by Nan
On this Sunday, just a day prior to our commemoration of the 54th anniversary of the day the British flag was lowered and D. S. Senanayake hoisted the Sri Lankan flag, our minds go naturally to evaluating what we have achieved, how we have bungled, and latterly how almost wilfully we let the country descend to the depths in all ways.

The new government is trying to pull us up. It targets peace which will be followed by an economic upturn. We do hope both objectives will be achieved, the first most definitely with not too much cost and sacrifice to the country and its majority race.

I speak for many who think this way; i.e. have faith in the new government and its prime minister and his advisers, and believe there is a sincere and most importantly, country-centred effort to do something. Their effort to improve the condition of the very ailing country is appreciated. But confidence is accompanied by, and often shaken by, fears and frights.

One is lulled into complacency and near indifference with the thought that we the ordinary people, have nothing to do now and that the new government, in its wisdom, will work out a lasting peace. But then we get warnings and sharp reminders of what happened to previous peace moves and the uncomfortable feeling that too much is being given the terrorist Tigers, the spokesmen for the entire Tamil community, like it or not.

Clear warnings

Last Sunday I was left terrified after reading Malinda Seneviratna, S. L. Gunasekera and Foxwatch in the Sunday Island. These are people who have their fingers on the pulse of the country and they strongly and unambiguously warn the government against having too much trust and faith in the LTTE. The government needs to be extra cautious and constantly gauge the veracity of the Tigers. After all the government talks from a position of strength while the Tigers have their backs to the wall

The voices of the writers I refer to are NOT Cassandra cries of "I see blood and more blood". Neither are they voices in the wilderness. They echo the fears and reservations of the many; the great majority, I would say.

But we have to let our elected government do its job as it collectively thinks fit. And this government considers the opposition’s opinion too, trying for national consensus. Very difficult to obtain. Dissenting/warning voices are not chauvinistic, not rabid. Simply said, not unreasonable. They are wise words of caution.

We hope fervently that the army is building itself up; that the government will be able to act decisively and successfully if the LTTE renegades.

Independence equates itself to freedom and freedom connotes democracy.

So questions to be asked on the eve of independence celebrations are: is Sri Lanka truly democratic and do we, the people of Sri Lanka, collectively enjoy true freedom.

I dare not even attempt answering these questions. But I wish to place some thoughts before you this Sunday morning for pondering over.

Democracy

We know the classic definition of democracy — rule of the people by the people etc. etc.

I like obscure sayings so here are two statements on democracy of 19 — early 20 centuries vintage:

"Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike."

"People who want to understand democracy should spend less time in the library with Aristotle and more time in the buses and in the subway."

How true the last is. Comes to mind how, reportedly, Dudley Senanayake was pleased with paddy production in the country and consequently the welfare of the backbone of the nation: its farmers. Then he and the UNP ingloriously lost the general election on, they said, the question of food and paddy production. People who were around him, his advisers, had assured him things were fine. Some department, some persons, had taken the production figure of a model plot of carefully tended, precisely monitored paddy, multiplied it by the total acreage of land under paddy cultivation and handed over the very rosy statistic to the PM. With it was tendered the message that all was well.

So beware sycophants and cohorts! Those who rule must mix, at least once in a while and even by proxy, with the hoi polloi to know the true conditions prevailing.

Another statement: "Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time."

That’s really pertinent since more than half the people warn against giving in too much to LTTE demands, trusting them, wanting peace at any cost, taking the Norwegians to be absolutely fair minded wavers of the olive branch.

Dimensions of Democracy

The literature says that democracy today has won such comprehensive ideological triumph because it bears imaginative appeal, putting humans in the forefront. It also serves practical viability of a practical compound of economic, social and political arrangements.

For the last two centuries or more, human civilization has striven to expand the sphere of individual freedom and freedom of nation-states. Vijay Pratap, writing about democracy, presents it in the following dimensions:

• Cultural democracy — plural co-existence, prevention of communal violence

• Economic democracy — all emphasis on the empowerment of the weakest and poorest

• Social democracy — human dignity to be the most important consideration. They are not to be sacrificed for profit; neo-liberal policies and global institutions that promote consumerism at the cost of spiritual values

• Ecological democracy — integration of various environmental and conservationist concerns; people’s control over resources

• Political democracy — participatory representation; rule of law; protection of minorities and the marginalized.

So we need to question whether we enjoy true democracy in its variations and dimensions as stated above.

Sri Lankan dimensions

To my way of thinking we had serous lapses and veered away drastically from democracy on several occasions, particularly in 1983. The spokesmen of the Tamils have been undemocratic throughout their felt existence for the last two decades.

Globalization has put paid to the next two considerations of democracy. The weakest and poorest became progressively weaker and poorer and more people are marginalized now than ever before. Consumerism and profit are kings.

Within the country we do observe ecological democracy to a large extent, but globally not at all. The rich powerful states pollute the atmosphere for one, and the Third World or South suffers the most.

Political democracy is enshrined in the very name of our country, so also in the Constitution. But is the rule of law all pervasive? Not on your life! We read more and more news items of subjugation of citizens by gun toting politicians and their side kicks. One question on many a lip is whether violators of peace in pre and post elections have been apprehended and duly punished. No is the loud answer. Murderers are free to roam here among us, and those with greater clout, overseas.

Freedom

Freedom, like democracy, has its dimensions, even more varied since here the freedom of groups comes into the equation, for example freedom of women, the disadvantaged.

If we take the very broad and general freedoms, the first that comes to mind is:

• Freedom from want. Have we got it in Sri Lanka? Not on your life! If a monthly income of Rs. 3000 is taken as the poverty line, the literature tells us that almost 40 percent of Sri Lankans fall below. HE the President herself admitted that 40 percent of our children are malnourished.

• Freedom from fear. Oh dear! So many fears are experienced by the average citizen, more so the woman. Fear of bombs, fear of the COL, fear of man in general whether it be the harasser on the road or the tormentor-husband at home.

• Freedom from torture, arbitrary arrest et al. Those who suffered the JVP insurrection and the terror of the LTTE can tell you volumes about the lack of this freedom

And so the list can go on

As Baba Saheb Ambedkar once told Mahatma Gandhi: "A democratic government presumes that society is also democratic. The formal skeleton of the democratic government does not have any meaning and will remain ineffective so long as there is no democracy in society."

That really is food for thought

So as we sit and watch the march past tomorrow and proudly salute the hoisted Lion Flag, and many reminisce on the first Independence Day, let’s consider whether we are truly democratic and truly free — all of us. Some we notice are already getting to be more equal!

What do we do if we get negative answers to our considerations? Shout, I suppose. Convince, by democratic means, the powers that be that there is a lapse in true democracy.