Of hype, hypocrisy, hysteria, homophobia – and, hope?

CROWDSOURCING A COUP: In an ironic turn of events, the leaders of the constitutional coup conducted a rally to draw support for their cause – a stone’s throw away from the very place that could have demonstrated their Parliamentary majority and silenced the cries of antidemocratic activists calling for the House to be reconvened. Instead, the rousing rally proved that perhaps there are more ironies in store for a nation that professes itself to be prepared for anything on the stage of political theatre

It is ironic that the rally to ‘guard a glory of the land’ gathered in plain sight of the empty grandeur of Parliament. For days before that, and since the presidential coup which undemocratically replaced one prime minister with another, irate protestors had demanded that their Chief Executive summon Parliament to demonstrate his case. 

But rather than prove his point with relative ease, by convening the House – a simple expedient that could easily canvass the Speaker’s support and that of half of civil society – our Head of State opted for the high street. All to showcase his allegiance to a rising tide of populist indignation against neoliberal government of which he was an integral part until recently. And as protests go, it underlined a host of ironies. In addition to exposing the raw underbelly of raucous ultra-nationalism.

Ironies

On the one hand, the ironies were a myriad of issues that would hardly matter. But for the hypocrisy of it all. And these would have been laughable if they weren’t quite so lame. 

A former prime minister turned president and a former president made premier again on the same stage. Former allies turned foes now showing signs of being frenemies. Past fears of murder most foul and recent allegations of assassination attempts buried under a mound of realpolitik. 

And oh, did we mention the rally was a stone’s throw away from Parliament – where all the claims of 113+ could have been a simpler expedient to prove if only the House had convened? Some grandees have no sense of dramatic irony!

Ire

On the other, the raw underbelly of raucous ultra-nationalism – neither laughable nor lamentable, but lame – was manifest. A head of state who doesn’t seem to relish being integrated into the global sweep of things. A former head of state who seems to be suffering from selective amnesia when it comes to the sundry pacts he made with other sovereign states to mortgage our nation’s paltry silver. 

The chorus of catcalls from a cohort of cabalists in favour of a return to the dark ages of ethnic particularity and exceptionalism – as long as it would rid them of Ranil. And a strongly conservative president displaying unmistakable signs of religious mania as much as a creeping homophobia must have given the ‘butterfly brigade’ a queasy feeling in the pits of their collective stomachs.

(At least one intended target of the chief executive’s badgering tone refused to be victimised. And had the guts to tweet back in a stinging retort that “it’s better to be a butterfly than a leech”! But that was on a different social media platform than the national one the President occupied. By then, it was probably too late to recall the message that our Head of State had sent so many impressionable younger minds about the permissiveness of bias and bigotry.)

Frame

Be that as it may. I am not going to waste precious column inches defending the indefensible in many books. Or attack the autocracy of antidemocratic figureheads who can’t distinguish the twenty-first century from pre-colonial times. But submit a framework in which to place the ideas and ideologies espoused by this inflammatory rally. And leave it to the discerning reader to understand the ramifications of this most dangerous game which the gauche have embarked on with their goons. The gambit which leaves a nation-state exposed to the fire of hatred fanned by the winds of chauvinism again.

Limbic (emotional/sentimental)

The President has lost it. He’s burnt his bras – sorry, bridges – with his coalition partner long before the assassination allegation. And is lashing out left and right. And can’t quite remember where the centre is. That he also can’t remember that he praised his present political bedfellow as the saviour of Sri Lanka once – only to condemn him as a rogue and rascal not five years later – will be his comeuppance one day. 

So let’s spare him the lash of the sting-ray’s tail today. It’ll be GROBR when he crashes and burns at the presidential polls. Or somewhere sooner on the high road of political dalliance with august ‘war heroes’ turned alleged ‘war criminals’.

(A naïve view. Accurate enough in parts. But not complete. And only fit for consumption by the less sophisticated readers of blatantly partisan rags…)

Tactical (logical/rational)

Practically all speakers on this extra-Parliamentary podium played to the gallery. They pushed all the right buttons – from MS’s appeal to religious powers and nationalist authorities, to RW’s supposedly craven dependence on foreign demons alone and not our domestic gods or philosophical guardian deities. 

Pragmatic as they are, all these posturers were economical with the truth about China and its longstanding interest in Sri Lanka. Opting to sugar-coat (to themselves, perhaps, since no mention of it was made on the political stage) all those previous losses to state coffers harboured by MR & Co. as political expediency?

(A neater take. To the inflamed plebeians, it was caviar to the general. They lapped it up. And they represent an alarming majority of volatile voters in the rural periphery. If their numbers swell at future polls: the rising tide of proud but myopic nationalism being taken at the flood.)

Cynical (curious/sceptical)

All key players are engaging in self-serving politics. MS wants a second term. And if it means piggybacking on his former nemesis – why, that’s perfectly acceptable (to him). MR wants another stab at power. And not only for himself – but to vouchsafe future regimes for Rajapaksa, Bros. & Sons. 

Many hangers-on like Vasu and Wimal and Bandula (and now sadly, Dinesh also) are in it for fame, power, ability to cock a snook at the hated UNP and its butterfly brigade and globalist economics. In the limit, some of these are simply sycophants. While others – especially the fiery-eyed silver-tongued rhetoricians – are possibly psychopaths. 

(A more nuanced view. The best lack all conviction. While the worst as usual are full of their passionate irrational intensity.)

Strategic (cynical/hostile)

One of the rising regional powers – South Asia being taken as the playing field for a growing bulk of the world’s maritime business and military potential – is funding the ‘glorious country’ campaign. Whoever it is has deep pockets – Rs. 500 million for a minister and 300+ for an MP being peanuts to pay for leapfrogging monkeys. 

Such a subverter of a sovereign state’s political will and people’s mandate is ambitious, ruthless, and unstoppable if the response of Sri Lankans to their unwelcome coups is not to band together, cry halt, and reverse the tide. Easier said than done! Where to start? Judgment must begin in the House of the Just. With execrable populist nationalism on one hand and arrogant plutocracy on the other, we’re well and truly trapped. 

(The nastiest perspective. Fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.)

There is little more of practical use to be said. These are four dimensions of the truth as it can be discerned today. There are also four Horsemen of the coming apocalypse to be seen on a not-so-distant horizon. Hype. Hysteria. Hypocrisy. Homophobia. But the less said about them, the better. Because there’s still Hope in the House. And until it meets and makes amends, the rest is silence – and playing the most dangerous game of all. 

(Journalist | Editor-at-large of LMD | Writer #SpeakingTruthToPower)