In a land of 'politics without people'

BY AFREEHA Jawad

FORMER Oxonian Susil Sirivardana analysing local and global politics delivered some interesting findings which in no unmistakable terms hit at the root cause of what has gone wrong where in a dysfunctional state. What emerged from this interview the Daily News had with him was the stark truth of global chaos.

Blaming the unchallenged rule of mediocrity that has pervaded the modern state that is responsible for such outcome Sirivardana said:

"The contemporary state is intellectually and morally leaderless. There are no sanctions, disciplines and norms, so the state can never be efficient.

It is always two faced in the sense that while it understands what good governance is, it doesn't see the need to practice or live up to it. So it will go in the direction of opportunity and compromise. It will dilute standard with action, negating it in action."

This, he said, leads us on to a very serious question. When you deal with the state, one is compelled into asking: "Do the people in the state want to understand whatever problem they are faced with? No is the answer.

Instead they stereotypically do things. They are happily living inside this crisis struck state and confusion for their own advantage.

The chaos doesn't mean that their own advantages are limited. Certainly, under such conditions they maximize personal gain and profit. So, societal good is undermined without conscience at the cost of personal gain. These are the terms of equation," he said.

Referring to the importance of a correct assessment of the state's condition, Sirivardana describing his own experience points to the fact that today the state in general is marked by relative failure to function.

"It is unproductive, lacks values, norms, standards and discipline and has cultivated the illusory image of being a state by producing reams and reams of paperwork and what's worse the pretence of work, productivity and so on, all of which is worthless because it is not based on reality, experience and memory. There are no people in this make believe exercise and playing with stereotypes.

Striking high intellectuality he even perceived a conspicuous characteristic of this illusory state which he referred to as the technocratisation of deceit.

"This deceit technocratisation is a pseudo feeling or perception of reality through the manipulation of techniques and technology. Its a substitute for reality which the ordinary, unevolved mind gets seduced into."

Sirivardana quite unhesitantly attributed this status quo to an imperfect and partial understanding of reality derived from technology compounded by globalisation which state is also aspiritual and amoral.

Under such conditions Sirivardana spoke of how the other part of the narrative, civil society, split into two.

One part gets disillusioned. Filled with despair, it withdraws into itself and becomes inactive attributing it as usual to Karma or fate. The acceptance of injustice, non-accountability and unequality, he said, stemmed from a weak mind.

So such folk fold up their arms and are resigned to their fate struck armchairs saying nothing could be done about it. This mental weakening is far worse than the problem itself for it facilitates whatever is unjust and is far from a fully developed mind.

The other part of civil society responds with resilience and resistance and challenges the state and involves itself in the intellectual quest to discover and forge ahead methods and means of countervailing power with which to engage the state.

This segment of civil society is not interested in taking over state power but to make it functional, productive and responsive and not an excessive, wasteful and corrupt one. These people who countervail will engage in regenerating the self, reconstruct the state and society.

Though this segment is numerically huge the silent fighters within them are committed to working in partnership with the poor. People practising accountability and transparency - who are outspoken and apolitical - whose quest is a people's movement of civil society.

"These elements are distinctly making their presence felt in several areas and in the Sri Lankan periphery, conscientised groups of poor men and women have formed their own organisations and are trying to join the production mainstream. These periphery stirrings is a distinctive feature of Sri Lankan society today that demand subsidiary and local government to help them develop the areas in which they are settled."

"To be observed also are women from diverse strata awakening and discovering processes and sources of creativity and new productive capacity. In the peace movement they have played an important role as peace activists."

"Youth also significantly challenge the state today looking for identity and enjoying new means of productivity.

"In the intellectual arena there's lot of activity and their primary question is the search for fundamentals to regenerate the 'self' and reconstruct state and society."

Sirivardana observers regretfully how today there is only politics without people. Instead politics should be in partnership with civil society fully recognising civil society's independence.

Insisting heavily on the subsidiarity principle he explained:

"Responsibility should be entrusted to the smallest group to administer their area like in the Swiss cantons. For instance, all roads, culverts community buildings, tanks and the rest - the locality's people ought to manage.

"This means there will only be a small government in Colombo," concluded Sirivardana.

Sirivardana's delivery invariably brought to writer's mind how the pre-nation state era was devoid of the highly centralised unitary characteristic.

People of pre-nation state time managed their own localities undisturbed by any power centre consequential to which there was both regional and communal empowerment.

It is well-known how when left to themselves communities manage far better than they would under a single view-oriented hegemonic centralised force.