Nation building and eclectic evolution

Last week's article on the national anthem evoked comments from various quarters, some favourable and some reserved. The point some people fail to appreciate is that nationhood has to be a collective effort directed at a common goal and hence different communities pulling in different direction would not make it possible for us to aspire for common national objectives. Hence nation building in a diverse state needs some assimilation and some integration.

Assimilation is when a community gets absorbed into a nation and the best example of assimilation is the pronunciation of the word cupboard where the letter p has got assimilated into the word cupboard retaining part of its phonetics in pronouncing cupboard.

National goals

Integration is when a community makes a more meaningful contribution in making a national whole as in an 'integrated circuit' where the circuit gets enriched and more complete with a broader horizon. But the important thing is whether a particular community gets assimilated or integrated the national goals and aspirations at the end have to be common. In such a process, the communal goals have to, not only remain subservient, but be adjusted in line with those of the nation.

During medieval times countries and nations evolved with time and it was often a case of the more powerful absorbing less powerful. Yet the eventual society retained some of the characteristics and values of the integrated tribes depending on the strength and influence of each group even though over powered with physical force or numbers.

This is often how man has advanced from tribalism to nationhood and it is altogether a positive process where beneficial and healthy characteristics of each tribe can be brought to bear enriching the enlarged society. The trouble however is that this integration is not always based on reasoning as to what is more acceptable and hence it gets more complicated when emotions and nostalgia claims there share in human inclinations. The different issues eventually, with interaction, always have to get settled and it is then that the nation would be at peace.

Modern times

Our country Sri Lanka has come to be what it is through this eclectic evolution during medieval to modern times and the following episode explains this position. B H Aluvihare was a Barrister who hailed from Matale and was a Member of the Ceylon State Council in the 1930s. During his tenure a debate ensued in the State Assembly over the recruitment of 'non Ceylonese' teachers for educating locals in the colonial Ceylon. In the course of this debate the question arose as to whether there was anything called 'Ceylonese'. The opinion of most speakers in that colonial time was that there was nothing called 'Ceylonese' and 'Ceylonese culture' that was worth giving a thought to. Aluvihare however stood up and said, "Ceylonese culture is like Sinhalese people. It is one of the most hybrid things on earth. It is influenced by Portuguese and Dutch cultures and today mixes up with the British. In ancient days it arose from the trees of the Vedda culture. It was enriched by Hindus and Aryans of the Ganges and was touched by the South Indians. I am not certain whether to some extent we have not been enriched by the Negroes of Africa as well. I am also not certain that we can claim to be unaffected by the adventures of the traders from Arabia".

European invasion

"Therefore, Sir, it is a hybrid culture and it is certainly rich because it has been enriched. So when you ask what Ceylonese culture is, the answer is that the present day culture has come to us from all corners of the earth. It has enriched us and if ever we do boast of anything, it is that we have the wealth of the four corners of the world. It has enriched our mind, our vision, our literature and that is what enables us to boast of the breadth of vision and breadth of thought."

This, I believe, is how a nation should evolve and this is an inevitable process that takes place when a society moves on. Even though we may have some differences initially, in the end our values and ethos have to be equally everybody's and what is everybody's has to be equally ours.

Colonial power

It flows like a river and that is why we talk of 'a mainstream society' as if that process is a stream that takes with it everything on its path while continuing to flow. Yet it is possible that some waters remain outside this mainstream but when that happens such waters can get stagnated and left behind.

The problems we experience today is that this natural evolvement was disturbed at a particular point in our history and that is the time of European invasion. Requirement of the colonials were different from those of nation builders and a strong nation makes colonialism difficult. Thus 443 years of colonialism gave us races, creeds and interest groups jostling among one another for everything except for a common goal. The fact that the British, our last colonial power, expressed great reservations on lack of unity among inhabitants of the country on the eve of independence is proof enough to say that the people got alienated during all those years. Thus a communal war that was not there before European invasion ensued a few years after independence.

Therefore, postcolonial integration and the evolvement of a cohesive nation has to be the challenge before the leaders of post-independent Sri Lanka. This however is easier said than done and especially it is a process that takes time and its own course.

What was done over generations (443 years) cannot be undone in a matter of years and the recent events in the country including the rise and fall of Prabhakaran is a part and parcel of that process.

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