January 2014
Vol 14, No.01
THAILAND: DEVOLVE STATE POWERS TO STAVE OFF CIVIL WAR By David Streckfuss As Thailand lurches towards something very much resembling civil war, it might be time to step back for a moment from the immediate debates over elections and reforms and very carefully consider where this crisis is coming from and in what directions it might be resolved peacefully. Ever since there was a Siamese/Thai state as such in the late 19th century, there has been a single, all-consuming mission: An impulse toward “unity” through centralisation envisioned by the Bangkok elite. It sought to physically bind the country together through roads and railroads and a single administrative bureaucracy. But perhaps as importantly, this centralisation sought to create a unified mindset through the inculcation of “Thainess”. Ethnic identities were dissolved. Religious conflicts
suppressed. Non-Central Thai languages were demoted to dialects. Schools could only teach in Thai. A single version of history _ one of a Thai race under wise kings _ was taught. It has been argued by many scholars that this policy to counter Western colonialism was also at the time one of internal colonisation by Thais over a non-Thai periphery. Many of the potential divisions were papered over and seemingly forgotten. In 1932, the country became a
constitutional monarchy. There was a small window of time when the nature and composition of the government and state was debated. A “Siam” would have created space for a variety of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, and to some degree political differences, to co-exist. However, with the military appointing itself the protector of a newly revitalised monarchy in the early 1960s, such debates ended. “Thailand”, and a very narrowly defined Thainess, won out. In many ways, unity based on this kind of centralisation succeeded. It to some degree stopped Western colonial expansion and Thailand “developed”. But the hyper urban primacy (Bangkok was in the 1980s sixty times larger than the next biggest city of Chiang Mai) meant that such development was remarkably skewed toward Bangkok. Administratively it was also highly centralised. Turn to next page
STATEMENT .OPPOSE DRONE STRIKES - A WAR CRIME!
BY CHANDRA MUZAFFAR........................P3
ARTICLES
. SOUTH SUDAN SLIDES TOWARD CIVIL WAR
. BEYOND THE FARCICAL ELECTIONS: THE BLACK
BY BILL VAN AUKEN............................................P 4
SWANS OF BANGLADESH BY TAJ HASHMI....................................................P 9
.TURNING MANDELA BY STEVE WEISSMAN.................................................P 5
.HOW ECONOMIC GROWTH HAS BECOME ANTI- LIFE
. ETHNO-RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM REQUIRES A
DUAL RESPONSE BY SALMA YUSUF.................................................P 7
BY VANDANA SHIVA...............................................P 10 . IN 90 MINUTES, ENOUGH SUNLIGHT STRIKES THE EARTH TO PROVIDE THE ENTIRE PLANET’S ENERGY NEEDS FOR 1 YEAR BY INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY.......................P 11
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Under the centralised bureaucracy, rural protesters had to go hundreds of kilometres and exert what pressure they could (mostly, by long, exhausting demonstrations) to be heard. Committees were set up only to disappear when the fragile coalition government dissolved parliament. Democratic space grew, first in spurts, and then more evenly under the 1997 constitution. Tambon Administrative Organisations (TAO) were a new democratic space where local areas under elected representatives could determine their own path of development. A greater percentage of local taxes was earmarked for elected municipal councils to use for local initiatives. There were plans for some provinces to elect their own governors and for schools to come under local TAOs. As democracy grew, as diversity found expression, the model of Thainess under a centralised government began to frazzle and come undone. Events in Bangkok have largely interrupted this gradual decentralisation since 2006. As usual, Bangkok is the centre of everything. But does it have to be this way? Thai society has a stark choice to make. Two possible scenarios face it. The first scenario is civil war, and even the dismemberment of the country. The People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) has shown it has
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every intention of seizing and assuming government powers. A recent announcement by the Civil Service Association indicates at least certain segments within the association are willing to act according to the PDRC’s agenda. Divisions are growing. As reported in Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper, red shirts in the North would not accept the PDRC’s silent coup. In a worstcase scenario, red shirts and other progovernment groups in the North “will separate ourselves from the central government”. In Khon Kaen, the red shirt radio station is calling for a boycott of businesses perceived as supporting the anti-government movement in Bangkok and providing free advertising for those that are not. Old ethnic, class, linguistic, and religious divisions are deepening. A lot of bad blood has been stirred up by the PDRC demonstrations composed of primarily richer ethnic Thai Bangkokians and southerners. The primarily poorer ethnic “Lanna” of the North and “Lao” of the Northeast have been listening closely, with patience. A sense of outrage grows. Meanwhile, the insurgency among the Malay Muslims continues apace. If the PDRC succeeds under this scenario or comes to power through a coup, and the red shirts respond as one expects, it is likely that untold suffering, lawlessness, and bloodshed will result. It would be the end of Thailand as we know it. Is civil war the only way to solve this impasse? Is this really what the average anti-government protester wants? The second scenario is that elections on Feb 2 come off, and some kind of reform plan emerges from that. There are so many ways the election can be booby-trapped, but it offers hope, albeit slim, that the first scenario can be
L E A D A R T I C L E prevented. But even if the elections succeed, will there be enough commitment of a new government to think outside of a central, Bangkokdriven solution? If it is true that most of the political conflict in the past eight years has been characterised as a “winner-takes-all” proposition, then I would like to suggest changing the locus of conflict and allowing a kind of partial “winwin” situation to emerge. The PDRC has based its movement on good governance and greater citizen involvement. The red shirts want more democracy. So how about this? Reform should focus on the central government having its powers devolved into regional, democratically elected legislative bodies. All things considered, local control of public health, government administration, education, cultural affairs, language and environmental policy, public safety (the police) allows for greater public involvement and scrutiny. In this plan, no longer would protesters have to make the long trip to Bangkok, or at least not as often. The national government would operate under a constitution that ensures the rights of regional aspirations within the framework of the Thai state. The national government would also oversee certain areas that require centralised management such as foreign affairs, income redistribution, defence, and certain kinds of environmental policy. This arrangement would decentralise conflicts to elected regional, provincial, and local sets of elected bodies that could respond more quickly and with greater sensitivity. It would be more than merely leaving in local areas a higher percentage of national taxes or having provincial governors elected to work with the Bangkok-based central bureaucracy. continued next page
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Thailand’s unity has always been one envisioned by a high centralised government and a certain level of coercion. This model has now become unworkable. It’s time to consider another kind of unity, one based on equality, respect for diversity, and better governance based on local and regional control. This may sound messy, but much less
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messy and bloody than civil war and partition. The point is that “Thai society” can only decide on this and other proposals through elections. But they are in themselves insufficient. Public participation and pressure is needed to make sure that a range of reform proposals are brought to the table and that the vetting process is transparent and represents enough diversity.
S T A T E M E N T This call for devolution of state powers is but one proposal. It would give engaged citizens _ red shirts, yellow shirts, and whatever other colour shirts _ a more manageable field on which to realise a common vision for a new, more peaceful Thailand. 3 January 2013 David Streckfuss is an independent scholar based in Khon Kaen. Source: Bangkok Post
STATEMENT OPPOSE DRONE STRIKES - A WAR CRIME! On 12 December 2013, 15 civilians who were part of a wedding convoy were killed in an unmanned US drone attack in Central Yemen. A Yemeni official has explained that the air strike was a mistake. The missiles had missed their target. Three days earlier, another US drone had killed 3 persons driving on a road in Al-Qatan in the Hadramout province of Yemen. They were also civilians. The US based Human Rights Watch (HRW) had investigated 6 selected drone strikes since 2009 and concluded that 57 out of the 82 killed were civilians. This included a pregnant woman and her 3 children killed in September 2012. Another human rights group, Amnesty International (AI), had also examined suspected drone strikes between May 2012 and July 2013 in North Waziristan, Pakistan, and from the evidence available suggested that more than 30 civilians were killed in four of those air attacks. A report released by the UN Assistance Mission and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights indicates that there were 2,754 civilian deaths and 4,805 injuries from drone
strikes in 2012 alone in Yemen and Pakistan. In response to various criticisms of these strikes, the US Administration insists that civilian casualties are “rare” in this particular mode of warfare which began in 2004. But the evidence, as we have shown, tells a different story. The US Administration is also wrong when it argues that drones have been an effective weapon in the fight against terrorism. On the contrary, it is because drone attacks have wiped out innocent civilians, including women and children that terrorism has increased. An example would be the events that constitute the backdrop to the two recent drone strikes in Yemen. The two drone strikes it seems were in retaliation to an Al-Qaeda attack on the Defence Ministry in Sana, Yemen’s capital, on 5 December 2013. The attack killed 56 people. While claiming responsibility for the heinous massacre, Al-Qaeda emphasised that it was carried out because of US drone strikes in Yemen that have been going on for years. This is also true of Pakistan where Al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives on either side of the Pakistan – Afghanistan border become even
more determined to commit acts of terror when they see innocent villagers with whom they often share bonds of kinship bombed out of existence by US drones. It is not surprising therefore that a huge movement against drones has developed in Pakistan in recent years. Both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Opposition Leader, Imran Khan, are campaigning against drone attacks. The Peshawar High Court has ruled that drone attacks are “illegal, inhumane, violate the UN Charter on human rights and constitute a war crime.” In Yemen too, a significant segment of society is totally opposed to drone strikes though the US backed government of Mansour Al-Hadi acquiesces with them. There is no sign yet to indicate that President Obama will abandon his drone policy. Both Yemen and Pakistan are vital to the US’s hegemonic power. Yemen is adjacent to the Bab-elMandeb which connects the oil fields of the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and Europe. Pakistan is strategically situated in relation to China and Russia and the rich oil fields of Central Asia. The only way to get Obama to abandon continued next page
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his policy is for more citizen groups in Asia and the West to speak up against US drone strikes. Both the print and electronic media should also do much more to raise the awareness of the
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people so that they would be persuaded to act against this war crime. Isn’t it a shame that major media channels gave so little attention to the poor and innocent victims of the drone strikes a few days ago?
S T A T E M E N T Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President, International Movement for a Just World (JUST). Malaysia. 16 December 2013.
ARTICLES SOUTH SUDAN SLIDES TOWARD CIVIL WAR By Bill Van Auken As South Sudan slid toward civil war, President Barack Obama warned Saturday against “any effort to seize power through the use of military force.” In an earlier statement, Obama said South Sudan was “at the precipice” and added that the “fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past.” The country was carved out of Sudan less than two-and-a-half years ago with Washington’s full support. Despite its oil wealth, the landlocked and impoverished country remains heavily dependent on US and other international aid. Washington’s warning followed the Pentagon’s dispatch of 45 US troops to the South Sudanese capital of Juba to secure the US embassy and assist with the evacuation of US nationals and others from the violence-wracked country. It coincided with an incident in which US warplanes were fired upon by rebel forces, wounding four American military personnel, one of them seriously. The incident took place in Bor, the capital of eastern Jonglei state, which has been at the center of the fighting between forces loyal to USbacked President Salva Kiir and those backing his ousted former vice president, Riek Machar. Kiir is from South Sudan’s Dinka ethnic group, the country’s largest (approximately 15 percent), while
Machar is an ethnic Nuer, the second largest community (approximately 10 percent). While backers of both men are drawn from various groups, the fighting has increasingly taken on an ethnic dimension, with reports of attacks on civilians by ethnic-based gangs from both sides. Bor fell to rebel forces backing Machar last week, and reportedly the rebels mistook the US aircraft—Ospreys, designed to take off and land like helicopters and fly like planes—for Ugandan aircraft backing government troops. Uganda has sent hundreds of its own troops into South Sudan, and there have been reports of bombings by Ugandan warplanes, which the Ugandan government denies. Thousands have been killed or wounded in the fighting, and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands driven from their homes, many of them crowded into United Nations peacekeeping bases for protection. An attack on one of these bases last Thursday by what UN officials described as “unknown assailants” killed three Indian peacekeepers and 11 civilians. Obama’s warning against any military seizure of power strongly suggests Washington’s support for Kiir ’s thoroughly corrupt and authoritarian government and its claim to be responding to a coup attempt. Backers
of Machar, however, dispute this claim, insisting that the nationwide fighting began as an armed clash within Kiir’s presidential guard between Dinka and Nuer soldiers, which ignited tensions that have been simmering since Kiir sacked Machar and over half his cabinet last July. Fighting spread in the capital of Juba and then across the country. Machar and his supporters charge that Kiir seized on the fighting as a pretext for a military crackdown aimed at liquidating all of his political opponents. Machar, who had vowed to challenge Kiir in an election set for 2015, has demanded that Kiir step down, insisting that he has “repeatedly violated the constitution and was no longer the legitimate president.” The Financial Times reported that the home of Rebecca Garang, the widow of the founder of the modern South Sudanese separatist movement and a former minister sacked by Kiir, was surrounded by government troops, who opened fire from all sides. Under house arrest, she had joined with Machar Pagan Amum, a former secretary-general of the ruling party, and other senior politicians in charging Kiir with employing “dictatorial tendencies” that threatened to “create instability in the party and in the country.” The Financial Times cited unnamed Western diplomats and security experts as disputing Kiir’s charge of a coup, continued next page
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which has apparently been embraced by the Obama administration. “This was not a coup attempt, but a move by the president to round up potential plotters and challengers,” it quoted one “foreign observer” as saying. “It certainly looks like Salva Kiir’s night of long knives.” The position of the government appeared more precarious Sunday after it acknowledged that it no longer controls the northern city of Bentiu, the capital of the key oil-producing state of Unity. The commander of the Fourth Division based there, General James Koang, disbanded the local government, declaring himself the military governor and backing Machar. Loyalist troops were overwhelmed and driven out of the city. According to reports from South Sudan, rebel forces have already begun taking over at least some of the state’s oil fields. At least 16 oil workers have been reported killed in fighting in Unity state, and China National Petroleum Corporation, the largest oil producer operating in South Sudan, is attempting to evacuate its personnel. The government’s loss of this oilproducing region raises the prospect of it being cut off from its main source of funding. It also increases the threat that Sudan, to the immediate north, will become involved, as it too relies on revenues from the delivery of South Sudanese oil via a pipeline to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The country is a focal point for broader
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geo-political conflicts. Washington was the key supporter of South Sudanese separatism. It was the lead power in brokering a 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end a more thantwo-decade-long conflict that had claimed more than 2 million lives, setting the stage for the establishment of South Sudan as a separate country. The main motive for US machinations in the region was to weaken China, which had established close economic and political relations with the government of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. More than 60 percent of Sudan’s oil was exported to China, which was the largest shareholder in the two major oil consortiums operating in the country. It also was Sudan’s major supplier of arms. Since 1997, Washington has maintained economic sanctions against Sudan, claiming that the government in Khartoum is a “state sponsor of terrorism” and “poses an extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” The US played the principal role in pushing through war crimes charges against alBashir at the International Criminal Court, whose authority Washington itself refuses to recognize. The formation of the US military’s African Command, or Africom, was heavily bound up with the US bid to supplant Chinese influence in the region, and in Sudan in particular. South Sudan has been discussed as a possible base for Africom. While the deal to split Sudan—
A R T I C L E S previously Africa’s largest nation—in two left South Sudan with the lion’s share of the territory’s oil wealth, the US bid to supplant China’s dominance in this field has proven less successful. Despite its alignment with Washington and political hostility over Beijing’s close ties with Khartoum, the regime in South Sudan has allowed China to maintain its role as the largest oil producer—followed by Malaysia and India—in part because of its offer of loans and infrastructure projects that Western energy conglomerates cannot match. Ironically, Washington’s maintenance of Khartoum on its list of state sponsors of terrorism has stymied any significant role by US companies in South Sudan, as Sudan receives a share of the profits from South Sudanese oil deals. Given US imperialism’s stake in South Sudan and its increasing reliance on military superiority to offset economic challenges from rivals like China, there is a real threat that the present internal conflict can become the pretext for a US “humanitarian” intervention. Any such military operation would inevitably further inflame the high level of tensions generated by the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” and the advanced preparations in the Pacific for a military confrontation with China. 23 December, 2013 Bill Van Auken is a politician and activist for the Social Equality Party and was a Presidential candidate in the U.S. election of 2004. He is a fulltime reporter for World Socialist Web Site Source: WSWS.org
TURNING MANDELA By Steve Weissman “Chaps, we have to choose,” said Nelson Mandela, returning home after a few days with the world’s movers and shakers at the 1992 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We either keep
nationalization and get no investment, or we modify our own attitude and get investment.” Catering to accumulated private wealth and their mythic “free market” may
have helped Mandela consolidate a more peaceful transition to South Africa’s justly praised multi-racial democracy. But did he have to pay such a high price? This is the existential question continued next page
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continued from page 5 coming from no less a figure than the white revolutionary Ronnie Kasrils, a top leader of both the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party.
As Kasrils and others make clear, Mandela’s turnabout shattered the ANC’s long-standing commitment to a radical redistribution of wealth, and failed miserably as an economic strategy, leaving South Africa with the world’s widest gap between rich and poor. Relying on untrustworthy capitalists rather than on “the revolutionary masses” left other scars as well. “Corruption has taken root as the greedy and ambitious fight like dogs over a bone,” he writes. And a thuggish government now rules, one willing to kill some 34 striking mineworkers and wound 78 others at the Marikana platinum mine on August 16, 2012. As part of their role in the new global economy, the South African police had actually planned in advance to use force to defend the private enterprise of the London-based Lonmin, formerly a division of the infamous London and Rhodesian Mining and Land Company, or Lonrho. Such are the fruits of Mandela’s “pact with the devil,” for which Kasrils blames himself, Mandela, and other top leaders. I don’t know if the old Communist still believes that a top-down Soviet-style economic system would have worked any better or could have worked at all. But Mandela also turned his back on alternatives less in the footseps of Karl Marx or Joseph Stalin and more in the ways of John Maynard Keynes and Joseph Stiglitz. So even as we celebrate Mandela’s enormous contribution to destroying racial apartheid, we need to join Kasrils in asking some questions of universal importance:
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How could Mandela and the ANC have used the movement’s
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revolutionary momentum to carry out a limited, well-justified, and politically potent nationalization of key industries? • How could they have tailored a mixed economic system to South African conditions? • What would they have had to do to delink and safeguard South Africa from the American-dominated global economy, with its insistence on privatization and an over-enlarged financial sector? • What would have happened had they stuck with plans to provide water, electricity, decent housing, and other public services to all? • Why in detail did they agree to repay the apartheid government’s $25 billion debt? • Why did they fail to make decision-making more democratic and negotiations less secret? • And why did they not do more to preserve the government’s legal authority to pursue serious land reform and other needed measures? No one has all the answers. But one can find useful clues in the wonderfully readable “Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC,” by William Gumede, a third generation anti-apartheid activist and award-winning journalist. “I happened to be in South Africa when Gumede’s book came out, and watched as it inspired apoplectic fits of rage (and clandestine delight) at the highest reaches of the ANC,” writes the outspoken Naomi Klein, whose “Shock Doctrine” tells the story from a different perspective. “This is a definitive account of how one of the greatest liberation struggles of our time failed millions of people in whose name it fought.” Where Klein sees Mandela’s turnabout as part of her theory of “disaster capitalism,” Gumede focuses on the role of Mandela’s deputy and successor Thabo Mbeki. Both approaches soften the spotlight on Mandela, but each has its place in a
A R T I C L E S comprehensive history that still needs to be written. Gumede also has the advantage of being available free online. Gumede recounts how the “revolutionary masses” became increasingly militant in the 1980s with the formation of Mass Democratic Movement, United Democratic Front (UDF), and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), all of whom saw themselves as subordinate to the ANC in exile while generally encouraging democratic debate and dissent even in the heartland of apartheid. The international movement to apply sanctions also gained enormous strength, proving - in Gumede’s judgment - “even more effective than the solidarity movements during the Spanish Civil War.” In response, the white government declared successive states of emergency, detaining as many as 300,000 people, many of whom it tortured, killed, and disappeared. Officials banned the UDF and its affiliates, restricted political activity by COSATU, and ramped up repression with death squads, vigilante groups, and warlords from Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party. The South African Defense Forces (SADF) also went to war in support of Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA in Angola. But in the climactic battle of Cuito Cuanavale, Cuban forces beat “the White Giants” of apartheid, which led to independence for Namibia. With white Rhodesia already independent, the increasingly demoralized Afrikaners could see their doom coming. All this greatly inspired the revolutionary movement within South Africa, while bringing white South Africa to the edge of economic ruin. As early as 1985, the finance minister announced that the government could no longer repay its foreign debts, and - in Gumede’s words - “cracks began to appear in the alliance between business and the government continued next page
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over the economic cost of maintaining apartheid.” Many of the country’s economic leaders “began to call for talks between the government and credible black leaders.” This led intelligence chief Niel Barnard to meet Mandela on Robben Island in May 1988, followed by Prime Minister P.W. Botha in July 1989. More telling, the business leaders themselves reached out to the ANC, looking to lure it away from its earlier commitments and into Big Money’s global fold. Leading the way was the Anglo-American Corporation, which in 1985 made overtures to exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo at his office in Lusaka, Zambia. Sir Harry Oppenheimer, the former chairman of Anglo-American and De Beers Consolidated Mines, followed this up by secretly hosting regular meetings of top South African, British, and U.S. moguls with ANC economists who had Mandela’s ear.
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“South African business leaders joined the stampede to woo Mandela and other ANC leaders;” writes Gumede. “Anglo American’s Harry Oppenheimer was eager to entertain Mandela at his private estate, Brenthurst, while Anglovaal’s Clive Menell hosted Mandela’s first Christmas as a free man at his mansion, Glendirk, tucked away at the foot of Cape Town’s Table Mountain.” Gumede keeps account. When Mandela separated from his wife Winnie, the insurance tycoon Douw Stein hosted him at his palatial Johannesburg estate, from which Mandela launched his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom.” The resort and casino king Sol Kerzner partially financed the honeymoon of Mandela’s younger daughter, Zinzi. And Heinz and the chairman of South Africa’s Independent Newspapers hosted Mandela in the Bahamas for Christmas 1993.”
A R T I C L E S According to Gumede, other ANC leaders including the legendary Walter Sisulu cautioned Mandela about the growing perception that big business was hijacking the ANC’s economic policy. But like the British-educated Mbeki, Mandela had come to believe firmly that he had to win the confidence of Western capitalists and do nothing to rock their boat. He tried, succeeded, and ultimately failed to provide for the majority of his people. Let that be a warning to us all. 15 December, 2013 Steve Weissman is a veteran of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the New Left monthly Ramparts, Steve Weissman lived for many years in London, working as a magazine writer and television producer. He now lives and works in France, where he is researching a new book, “Big Money: How Global Banks, Corporations, and Speculators Rule and How To Break Their Hold.” Source: Reader Supported News
ETHNO-RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM REQUIRES A DUAL RESPONSE By Salma Yusuf
I want to begin by stating the obvious, mainly because the obvious is sometimes hardest to see, least acknowledged and easiest to overlook. The rise in ethno-religious extremism in general and the recent instances of anti-Muslim propaganda in particular is a reflection of the breakdown in trust between two communities that have lived together in amity for over thousand years. The growing insecurity is primarily due to misconceptions and misunderstanding of the other, and must be addressed with urgency. The relationship between the SinhalaBuddhist and Muslim communities must be put in perspective: Muslims from Arab lands arrived in Sri Lanka not as invaders but as traders. In fact, they did not live in isolated
communities but rather integrated into mainstream Sri Lankan society by marrying local women. The Muslim community historically developed close and trusted relationships with the Sinhala kings of the time. The Muslim communities fought in the Sri Lankan army against foreign invaders in true patriotic style and as a result were also casualties and victims in such encounters. The Sinhala kings in turn were grateful for the genuine support and reciprocated by granting the Muslims refuge against specific targets, both foreign and local. Such was the strength of the intimate relationships shared. The patriotism was also seen in the active contributions made by the Muslims in the country’s struggle for freedom and independence and was recognized by respected Sri Lankan leaders such as SWRD
Bandaranaike. Critical to mention is the faith and confidence reposed by Sinhala-Buddhist voters in Muslim politicians over the years. Two noteworthy examples among many others: M.H.Mohamed was elected from a predominantly Sinhala-Buddhist electorate in Borella; M.L.M. Aboosally was elected from the near hundred percent Sinhala-Buddhist electorate of Balangoda even defeating the brother of the incumbent Prime Minister. Most importantly; the Sinhala-Buddhist and Muslim communities have and continue to this day to enjoy rich friendships at a personal level, helping each other in good times and bad. These historical realities must be highlighted and brought to the fore in current turbulent times.
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Where concerns do exist between communities they must be addressed but through civil dialogue and discussion. Engagement is key as it will help to clear misconceptions and misunderstanding. If the concerns are justified, appropriate measures and action must be taken promptly. That said, concerns must not be blown out of proportion and must be considered natural and inevitable in multicultural societies seeking to live united in diversity. Conversely, tensions must not be neglected or overlooked as they can descend into spirals of violence and extremism which can have disastrous consequences, and we as Sri Lankans know this only too well having experienced a three-decade conflict that ravaged our country. In terms of responses and dealing with the situation at hand, a two-pronged approach should be considered. The first must be an “Accident and Emergency” type response which deals with the immediate issue at hand. A prompt and immediate response and intervention even by the Government itself might become necessary as the situation demands. In the current context, an example of such an immediate dispute that needs to be addressed urgently is that concerning the issuance of halal-certification for market produce. Parallel to this immediate response mechanism which needs to be activated for symptomatic resolution of disputes, is a strategy for the medium to long-term, which is aimed at rebuilding confidence between the ethnic and religious communities in the country. This becomes critical as it will determine all efforts at nation building and reconciliation, while having a bearing on issues of social justice, national stability and national security. The first aspect for such a long-term
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strategy would be to ensure that all institutions responsible for maintaining the rule of law are protected and improved. The rule of law must prevail at all times. This will prevent detractors from taking the law into their own hands and hijacking the universal values of fairness, justice and multiculturalism to further narrow agendas. The rule of law must exist to ensure that protests or rallies do not descend into cycles of violence and provocation.
must refrain from engaging in indirect stereotyping of ethno-religious communities. The media must actively highlight stories of communal harmony both historic and current. Media blackouts on incidents and issues of ethno-religious tensions must be strongly discouraged. Conversely, sensationalizing must also be strictly avoided. Reporting must be factual and to the extent necessary for public awareness.
The second aspect is the need for all public institutions and personnel to be sensitized to deal with situations of conflict between ethno-religious communities. Of particular importance is the need to sensitize the police service to act in an independent manner and aware of the sensitivities that arise in such situations. Given that a citizen’s first point of contact with the state is most often the police service, it is critical for citizens to see and feel a sense of fairness and justice in the actions of the police as it will either increase or decrease the confidence in the state of the communities living in the country while also affecting the social contract. The sensitization must extend to the entire public service and even cover private sectors and academic communities; it must include a raising of awareness of the concerns and insecurities of all communities living in the country. This in turn could inform the attitude of institutions and persons who encounter such sensitive situations in their discharge of daily duties at work.
Ultimately, the role of the Government of the day which enjoys popular mass support in the country is critical in shaping attitudes and fostering interreligious and inter-ethnic harmony. All political parties must join together towards such a national endeavour. The bottom line is that where grievances or insecurities do exist, they must not be suppressed but at the same time must be engaged only through civil measures and dialogue without allowing a spiraling into hate speech and hate campaigns.
A third aspect is the need for immediate strengthening of laws against racial and religious hate speech and introduction of new laws as necessary to criminalize acts of violence directed against any community in the country. Fourth, the role of the media is also critical in contributing to national harmony and co-existence. The media
We are at a significant moment in our country’s history. The way we choose to deal with the challenges ahead of us will have a crucial bearing on the future of our shared civilizations. The need to cultivate and capitalize on the crucial aspect that unites all its peoples — the common identity of being Sri Lankan — is imperative in all efforts to move the nation forward to a sustainable and durable peace and prosperity. The notion of Sri Lankan is not an identity separate from each of the differences. Rather, it is an identity that has resulted from the combination and cohabitation of the various identities over the years. If each citizen sees that being Sri Lankan does not necessitate the need to give up his or her own identity but rather that the continued next page
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continued from page 8 notion of being Sri Lankan is one which embraces all such identities, we will reconcile our differences more easily. We must realize that what affects the individual and separate identities will in turn affect the common identity of all.
Finally, the minority communities must
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be urged to reposition themselves by not only demanding equality but also conducting themselves as equals. A new role from what has been traditionally practised by minority communities must be advocated. It is time that minority communities speak not only on issues affecting their respective communities but also
A R T I C L E S begin to participate in national issues and lead national campaigns. 15 December, 2013 Salam Yusuf is a human rights lawyer based in Sri Lanka and a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo. She is also a member of JUST.
BEYOND THE FARCICAL ELECTIONS: THE BLACK SWANS OF BANGLADESH By Taj Hashmi The late National Professor Abdur Razzaque once told us in late 1970s in his atypical style: “ Shara jibon political science poira ahono Bangladesher politics ki zinish, eida buzte parlam na! “ [“After studying political science for so many years, I am still unable to understand what Bangladesh politics is all about”]. Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s bestseller, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (2007), might explain the enigma of Bangladesh politics, and most importantly, what the country is going to face in the coming years beyond the 5th January’s “Parliamentary Elections”, which experts and observers have classified as voter-less and rigged. Only die-hard Awami League supporters and beneficiaries, and dull and dim people think Bangladesh has just crossed another milestone by holding the farcical polls to uphold democracy, and to “save the country” from “Islamist extremism” and “anti-Bangladesh” elements. Fareed Zakaria thinks that illiberal societies cannot run liberal democracy; they only run “illiberal democracies” despite all the fanfares of elections. However, as we cannot wait for an indefinite period for the transformation of the “illiberal” societies into the “liberal” ones to start democratic process, Bangladesh possibly came up with a unique solution to hold fair and acceptable
elections under Neutral Caretaker Government in 1996. The Hasina Government, for known reasons but no justifications (other than the ridiculous and laughable assertion that Caretaker Governments pave the way for military takeover) arbitrarily scrapped the provision for the Caretaker Government in the Constitution in 2011 through a compliant judiciary and parliament. In the backdrop of these flawed elections, now we realize that the Caretaker Government was done away with to perpetuate the “Awami Dynastic Democracy” to the detriment of the rival “BNP Dynasty”. And we know dynasties are not about democracy and human rights; they are all about selfglorification and plunder. Most Western countries refused to send poll-observers to Bangladesh to rebuff the Hasina government’s obstinacy to hold one-party elections. Since January 2013 more than 500 people got killed at the hands of lawenforcers and political rivals. Twentytwo people got killed on the poll day alone. The New York Times considers the polls “a bizarre election” due to the lack of competition, and that less than 25 per cent people voted this time against 87 per cent in the previous elections held in 2009. Aljazeera reveals that more than 200 polling stations were set on
fire. We learn from the AFP that there were no queues to vote, and that only one person cast his vote in three hours at one polling centre. Interestingly, even the compliant Chief Election Commissioner admits the voter turn out was very low due to the stubborn resistance from the opposition parties. While 153 ruling party candidates were “elected” uncontested before the polls, the flawed polls have guaranteed more than two-third majority to the ruling coterie. Now, are the ongoing political crises, social unrest, economic downturn, and growing violence – terrorism and statesponsored killing through death squads – going to usher in the Black Swan era in Bangladesh? “Black Swan”, a common Western expression since the 16th century, denotes a non-existing object or what was considered “nonexisting”. All swans must be white became a false premise after the discovery of the black swan in Australia. The Black Swan syndrome is also about the catastrophic impact of the “highly improbable” phenomenon on society. Bangladesh has already gone through its Black Swan moments in the past. Its liberation in the wake of a short civil-cum-liberation war signalled its first Black Swan moment, followed by other such moments after the killings of Mujib and Zia, and the two military takeovers in 1982 and 2007. Other Black Swan moments for continued next page
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Bangladesh came with the arrests and trial of “war criminals”(one of them has already been executed); the controversial scrapping of the provision of the Caretaker Government; and the holding of the flawed one-party elections. The collective impact of these Black Swan Moments of our history is going to bring about the Black Swan Era of Bangladesh, which is likely to draw the country into a long-drawn civil war for decades, very similar to Iraq, Afghanistan and what Sri Lanka went through in the recent past for twentysix years. Unless the Government annuls the results of the so-called elections; restores the provision of the Caretaker Government in the Constitution; releases all political detainees; stops judicial murder through a compliant judiciary; and last but not least, disbands death squads by
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the RAB, police and party cadres to destroy political rivals and to smear their image, Bangladesh is not going to remain a functional democracy, even in the most limited sense of the expression. The constant cry wolf by the ruling coterie, “Islamists are coming”, is likely to backfire. Closing all democratic outlets to force Islam-oriented people and political rivals to adopt terrorist means is reckless. Sooner the ruling elites realize it, the better. The overpolarized and fractious Bangladesh polity is as unpredictable as a not-sodormant volcano, which has been erupting on an irregular basis since 1971. As the Black Swan of 1971 was unpredictable, so is the one looming in the corner. As large-scale pre-poll violent attacks on rival party members, minorities and innocent civilians (many
A R T I C L E S mercilessly burnt alive) indicated that Bangladesh was not at peace with itself, the post-poll attacks on political rivals and hapless non-Muslim communities indicate that the country is on the verge of an all-out civil war, nobody has witnessed after 1971. The organized, frequent and growing spate of political and communal violence indicates that the Bangladesh polity no longer lives in, what Nassim Taleb calls, Mediocristan , but has already moved to Extremistan . While the Black Swans of Mediocristan show up infrequently, and are not that vile and vicious, Extremistan experiences nasty and brutal Black Swans, more frequently. 7 January, 2014 Taj Hashmi teaches security studies at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. Source: Countercurrents.org
HOW ECONOMIC GROWTH HAS BECOME ANTI- LIFE By Vandana Shiva An obsession with growth has eclipsed our concern for sustainability, justice and human dignity. But people are not disposable – the value of life lies outside economic development
produce. In effect , “growth” measures the conversion of nature into cash, and commons into commodities.
Limitless growth is the fantasy of economists, businesses and politicians. It is seen as a measure of progress. As a result, gross domestic product (GDP), which is supposed to measure the wealth of nations, has emerged as both the most powerful number and dominant concept in our times. However, economic growth hides the poverty it creates through the destruction of nature, which in turn leads to communities lacking the capacity to provide for themselves.
Thus nature’s amazing cycles of renewal of water and nutrients are defined into nonproduction. The peasants of the world,who provide 72% of the food, do not produce; women who farm or do most of the housework do not fit this paradigm of growth either. A living forest does not contribute to growth, but when trees are cut down and sold as timber, we have growth. Healthy societies and communities do not contribute to growth, but disease creates growth through, for example, the sale of patented medicine.
The concept of growth was put forward as a measure to mobilise resources during the second world war. GDP is based on creating an artificial and fictitious boundary, assuming that if you produce what you consume, you do not
Water available as a commons shared freely and protected by all provides for all. However, it does not create growth. But when Coca-Cola sets up a plant, mines the water and fills plastic bottles with it, the economy grows. But this growth is
based on creating poverty – both for nature and local communities. Water extracted beyond nature’s capacity to renew and recharge creates a water famine. Women are forced to walk longer distances looking for drinking water. In the village of Plachimada in Kerala, when the walk for water became 10 kms, local tribal woman Mayilamma said enough is enough. We cannot walk further; the Coca-Cola plant must shut down. The movement that the women started eventually led to the closure of the plant. In the same vein, evolution has gifted us the seed. Farmers have selected, bred, and diversified it – it is the basis of food production. A seed that renews itself and multiplies produces seeds for the next season, as well as food. However, farmer-bred and farmer-saved seeds are not seen as contributing to growth. It creates and renews life, but it doesn’t continued next page
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lead to profits. Growth begins when seeds are modified, patented and genetically locked, leading to farmers being forced to buy more every season. Nature is impoverished, biodiversity is eroded and a free, open resource is transformed into a patented commodity. Buying seeds every year is a recipe for debt for India’s poor peasants. And ever since seed monopolies have been established, farmers debt has increased. More than 270,000 farmers caught in a debt trap in India have committed suicide since 1995. Poverty is also further spread when public systems are privatised. The privatisation of water, electricity, health, and education does generate growth through profits. But it also generates poverty by forcing people to spend large amounts of money on what was available at affordable costs as a common good. When every aspect of life is commercialised and commoditised, living becomes more costly, and people become poorer. Both ecology and economics have emerged from the same roots – “oikos”, the Greek word for household. As long as economics was focused on the household, it recognised and respected its basis in natural resources and the limits of ecological renewal. It was
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focused on providing for basic human needs within these limits. Economics as based on the household was also womencentered. Today, economics is separated from and opposed to both ecological processes and basic needs. While the destruction of nature has been justified on grounds of creating growth, poverty and dispossession has increased. While being non-sustainable, it is also economically unjust. The dominant model of economic development has in fact become anti-life. When economies are measured only in terms of money flow, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And the rich might be rich in monetary terms – but they too are poor in the wider context of what being human means. Meanwhile, the demands of the current model of the economy are leading to resource wars, oil wars, water wars, food wars. There are three levels of violence involved in non-sustainable development. The first is the violence against the earth, which is expressed as the ecological crisis. The second is the violence against people, which is expressed as poverty, destitution and displacement. The third is the violence of war and conflict, as the powerful reach for the resources that lie in other communities and countries for their limitless
A R T I C L E S appetites. Increase of money flow through GDP has become disassociated from real value, but those who accumulate financial resources can then stake claim on the real resources of people – their land and water, their forests and seeds. This thirst leads to them predating on the last drop of water and last inch of land on the planet. This is not an end to poverty. It is an end to human rights and justice. Nobel-prize winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen have admitted that GDP does not capture the human condition and urged the creation of different tools to gauge the well being of nations. This is why countries like Bhutan have adopted the gross national happiness in place of gross domestic product to calculate progress. We need to create measures beyond GDP, and economies beyond the global supermarket, to rejuvenate real wealth. We need to remember that the real currency of life is life itself. 1 November, 2013 Dr. Vandana Shiva is a philosopher, environmental activist and eco feminist. She is the founder/director of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology. Source: The Guardian
IN 90 MINUTES, ENOUGH SUNLIGHT STRIKES THE EARTH TO PROVIDE THE ENTIRE PLANET’S ENERGY NEEDS FOR ONE YEAR By International Energy Agency In 90 minutes, enough sunlight strikes the earth to provide the entire planet’s energy needs for one year. While solar energy is abundant, it represents a tiny fraction of the world’s current energy mix. But this is changing rapidly and is being driven by global action to improve energy access and supply security, and to mitigate climate change. Around the world, countries and companies are investing in solar generation capacity on an unprecedented
scale, and, as a consequence, costs continue to fall and technologies improve. A publication by the International Energy Agency gives an authoritative view of these technologies and market trends, in both advanced and developing economies, while providing examples of the best and most advanced practices. It also provides a unique guide for policy makers, industry representatives and concerned stakeholders on how best to use, combine and successfully promote the major categories
of solar energy: solar heating and cooling, photovoltaic and solar thermal electricity, as well as solar fuels. Finally, in analysing the likely evolution of electricity and energy-consuming sectors – buildings, industry and transport – it explores the leading role solar energy could play in the long-term future of our energy system. 25 August, 2013 Source: International Energy Agency
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The International Movement for a Just World is a nonprofit international citizens’ organisation which seeks to create public awareness about injustices within the existing global system. It also attempts to develop a deeper understanding of the struggle for social justice and human dignity at the global level, guided by universal spiritual and moral values. In furtherance of these objectives, JUST has undertaken a number of activities including conducting research, publishing books and monographs, organising conferences and seminars, networking with groups and individuals and participating in public campaigns. JUST has friends and supporters in more than 130 countries and cooperates actively with other organisations which are committed to similar objectives in different parts of the world.
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