Reflections of GLF 2012

By Sydney Knight

Galle Literary Festival Panel: Writing political realities into fiction and journalism. This program enabled me to listen to Romesh Gunesekera, Irfan Husain and Susan Minot. All three writers certainly had a message. However, what struck a chord in my system was the story from Uganda.

The story of the Nun and the girls in a school being kidnapped by those fighting the system in Uganda. The Ugandan story is global and universal. All those who take to the gun to make a point use innocent persons like the Nun and the girls in a Convent School.

In Conversation Shashi Tharoor on The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone: Reflections on India in the 21st century, Shashi Tharoor was brilliant. He used his mind to share his thinking.

However, despite Tharoor’s brilliance, there was a hint of Tharoor the party politician, in India. When the question was raised from the floor of the house, in answering the question, Tharoor made a point of the young people with guns.

To my mind, he was defending the system and was not willing to go beyond the youth and the gun to the reality and brokenness, very specially the deep rooted causes of the youth unrest not only in India but everywhere.

Lunchtime Illuminations – Jaffna Shorts: This program not only provided time and space to relax but also to reflect on Jaffna during the war and what touched me most during this time of watching films was the  resilience of the Jaffna person like

The Palmyarah Tree when there was a  shortage of petrol etc. The manner in which they responded to the fuel shortage.

The film on the returning to Mannar of a Sri Lankan born doctor based in the UK to share his expertise in producing artificial limbs was very heartwarming.

In Conversation. Richard Dawkins on his life and work: As Carlo Fonseka has stated in an article, Dawkins was moving further from Charles Darwin. Being an Oxford Don and a Master of Science, he in his own style in responding to what he thinks religion has done to people.

However, it is significant that two Bishops from the Anglican World, Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford and Richard Holloway, the Bishop of Edinburgh have both commended Dawkins, very specially the Bishop of Scotland.

So one has to read, mark and inwardly digest Dawkins and respond to him, critically of course.

Sunset Series: With Madhubashini Dissanayake Ratnayake chairing, we listened to the works of Sunethra Rajakarunanayake and Buddhadasa Galappatty on Sinhala Visions and Sinhala Realities.  What touched me most was Rajakarunanayake’s poetry, very specially her open liberal mind concerning Kilinochchi and Thamilchelvam.

Performing Beyond Borders, performing Bohemian Pursuits. This was a play in the modern idiom, based on parents pushing children to perform.

However, I couldn’t continue to be present to see the audience critiquing the play and making it different. Galle Literary Festival Panel – Trauma and Literature: I was glad to be present at this session, since those responsible for this program being Samuttthana and Colombo based King’s College, London, for looking after displacement and mental health, are my friends.

All those who shared their thinking at this session Rachel Tribe who shared from a perspective of a Psychologist, was used as the platform by Aminatta Forna, Neluka Silva and Ellah Alfrey.

When they read their work, all of them were good but what touched me most at this session, was Neluka Silva reading from her book, The Iron Fence, which in a sense is autobiographical in that she was revisiting in the book and the reading, her days as a student during the latter part of the 1980s, when the JVP controlled students. Neluka Silva now a Don at her Alma Mater,was sad that today’s society, on the whole, seems to be anti-University and thereby are not able to understand the issues of today’s youth, very specially, those on our campuses.

 In Conversation Izzeldin Abuelaish on I shall Not Hate, a Gaza Doctor’s journey: For me, the high water mark of my two day stay in Galle was this Doctor’s absolute spirit of hope.

A person having personal experience of suffering and death shared his absolute hope in humanity despite all that is seen and heard.

Returning to Colombo and touching base with life, I have the following thoughts: The Galle Literary Festival 2012 in and through literature touched base with reality and brokenness and in that context there was a sense of hope. Shouldn’t this be shared with all?

This means we in Mother Lanka should move away from party politics, although we are responsible for politics.

Our politicians should use the rich resources of literature to work for a better Sri Lanka.