Many commentators have written on
Cameron and Channel 4 and it is not necessary to repeat them in this column. However,
we have to “learn” a few things from the English way of managing events. The
press conference given by the English Prime Minister was clearly state and
stage managed allowing mainly the English media to ask questions. However, the
managers allowed one Sri Lankan to ask a question and Cameron’s managers could
always say that the Sri Lankans were also given an opportunity to ask
questions.
The Sri Lankan media went to town with
the freedom of expression or freedom to ask questions but who would have known
what happened at the press conference outside Sri Lanka? I doubt even India or
Pakistan reported on the “democracy” displayed at this particular press
conference, and certainly the English people would have been kept in the dark
by the English press. As far as the English people are concerned their Prime
Minister has had a successful press conference. Now that is management the
English way. They pretend to be upholders of democracy, freedom of expression
etc., while not practicing them but giving the impression that English
establishment practices all the virtues that we are taught in schools and universities.
The English press would criticize the establishment here and there giving the
impression that they are critical of the establishment, but when it comes to
events crucial to the maintenance of the system they are with the
establishment. It is said that justice should not only be done but seen to be done.
This is again an English euphemism that is used to manage things but in
practice justice is only shown to be done without doing any justice. It is the
impression created that matters and not what is done. It is seen everywhere in
the Judaic Christian culture and western science is the worst culprit
pretending to be objective while being subjective all the way commencing with
Galileo.
The English have the advantage in these
matters as they control not only the “international” press but education as
well. The Americans are only poor cousins of the English in these spheres
though they have more political power. It is still the English ways that rule
the world with Obama given the reins but not the rules. The rules are still the
prerogative of No. 10, Downing Street. The Social Sciences are controlled by
the English, and when western Physics is not objective what can be said of History,
Sociology, Economics, Political Science etc. The so called Mahavansa phobia is
a creation of the English with the University of Ceylon and its imitators
gladly following their English masters. I can do nothing but laugh when the
Social Scientists of Sri Lankan origin claim that they are impartial with
respect to the Tamil problem, democracy, freedom of expression etc. Either these
academics publish following the Mahavansa phobia created by the English or
perish. In publish or perish in the
jargon of the academia publish amounts to publish following the English in
general with the qualification being swept under the English carpet. I myself
have my criticism of Mahavansa or even Asoka (Third Sangayana) Buddhism but I
will defend them against western Judaic Christian attacks. I reject the English
criticism of Mahavansa with the contempt it deserves. I am not impartial, and
unlike the “academics” I am prepared to admit that I am based on Sinhala
Buddhist Chinthanaya. My criticisms on Mahavansa and Asoka Buddhism stem from
my partiality towards (Sri) Lanka and not towards India.
Sri Lankans, especially the Sinhalas cannot
hold a candle to the English on management. The only plus point they earned was
in giving a back row seat to Cameron at the inaugural ceremony of the CHOGM at
Nelum Pokuna. Of course the ceremony was grand but the “international press”
was not interested in the efforts by the Sri Lankan artistes. The Channel 4 team was given visas to enter
Sri Lanka to cover the CHOGM. The Sri Lankans were very democratic in giving
them Visas but the English press tried to create the impression that the visas
were issued after the English establishment applied pressure. However, they
failed in their attempt and kept quiet after an initial murmur. The Chanel 4 exhibited
their arrogance, and anti Sinhala, pro Tamil racist and pro LTTE (we are not
fooled by pretentions to the contrary) colonial attitude while they were in Sri
Lanka. Of course as said earlier these are not reported in the “objective
impartial international” press but the Sri Lankan government was able to
convince the vast majority of Sinhalas where channel 4 and English media in
general stand with respect to Tamil racism. Breaking all the protocol Miller
probably thinking that we still live in the Cargills - Millers era wanted to
question the President who was going back after a meeting. Then the team wanted
to gate crash to have a meeting with the President without making a prior
appointment. Would they dare to go to Downing Street without an appointment?
An added bonus was supplied by Mangala
Samaraweera who is good at cutting cloths to suit the English, by inviting the
Channel 4 team to Siri Kotha, the UNP head quarters. Mangala could not have invited
channel 4 without the approval of Ranil Wickremesinghe who has no chance of
becoming the President of the country even with the assistance of the English
and Vickramabahu the Marxist. Of course, there were other journalists as well
at the press conference at Siri Kotha but except for the political naiveté it
was clear that the UNP and its associates wanted to speak to Channel 4 against
not only the government but the country and the Sinhalas as well. Giving visas
to the channel 4 team when India refused to issue a visa to Macrae brought its
results for the government as far as the Sinhala people are concerned. The votes at Sri Lankan
elections are in the villages and not in English suburbs.
The Channel 4 team tried to make a hue
and cry over the demonstrators at Anuradhapura claiming that it was state
managed. I do not know who managed it but if there were government supporters
among the demonstrators I am not surprised. Almost all demonstrations are
managed by somebody and very rarely any spontaneous demonstrations take place.
Whether it is the Rathupaswela demonstration or the demonstration by the twenty
odd people organized by Anandi for Cameron were sponsored by interested
parties, but in the case of Channel 4 team my understanding is that if they
wanted they could have gone where they wanted with the help of the security
forces had they wished. Instead they had decided to come back to Colombo and
tried to scrounge a free trip via Dambulla. Now I have a question to ask the
English. Who staged the demonstrations against Sri Lanka and the Sinhala people
blocking the roads around Westminster Parliamentary building? Would the LTTE
supporters demonstrate in Westminster without the tacit approval of the English
security authorities? Instead of sending the road blockers to London tower the
London metropolitan police gave them protection. When the President was to
speak at Oxford who stopped him speaking saying that there were potential
threats to “sabotage” the meeting? The difference between the
English and the Sri Lankans whether Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim is that the former
knows how to stage demonstrations giving the impression that they are not
involved. We know the English for more than two hundred years but the Sri
Lankans have not been able to master their management techniques. The President
had to return to Colombo without going to Oxford, but the Channel 4 team if
wanted would have gone to Kilinochchi or wherever they wanted to go if they had
asked assistance from the police. In any even they went to Jaffna with Cameron
to make the next video to be telecast and had the tears of the twenty odd
mothers organized by Anandi, on their celluloid.
I have just one word on the war crimes
before we conclude for this week. It is said the armed forces were involved in
deliberately killing innocent Tamils. However, what is forgotten is not only
that the innocent Tamils were used a man shield by Prabhakaran, but that the
LTTE killed anybody who wanted to escape. If the armed forces were the killers
of the innocent people what bothers me is the willingness of the latter to run
towards the killers without waiting with the saviours of the Tamils assisted by
the English. The innocent Tamils must have gone insane those days to run towards the killers in the
killing fields. However, they may be back with their normal minds thanks to
Anandi and the rest, to come out with horror stories against the armed forces.
If Anandi had acted in a similar way in England she would have ended up in the
London tower. It is good for her that the Sinhalas have not been able to learn
from the English.
(To be continued) Nalin De Silva
27-11-2013