Us, and them
And after all were only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
-The Darker Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
Disjointed Stories
Long time ago we were going on a pilgrimage. I think I was 10 or 12 then. We stopped at hotel by the road to have tea. I was looking around, looking at the shops and boutiques by the side of the road. They were colourful and exiting to my childish eyes. Then something caught my eye, which struck me because it was so different from the colourful surrounding, which I still recall vividly. It was a shop, abandoned, charred black, looking very dismal. I asked what it was from my grandfather. “පුතේ ඔය දෙමලුන්ගේ කඩ ගිනිතියපුවා!” (Those are the burnt down shops of Tamils, son!). He answered so casually and without emotion I got the impression that burning down of shops of Tamils is a very natural thing such as having evening tea. Now this is the same grandfather who taught me it is wrong to hurt animals, who taught me beautiful stories and who was loved and respected by the family, neighbours and relatives.
When I was working in a surgical ward in National Hospital there was an LTTE Karuna faction cadre. I’ll call him R. R had injuries due to a blast and stayed in the ward for a long time undergoing various plastic surgical procedures. He was a very nice fellow, cracking jokes, sometimes giving a helping hand to the other patients and hospital staff. R had told me he had two children and he loved them dearly. He was counting fingers to go back to his wife and children who were living in Batticaloa. Sometimes R related some of his past experiences and adventures. Once he described how he with other members of his squad massacred a whole village where Sinhalese and Muslims lived. During the whole account he never showed any regret. In fact he was laughing when he described how they cut off penises of the villagers! I asked him didn’t you feel sorry for them. His answer was “Sometimes. But those days it was like that.”
Several years back I went to a garage at Pilimathalawa with a friend of mine to repair his car. We were introduced to the owner of the garage (whom I will refer as D) by another friend of ours. D was a person approaching the middle age, well built with some thinning of hair in the front. While the car was being repaired he had a casual talk with us. He was running a decent business, married and with several children. He was bit boisterous when telling about his family which comprised of several brothers and which he described as rich and powerful in the area. He mentioned how he and his brothers burnt down and beaten away Tamil people in the neighbourhood during 1983 riots. He went on describing how some Tamils were smashed by driving vehicles over them and how they earned money by selling looted jewellery which belonged to Tamil families. D seems to take pride in those atrocities by the way he described them. I don’t recall being shocked while listening to his stories. I felt the story was quite natural though a bit boisterous.
I have Questions
Why didn’t my grandfather taught his grandson (myself) hurting Tamil people was wrong? Was it because he was inherently an insensitive and an evil person? Or is it because murder and robbery has become was so common in Sri Lanka during the recent past so that people has become insensitive to it? He was such a kind hearted and a just person in general.
Why isn’t R sorry or shocked at murdering people? Is that because he is an inherently evil person, a terrorist? Or is it because being a member of a military he had to carry out his orders? If he was just carrying out orders, when doing these terrible things, why would he enjoy what he was doing? (He was laughing when he talked about how they mutilated bodies of their of victims)
Now the last story about D is the most shocking one to me. Now here is a living in the normal civil society who has committed murder, robbery and looting and even boasts about his activities. Is this person an evil sociopath? And why weren’t us (including the author) looked at that person in shock and disgust? Are we evil people?
Us and Them
It took me a long time to realize it was this separation of “us and them” has allowed happening of these terrible things. To my grandfather, to D, to me (before realising this) it was us; it was Sinhalese defending against them, Tamils. To R it was us, Tamils defending against Sinhalese. One group (“us”) justifies being insensitive of, robbing from, beating, killing, raping the other group (“them”).
“if you put ordinary decent people in groups and create a division between ‘us’ and ‘them’ then they will descend mindlessly into brutality, to the extent that they might even be prepared to commit mass murder.”[1]
Now we are not talking about the diversity among human beings. Of course we are diverse on race, religion, skin colour, economic status, education level, tastes etc. But we don’t go about killing each other just because of that diversity. As long as we don’t think (erroneously, of course) we needed to be defended from the other group(s) there will not be havoc.
Questions Revisited
I think I have answers for the questions now.
My grandfather was insensitive specifically to hurting Tamil people(“them”), because he identified himself with the Sinhalese(“us”) whom he was convinced needs defence from the former.
R was able to carry out his brutal acts against Sinhalese and Muslims (“them”) not just because he had to carry out orders. He identified himself with the Tamil militant group (“us”) which he firmly believed needed protection from “them”. He was able to justify his actions through that mentality.
D was probably thinking he is a patriot and he is protecting his country when he robbed, beaten down and may be even murdered those innocent Tamil people. Because to him it was “them” against “us”.
I had been justifying my insensitivity towards the Tamils (“them”) because I have been thinking it is “us” being threatened by “them”.
If there was no such havoc my grandfather would have said “පුතේ මේවා හෙන ගහන අපරාද!”; R would have lead a peaceful life, farming and taking care of his family; D would have given a helping hand to his Tamil neighbours.
But one question remains “Who are the evil people, who are terrorists among the characters (including myself) we discussed so far?” I leave it to the reader to answer, because I don’t know.
Who created “Us vs Them”?
So how this “us protecting against them” concept arose? There was no need of such a concept for ordinary people who were working, eating, drinking, growing up, looking after children and enjoying life to create such a concept, let alone going on beating, raping, killing fellow human beings. There was no actual insecurity to ordinary people before all this began.[10][11]
“But we do not interpret the world on our own, as many social psychological models tend to imply. Rather, people are surrounded by would-be leaders who tell them what to make of the world around them. Indeed, tyrannical leaders only thrive by convincing us that we are in crisis, that we face threat and that we need their strong decisive action to surmount it.”[1]
The leaders have a pattern of doing this. First they will show a distinction separating “us” (ingroup) from “them” (outgroup). Then they will show that “them” are a problem or more seriously a threat to “us”. Finally they will tell us we are the sum of all virtues. Thus showing “us” defence of the virtues requires the destruction of “them” who threatens us. This makes all those killing, beating, raping, burning and driving away people something honourable.[2]
Tyrannical leaders knew this very well. I think it is best exemplified by this quote by Hermann Göring.
“Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. …voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country”[3]
This is what JR Jayawardene said weeks before the onset of Black July;
“I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people now… Now we cannot think of them. Not about their lives or of their opinion about us… The more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here… really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy…”” — from an interview with J.R. Jeyawardene by Ian Ward. London Daily Telegraph, 11 July 1983.[4]
”]Between 23rd and 26th July 1983 thousands of innocent Tamils were killed; tens of thousands of houses were destroyed; more than 50 000 people were made refugees in their own country; 37 Tamil prisoners were killed in Welikada prison by Sinhalese prisoners using knives and clubs.[6]
Velupillai Prabhakaran said this in 2005 “Heroes Day” speech;
“They are not prepared to be tolerant any longer…. we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our homeland.” –from ‘Heroes Day’ speech On November 27, 2005,by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran[6]
”]In the following year hundreds of innocent Sinhalese including pregnant women and children were killed by bombs, shooting, cutting, clubbing etc which included Gomarankadawala massacre, Welikanda massacre and Kabithigollawa bus bombing.[8]
Within this article I cannot do justice to the overwhelming evidence to prove how leaders of our country contributed to the “Us and Them” separation. Not only the political leaders sowed thess seeds of hatred but also there were academic, philosophical and even religious leaders.
Two Different Stories
Terrible things happen when people fail to realize others are also human beings, when divided into groups. They fail to realize there is humanity uniting us all above the race, religion, caste or whatever other category we belong into. Yet there are individuals who could resist losing their humanity at even most trying situations. Below are two such anecdotes both of which occurred while I was an intern in the National Hospital during the latter half of 2008.
There were lot of soldiers admitted during this time as it was the height of the war. Among them there was one soldier from the Medical Corps whom I will call him P. P had a through and though gunshot wound to his abdomen with the exit wound in the lower side of a flank. This wound was literally an irregular shaped hole which pored out litres of intestinal fluids per day. It was a very difficult and painful job to clean this wound and apply drains into it, which needed to be done every day. I used to talk to him while doing that and we became friends over weeks. There were around thirty people from the Sri Lankan armed forces at a given time during that period and they had a sort of community among themselves. Something I noticed was most of the other military men didn’t like to talk with P. So one day while dressing the wound I asked about this odd behaviour from P. At first he was reluctant to answer. But later just few days before our internship appointment finished P told me his story. “Doctor, they consider me as a traitor!” said he.”That was when I got injured. I being one of medical corps stay behind the front lines and we do not engage in battles unless it is absolutely necessary. Caring for the wounded soldiers is our job.” “On that day there was a sudden crossfire between us and the enemy. And between the two groups firing at each other there were some unarmed people. I don’t know whether they were civilians or terrorists. Most of them ran for cover but there was one woman who was carrying a child and holding another by hand who was unable to run away. I cried at my fellow soldiers not to fire but I couldn’t stop them. So I ran forwards and grabbed the woman and children to the ground covering them with my body. Then I was hit. I don’t know whether it was a bullet from the enemy or from our side. In the end I was able to save that woman and children but I was scolded by my commanding officer for not obeying orders to stay behind. And as I got injured I couldn’t care for my fellow soldiers who were injured.” “Why did you do that?” I asked.
The Man He Killed
HAD he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
I shot him dead because—
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although
He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps,
Off-hand like—just as I—
Was out of work—had sold his traps—
No other reason why.
Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.
–Thomas Hardy
“I don’t know doctor. Being never married I don’t have children. But when I saw that mother with two children about to be killed, I just couldn’t stay observing it!” said he. I learned later P passed away due to septicaemia several weeks after this dialogue. He never received any medal or any appreciation for his conduct. On the contrary he was labelled as a traitor by his own colleagues. (But he remains as a hero in the memory of a young doctor who worked in the ward where he was admitted.)
One of my roommates was Suresh Ayya. He had only one brother who was worked at northern Sri Lanka. He was killed by the LTTE in late 2008. Suresh Ayya was very sad and was crying when we visited his place. After return of Suresh Ayya to our small room at National Hospital quarters after finishing the funeral functions and the seventh day alms giving there was a small gathering of our fellow interns where there was heated talk against terrorists and how they should be eliminated. Suresh Ayya was quiet for most of the time and when everyone left the room he told a strange thing to me.” මචං අපේ එකා යන්තං ඔලුව උස්සන් එනකොටම නැති උනා. ඌ ගැන අපේ පවුල ගොඩාක් බලාපොරොත්තු තියාගෙන හිටියා. උට වෙනින් රස්සාවක් සෙට් උනා නම් ඌ තාම ජීවත් වෙනවා නේ බන්! උට වෙඩි තියපු අනිත් පැත්තේ එවුන්ට අපිට වඩා කොච්චර ප්රශ්න ඇත්ද. අපිට නම් අඩු ගානෙ කන්න දෙයක් ඉන්න තැනක් තියනවා. ඒත් උන්ට එහෙමත් නැතුව ඇති. මේකෙන් දෙපැත්තෙන්ම මැරෙන්නේ එක වගේ කොල්ලොනේ බන්!”.(Machan, Our one died just as he started a decent life. Our family had lot of hope on him. If he had got a different job he will be still living! How much troubles ones from the other side may have! We have at least things to eat and a place to stay. But they may not even have that. It is boys who die from this at both sides are similar!)
Epilogue
We have seen a terrible past which cannot and must not be forgotten. Unfortunately we cannot change the past. We might be able to change the future for better so that those terrible things will not happen again. But what is terrifying me is same things that led to that terrible past is happening may be even more intensely now. We may not be able to change others, but we can at least change ourselves so that we don’t see us versus them but it is just you and me!
Referrences
- S. Alexander Haslam and Stephen D. Reicher. Questioning the Banality of Evil. The Psychologist 2008:28(1):16-19.
- Reicher, S., Hopkins, N., Levine, M. & Rath, R. Entrepreneurs of hate and entrepreneurs of solidarity. International Review of the Red Cross 2006:87, 621–637.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Göring
- http://www.blackjuly83.com/Quotes.htm
- Michael Roberts. The Agony and the Ecstasy of a Pogrom Southern Lanka, July 1983. Nethra 2003:6(1&2),199-213
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_july
- http://www.slnewsonline.net/LTTE_Atrocities_20060615_Kebithigollewa_Massacre.htm
- http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/document/papers/LTTE_chief_Heroes_Day_peech.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_attributed_to_the_LTTE
- Maya Jayasinghe Abeywickrama. ‘Memories of my Jaffna days’. Daily News 11.10.2004
- http://www.sangam.org/articles/view2/?uid=676
සහෝදරයා.. මුල සිටම ඔබ ගැන මට ගෞරවයක් තිබුණා. ඒත් මේ ලිපිය කිය වූ පසු මට හැඟුනේ අප හමු වියයුතු බවයි. මට ඔබව දකින්න අවශ්යයි.
ඔබ මේ ලිපිය ලිවීමට ගෙන ඇති මහන්සිය ම පෙන්වනවා ඔබගේ උත්සාහය කොතරම් නිර්ව්යාජ ද කියා. ලොකු සතුටක් දැනෙනවා ඔබ වැනි මිනිසුන් සිටින බව දැක්කම.
මේ කියන ‘අනෙකා’ ව අපි (සිංහල/දෙමළ) හදුන ගන්නේ අපි ඉතාම කුඩා කාලයේ සිට බවයි මගේ හැඟීම. අපේ වැඩිහිටියන් කරන කතා බහ, අපි අහන ප්රවෘත්ති, ගීත, අපි ලබන අධ්යාපනය යන සෑම දෙයක් හරහාම මේ අනෙකා අපිට හදුන්වා දෙනු ලබනවා. අපි මෛත්රිය කරුණාව දයාව ගැන කතා කරන අතර ඒ වෙනුවෙන් වැඩසටහන් සංවිධානය කරන අතර මෙකී අනෙකා එකී සංකල්ප වලින් බැහැරව සැලකීම විසංවාදයක් ලෙස දකින්නේ නෑ. එය අප හිත තුළ ගැටුමක් නිර්මාණය කරන්නේ නෑ. (මෙය මේආකරයෙන්ම දෙමළ සමජයටත් අදාලයි).
83 ජුලි සිදුවීම් වෙනකොට මට වයස 13 යි. ගමේ පංසලේ හිටි වැඩිහිටි හාමුදුරු කෙනෙකුගේ ආදාහනයක් ඔය කියන දවස් වලම පැවත් වුණා. ඒකට කොළඹින් වැඩම කළ හාමුදුරු නමක් මගේ දෙමාපියන් සමග කොළඹ සිදුවෙමින් තිබුණු දෑ ගැන කී ආකාරය තාම මතකයි. අහස දුම්රොටු වලින් වැසී ඇති අකාරයත් දෙමළ අයගේ කඩවල් ගිනිගන්නා ආකාරයත් විස්තර කළ ආකරය සහ එහිදී උන්වහසේ ගේ මුහුනේ පිළිඹිබු වූ හැගීම් දෙමළ අයගේ ගිනි තැබූ කඩවල් ගැන කියනවිට ඔබගේ සීයාගේ මුහුනේ පිළිඹිබු වූ හැගීම්වලට ඉතාම සමානයි. පවුලේ සහ සම්බන්ධය නිසා පසුකාලයේ උන්වහන්සේව ලඟින්ම ඇසුරු කරන්න මට අවස්ථාව ලැබුණා. උන්වහන්සේ මාගේ ජීවිතයේ දී හමුවුණු ඉතාම කරුණාවන්ත භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ නමක්. ඔබේ ලිපියේ ඕබගේ සීයා සහ ඔහුගේ කරුණාවන්ත කමත් ඔහු දෙමළ අයගේ කඩගිනිතැබීම ගැන කියනවිට පෙන්වූ ආකල්පය ගැනත් කියවන විට එකවරම මගේ සිහියට ආවේ පෙර කී වැලිවිටියේ සුමේධ හාමුදුරුවන්ව. උන්වහන්සේ ජාතිවාදී කෙනෙක් නෙවෙයි. ඔබ ඉතාම හොඳින් විස්තර කර ඇති පුංචිකාලයේ ඉඳල උන්වහන්සේට කවා ඇති ‘අනෙකා’ පිළිබඳ අදහස නිසයි උන්වහන්සේට 83 ජුලි සිදුවීම් එතරම්ම සාමන්ය දෙයක් වන්නට ඇත්තේ.
ඔබේ විග්රහය ඉතාම දියුණු සහ අපක්ෂපාතී එකක්. ඕනෑම ජනසමාජයකට අදාල කළ හැකි එකක්.
මේ අදහස් අපි සාමාන්ය ජනයා අතරට ගෙනයා යුතුයි. මම ඉතාම ඕනෑකමින් ඉල්ලා හිටිනවා මේ ලිපිය සිංහලට නගන්න කියල. අගෝස්තු මාසයෙන් පස්සේ මට වුණත් මෙය පරිවර්තනය කර ඔබට එවිය හැකියි. ඔබ කාර්යබහුල නම්. අවශ්ය වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම් කර එවිට ඔබට එය පළ කළ හැකියි. මගේ දෙමළ මිතුරන් අතරට මේ ලින්ක් එක යවන්නම්. උත්සාහ කරන්නම් මෙය දෙමළ බසට නගන්න ඒ අයගේ උදව් ගන්න පුළුවන් ද කියා.
යුද්ධයෙන් සහොදරයා අහිමිවුණු ‘සුරේෂ් අය්යා’ ගේ දෙමළ අය ගැන වූ ආකල්පය යුද්ධ කිරීමට හැබෑ ලෙස දායක වුණු වැඩිදෙනෙක් ගේ ආකල්පය බව මම මෙහි දී කියනවා. මගේ ලොකු අය්ය ඇරුනහම තවත් 5 දෙනෙක් මගේ ගමෙන්ම මියගියා යුද සෙබළුන් හැටියට හෝ පොලිස් නිළධාරීන් හැටියට. ඉන් දෙන්නෙක් මගේ පංතියේ හිටි යාළුවෝ. (ඒ 90 අවුරුද්දේ කල්මුණේ පොලීසිය යටත් කළ වෙලාවේ). අවසානයට මියගියේ මාත් එක්ක කුඩාකළ එකපංතියේ ඉගෙන ගත් හැම අවුරුද්දේම දෙවැනියා හෝ තුන්වැනියා වූ එහෙත් අඩුවයසින් විවාහ වූ සහොදරියකගේ ලොකු පුතා. ඒ යුද්දයේ අවසාන හරියෙදි.
මට කියන්න තියෙන්නේ අඩුතරමේ ඒ පවුල්වල අයත් එක්ක සාවදානව මේ ප්රශ්නය කතාකරන්න වත් පුළුවං. ‘අනෙකා’ තවත් අප වැනිම මනුෂ්යයෙක් කියා ඔවුන්ට වටහා ගන්න පුළුවං. ඒත් අපි අතර සිට ‘අනෙකා’ ස්ථාපිත කිරීමට වෙහෙසෙන අයත් එක්ක කිසිවක් සාවදානව කතා කරන්න බෑ. ඔවුන් ඇත්තටම යුද්ධය වෙනුවෙන් කිසිම කැපකිරීමක් සිදු කරලත් නෑ. සමහර විට ලාභනම් ලබා ඇති.
ඔබ අවසානයට සඳහන් කර ඇති හමුදා සෙබලා ගැන ඇහුවාම විශාල දුකක් ඇති වුණා. ඔහු කර ඇති කැපවීමට සරිලන කිසි ඇගයීමක් නොලැබ ඇති බව ඇත්තක්. ඒත් ඒ මිනිසා ඔබව වෙනස් කරන්න දායක වුණා නේද? ඔබ ලියා ඇති දේ තුළ ඔහු ජීවත් වෙනවා නේ ද?. ඔබ අඩු තරමේ තව මිනිසුන් සැලකිය යුතු ප්රමාණයක් වෙනස් කරාවි මේ පණිවිඩය ඉදිරියට ගෙන යමින්. ඒක උණ්ඩයකින් කරන්න බැරි දෙයක්. ඉදිරියේ ලියැවෙන වංසකතාවලට ඔහුව ඇතුලත් වෙන්නෙ නෑ. ඇතුලත්වෙන්න ඕනෙත් නෑ. ‘අනෙකාව’ ස්ථාපිත කිරීමට ලියැවෙන ප්රභූන්ගේ ඉතිහාසයට එම නම ඇතුළු වීම නින්දාවක් ම වන නිසා.
“අපි” සහ “ඔවුන්” කියන බෙදීම යොදාගනිමින් කොතරම් නම් අපව පාවිච්චි කරනවාද! අපිට කුඩා කල සිට උගන්වන්නේ “ඔවුන්” “අපෙන්” කොතරම් වෙනස්ද කියා මිසක් කොතරම් සමානද කියා නොවෙයි. මේ ලිපිය උනත් “ඔවුන්”, “අපි” කියන කණ්ණාඩිය දාල බලන අයට වෙනස් විදියකට පේන්න පුළුවන්.
මම මේ ලිපිය දැක්කෙ අහම්බෙන්. අනර්ඝ ලිපියක්. සියළු කරුණු සරල ඉංග්රිසියෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම ගැන ස්තුතියි. ඇත්තෙන්ම මෙය සිංහලෙන් පලවනවානම් හොඳයි.
ඔබට ජය!
සාමකාමී ශ්රී ලංකාවක් ගැන හිතන ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ක්රියා කිරීමට උත්සාහ කරන ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට අදාල කරගත හැකි ඉතා දියුණු න්යායික පදනම ඔබ ගොඩනගා තිබෙනවා. එය එක ජාතියකට අදාල වන්නක් නොවේ.
ඒ වගේම යම් කෙනෙක් බලය පිළිබඳ ඉදිරි අපේක්ෂා ඇතිව ජනයා බෙදන්න හදනකොට මේ කරන්න යන්නේ කුමක් ද යන්න හදුණා ගතහැකි ක්රමවේදය මෙහි හදුන්වා තිබෙනවා. ජනයා තුල කිසියම් අණතුරක් පිළිබඳ භීතියක් අති කොට ඒ අණ්තුරින් ජනයා මුදා ගන්නනට වෙන කිසිවකු නැත කියා මතුකොට දක්වන විටදී මේ ඇත්තවශයෙන්ම කියා හිටින්නේ කුමක්ද කියා තේරුම් ගත හැකියි ඔබ ඉදිරිපත්කර ඇති අදහස් දන්නවා නම්. ඒ නිසයි මේ ලිපිය හැකිතරම සරළ බසින් සිංහලට හා දෙමළ බසට නැගිය යුත්තේ සහ සාමන්ය ජනයා අතරට ගෙන යා යුත්තේ.
great work! and a great article.
very much appreciate your thinking pattern.
@පිටස්තරය-2
ස්තුතිය් සහෝදරයා!
මට ඔබේ දිරිගැන්වීම හුඟක් වටිනවා!මම මුලින්ම ඔබේ ලිපි කියවනකොට හිතුනේ මගේ සිතේ තියන අදහස් ඔබ ලියා ඇති බවය්. ඒ ලිපි වල ඒ තරම්ම සමීප බවක් තිබුනා! ඔබ හමුවෙන්න මම හුඟක් කමතිය්,email පණිවිඩයක් එවන්නම්.
මේ බෙදීම තමය් “අනිකාගේ” දුකට වේදනාවට අසංවේදී වීමේ ඉඳල අනිකා ගහල, මරල විනාස කිරීම දක්වා හේතු වෙන්නේ. මට හිතෙන්නේ අපි ඉදිරියේ තියන ලොකුම අභියෝගයක් වෙන්නේ මේ චිතන ක්රමය වෙනස් කරන එකය්. ඒ “අනිකෙක්” නොවෙය් අපේම එකෙක් කියල හිතන්න පුළුවන් මිනිස්සු ඉන්න දවසක මේ භයංකාර ගැටළු අවසන් වෙය්!
මේ බෙදීම, අනිකා අපිට තර්ජනයක් කියන චින්තනය අපට දෙන්නේ නායකයෝ. ඔවුන් එක කරන ක්රමය ගැන හුඟාක් හොඳ විවරණයක් දෙවන පාදක සටහනේ තියනවා. ඔබට හැකි වෙලාවක කියවල බලන්න.
සිංහලෙන් ලිපිය පල කරන්න උත්සාහ ගන්නම්. එත් ඒ සමගම දෙමළෙනුත් පල කරන්න පුලුවන්නම් තමය් හොඳ. අපේ මේ කතා බහට දෙමල මිතුරන් කවුරුත් නැති එක හුඟක්ම ලොකු අඩුවක්. මොකද එනිසා අදහස් එක පාර්ශ්වික වෙන්න ඉඩ තියන නිසා. මම දිගටම ඉංග්රීසියෙන් ලියන්න කමතිය් මොකද ජාති බේද නැතිව හුඟ දෙනෙක්ට තේරුම් ගන්න පුළුවන් නිසා.
@ SOLO
බොහොම ඉස්තුතිය්! ඔබේ අදහස් මට දිරියක්!
සිංහලෙන් පල කරන්න උත්සාහ කරන්නම්.
@ Freedom
Thanx 🙂
Dear Janitha,
I salute for your effort which you have put on to this post with so much critical thinking as well as with the factual substantiations. one can rarely find this much of quality writing among the sri lankan bloggers.
Before express my view on the subject matter i would like to point out the few things i noticed of your writing style. I noticed that it’s concept of providing supporting references is more similar to the type of writing we see in academic world while in contrary the actual use of words is more compatible with the less sophisticated blog writing. It is simmilar to the music of Victor rathnayaka ( ‘SA’) who adopted middle path unlike too classical of Amaradewa or too western type of Clrence. ( i like all of them,,)
In reference to the subject, i accept your point that some politicians create the divisions among the society aiming petty political advantage. There is no argument on that. it happened in past and it will in future.
Anyway there are cultural, sub cultural , geographical, social divisions within the human kind that occurr even without an initiation of anyone. These divisions can be seen in the very early civilizations as well. Even this type of divisions are visible among the animals. these division happens due to very natural reasons. I like that variety rather than to experience an unipolar cultural system.
Anyway the paramount is respecting other cultures while holding ones own cultural values with dignity.
So my point is that what we lack today is that true respect for other cultures and value systems while acknowledging our differences. if our education system will provide this attitudinal change in future, i hope that you and I will fortunate enough to witness the world which we see in our dreams.
once again thank you very much for producing a quality blog post.
This is great stuff dude… keep writing and I hope many people will read this one…
@පිටස්තරය-2
මේ ප්රපංචය ශ්රී ලංකාවට පමණක් අදාල වුවක් නොවෙය්. ඉතිහාසය තුල නැවත නැවතත් සිදුවෙමින් පවතින දෙයක්! හිට්ලර් එදා ජර්මානුවන්ට කීවෙත් “නුඹලා යුදෙව්වන්ට වඩා වෙනස්ය; යුදෙව්වෝ නුඹලාට තර්ජනයක්ය; නුඹලා තරම් උතුම් ශ්රේෂ්ඨ ජාතියක් මෙලොවෙහි නැත; එනිසා නුඹලාගේ උතුම් ජාතියට තර්ජනය කරන යුදෙව්වන් විනාශ කිරීම ගව්රවනීය දෙයක්ය” කියලය්. සිංහලුන්ට දෙමළුන් ගැන සිංහල ජාතිවාදී නායකයන් කීවෙත්, දෙමළුන්ට සිංහලයන් ගැන දෙමල ජාතිවාදී නායකයන් කීවෙත් ඔය ටිකමය්. හිට්ලර්ගේ ප්රකාශයේ යුදෙව්වෝ වෙනුවට දෙමලු හරි සිංහලුන් හරි කියල ආදේශ කරහම අපිට ඔය නායකයෝ කරන දේශනා වල සාරාංශය කොච්චර පැහැදිලිව පේනවද?
එදා ගෝරින් කියපු දේ අපට මේ දවස් වල කොච්චර නම් අහන්න හම්බෙනවද?
ඉතින් මේ නුතන හිට්ලර්ලාට, ගෝරින්ලට නොරැවටී ඉන්න සාමාන්ය ජනතාවට කියල දෙන්න පුළුවන් නම් එක මට හිතෙන හැටියට බොහොම වටිනා දෙයක්.
අපි උත්සාහ කරමු!
සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම එකඟයි. නම් වෙනස් කරන එක විතරයි කළ යුතු. text එක එකමයි.
//ඉතින් මේ නුතන හිට්ලර්ලාට, ගෝරින්ලට නොරැවටී ඉන්න සාමාන්ය ජනතාවට කියල දෙන්න පුළුවන් නම් එක මට හිතෙන හැටියට බොහොම වටිනා දෙයක්.
අපි උත්සාහ කරමු!//
අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම එය කළයුතුයි. මම සලකන්නේ බ්ලොග් ලිවීම එයට ප්රවේශයක්. නමුත් ඉදිරියෙ දී ඊට වඩා ඉදිරියට යා යුතු වෙනවා. එහිදී විවිධ ක්රම හා ප්රවේශයන් තිබිය හැකියි. මා විශ්වාස කරන ක්රමය ද ඉදිරියේදී මා අනුගමනය කරන්නා වූ ක්රමය ද වෙනවා ඇත්තේ සාමාන්ය මිනිසුන් (බහු ජන) අතරට යාමයි. බුදුන් වහන්සේ හා ජේසු තුමන් අනුගමනය කළ ක්රමයයි.
සාමාන්ය මිසුන් හිතන විදිහ වෙනස් කරන්න පුළුවන්නම් එය දේශපාලනය තුල ද පිළිඹිබු වීම ඇරඹේවි. සාමාන්ය මිනිසුන් හිතන විදිහ වෙනස් නොකර දේශපාලකයන් වෙනස් නොකළ හැකිය කියා දැඩිව විශ්වාස කරන අතරම මිනිසුන් වෙනස් වී නැත්නම් දේශපාලන බලයකට කළ හැකි දේ ද සීමා සහිත බව මගේ හැඟීමයි. සමහර විට අපි හිතන දේවල් වළ ඵල අපේ ජීවිත කාලෙ දිම අපිට දකින්න නොලැබේවි. නමුත් බීජ ටිකක් විසිකරල දාමු. ඒ අතරින් යම් ප්රමාණයක් පැල වෙලා මහා ගස් බිහි වේවි. 🙂
ඔබ හරි! සමාන්ය් ජනතාව අතරට මේ පණිවිඩය ගෙනියන්න බ්ලොග් වලට අමතර ක්රතම අවශ්ය.ය්. ඔබ යෝජනා කරන ක්ර මය ගැන වැඩි විස්තර දැනගන්න කමතිය්.
ඔව්. දේශපාලකයනුත් සමාජයේ කොටසක්. සමාජයේ මිනිසුන් හිතන ආකාරය වෙනස් වුනු විට එය දේශපාලඥයනුත් වෙනස් කරන්න උපකාරී වෙය්.
නමුත් සමාජයේ මිනිසුන් හිතන්නේ, තීරණ ගන්නේ තනිව නොවෙය්. ඊට ඔවුන් අයිති වෙන කණ්ඩායමේ (උදාහරණ හැටියට ජාතිය, ආගම, සමාජ පන්තිය හෝ පක්ෂය) “පිළිගත් සම්මත”(accepted norms) දැඩිව බලපානවා. මේ පිළිගත් සම්මත තීරණය කරන්නේ ඒ කණ්ඩායමේ නයකයනුය්. මම මෙතැනදී නායකයෝ කියල අදහස් කරන්නේ දේශපාලන නායකයන් විතරක් නොවෙය්. සමාජයීය, අද්යෙපනික සහ ආගමික නායකයනුත් ඇතුලත් වෙනවා.
අපි උදාහරණයක් ගමු. මීට වසර පනහකට හැටකට කලින් උඩරට සිංහල කාන්තාවන් දරු උපතක් රෝහලක නොදන්නා අය ඉදිරිපිට සිදු කරන එක මහත් ලැජ්ජාවක් ලෙසය් සැලකුවේ. සමාජයේ පිළිගත් සම්මතය උනේ දරු උපත ගෙදර සිදු විය යුතු බවය්. නමුත් සෞඛ්යව ක්ෂේත්රමයේ නායකයන්ට පුළුවන් උනා ජනතාවට කියන්න දරු උපත රෝහලේ සිදු විය යුතුය් කියන එක. දැන් උඩරට සිංහල කාන්තාව පිළිගත් සම්මතය දරු උපත රෝහලේ සිදු කල යුතු බවය්.
ගැටලුව ඇති වෙන්නේ නායකයින් අපට අනිත් කණ්ඩායම් තර්ජනයක් ලෙසත් අපි ඔවුන්ගෙන් ආරක්ෂා විය යුතු බව කියන්න පටන්ගත් විටය්. අපි පේරාදෙණිය විශ්ව විද්යාකලයේ ඉගනගන්න කාලෙ විශ්ව විද්යායලය තුල කණ්ඩායම් දෙකක් තිබුන රැග් වීම මත. රැග් වන කණ්ඩායමට බහුතරය අයිති උණු අතර රැග් නොවන සුළුතරය “අලයෝ” කියල හැඳින්වුවා. රැග් වන කණ්ඩායමට අයිති වුනු අයට ජේෂ්ඨ කණ්ඩායමේ නායකයන් කියල දුන්නේ අලයෝ තර්ජනයක් බවය්. මේ නිසා සමහර අවස්ථා වල අලයින්ට හිංසා කිරීම, පහර දීම සිදු උනා. මේ වැඩ වලට සම්බන්ධ අය වීරයන් ලෙස කණ්ඩායම තුල පිළිගැනීමකුත් තිබුන!
වෛරයේ පණිවිඩය වෙනුවට සාමයේ පණිවිඩය පතුරුවන එක නායකයින් විසින් කරනවානම් මේ ප්රශ්න වලට විසඳුම එතනය්!
I would like to answer this in an email to you. Sorry, I am not in a position to write the answer in a blog now.
@ Yasela
Thanx my friend, You are such an encouragement!
I cannot agree with you more!
I am not trying to implicate that this variety is what causes the problems. No! No!!, my friend, I think I would also die of boredom in such a unipolar society!
I’ll quote from the original article;
It is the idea that other groups are a threat to us and we need to defend us from other groups is what starts the havoc.
@ ඉෂාර
Thanx dude 🙂
dear friend,
I can not see any different views between two of us regarding this matter,
quote;
‘So my point is that what we lack today is that true respect for other cultures and value systems while acknowledging our differences. if our education system will provide this attitudinal change in future, i hope that you and I will fortunate enough to witness the world which we see in our dreams.’
I am sinhala and i love been sinhala, But that does not mean that i should kill a tamil or other person due to been different?
Sure, my friend!
I agree with you completely 🙂
Just wanted to clarify I am implicating the misunderstandings between the groups as the root of the problems, not the diversity of groups.
Exactly, Yasela. That is what we should achieve!
But what happened in the past was we (common Sinhalese) went about killing Tamils! Remember what happened in 1983. It was common Sinhalese who killed, beat, burn ,rape common Tamils. It’s true that few tried to prevent it. But some participated in it and most kept a blind eye for what happened! And the same was done by common Tamils to Sinhalese later!
(Take the first three anecdotes as examples.)
I was asking why that happened for a long time. This article is an attempt to present the answers I found.
Please try to read the first and the second references when you have some time. You will get a clue why this havoc was created in our country.
මම මේ කියන සංස්කෘතික වෙනස සහ ඔබ කියන ‘උන්’ සහ ‘අපි’ කියන අදහස් දෙක මගේ අත්දැකීම් වලින් මෙහෙම විස්තර කරන්නම්.
මම අම්පාරේ මනුස්සයෙක්. මගේ දෙමාපියන් දෙන්නම එහි පාරම්පරික වැසියෝ මිස සේනානායක සමුද්ර ව්යාපාරය නිසා එහාට පිටතින් ගිහින් පදිංචි වුණු අය නෙවෙයි. මගේ දෙමාපියන්ගේ පර්ශව වල අය කතාකරපු භාශාව හා සංස්කෘතියත් පිටතින් ඇවිත් පදිංචි වුණු අයගේ භාශාව හා සංස්කෘතිය අතරත් ලොකු වෙනසක් තිබුණා. මගේ දෙමාපියන් සහ පරනගම්වල වැසියන් විශ්වාස කළ පරිදි මේ වෙනසට හේතුව පරණ ගම්වල වැසියන් අවුරුදු ගණනක් ජීවත්ව ඇත්තේ කැලෑ ගම්මානවල 1818 ඉඳල. ඔවුන් විශ්වාස කරන පරිදි ඔවුන් 1818 කැරැල්ල පරාද වූ පසු වෙල්ලස්සෙන් වැව්ගම්පත්තුවට පසුබැහැපු, එතැන් සිට කැලෑ ගම්මානවලම ජීවත් වූ අය.
මේ අලුතින් පදිංචියට අපේ පළාතට ආ අය සහ මුල් වසියන් අතර තිබුනේ විශාල සංස්කෘතික වෙනසක්. ඔවුන් එකිනෙකාගේ සංස්කෘතිවලට ගරු කළේ නෑ. මුල් වැසියන්ව සැලකුවේ ‘බය්යන්’ හැටියට. පිටතින් පැමිණි අයව මුල් වසියන් සැලකුවේ ‘සංස්කෘතියක් නැති සංකර පිටගම්කාරයින්’ ලෙස. නමුත් කවදාවත් මොවුන් ගහමරා ගත්තේ නෑ. ඒ වගේම අනිත් සංස්කෘතික කණ්ඩායමේ කෙනෙකුට කරදරයක් වුණාම ඒ දිහා බලල නිහඩව හිටියේ නෑ කවුරුවත්. එතැනදි සංවේදීව වැඩ කළා කවුරුත්ම.
මේ අශ්රයෙන් මට කිය හැක්කේ සංස්කෘතික වෙනස එකිනෙකාගේ දුක් කරදර වලදී අසංවේදීවන මිනිසකු බිහි කරන්නේ නැත යන්නයි. ඔබ පෙන්වා ඇති න්යායික පදනම මත පිහිටා මටකිය හැක්කේ කිසියම් බලය පිළිබඳ අපේක්ෂා ඇති මිනිසෙකුට පෙර මා දැක් වූ වෙනස පහසුවෙන්ම භාවිතා කරන්න පුළුවන්කම තිබුණා ‘උන්’ සහ ‘අපි’ කියා බෙදන්න. ඒ බෙදීම නොවුණු නිසයි මුල් වැසියන්ව ‘බය්යන්’ලෙස හඳුන්වත්දීත් ඔවුන් අතර ගහමරා ගන්න තත්ත්වයක් නිර්මාණය නොවුනේ.
ජර්මණියේ සිදුවුණු දේ ආශ්රයෙන් නැවත මම ඔබ මතු කරන න්යායික තත්වය කියවන්නේ මෙහෙමයි. ජර්මණිය පළමුවැනි ලෝක යුද්ධයෙන් පරාජය වූ පසු විශාල ලෙස ජය ග්රාහී පිලට වන්දි ගෙවන්නත් ජර්මණියට අයත් සරු ඉඩම් ජයග්රාහකයන්ට පැවරීමටත් සිදු වුණා. යුද්දයෙන් පරාජය වෙලා හිටි ජර්මණියට මෙය දරන්න අමාරු වූ දෙයක්. 1929 සිදු වූ ලෝක ආර්ථික අවපාතයත් ජර්මණියට තවදුරටත් බලපෑවා. නමුත් මේ සියල්ලට හේතුව ලෙස පෙන්වා දුන්නේ යුදෙව්වන්. යුදෙව්වන් ‘උන්’ ලෙස හඳුන්වා දෙනු ලැබුවා. මෙතන තියෙන්නේ සංස්කෘතික වෙනස නෙවෙයි. සංස්කෘතික වෙනසක් වූ පමණින් අනෙක් කණ්ඩායමේ කෙනෙක් වහලෙකු ලෙස වැඩට යෙදවීමත් එසේ තව දුරටත් වැඩ ගැනීමට බැරි අය ගෑස් කාමරවල දමා පුළුසසා ඒ අලු පොහොර ලෙස වගා බිම්වලට යෙදවීමත් සිදුවන්නේ නෑ. මෙතන සංස්කෘතික වෙනසට එහා ගිය යමක් තිබිය යුතුයි.
මා නැවත කල්පනා කළා දෙමළ සහ සිංහල අය අතර බරපතල සංස්කෘතික වෙනසක් තිබෙනවාද කියා. නමුත් පිළිතුර නැත යන්නයි. හින්දු දෙවිවරු වැඩ ඉන්නේ අපේ බුදුන් වැඩ ඉන්න විහාර ගෙයිමයි. අපි පිංකම් කළ හැම විටම පිං අනුමෝදන් කරනවා හින්දු දෙවිවරුන්ට. ඒ ඇර යුද්දෙට ගිය පුතාගේ ආරක්ෂාව ගැන බාර හාර වුණෙත් කතරගම දෙවියන්ට. අපේ විවාහ චාරිත්රවලත් විශාල ලෙස හින්දු චාරිත්ර තිබෙන බව අසා තිබෙනවා.
මම නිතර විවේචනය කළා මාධ්ය. දෙමළ අය්ගෙ දුක් පීඩා සාමාන්ය ජනයා අතරට ගෙන යන්නේ නෑ කියා. නමුත් මම අද දෙවරක් හිතනවා. ජේ වී පී අරගලය කාලේ මැරුං කන්න වෙන බව දැන දැනම ලිපි ලියූ මාධ්යවේදීන් අද නිහඬ ඇයි? කඳවුරුවල දුක් විඳින ජනයා ගැන පොදුවේ අපි සියළු දෙනා අසංවේදී ඇයි? අවුරුද්දකට විතර පස්සේ කඳවුරුවල සිට තම හරක බාන, බල්ල පූස නැති අසල්වසියන්ගෙන් සමහරෙක් නැති සමහර විට ගෙදරින් පිටවන විට සිටි පවුලේ සාමහර සාමාජිකයන් ද නැතිව තම මුල් ගෙවල් වෙත යන දෙමළ වැසියන්ගේ චිත්ත පීඩා ගැන අපි අසංවේදී ඇයි? වනේ වන හතුරෙකුටවත් මෙහෙම විපතක් වෙන්න එපා කියන අපි ඇයි මේසා විසාල දුක් ගින්නක් දරන මිනිසුන් ඉදිරියේ නිහඬ? ඒ මේ වෙලාවේ දුක් විදින්නෙ ‘උන්’ නිසා කියන එකයි අද මා තේරුම් ගන්නේ. මෙක සිංහල දෙමළ ජාතිවාදය කියන එකත් ඉතාම පටු අර්ථ කථනයක්. ඒ නිසයි ජනිත් සහොදරයා ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නේ ඉතාම දියුණු න්යායික පදනමක් කියා මා කියන්නේ.
extremely sory for writing in Sinhala.
You are most welcome to write in Sinhala! No need for apologies! 🙂
Both Ishara and Pitasthaya-2 pointed me to this article. I agree with everyone here that this a great article. I forwarded this to a website and if they are interested in publishing this they might contact you. I will try my best to send this to a larger audience.
In 1983, I was in grade 8. My friend’s father picked me up at school and took a whole bunch of us from school to the train. I saw a Muslim man being attacked and being chased by thugs while he was profusely bleeding. The car he was driving was set on fire with the books of the two Muslim ladies college girls who were in the car. My friend’s farther protected all of us from seeing further.
My parents were actually very upset by the things they saw and heard. They thought I was too little to understand and never discussed them with me. You are right machan, there were more than politicians were involved. Everyone who stayed silent contributed to this.
Since then I have met two Tamil people who were chased away by us to US. I from my behavior has changed their attitude towards SInhalese but there are too many who still wants to keep us “us” and them “them”. I sometimes feel that I am fighting a loosing battle.
Keep writing…..!
Thank you මුදිත for your kind encouragement!
I was just two years old in 1983. So I do not recall any incidents happened then. I grew up in the aftermath in a strictly a Sinhalese Buddhist environment. I visualise Tamils and Muslims as “them” who are against “us”. As I grew up and matured I read extensively about the tragedy that happened in 1983 and how general Sinhala population either participated in the atrocities or kept a blind eye. I realized there is a paradox of us considering ourselves as such a kind, and virtuous nation and in the same time we were able to descend into such brutality. The same thing is true for the Tamils. I tried to present the explanation I found for this paradox.
I think it is very important for the people belonging to the two groups to be close to each other, to be friends. Then we will not see each other as “us vs. them” but as similar human beings.
We cannot loose this battle මුදිත! We must keep going for the sake of the future generations!
Dear Fried,
Well done. It is an excellent piece of work. I completely agree with your arguments.
You might know that I’m also having same type of ideas but my background is different, My father’s best friend is a Tamil man (Mr. Govindasami) so in my childhood I identified “them” as “us”. In my school (Kingswood College, Kandy) there were Tamils, Muslims and others, so I was with them, not as “them” but as “us”. Latter part of the school age, I was so interested about modern socialism, and I read extensively about Marxism and socialism. Finally I concluded that there is no group as “them”. So this is not a strange topic to me.
All your stories can explain with sociological theories and can come to a conclusion that politics and political leaders are the main contributors (so they are the murderers and robbers).
If you could add something about the triggers of “Black July” it would make your article a comprehensive document.
Any way we have been talking about this for more than twenty five years. THI IS THE TIME TO ACT. As Sinhalese we did a great mistake in the past, we were fools of our leaders, which should not be happened again (I’m not talking about Tamils, which will come from the Tamils after we accept our mistake).
JANAKA
Thanx machan!
You were apparently one of the few who was lucky enough to be brought up in a moderate environment, so you could see people from both groups as similar human beings rather than identifying yourself with one group and looking down upon the other.
I agree with you that it was the leaders who made way to these tragedies. This is one of the main points that I wanted to bring up in this article. But I think they were not only political. For example look at the following famous saying by Anagarika Dharmapala in 1920s
You may realize how deeply this statement is rooted in the Sinhalese society by the fact that even today we see racist statement (which clearly contradicts lord Buddha’s teachings) being commonly quoted even in the contemporary society.
Another fact I would like to point out is that Anagarika Dharmapala has undeniably done lot of good to the humanity by deeds such as help setting up schools in Sri Lanka and conserving Bodh Gaya. Which again leads us to the conclusion that it is irrational to categorize people as good or evil and accept or discard all their ideas based on that classification.
Which includes the triggers of Black July. I am currently gathering evidence which I hope to publish in a future article.
And finally I must say putting blame on one nation (be it Tamil; be it Sinahala) is not going to work. Because nothing can be further from the truth. We must never forget what happened in the past, but learn from those terrible errors.And we must find what lead us to being brutal to fellow human beings and we must try to abolish that root cause (if there ever was one:)) for good!
excellent work malli
Thanx 🙂
I am lucky and happy to read this article.
My family background also provided me to think in similar way like “Janaka Pushpakumara” said. My father who had communist/socialist background has made me to think like that. Also in my school (St. Aloysius collage in Galle) there were many Muslim and christian, and some Tamil friends. being with them gave me to avoid the feelings like “Us Vs Them”. However once I shifted to Peradeniya for higher studies the things were bit different where the motivations were towards “Us vs Them”.
—I have posted this link on some of my friends (both Sinhalese and Tamil), may be they will comment from their side.
Also prefer if we can translate this to Sinhala and Tamil
(At once people do not like to read in English, unless they see it is interest; also this should also read by the people who believes in “Us Vs Them”.
Amila
Thank you Amila!
It is encouraging to think there are more people in this world who can embrace humans belonging to other groups as human beings!
I agree with you there were separatist (I’m using this word in the context of describing people who attempts to create a seperation amoung humans 🙂 elements operating in Peradeniya when we studied there. It’s a sad thing because Peradeniya being a residential campus for the students of all races and religions could have been an epitome of solidarity!
Thank you for posting this link to your friends especially Tamil ones, because I see lack of opinion from Tamils is a big shortcoming for our discussion.
Nimal like Michel Jackson and not favor of Amaradewa… Sunil like Amaradewa….one day they argued and tried to prove that their favorite is the best…
then another friend came and said..see..both are musicians….both are same..so you people should listen to both…ultimately Sunil and Nimal accept it and start to listen both…
but their was something wrong…Nima’sl and sunil’s music tastes are different…they can not enjoy bothtype of music..
then again they discussed…finally they understood that their tastes are different….it is useless to listen to both unless you like them..there is a different between them…
they understood that ‘argument’ is useless..only accepting the ‘difference’ is real…but most important thing is ‘respecting’ other’s preferences/opinions while holding person’s own preferences/opnion
Janith..i wrote this because some of comments gave me the impression, the ideology of no any sort of difference between cultures, religons etc. which is i believe far from the truth.. MOST IMPORTANT THING IS ACCEPT THE DIFFERENCE AND RESPECT TO THE RIGHT OF THE PERSON TO HOLD THAT DIFFERENCE.
Yasela,
I completely agree with you with this point. Never in my writings have I tried to imply all human beings are identical. But I have often written that there are differences as well as similarities and there is humanity which unites us all as human beings! The nature is diverse so he is human beings and all their creations!You have been spot on when you quoted the above quote!
Reading your comment about the argument between Nimal and Sunil my mind goes to the discussion we had over the facebook chat. Do you remember I told you that arguments become useless even when the perfect logic is used if the people arguing are using different premises (We may consider the each ones different music tastes as their premises).
Thanx again for pointing out this valuable idea 🙂
Indeed, an excellent article!
The photo above took me back many years, when I witnessed a similar scene as a thirteen year old school boy….
Before 1977, I had never given a thought to whether I was a Sinhalese or a Tamil. It was not discussed at home and the matter never arose as a question of any importance in my world. Then, in 1977, soon after the victory of the Jayawardena govt., there were riots against the tamils…. As a school boy waiting to return for the bus to return home with my friend, I witnessed the horrendous beating of a naked, Tamil man at the Kandy bus stand, by a mob of Sinhalese who beat him with clubs and stones as he lay terrified in the dust. Another crowd of curious (horrified?) onlookers surrounded the scene, but did nothing but stare. Finally the principal assailant, who was, by then exhausted, brought a huge stone, which he could barely carry and dropped it on the man’s head to finish him off and watched panting and sweating in frustration, when he realized he had failed to kill him “Mechchara gahalath moo meruney nehe ney!” he exclaimed to the watching crowd as he walked off in disgust.
My friend and I, were sickened and saddened by what we had seen, and felt ashamed to be Sinhalese (for that is what I assumed I was, being in the Sinhala medium at school). Several years later, in 1983, this feeling of shame intensified as my brother and I went around ferrying our Tamil friends and memebers of Uni staff to safety. Until, as we were leaving for the night, one of the Sinhala staff members asked us, whether we were alright at home. I was puzzled by the question, answering yes, of course.
A few months later, I happened to see my birth certificate for the first time, when submitting it to the University, and realized with some surprise, that I was, in fact, Tamil! (my father was Tamil and mother Sinhala. My long-felt sense of shame lifted and i was relieved, feeling I no longer carried the communal guilt of the barbarous Sinhalese!
Over the next few years, as I watched the senseless slaughter and brutality on both sides and listened to the mindless idiocy spouted by so-called intellectuals and intelligent people, I was, once more saddened and sickened, this time feeling ashamed of being Sri Lankan…
Now I look around me, at the so-called “civilized” world. At India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Middle East, Iraq, the “allied forces” Eastern Europe……and downtown Melbourne on a friday night,…..and realize, that this is the human condition.
That the human being is the most destructive, blood-thirsty animal on this planet, who needs little excuse to murder, pillage and brutalize his own kind for no real (biological) reason whatsoever. Who kills, not for hunger, but for “sport”!!! It is only the human being, who, when his inhibitions are released, through alcohol, drugs or the security of the mob, reveals its inner self and turns into a mindless, snarling, howling killer beast, revelling in the sheer pleasure of inflicting pain on a fellow being and watching him cower and writhe. You don’t have to look far… watch an “innocent” child playing with an earthworm!
Therefore, any philosophy which teaches kindness, gentleness and caring, be it a religion or a moral consciousness, is fighting an uphill task, for, just like the 3rd law of thermodynamics suggests that the universe, if left alone will descend into chaos, humans if left alone, will destroy each other, the planet and every other living being – and derive much pleasure from the process! In fact, we’re nearly there, now!
Thank you very much, sir, for being very open sharing your personal experiences and opinions. I value those ideas very much. I think your experience is unique because of people like you who had changed their ethnic identity is quite rare. And it has given you the unique opportunity of looking at the conflict through the eyes of a Tamil as well as a Sinhalese!
I also feel ashamed as an ethnic Sinhalese when I realise the brutalities ethnic Sinhalese have committed during 1983 riots and other anti-Tamil riots. Similarly I know some Tamil friends who feel ashamed of brutalities carried out by the ethnic Tamils of LTTE. But my opinion is both Sinhalese and Tamils (or any other ethnicity for that matter) has committed lots of good things also. So one should not be ashamed of his/her ethnicity but rather the bad things done by people belonging to that ethnicity.
What I appreciate so much in your comment is your openness to come out and say that you feel ashamed of the terrible acts carried out by the people belonging to you ethnicity (Sinhala/ Tamil) or your nationality (Sri Lankan). Most people don’t do that. Rather than condemning the terrible acts done by people belonging to the same group they justify them. It seems most people actually realizes those acts were wrong but they believe that if they condemn acts of their own group the other (opposing) groups may get an advantage. So what happens is people keep on telling lies, knowing that they are telling lies!
For example if there is condemnation of brutalities happened in 1983 riots, Sinhalese start protesting pointing out massacres done LTTE and there going on to justify terrible things that happened in 1983. Similarly when there is condemnation of brutalities done by the LTTE Tamil diaspora starts mentioning riots of 1983 or 1953 and going on to justify the terrible acts of LTTE. So the atrocities from both sides are justified, fuelled and propagated.
I believe to stop this vicious cycle people should come out (just as lot of people who were kind enough to drop by here putting a comment did :)) and speak out condemning the bad things done by both sides! That helps us to realize how we had been insensitive to the pains of the others. An we will realize there is humanity uniting us all, no matter how diverse we are!
I think this is one side of the the two forces that are in equilibrium in opinion. There is another side of humanity.
And when this equilibrium shifts towards the former side we encounter destruction and when it shift towards the latter we encounter peace!
Anyway, sir, your comment gave me lot of food for thought 🙂
Thanx again for your valuable ideas and sharing your experiences. 🙂
Thanks, Janith, for your kind comments! You know, the curious thing is whenever I came face to face with acts of brutality, whoever the perpertrators happened to be, I didn’t feel any anger towards them, but an unimaginable sadness – that an intelligent, thinking, being had somehow descended to this level.
As for your comments about self-criticism – it is the best way to self improvement, be it for the individual, the community, the nation or the whole of humanity!
Let me leave you with a quote from someone I can’t remember
“When they came for the communists, I was silent – for I wasn’t a communist.
When they came for the Jews, I was silent – for I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for the muslims, I was silent – for i wasn’t a muslim.
When they came for the Christians, I was silent – for i wasn’t a Christian.
When they came for me – there was no one left to speak for me!”
So I’m happy people like you have begun to speak!
Good Luck and Take Care!
This is my reply.
http://lekssammuthiworld.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_08.html
පළමුවෙන්ම මගේ ලිපියට ප්රතිචාරයක් දැක්වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලෙක්ස් මල්ලිට (මල්ලි කියල කීවේ මට අය්ය කියපු හින්ද මිස පහලට දාල කතා කරන්න නොවෙය් 🙂 බොහොම ස්තුතිය්.
ඒ වගේම ඒට පෙරලා ප්රතිචාර දක්වන්න පමා වුනු එකටත් සමා වෙන්න ඕනේ.හැබැය් ඒ පමාව නිසා මට කිවයුතු දේවල් හුඟාක් අඩු වෙලා බවය් හිතෙන්නේ. :)(ඒවා ටික ඔක්කොම අනිත් අය මට කලින් කියල.)
කවුද මේ කතාව කිවේ, මල්ලි? මට නම් ඒකට කොහොමට වත් එකඟ වෙන්න බෑ.
මම මේ ප්රකාශයට හරි කමතිය් ඒ වගේම ඒ ප්රකාශයට සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම එකඟ වෙනවා.
මා උත්සාහ කලේ විස්තර කල පරිදි “සාමාන්ය” මිනිසුන් අසංවේදී වීමට හේතුවක් සේවිමටය්. මා මුල් ලිපියෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නේ එයය්. (මා මුළු ලිපියම ලියා ඇත්තේ එය ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට වන බැවින් මෙහිදී එය නැවත කීමට යන්නේ නැහැ.). මෙහිදී මා ඉදිරිපත් කරන පිළිතුර සියලු අවස්ථා වලට සාධාරණ වන “මැජික්” පිළිතුරක් නොවෙය්. මා අවසාන කතා දෙක ඉදිරිපත් කලේ එසේ නොවන බව පෙන්වීමටය්. එසේම එය මා අවංක ලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කල අදහසක් පමනය්. එය අන් අයට බලහත්කාරයෙන් ඒත්තු ගැන්වීමට මා කිසිසේත්ම අදහස් කරන්නේ නැහැ. එහි අඩුපාඩු වැරදි බොහොම තියෙන්න පුළුවන් බවත් මම දන්නවා. (පෙන්වල දුන් විට පිළිගන්න සුදානම්!)
මගේ මුල් ලිපිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔබ දක්වා ඇති උනන්දුව සහ ඒ ගැන කල අගය කිරීම මම හුඟාක් අගය කරනවා. නමුත් මම ගැටලුව සඳහා පිළිතුර ලෙස ඔබ කියන ආකාරයේ “විවිධත්වය නැති ලෝකයක්” පිළිතුර ලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කලේ නැහැ. ඒ බව මම මුල් ලිපියේ සහ ප්ර තිචාර වල නැවත නැවතත් කියා තිබෙනවා. එසේම ‘සංස්කෘතික විවිධත්වය සහ එකී විවිධත්වයනට ගරු නොකිරීම මේ ආකාරයේ අසංවේදී මිනිසුන් බිහිවීමට හේතුවෙනවා’ යන අසම්පුර්ණ පිළිතුරත් මා කිසිවිටක ඉදිරිපත් කර නැහැ. එනිසා එවැනි ප්ර කාශ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මා අදහස් දැක්වීමට යන්නේ නැහැ.
මම මිනිසුන්ට වියුක්ත ලක්ෂණ(සියලු මිනිසුනට පොදු වන වේදනාවට-මරණයට බියවීම, බඩගිනි වීම, තම දරුවන් රැකීම, ගරුත්වයක් ඇතිව ජීවත් වීමට ඇති කැමැත්ත වැනි ලක්ෂණ ) ලෙස මෙන්ම සංයුක්ත ලක්ෂණ(ජාතිය, ආගම, සමාජ පන්තිය, කුලය මෙන්ම පුද්ගලයාට අනන්ය වූ ලක්ෂණ) ඇති බව දනිමි. එම වියුක්ත බව හා සංයුක්ත බව එකවිට පවතින බව මගේ වැටහීමය්. (එක තේරුම් ගන්න නාගර්ජුන පාදයන් වහන්සේ දේශනා කල චතුස්කෝටිකය නැත්නම් ලොෆ්ටි සද්හේ ඉදිරිපත් කල fuzzy logic පාවිච්චි කරන්න පුළුවන්. 🙂
මා වෙනුවෙන් අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කල පිටස්තරයටත් යසේලටත් බොහොම ඉස්තුතිය්.
අවසාන වශයෙන් කියන්න ඕනේ මමත් වැඩේ, කැවුම්, කිරිබත්, වටලප්පන් විතරක් නොවෙය් දැන් ඔය පොස් කඩවල් වල විකුනන්න තියන ශවර්ම වගේ කෑමත් කනවා. බඩජාරි කමනේ 🙂
Very interesting article and well written analysis. I learned much.
Unfortunately the “Us and Them” mentality keeps spreading throughout societies, throughout times.
Thank you for dropping by to read, appreciate and comment. 🙂
Trying hard to break it!
Beautiful work Janithck. As you said in the Epilogue, it is sad to see we are still following the same path that lead to all this destruction. I feel exactly the same and this always makes me sick.
But after reading your article I am more hopeful. As long as there are people like you, As long as there is at least one person like you, there is hope. Thank you for righting this. This made my day.
Thank you for your kind comment.
When I started writing I felt the same. I thought no one would like this kind of stuff. But now I realize the majority of people are open minded, though may be misguided.
So WE have hope 🙂
I am too late to read your article. but its not a problem to appreciate you. I am so happy on being people like you.
I got your blog’s link from Muditha’s facebook. thank you muditha who was my most senior in peradeniya university
http://bumuthurunu.wordpress.com/
thank you
shan
Thanks Shan but can’t figure out who you are. I knew one Shan but not sure whether that is your real name. Add me on FB. Anyway apologies to Janith I used your space to contact Shan.
Great work Janith…..
Sri Lankan blogsphere needs more and more bloggers like you. (it s better you can translate this in to sinhala as Pitastaraya said)
Thankx Gora!
I’ve started translation to Sinhalese and to Tamil by a Tamil friend of mine. The’ll be posted as soon as they are completed 🙂
I respect the opinion of you. But, I disagree with the reasoning you have given for the brutal activities of R & D.
Separatism was not born at 1983 riots, but long ago. R was doing the activities for a course. Did you ever asked R whether he killed any Tamil villagers? and whether he enjoyed that? From my experience, people like R have killed Tamil people as well and still they enjoy it, because its a target that they have to accomplish to go for a final goal (which R may not be aware of). So, its not the ‘us’ and ‘them’ division which governs these brutal activities.
Same argument applies for the 1983 riots. Sinhalese people were not enemies of Tamil people. The were not waiting for an incidence to trigger their violence towards Tamils. Some incidences occurred (which I’m not gonna explain here), a small group of people used it for their political advantage. General public got carried away with their violence. I know some Sinhalese people who attacked Sinhalese for not supporting violence. So, it’s not ‘us’ and ‘them’. It’s instantaneous carrying away.
One more thing, Did your father supported riots? I know that my father didn’t. Because, he understood the intentions of that small group. If the general public (Tamil or Sinhalese) could have understood the intentions of the small groups who stated the riots and the separatism, they wouldn’t have taken part of those.
So, my dear friend, Your facts are all correct, but explanation is not that accurate.
cheers
Great blog post. I thought I’d share this video with you, it’s a talk by a psychologist on how normal people, when put into bad situations, can do terrible things. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html
He was an expert witness for the Abu Gharib prison scandal, but the things he talks about seem really applicable to the stories you tell.
Excellent thinking by a young man like you. Most of the present generation youngesters are groomed to think in terms of ” Us vs “Them by the society even the educated people.
I have seen the riots in 1958, 1977, 1983 and the subcequent incidents that followed. During our time there was only one University the University of Ceylon and there was no difference wheher you are a Sinhalease or Tamil. The truth is there are more schools in Jaffna compared to Galle or Kandy. Of course there were plenty of schools in Colombo. This situation resulted in about 60% of the Medicine, Engineering, and Science faculties were Tamils and the admission was on Merit only. But in the Arts faculty it was the other way about. As a result more Tamils were employed in Government service and politicians capitalised on the situation.
SWRD inspite of his Oxford background took a short cut to come to power by introducing the Sinhala Only as the official language of the country. He could have easily made both languages as official and that won’t have made any impact on the Sinhalease mass. In the then debate on the language issue LSSP Colvin argued ‘you want one country and two languages or one language and two countries. The MEP government had the majority and didn’t budge an inch. The rest is History.
I worked all my life outside the North East with the Sinhalease and never experienced any problem. During all the riots it is the ‘Sinhalease’ who safeguarded our family’. It all depends on how one get along with the other. I remember how we attend weddings and funerals in the adjoining villages. You have to cultivate ‘Human Values’. All the major religions teach us this. I only know the humiliation we underwent in every CHECK point.
A friend forwarded this mail only today and this late response.
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