Using disabled soldiers with ulterior motives Shame!
2016-11-12
Protest gatherings or marches are a dime a dozen these days. They are actually an epidemic and a nasty one at that. Why so? Because the protesters have latched on to a new gimmick – to protest on highways, the more important and vital the trunk road, the better. And thus the daily news item on television channels of the soldier, sailor, candlestick maker; the fisherman, farmer and of course the white collar worker protesting all over the country.
True, some protests bring the attention of the authorities on to a vital grievance that has been put forward through the legitimate channels and not solved; hence the mass road or junction protests like at Lipton's Circus. But most people have no sympathy with the protest marches of university students against the SAITM medical college and the GMOA joining in with a vicious kick – supposedly maintaining vital services in hospitals but the hospitals almost closing down for the day. Some have turned nasty for the protesters and the country itself like shooting into the crowd at Rathupaswela when all they asked for was safe drinking water as their sources had been contaminated, actually or exaggerated, by a rubber gloves manufacturing factory close by.
Foreign mass protests
Curiosity led Kumari to Google to find out just a few facts she remembered but was not certain of as regards dates. The first most dramatic protest was in Paris when the Proles stormed the Bastille – the government prison at the time. Louis XVI was on the throne with his extravagant Marie Antoinette. She did not, however, famously ask the people to eat cake if they did not have bread.The statement was thrust upon her!
The Storming of the Bastille and the arrest of Governor de Launay occurred on the morning of 14 July 1789. A group formed of craftsmen and salesmen decided to fight back and ran to the Invalides to steal some weapons. The crowd knew that a pile of powder was stocked in the Bastille and so they stormed it and ignited the French revolution with the cry of "Liberté, Egalaté" and "Fraternité". In the melee, prisoners escaped. The monarchy was overthrown and the royal family guillotined along with aristocrats. This woman who did not study history as a subject in senior secondary school knew about the French Revolution from Charles Dickens' 'Tale of Two Cities' and Baroness Orczy's 'Scarlet Pimpernel' series. As young teenagers, didn't Kumari and her friends thrill to the daring rescue of French aristocrats form the guillotine by the British fob of a Lord who signed off with the symbol of the pimpernel.
Stiff upper lip
In Britain, they are rather restrained preferring probably the stiff upper lip to putting their grievances on public show. Also Margaret Thatcher put paid to the constant demands of labour with her strict rules. We remember seeing in newspapers pictures of protests in strategic places in London when the LTTE was in force here in Sri Lanka. There was a massive protest in Westminster opposite Parliament. A rather rare occurrence of protests was over the Brexit decision.
"March for Europe" rallies were held across the UK on 3 September 2016. Thousands of pro-Europe protesters marched in London, calling for the UK to strengthen its ties to the continent following the Brexit business. This showed without doubt that the younger Britons and Londoners were for remaining in the European Union (EU) while the older, conservative people voted to get out of it due to fears of immigrants pouring in and also believing the rumour that each year Britain paid a vast sum to the EU as a membership fee. They were not told that Britain ultimately benefited with more income due to enhanced trade.
In the US there have been marches by the African-Americans and more recently consequent to Police shooting of a couple of their kind.
In the US there have been marches by the African-Americans and more recently consequent to Police shooting of a couple of their kind.
March for Life
They also stage occurring marches and rallies in Washington which are one-time events. Two exceptions are the March for Life and Rolling Thunder, both held annually. The March for Life is a protest against abortion held on 22 January marking the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case legalizing abortion. The march has been held annually since 1974, typically drawing several hundred thousand demonstrators. Rolling Thunder is a motorcycle demonstration held since 1987 on Memorial Day to raise awareness of issues related to American Prisoners of War/Missing in Action.
The latest local protest
Kumari and her compatriots saw in newspaper photographs and television news clips the lie-down protest by disabled soldiers. Their demand was for a pension or the enhancement of a pension already received.
Kumari sadly had no sympathy or empathy for them. She felt they could have negotiated their request, because unlike in the case of other workers, the government definitely is responsive for the needs of the armed forces as far as it is possible.
The reader of this column may think Kumari is heartless, non-patriotic, snooty, forgetful of the fact the armed forces saved Sri Lanka from the LTTE terrorists, when she announces she disapproved strongly of the soldiers lying around and then, suddenly rising up to walk to the Presidential Secretariat. Her comment was: "Not done, not done at all!"
Kumari sadly had no sympathy or empathy for them. She felt they could have negotiated their request, because unlike in the case of other workers, the government definitely is responsive for the needs of the armed forces as far as it is possible.
The reader of this column may think Kumari is heartless, non-patriotic, snooty, forgetful of the fact the armed forces saved Sri Lanka from the LTTE terrorists, when she announces she disapproved strongly of the soldiers lying around and then, suddenly rising up to walk to the Presidential Secretariat. Her comment was: "Not done, not done at all!"
And then came the pronouncement from President Maithripala Sirisena that the soldiers who marched in protest had been instigated to do so. Two Bhikkhus and a Joint Opposition member were hinted at along the grapevine. Their purpose was to bring discredit to the government so it starts crumbling and in their reckoning, shortly collapse altogether. This woman believes that the protesting soldiers and policemen were pushed and promised much to march and bring force upon themselves, thus bringing discredit to the government. The armed forces are sacrosanct now, no blaming them; no denying them anything. And thus the repugnance felt towards the instigators of the march; a hidden hand, but all too obvious.
Good lesson
And so we go on. We need to learn a good lesson from the US. Hillary Clinton was supposed to win, thought she would win, deserved to win. And that man Trump is voted in as the 45th President of the United States of America. She gracefully conceded victory to him, spoke to the people to unite after being divided over the elections. Crowds gathered and vent their disappointment by shouting slogans opposite the Trump Towers. But life will proceed over there where power is transferred peacefully with no major hiccups.
Kumari
