{"id":173563,"date":"2017-02-05T13:29:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T07:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=173563"},"modified":"2018-02-05T15:30:43","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T10:00:43","slug":"oh-dearly-beloved-motherland-where-victorias-faithful-subjects-continue-torule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/oh-dearly-beloved-motherland-where-victorias-faithful-subjects-continue-torule\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh Dearly Beloved Motherland! Where Victoria\u2019s Faithful Subjects Continue To\u2026RULE!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chamindra Weerawardhana<\/a> \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Chamindra Weerawardhana<\/p><\/div>\n

Another year. Another Independence Day. The term \u2018Independence\u2019, in this case, is a quintessential euphemism. That \u2018Independence\u2019 was \u2018negotiated\u2019 under very specific circumstances, in the backdrop of a shift in the Colonial Office\u2019s policies towards neighbouring India. It was a \u2018negotiation\u2019 that took place between a political elite, all anglicised wealthy men, who looked up to Britain for almost everything. Theirs was a strategy of approaching the Colonial Office and playing a soft game, of using developments in the rest of the British Empire to obtain increased political autonomy \u2013 in other words \u2013 Dominion Status. Many of them had vehemently opposed progressive legislative developments of the previous decade, from universal suffrage to the Kannangara education reform. Their objective, let\u2019s not forget, was to keep the Queen\u2019s portrait on the wall, and get the photograph of one of them hung right below the Queen\u2019s photo. Some Brits of the liberal ilk could then adumbrate that Ceylon was ready for democratic experimentation, a unique achievement in the non-white parts of the Empire, with a fine, perfectly anglicised political class, well-versed in democratic governance!<\/p>\n

Come 1972, that political class succeeded in doing something they had anticipated for a good while, that of removing the Queen\u2019s portrait from the wall, and instead, putting up the face of one of them in lieu of the Queen. The political class ensured that this \u2018change\u2019 would ensure that the \u2018brown\u2019 replacement will continue the colonizing queen\u2019s ways (meaning, how a colonizer rules the colonized \u2013 a thesis on that in not required, right?) in ruling the land. Instead of a queen called Elizabeth, we then got a \u2018king\u2019 called William (and a queen, wielding real power under the tag \u2018prime minister\u2019, with the \u2018right\u2019 dynastic credentials, called Sirima who we called \u2018Sirimavo\u2019 out of respect of course).<\/p>\n

Since then, the ride has been eventful, with a civil war \u2013 divide and rule being its root cause \u2013 plus the land resembling the stereotypical image of the so-called \u2018third world\u2019. The political leadership still carries itself like [British] royalty. The head of state still LOVES the former colonizers, and is simply \u2018over the moon\u2019 when his ex-Queen (or should I say his colonial-hangover-Queen of all times) removes her ceremonial gloves to shake hands with him.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, the loyalty of the head of state to the British Crown is apparent in his unwavering devotion to Victorian values. A bra in public is scandalous. To the President<\/a>, it is a matter of pride to admit in public<\/a> that he personally \u2018binned\u2019 a proposal to repeal Victorian era sodomy laws (precisely Article 365 and 365A<\/a> of the Penal Code) at no less a gathering than a cabinet meeting. This is how the head of state of the so-called \u2018Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka continues to hold in high regard a law that criminalises non-heterosexual sexualities. A law forcibly imposed upon the \u2018Ceylonese\u2019 under British rule, with no regard whatsoever for the local populations, traditions and protocols. An effort to ensure the fundamental rights of citizens irrespective of gender identity and sexual orientation has become a monumentally challenging venture in this independent republic.<\/p>\n

The national ceremony of the Sri Lankan Independence Day, as some writers and bloggers have noted, is one that requires change, especially because much of it is anything but Sri Lankan. It is a display of the political class sitting comfortably, while children of ordinary people stand in the scorching Colombo sun, where imported weaponry is paraded (a symbol that carry threatening connotations to ethnic minorities, especially to the Tamils of the North and East- something to think about if reconciliation is a \u2018real\u2019 priority). It is also a display of British military traditions and paraphernalia, which are direct impositions of British rule. It is a ceremony at which the political class shows the world how they contribute to automobile industries in the West by purchasing super luxury armoured cars from Western manufacturers. In short, there is nothing in the ceremony that an independent sovereign state can be proud of. It is a replica of British ceremonies, somewhat blindly and unquestioningly appropriated to Sri Lanka. It is a ceremony by the political class, and for the political class.<\/p>\n

All this leaves us with an independence that is in fact a continuing dependence. If there is a semblance of independence, its beneficiaries are the political class, and the political class alone. A substantive rethinking in terms of policy, practice, protocol and symbolism are all highly advisable if dividends of an independence, even in parsimonious scale, are to be shared, and if a truly \u2018shared future\u2019 for all Sri Lankans is to be envisaged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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