Features
The Denial and Whitewashing of History
by Vijaya Chandrasoma
Censorship, the burning and banning of books and the persecution/murder of writers have been despicable crimes perpetrated by the human race through the ages. The first such recorded atrocity was in 213 BCE, during the Qin dynasty, when Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered the burning of books and the live burial of scholars in order that he may remain on his throne.
The obliteration of the Grand Library of Baghdad by the marauding Mongols in 1258; the destruction of Aztec and Mayan manuscripts during the Spanish colonization of the Americas; the burnings of Catholic manuscripts in England after Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church; the use of books seized from the US Library of Congress to burn the US Capitol during the War of 1812; Nazi book burning of communist and Jewish manuscripts “subversive to or representing ideologies opposed to Nazism”; and, closer to home, the complete destruction, in 1981, of the Jaffna Public Library allegedly by government-sponsored Sinhalese mobs, who set fire to one of the biggest libraries in Asia, containing over 97,000 irreplaceable books and manuscripts.
Though the three-decade long ethnic war in Sri Lanka took the lives of tens of thousands of Sri Lankans and caused incalculable destruction to valuable property and resources, history will rank the burning of the Jaffna Library as the greatest atrocity in a conflict replete with atrocities.
These are but a few of the more egregious instances of destruction of books and manuscripts, representing efforts by kings, tyrants, invaders and politicians to destroy historical records, traditions and cultures of civilizations, to seize lands and rule as conquerors. They may have silenced some, they may have destroyed others, but they are all destined to fail. As Heinrich Heine, one of Germany’s greatest poets, wrote, “When they burn books, they will ultimately also burn people”.
The First Amendment of the US Constitution enshrines freedom of speech, and guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly and petition. Many American classics have been “challenged” in the USA during the past two centuries, but their suppression has not remained in force because of the guard-rails provided by the First Amendment. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was challenged and suppressed from 1859 for its theories on evolution, which went against Christian beliefs of Divine Creation. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye are all examples of American classics that have survived spurious challenges of censorship.
The Trump-owned Republican party is now showing a trend towards racism and anti-Semitism, using censorship and suppression in an attempt to rewrite the nation’s history of genocide and slavery, and to deny the horrors of the holocaust.
Critical Race Theory (CRT), also known as the 1619 Project, fancy names of what we used to study as plain “History”, has become a target of censorship for Republicans, primarily Governors DeSantis of Florida and Youngkin of Virginia. These Republican Governors lead the anti-CRT movement, but they are not alone. Many Republican states including Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Arizona and North Dakota have all passed legislation banning the teaching of CRT in their classrooms. The objective of such censorship is the obsession of the Radical Right to keep the more gory aspects of US history, including genocide and slavery, out of school curricula; in other words, to teach “selective history” as defined by the invaders and oppressors. CRT has become the latest Bogeyman for the country’s racist history and the way it has impacted its racist present.
The opponents for the dissemination of CRT argue that all white people are unfairly feared as “oppressors” or predators; while black people are all classified as “the oppressed” or victims, through the teaching of historical atrocities and discrimination committed against Native Americans and African Americans by the ancestors of the white man. They aver, against all available evidence, that systemic racism does not exist in the nation today, that CRT is largely an expedient strategy by politicians to win the minority vote. Many of them even hallucinate that the USA is an equitable democracy. They are simply unwilling or unable to remove the blind spot obscuring the fact that America is not great for everyone, that the nation has a long way to go before it becomes a democracy for all of its citizens.
Proponents of CRT submit that American children should be taught the complete history of America, warts and all, not just its grand experiment of Democracy which began in 1789. They do not acknowledge that the nation’s violent and racist past, including genocide and slavery, ultimately led to this experiment, which remains a work-in-progress.
CRT explains how systemic racism is currently the defining feature of the nation, coming to terms with the racial anomalies that exist today in police brutality, the judicial and prison systems, voter suppression and the classification of Black neighbourhoods as “ghettos”. The more we try to deny the atrocities and racial discrimination that have tormented the nation to the present day, the more likely that they will continue, unabated, into the future.
Governors DeSantis and Youngkin, who are walking the tightrope of sucking up to Trump while nursing their own presidential ambitions for 2024, have already banned the teaching of CRT in Florida and Virginia. There is little doubt that this legislation and other such attempts to camouflage and whitewash history will ultimately be overturned by even a 6/3 stacked Republican Supreme Court, as such bans are in direct violation of the First Amendment.
A school district in the State of Tennessee recently voted to ban the sale of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel titled “The Complete Maus”, by graphic cartoonist/writer Art Spiegelman. The reasons given for the ban are that the book contains “graphic use of unnecessary nudity and profanity and depiction of violence and suicide”. The only example of “unnecessary nudity and suicide” in the book is a small panel illustrating the suicide of Spiegelman’s mother in the tub, having slashed her wrists.
I guess the centrefolds appearing in magazines like Playboy, with lewd illustrations of female genitalia photographed at every possible angle in minute detail, are examples of “necessary nudity”.
And unbelievably, the “profanity” objected to in the book includes seven instances of the expletive “damn”!
Spiegelman’s graphic narrative is based on an interview with his father, a holocaust survivor, of his experiences and suffering at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, and the subsequent suicide of his mother in 1968, apparently because she was unable to live with these memories after the war. Spiegelman depicts the various ethnicities in the form of animals: Jews are Mice (vermin or pests, carriers of disease), Nazis Cats (predators who prey on the Jewish mice), Americans are Dogs (who rescue the Jewish mice from the German cats). The book contains numerous graphic illustrations of hangings and other forms of violence and torture inflicted by the Nazis to subjugate and murder Jews in Auschwitz. Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning book is a graphic narrative of the atrocities of the holocaust.
Just as the banning of Critical Race Theory is a denial of the grim realities of genocide and slavery in the founding of America, the banning of a book illustrating the brutality suffered by Jews during the 1930s in Hitler’s Germany is a denial of the holocaust.
Legislation recently proposed by the New Hampshire Republican legislature also provides a nightmare of things to come if the Republicans gain control of Congress and the presidency. The proposed Bill, entitled “An Act Relative to Teachers’ loyalty”, seeks to ban public schoolteachers from fostering any theory that depicts US history or its founding in a negative light. The Bill states, “Such prohibition includes but is not limited to teaching that the United States was founded on racism”. Which it was, and there is no doubt that genocide and slavery are implicit in this concept of “racism”.
These examples of repression highlight the current racist and anti-Semitic trends shown by Trump and the Republican Party to promote such authoritarian and racist measures of censorship. If these repressive measures are ever accepted nationally, they will prove a great danger to a diverse and just American society in the future. Especially if a defeated, seditious former president or wannabe dictators like DeSantis and Youngkin take control of the presidency and Congress in 2024.
The Radical Right attempts to erase the history of America in the hope that such erasure will whitewash the sins of their white forefathers, and so falsely paint America as a universally equitable democracy. A democracy where, according to the preamble to the US Constitution, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Unfortunately, the new Republican Party intends, as the original Framers also intended, to restrict these “inalienable rights” only to white, Christian men.
The nation will overcome, in the fullness of time, the challenges of racism and authoritarianism posed by Trump and his Republican, white supremacist base. Martin Luther King’s dream, that outlines the long history of racial injustice in America, with the hope that his children will one day be “judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character” has only been delayed by the death throes of white supremacy.
Just as Hitler’s dream of the birth of an ethnically pure, blonde and blue-eyed Aryan Nation never saw the light of day, so the concept of a Trump-backed Republican Party’s dream of a nation dominated by white supremacists will also be destroyed by the very history it seeks to suppress.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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