{"id":81950,"date":"2013-04-12T21:09:51","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T21:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=81950"},"modified":"2013-04-27T18:01:14","modified_gmt":"2013-04-27T12:31:14","slug":"the-bbs-buddhists-nightclub-buddhists-and-the-vigil-that-i-saw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-bbs-buddhists-nightclub-buddhists-and-the-vigil-that-i-saw\/","title":{"rendered":"The BBS \u2018Buddhists\u2019, \u2018Nightclub Buddhists\u2019 And The \u2018Vigil\u2019 That I Saw"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

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

\u2018Buddhist Questioning Bodu Bala Sena\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those who participated or wanted to participate in the candle-light vigil organized by a set of people calling themselves \u2018Buddhists Questioning Bodu Bala Sena\u2019, those who witnessed what happened or part of what happened, those who saw images and footage<\/a><\/span>, and others who generally comment on issues such as religious tolerance, democracy, human rights etc, will no doubt articulate their respective versions.\u00a0\u00a0This is mine, but to illustrate the point of multiple narrative\/interpretation, I will weave into my narrative some narrative comments of a friend.<\/p>\n
This person, a Muslim, I have never met.\u00a0\u00a0I have communicated with him for several years though and I would not hesitate to claim that a more patriotic Sri Lankan is hard to find.\u00a0\u00a0In his writings I\u2019ve noticed a humanity that is congruent with the best sentiments on the subject in any religious doctrine.\u00a0\u00a0He is strong in his faith but is respectful of other faiths and has the wisdom to note the commonalities and learn the differences if only to understand his fellow-creatures of different religious persuasion.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He stated on Facebook, \u2018On my way to the vigil\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0It was just after 7.00pm when I left my office.\u00a0\u00a0I was disappointed that I would get late [I was planning to hold a lit candle, which is why I \u2018shared\u2019 more than once on Facebook the notice regarding the event].\u00a0\u00a0Just as I left, the person who informed me about the event, a Muslim who knows as much or more about Buddhism as I do called me.\u00a0\u00a0He informed me that the Police had moved in to stop the vigil.\u00a0\u00a0I thought I would go home, but a minute later, another friend called to say, \u2018they are arresting people\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0I was upset and a tad angry, and decided I would go there anyway.\u00a0\u00a0Another colleague called and said he had called a mutual friend who was planning to attend the vigil and that she had quickly said \u2018they are coming to arrest us\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0I called her and found that those who had turned up for the vigil were not outside the Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Mandiraya (the venue) but opposite the Police Park. I parked my car on Keppetipola Mawatha and ran all the way to where two clearly identifiable groups (event attendees and members\/supporters of the Bodu Bala Sena<\/a><\/span>) with half a dozen or more police officers.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>

Dilantha Vithanage, spokesperson for the BBS did a lot of talking \u2013with the police, to the cameras and to his political opponents<\/p><\/div>\n

Among those who were opposed to the vigil, I recognized two, a young man who was associated with the Sihala Urumaya way back in 2000 and another young man whom I\u2019ve had on occasion associated with professionally.\u00a0\u00a0I also found out that\u00a0Dilanthe Withanage<\/a>, spokesperson for the BBS was also present (he did a lot of talking \u2013with the police, to the cameras and to his political opponents).\u00a0\u00a0There were also several\u00a0bikkhus<\/em>\u00a0who did a lot of talking. They were agitated, but not more and not less than their opposites were agitated. If I were to caricature, I would say the only difference was that the former spoke in Sinhala and the latter in English (I heard the F-word, several times).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

I was more surprised, I must admit, when I took in the \u2018attendees\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0I had expected the crowd, even if it was small, to be made up of a majority of Buddhists from all walks of life.\u00a0\u00a0I can\u2019t be blamed for expecting this because this was supposed to be an event organized by \u2018Buddhists\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0There must have been Buddhists. Some claimed they were and I have no reason to doubt them.\u00a0\u00a0But there were non-Buddhists in proportions that were a fair distance away from national ratios. There is nothing wrong in non-Buddhists taking part in such a vigil. In fact, even if one counted out legitimate fears of and opposition to the BBS as reason to attend, it is certainly legitimate (and laudable) that non-Buddhists decided to stand with Buddhists on an issue like this.<\/p>\n

I was disappointed that there was little to tell me that the group was made up of people outside of the \u2018facebooking\u2019, English-speaking middle and upper-middle class.\u00a0\u00a0I was less disappointed than perturbed when I noticed that in that group there were individuals who have been violently anti-Buddhist<\/a><\/span> and anti-Sinhala<\/a><\/span>, including those who have cheered the LTTE<\/a><\/span> at times or white-washed that outfit as \u2018logical\u2019 necessity of being against the party\/leadership they did not support in various elections since 2004. There were identifiable NGO activists and others who regularly put their names on political petitions and attend political rallies of a particular political persuasion.\u00a0\u00a0Nothing wrong there, but this is not the picture I expected to see and it is not a picture I would have enjoyed being part of.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>

What\u2019s the ugliest thing in uniform? \u2013 a biased cop<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

All that mattered, from this point on, was to do what I could (precious little, I know) to stop things from getting worse.\u00a0\u00a0I spoke to the two young men I knew, who were not \u2018talkers\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0I said something to the following effect: \u2018Look, I recognize that these people (pointing to the event-attendees) have their ideological and political agenda, that some of them are not as innocent as they claim to be. I do recognize that among them are people who knew that organizing this at the Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Mandiraya was provocative and bound to elicit a response (I had believed, when noting the venue, that all necessary sanctions had been obtained), but regardless of all this, they just came to light a candle.\u00a0\u00a0It was not violence.\u00a0\u00a0Tell the\u00a0haamuduruwo<\/em>\u00a0to let it go.\u00a0\u00a0This is not helping anyone.\u2019<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I was accosted at one point by a person who had come to hold a candle.\u00a0\u00a0I recognized her as a former employee at the Peace Secretariate in the good old CFA days, an individual who has cosy relations with the notorious National Peace Council.\u00a0\u00a0She wanted to know why the Police had stopped a peaceful vigil.\u00a0\u00a0I told her that she should ask that from the Police, but told her also to look around the \u2018crowd\u2019. I told her that I believed that it was an event organized deliberately to provoke (even if some or even most of the participants were unaware of the fact or did not or did not want to believe it).\u00a0She said, \u2018If the Bodu Bala Sena can attack Fashion Bug<\/a><\/span>, what\u2019s wrong with us protesting peacefully outside the Sambuddha Jayanthi Mandiraya?\u2019\u00a0\u00a0The BBS did not attack Fashion Bug, but the BBS did actively incite, true<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0What is important here is that she certainly wasn\u2019t there to be a \u2018Better Buddhist\u2019, but had a political agenda that had little to do with peace, reconciliation and tolerance.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>

The BBS goons were screaming NGO kaarayo!<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
In that crowd of people I recognized individuals whom I have never associated with the pernicious politics of the NGO Mafia; decent, good-hearted, law-abiding individuals of different faiths, who were probably as dismayed and agitated by recent developments, individuals who probably shared by antipathies towards the BBS, with whom I would never feel ashamed to stand.\u00a0\u00a0It was my error to assume that they were the people I was planning to stand with.\u00a0\u00a0Just as I will not stand with the BBS, neither will I stand with some of the operators who, in hindsight, orchestrated the whole event.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Several persons had been arrested just before I got there and I later found out that they had been quickly released.\u00a0There was no reason to arrest anyone.\u00a0\u00a0I believe that the Police acted in a highhanded manner and although there is relief that they were released, the act of arrest was wrong and is unreservedly condemned.<\/div>\n

My Muslim friend wrote,\u00a0\u2018What’s the ugliest thing in uniform? – a biased cop. I saw one today declaring pompously that everyone gathered at the vigil was either Muslim, Catholic or Tamil. My foot ached to give him a well-directed kick in that sweet spot right in the groove!\u2019<\/em>\u00a0I heard that too.\u00a0\u00a0The Police Officer can\u2019t be faulted if he wondered how a \u2018Buddhists against BBS\u2019 event had so many non-Buddhists.\u00a0\u00a0It was a sweeping generalization nevertheless and the ethno-religious composition is anyway not relevant to the matter of peaceful, democratic action, even if there was nothing innocent in intent and design.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>

Police at the scene disallowing peaceful protest. A new one for our democracy<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
He also commented, \u2018The BBS goons were screaming NGO\u00a0kaarayo<\/em>!\u2019\u00a0\u00a0I heard that too.\u00a0\u00a0Correct description (in part at least), but that does not de-legitimize action.\u00a0\u00a0He also observed, wryly,\u00a0\u2018<\/em><\/strong>Police at the scene disallowing peaceful protest. A new one for our democracy.\u2019<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It could have got worse, though, not because of him and others like him, but because \u2018making it worse\u2019 would have suited a lot of people. On both sides.\u00a0\u00a0A point I made to one of the Police Officers.<\/div>\n

He may have not heard this, but someone referred to the anti-BBS \u2018Buddhists\u2019 as \u2018Nightclub Buddhists\u2019. Strange juxtaposition and descriptive, yes, but it also raised questions of social status, class, lifestyle etc.\u00a0\u00a0A Buddhist is a Buddhist, whether he\/she wears white or black, a\u00a0sil redda<\/em>\u00a0or jeans, but clothes mark and they mark well.\u00a0\u00a0This was no Buddhist Cross-section, that much was apparent to me.<\/p>\n

Then he said, \u2018Never felt so much about a cause. Never participated in something like this. Outrage of decent people was vented against those who were trying to demonize and degrade their religion.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0I identify with the cause. I do not agree with the description of those he stood with, though.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

There were good people there. There were people who were angry.\u00a0\u00a0There were people talking past each other. There were people who refused to see the make-up of who they stood with.\u00a0\u00a0I came to stand with a certain group against the BBS.\u00a0\u00a0Had I come earlier, I am pretty sure I would not have lit a candle, because people\u00a0make<\/em>\u00a0the cause and that too is something I take into account.\u00a0\u00a0I would have gone away.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, I got there late and stayed until the two groups went their separate ways. I didn\u2019t see and hear everything, but I\u2019ve reported what I did see and hear and have shared my observations.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s all.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
My Muslim friend concluded, \u2018One unused candle: for another day and another time.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0That is the saddest and yet most empowering line I heard tonight.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
*Pix by Lakna Paranamanna<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Related posts;<\/div>\n
\n

Video: Police And BBS Block Anti-BBS Vigil In Colombo<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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