In the red-golden glow of the global financial crisis, many are looking inwards to see how they allowed it to happen. Skeptics of globalization such as Korten, Stiglitz, Ralston Saul and Pilger envisioned the collapse and warned of the impending apocalypse fueled by consumerism and greed. Their warnings were left unheeded.

The very foundations of US capitalism seem to have been ravaged. Heidi Crebo-Rediker, Co-Director, Global Strategic Finance Initiative, New America Foundation and Former Managing Director/Head of European Debt Capital Markets, Bear Stearns catured the sentiment; “What happened over this past week to US capitalism is truly historic.” Since 1864, American banking has been split into commercial banks and investment banks. But now that’s changing. Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, some of the biggest names on Wall Street have disappeared into thin air. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are the only giants still standing.

The idea of the free-market economy is challenged. The near nationalization of AIG, America’s largest insurance company, with an $85 billion cash infusion, a bill footed by taxpayers, was a staggering move. The sum is three times as high as the guarantee provided by the Federal Reserve when Bear Stearns was sold to JPMorgan Chase in March 2008. After intense pressure the Senate has approved the rescue package of US $ 700 billion to rescue the ailing US economy.

The US is still trying to understand what happened and what can be done to make a turn around. “Onward through the fog’ seemed like an apt description to me of where we are now”, was how Senator Byron Dorgan responded. Others were critical of the Bush administration. Ralph Gomory, Former Director of Research and Senior Vice President for Science and Technology, IBM, and President Emeritus Alfred P. Sloan Foundation argued, “The lack of policy direction, the lack of clear purpose…are present in our whole economic structure.” He warned that, “The last three decades are a testament to our progress in enriching the few, not the many.”

Now there is a paradigm shift in thinking in the US. The US Government has been called again and again to intervene to save Wall Street. Allan Mendelowitz, Member, Board of Directors and former Chairman of the Board, Federal Housing Finance Board and Former Executive Director, US Trade Deficit Review Commission points out, “What we need is a policy context in which the government will play a large and important role in managing the health of the economy.” This is a far cry fro previous trumpet calls asking Government to end all regulations and open up the markets.

Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor at Columbia University and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics asks some pertinent questions; If a quick consensus on a bailout plan is required, why not include provisions to stop the source of bleeding, to aid the millions of Americans that are losing their homes? Why not spend as much on them as on Wall Street? Do they still believe in trickle-down economics, when for the past eight years money has been trickling up to the wizards of Wall Street? Why not enact bankruptcy reform, to help Americans write down the value of the mortgage on their overvalued home?

Is this the end of market capitalism in its current incarnation? Will the role of Governments change with more Governmental intervention expected in the capitalist free markets? Will the laws, which supported large corporations and precipitated the crisis be challenged and changed in the US? Nothing is certain or easy but history has proven that times of crisis have activated the public to make hard choices and support changes.

This then is the time for change.

• The end of neo-liberal economics: Great Crash of 2008 and the demise of the Regan-Thatcherism
• Stanley Rd Closure Affects Traders In Jaffna
• India: ‘Hands on’?
• In conversation with the Chitrasena - Vajira Dance Foundation on theatre in Sri Lanka
• The Attacks on Civil Society Organizations

“All along the watchtower, princes kept the view”
Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower

 
Though it may seem otherwise at first blush, the agitation in Tamil Nadu is not helping the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka. It is hardening majority opinion on the island and serves as a reminder of the existential threat posed to the Sinhalese from across the narrow Palk Straits. It is likely to make the Sinhala majority warier about the degree of autonomy granted to the Tamil majority Northern periphery, susceptible as it may be to the pull factor of Tamil Nadu sentiment given the extreme physical proximity.    

While Colombo’s political commentariat had concluded that the agitation in Tamil Nadu was the avoidable result of Sinhala chauvinism stimulated or tolerated by the Rajapakse administration, it was left to Malini Parthasarathy, respected voice of the educated and highly sophisticated Tamil Nadu elite, a director of the 130 year old Hindu newspaper, and observer-commentator of Sri Lankan affairs since the 1980s, to name the agitation for what it was: Tamil chauvinism.  Her editorial was followed by a longer statement by N Ram Editor in Chief of the Hindu, and editorial comments in other respected Indian newspapers which extended the critique to identify the phenomenon as pro-LTTE Tamil secessionism.

Malini Parthasarathy and N. Ram quite rightly pointed to President Rajapakse’s pledge to implement the 13th amendment, and the initial action - the electoral process– taken in the Eastern province as sufficient evidence, on balance, of the excessive and unwarranted nature of the Tamil Nadu reaction.
 

Tamil Chauvinism across the Silent Sea
However, it would take a bout of amnesia or intentional falsification to forget that Tamil Nadu agitation - featuring the same cast of characters - was an important factor during the Indian Peacekeeping Force operation against the LTTE and in support of the 13th amendment. Wounded IPKF soldiers in Tamil nadu hospitals found themselves less well-treated than the LTTE wounded who had been smuggled across. The slogan of the IPKF as an Indian People Killing Force originated in Tamil Nadu, as did the rumors of Tamil girls being raped by IPKF soldiers. Tamil Nadu support for the LTTE provided the atmosphere in which the EPRLF’s K Padmanabha and his entire Politburo were murdered in a machine gun assault in an apartment block in Chennai, for which no one was arrested under Chief Minister Karunanidhi. Indeed the entire propagandistic narrative which justified the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was shared and disseminated by Tamil Nadu chauvinists.   

MG Ramachandran was able to play a role in catalyzing Operation Poomalai (the famous “parippu drop”) aborting Operation Liberation of the Sri Lankan armed forces, notwithstanding the fact that Colombo and Delhi had been negotiating seriously on devolution at least since late 1985 when Colombo agreed to the province as the main unit of devolution, through the November 1986 proximity talks at the Bangalore SAARC summit, the Natwar Singh Chidambaram mission of November 1986 and the easing of fuel restrictions on Jaffna in April 1987. In short there was an ongoing process of bilateral negotiation on devolution, when Tamil Nadu was still able to play a negative role.

Tamil Nadu pressure prevented the IPKF from going flat out against the LTTE. As tellingly, the latent Tamil Nadu factor was able to prevent Indian assistance to Sri Lanka to counter the LTTE’sJaffna offensive of 2000, notwithstanding President Kumaratunga’s pluralist discourse and manifest willingness to radically restructure the state. In an interview given to Nirupama Subramanian of The Hindu, President Kumaratunga was to express her grave disappointment.

The Tamil Nadu factor prevented Delhi from signing a Defense agreement with Sri Lanka when it was mooted by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose commitment to a negotiated, non-military solution was obvious to the point of excessiveness.

My point is this: Sinhala chauvinism does exist and plays a negative role but not everything is the fault of Sinhala chauvinism. There is such a thing as Tamil chauvinism, which has an autonomous existence, and poses an abiding threat to Sri Lanka as a single country. This is also a factor in the birth and sustenance of Sinhala chauvinism. However, it is not necessary to adopt a narrow Sinhala chauvinist stand to combat Tamil chauvinism.

All Along The Watchtower
The discourse of the agitations in Tamil Nadu (and now Karnataka), which involves threats to cross the waters in support of their Tamil co-ethnics, must serve as  salutary reminder and warning, as must the hate speech in the cyber spaces of the Tamil Diaspora. This little island has powerful enemies with aggressive, expansionist impulses. The state is threatened and has always been threatened by an enormous horde across the waters that hates us Sinhalese. While Sri Lanka belongs to all of its citizens whatever their ethnicity or religion, while all those citizens have equal rights irrespective of ethnicity and religion, while this island is the homeland not only of the Sinhalese, it is the only homeland that the Sinhalese have. It is where we are coming from and the only place we have to go back to. It is where for better or worse, we belong. It is who we are. Though it does not belong only to us, it is the only place that really belongs to us and in the final analysis, the only place we really belong to. It is not only ours, but it is ours. We must protect it and ourselves, for no one else will. We are unique but we are not superior to anyone else. The fact that our uniqueness does not confer intrinsic superiority does not mean we must forget our uniqueness. It is only on this island, in this combination of space and language that we can be comfortable in our uniqueness. We have our own special destiny, though this is not a destiny superior to that of any other.

We must protect ourselves and our home. Given the dangerous environment we shall always exist in - and for this we must thank Karunanidhi, Vaiko, Ramdoss and the claque of Tamil Nadu filmmakers for reminding us - this island will always have to be something of a fortress with its ramparts and watchtowers. This means that autonomy will have to be finely calculated so that it makes the Tamil people sufficiently comfortable to be integrated into Sri Lanka but is not so excessive as to permit interaction with Tamil Nadu. Devolution must be centripetal not centrifugal. Too little as well as too much devolution can act in a centrifugal rather than a centripetal fashion.
 

Before Barack, After Barack: The Obama Age
The reminder or realization that Sri Lanka will always have to be something of a fortress state is in no way a commendation of the ridiculously narrow minded and backward sentiments that are being aired by those who see themselves as Sinhala nationalists.  A fortress cannot survive without supplies, at odds with its changing environment. If Sinhala ultra-nationalism laments the impending victory of Barack Obama (whom I supported in print, way before the Democratic nomination) while the world welcomes it, there is something wrong with Sinhala nationalism, not with the rest of humanity. A Barack Obama victory will tilt the balance between ethno-nationalism and republican civic nationalism in favor of the latter. Ethno nationalism, often antiquarian, holds that an older or majority ethnic or ethno religious community has some greater claim over or ownership of a given territory while modern civic (and especially but not exclusively republican) nationalism holds that every citizen has equal rights and equal ownership of that country. (The Sri Lankan state as defined by the Sri Lankan Constitution is a Republic, and the Constitution is the supreme law to which we all owe allegiance).

When General Colin Powell, Jamaican-born former Chief of Staff of the US Armed Forces and US Secretary of State endorsed Barack Obama last week, he gave as one of his reasons his disgust that John McCain had not responded appropriately to an ignorant heckler in a Republican crowd who had shouted that Obama was a Muslim. (As is well known Obama is a Christian who often quotes the Scripture in his speeches). Colin Powell said that Senator McCain should have responded “so what if he is?” and went onto to tell the TV audience about how moved he was about US Muslims dying for their country while fighting against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq. He concluded that he looks greatly forward to the day that the USA has a President of the Muslim faith.  

In case some Sinhala chauvinist were to scoff that this is good and fine for the USA a  new nation of immigrants unlike one with an ancient civilization, one may have to remind them that India, with a 5,000 year civilization and a history that produced the Buddha, Asoka, Gandhi and Nehru, has a population that is 85% Hindu, but a Prime Minister that who is a Sikh (2% of the population), had a President who was a Tamil speaking Muslim (when India had an adversarial strategic equation with an Islamic state), and a pre-eminent politician of Italian Catholic origin. The commonality of values and notions of citizenship between the world’s most powerful democracy (the USA) and the world’s most populous democracy (India) will be cemented by an Obama triumph. Sri Lanka cannot survive as one country unless it forges a single sense of identity a sense of nationhood which shares those values of inclusion, equality, merit and absence of ethnic or ethno religious discrimination.

Especially with the Tamil Nadu factor next door, Sri Lanka can stay united only if its Tamil citizens feel equal citizens and partners of this country. Any sense of suffocation due to insufficiency of autonomous political space; of alienation - which is unavoidable when there is a discourse of discrimination and intimations of inequity (”organic”, “visitors” , “majority ownership”) - leaves room for external attraction, manipulation and intervention. A contented integrated household is an entity which can maintain the friendliest and most productive relations with its neighbor. Only a household with unhappy inhabitants can be subject to manipulation by neighbors, and often will be. A house divided cannot stand, and a house which practices or permits discrimination cannot but be divided.

(These are the strictly personal views of the author.)

• For a Sri Lankan Nationalism
• WINNING THE WAR, WINNING THE PEACE
• TAMIL NADU, THE INDIAN MODEL AND DEVOLUTION
• What Can We Expect from the APRC?
• The persuasive power of numbers (Part 2): “54 per cent of Tamils live outside the North and East”

An interview on Emergency Rule, GSP+, Human Rights and Democracy in Sri Lanka conducted with Asanga Welikala, author of A State of Permanent Crisis: Constitutional Government, Fundamental Rights, and States of Emergency in Sri Lanka and, writing as Publius, one of the best read political and constitutional commentators on this site.

(If the video is choppy, hit pause and go make yourself a cuppa. The video will continue to download in the background. After around 5 minutes, hit play.)

• Send us content for publication
• Groundviews back online, with new features and enhanced for mobile phones
• Groundviews on Twitter
• Present situation in Jaffna: A video interview in English and Sinhala
• Going home…

What comes to mind when one hears the word poverty? Scarcity, shortage, paucity, deficiency, dearth are words that are in the Thesaurus. Yet, the word confuses me in the way it is commonly used.

I live in Sri Lanka, a developing country with GDP of about US $1,000 per capita. In western terms, this is a poor nation. I became a resident of Sri Lanka in 1988 having lived in Canada for 15 years. Economically, Sri Lankans have less material wealth than an average person in the west. In happiness, I am not sure.

I am confused about the word because in the last 20 years I have had a fulfilling life of abundance of whatever is needed to be healthy, happy and lead a meaningful existence. I have been fortunate to encounter an abundance of colourful, interesting people and nature’s bounty. I have had experiences where I have seen the best and the worst in people and the beauty of the greenery and the wrath of nature like the Tsunami. I have had some of the most memorable times - happy and sad - celebrating the wonder and the fragility of life here. We need only a small excuse to get together for a party. In fact there is a saying in Sinhala, which goes; “People here will continue the party even as the ship sinks”.

In material terms, I have not been obsessed with creating a nest egg. I do not own anything and I have had a life where I did not worry myself into thinking too much about the future, so I have enjoyed much of my life in the present. I earn well and spend well. However, I do not have the latest gadgets and technology in anything. The vehicle I drive is 15 years old and the 3 year old mobile, the 4 year old computer, they all do the job until they break. I spend money learning new things, seeing places, giving our children the best opportunities for education, novel experiences and other activities such as sports and the arts so they become balanced individuals. Then I give generously of my time, knowledge and money to the needy.

My lack of interest in the latest designs in technology is because some of the happiest people I have met have so little in material wealth. I learned my generosity from people who have not much to give, but willing to give the shirt off their back when someone is in need.

When I ran the solar energy venture two decades ago, the people who bought a system were in remote rural areas. They were mostly farmers earning about US $ 2,000 per year at the time. For them, a US $ 350 investment for a solar electricity system was significant.

Whenever visited a customer, I felt awkward when they showered gifts of rice, fruits, vegetables and a sumptuous meal on me. I would ponder on the fact that they were customers who paid good money for the product I sold them, but were still generous in their appreciation. When I asked, they said this was their way of showing me gratitude for bringing them light. I encounter these kinds of wonderful generosity on a daily basis, so that is why the word poverty and its western connotations confuse me.

The confusion comes from not understanding the narrow definition based on economics and money the west has given it. I do. However, I also realize how much this narrow measurement hurts people and nations in their dignity, esteem and confidence. If you are economically poor you are not valued and respected. So, it is easy for western nations to use their power to invade, subjugate and control as “those people are poor and they cannot look after themselves”. If people are poor, life is deemed cheap too. So, when western troops kill and maim innocent people in Iraq or Afghanistan or when people kill each other in Africa, they are not valued. The implication is they are poor so they are insignificant. In effect, there is an assumption that if they are poor and different, ‘they do not think and feel like us as humans’. On the contrary, it is a catastrophe when people in the west are killed like we saw with 9/11. So, the word poverty has created a double standard.

The west’s solution is aid. However, the western model of aid creates a culture of dependence and does not build sustainable economic wealth. So the cycle continues with aid agencies doing projects mostly at a superficial level to help the poor economically and dictate terms in the name of the market and democracy that actually hurt societies, livelihoods and cultures who have managed themselves very well through another measurement - happiness, balance of nature, contentment and self sufficiency. So, we need to rethink the definition of poverty and come up with one that is broader than the current economic measure of it through GDP. This way, we will help build the esteem of those people deemed economically poor and become a part of a true globalized society based on equanimity and dignity.

A version of this essay appears in Ode Magazine.

• Thoughts For Discussion - A JVP View
• (Mis)-apportioning the Public Money
• How high is our Social Esteem in Sri Lanka?
• Western baloney on “human rights”
• Dhamma or Violence in Sri Lanka

The title roughly translates to Tigers, Traitor and UNPiers.

I’ve come to understand, that the moment you talk about the rights of the minorities, you become a kotiya. If your argument is for a federal system, people’s right to self determination or how minorities are oppressed, you will be tagged a kotiya at the end of it.

I’ve come to understand, that the moment you criticize the current administration, you become a deshadhrohiya. If you talk about how your basic rights like free speech and movement are curtailed, how the system manages to cover everything under the umbrella of national security and get away with it, how the administration lacks vision, how the big guy is catering to the red neck Sri Lankan south, you will be tagged a deshadrohiya at the end of it.

I’ve come to understand, that the moment you point out the faults of the administration system, when you criticize how the administration is, when you point out that it’s becoming a nanny state, you will be tagged a UNP-Karaya at the end of it.

• From democracy to farce
• The JVP in Sri Lanka - Where to now?
• Plus 25: Things we can’t do because of “National Security” in Sri Lanka
• Double standards?
• Exit strategies