All Prospects Lead But To The Brink In Sri Lanka

By S. Sivathasan -November 10, 2014

S. Sivathasan

Hype and hyperbole

“At the risk of appearing to talk nonsense I tell you that the National Socialist movement will go on for 1,000 years!… Don’t forget how people laughed at me 15 years ago when I declared that one day I would govern Germany. They laugh now, just as foolishly, when I declare that I shall remain in power!” - Adolf Hitler in Berlin, June 1934

Divested of the hyperbole the picture is little different in Sri Lanka. Where does the country stand today? Pursued by a menacing evil with likely rescuers yet to unite. To redeem the people and to change course, there is strength enough. But to subordinate self-interest, patriotic fervor needs to supervene. In no time if the dross gets burnt out in the fever heat of unity, evil is sure to be overrun.  What gives credence to optimism? Voters in the mass are on the verge of showing the power of the ballot when a unified leadership comes forward with regime change as the watchword and a robustly new political order as both message and programme.

History Fails to Teach.                      

History is replete with many a tragedy. Two among them were seen most explicitly in Germany. An inexplicable first was the ease with which Hitler proceeded as if to a predestined goal. In the twenties the ground work was laid for one party rule dominated by a single forceful ruler. Historical circumstances obtaining in Europe after the world war facilitated the emergence of a strong leader. The Treaty of Versailles humiliating to the German psyche needed decisive rejection. Europe shuddering at Russian Bolshevism desired the advance checked and repulsed. In Hitler’s Germany it saw a developing bulwark that was uncompromising. There was thus a growing spirit of accommodation to Hitler’s ascent to power. A situation that was turning in his favor, he capitalized on to the full.

Hype and high expectations apart, were Europe’s hopes of comfort. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin’s words “Peace for our time” made in 1938, well past 9 years of Hitler in the limelight, were a misreading of Hitler and his times. In Sri Lanka the polity can make no mistake after seeing the President’s exploits for 9 years. Nor can the comity of nations err in its judgment and remain complacent.

Hitler ‘Chinthana’                                  Read More