Geneva, you, me and Sri Lanka Incorporated.

In his fascinating book ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind,’ Israeli Historian Yuval Noah Harari remarks “You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven.”

Obviously the celebrated historian is not well informed of the island republic of Sri Lanka. 

Mahinda Rajapaksa is probably the least highbrow or cerebral leader to have led independent Sri Lanka. He was also the beneficiary of a cruel twist of fate. Under his watch, the armed forces of the nation, militarily defeated and physically eliminated a ferociously fascist monster- Velupillai Prabhakaran. So, very probably, he would not have known that he himself was a fascist. Eliminating a fascist is no license to be a fascist. Let us be practical. 

What constitutes a fascist state? A fascist state has some distinctly obvious features. A fascist regime constantly and consistently relies on nationalism and patriotism interchangeably with slogans and symbols. 

It has a pronounced disdain for human rights. It is constantly engaged in persuading the citizenry that human rights can be ignored in order to ensure national security. It considers torture, abduction and disappearances as legitimate tools of governance. 

It usually perfects the art of creating patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat that usually comes from ethnic or religious minorities and liberal intellectuals.

It accords an ill-disguised supremacy to the military. The military is given a disproportionate amount of state funding. Soldiers and military service are glamorised.

The mass media are intimidated by the state in to a state of Pavlovian submission. It is obsessed with national security and fear is the oft used tool to tame the masses. The ‘Apey Hamuduruwane’ appeal to a corrupt clergy helps it to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric is a convenient instrument even to justify actions that are clearly in contradiction to religious teachings. 

The state creates its own aristocracy in commerce, industry and finance. Organised labour is suppressed. The people are conditioned to ignore police abuses and to forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. 

There is rampant cronyism and corruption. The fascist regime has groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions. They use state power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.

National resources are plundered unabashedly. Public finances are stolen by government leaders. The fascist regime claims legitimacy by holding periodic sham elections. It uses the Judiciary to manipulate and control the process of governance. 

Now don’t we develop a sneaky feeling of déjà vu? 

Since we all do, let us all agree that our democracy after 19 May 2009 was stripped of its moral imperatives, reducing it to a sham democracy, marked by hollowness and hypocrisy. The Rajapaksa regime was blatantly fascist in scope, content and composition.

Its hypocrisy was universally apparent. Yet, at home it was shrouded by rhetoric that used patriotism and nationalism interchangeably. Its hollowness was hidden under impressive physical infrastructural development that relied on reckless borrowing from abroad. 

Sri Lanka Inc.

The subject of this missive is the recent inaugural event held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on 29 September by an organisation that calls itself Sri Lanka Inc., and the theme was ‘Geneva and you’. The blurb describes Sri Lanka Inc., as a ‘non-partisan civic network of young professionals.’ 

The masterful digital introduction on a giant screen vouched for their professional competencies. Its content was certainly focused on capturing the imagination of the young. That they succeeded in the attempt with participants is demonstrated by admirers on its FB page. 

The reference by one of them on the page to Professor Sarath Wijesuriya who is now striving hard to fill the vacuum created by the demise of Venerable Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thero should alert us to the clear and present danger of the Rajapaksa restoration project. 

In February 2015, this writer wrote in the columns of the Daily FT about the first comeback event of MR which ideologue Dayan Jayatileke described as ‘The Rising.’ I said then: “Forty days after the dismantling of the family politburo, Mahinda Rajapaksa has demonstrated that his orgburo is well-oiled and running. With absolute fascination this writer watched a microcosm of Sinhala society hailing the event as a turning point.”

This writer also warned that the oligarchy that was spawned by the Rajapaksa regime was entrenched and its stranglehold was and is systemic.

‘Geneva and you’ colloquy demonstrated beyond doubt that the plutocrats who have amassed wealth and power under the Rajapaksa siblings have clearly embarked on a serious oligarchic mission. They have decided, quite correctly, that the new democratic norms of governance can be stretched to its maximum permissible limits. 

Politicisation abundantly clear

The parley on ‘Geneva and you’ featured several who served as diplomats under the ‘ancien régime.’ I could not concentrate on the introductory remarks of Chamithri Rambulwella – a Rajapaksa appointee to the overseas service. Her presence in the confab directed my tasteless mind to her dear dad’s broken leg, mended at taxpayer’s expense. Sorry.

Natasha Gooneratne Maurice while introducing the subject reached up to lofty heights of academic neutrality which may have mesmerised the admirer I have quoted earlier.  

“Any form of discussion on this resolution becomes so highly politicised, that it is now presumed that you are either anti-Government or pro-former Government, or that you are pro- or anti-US or pro- or anti-UN, if you have any sort of opinion on it. But the background and content of this resolution is not so simply polarised, it’s far more complex. And if we are not careful, we can get so caught up in the politicisation that we can miss the legitimate issues that surround it.”

As the evening unfolded the politicisation was made abundantly clear. The last speaker the enormously talented Dayan Jayatilake demonstrated his capacity to play erudite Robespierre. 

It was amusing to listen to a cassocked Catholic priest – Father Wimal Thirimanne – reminding of our civilisational superiority that goes back to 2,500 years in the year 2016 of the Gregorian calendar. 

It was with sheer awe that I watched and listened to Dr. Dayan Jayatilake. In spell binding oratory he laid out the challenge presented by the Rajapaksa restoration project to derail the process of national reconciliation and constitutional reforms. Here one must digress. It was Musolini the nationalist who defined the Fascist philosophy. 

Fascism is not only a law-giver and a founder of institutions, but an educator and a promoter of spiritual life {Venerable Monks of Abhayarama take note}. “It aims at refashioning not only the forms of life but their content – man, his character, and his faith. To achieve this propose it enforces discipline and uses authority, entering into the soul and ruling with undisputed sway.” 

How the Rajapaksa magic works 

Listening to Dr. Dayan Jayatilake, this writer was reminded of these words of Benito Mussolini. It was eerie to watch the metamorphosis of a man who three years ago wrote in the post script of his book ‘Long War, Cold Peace’: “The crisis of the state is partly a crisis of reconciliation. It is my view that there are only three possible pathways to reconciliation: equal citizenship, eliminating all forms of discrimination against or for any segment of the populace on the basis of ethno –lingual or religious markers (I call it ‘Soulbury Plus’); a reasonable sufficiency of devolution of power to the provinces; or a hybrid of elements of both approaches, with improvements on one realm offsetting inadequacies in the other. For the moment though, I count far less on the state for the purpose of reconciliation, and far more on interactions and initiatives in the social and artistic domain, especially by the educated young people.” 

In 2013 Dr. Dayan J had a definitely different reading of the then regime. “It was alarming,” he lamented, “that there was a tendency to denounce as separatist conspiracies, any attempt by lawyers, academics, students and youth activists, to build bridges between North and South or even to mobilise on a multi-ethnic or non-ethnic basis.”

See how the Rajapaksa magic works. There was the former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who combined the roles of Goebbels and Goring under the MR Presidency in the front row. On the side screen he was nodding sagely in agreement with Dr. Dayan J who made a deliberate attempt to politicise the armed forces that have remained subject to civilian authority (if one glosses over the years when Army intelligence and removal of political irritants overlapped).

Says Dr. DJ: “There is an attempt to change the deep structure of the Sri Lankan state. That is the attempt to federalise, as well as the attempt to effect what is known as ‘security sector reforms’. One of the targets is the Sri Lankan Army. And it is not by mistake I say it is the Sri Lankan Army. Because there is a sense in the West that the other arms of the Sri Lankan military can be co-opted and may be useful. But the Army is seen as the most patriotic of the services.”

One could not miss the grin on the face of Daya Rathnayake also in the front row. He as Commander of the Army outsourced inculcating patriotism among ranks of the Army to Venerable Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero during the last presidential elections. 

All in all it was not about ‘Geneva and You.’ It was about ‘we the people’ and they who plan the return of the ousted leader. 

There is no doubt that Mahinda Rajapaksa is in control of the public conversation. It is, however, Gotabaya Rajapaksa who has the financial and organisational resources to make a serious effort to translate intentions to reality. More than MR, GR has the political cunning to create a new reality for the family purpose. 

Dr. Dayan J purposefully contrived to refer to the gallantry of Colonel Rajapaksa in his extempore delivery. That is understandable. His rhetoric had the effect of reducing Cicero to zero. 

In mock anguish he wailed: “We, having defeated after 30 years, a fascist enemy – not just a separatist or terrorist enemy– we have to try ourselves, our armed forces which liberated us, defeated fascism and reunified the country! We have to fall on our sword! And there are those in Government who have agreed to this!”

Now spades need to be called spades

We have arrived at a point when spades need to be called spades. Dr. Dayan J’s perorations on patriotism of the Rajapaksa tribe unfailingly drives me to take refuge in Orwellian wisdom. George Orwell who added the terms, ‘big brother’, ‘thought police’ and ‘double think’ to our political lexicon has also given us a clear reading of the phenomenon that is now advanced by the thought manipulators of Sri Lanka Inc. 

“Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.” 

True. The armed forces under the command of President Mahinda Rajapaksa eliminated the vicious terrorism of the LTTE and eliminated Prabhakaran who to use a phrase of Mathew J Morgan in his ‘Origins of New Terrorism’ did not want a seat at the table but wanted to destroy the table and all who sat around it. We should therefore be grateful. 

But then, should our acquiescence with expressions of gratitude reach the level of feudal servility to a victorious monarch? Should we greet the deep state that eliminated Lasantha Wickrematunge with Sinhala passion and Buddhist avidity to keep retired Lieutenant Colonel Gotabaya Rajapaksa amused and in good humour?