Elitism propagates international security threat | Daily News

Elitism propagates international security threat

Human indignity is at its best in the all too favourite and clichéd pet expression of self-propagating, egoistic, bloated elitists: ‘everything is under control’ and, oh, he worked ‘under me’, instead of ‘with me’. If all is under control and there is always someone to work under, their acceptance of the existence of someone down below is inevitable and a foregone conclusion and as long as there is a crowd there under control, the threat to national and international security will continue to breed vehemently and vigorously. If the Sinhala majority owes a public apology to the Tamils for their successive discriminatory legislative enactments, the architects and upholders of contemporary systemic existence owe a similar apology to humanity for delivering an unjust world order that has given rise to social tension, unrest, chaos and whatnot which threatens global security. Moreover, the rich and powerful frame social policies not leaving room for participation from the bottom.

Moving away from what should be participatory/ shared and running into the element of control in a one way, linear, top-down flow in governance, the security forces were founded to endorse and consolidate whatever injustice that came from the governing hierarchy. What’s more, these defending forces are told to uphold the status quo denying them the right to even self-expression. The right to dissent, to strike and engage in trade union action does not come within the purview of these defence agencies though discrimination is rampant. Those that have the ‘right connections’ get to the top while the rest suffer in silent indignity. Unable to stomach these blatantly unjust governing tactics, they have even made sacrificial lamb of some state heads.

Those state heads that have involuntarily terminated their lives at the hands of security forces are Indira Gandhi and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat. They are two glaring examples where the governing irregularities were challenged by the respective armies in their own countries following Indira Gandhi’s bombing of the Mecca of Sikh worship, the Amritsar temple, and the much-hated camp David summit Sadat was signatory to. Paying a heavy price was also Rajiv Gandhi and in his case, it was not an army reprisal but orchestrated by the Tiger terrorists for his attempt into an elitist collaborative effort with JR Jayewardene in endorsing unfair legislative enactments to keep ‘everything under control’ that gave rise to the Tiger rebels’ discontent. Whatever the moral base may be, killings, whether state or terrorist, do not justify the resentment but certainly are the cause for resentment.

Global security

Hegemony, power, control, inequality, along with an educational system that dulls the intellect and widespread elitism, have today given rise to much social disruption resulting in numerous social issues that threaten global security. My question on these lines of thought at the recently held seminar on ‘Security in an era of Global Disruptions’ though assured of being taken up provided time permitted was for ‘good reasons’ dumped for the huge presence of elitists were ‘comprehensive whole’ in the audience at the BMICH. Insecurity in an era of global disruptions may have been the sociologist’s banner but as it was organised by the Sri Lanka Army they for reasons understandable and otherwise termed it ‘Security in an era of global disruptions.’

Disruptions were seen by Foreign Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam as a fact of life. But the question is how disruptions became a fact of life. But need it to be really so? It is this writer’s view that what is described as disruptions being a fact of life came into play only when death was imposed on the ‘shared’ philosophy and replaced with hegemony, power, control and elitism – my kick-off point. Until and unless elitism is replaced with simplicity and control with sharing in all fields of human activity, disruptions will continue to plague the world. He also said it was an era of humans. Agreeably so, but certainly not an era of human beings as a result of systemic unjust. What have we made of humans in the absence of human beings? Those that challenge the system are termed terrorists, insurgents and lunatics. In a family, the ‘challenging child’ is termed obstinate while school authorities see them as violent. Conformists being socially favourable, government servants are a star breed into such servility.

This itself is to license the unjust world order and government servants simply say “yes sir, yes sir” and keep filling their bags. Come retiring years following their frills and fancies of sinful immorality, they pronounce feigning sorrow: “What to do? I was in the office then and I could not speak.” Speaking out against an immoral rule is a forerunner to being shown the door. Complying seems to be the chosen path for personal gain. Asking these government servants not of the former civil service to rise to a higher order is akin to finding gems in a cesspit. Britain’s Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, a celebrated, star-studded and colourful Britisher in the British Foreign Service even gave up his job to oppose the irregularities of his government. Against this backdrop, a call to equality and the common good by Kariyawasam is not even a distant dream. The greater the numbers of Robin Cook’s breeding, the lesser the chances of national and international global disruptions.

Kariyawasam also calls for critical thinking, not even a remote possibility with an education system that dulls the intellect and now relegated into a non-existent state. As the ever vibrant Indian scholar and thinker Swami Parthasarathy believes, today’s education only upholds conformity. All follow a certain trend. Conformists have replaced scholars and thinkers. Regretting modern education as the knowledge that builds out of externalities, Swami bemoans that only a few have caught his point on the need for an education system that is based on kindling the intellect for which he believes critical thinking is a ‘must’. But then, the unjust world order needs ‘yes men’ to keep the system afloat, creating social stratification, inequality, divisiveness. Emotional governance has come to stay devoid of rationality.

Come to think of it. Swami Parthasarathy was right. His expressions conform to the highest levels of morality. We no longer see the like of Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Lincoln for they developed their intellect to such dizzy heights where they took the system to task. Those that made world history were not dishonourable conformists but men of honour, upright and noble in a character who very boldly criticised the wrong. Preferring his bare bodied state to be in Buckingham Palace instead of opting for what appeals to the mediocre as ‘sartorial elegance’, Gandhi refused to shift from his convictions and when the BBC asked him why, he said, “I do not want to adorn myself with artificiality. Gandhi’s reference to artificiality included indeed in a more broader sense his dislike towards a system far removed from what is natural. Global disruptions, then, are inevitable in a set up of artificiality.

Sinhala political elitists

As a result, international security becomes increasingly fragile. Hegemony, power, control are elements that breed artificiality giving rise to socio /political/economic inequality, stratification, hierarchical structures, gender, environmental exploitation that have endangered mankind’s survival. Global security threats are on the rise. National and international social, economic, political, religious and bureaucratic elites are, to say the least beggars on horseback with their ostentatious living suffer from an inferiority complex compelling them into power and control – a state far removed from natural law. Moving away from what is natural into artificiality invariably gives rise to a global security threat.

Deviating from his military duties of control and moving towards intellectual fine-tuning is Northern Commander Major General Dharshana Hettiarachchi. Accepting publicly to the northern populace on retrospective political blunders which he saw as being the right thing to do, this innovative Northern Commander Major General Dharshana Hettiarachchi apparently is weaning himself away from the bane of elitist arrogance in accepting to the Jaffna residents retrospective misgivings, yet he has miles to go for that trek is hard without political participation. No political leader has so far apologized nor accepted despite the many politically motivated legislative blunders on the Tamils.

Hettiarachchi’s small but meaningful step forward could augur well for the future if collaborated with Sinhala political elitists.

However, an apology will decide the country’s leadership at the next elections for its great distaste towards the jaathiya aagama or jingoistic cry coming off the hoi polloi.

 


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