{"id":193321,"date":"2018-09-07T20:29:30","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=193321"},"modified":"2018-09-11T01:23:17","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T19:53:17","slug":"civil-society-needs-to-be-nationalized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/civil-society-needs-to-be-nationalized\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Civil Society\u2019 Needs To Be Nationalized!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Civil Society\u2019 is old and as is usually the case predates the term. Scholars argue that it is drawn from the Aristotelian phrase \u2018koin\u014dn\u00eda politik\u1e17 (\u03ba\u03bf\u03b9\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd\u03af\u03b1 \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03b9\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae)\u2019 which refers to a community of citizens subject to the rule of law. Apparently it entered the Western political discourse only after Aristotle\u2019s work was translated into Latin by late medieval and early Medieval writers such as William of Moerbeke and Leonardo Bruni. Its more recent meaning derives from the usage of dissidents such as V\u00e1clav Havel who used it in contradistinction to intrusive holistic state-dominated regimes in the Soviet Bloc of nations.<\/p>\n

Another term that is often used as coterminous with \u2018civil society\u2019 is NGO, i.e. Non-Governmental Organizations. Like civil society, the term came late although the notion dates back to the late eighteenth century. The term came into popular use only after 1945 when the UN discussed a consultative role for outfits that are not member states or governments.<\/p>\n

Technically even corporations are NGOs since they are not nations or governments. Technically, they can claim to be part of civil society too. If we delve into things and processes deep enough we can of course make the argument that even NGOs, like corporates are embedded in \u2018government\u2019. And, if we keep digging, we would have to ask whether NGOs are really part of civil society.<\/p>\n

On the surface, however, the distinction is clear enough. There\u2019s always been a fair amount of distrust between the NGO community and successive government, even though prominent NGOs in Sri Lanka (in particular those whose \u2018civil society\u2019 credentials are suspect) tend to be pally with UNP governments or leaders who have antipathies towards Sinhalese and Buddhists. Outwardly NGOs and governments have shown suspicion about each other\u2019s motives and see each other as spoilers.<\/p>\n

NGOs badmouth governments and governments return the favor. We\u2019ve seen a lot of that. They both claim representative edge. Governments say \u2018we were elected, therefore we have a right to represent\u2019. NGOs say, as mentioned, that they are a part of civil society. They can and do point out that being elected is one thing but that does not necessarily mean the elected represent the electors. This we know.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a question that\u2019s not been asked enough: \u2018What right in terms of numbers, reach and acceptance do NGOs have to toss around the representational rights implied in the term \u2018civil society\u2019 which they use as though they own it?\u2019<\/p>\n

I wrote an article seven years ago titled \u2018And civil society (real) floors civil society (imagined)\u2019. Fake would work better than \u2018imagined\u2019 I now feel. Anyway, the article contained the following observation:<\/p>\n

\u201cNGOs are made of workshops, seminars, project proposals, reports, double-billing and overheads that make up more than two thirds of annual budgets. They are also made of claims, chief among which is that of representational lie. \u2018We are civil society,\u2019 NGO personnel like to think and state. They are an incestuous bunch, these NGOs. They form consortia and forums which are made of the same groups and led by the same people. They appoint each other to each others boards. They applaud one another and occasionally give each other awards for this and that. They quote one another. They scratch each other\u2019s backs.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for their use of the \u2018civil society\u2019 tag, this is what I wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say they represent \u2018civil society\u2019, but don\u2019t say \u2018well, no one elected us, and to be honest, our views are marginal or less and more seriously are based on assumptions that reality rebel against\u2019. Ask them to organize a demonstration or announce a public seminar and less than a hundred turn up. Indeed, most of their operations are of the behind-closed-doors kind. And yet, they bat on. Courtesy of friends in big-name diplomatic missions and big-name countries whose political agendas vis-\u00e0-vis Sri Lanka coincide with theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article contrasted this patten of operation with a resolution passed at the Annual General Meeting of a bank that was built by the thrift and credit cooperative movement of this country, better known by its Sinhala acronym SANASA. The shareholders, many representing SANASA primary societies, unanimously resolved to reject the infamous \u2018Darusman Report\u2019. To those who may have forgotten, this report was the one produced by a \u2018panel of experts\u2019 appointed by the UN Secretary General to investigate accountability issues related to Sri Lanka\u2019s war on terrorism. The name refers to the Chairman of the panel, Indonesian politician Marzuki Darusman.<\/p>\n

The key issue here is representation. The SANASA movement counts over 8000 primary societies whose work covers thrift and credit primarily, but also embraces social, cultural and moral development. At the time, over 3800 such societies owned shares in the SANASA Development Bank. Each society has between 100 and 2000 members with the average being over 400. Even if we took the average as 200, this meant that over 740,000 people were represented at the AGM.<\/p>\n

From a movement which counts over 8000 primary societies or groups devoted to the subject of thrift and credit, with social, cultural and moral upliftment embedded into agenda, SANASA counts more than 5000 entities that are active and hundreds with assets and business that easily best branches of well-established commercial banks. A total exceeding 3800 own shares in the SANASA Development Bank.<\/p>\n

Now that is \u2018representation\u2019 and that\u2019s what is important, not whether they approved or rejected some flawed report put together by the ignorant or misled.<\/p>\n

Now these people don\u2019t use the term \u2018civil society\u2019. The question is, do those who actually use the term have anything like the representational cloud that the SANASA movement has?<\/p>\n

A highly celebrated NGO personality (decorated by fellow travelers and given to decorating fellow travelers) was once asked how many people he could get to a demonstration if his funding dried up. His answer says a lot: \u2018to be honest, none\u2019.<\/p>\n

So where\u2019s the accountability? To whom are they answerable? To \u2018the people\u2019 implied in the usage of the term \u2018civil society\u2019 or to donor agencies (International NGOs and foreign countries)? When the Right to Information Act was being drafted, I know for a fact that \u2018NGO representatives\u2019 involved in the process did their best to limit the legislation to state agencies. It was no small victory that the Act included provisions for binding NGOs to respond to queries, even though we have heard noises about NGOs refusing to cooperate.<\/p>\n

The problem is that the term \u2018civil society\u2019 is loosely used and in practice has little to do with \u2018all of society\u2019. Rather, the work is mostly about furthering the ideological projects of the minuscule numbers that make up these outfits. Just to illustrate the point, during the conflict, a demonstration was organized at Lipton\u2019s Circus by a group calling itself \u2018100 Peace Organizations\u2019. There were less than 100 people attending that protest.<\/p>\n

This is why it is argued by some that \u2018civil society\u2019 is just another name for name-board outfits made of people who are members of multiple NGOs whose \u2018work\u2019 can be described as agitation and whose innovation and creativity is framed by narrow political agenda at best and by monetary needs in the main.<\/p>\n

Sometime in the early years of this decade, Indika Jayaratne, an announcer at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, made a pertinent comment on NGOs and civil society. He said, in Sinhala, \u2018sivil samaajaya janasathu kala yuthui\u2019 (civil society should be nationalized). The word \u2018nationalization\u2019 was turned into cuss-word by the UNP and the political right. That\u2019s another discussion of course. The reversal, interestingly, was called \u2018janathaakaranaya\u2019 (\u2018peoplization\u2019) in the Premadasa years. It was in essence, at best, a \u2018some peoplization\u2019 in that it allowed the wealthy to take over state-owned enterprises.<\/p>\n

The word however has some uses. If you want to call it janathaakaranaya then a \u2018peoplization\u2019 of NGOs would give more credibility to the \u2018civil society\u2019 label. \u2018Nationalization\u2019 or \u2018janasathukaranaya\u2019 would be even better for multiple reasons. First it implies ownership by the people and not a few individuals who rake in the bucks under cover of a rubber-stamping set of overseers on a \u2018Board\u2019. Secondly, it would necessitate a solid and comprehensive understanding of the entire nation and not just some constituent part, typically a Colombo-based, insular community who uses as alibi some collective that suffered some injustice, perceived or real. It all boils down to bucks, social standing and the furthering of narrow political projects, as mentioned.<\/p>\n

The issue is, we don\u2019t know if NGOs are really interested in being honorable about using tags such as \u2018civil society\u2019. Typically, those who have the edge do not concede it without a fight. Lump all NGOs who use that term and ask them to come up with numbers and representational spread and the response would be silence or contentious. The problem is that they\u2019ve given civil society a bad name and thereby robbed the empowering potential of the idea, just like how this government has made it next to impossible to use the term \u2018yahapalanaya\u2019 (good governance).<\/p>\n

The reality check arrives unexpectedly, though. It happened when the entire federalist tribe was stumped despite the bucks, access to resources and close connections with the dominant political leadership of the time. They, then, typically talk about masses being asses. The fact of the matter is that the ass-masses, so-called, are not stupid. They know who represents them and who cannot. They know how to pick the lesser evil of the moment.<\/p>\n

It is better for NGOs to explore \u2018civil society (real)\u2019 and find out the degree of mismatch between aspirations and indeed overall understanding of social, economic, cultural and political realities. They can back off from the practice of prescription and lip-servicing notions such as \u2018participation\u2019 (typically purchased by \u2018attendance fees\u2019). They can discover \u2018nation\u2019 in its entirety including its history and heritage in all its rich detail including of course error and horror.<\/p>\n

Nationalization of Civil Society (fake). Now that\u2019s a project, but one which they might not get any funds to implement, but that\u2019s the only way to get a hang of Civil Society (real) and win the usage-rights. This side of nationalization (in the most comprehensive meaning of that term) one can only expect error, abuse, further corruption of the term and eventually the subversion of civil society (in the broadest and most accurate meaning of the term).<\/p>\n

Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer. malindasenevi@gmail.com. www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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