Whatever happened to our civil society?
View(s):Last week, an outspoken long-time crusader against the moral decrepitude of our people made a rash of statements that had yours truly sitting up and taking due notice. In an open letter to the leaders and the led alike in our blessed isle, he let it be known in no uncertain terms that there was something rotten in the state of you know where. The general thrust of his argument was that things all-round had come to a pretty pass, good governance had come a-cropper, all was declining and falling, there was something rotten in the et cetera, and that last but not least it was high time for civil society to do something about it.
Well, one thing I admire about the wonderful souls in our civil society is the way they are so civil. Take the business community, for instance; an erstwhile member of civil society. It has never failed to impress me: the manner in which they mind their own business.
Not being of an inquisitive nature, businesspeople – and their parent body, civil society – are not prone to probe into the affairs of other citizens or sundry entities outside their bailiwick. Only mundane, middling, mercantile matters interest them. Not for nothing is its plutocratic arm called the private sector.
To all appearances, its (and civil society’s) branch organisations – the media, academics and professionals, et al. – appear to have been similarly ‘privatised’ (or ‘nationalised’, or converted into ‘patriots’, as the terms have it). Increasingly firm believers in the motto “be seen and not heard”, the herd-instinct-following amalgamation of almost-persons and pseudo-individuals we collectively refer to as civil society have jointly and quietly decided to “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.
To cite some examples, law and order may go off at a tangent all over the country from time to time and lately more often than not – but there’s no ruffling the unflappable countenance of our civilian populace. Inside, they may be a trifle perturbed (let us say) about the latest kerfuffle down south or down drug baron lane or in some dens of vice such as not-casinos-in-name and what our willy-nilly varying stance on it will do for business and investor confidence. But they’re not about to let it show. Nor express fear and loathing – as gonzo journalism would have it – at policemen being abducted and executed in broad daylight. Never worry or be seen to worry about toy pistols, muscle cars belonging to Nobody Really, or special police task forces to prosecute (in every sense, broadly and loosely) the perpetrators of religious persecution. No, dears; one must keep stiff the tranquil upper lip, – at all times.
Other opportunistic or chauvinistic individuals and politically oriented groups may go around getting hot under the collar in our humid and wet-blanket environment, but not our dignified executives or disdainful civic-minded citizens. Denunciation and condemnation flow from several quarters every time a mosque is attacked (we dare say) or a church is set upon (let us carefully conjecture) or an errant monk is disciplined and set right again. But civil society keeps its peace, which passes all understanding. The peace itself may not be kept in the sense democrats and dissenters might understand it. But business – being a leader of sorts, as it motors along busily, being the engine of growth – minds its own business. And the rest of sheep-like civil society sheepishly follows suit.
There are exceptions that prove the rule. Look at some of these other types who stand up and speak out. Politicians speak out, but they can hardly be expected to stand up – they only stand out as people who have not much spine! Religious leaders stand out whenever they speak up – but if only some of them would practise what they preach? Firebrand representatives of trade unions and fringe opposition parties are fairly outspoken – but they stand up, speak up and sit down… rarely can they put their words into meaningful action (except, perhaps, when they token-strike before being ‘persuaded’ in ‘principle’ to sit up or get out). The business community appears to be about the only entity in Sri Lanka today that stands down from its civic duty; speaks in whispers only among itself for the sake of survival and self-interest; and clamps down if and when it is asked to volunteer an opinion on the state of the nation, then and now. After all, comparisons are odious – aren’t they? My toast is buttered on the sunny side up right now – isn’t it? There’s a lot to be said about minding one’s business – isn’t there?
But there’s possibly much more to be said for not minding one’s own business! And it takes by storm anyone interested in being remembered by posterity as those who stood out, spoke up, and sat down – at a time when all but a brave few are opting out of critical engagement. Time, then, to raise the volume of the peace-and-justice and peace-with-justice loving citizens of Sri Lanka. In a day and age when more pernicious rabble rousers than rational national leaders get air time and column centimetres, one feels that the time has come to reflect an alternate view, vision, and reality.