Co-sponsorship means outright capitulation

John Kerry playing Governor?

‘It could have been worse’ is not a victory claim. It is but the whimper of someone who believes he got a consolation prize. President Maithripala Sirisena says ‘it could have been hundreds of thousands of times worse had Mahinda Rajapaksa won on January 8.’ He was referring to the US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka. This was a week ago. 

He is correct. The final draft is not as odious as the one circulated a few days ago and even that one would appear to be less ‘serious’ that what one might have expected following UN Report on rights violations and other matters during the last stages of Sri Lanka’s struggle against terrorism. 

The hurrahs, of course, have to wait the measurement of the content against implications for sovereignty. Sure, in the 21st Century we can only speak of ‘degrees of sovereignty’, but then again there is a bottom line to everything. Take the people out of the equation of decision-making and it amounts to capitulation to the country that poses the greatest threat to world peace, the USA. There are no ‘degrees’ there. 

The watered down version, so-called, raises several questions. First of all the fact of watering-down implies that these exercises are fraught with integrity deficits. The entire process was flawed and this has been well established. However, if one assumes that politics and outcome-preferences did not color report-writing then watering-down implies ‘deals’. In other words terms such as truth, justice, retribution and such are but sanitizers for what is essentially a game about control. It’s about interest and those who are willing to play along. Ask Noam Chomsky — he will tell you what US foreign policy is all about. 

Secondly, in both preamble and operative articles that compromise the whole notion of a ‘domestic inquiry’. Sure, as Ranil Wickremesinghe says, judges have to be appointed by the President or the Constitutional Council, but let us not be fooled into believing that his role would be anything more than rubber-stamping US nominees from the Commonwealth and other countries. The resolution would have Sri Lanka pass retroactive legislation notwithstanding the fact that the US constitution specifically prohibits ex post facto legislation. The point will not be made, we can rest assured. We have, after all, a Foreign Minister who called the UN Report ‘fair and balanced’ and as such can be sure which side he’s batting for!

Thirdly, as Dayan Jayatilleka points out, ‘we are asked to try and punish those who saved us from terror and reunified our country in Special Court with foreign judges; those who gave weapons and equipment to the Tigers will decide the fate of those who fought them and gave political leadership to that fight.’

Fourth, if what Dayan envisages does materialize a dangerous precedence is created that makes human shields a far more potent instrument for terrorist all over the world.

Fifth, it will do nothing to concretize inter-communal harmony and national reconciliation. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is saluting this resolution. The TNA speaks of victims. The TNA doesn’t seem to understand that every citizen of this country was a victim and even those unborn at that time are victims; terrorists not only engaged in mass murder but also wrecked the country’s economy. The TNA, as mouthpiece and the legal voice of the LTTE, is listed in the perpetrators’ column, as are the 11,000 plus LTTE cadres released without trial in the previous regime’s ‘general amnesty’ in all but name.

Finally, and most worrying, is the decision by the Government (if we go by US State Secretary John Kerry’s assertion) to co-sponsor the resolution. Co-sponsorship in effect amounts to an affirmation of the preamble and an undertaking to operationalize these.

The President is correct in saying that things could have been worse. The previous regime erred and it’s President Sirisena’s unfortunate lot to make the best out of a bad situation. He should learn, then, from the errors. Co-sponsorship would be an error because it promises what is patently impossible to deliver. In the end operationalizing has to happen within the framework that is made of the constitution, the Parliament and the sentiments of the people. The last of course can be ‘obtained’ by presumption, but not the first two. 

So let the Resolution come. Let us not panic. Let us engage, by all means. But let us not agree to rule out meaningful engagement by the very fact of co-sponsorship.

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Obsessions blur justice

Each time there’s a gruesome crime, especially if the victim is a child who is both raped and murdered, the natural public outrage is accompanied by shrill calls for the implementation of the death penalty.  We saw all of this when a five year old girl was abducted, raped and murdered a few days ago.  

The horror and outrage came with a barrage of accusations.  Parental neglect was mentioned.  The moral degradation of society as a whole was talked about.  As days passed without any arrests being made the police was charged with incompetence.  An impatient public and an equally impatient media began to speculate.  Then began the hanging.  

First it was the child’s father.  He was not even allowed to attend her funeral; he was warned that mob justice might await him.  Then it was the child’s grandfather.  Then it was a 17 year old neighbor.  They were all hanged by both the media and by a punishment-hungry public.  That was not all, every person close to those who was thus ‘hanged’ were also hanged for the crime of association.  Even if no one pointed finger at them directly, they are scarred in ways that no innocent individual ought to be scarred.

But why?  Because the media wanted a gory story to sell?  True, to an extent.  Because there are thousands salivating to consume a gory story? Yes, that’s true too.  There’s are demand and supply factors in these things.    Among those who blame the media for ‘assassinating that poor, innocent 17 year old boy’ after someone else confessed to the crume, are many who were earlier calling for the boy’s blood and before that the blood of the victim’s father and that of her grandfather.  It is almost as if they are as blood-thirsty as the perpetrator clearly was.  And it is as though everyone believes that whoever is responsible in whatever degree, there’s one person who is innocent: him/herself. 

The entire process throws some light on one of the key problems inherent in implementing the death penalty: error.  What if the father was dealt ‘mob justice’.  What if he were lynched, as some advocated because ‘the law is slow and prone to abuse’?  What if they lynched the grandfather or ‘the poor 17 year old boy’?  What would they do after someone else confesses? How would they bring the dead back to life?

One might argue that the judicial process will not condemn or hang an innocent person, but history shows otherwise.  There are of course other problems with the death penalty which should be discussed separately. The concern here is for the wrongly murdered.  Had mob justice prevailed, either the father, the grandfather or the 17 year old boy would be dead. The murderers cannot offer any kind of compensation for the victim of their error.  

In this case, there was no ‘mob justice’ executed to the point where someone had to die.  However there were multiple assassinations.  Who is to blame for the additional suffering of the victim’s parents and close relatives courtesy the insane rush to ‘find a rapist and hang the scoundrel’?  Who is going to compensate and how for the irreparable damage to reputation and the pain of mind caused?  What do we do with those ‘corpses’?  Where do we begin the blame game and how do we end it?  Indeed, do we even want to end it?

A five-year old girl was raped and killed a few days ago in Kotadeniyawa.  Her name became known all over the country.  It is a tragedy that ought to have sparked a debate on the safety of our children.  We should be talking about what parents should do to protect their children, about safe environments and civil responsibility.  Instead we let the discussion degenerate into a shouting match about crime and punishment where everyone seemed to be possessed by an insane desire to play judge, jury and executioner.  

This morning (Friday, as I write) the body of a 10 year old boy was found in Athurugiriya.  He had been hacked to death.  Who do we want to hang tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen?  

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Venus-Serena tied at Love-All

This is the forty sixth in a series I am writing for the JEANS section of 'The Nation'.  The series is for children. Adults, consider yourselves warned...you might re-discover a child within you!  Scroll down for other articles in this series. 

Serena Williams is one of the greatest tennis players ever.  In fact many would say she is the greatest female player of all time.  A few days ago Serena Williams lost to Roberta Vinci of Italy in the Semi-Final of the US Open.  Had she won, she would have been one match away from a rare calendar Grand Slam (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Opens), a feat that has not been achieved since Steffi Graf swept the Grand Slam events in 1988.  

No athlete, however successful, can be happy at being defeated even if the result is accepted with grace.  Great athletes compete to win.  They can take defeats and will often use them as reasons to work harder at their game so they can do better next time.  Serena doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone.  Her place in history is already assured.  

Her older sister Venus, also a champion whose achievements although not as spectacular are still praiseworthy, had this to say about a possible Serena loss in the Semi-Final or Final: “If it doesn't happen, it's not going to make or break you. We don't have anything to prove. She has nothing to prove. She's really the best ever, so what are you going to do? Just try to make it. If you don't, then that's that and go to the next one."

It didn’t happen.  Serena will move on.  But she left something behind that was beautiful and profound, something that had nothing to do with tennis.  It didn’t happen at the end of the Semi-Final, but at the end of the previous match, the Quarter-Final.  

It was not the first time she had beaten Venus, but this match was special.  Venus is already 35 but was showing the kind of form that won her many titles at the turn of the century when she, not Serena, was the ‘better sister’.  Serena was No 1 and was expected to win.  She did.  It was, according to Serena, one of the toughest matches she had played ‘in a really, really, really long time’.  All the more reason for Venus to be disappointed.  

Strangely, though, it was the loser who was consoling the winner.  Venus was all smiles as she held her sister in her arms.  They both would have known and now we know too that on this particular occasion it was somehow tougher for the winner.

No one knows what the sisters said to each other at the net when the match was over.  Serena said she doesn’t remember anything at all.  Venus wasn’t sure either: ‘I just said “I’m so happy for you”.  I don’t remember what else I said after that.  Just moments. Just the moments.’

Sisters are like that.  Siblings, in general, are like that.  It’s not the words that count for often the words are harsh and unforgiving.  It’s the gestures that matter.  It’s the moments.  

Other articles in this series

Some jokes are not funny

There's an ant story waiting for you
And you can be a rainbow-maker
Trees are noble teachers
On cloudless nights the moon is a hole
Gulp down those hurtful words
A question is a boat, a jet, a space-ship or a heart
Quotes can take you far but they can also stop you
No one is weak
The fisherman in a black shirt
Let's celebrate Nelli and Nelliness
Ready for time travel?
Puddles look back at you, did you know?
What's the view like from your door?
The world is rearranged by silhouettes
How would you paint the sky?
It is cool to slosh around
You can compose your own music
Pebbles are amazing things
You can fly if you want to
The happiest days of our lives
So what do you want to do with the rain?
Still looking for that secret passage?
Maybe we should respect the dust we walk on
Numbers are beautiful
There are libraries everywhere
Collect something crazy
Fragments speak of a thousand stories
The games you can and cannot play with rice
The magic of the road less-traveled
Have you ever thought of forgiving?
Wallflowers are pretty, aren't they?
What kind of friend do you want to be?
Noticed the countless butterflies around you?
It's great to chase rainbows
In praise of 'lesser' creatures
A mango is a book did you know?
Expressions are interesting things
How many pairs of eyes do you need?
So no one likes you?
There is magic in faraway lights
The thambilil-seller of Giriulla
When people won't listen, things will
Lessons of the seven-times table

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There are nights in the middle of the day

This is the forty seventh in a series of articles on rebels and rebellion written for the FREE section of 'The Nation'. Scroll to the end for other articles in this series.  'FREE' is dedicated to youth and youthfulness.

‘Terrible’ things can happen any moment.  ‘Terrible’ of course is a subjective thing.  What seems terrible to you may seem trivial to someone else.  Also, what you think is ‘terrible’ right now might appear insignificant later on.  However, when ‘terrible’ happens, it is not trivial, it is ‘terrible’.  It can come in many forms of course, but when it happens it’s like the sun has gone out and all of a sudden it is dark.  That’s how you get night in the middle of the day. 

So what do you do?  You think of terrible nights, that’s what you do!  

On the face of it there’s nothing to say that nights are worse than days, that somehow when there’s light terrible things don’t happen or that they don’t feel as bad.  The only difference is that in one instance there’s light and in the other there isn’t.  But think of it.  When it’s night here, there’s sunlight somewhere else and vice versa.  Globally speaking, even if nights are worse, there’s roughly the same quantum of ‘terrible things’ happening, day and night.  

But what of terrible nights?  We have all had bad nights.  Nightmares have surprised us.  They’ve kept us awake.  We have longed for daybreak so we can escape known and unknown terrors of darkness.  That’s where the answer lies.  However bad things seem, there’s a point at which the night ends. 

When the night ends and there’s light, the world looks different and you look at the world differently.    When it’s night there’s limited visibility.  We don’t get as good a sense of our location, our enemies, the surroundings etc., as we would if there was light.  When there’s light we see pathways that we weren't sure existed.  We see escape routes.  We notice weapons we didn’t know were accessible.  We suddenly realize that our range of options have expanded.  

So think of ‘terrible moments’ as such nights.  When it hits you, when it incapacitates you, everything blurs.  You suddenly find that you’ve lost your bearings.  You are not sure of your location.  You don’t know where to turn.  You can’t distinguish friend from enemy.  You don’t know what to do.  But here’s a story that might shed some light.

Way back in the early 1990s, a bunch of people were held in a security-related state institution on Longdon Place.  It wasn’t a prison or rather didn’t look like a prison.  It was a government office.  A police station of sorts.  During the day there were clerks, peons, typists and other officials in addition to lots of policemen in uniform.  After 5 o’clock there were only police officers.  The detainees had to sit/sleep near one of the walls in a huge hall where all the ‘official work’ took place.  And that’s also where they slept at night. 

They were all suspected of being involved in sedition.  They belonged to different political groups which included the JVP and the LTTE.  The LTTE suspect made an observation one day.

‘It’s easy to escape but there’s no point.  I am not interested in the LTTE. I was a victim, an unwilling recruit.  But I am well-trained.  I know how to get out.’

He outlined his plan.  And then said, ‘the trick is not to run, but to stay in one place for a long time.  I might have to hide in a sewer or in a toilet or in some other terrible place.  I might have to stay there for a couple of days.  Then it’s easy.  By that time they won’t be looking anywhere near this place.  They would expect me to be far away.  That’s when I make the break.’

You have to be patient.  Relax.  It passes.  All you have to do is to be very still.  Wait.  The hours pass. The night ends.  There will be light.

Other articles in this series
Don't hold back when you groom

The sun will never set
When the enemy expands consider inflation
When you are the last one standing
Targets visible and targets unidentified
When you have to vote
So when are you planning to graduate?
The belly of the beast is addictive
When you meet pomposity, flip the script
When did you last speak with an old man?
Dear Rebel, please keep it short
Get ready for those setbacks
The rebel must calculate or perish
Are you ready to deceive?
Dear Rebel, 'P' is also for 'Proportion'
Dear Rebel, have you got the e-factor out of the way?
Have you carefully considered the f-word?
It is so easy to name the enemy, right?
The p-word cuts both ways
Cards get reflected in eyes, did you know?
It's all about timing
Heroes and heroism are great, but...
Recruiting for a rebellion
The R, L and H of 'Rebellion'
Pack in 'Humor' when you gather rebellion-essentials
When the enemy is your best friend
The MSM Principle of Engagement
Dear Rebel, get some creature-tips!
Dear Rebel, get through your universities first
Read the enemies' Bibles
Poetry, love and revolution
Are you ready to shut down your petrol shed
The details, the details!
Know your comrades
Good to meditate on impermanence.
Time is long, really long
Learn from the termites
Be warned: the first victory is also the first defeat
Prediction is asking for trouble
Visualize, strategize and innovate
How important is authority?
Don't forget to say 'Hello!'
It's not over until you clean up!
Have you met 'PB' of Alutwela?
Are you sure about those selfies?
Power and principles
'Few does not mean 'weak'

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The continuing relevance of Martin Wickramasinghe

This was first published in the Daily News on September 23, 2009, almost 6 years to the day.  Posting here since this is the 'reading month'.  

And I write today after attending a book launch at the International Book Fair. The books: ‘Maha Gathkaru Vatha’, a biography of Martin Wickramasinghe, authored by W.A. Abeysinghe; ‘Uprooted’ (English translation of Wickramasinghe’s ‘Gamperaliya’ by Lakshmi De Silva and Ranga Wickramasinghe), ‘Selected Short Stories of Martin Wickramasinghe’ (translated by Ranga Wickramasinghe) and Tamil translation of the last two books. 

W.A. Abeysinghe, commented on the necessarily ‘unfinishing’ nature of the task he had undertaken: ‘Martin Wickramasinghe avasan karanna behe’ (One cannot ‘complete’ him). True. The man was a colossus, as literary genius, sociologist and philosopher and other things besides. 

It occurred to me that there are other things that are of an ‘unfinishing’ nature in terms of description, particularly the answer to the question, ‘Who are we?’ or, in common Sinhala parlance, ‘ape kama’ (‘ourness’ if you will). Martin Wickramasinghe’s life can be described (in part) as an investigation of this question. 

He did not give us a definite answer but the description of that journey is all over his extensive writing; and so too the necessarily indescribable understanding that he obtained in the course of his travels. 

He has been described as the pioneer in our search for who we are, for our roots, what made us what we are. True. 

For decades we have tried to understand ourselves in opposition to perceived enemies. First it was the then Velupillai Prabhakaran. Today, with Prabhakaran dead and gone, the spectre resumed its haunting role. Martin Wickramasinghe was an exception in that his search was independent of that kind of intellectual, ideological and psychological baggage. 

This is why he neither feared the ‘other’ nor responded in anger. This is the only way that one can meaningfully and effectively engage the other. 

When we know where we came from, we realize where we are and where we are going and most importantly where we should be going. Take any ‘lost’ nation or community and I am convinced that the cause of ‘lostness’ can be traced to a refusal to explore self (in its broader, societal, sense).

The importance of translating Martin Wickramasinghe also derives from this same exercise; not only should we know who we are, we have to state the fact to the world. If not, we open ourselves (as has been the case) to be defined by others in accordance to their particular objectives. We must never forget the telling definition of power proposed by the author of ‘We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed along with our families’, Peter Gourevich: ‘Power lies in the ability to make someone inhabit your version of their reality’. 

For too long, we’ve let the Sudda define who we are. And this is why we have our kalu-suddas turned into veritable echos of Suddha-wish: ‘Sri Lanka is a failed state’ (for example). But let’s forget the Sudda. Have we had that conversation with our nearest relative yet? Have we stated who we are to our closest neighbour? I am thinking of the Tamil Community and I am writing as a Sinhalese. 

Sure we have, in political terms, which, I am convinced is several times removed from the living, eating, breathing, love-making reality of our social all. Language can be a bridge, yes, but a language heavy with politics and ideology is but a chasm disguised as a bridge. Literature and art are the true bridges, the true instruments that make meaningful conversation possible. 

If all modern Sinhala literature derived to a greater or lesser degree from the pages of ‘Gamperaliya’ and if literature is a truer reflection of social reality including history, heritage, culture, sensibility and world-view; then translating the novel into Tamil is a crucial first step. 

The problem is there are a million more steps to take along a million different pathways. 

And in this we have to understand that the reverse is also true. We must read the Tamil equivalent of all the Gamperaliyas of that community. 

I applaud this effort of the Martin Wickramasinghe Trust, therefore. It teaches all of us in post-LTTE Sri Lanka an important lesson by way of ‘methodologizing’ our political and social practice. 

It is a necessary extension of the lifetime efforts of that inimitable father of modern Sinhala literature, Martin Wickramasinghe.

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වෙරළේ සුදා වැඩට බසී

විධායක ජනපති බලතල සහ පක්ෂ නායක බලතල තිබිලත් පක්ෂෙ සුද්ද කරනවා වෙනුවට තවත් අපිරිසිදු කරන එක, මෛත්‍රි වෙරළ සුද්ද කරන්න උත්සාහ කරන එක ලොකු දෙයක්. අපි එයාට 'වෙරළේ සුදා' කියමුද?

තනතුරු බෙදාගන්න පොරකාපු අය දැන් ආයතන බෙදාගන්න පොරකනවලු. වේ ටු ගෝ යහපාලනය.

සමහර අය පක්ෂ හදාගන්නේ රටේ නායකයා වෙන්න. මෛත්‍රී රටේ නායකයා වෙලා තියෙන්න පක්ෂේ හදාගන්න වගේ.

දෙමුහුන් ආණ්ඩුවකට දෙමුහුන් උසාවියක්! ඒ විදිහට බලන කොට නම් පොඩි ලොජික් එකක් නැත්තෙත් නැහැ.

සේයා ගේ ඝාතකයා කොකා කෝලා කෝලම ත් ඉවර කෙරුව එහෙනම්.

ලාවට මතකයි '20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය' කියල මොකද්දෝ එකක් ගැන කට්ටිය කතා වුනා කියලා.

අනුර කුමාරගේ ලොකුම හිසරදය: ජවිපෙ ඊළඟ මැතිවරණයේ ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවට දාන්නේ කවුද?

චම්පික රණවක ගේ ලොකුම හිසරදය: 'මම මෛත්‍රී ගේ ගෝලයද රනිල් ගේ ගෝලයද?'

දේශපාලනය යනු හොඳ වචන කුණුහරුප බවට පෙරලීමයි: උදා :- ආශ්චර්යය, මෛත්‍රිය, යහපාලනය. අලුත්ම කුනුහරුපය: හයිබ්‍රිඩ්.

දේශපාලනය නිසා කුණුහරුප වීමට නියමිත වචන: සහජීවනය, සංහිඳියාව, ව්‍යවස්ථාව, ප්‍රාඥයා, රාජතාන්ත්‍රික.

කාගේවත් විරෝධයක් නැතත් ගණිකාවෘතියේ යෙදවීමෙන් නිරර්ථක වූ වචනයකි 'සාමය'. ඒ ඉරණම 'යහපාලනය' යන වචනයටද හිමි වීමේ ලකුණු පෙනේ.

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The adoh-machan theory of politics

The Adoh-Machan Theory of Politics

There was a time when Ranjan Ramanayake said ‘ADOH!’ to Nimal Lansa.  Now he says ‘Machang’ (softly, cooingly).  

The Thickness of Ego

Compassion, loving kindness, equanimity and the ability to rejoice at another’s joy are all thicker than hatred, envy and ego.  In politics, however, this is reversed.  Hatred, envy and ego are thick and are as thick as thieves.

The Nation’s Value

There’s a faint recollection that there was a time when Maithripala loyalists were muttering that a nation ought to have a limitless value (රටකට ඕනෑ අපමණ අගයක්).  They have a couple of questions to answer.  First, what’s Nimal Lansa’s value?  Secondly, does the nation need Nimal Lansa?

The Value of a Country

Lansa, Vijithamuni, Thilanga, Hisbulla and others know the ‘unlimited value’ of our country (රටකට අවශ්ය අපමණ අගය).

Value-Addition

Seek not from those who stake so much on hatred and vengeance an ‘unlimited value for our country’.  

Exchange Value

Today it’s Lansa and Arundika.  Tomorrow, perhaps, SB and Susil.  The day after?  Well, we could have Ranil and Maithri.  And while we are in this business of exchanging, wouldn’t it be nice if party loyalists can switch parties en masse?  

Post-Election Sri Lanka

A new country, certainly.  A new country plagued by an old disease.  

Democracy Re-defined

Democracy: A process which displaces twelve million people of a single country (or half its population).  For example, Syria. 

A Strange Creature

He is the General Secretary of a ‘green’ coalition led by Ranil Wickremesinghe. He is also the nominee to the Constitutional Council of the leader of the ‘blue’ party, Maithripala Sirisena.  Champika is therefore Ranil’s right-hand man as well as Maithri’s right-hand man.  A strange beast indeed. 

Bye-Bye Reconciliation

A person consumed by hatred who is a convicted fraud has been put in charge of ‘reconciliation’ — that’s how serious this government is about that ‘little matter’.

Ranil’s Lichchavis

The cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and state ministers are the Lichchavis of the 21st Century.  That’s according to Ranil Wickrememsinghe.  

Harsha and Geography

Dr Harsha de Silva promises ‘an economy-centered foreign policy’.  One would have though his first visit would be to China.  He’s gone to Hong Kong.  Part of China, true, but still! 

Thieves and Murderers

According to CBK, Maithri is the only clean SLFPer; all others are either crooks or murderers or both.  Therefore all the SLFPers who were given ministerial posts by Maithri are crooks or murderers or both.  Some generosity!

Tragedy

Replacing a Real Mahinda Regime with a Fake Mahinda Regime.  Note: ‘Fake Mahinda’ = Maithri-Ranil-CBK Triumvirate. 

Ranil’s Memory Loss

Has Ranil forgotten the recommendations made by friends he appointed to investigate alleged wrongdoing by friends he appointed to high places?

Hang Them Both!

Let us unreservedly condemn the release on bail of two bus drivers who planned and executed to perfection the crime of smashing into a PSD Defender from opposite times.  They should both have been hanged in court itself. Right?

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'Weva' and not 'development' is who we are and will be

The dominant development paradigms and their signature projects can be easily assessed if one were to trace their tagline-shifts. The best example is one that my father pointed out almost 20 years ago. Structural adjustment: First we were fed ‘structural adjustment’. Then it was called ‘structural adjustment with a human face’. Finally we got ‘structural adjustment with poverty alleviation’. He observed that these made for a symptomatic reading of what structural adjustment was all about. He also observed that we were being asked to adjust our structures to ensure the sustainable development of economies and profit-making and resource-extracting ventures of those who designed these projects, coined these terms.

Development is about word, word-appropriation, word-recycling and word-sale back to word-creator. Take ‘sustainability’ for example. Economies that were sustainable were destroyed in the name of development and once they were developed into ruination, the trappings of the model that was destroyed were ‘introduced’ as brand-new inventions of development’s privileged architects not in the manner warranting a tag ‘returned with thanks’ but a magic formula, hitherto unknown. Yes, with a price tag too.

Some might think that these terms are mere names that describe processes designed for the common good after long deliberation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Buzz words are part and parcel of re-branding, re-launching product, ensuring freshness, erasing negative perceptions. This is why we get the development pundits trotting out different blueprints and catch-all solutions from time to time. Let me throw some words out here. These are all development-related words the meaning of which few if any can claim to understand fully and which don’t necessarily sit well either with other words nor relevant to improving people’s lives. There’s ‘development’ itself. Green Revolution. Chemical inputs. Markets. Productivity. Markets. Efficiency. Markets. Long-term. Markets. Pest-management. Markets. Food security. Markets. Informal sector. Markets. S&M. Markets. Sustainability. Markets. Thrift. Markets. Credit. Markets. Microfinance. Markets. This. Markets. That. Markets. Other things. Markets.

And they all have meanings. Definitions. They are all defined for us. They are defined in ways that make us believe that either we nor our ancestors ever knew these things and as such we ought to be grateful to those who ‘teach’ these things to us. Some of us actually are grateful. That’s also about markets. The free-market of survival; that of the push-pull resolution and the demand-supply product of new age slavery.

I was thinking about micro-finance. About thrift and credit. Markets pertaining to these things. Tills came to mind. Bank accounts. Little drops of water and little grains of sand making the mighty ocean and the good earth since poisoned with chemical inputs and an obnoxious mining for profit. ‘Small groups’ and revolving funds came to mind. Recovery rates. Grameen slithered by. SANASA stood as witness to the fascination with the currently-popular, the just-passing-through something or the other that cannot wait to find out what happens to the children of the ‘beneficiaries’ who were turned into dependents in the name of development.

And I thought of things that survived these blueprints and grandiose plans, the NGOs and foreign experts, the investments and resource-extraction, the lie and deception, the deceit and gullibility. I thought of the weva.

I remembered an excursion to areas hit by drought in 2001 in the South East Dry Zone (SEDZ). I wondered then what the land would say if it got to relate its own story. I tried to listen. I recorded. Imperfectly, of course. This is the SEDZ speaking.

“Yes, water is an issue. How can it not be for anyone, even those outside the SEDZ? Want me to put it in a nutshell? Or in a bottle, since that’s the trend now? This is how it was, friend. My children knew all about water conservation, water management. And long before the International Irrigation Management Institute and its latest water-guzzling avatar, International Water Management Institute, turned up and headquartered in our island. At the top end, we had what we call the polkatu weva, then the kulu weva (i.e. in the shape of a winnowing fan), then the gam weva (village pond), followed by the maha weva (reservoir) and then of course the saagaraya (major reservoir). I am also called the Wellassa, the hundred thousand tracts of paddy land. My being was dotted with thousands of village tanks.

Sorry, ‘tank’ doesn’t really convey the idea of a weva. A weva is not just a place where water is held. It held together a community, the flora and fauna of a particular area. It provided water for agriculture, for the cattle, for bathing purposes, washing etc. When a weva breached, my children wept, for it signaled the death of a community. With the dam went the village.”

What is weva then, if not a product of the thrift principle? What is weva if not part of a larger process of credit, of borrowing now, paying later in terms of specific and deliberate practices that are in concert with and act to conserve a given ecology? The entire system of cascade irrigation described above is about meticulous water conservation. It is about sharing. It is about community. Collective. Togetherness.

Weva is about sustainability. Biodiversity. Erring on the side of caution in view of possible climate change. Investment. Food security. Capital accumulation. Healthy economic conservatism. It’s all the things that development experts tell us are good for us (in the way THEY defined and not the way it ought to be, i.e. in terms of original meaning of word and the substance of practice). It is our past. Present. Future. It is our nation. Our nationalism. Our sovereignty. Our territorial integrity. Our way of being. Culture. Civilization. Philosophy.

I cannot think of a single word that is as Sri Lankan as ‘weva’. Development, in contrast, is an impoverished and misleading term, I am convinced.

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