War on terror, climate science and racism; all on free-fall

Internal commissions and probes seem to be in vogue today. Our head of state announced appointing a commission of our own, to look into any atrocities committed during the war to end terrorism in Sri Lanka as claimed by some interested groups and lobbies. This indeed was the rightful response to UN Secretary General's recent comment that he intends to appoint a probe commission of his own, quite uncharacteristic of the world body's usual modus operandi.

Dangerous business

We as a nation ought to be congratulated by the global community, now fighting its own 'war on terror', for proving to the world that terrorism can be dealt with firmly and conclusively, if the right resolve, commitment, leadership and application is in place.

Ban Ki Moon

Instead, we are put on the dock by some, for not treating terrorists with respect and restraint. Confusing conventional warfare with firm action against terrorism can be a dangerous business. For that can be detrimental to the cause of the wars being waged in many parts of the world against terrorism. It can also be dangerous, if we do not differentiate between struggles for seeking a people's dignity and rights, as against using terror, as a way of achieving it.

What these interested groups and lobbies must now do is to stop niggling at healing wounds. They must step in to assist and support nation Sri Lanka regain true unity, where all our citizens can live in harmony with dignity and self-respect. If setting in place an audit of how well we as a nation perform this task is what's sought, it will have the fullest support and endorsement of all right-minded Sri Lankans.

Doing it our way

Given that nations must be sovereign and must manage one's own affairs, it would be prudent for us to be doing this on our own, as well. We must allocate our own funds and resources (even begin fundraising and creating widespread awareness through community forums, conduct of Telethons and even SMS) and have our own independent teams of prominent citizens handling the task. Anyone else funding what must be our domain and task, will mean that we begin the process at the very outset, misreading, mistrusting and underestimating our own ability in managing our affairs.

This for a minute does not assume that all else is well in our midst. Quite to the contrary, there is much that needs to be put right. But it should be our business putting it right. We must indeed learn from good practices of others, but not let others determine how we should go about doing it or should get there.

Good for the cause

The UN has also begun a probe on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Thankfully, it is a body of scientists which does not enjoy any sovereignty of its own, much unlike a legitimate nation or country. It is an organisation formed under two of UN's key agencies; United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

In that context, the UN seemingly is not taking on a task that is beyond its domain of action. Dr Patchuri, the Nobel laureate Indian scientist at the helm of this body of international scientists, said that he welcomed the inquiry for it was good for the cause of climate science to go through a strict audit of its work, to ensure that the key position of the scientific findings are not at risk of being doubted. This was at the recent media conference called by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to officially announce that he will request a committee of eminent scientists to carry out an audit of the IPCC's reporting procedures.

Police probe

It is almost ironical that the acronym IPCC also refers the Independent Police Complaints Commission in the UK, where there was a recent probe on an attempt to withhold evidence in the murder of Stephan Lawrence, the black British youngster, at the hands of a racist gang in South East London in 1993. The latest news is, that two Policemen accused of withholding evidence in this case arrested late last year, were ordered to be released last week, by the IPCC, while the Police probe is said still to continue.

To understand these issues better, we must look at the backdrop as to why there was a need for these probes. Is it because these are issues that are free falling needing some restraint? Or is it because probing is yet another strategy to postpone taking assertive and rapid action, allowing the free falling at least for some time?

No fair deal

Just days before the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Summit of world leaders in December last year, a bomb-shell was dropped on the delegates and the rest of the concerned world.

Done with much media hype and precision timing, it was on a 'leak' of a string of e-mails that formed correspondence, originating from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia in the UK.

These e-mails pointed to the possibility that, CRU scientists were instrumental in withholding and/or doctoring data provided to the IPCC as research findings on the state of Mother Earth's health.

Although, these accusations were levelled at only a few scientists within a grouping of thousands more from all over the world, it created a fresh round of doubts in the minds of moderates and made a field-day for climate sceptics and conventional energy business lobbyists. Seemingly, it also gave an 'out' to leaders of some nations, to adopt delaying tactics on making firm commitments or fair deals to arrest causes for global warming at its root.

Dissent and bloomers

Melting glaciers: Excessive human greed has contributed to global warming. Courtesy: Google

The anti-PR machinery on climate change immediately got into high gear coining the phrase 'Climategate' to describe the e-mail contents sent by University of East Anglia researcher Dr Phil Jones to Penn State University's Dr Michael Mann, another IPCC colleague located in the US. The contents referred to keeping the dissenting view that human activity has not contributed to the warming of the globe out of IPCC's climate change reporting. There were also other instances of IPCC bloomers such as an incorrect date being quoted for when Himalayan glaciers could melt (claimed a typo by the IPCC of 2035 as against 2350) and the extent of land that will submerge in The Netherlands. Sceptics made use of these to cast doubts on even substantiated scientific evidence and moved on to claim that global warming is only a natural phenomenon human misadventures had nothing to do with. The 'inconvenient truth' that the world is familiar with today, with much of climate science supporting it, is that excessive human greed has contributed to warming of the globe, through the creation of an excess of green house gas emissions.

Nation's conscience

Back on to the British IPCC front, since 1993 no one had been prosecuted as being responsible for the killing of this black British boy, like it has been in several other such dastardly acts. The case indeed became a landmark in establishing a dent in the British nation's conscience on racial prejudice and the manner in which the issue is being dealt with. In 1999, an inquiry headed by Sir William Macpherson examined the original Metropolitan Police investigation into this case and concluded that the Police force was 'institutionally racist' and called the time "one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain". What is left of the case is a mother's loss of her son, a movie made to take on the nature of the issue of racism in British society and an award instituted in the name of Stephan Lawrence, by the British Institute of Architects; for this young man's dream had been to be an architect one day.

Thankfully, the case is still not closed. The probe is ongoing but those of the Police force that allegedly withheld important information at the time have been let go, for lack of evidence, to hold them any further. Whether justice will ever be delivered on the racism motivated cold blooded murder of Stephan Lawrence on the streets of South East London will perhaps remain a question mark.

One truism

The lessons we can learn from these three probes are representative and symbolic of much of what is happening around us in the global arena, all relating to one truism. That is the fact, that no matter what the outcomes of these probes may be, the underlying issues and what causes them, will not go away.

Terrorism will always need to be fought hard with much resolve if it is to be wiped out. Once that is done, its root causes need to be addressed squarely, with sincere and honest effort put in to seek lasting solutions. No matter what a few erring scientists or devoted sceptics say or do, global warming will continue to haunt us, unless the causes of climate change are addressed at the very core i.e. reducing over consumption, placing limits on our greedy ways, seeking alternative clean energy options and learning to live more austere lives. Racial prejudice will go away, only if there is a genuine effort to understand and feel in our hearts and minds that we are all citizens of one earth, regardless of our colour, creed or status.