VIEWPOINTS

SOMETHING SINISTER POLICES THE POLITY?

Wijith DeChickera wonders if a recent spate of arrests – ostensibly to protect so-called religious harmony – portends a dangerous pattern

In the good old days, newspapers and their contents constituted a nation talking to itself. There was much food for thought, as well as grist for the emotional mills, and matter for reflection and resolution.

Best of all perhaps a slew of fifth columns posing as serious commentary offered light refractions of truth or reality, offering through mirth much needed relief of tensions and a safety valve for society’s bottled up prejudices.

In bygone eras, editorials were penned by people of letters and read by everybody. Today, empty ruminations are written by just about anybody and read by nobody. A glory has passed away, and society is riding waves of opinion and opinionatedness as if rumour was gospel – and rank gossip some latter-day holy grail.

The element of humorous introspection that served the national interest so well in the glory days has undergone a sea change into something rich and strange. By default rather than design, the remorseless scrutiny a society needs to survive and thrive has been driven underground, and into the spotlight.

Such honest self-analysis has taken a quantum leap off the pages and assumed secure spots on stages.

Of late, the dominant form of this ‘nation talking to itself’ modus operandi has been standup comedy. A brilliant vehicle for caricature, satire and lampooning more ludicrous aspects of the polity deserving to have fun poked at it in a worthy cause, standup has spanned the spectrum from Feroze Kamardeen’s ‘Freddy’ franchise to Blok & Dino’s rib-tickling outings readily translatable into ubiquitous YouTube clips.

Neither English language theatre (ELT) in Sri Lanka nor Colombo-based social media offerings have a monopoly on standup, however.

From nooks and crannies in our island nation – a mews here, some makeshift studio there, the mainstream boards into the bargain – has come a veritable smorgasbord of comedians to poke the bear. Taking the Mickey out of what’s absurd, banal and corrupt, they have sought to speak truth to power.

Great is the pity therefore, that the authorities have taken it upon themselves to crack down on this vital function being performed by (pun intended) stand-up citizens of our commonwealth. Greater the pity however, that a vast majority of their fellow students in the ‘laughter is the best medicine’ school have stayed mum and played stumm at the spate of recent crackdowns.

The arrest – under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, no less – and successive remanding of standup comedienne Nathasha Edirisooriya is the most worrying of these.

For one, she was merely exercising her constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech and expression. And for another, the content of her allegedly ‘sacrilegious’ statements would give hardly anyone pause in a truly open-minded, tolerant and secular society – as the social contract between ourselves and the state assures us we are.

Last but by no means least, to weaponise the ICCPR Act so spuriously – after all, it is a law designed to defend, not deny or decry individual rights (especially religious, and those related to freedom of speech and expression) – is a rich irony.

It sets a dangerous precedent whereby civil and personal rights can be curbed by regimes that rank religious and political sensibilities above the common good of citizens of the realm

It is not the first time this has happened in the name of religious harmony or national security.

It sets a dangerous precedent whereby civil and personal rights can be curbed by regimes that rank religious and political sensibilities above the common good of citizens of the realm.

The uncommon evil this crackdown caused included arresting social media activist Bruno Divakara, who posted the allegedly sacrilegious content, which was adding injury to insult. Arguably, far more incendiary provocations – clearly violations under ICCPR law – have passed muster in the eyes of watchdogs who take an unhealthy interest in monitoring sundry mediums to ensure that mostly majoritarian sensibilities are not snubbed.

The rot ostensibly set in when a so-called ‘prophet’ of a minority faith – some portray his congregation as a cult while less kind others caricature it as standup comedy, which would be funny if it was not demon­strably exploitative of a susceptible flock – was threatened with arrest and investigation for ‘insulting’ the resident philosophy that stands in as our religion.

And the arrest of another member of this latter religious philosophy only underlined the harsh truth that in an erstwhile ‘ethnocracy’ such as Sri Lanka, it is moderates among clerics who are first in the firing line at the hands of the faithful.

Comedians, comics, clerics – arrest ’em all!

Of course, these ‘arresting developments’ demand rational investigation by the law as much as the interest of magistrates and scrutiny by society. But by any chance, could there be hidden hands or vested interests fanning the flames of the small fires that these arrests have sparked off?

It wouldn’t come as a shock or surprise to discover a demagogue – or worse still, a democratic wolf in sheep’s clothing – waiting to step forward as the nation’s saviour.

Back to the organised bigotry that brings an old ethno-nationalist order? Or is it simply deep-rooted societal bias?