VIEWPOINTS

BARGAINING BETWEEN DESIRES AND DANGERS 

Wijith DeChickera tugs the pendulum of a body politic swinging between the extremes of political and social justice and socioeconomic safety

When tradition ruled in the past, June was the month of brides, weddings and matters nuptial.

Today, custom and convention are thrown to the four winds, and people enter the bond of marriage round the year – with related engagements being heavy towards year end.

On the political front, a similar phenomenon took the streets of Sri Lanka’s periphery by storm and its city centres by surprise.

One can’t pretend not to notice the sea of red that swept over our sun scorched isle on May Day or assume people preparing to vote with their feet in another sense – other than ongoing emigration – isn’t cause for consideration.

Not content with riding a crest of apparently rising popularity, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led National People’s Power (NPP) made its presence felt in town squares as much as the marketplace.

But ill content to enjoy its day in the sun – scorching as the heat is these days, in more senses than the meteorological – the NPP clambered on board the bandwagon of a sociopolitical movement, characterised by the emergence of popular sovereignty as a driving force in the electorate rather than voters’ traditional reliance on the political establishment represented by so-called ‘mainstream parties.’

And while its associates, affiliates and youthful radicalised splinter groups may have more than their fair share of the blame or responsibility to shoulder for ensuring the erstwhile aragalaya was driven into the sunset to the doleful tattoo of the Last Post, the JVP is now making noises that resonate with more than Marxists, socialists, closet communists, youthful radicals, rebels and revolutionaries waiting in the wings. That audience is not insurrectionist.

Much of the currency the former militants gained in what the old guard and bastions of tradition would consider militant political coin redounds to the savvy the new socialist advocates seem to exhibit in terms of advocating for social justice.

And their clarion calls to end corruption, and see social justice served, strikes a chord in society’s ears.

Fed up to the back teeth of political one-upmanship between the major political parties, sordid horse trading that is customary at election time in the run-up to coalition politics as the practice of ‘king-making’ and a sinking feeling that nothing ever changes for the better – in fact, the more things change, the more they stay the same (witness entrenchment of the regime, they would say) – the people are, rather ambiguously and largely unwisely, discontent.

It is a challenging time for society in general and the electorate in particular – caught (some traditionalists may even essay that we’re trapped) between a desire for long delayed social and political justice, and the attendant dangers in ardently seeking so-called ‘system change’ without counting the cost… to nation state as a geopolitical entity, country as a conglomerate of myriad pocket commonwealths of citizens and economy as the first in the firing line…

On the one hand, any political party worth its salt would – and should – be willing to give ear to the hopes, fears and aspirations of the people they claim and clamour to represent. Many administrations faltered and made the nation stumble on its chequered course to growth, development and progress lately precisely because of cavalier attempts to ride roughshod over the people’s will, wishes and mandates meaningfully interpreted above party manifestoes.

But governments – especially legitimate ones that are authentic, sincere about serving the country above self (yes, we’re idealistic to expect this in such a day, time or ethos) and competent to govern by design and not gazette by default – don’t always have the liberty or luxury of bowing before voters’ whims and fancies.

And certainly, not amid an economic crisis of the nature, scope and degree from which we’re struggling to emerge.

In such a milieu, much as it pains dyed-in-the-wool democrats, resolute republicans and other bleeding hearts such as civil libertarians, who may carp and cavil about the state of the nation at the present juncture, may have to take stock of the larger interests of an ailing nation state and the lesser evil of the ill health of the republic as regards the ‘softer virtues.’

While the bigger picture may be that Sri Lanka needs to balance better both its budget and balance of payments deficits – including the key and often neglected or underperforming trade deficit – to extricate itself from a larger issue than ‘mere bankruptcy,’ the stubborn reality is that midships an ongoing IMF programme to steady a foundered national vessel, the ship of state needs solid, steady, seasoned, strategic and sensible captains at the helm…

So whether social justice should be allowed to flounder for a while – amid the arguably more pressing need for socioeconomic stability – or press the case is a quandary facing the paying (and non-paying) ‘passengers’ on this year’s lifesaving cruise!

It remains to be seen by year end if the JVP-NPP marriage will end up as that combine being the bride or the lady left at the altar?