Freedom from political bondage

By Geewananda Gunawardana

With the disappearance of queues for essential items, and the steadfast repression of any dissent, it appears as if most of us have settled down to the realities of economic hardships with resignation and despondency. This being a society that was dominated by colonisers for centuries and shaped by beliefs in fate and mystic powers for millennia, that kind of thinking can be expected. But giving up any hope of overcoming this adversity and bracing things to get worse as if we are in an inescapable bondage of sorts is inexcusable. That shows our total lack of understanding of what befell the nation, a truly frightening situation. It is of utmost importance to know that this is not serfdom, but something that we the people brought upon ourselves of our own will. Therefore, it is of paramount importance for us to realise that the escape from this bondage also depends on the will of the people.

It is clear as daylight that the root cause of this problem is the bad governance of the country; our judiciary has agreed, but nothing has happened to remedy it. It is hard to pinpoint when this began, but it is amply evident that it has become exponentially worse since independence, especially during the last two decades. This failure of successive governments to fulfill their duties to the people has resulted in the collapse of many, if not all institutions. The most damaging and the hardest to remedy is the establishment of a fully and completely corrupt bureaucracy that assists and abates the plunder and waste of precious resources.

The result of these ruinous forces is the socioeconomic polarization of the nation. People’s fatalistic feelings are not without cause as it has created a modern-day feudal system in which a small but powerful upper class, and their henchmen, have taken control of the governance and the economy, while the rest of us, including what used to be the middle class, is condemned into a hand-to-mouth survival mode. A United Nations report issued in 2023 shows that the richest one percent of Sri Lankans own 31 percent of the total personal wealth of the country, while the bottom 50 percent only owns less than 4 percent. The poverty rate has doubled over the last year to 31%, food insecurity has increased to 17%, and malnutrition among children has increased to 31%.

While we, the ordinary Sri Lankans are enduring immense hardships, the privileged few are continuing their exuberant lifestyles by shamelessly plundering the national treasury with total impunity. The continuing scandals in import of essential food items and the deliberate introduction of unsafe and fake medications to the sick, even during this darkest hour, are clear indications of their total disregard for the suffering of the masses. They also manipulate statistics and the media to create the illusion of a stable economy, when it is barely surviving thanks to the drudgery of working class, in particular the farmers and the hapless women doing menial work in the Mideast enduring not only hardship but unthinkable indignities. Shame on those crooks, but, sadly, that word is not in their vocabulary.

We have given up hope of escaping from this bondage because we have tried many times and failed every time: we have elected fifteen parliaments and seven presidents during this downward spiral. Doing the same thing repeatedly expecting different results is called lunacy. We have repeatedly overlooked a crucial point: They, who are responsible for the debacle and benefited from it, have mastered the age-old art of divide and rule. Recent history shows that they are neither hesitant nor ashamed to stoop to any level to ignite social divisions to come to power. We fail to see through their trickery. Before elections, they pretend to be divided, just like us, but when push comes to shove, they are on the same side looking after their own interests. There are many officials who switch sides to be on the governing side irrespective of which party comes to power; they are all on the same side.

They have eroded our education system and ruined healthcare. They talk about meritocracy, but they have blocked our avenues for earning any merit, participating in the economy, or receiving a fair share for our honest work. They will blame all ills on one section or the other of our own and will use their propaganda machines, media, and henchmen to inflame such divisions among us, be it ethnic, religious, or any other conceivable difference. They present policies and ideologies that will benefit one faction of society over the other, but once in power, they ditch such policies only to revive at the next election. Let us not forget that their real policies will only help the interests of their own and their henchmen. They will throw us a bone, often just before the elections. Or, send their goons to scare us.

There are several critical issues that we must drill into our heads in this ‘sink or swim’ situation. Primarily, we must realize that the problem is not the divisions among us, be it ethnic, religious, or any other. The problem is that they remain united and work for their interests, while we fight with each other for the bones they throw at us. It is high time that we see that the divisions among us were created by them for their own benefit, and not for our betterment. There are ways to solve these problems, but they will not do so as that will deprive them of their way to hang on to power. They will go to any length to avoid the slightest inconvenience to them but would not hesitate to sacrifice what little benefits we and our children seriously need for mere survival. They have repeatedly lied, cheated, and dragged us into this mess over the last few decades. And those who deprived us of our rights and shamelessly benefited from our misery must not be given any more opportunities to enslave us. Their deceitful ways are out there for us to see.

We wonder if chasing the crooks itself is enough to be free from this bondage. Yes and no. Breaking the ruinous cycle is the first step towards change. Next, we must bring in people who are willing and capable of doing something new, not the same old routine that has repeatedly failed. Many are of the opinion that change and new, or young, are the sole property of one party. That need not be the case; all those who recognise the need for change at this critical hour should unite. If an individual or a party is willing to provide the leadership, so be it. It is we, the Sri Lankans, who must be freed at this point, not just one division created arbitrarily by a shrewd power seeker.

The real division we must worry about is the economic disparity that transcends all other divisions – the majority and the minorities alike. Aside from the fact that just one percent of the population has grabbed 31% of the country’s wealth, there are many other disparities that hamper our access to prosperity and happiness: unemployment among women is twice as that of men. No country can prosper by excluding half of its population that take the major responsibility of childbearing and childrearing. Other injustices we must deal with daily, but they fail to see from their gated mansions and SUVs are food insecurity, malnutrition among children, school dropouts, limited access to health care, clean water, electricity, and information. Adding insult to injury, they look down upon us for living a miserable life of our own making.

The time has come for us to forget those divisions they keep flaming, and fight to overcome the real division that plagues us: the economic disparity. The truth is that the cure for economic disparity will also solve the other divisions that they have imposed on us. We are genetically the same, despite doctrinal differences, all religions advocate peace and harmony, and we can and should learn more than one language to succeed in this world. If there is enough to go around, and there is a semblance of equality and justice, the reasons for divisions will go away. But, to escape from this political bondage and get to that position, we must unite as Sri Lankans. There is no other way.