PEACE CARNIVAL
These days the NGO pundits and other intellectuals exhibit their creativity by giving various interpretations to peace. Peace is said to be not merely the absence of war but democracy, human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, alleviation of poverty, general welfare of the people etc. These interpretations of peace by intellectuals who claim that the others do not have any imagination clearly show that it is the intellectuals who lack any imagination. The interpreters have, in a way, made things easy for those who write manifestoes for the political parties, as hereafter all that they have to write is that Party A or B stands for peace. The parties would be spared the trouble of printing lengthy manifestoes, which very few people read but the political parties having come to power claim that the people have voted for the manifesto. However, one disadvantage is that the political parties would not need any manifesto writers and some people would find themselves redundant at election times. As what is spelt out in election manifestoes are never implemented we could be certain that peace according to the interpretations given by the intellectuals would not be achieved. Peace has another interpretation as well, in Sri Lanka. That is capitulation to Tamil racism and in that sense peace is a possibility though if it does not happen in a few months it is very unlikely to materialise.
However, as it is, peace is the Word and I am surprised that the intellectuals have so far failed to mention that peace is love, peace is sex, peace is "kamasvada" hence peace is "Brahmasvada" and hence peace is God. The Neo Tantric school of intellectuals among the peace intellectuals could come up with theories on how to achieve peace with that little imagination which they think is absent among the others. The word peace has five letters instead of the customary four but the over zealous attitude of the peace intellectuals could make people referring to five letter words instead of four letter words, very soon.
In the name of peace seven soldiers were released recently and six others were taken back. The "ceremony" that was organised in connection with the exchange of prisoners and soldiers saw the highest ranking officials in the army rubbing shoulders literary as well as literally with "colonels" and other "soldiers" of the LTTE. No intellectual has so far said that the LTTE boys are soldiers and gentlemen, though a Bishop sometime ago proclaimed that Prabhakaran was humane. In any event rubbing shoulders with the "soldiers" of the LTTE would have been quite an experience for the army high command.
It appears to be carnival time in the ministry of defence with high officials taking presents to the LTTE. The Sinhala people, especially those trained by the British, in the schools modeled around their public schools, the British universities and Peradeniya and other universities in Sri Lanka that ape the British universities, the Inns and also Sandhurst and other places tend to please the westerners and show them that they are very cultured. The LTTE on the other hand while relying on the west for their survival do not believe in niceties of exchanging gifts. The soldiers who were sent back were not given gift parcels by the LTTE and the army officials only had the "privilege" of sitting with the "colonels" of the LTTE. A western diplomat had said that the LTTE had got some political milage out of this incident as it went on to confirm the equality status given by the government to the LTTE. However, it is the west who by their arm twisting exercises and "boru" manners instilled into the Sinhala middle class that has forced the higher ups to capitulate to the LTTE. It was the peace caravan (thavalama) during the PA days and now it is the peace carnival with all the dignitaries going out of the way to see that the carnival is a success.
A friend of mine has recently sent me an e-mail where he refers to the derivation of the word carnival. Since it is carnival time not only in the ministry of defence but in the country as a whole I thought that I should reproduce part of the e-mail, which is very interesting, though some readers may be familiar with what is stated.
"For many hundreds of years in Europe, the Inquisition was in force. Everyone, even the civil authorities, was in fear of the Dominican (Domini Canus - Dogs of God) and the Franciscan Monks. They moved constantly around Europe and even at times to Britain, to set up Trials for Heresy. It was a travesty of what we know to be fairness and justice, but needless to say, it was also a working system for enriching the Vatican. The purpose of the disfigurement, the destruction of the victim's body, whilst the human was still inhabiting inside, was that, if he did not believe in the Sacred and Holy Doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church he was damned to everlasting hell fire anyway - the Bible said so! So, there was no harm in giving the victim a foretaste of what was to come! (See Mark XVI, vs. 16 and Gal I, vs. 9)
So, Jacks - British slang for torturers, (See Jack Ketch, circa 1670 CE., a torturer famed for his brutality) inflicted most terrible injuries on millions of innocent Europeans in monastery 'Hell-Holes'. At the point of imminent death, these half-dead unfortunates, with rotting, disfigured bodies, were taken in procession in total nervous breakdown, tied to a stake, muffled to prevent the screaming and burned on a fire or otherwise disposed of.
But, the reader should know of the fascinating ceremony of parading the victim from the Hell-hole to the fire. This was where the Joker (The derivation of the word Joker is also given in the e-mail. - NdeS.) and his men and even children were all dressed up in the strange clothes of the "Mockery". His men would wear large and exaggerated paper-mache heads, and, as the victim was taken in carnival procession they would dance around him, jubilantly, gleefully, shouting mocking phrases repeatedly, such as: "You're going to die!", "You're going to die!" and "You're going to Hell!", "You're going to Hell!" and so on, accompanied by staccato-rattling military drums and piercing whistles and other sounds all of which must have been absolutely dreadful for the victim. A scene from the European Christian 'dark ages'. For the towns-people and spectators, it was ghoulish entertainment, a carnival (meat and bloodshed!) festival atmosphere. (There you see the root of the English word.)"
The Sinhalas are being taken in carnival procession with the Joker and his men and women (intellectuals, hybrid as well as others) shouting You're going to die and You're going to Hell. In the meantime the military high command is fighting among each other making sounds that are dreadful for the victim. The Sinhalas in the eastern province would be chased out if the so-called interim administration, that would pave the way for an Eelam, is set up and there would be a carnival in that province. Even before the setting up of the so-called interim administration, the LTTE has taken seven soldiers who had been in an area close to the Vilgamvehera army camp. Even the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has admitted that the soldiers had not violated the memorandum of capitulation, often referred to as the memorandum of understanding. However the chief of the monitoring mission does not have even the powers of a class monitor in the schools set up by the British and he could only go from place to place carrying tales (messages). At least he pretends to be powerless when things get hot for the LTTE and when the LTTE becomes naughty Solheims are not to be seen.
It appears that the LTTE wants to impose conditions for the release of these six soldiers who were taken away from a place not more than four hundred meters from their camp. The LTTE claims that they do not have anybody else other than these six soldiers and if we are to believe them then it means that they have killed hundreds of the other soldiers who were "captured" by them. However, what is more significant is that through the memorandum of capitulation the LTTE has managed to draw a line of separation and now the issue debated is whether the six soldiers were in the area "controlled" by the LTTE. Already "border" clashes have erupted and one could imagine what would happen if an interim administration is given to the LTTE thugs. Two Dravidian states in India, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are fighting over the Kaveri River and as India is only a quasi federal state the Tamil Nadu government Chief Minister has asked the central government to intervene. If something similar were to happen in the confederation of Sri Lanka and Eelam over the waters of Mahaweli how are we going to solve it? Turn to the "good" offices of the Norwegian ambassador? The SLMM is an unwanted burden on the country that is certainly in the process of creating precedents for a future confederation. If the government cannot get the six soldiers released then all those who are responsible should resign immediately instead of taking presents to the LTTE at the expense of the tax payer's money and rubbing shoulders with the "soldiers" of the LTTE.
The peace carnival cannot continue. There are some men and women of the Joker who tell us that it is a confidence building exercise. The intellectuals tell us that the Sinhala nationalists whom they call the Sinhala Chauvinists, extremists etc., do not support the peace carnival as the latter do not trust Prabhakaran and the thugs. It is not merely a question of not trusting Prabhakaran but a problem associated with the entire peace carnival. The Sinhala nationalists know who Prabhakaran is and they have no confidence what so ever in a fascist thug who is supported by the Norwegians, the British, the Americans and in general the Anglo Saxon led western world. The more the west tries to build confidence in Prabhakaran more the west gets exposed. The Sinhala nationalists unlike the Joker and his men and women have a theory that explains the observations, which in turn is confirmed through new data. It is a consistent theory and the Sinhala nationalists know that peace caravans as well as peace carnivals are detrimental to the Sinhala nation. The theory also tells what the LTTE is after, and as such peace talks either have to end with the establishment of a confederation or with "war".
What has happened to all the peace carnivals, peace Nobel Prizes awarded in connection with the Palestine question? The carnival was followed by a carnage and there again it was first Norway and then USA that brokered peace. In Sri Lanka we are fast moving towards a Palestine situation with an Israel being created by the name Eelam in South Asia. At least Israel had some history and the Jews could say that they were in that part of the world some thousands of years ago. What is the justification for an Eelam in the northern and eastern provinces demarcated by the British as late as in 1889. It was not only Dr. Indrapalan who said that the history of Sri Lanka before the thirteenth century is the history of the Sinhalas. Ponnambalam Arunachalam who was interested in the leadership of the country after his brother Ramanathan and who was fond of creating a mythical history of Tamils going back to the Rawana days, in an unguarded moment has spoken the truth. In his Sketches Of Ceylon History, in the last paragraph of Chapter XVII he says: "In terms of a convention held on 2nd March, 1815, at Kandy, between the British authorities and the Kandyan chiefs, the king was dethroned, and the Sinhalese voluntarily surrendered their Island to the British Sovereign with full reservation of their rights and liberties. They may thus claim to be one of the few ancient races of the world who have not being conquered." Arunachalam refers to "their island" and not just to the Kandyan kingdom. It may or may not be a Freudian slip. However we Sinhalas refer to such a statement as a case of "kata boru kiwwath diva boru kiyanne nehe." The Sinhalas are not prepared to be the Palestinians in "their land" in spite of Nobel Prizes, Norwegian brokers and peace carnivals organised by the government.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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