Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The invincible Chief Justice

Amidst outward rejection of various sorts, doors being shut by chief Buddhist incumbents of the various sectors and massive public debate about the appointment, a new Chief Justice has been sworn in and now steers the helm of a decadent, dictatorial and undemocratic regime. Mind you, the nation is still termed the democratic socialist republic of Sri Lanka, a controversial naming in itself, since it denotes and conforms to neither democracy nor socialist regimes of any sort. It is so unfortunate for us, the citizens of the country, to be the articulated and molested-interpellated subjects of a political ideology of disorder. We fail to yet more depend on the blind lady of justice to stand for righteousness. The symbol of justice merely becomes a signifier of an ideology that is mythical in its status.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

When men merry make in a symposium

21st century Sri Lankan academia has seemed to have failed in understanding the very purpose of conducting a symposium. True credit to Plato's definition of the term would see a meeting or conference in which a forum was created for men (nowadays it includes women too) to engage in intellectual debate and discussion. The failed state of academic symposiums today, at least in the Sri Lankan context, has reduced intellectual discussion to a mere boast of and utter revelation of one's immense stupidity in public. True intellectuals would entice their audience and would trigger them to think further along the lines of thought of their papers or presentations. It also supposedly creates space for the presenter to incorporate new ideas, and further develop in the lines of orientation. Mere presentation of the ordinary and mundane that would hardly keep a moose awake is simply ridiculous, but has become the guise under which most academics would gather points for their renowned existence in academia, however with hardly any contribution to the development of knowledge. The culture of research and interpretation should be resuscitated with a generous love for interpretation, broadening of boundaries, true to the cause effort to serve the world to better its paradigm of knowledge. Otherwise, rather than stimulating intellectual debates, symposiums of this sort would be a merry-making farce. Let me say it like this- "international symposiums" held in our nation today are quite similar and no different to "arpico sale centres", where the fact of obtaining low-priced goods, as expected by the term "sale" has nothing to do with arpico at all. It is just the name of the consumerist retailer. Likewise, the term "international" in the way it used to describe the symposiums above, does not carry the meaning of having distinguished personnel who present research breakthroughs in Sri Lanka. Rather it is just the name of the symposium- dust in our own eyes to fool our own existence.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Rizana Executed

So it has happened again. The death sentence upon Rizana Nafeek's head has been carried out. Poverty and deprivation, coupled with foreign recruitment agencies' corrupt trafficking of child labor has cost yet another life. For one second we must not forget that this country churns its wheels from the foreign exchange gushed in by domestic aides sent to the Middle-East. Without them, our tea, rubber and coconuts cannot survive the economy. The 'cogs' in the wheel, driven to no other option for a living, are at the stake of the clutch of global capitalism, which brings them to their own doom. Why not create a proper monitoring system for these recruitment agencies, approve them and discard the rest? If standards are maintained, those sent abroad should be provided with proper pre-training of what is expected from them, rather than just transporting a human entity as a commodified object. In Max Weber's terms, this is a reductionist policy of a 'failed state', since it has not succeeded in maintaining a legitimate use of physical force within its borders. The 'Wonder of Asia' is better resonated as 'Failed state'.



Monday, January 7, 2013

Another flop in education

Following a series of disturbing incredulities in the grade five scholarship, Ordinary level and Advanced level examinations in the country, the "disease" has has now spread its tentacles to the law entrance examination. This brings us to question the dependability of assessments as markers of education standards, which are supposed to be unbiased, and indicators of a state's cognitive wealth. It is deplorable that a country which provides free education up to basic degree university level cannot any more depend on the authenticity of educational results. Why should we even talk of any other spheres?

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Escape for better humanity

There is a general tendency among us to internalize the frequent reports of citizens fleeing from their country as asylum seekers to other countries. Every now and then we hear of how Sri Lankans flee to countries such as Australia as asylum seekers in the same manner. Micro-level solutions to the problem strictly work within  the scope of national law, but hardly address the meta structural issues which actually condition people and compel them to do what they do. It is like covering a wound with a plaster, without actually treating it with antiseptic.