Rajpal's Column

11th February 2001

War and peace seen from Puck's hill

By Rajpal Abeynayake

Answer: Defence reporters and peace activists.

The peace industry will grind to a halt if the war stops, but defence reporters are at the moment outgunning the best exponents of the peace business. But, both parties still have their jobs, because the war shows no sign of stopping.

But, the Cold War between the peace industry, and the warmongers has been to some extent a barometer to how this conflict develops at any given time.

The peace industry feels that the warmongers ( some defence reporters among them) are prolonging the war while the warmongers ( hawks?) feel the peace industry is prolonging the conflict. That's of course plainly because the hawks feel the peaceniks want a cease-fire for talks, thus giving the LTTE a breather to regroup.

Though that is the state of play, if both peace groups and the hawks are going to lose their jobs when the war ends, it is difficult to decide who we dispassionate observers should believe on this. It's tough but it's the truth. It's difficult to believe anyone who has a stake in it.

At the moment, the peace industry is being walloped by the hawks. At least that can be clearly said, and it offers an indication of how this conflict is progressing at the moment.

The peace industry is very cautious these days. Their press releases give the other side the optimum consideration and deference, before they come to the crunch line, which is that the government should "reciprocate the unilateral cease-fire of the LTTE as a prelude to negotiations.'' But before they come to this, they use pop psychology and prevarication to the hilt, saying things to the effect that "it is natural that there is distrust of the LTTE'' etc., and that "it is correct, this is a vexed conflict in which there is mutual distrust.''

These opening statements were not the sort of thing that the peace industry would deign to display in the good old days. In the past, warmongers were warmongers, and were commanded to 'start negotiations pronto.'

But, in spite of this politeness galore, the peaceniks have found it hard to penetrate the psyche and imagination of the general populace, leave alone the warmongers. 1994 for instance, was when the peace industry was at it's heady zenith. Now, it's distinctly out of favour, and losing authority and stature in a free fall.

In other developments, foreign embassies, for instance, are now quite confused over who are the "war-reporters'' and "peace reporters.'' There is a certain sense of bewilderment that can be discerned, when some of them ask "are you being targeted by the war-lobby?'', or are you being " persecuted by the peace NGO's?"

In some ways, they are entitled to this bewilderment. The dividing line is becoming grayer now, or it is dissolving. Peace activists in the Lake House , for instance, who would maul any journalists who even faintly were seen to be pro-war, are now the spokesmen for the army, and are the first to label peace activists or any journalists advancing the cause for peace, as LTTE agents.

Peace industry spokesmen don't even bother to sweet talk journalists any more at cocktails these days. They have given up; they feel betrayed by the whole journalistic brood. They feel it's better to hobnob with politicians, and embassy bigwigs in elegant business suits.

But, their sense of security also has been endangered. Those days, they had an open ticket to Temple Trees or wherever the President stayed. Now, they are basically pariahs in those places, except when the President wants to do a small peace - job for international publicity reasons.

They feel used.

That's the way things are going now, but, it could be worse. The war could stop. The peace industry will lose its entire rationale for existence, and will wither away, after nodding at concepts like "rehabilitation'' and "reconstruction'' which will never have the resonance of "peace.''

This is the worse case scenario for them, which is why the warmongers say they want a cease-fire, so that the war can go on, after the LTTE has had enough time to regroup. The hawks are consistently on message, and suddenly, they have a strange ally too, who would have thought: the Sri Lankan government.

The progress and reversals of fortune are almost too difficult to keep track of in this business.

This is why outsiders, foreign scholars/ diplomats/foreign scribes are always buzzing like bees, trying to get the low-down on this. Who is in? Who is out? And when they are "out'' are they in, and when they are "in'', are they out? It's like explaining cricket to the Americans. The warmongers have war industrialists, those who make money by prolonging the war, and plain hawks who are for better or for worse, convinced that war is the only way to secure peace. The peace industry mostly has peace industrialists, and to spot the genuine article here, you have to step on the street with a microscope in hand.

The peaceniks are losing faith, even among the most devoted. Recently, there was some hullabaloo, with a fan asking why "advertisements decrying the war are placed only in the Sinhala and not in the Tamil papers?'' Mistake, said the peaceman, but the fans tone of discontent stayed A sure sign that there is confusion all round. Nobody wants to see these advertisements in the newspapers –

One ex-Army General – looking for a suitable job.

Ex NGO peace researcher – looking for placement.

Special Assignment

Editorial/ Opinion Contents