Geneva Saga – Solidarity Of Tribal Forces!

By  Karikalan S. Navaratnam –APRIL 22, 2021

Karikalan S. Navaratnam

‘Fire and fury’

UNHRC – 46th session at Geneva had drawn to its close four weeks ago. Yet, the virulent attacks unleashed, initially, against the UN-HR Chief Ms. Michelle Bachelet and the UK-led sponsors, and lately, against an expanded list of ‘enemies’ (including countries which had voted for the Resolution plus others who had abstained from voting) still continue unabated with the same intensity. Apparently, the latest salvo of recriminations on the subject has been fired by Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekera ( Daily Mirror, 20 April 2021 – “Geneva -the misconceptions …….”) In the run-up to the D-day at Geneva, when discerning sections of the citizenry were despairing that this country had got to this sorry pass, frantically fishing for friends at Geneva, the ultra-nationalists, rehashing their bellicose rhetoric, had ganged up on the global West – threatening to unleash ‘fire and fury’ (Trump style, vis-à-vis North Korea).

Pseudo-patriots

Pseudo-patriots had closed ranks in a show of tribal solidarity. The most vituperative among them were the tribal journalists – viz. columnists, commentors and other nondescript scribblers. They had started trashing  Ms. Bachelet’s Report on Sri Lanka (A/HRC/46/20) even before the report officially entered the public domain. Mediascape in Sri Lanka had since been saturated with their nasty narratives on the subject, couched in ethno-fascist vocabulary vilifying the Tamil people.

Quest for Justice

In the post-Mullivaikkal milieu, aside from certain international advocacy groups, ethnic Tamils have led the collective cry and have largely been the dominant voices in the persistent quest for international justice at Geneva – although some enlightened liberals from the ethnic majority have empathized with the Tamil pursuit of justice. But happily, this time around, even some sections of the Sinhala and Muslim political activists have articulated their qualified support for the Geneva agenda on Sri Lanka. There are reasons for this change – factors which have even shifted the focus of the new Resolution: This time, the main thrust is not on war crimes; the Resolution has taken note of some ongoing abuses in Rajapaksas regime; Muslim minorities and sections of the Sinhala people also have been directly hit and hurt by an abusive/oppressive administration; small pockets of progressives from among the intelligentsia wanted to arrest this trend.

In any event, when all’s said and done, it has been business as usual for the dominant ultra-nationalists who call the shots in a depraved domain – the mediascape. Some representative samples of their discourses may be revealing:

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

Dr. Laksiri Fernando’s series of articles – diatribes, discharged in rapid succession against Ms. Bachelet /UNHRC/UK-led Core Group/Amnesty International and other ‘enemies’ confirmed his credentials as a closet-racist from Down Under. His latest piece is a loser’s lamentation:  (CT, 08 April 2021 -“After Geneva Resolution: What Next?” ). In fact, Geneva proceedings touching on Sri Lanka have had a laxative effect on the bowels of many a member of the SB literati. 

Lest we forget, Laksiri had been one of the fair-weather friends of the Rajapaksas. Close on the heels of the Mullivaikal massacre of Tamil civilians in May 2009, and when Rajapaksas were basking in the glory of the war victory and gloating over their triumph, it was Laksiri  who, as member of the Colombo University Senate, on 29th May 2009, initiated the move to decorate the ‘learned’ Rajapaksa brothers, Mahinda and Gotabaya, with honorary Doctorate degrees – LL.D and D.Sc degrees, respectively.

Sublime to ridiculous!

BTW: There was a time when a crème de la crème of intellectual giants and scholars par excellence of the calibre of Dr. Gamini Corea, Dr. C.G. Weeramantry, Justice Mark Fernando et al were the recipients of honorary  Doctorates from the Colombo University.!. O tempora! O mores!  From the sublime to the ridiculous. But, there is another facet of this funny story. In 2015, Laksiri sought to revoke the honorary degrees of the two Rajapaksa siblings.  (Colombo Telegraph, 11 Oct. 2015 – “I propose to revoke doctorates from GR & MR“ )

Volte-face

Interestingly, in seeking to revoke Rajapaksas’ honorary degrees, one of the reasons cited by Laksiri was as follows: “There are credible allegations of gross human rights violations at the last stages of the war under their command.”(Colombo Telegraph – ibid). Perusing his articles carrying brazen denial of the war crimes and broadsides against the HR Chief’s report and recommendations, it beg the question – what is it that this gentleman is denying and disputing now?. And why this complete volte-face?

Aberrations

Getting back to Laksiri’s aberrations, he has lunged at Ms. Michelle Bachelet snarling and breathing fire and brimstone: “I can be very clear and blunt. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is going in the authoritarian and dictatorial direction preaching others to be democratic and justiciable (Sic). This is very clear from the Report……. In February 2009, Castro called her part of the ‘fascist and vengeful Chilean oligarchy’ ”(Commenting on Ms.Bachelet’s  recommendations to GoSL) “…… Who is this High Commissioner dictating terms for a ‘vision for Sri Lanka’ giving the impression that the country has no efforts to be ‘inclusive’ or ‘pluralistic’? I will explain to you who she is later.” (Sounds like goons’ gutter lingo ?)

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