| The Rajpal Abeynayake Column By Rajpal Abeynayake | ||||||
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Lanka's
watery-grave: Marines and privatised water When the lending institutions therefore want Sri Lanka to privatise its water resources, it s called globalisation, something invariably itemised as new exciting and beneficial. But that's how the Portuguese or the East India Company first strutted their stuff here as well. The 'globalisation'' of that era came in the guise of great trading opportunities. People no doubt would have been tantalisingly pleased, until the "globalisers'' turned colonisers and created the conditions for a cultural catastrophe. If the colonised were a little less forgiving about globalisers of that era, maybe many unpleasant aspects of those incursions by the Portuguese the Dutch and the British could have been beaten back. It's in this context that the JVP's stand against the privatisation of water resources is looking very good. Increasingly the new globalisation seems to be poised to come in and hammer us down, like the second and third waves of a giant tsunami. "Globalization'' is the first wave. It comes in the form of Coca-cola, and Kentucky Fried chicken. Just when people start thinking it's a little bit of magic, like an empty sea-bed with a lot of jumping and dying-fish, the third wave comes and swamps us completely. The shape of the third wave is probably discernible to the alert. A hint: a bill to privatise water resources, while the U.S marines are here dressed as saviours, saying they will probably leave at the end of next year, that's 2006. The JVP says "we will never allow water to be treated as a commodity.'' To the Milinda Moragoda's of this world, that will sound like a heresy. The modern purveyors of globalisation articulate this in different terms. They say that if water is to be provided efficiently to the farmer, it needs to be properly harnessed as a resource, and the farmers had better pay, because efficient distribution costs money…. Efficient
distribution costs, damn right. But who says somebody must own the
water resources to do that??? The incursions by the Portuguese were made easier by the lacklustre response to the globalisation of that era. When that tsunami came in the 15th century, the Pereras and Silvas-to-be in the Maritime Provinces were either sleeping or they went out to see the dazzling new traders with their goatees and their merchandise. The old political elite of today has more than one sleeping Perera. The old order wants to hand over the water resources to multi nationals, and this means both established political parties the UNP and the SLFP, even though the latter may pretend that its not a total handover but one that retains necessary controls. But the JVP says "no water privatisation period,'' and therefore takes up the challenge to wake up the sleeping hordes. The JVP is doing what they were voted-in to do, which is to stop the political rot. But we are also on the cusp of another wave that the government says it can surf easily. That's the story of the close to 1600 U.S marines who are here, of which we are now told that some have returned after their mission was accomplished. In Indonesia, the marines have been given a clear date of departure - - March 26th, 3 months from the date of the tsunami. The Indonesians are wiser to things much after the event. No Indonesian government was elected without American approval since the time of Suharto, and read John Pilger - - he tells you how the US government sought out communists, and provided the lists for people who were identified as communists to be taken out. It was the U.S government that first 'disappeared' people in Asia -- not the Sri Lankan government in 1989. So Indonesia is long past the time of Milinda Moragodas. In Sri Lanka, the Moragoda types provided the first tsunami wave of American incursion - - and the UNP leadership completed the job nicely, when Ranil Wickremesinghe went to the United Nations and justified the American invasion of Iraq. But the second wave is maybe in the form of the Marines, but we do not see any opposition to them in sight. The U.S troops want to stay her until the end of next year (our forces spokespersons say), perhaps by which time their modus operandi will be clear. Some in the Sri Lankan South are singing 'he is a jolly good fellow' to the American commander. That's because they secretly harbour the idea that the Americans will get rid of the LTTE. But, the Indonesians do not want the Americans to beat back the Aceh rebels. I don't' know about it, but I'd wager they would rather have the Aceh rebels than have the Americans. We would rather have the LTTE here, than the Americans, period. Politically that may not be a popular thing to say in the hard-core south, which is why it can be suspected the JVP is not saying it. The JVP is probably reasoning that there is political capital in supporting the Americans because the Americans might destroy the Tiger. The residue of such an American incursion here will be a permanent American presence in the island. Big brother India will never allow that, but when the Americans have crept in under the tsunami wave, who are the Indians to say boo? So, we are caught in a bind. An Indonesian newspaper editor wrote recently that far from giving Americans a deadline to leave, they should be ''treated like Kings.'' That's the clearest sound of the new global-colonisation. It's like saying the "Portuguese should be treated as honoured guests,'' exactly what transpired in globalisation Round 1, 5 centuries back. Around that time, there was a tsunami that destroyed Lisbon. This time the Portuguese are gone, and the tsunami is here - and so is Uncle Sam. Our goose is well cooked. |
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