Sri Lanka: How to relate to foreign involvement

28-Oct-2011

Guest Column: Dr Kumar David 

After the victory of the Libyan Revolution, the success of the first-ever elections in Tunisia and the prospect of modest democracy in Egypt, all with some degree of foreign involvement, the world has suddenly become very small. It’s not only in relation to Syria and Yemen, but also Lanka, where the heat has been on for some years that the practical and moral significance of foreign participation in domestic affairs has turned into an agitated topic. Most stuff in the local Lankan media on foreign linkages, especially Sinhala press and TV, is feeble minded, but condescension will get us nowhere. Nationalism is an anachronism in modern times but folks everywhere are still fired by jingoism and patriotism, and let there be no illusion, they will not speedily change. Hence a middle-level approach, limited to the benefits of collaboration that “we” should adopt, rather than the abstract philosophy of internationalism, will be more productive. First and most important though, who is this my generic, “we”? Certainly not the state, for most times the state is the champion of oppression and agent of xenophobia while experience has shown that international probing and pressure provides at least some protection for oppressed people; consider Libya, India’s 90 million Adivasis or Lanka’s Tamils.  

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