Throwing Stones at Ourselves

November 3rd, 2009 by yohan abeynaike

Sri Lankans everywhere were appalled at the video that came out last week. A mentally unstable man who was pelting stones at passers by was chased into the sea, beaten with poles and left to drown. The fact that it was done by policemen aided by members of the public only added to the cruelty. Cameramen from a television station taped the whole incident while Mr. Balawarnam Sivakumar was gasping his last breath. His body was washed ashore the next day.

But should we be shocked at what happened? Those who see incidents in isolation might say yes but incidents such as these don’t happen in a vacuum. For the last few years we have been constantly fed a steady stream of violence due to the ethnic conflict. Proponents of war have repeatedly said that brute force was the only way in which to solve our problems. The military was strengthened and given hero status. The media was galvanized to portray how we were crushing our ‘enemies’ without any regard to the human cost of war on all sides. Our artists joined in the bandwagon singing songs to cheer on our heroes. Those who pointed out the disastrous consequences to the nation were branded ‘unpatriotic’ and condemned.

In the immediate aftermath of the war several incidents remind us of the type of victory that we have won. Tamil citizens of this country still languish in ‘welfare’ camps while others are “re-settled” in ‘welfare’ camps in other locations. The long awaited and promised political solution to the conflict has been shelved and other issues have taken priority. Several incidents involving the police (assault of a SLIT student, brutal murder of youths in Angulana etc.) have come into light. The media continues to be oppressed and journalists struggle to write their stories with a clear conscience. Despite all this the war ‘victory’ and its heroes are still used for petty political gain by politicians on all sides without realizing the message that they are sending and its consequences. The murder of Mr. Sivakumar is only the latest in a long line of incidents that show how we have grown immune to treating human beings in this callous way. It is the direct result of the way in which we chose to solve our problems. However noble the goals were, the way we went about to achieve the goals has resulted in the type of society that we have now won for ourselves.

Despite mounting evidence the short sightedness of our leaders and the general public is astonishing. How long will we continue to think that ends justify the means? Do we still not realize that the means that we use affects the ends that we gain? How long will we continue to consider only the short term benefit without realizing the long term consequences of our actions? How long will we continue to be deceived by hype rather than facts? How long will we be ‘shocked’ at things that we ourselves created? We are all responsible for building the kind of society that brought forth what happened last week. Father forgive us, for we know not what we do.

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