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TIMES POSTCARD
The sun never set on the empire
By Rajpal Abeynayake
Advertising hoardings for a bookstore regularly carries photographs of John Kennedy and Winston Churchill. Churchill’s pugnacious expression is particularly riveting.

The text next to the image quotes Churchill as saying “never never never never never give up. ’’ The exhortation is obviously an invitation to buy inspirational books on Churchill.

But what are the origins of the quote “never never never never never give up?” Churchill may have uttered it in the context of the war -- but as far as it’s known, the one thing that Churchill never never never never never wanted to give up, was the British Raj.

When the question of Indian independence came up, Churchill said famously that he wasn’t elected Prime Minister to preside over the liquidation of the British empire. When Mahathma Gandhi the champion of Indian independence came calling, he told him the same thing - - and called Gandhi the “half naked fakir.’’

We are reminded by the bookseller of a man who wanted to keep countries such as ours in a perpetual state of subjugation -- countries which if he had half a chance he would “never never never never never’’ give up. But the bookseller’s hoarding conveys the picture in an untreated and suitably raw form.

It captures the mindset -- inadvertently albeit - - of a still seemingly subjugated land. Churchill really never never never never never gave up countries such as ours. He still walks upon our hoardings, and gives us that bulldog smile from up there, as if he was only trying to be, well, avuncular.
But Churchill firms his grip on us daily -- his language for instance never never never never never gave us up either.

Or we never really did give up his language….
“One shot one.’
‘Guerrilla marketing.’

‘Live at 8.’ The titles are for Sinhala movies, and a Sinhala newscast.
At the rate of progression analysts surmise that there will not be a single movie without a title in English by the year 2010.

It won’t be like Janaratha full option either. You will get all words of the title in English, and admixtures such as Janaratha full option will in future be looked upon with the suspicion accorded to a reactionary.

Mahahtir Mohamed recently told his country’s Prime Minister that “we might as well have a Prime Minister who is a foreigner if he can do the job.’’ Mahathir’s successor has just appointed a foreigner to head the Malaysian car company Proton. Mahathir does understand how to be sarcastic in Churchill’s lingo.

But it seems the other side is winning. We never never never never never never seem to want to give up pretending that Churchill did let go of the empire, and that we are not going to be part of the British empire if we name Sinhala movies with decorative English names. Or if we name our Sinhala news programmes in English.

End-piece: The President also seems to live by Churchill’s never never never never never give up spirit. She got her biography written by a white man.
He in turn calls her father -- the man of the pancha maha balawegaya national renaissance “the Bill Clinton of Sri Lanka.’’ The President’s late husband Vijaya Kumaratunga is called the Brad Pitt of Sri Lanka.

With this kind of association of ideas, we could have called the President Sri Lanka’s princess Diana – or maybe, when in a more organic mood - - Sri Lanka’s vanilla spice??

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