{"id":20164,"date":"2013-04-16T01:36:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T05:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=20164"},"modified":"2013-04-16T01:36:02","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T05:36:02","slug":"clear-agenda-of-extremist-groups-is-we-are-done-with-the-tamilsso-lets-make-the-muslims-our-new-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=20164","title":{"rendered":"Clear Agenda of Extremist Groups is-“We are Done With the Tamils,So Let’s Make the Muslims Our New Enemy”."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Subha Wijesiriwardena<\/strong><\/p>\n

The growing anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka is pushing us to respond in numerous ways: we are talking, flustered, hopeless and helpless, shouting in outrage (when no one will listen), holding our knees to chests, trying to pull ourselves inside, into some sense of comfort and safety, whispers of more war, more conflict on our lips. The annoyance has turned to fear; the irritating din of the crowd has turned to the cries of a mob. In a matter of months, we have grown from worried to scared; that mob have grown from an absurd joke into a very serious problem. Worst of all, it has pushed some of us to retreat into the empty shells of ourselves, hidings our heads, hoping it will just blow over.<\/p>\n

Here, at the threshold of this calamity, we teeter on the edge, about to make our most grave mistakes all over again; it may not blow over before it has destroyed so much more than we are willing to sacrifice.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Bodu Bala Sena and Sinhala Ravaya and other similar groups obviously have a clear agenda \u2013 we are done with the Tamils, so let\u2019s make the Muslims our new enemy. This suits the agenda of our current regime, in fact they were just done with a civil war and wondering how to keep the masses further mesmerised, hypnotised \u2013 fear of a common enemy, naturally, is just the way they\u2019d like to do it.<\/p>\n

These are dangerous, violent hate-groups that seem more sinister with each passing day, as it becomes clear that they are willing to attack their \u2018enemy\u2019 in the most horrific of ways. They are prepared not just to physically hurt people, their homes and their properties, they are willing to engage in the most lowly kinds of attacks; humiliating people and ripping them of their dignity, attacking their beliefs, rituals and faith and inventing and spreading totally ludicrous lies to demonize them. It\u2019s school-yard bully stuff, medieval stuff \u2013 totally unsophisticated, totally cruel, and yet totally effective in creating fear when you have the numbers on your side. It\u2019s made more dangerous by its very public association with the highest powers that be, who have condoned their actions and ideology by giving in to their petty, unreasonable demands and never once publicly condemned them.<\/p>\n

So while most Sri Lankans are crushed beneath the weight of every-day life \u2013 the cost of living, corruption, lack of civil liberties and rights \u2013 our \u2018great leaders\u2019 are able to prey on our innermost frustrations, fears and insecurities, turning it into a hatred of \u2018the other\u2019 and thereby drumming up support for this dangerous campaign of hate. They are fooling us; distracting us from the harsh realities of life in Sri Lanka; distracting us from a crumbling economy, a faulty and unsustainable faux-reconciliation process and the fact that they have categorically been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

Our responses to this violence are varied as they are fascinating. Don\u2019t they remember July 1983, you ask. They don\u2019t care. Don\u2019t they remember how marginalising and victimising an ethnic minority led to a civil war of nearly 30 years, you ask. They don\u2019t care. Remember how we all suffered? you ask. Do you want another war, you ask. Maybe they do.<\/p>\n

Most often, we avoid delving into the deeper issues; we try to avoid feeling the deeper things. We want to prevent another war. We want to prevent another catastrophe \u2013 but only so we don\u2019t have to suffer on behalf of someone else. Let\u2019s for a moment put aside the larger questions about racism and fascism. Let\u2019s put aside everything we know about every civilian\u2019s right to life, the right to protection from the state from discrimination. Let\u2019s put aside the right every one of us has to pursue any religion we like and freely engage in the worship of any faith without the fear of persecution. Let\u2019s instead consider how one could draw glaringly obvious parallels between this situation and other horrific moments in our own history as well as the histories of other nations and other peoples. Let\u2019s at least consider the fact that this could affect every one of us personally if it goes unabated.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s hard to muster up the courage and the determination to fight for the rights of another community just because you should in principle, let\u2019s at least consider the fact that none of us will survive more \u2018ethnic conflict\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prejudice has no logic; it is an irrational hatred born from an irrational fear of the unknown and we are all complicit in different ways. It\u2019s moments like this that require every single one of us to step up and take some responsibility, to care. Think, talk, act, now. Do your bit, do whatever you can. Disassociate yourself completely and publicly from individuals\/organizations that support these campaigns of hate; and when you do, tell them why. Talk back, debate, get angry with the people who think it\u2019s OK; it\u2019s never OK. Find out everything you can behind the ideas and agendas of these campaigns, keep yourself informed and always ensure the information you\u2019re getting is accurate and unbiased. Share this information.<\/p>\n

It may not seem like there\u2019s a lot you can do, but it\u2019s time to pick a side. This is not the time to be non-partisan, undecided or apolitical. There\u2019s a lot that extremist bigots are willing to do that peaceful moderates are not, but conviction should not be where we come up short.<\/p>\n

The battle lines are being drawn. The fundamentalists are always quick to do so. Where do you stand?<\/strong>
\nCOURTESY:GROUNDVIEWS<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Subha Wijesiriwardena The growing anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka is pushing us to respond in numerous ways: we are talking, flustered, hopeless and helpless, shouting in outrage (when no one will listen), holding our knees to chests, trying to pull ourselves inside, into some sense of comfort and safety, whispers of more war, more …<\/p>\n

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