The trouble with and the troubles of the Orator
March 4, 2015
“…and an orator said, ;Speak to us of freedom’. And he answered: ‘At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom, Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them’ – ‘The Prophet,’ Kahlil Gibran
Many an o
pinion has been expressed about the troubles of Shashi Weerawansa, the spouse of Wimal Weerawansa, the former Minister. Although the immediate focus today is on the doings of Shashi Weerawansa, where the general public is concerned it is clear that the dramatic quality of the events surrounding the middle-aged Mrs. Weerawansa comes from the unavoidable association of the ex-Minister in the affairs of his family.
Wimal Weerawansa owes his political stardom to a gift – a gift for oratory, useful in public life anywhere, invaluable in a culture more partial to the oral as opposed to the literary approach. Ideas develop and mature in a long process of study and consideration, comparison and contrasting, taking nourishment from other ideas, seeking relevance in a larger perspective.
Clearly, the latter, the literary approach, suits the process of the evolution of ideas better. When an idea is committed to the written form any imprecision or contradiction therein becomes apparent. But it is in the other, the oral sphere that Wimal Weerawansa shines.
pinion has been expressed about the troubles of Shashi Weerawansa, the spouse of Wimal Weerawansa, the former Minister. Although the immediate focus today is on the doings of Shashi Weerawansa, where the general public is concerned it is clear that the dramatic quality of the events surrounding the middle-aged Mrs. Weerawansa comes from the unavoidable association of the ex-Minister in the affairs of his family.Wimal Weerawansa owes his political stardom to a gift – a gift for oratory, useful in public life anywhere, invaluable in a culture more partial to the oral as opposed to the literary approach. Ideas develop and mature in a long process of study and consideration, comparison and contrasting, taking nourishment from other ideas, seeking relevance in a larger perspective.
Clearly, the latter, the literary approach, suits the process of the evolution of ideas better. When an idea is committed to the written form any imprecision or contradiction therein becomes apparent. But it is in the other, the oral sphere that Wimal Weerawansa shines.
Sizzling on stage
In dress, Weerawansa is most times seen in a well-creased long trouser and an Indian type kurta shirt, worn with a hint of the deliberate casualness of sophistication. But that is only the dress. That rather attractive informality does not extend to his person.
Even today it is rare for a Sri Lankan male to go in for personal grooming. Manicures, pedicures, facials are mainly in the female vocabulary, and that too only as an urban and affluent preoccupation. But in Weerawansa the public person, the people’s representative, voice of the common man, there is not a hair out of place on a well-gelled head or a touch of a blackhead on a face that has been lovingly cared for.
On the stage he sizzles; anecdotes, metaphors, parables and antonyms flow forth as the orator casts his spell on the audience. Frequently his speeches are interrupted by an appreciative applause and acknowledgement from the crowd. “Whatever obstacles maybe thrown our way, our political journey will not stop…” he promises meaningfully.
The crowd is delirious. None of them, if asked, would be able to describe the beginning or define the end of that journey. Such definite-ness is not a primary concern of an oral culture. In the beginning was the word, but alas even at the end it is only words!
Quality of the orator
Even to his own crowd that unsubstantial quality of the orator is apparent. During Weerawansa’s days in the higher ranks of the JVP, he was the drummer boy for the revolution. But nobody expected him to stage one.
Revolutions are not made by such persons. The vision of the man is too small and the mind too narrow to comprehend the meaning of a true revolution. The contradictions and falsities of the orator are acknowledged even by the camp followers.
Presenter of Rajapaksa III
Today Weerawansa is the presenter of ‘Rajapaksa III – coming soon to a theatre near you’. As is always the case with him, the story belongs to another, it is never him. Having no solution to offer he points at a man who has already been President of the country twice, and voted out even before his second term ended, as the solution. “Let us march back to the past,” he screams on stage. If the man was not good enough after serving two terms as President, how would Rajapaksa be a solution a third time? Again, the orator will not explain but will only repeat “our journey will not stop…”
In the realm of words journeys can be defined in hazy terms. But in real life, journeys have a definite starting point and a clear destination – Colombo to Chennai for instance. To travel overseas, a person must have a legitimate passport issued by your Government.
Then as a Sri Lankan to travel to any country he must obtain a visa beforehand from that country, a cumbersome process. And after all that the hopeful traveller must have a substantial amount of foreign currency for spending.
Even to the orator it will be obvious that foreign travel will be much easier if he were to be a minister of the government and claim a diplomatic passport. And in whose government would that be? Of course, in a Rajapaksa Government, the solution to the country’s problems, the destination of the journey.
Patriotism
Samuel Johnson wrote famously that “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”. Johnson lived in the 18th Century when the world presumably was a much simpler place. Today the concept of patriotism has been so distorted that it will be pretty difficult for even Johnson to define it clearly.
A person can carry a passport of another country and still claim to be a patriot. He can have his immediate family domiciled in a foreign country, have most of his investments there and still be a patriot. He can abuse public property and public money and still be patriotic. He can subvert and undermine basic institutions in the country and still be patriotic.
He can, when holding public office, take commissions and bribes and still be patriotic. And it is perfectly patriotic for a person to have benefitted from a free education right up to the university and then continue to enjoy a luxurious life (for the entire family) at the expense of the taxpayer by becoming a politician! Samuel Johnson would be in deed hard pressed to explain the meaning of the word in the context of Sri Lanka today!
The orator’s vanity will not allow him to question his right to speak on behalf of a country of 20 plus million people. Such a synthetic campaigner of a cause can only mock it. But perhaps he doesn’t see it that way. This is the orator’s land, bare and featureless, so anything goes. And thus writes Gibran “And then a scholar said, speak of talking… and he answered saying: You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts…”
(The writer is an Attorney-at-Law and a freelance writer.)
(Reuters) - Leaders of 
