Peace for the World World ! Your War Our Lives
The Dalai Lama
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Back to 500BC.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
The Year 1988: The Red Moon Over Sri Lanka And The Dawn Of New Wisdom
By Rajan Hoole -
Rajan Hoole
“So
bloody was the march of revolution, and the impression which it made
was the greater as it was the first to occur… Words had to change their
ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless
audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent
hesitation specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for
unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question inaptness to act on
any…. even blood became a weaker tie than party, from the superior
readiness of those united by the latter to dare everything without
reserve. For such associations had not in view the blessings derivable
from established institutions but were formed by ambition for their
overthrow. Moreover, the confidence of members in each other rested less
on religious sanction than upon complicity in crime…
“Oaths of reconciliation, being proferred by either side only to
meet an immediate difficulty, held good only so long as no other weapon
was at hand. But when opportunity offered, he who first ventured to
seize it and to take his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious
vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, considerations of safety
apart, success by treachery won him the palm of superior intelligence.
Indeed, it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues
clever than simpletons honest, and are ashamed of being the second as
they are proud of being the first.” - Thucydides, on the civil war
at Corcyra (Corfu) (427 BC), from his History of the Pelopponesian War,
between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BC)
The Moon occupies a special place in the human psyche. By comparison,
the effects of the Sun are easily comprehended. The qualities that occur
in relation to it are heat, light, beauty and sunstroke. The effect of
the Moon is on the other hand subliminal. It calls forth the wilder
emotions without one being conscious of it. Its transforming effect on
the mind is far less understood. 1988 was the year when the JVP’s terror
worked subtly on the minds of the people in the South. It targetted
individuals carefully, and more than paralysing the Government it
paralysed minds. It convinced a broad section of the impressionable
young that it stood for honesty, justice and equality and was a genuine
alternative to the corruption that was only too visible in the ruling
class.
Very remarkably, it made a significant
section of the intelligentsia rationalise the previously
unrationalisable and accept the previously unacceptable. Their world was
turned upside down. As opposed to the self-seeking opportunism in the
upper segments of society, the JVP, the underdog and a victim of state
repression, seemed to exemplify the qualities of courage and sacrifice.
By an extension of the logic, many were only too ready to accept that
the victimhood and sacrifice of JVP rank and file, also gave the JVP
leaders the right to sacrifice whomever they chose on the road to their
supposedly socialist goal.
By Rajan Hoole -
Rajan Hoole
“So
bloody was the march of revolution, and the impression which it made
was the greater as it was the first to occur… Words had to change their
ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless
audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent
hesitation specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for
unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question inaptness to act on
any…. even blood became a weaker tie than party, from the superior
readiness of those united by the latter to dare everything without
reserve. For such associations had not in view the blessings derivable
from established institutions but were formed by ambition for their
overthrow. Moreover, the confidence of members in each other rested less
on religious sanction than upon complicity in crime…
“Oaths of reconciliation, being proferred by either side only to
meet an immediate difficulty, held good only so long as no other weapon
was at hand. But when opportunity offered, he who first ventured to
seize it and to take his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious
vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, considerations of safety
apart, success by treachery won him the palm of superior intelligence.
Indeed, it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues
clever than simpletons honest, and are ashamed of being the second as
they are proud of being the first.” - Thucydides, on the civil war
at Corcyra (Corfu) (427 BC), from his History of the Pelopponesian War,
between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BC)
The Moon occupies a special place in the human psyche. By comparison,
the effects of the Sun are easily comprehended. The qualities that occur
in relation to it are heat, light, beauty and sunstroke. The effect of
the Moon is on the other hand subliminal. It calls forth the wilder
emotions without one being conscious of it. Its transforming effect on
the mind is far less understood. 1988 was the year when the JVP’s terror
worked subtly on the minds of the people in the South. It targetted
individuals carefully, and more than paralysing the Government it
paralysed minds. It convinced a broad section of the impressionable
young that it stood for honesty, justice and equality and was a genuine
alternative to the corruption that was only too visible in the ruling
class.
Very remarkably, it made a significant
section of the intelligentsia rationalise the previously
unrationalisable and accept the previously unacceptable. Their world was
turned upside down. As opposed to the self-seeking opportunism in the
upper segments of society, the JVP, the underdog and a victim of state
repression, seemed to exemplify the qualities of courage and sacrifice.
By an extension of the logic, many were only too ready to accept that
the victimhood and sacrifice of JVP rank and file, also gave the JVP
leaders the right to sacrifice whomever they chose on the road to their
supposedly socialist goal.
