{"id":135955,"date":"2014-12-31T17:30:55","date_gmt":"2014-12-31T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=135955"},"modified":"2015-01-04T14:34:34","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T09:04:34","slug":"ten-days-that-can-subvert-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ten-days-that-can-subvert-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Days That Can Subvert Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/strong>\u00a0S. Sivathasan<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"S.<\/a>

S. Sivathasan<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.\u201d<\/em>– Karl marx.<\/p>\n

Lenin changed it. In 1917 John Reed saw it, \u201cwith the eye of a conscientious reporter\u201d as he puts it. \u201cA slice of intensified history\u201d he calls it so aptly. With the same intensity, the flow of Sri Lanka\u2019s history may get perverted. Ten days from tomorrow are enough for it. International vigilance can thwart it. The country is alive to it, but remains unprepared. Danger is from the incumbent President<\/span><\/a>, his coterie and his familial regime.<\/p>\n

Portents to Make One Shudder<\/strong><\/p>\n

The caption of this article is with reference to Sri Lanka. It is in the same vein as John Reed\u2019s \u2018Ten Days that Shook the World\u2019. It is phrased advisedly. Though confined to a small nation, it can escalate to earth shattering proportions. To the polity the eruption may even be volcanic. Signs are ominous and many have sensed it. Ceylon and later Sri Lanka never before stood so precipitously on such unpredictable terrain.<\/p>\n

Ten Days in 1917<\/strong><\/p>\n

The allusion is to ten decisive days of the Russian Revolution. As the first successful Communist upheaval it was epoch making. The book too was same. Lenin wrote in the introduction in 1919, \u201cWith the greatest interest and with never slackening attention I read John Reed\u2019s book \u2026\u201dLenin with his sense of history took the title as appropriate.<\/p>\n

\"Mahinda<\/p>\n

I have used \u2018Ten Days\u2019 many a time because it is not a brief period. It can change history. It can also pervert it. It can supplant humanism. It can rivet fascism. It can reinstate democracy. It can subvert it. It can make<\/strong> a difference between War and Peace. On this dilemma stands Sri Lanka today. In this background assistance is appealed for. A Tamil Hindu saint sang 1000 years ago \u201cwithout a reminder a mother feeds milk to her infant\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Positive Action<\/strong><\/p>\n

The imminent need is to forestall blood-letting. When the state itself sets out to lacerate democracy, people\u2019s retaliatory capacity cannot match. The powers to assist, themselves know who they are. The course is preemption, in preparation and strike. It is known to benefactor and beneficiary alike. Why an SOS? The land is over soaked. The people can spare no more blood, whatever the thirst of it for some. It is also popular knowledge that Platonic Love, however amorous can bring forth nothing. When the yearning is for a child, words of solace are poor comfort.<\/p>\n

Resolute Approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who are these benefactor powers? Who contributed most to save Europe from Hitler? Who saved the Bangladeshis from annihilation? Who tilted the balance in Libya? The world knows who. On them Sri Lanka would place her hope. To talk of international community is only to solicit opinion. To cite the UN, it is for speeches, resolutions, funds and delayed deployment. Those reputed for action are for immediacy and resoluteness.<\/p>\n

Dejected, Despondent and Desperate<\/strong><\/p>\n

The worst moment for a tyrannical regime is when it begins to wilt, wither and waste away. This is happening to the incumbent President of Sri Lanka, with erosion of support by the day. The experience is shattering. Certain defeat is writ upon the President, the brothers and the cabal. But the mood is dangerous to the polity when the military is in desperate hands. A finger can reach for the panic button. It is precisely to prevent such an eventuality that the nation would like to see a well synchronized counter measure in place.<\/p>\n

Anxious Ten Days<\/strong><\/p>\n

To all Sri Lankans, coming days are anxious moments. How anxious can be appreciated by those who experienced the days of The<\/strong> Cuban<\/strong> Missile Crisis of October 1962.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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