බැමි

යදම් ඇද බැඳ

සිර කළද මා

සිත නොහැක නුඹ

හට තබන්නට ගැටගසා...

Slavery in labour

The recent incident of a building collapse in Bangladesh over garment factory workers is yet one more incident that reveals the hard working conditions of laborers in the industry. It is an example of how the human factor has been reduced to working under severe conditions as global capital slaves. The enslavement is such severe that humans under such conditions have to take high risks in order to gain a morsel of food into their mouths and families. Not only does this tragedy reveal the devilish side of capitalism, but it also shows how the system is unjust and lives on the blood of the global poor in basically low and under-developed nations. Tariff concessions on industry, cheap labour, and an abundant workforce are some main factors that attract garment industry investors to poor nations. The irony is that the very countries that earn out of the blood of these workers keep a blind eye to worker rights, and under currently support the investors to boost political economies. Until rulers stand for their own people, laborers in the garment trade will only be able to embrace themselves in death and cry blood as in the picture captured in the aftermath of the tragedy in Savar, Bangladesh.

Reading "El Gringo" as a realization of the Self

"El Gringo" is the journey of a man who, by running away from "the other", ultimately finds his own self. Though the film's plot is a highly screen-bound unrealistic American action setting, the message is quite real; that the self is only realized in the land of the other. In other words, to use Rene Descartes' altered ideology of the cogito in Zizekian terms, the self is an empty place of what is left when the rest of the world is expelled from itself. It is the process of subjectivization that the man in El Gringo in possession of the bulk money goes through, which fills his void, wherein the latter is given an identity, which is altered by none other but his own Self. The barmaid in the film, Anna, serves as a undeniable symptom in the man's existence towards his ultimate self-realization. Just as much as the film ends with the union of "El Gringo" and Anna, it also proves that woman is not a mere fantasy object of the man, the cause of his desire, but one that sustains him through and to his sublime realization. The woman thief, who puts the man in trying situations by never ceasing to rob his bag of money also realizes herself  in the end. However, all self-actualizations are realized through the man, which makes the movie highly phallo-centric in direction.

The entire action to self realization happens in El Fronteras- literally the frontiers. The selection of the venue out of America itself, in the underworld drug ridden Mexican frontiers suggests that it is only out of context that the man is capable to identify with the Self. However, though some philosophical insight into the Self vs Other is readable through the film, it's ending where the American, the stranger and his ideology is welcomed, negates the rational other, while promoting the American and his view and actions. The ending is quite superficial, is this sense, for a man with a bloody past receives unlawful justice, not to forget, in a land which is not America. The new colonization of the world by the Americans...

The purpose of student struggles

There is serious anxiety in the minds of both staff, administration and students in the aftermath of the ban on student unions and and formations and 5 student suspensions. The ban imposed on order of the Minister of Higher Education has serious repercussions for the student community. It is true that the student unions have to make a voice on behalf of the needs and requirements of the student population, if the authorities keep a blind eye to matters. However, the union leaders, representative of the student body, seem to have forgotten the very purpose of the formation of such collective action and voice. If the interest is to benefit the undergraduate needs and requirements, the very ways in which their protests are conducted, as students of better intellect, should be intellectually decided and constructive, not destructive to the learning environment. For example, the conventional lunch hour pickets were lately replaced by forced boycotting of fellow students for the purpose of conducting large vociferous protests from the Faculty premises outside. This was preceded by a meeting and campaign followed by speeches of union leaders just in front of the Dean's office, with prior notification to even lecturers of the event via letters. Such measures have never been heard of at SUSL in its entire history, and as teachers of this student population, we remain awed by the techniques utilized, against a non-dictatorial university administration within. Students have also become volatile pawns of certain political parties to breed new members (mere "votes" in the party's eyes), and have lost their integrity as independent, intellectual thinkers of situations, the future hands of this country, and the very purpose out of which they ended up privileged for tertiary education in the first place. It would be better if we could see independent thinkers, formidable youth dealing in universities, rather than puppets who dance to the tunes and strings of hind-sighted beings with power. As tertiary education teachers, we must too have our obligations towards the creation of such an undergraduate, rather than use students for one's own political gains. Yet, within a country whose macro political structure also resembles that of within the university microcosm, there is faint hope for either. The purpose of struggle, is therefore, lost. Let us hope that students would understand the sign and signified better, for the own betterment.

Lincoln- 2012

It is not the moment of history being written- when the US House of Representatives passed the 13^th amendment to its constitution, abolishing slavery- and forthcoming jubilations in the street that capsize your heartbeat in the film, but the radical republican representative, Thaddeus Stevens’ walking out of the house with the original document from the Speaker, fresh with its winning verdict, straight to his widowed, colored housekeeper Lydia Hamilton Smith that is the most touching moment in the film. "This is for you" he says, upon entering his home, when all other supporting citizens run out jubilant and in chorus into the streets to rejoice. She is the first colored woman to ever hold the document in her hands and read out from it to him, her master of the house and lover. In my opinion, Stevens' silent, yet radical reaction to the emancipation of blacks and their slavery is enough to show what this freedom means to him- it is certainly much more than it meant to Lincoln himself...

Art of resistance

People's resistance in the face of the country's diminishing democracy has become an art. This comes into being when the law and judiciary, international verdicts (latest being UN Human Right's Commissioner Navy Pillai's accusations) and suppositions and propositions to better the rule is unheard of by the regime. As a result, resistance is developed in various ways, and in creative forms- the latest in the sense of 'Davy Jones' who claims he is attacking Sri Lankan websites because he believes the country's government is corrupt. Having already breached several leading government websites in the past, the latest is the crack into the Sri Lanka High Commission of the Maldives' website...the art of resistance.

The Artist

There he was, seated on the side-walk bunt,

sketching off cards with a pen,

while thousands walked by.

The side-walk bunt with its groomed flowers,

made an impressive background for the tall, lean figure

seated at ease, with one leg crossed over the other.

Drawn by this unusual charisma,

I approached him and found some beautiful canvas

neatly laid out for sale.

Wish I had the money to buy them all!

Each one distinctively individual,

yet bearing the same tone of line, woman, flower and window…

Being so thoughtful, he had secured each piece

on bristle-board, for the buyer’s convenience.

I bought one masterpiece-

three araliya flowers, amidst a bunch of leaves,

a dark woman in veil and two pictures within the picture,

all magnificently captured to bring out an araliya bride;

my mind’s imagination…

How ironical-

to sit in front of the mega departmental store,

in an almost frozen still,

making a complete contrast to the crowd bustling in and out of its doors.

Many an eye noticed him, but many ignored or were too busy to bother.

Inclined to art myself, my curiosity could hold no more,

and I had to but ask why he would not sell his work to some handicraft store.

Sitting in the midday sun,

like a weather-proof wall,

bearing the temper tantrums of the sun,

he certainly deserved more.

Upon falling into chat, he rose to his feet,

and my heart grieved even more,

to see the remarkable resemblance in figure and tone,

to one professor I knew long before…

Thousands of questions, thousands of answers,

and thousand things other makes me ponder,

while gazing at the picture now hanging on my bedroom wall.