SRI LANKA: Pandora’s Box

An Article by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: Pandora’s Box
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

In case of fraudulent agreements, only such shall be valid as are entered into by spies.
– Arthashastra by Kautilya

She was an icon who gave her energy to develop Sri Lankan cinema. Perhaps it was the era in which the country was searching for meaning through cinema to find and assert its uniqueness. However, she later joined the government as a part of popular 'patriotism', eventually being installed as a national list Member of Parliament by the President. Time passed. On many occasions she has enjoyed the fruits of 'patriotism' and tried justify whatever the government has done. She literally sold everything she earned in the field to stand up for popular political trends. Then, suddenly, she resigned. However, her resignation was refused by the executive President. There was nothing she could do but obey what the executive urged her to do, which meant she was sworn in again before the President, back to the same position. And, it is just another example of the curse of 'power' and the behaviors of the persons who manipulate it and are manipulated by it. Freedom beats freedom; She beat herself. When you open Pandora’s Box no matter who you are you will be a victim.
There is no doubt, as is continuously proven by history, of the destruction of the social system when an autocrat is in power, as is happening in Sri Lanka. In the name of democracy, we veiled the autocrat through elections, creating exalted "lovers of democracy." The bitter truth is that concepts such as 'democracy' create dilemma when reality gives us a different taste. Elections in Sri Lanka are nothing but fraudulent agreements between many parties who are cynically manipulating and being manipulated by power.

The recent political evolution in Sri Lanka can be understood as one in which one monster defeats another monster to get rid of his personal difficulties. Once he accomplishes his game against his counterpart, eventually, the monster enters other part of society to eliminate the other layers, to establish "absolutism" and total elimination of dissent. Autocracies do not need to see the functioning social system. Perhaps its main object is to eliminate the functioning system to strengthen an ego-centric power, which is exactly what has happened to the country. The 18th amendment to the constitution only took this further.

Thus, the 'leaders' of the people could survive only by making people powerless and denying them any control over their lives, thanks to the incompetence and brutality of the state. These developments are not accidents or mistakes (Rajan Hoole, Tamils in Sri Lanka: A nation in limbo), but were done deliberately. It was a major strategy used by the monster to control and put the entire society in limbo.

To do conduct such felonious activities, effective methods had and have to be propagated. To create trust in an autocratic system, one has to destroy the trust of the existing system. That is why we are seeing huge propaganda machinery conducted by the government while disabling access to the voluntarily funded dissent of media outlets. But few people are able to understand and daring to question how public taxes have been used to wash our brain to further a political agenda. The autocratic juggernaut and its rabid insecure supporters, has, on the other hand, the task of buying 'curtains', so multitudes can be influenced, to change something as common as common sense. This is the real motive behind actress/actors, sportsmen, certain sections of the academia and others engaging with the President Rajapaksa - not social service or politics, but expanding personal wealth by appearing on stages of cheap political missions. And, this way they were able control sections of society having an influential power for social change.

This idea has been used effectively in many places all over the world. The regimes have urged certain individuals who have power to change public belief to join in their consolidation of autocracy, so then the regime can make the country into a blindness nation, not just a blind folded one. I can do no better than quote the sage words of Noam Chomsky, "….. State propaganda, when supported by the educated classes and when no deviation is permitted from it, can have a big effect. It was a lesson learned by Hitler and many others, and it has;" (Noam Chomsky - Media Control - The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda)

In this situation, as Chomsky informs us, "An alternative conception of democracy is that the public must be barred from managing of their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled. That may sound like an odd conception of democracy, but it's important to understand that it is the prevailing conception. In fact, it has long been, not just in operation, but even in theory." (Ibid)
Here again we can recall a character named Arthur Abdel Simpson, in Eric Ambler's novel Dirty Story, regarding the advice he received as a child from his father; "Although I was only seven when my father was killed. I still remember him very well and some of the things he used to say… One of the first things he taught me was, "Never tell a lie when you can bullshit your way through". (‘On Bullshit', by Harry G. Frankfurt). The present regime is not only going to tell a lie but will continue to bullshit its way through. This social phenomenon is instantly recognizable when one carefully considers the false fictional stories surrounding the recent attack on the Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission that have been spread by the regime.
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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