Making Enabling Connections and Forging Viable
Alternatives, Strategies and Concepts
--Aaron Moore
Review of Sri Lanka: Global Challenges and National Crises: Proceedings
of the Hector Abhayavardhana Felicitation Symposium. Ed. Rajan
Philips. (Colombo: Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue
and Social Scientists' Association, 2001).
In the current context where knowledge is increasingly divided
into particular areas, cultures or nation states; academic, specialized,
"theoretical" knowledge vs. practical, "realistic,"
activist-oriented knowledge; and Western knowledge vs. knowledge
relevant to the third world, an interesting book out of Sri Lanka
has just come out that bridges such simplistic, unproductive divisions.
In the spirit of one of Sri Lanka's leading left thinkers, Hector
Abhayavardhana, this book of essays by various Sri Lankan academics
and activists from different parts of the world attempts to connect
the local and the global - the almost twenty year ethnic civil
war and the new global capitalist order. It also firmly combines
activist, political concerns of envisioning alternatives to corporate-led
globalization and violent ethnic nationalism with theoretical
imperatives of understanding the new situation of global capitalism
and re-thinking the traditional categories of Marxist, leftist
thought. As such, this is an excellent attempt to make politically
enabling connections between different contexts, theories and
concerns, rather than maintaining narrow, parochial "ghettoes"
of knowledge (i.e. this is not merely a "Sri Lankan Studies"
book nor an "activist NGO manual").
The book is divided into two main sections - Globalization:
Constraints and Possibilities and Sri Lankan Society and Politics.
The first section on globalization consists of three essays (with
discussion) by Paul Caspersz, Kumar David and Saman Kelegama,
and an open forum on globalization. On the whole, there seemed
to be a consensus among the participants that corporate-led globalization
consists of the following: the imposition by a handful of institutions
controlled largely by the US, Europe and Japan (WTO, World Bank,
and IMF) of a "specific and rigid calculus" (Eymard
Wijeyeratne) of policies such as deregulation, market liberalization,
privatization, free movement of capital, and so-called free trade
and labor flexibility, particularly on third-world countries,
which has only increased poverty and misery in these areas; "the
internationalization of production processes, the great expansion
and diversification of world trade, the emergence of an international
equities and currency market (the virtual economy), and new global
strategies of political intervention by the capitalist world powers"
(David, 169); the growth of regional trading blocks such as the
EU, NAFTA and ASEAN; and the wanton destruction of local cultural
values and production processes and their subordination to a free-market,
laissez-faire ethic and unbridled consumerism. Thus, the authors
and participants do not shy away from the necessary task of trying
to visualize and represent capitalist globalization.
Oftentimes economic globalization is described as an extremely
powerful, abstract, hegemonic and uniform force that is almost
impossible to resist or forge alternatives to. People often fall
either into the negative mode of critiquing the global capitalist
system without positing alternatives or over-exaggerating the
power of the policies and institutions of globalization to the
point where resistance seems hopeless. The essays and discussions
are interesting since they try to avoid these pitfalls. For example,
Caspersz firmly locates the center of globalization in the US
dominated WTO, IMF and the World Bank and calls for the democratization
of these institutions and the shift of the development agenda
to a reformed UN. Kumar explores the exciting possibilities for
sustainable development and economic growth under "market
socialism" as practiced in China - a combination of non-capitalist
and capitalist institutions that would check the forces of unbridled
capitalism and allow for a more equitable, democratic development.
Kelegama explores the possibilities/constraints of regional groupings
as a way for third-world countries like Sri Lanka to combat corporate-led
ideologies and agendas of globalization.
I only wish the authors and participants went even further in
their desire to seek effective alternatives. A problem of the
first section is the top-down, policy approach to development
and socio-economic change that dominated the essays and discussion.
The various participants focus mainly on state or institutional
policies that impose the strictures of neo-liberal trade and in
turn, they propose correctives at the same state or institutional
level. In other words, one gets the false impression that economic
globalization and its alternatives are solely determined at the
level of policy or groups of educated specialists or leaders,
rather than at the popular, grassroots level as well.
Yet nothing could be further from the truth - citizens' movements
have resisted corporate globalization at every step of the way,
thereby affecting and shaping the imposition of this "specific
and rigid calculus" from the very beginning. Over the past
five to ten years, millions of people have taken to the streets
in India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, Bolivia, the United
States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, France, Germany,
Italy, South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia and elsewhere to protest
corporate globalization. In general, they have asserted alternative,
democratic visions based on principles such as subsidiarity (whatever
activities and decisions that can be undertaken locally should
be), common heritage (natural resources, culture and knowledge,
and basic public services should be readily available to all who
need them), and the right to jobs, livelihood and employment -
to name a few. By not emphasizing the contested nature of globalization,
critics risk putting themselves into the position of "resisting
the inevitable."
While the authors and participants indeed focused on alternatives
to corporate globalization, they should perhaps have pushed themselves
more and looked at the popular resistances and alternative visions
that are already being posed at the grassroots level, rather than
merely remain at the level of the state, policy, and elite groups
of specialists (David, however, does acknowledge the role of the
Chinese people in developing the fascinating, hybrid institutions
of "market socialism" there). This would only enrich
and strengthen their critique. For example, the Movement for National
Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR - http://www.geocities.com/monlarslk/)
in Sri Lanka has been working since the early 1990s among small
and landless farmers, rural women's organizations, NGOs and other
citizens' groups, government officials and intellectuals to develop
alternatives to World Bank/IMF models that seek to transform Sri
Lanka into a "free-market," export-oriented economy.
In 1995, they submitted a People's Memorandum to the government
with alternative development proposals and 150,000 signatures.
I would have liked to hear more voices like these.
In addition, I would have liked to see some exploration of the
connections between corporate globalization and the ethnic conflict.
Has the implementation of impoverishing IMF/World Bank recommendations
made people more susceptible to militant ethnic nationalism? What
is the class composition/interests of the various parties to the
conflict and their ties to international capital? A clearer connection
of Sri Lanka to economic globalization would have strengthened
the section.
The second section on Sri Lankan society and politics consists
of six essays by Jayadeva Uyangoda, Amali Philips, Izeth Hussain,
Santasilan Kadirgamar, Rajan Philips and Rohan Edrisinha. Each
of them challenges the dominant narratives in Sri Lankan political
discourse. Uyangoda launches an excellent critique of traditional
Marxist thinking (without deprecating its major achievements),
which privileges the trade union and working class movements and
does not acknowledge the immense variety of civil society groups
and organizations involved in social mobilization from the 1930s
onwards. The left, he says, isolates itself if it ignores civil
society/NGO politics and leaves significant portions of society
open to ethno-nationalist hegemony over counter-state politics.
Amali Philips criticizes "monolithic and unchangeable"
definitions of ethnicity (such as those propounded by the Tigers
or Sinhalese nationalists) by exploring the complicated processes
of identity formation among the estate Tamils, a group often falsely
defined in contrast to two national spaces - Indian Tamils and
Sri Lankan Tamils. By showing how gender, generation, class/status
and caste shape ethnic identity, she illustrates how such simplistic
definitions of ethnicity ignore the variety and complexity of
identity formation, which oftentimes transcend or complicate religious
or ethnic boundaries. Hussain also draws attention to the problems
of "submerged minorities" such as the Sri Lankan Muslims,
which are generated in times of ethnic conflict when the discourse
is dominated by "ethnic majorities and rebellious minorities."
He reveals the various problems faced by the many different groups
within the Muslim community and dispels notions that Muslims do
not face discrimination or share an inordinate amount of the national
wealth.
In a unique mixture of personal memory and historical analysis,
Kadirgamar reveals the impressive array of alternative and progressive
political traditions in Sri Lankan Tamil politics, ranging from
the Jaffna Youth Congress (a group active in the 1920s and 30s
committed to inter-ethnic peace, ending caste discrimination and
reviving indigenous languages, literature, cultural festivals
and local industries) to the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice
and Equality (MIRJE - a human rights movement in the 1970s and
80s that mainly documented human rights abuses on the part of
the Sri Lankan military in Jaffna at the time and campaigned for
their redress). The article is valuable not only because it challenges
the blindness towards alternative political traditions different
from Tamil ethnic nationalism and reveals the broadness of the
Left but because it is a historical document in itself - very
little documentation is left of many of these movements and we
have to rely on personal testimonies such as these. Rajan Philips
looks at the historical factors from the colonial and post-colonial
period that have given ethnicity its "overdetermining power
in contemporary Sri Lankan social and political life." Instead
of seeing ethnicity as something natural, Philips looks at how
factors such as British colonial censuses and social policies,
the ideology of Orientalism, class and caste interests, and political
opportunism by parties and elites made ethnicity into the main
axis of socio-political conflict in Sri Lanka - in short, there
is no "natural ethnic enmity," as the Western media
likes to portray it. Finally, Edrisinha criticizes the constitutions
of 1946-7, 1972 and 1978 for merely reflecting the dreams of the
people in power and not the dreams and aspirations of the people.
Each constitution failed to protect the minorities and increased
the power of certain institutions of the state at the expense
of others. This failure of constitutionalism to address the concerns
of minorities helped contribute to the ethnic civil war, he argues.
Thus, each author rethinks certain hegemonic narratives and
concepts - from too narrow a definition of the left to ethnicity
as a natural set of attributes to constitutions that reflect the
interests of those in power and fail to take into account the
aspirations of minorities. Some categories, however, need to be
theorized more or remain unaddressed. For example, how are ethnicity
and class connected in Sri Lanka? Are ethnic identities and concerns
merely illusions that divert people away from socio-economic,
class concerns? Is ethnicity secondary to class? This issue is
important because a large portion of the Marxist left abandoned
their stand on linguistic parity for Sinhalese and Tamil in the
1960s upon entering into a coalition with the SFLP, and also agreed
to the 1972 constitution, which centralized power in parliament,
kept "Sinhala Only," and made Buddhism the foremost
religion in the country. They did this ostensibly to combat the
right faction of the SFLP and to implement a socialist agenda
for the economy through the state (for a detailed discussion of
this issue, see Chapter 1.5 of Sri Lanka, The Arrogance of Power:
Myths, Decadence and Murder, published by the University Teachers
for Human Rights (Jaffna)). Thus, Marxist parties sacrificed minority
aspirations to so-called "larger goals" with tragic
consequences. It is imperative for Marxism to connect its enabling
class-based critique of society to other important factors such
as ethnicity, race, gender and caste, rather than dismiss these
as secondary or illusory. This risks alienating a significant
portion of the population (Amali Philips' article, however, does
take many of these other factors into account and shows their
complex interaction and the aspirations that result. In fact,
her article is the only one that significantly addresses gender!).
The book, in its combination of theoretical analysis and activist
imperatives, as well as its non-parochial global perspective,
is an excellent reflection of the life and thought of Hector Abhayavardhana,
LSSP activist, Marxist theorist and writer. It also contains a
biographical sketch by Rajan Philips, as well as an important
essay from 1966 on rethinking the categories of left thought and
two speeches on the situation of the left in 1985 and 1999 respectively.
Thus, we get a taste of his fascinating activities in India in
trying to build the Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India and Ceylon;
his re-thinking of the role of the peasantry, the revolutionary
party and internationalism; and his view of the contemporary situation
of socialism and socialist thought, among other things. I would
have liked to learn more about his coalition-building activities
in India since this kind of work is all the more essential in
light of growing ethnic nationalism and state terror. I also would
have liked to see even more of the theoretical struggles and compromises
Hector went through (e.g. on parliamentary participation vs. revolutionary
praxis, on the demands of ethnic minorities, etc.). This would
have been quite instructive for activists today, facing similar
problems.
On the whole, this is an excellent book that makes exciting
connections between theoretical reflection and practical visions,
global and local concerns. In a context where we are overwhelmed
by specialized, parochial knowledge, more books that forge links
between the third world and the west, academia and activism, policy
and grassroots imperatives are necessary. It is hoped that books
are published in the future that go even further in the directions
this book already goes in. For example, what about books that
include the various cultural practices/imaginations of the people
and their active links to cultural movements abroad? Culture and
imagination should not be ignored or seen as secondary to so-called
"real" socio-political problems - the left ignores this
arena at their peril. Or what about books that include articles
by or on various grassroots organizations and dialogues among
them or with local intellectuals, government officials, western
academics and so on? Such connections will only enrich and strengthen
various movements for peace, sexual and racial equality, social
justice, human rights and sustainable development already taking
place in Sri Lanka and throughout the world.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron Moore is a Ph.d candidate in modern Asian intellectual
history at Cornell University. He is currently doing work on ideologies
of Japanese imperialism in Asia during the 1930s and 1940s.
E-mail: asm13@cornell.edu
HOME
