
It usually perfects the art of creating patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat that usually comes from ethnic or religious minorities and liberal intellectuals.
It accords an ill-disguised supremacy to the military. The Miltarry is given a disproportionate amount of state funding. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
The mass media are intimidated by the state in to a state of Pavlovian submission. It is obsessed with national security and fear is the oft used tool to tame the masses. The ‘Apey Hamuduruwane’ appeal to a corrupt clergy helps it to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric is a convenient instrument even to justify actions that are clearly in contradiction to religious teachings.
