Anniversaries of Defeats in August

August 2021 is, sad to say, a miserable month to many and most definitely to us in Sri Lanka. Totally needless to explain why. However, mention must be made of the fact that indecision exacerbated the misfortune by allowing the Covid pandemic to rage all over the island with its variants, killing many. The only sliver of sunshine dispensing the gloom was that traders and shop keepers banded themselves and shut their doors and locked themselves in, and thus neighbourhoods.

This show of people power, to me, was the deciding factor and main reason for the President declaring a lockdown on August 14. It was not the call to do so by the Mahanayake Theras of Malwatte and Asgiriya; nor taking heed of the entire medical profession advising strongly for it, that moved the Presidents to order a lockdown. Our only hope is that the pandemic has been tamed, at least somewhat. Curtailing it will take much longer and much more.

Anniversaries

I yearned diversion. So I dipped into memory for anniversaries and remembered August 15 had many. Napolean Bonapate was born in 1765 and we know he was a fighting man who was ultimately defeated not only militarily but in spirit too.

On August 15, 1943, Japan unconditionally surrendered to Allied Forces, and thus ended World War II in the Pacific, the day named VJ Day. Emperor Hirohito took the blame upon himself and appearing before the eastern Commander, General MacArthur, said his people fought for him and he was prepared to be taken prisoner. Mercifully the General was wise and respecting the Emperor greatly, argued for leniency for Japan.

Away from war, the date August 15 is significant because in 1914, the 48 miles long Panama Canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific in the middle of the continent America, was declared open. Construction took long, with 20,000 workers dying of malaria and yellow fever and the French moving out to leave the Americans to complete the canal.

India

as an independent country though part of its former self, and Pakistan as a new nation were born in August 15 1947, prematurely one could say because of a whim of a date that came to Viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten’s mind and he got lines drawn across maps defining the two countries causing immense bloodshed and utter turmoil.

A lasting treasured memory is Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech at midnight, hailing his country now free from British rule. He was the Prime Minister and he acknowledged the role played by the chief ‘architect’ Mohandas Gandhi. The speech – “Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny; and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge” – is considered to be one of, if not the greatest speeches of the 20^th century and “a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the Indian independence movement against the British Raj.”

Wars, destruction and defeats

While Sri Lanka is in the strangle hold of Covid 19 and its variants, Afghanistan has been browbeaten and taken over by former terrorists – the Taliban. Afghanistan with a measure of democracy and most welcome freedom for women so they threw away tent like outer, all covering shrouds and adopted feminity-enhancing scarves, went to school and even pursued higher studies with a university in Kabul. Some entered careers, and this within 20 years.

Now a sea change being subjugated by the fanatic followers of Sharia Law. They promise study and jobs for women, but what is feared is a re-introduction of killing by cutting off limbs; punishing adultery which could mean necessary emotional love by public stoning and no education and jobs for women. They will again be second class, subjugated to the whims of fanaticism and ruling men. The prognosis is all bleak, bad and frightening.

The French monarchy toppled

In August 1792, Louis XVI with Austrian wife Marie Antoinette and family were taken prisoner until they were guillotined. That summer Paris seethed with tension within a revolution three years old. The revolutionists watchwords were “libertré, égalite. and fraternité”. The storm broke on 9/10 August that year and the rebels went on the rampage, their target being royalty and courtiers, One British newspaper wrote: “By their own madness and folly, the French had thereby prepared for themselves destruction, which the combined power of all the despots in the universe could not otherwise have defeated.”

A visit to Versailles Palace proved the opulence in which the French royals lived, cushioned and screened from the outside world. Louis XVI was reportedly benign and would have listened to the peasants but no, he was kept away. Another point that has stuck in my mind is that Marie Antoinette never really made the sardonic remark as the peasants thronged shouting at the royal gates – asking them to eat cake if they had no bread.

She was simple in that she loved sheep and wanted to play being a shepherdess, hence her husband indulging her by building a wonderful cottage with acres of grazing ground for sheep not far from Versailles Palace. The revolution was inevitable and the long term result good – democracy for France.

Kuwait falls to Iraq

This downfall occurred on August 2, 1990, when four Iraqi Republican Guard divisions struck across the border with Kuwait and Iraqi planes pounded the land. We knew well about it as Sri Lanka was affected, having hundreds, if not thousand housemaids, drivers and such like working in Kuwait, one of the more amenable and less strict Muslim countries in the Middle East. These persons escaped and returned home shortly after or migrated to adjoining countries like Lebanon.

“For hours the fighting raged. At the royal residence, Dasman Palace, the Emir’s half-brother, Sheikh Fahad, led a desperate defense against Iraqi marines, but it was no good. By 2.00 pm, the palace had fallen. According to one Iraqi marine, the sheikh was shot in the head before his body was run over by a tank. On paper, the invasion was a stunning military success. Iraq’s military dictator, Saddam Hussein, had taken his opponents completely by surprise. Within days, the US had assembled an anti-Iraqi coalition with troops from 34 countries and Kuwait was released.”

And thus the sad truth that wars will occur suddenly; terrorists will overrun countries and all over the world conflicts will flare up. For goodness sake for what good one asks and gets no reply. Such is mankind.