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I always thought Sri Lanka was indisputably the BEST of South Asia. India was outright crazy: pulling boys off trains and stabbing in public, banning beef, reports of rape every other day, inequality, garbage, everything. Maldives? Racist too, kills journalists and atheists, and apparently high rates of child prostitution. Bangladesh is overcrowded, polluted, exploited, etc etc. Nepal is actually less developed than us.
Yes, I am (was?) 'Lankan to the core.'
I had a strong, unshakable sense of national pride—we sorted out a civil war. Cleaner than India, by a far cry. Also we like beef and stuff. There are atheists and transpeople and converts and whatnot here.
You get the idea. Sri Lanka became home, a place I defended and got offended when whingey tourists (ESPECIALLY if they were from countries which colonised us) whined. I can whine about this place; I pay taxes. I'm a citizen; of a democracy where the government has its duties and responsibilities.
You, not so. Shush.
Despite all its faults (and let's not kid ourselves, there are many) I had irrational, mad love for this place.
And now?
This is at LEAST the third time over the last few years where crazy Sinhala-Buddhist extremist mobs went batshit crazy and attacked (ethnic minority) people and properties.
Let's count.
1. Fashion bug.
2. Aluthgama
3. Grandpass
4. Ampara
5. Kandy
This is just off the top of my head, at that.
In ALL these instances, the government knew who the perps were. There were eye witnesses, there are videos, there is enough evidence.
This week, the government imposed a 'State of Emergency' and clamped on curfews. And even with it, we got (highly reliable) reports of men walking in groups and threatening Muslim homesteads, also threatening Sinhala people who they allege helped 'hide' Muslims.
They torched down hundreds of homes, and miraculously only managed to kill one civilian in the process—a 27 year old boy trapped inside his burning house.
And still, nothing is being done. And still, you get tons of Sinhala extremists saying "unta honda wadey, thambi pakayas, kona thavath kapapan" on FB pages mourning the boy's death.
And you know what, it doesn't leave any place for love here.
None of the last two governments ever did anything to clamp down on this. None of the politicians cared, beyond tweeting absolutely ridiculous statements (ie "Enough! Please stop. Don't escalate this into a race riot. Police, you better follow instructions and enforce the damn law." No shit, sherlock).
And, while it's nice and hunkydory to see your circle of friends and acquaintances (obviously) condemn this, IT. IS. NOT. AT. ALL. ENOUGH.
It's not enough that there are 'some' nice people when the rest are powerful enough to rabidly walk around during a SoE and police curfew with their torches and pitchforks.
It's not enough that police and military were deployed. (Especially as they stood by and watched as their Sinhalese clan burned homes again last night.)
It's not enough that at least this government is acknowledging the attacks (unlike the last one) — since it keeps happening with increased impunity.
And this, I think, made me have a rather unpleasant epiphany: despite being passionately Sri Lankan down to the bone, some of us will NEVER actually be Sri Lankan enough. Some of us will always be otherised and attacked and chased out, and made to feel guilty of the ethnicity / religion we're born into.
Some of us really want to stay: this is the island home which enchants us. Which won't let us turn our back to it. Which, like Whatmore said, will always tug at our heartstrings.
But right now, with realisation kicking in?
No, this place is toxic, with a majority who's suffering from self-victimisation and harmful insecurity, and who clearly lusts for blood.
I have never hated Sri Lanka as much as I did, yesterday.
This is why we have brain drain, corruption, insanely high suicides, and shitty standards of living for most of the general public.
Because we will never develop as a people, to help develop the nation.
Yes, we'll pretend to—but who are we kidding?
No one, really.
Sri Lanka is poisoned. She is poisoned by inbred Sinhalese-Buddhist Nationalism which is fanatically followed, rather than Buddhism itself. And, unless you have enough and more money to thicken the walls of your bubble and keep all this out, you'll taste the bitterness and bile, too.
- Aisha Nazim
4540
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