Rajpal's Column

9th May 1999

Life , Cricket nationalism and webspaces

By Rajpal Abeynayake

The state of Tamil Eelam may exist on a webspace, if that's small consolation for those who wanted Eelam to exist in the North Eastern terrain of Sri Lanka. In an article titled Eelam.com, Space, Nation and Imagination in Cyberspace, Pradeep Jeganathan of the University of Chicago argues that Sri Lankan websites originate from a "lived space."

Eelam websites in contrast originate from an imaginative space ; these web pages do not relate to or connect to any lived spaces, such as Colombo or Jaffna for instance….

Quite apart from all of that, its interesting that the Eelam lobby exploited the technology of the Internet much better and faster than the Sri Lankan establishment. The Tamil Diaspora which has a leg in almost every nation state, would have possessed better global communications skills than the relatively insular Sri Lankan state…

But cyberspace has opened up a terrain, only half imaginary, in which an ersatz nation- hood could be played out. In cyberspace, Eelam for instance is a fact, or a fait accompli.

In a reference that cannot be all that flattering, the author of the article says that Fedex, for instance, though a courier service, is similar in its existence in webspace to the state of Eelam. Feddex, says the author with science fiction like flourish, is "viewed from nowhere and equidistant from everywhere."

So are the websites of Tamil Eelam in contrast to some websites of the Sri lankan state which rely on a geographical identity, even when they originate from a different country. A Sri Lankan Website originating for instance from London, keeps time with reference to a London clock, thus establishing what the academics refer to cynically as a "locational identity."

But webspaces have created more imaginary spaces than the Eelam nation, and that includes sites that extend national identities using web technology. That brings us inevitably to cricket , where it appears that there is a bigger and more glamorous tendency than in other sports, to create a competitive arena through webspace.

The World Cup may be fought in cricket's most sacred precincts , Lords and English Test and country venues, which are known more for stuffiness than glamour and dash. Perhaps the fact that this time World Cup is being played in forbidding England is a good reason for websites to lend some dash to a competition that is missing some spice by virtue of being played in grey Britain.

But things would have been safe if that's the be all and the end all of it. The websites tend to make football out of cricket, and by this I mean that the fierceness of workingman's football is lent to cricket through the websites.

Eric Hobwsowm for instance, in a consummate work on nationalism, articulates the view that diverse nationalist tendencies are manifest in the modern world through sports.

War drums have receded and in place national rivalries are played out in sporting arenas. How such competitiveness can be fostered in staid England is another matter altogether. Though almost the whole of workingman's Europe breaks out in an animal frenzy during the football season, cricket garners a much less sanguine response. Cricket is supposedly played in England for gentlemen who use fine words and clap to order at Lords. That last sentence could also translate as : they're nerds.

But webspaces seek to replace where England fails. It also helps that this is the first Cricket World Cup in which the worldwide web is a force of formidable proportions. Through the web, the supporters of cricket's superpowers have a chance at least by way of proxy, of striking back at the empire which gave them cricket. But its not about cricket that nationalists are concerned….

Its the potential of the web to sharpen nationalist tendencies that's ironic when the web is being hyped as the ultimate tool that realizes Marshall Mac Luhans global village.

In the web, national divisions can be played out interactively and methodically, whereas the newspapers can only give partial play to aggressive nationalist tendencies. In full 64 bit colour or whatever your computer supports, the web can divide loyalties, have voting forums and chat lines where a surfer can write dirty poems about Shane Warne or call Arjuna Ranatunga an unorthodox captain , whose roots can be traced back to Sri Lankan veddahs.

This is the way in which the worldwide web brings barbarism back into sports, which was supposed to supplant barbaric tendencies between nationalities. That could have its repercussions, but its too early to decide whether they are good or bad. If cricket degenerates into football hooliganism for instance , England might come out feeling nostalgic for football fanatics.

If the web plays a more supporting role to the actual battle that takes place in England's balmy turf's , then that will be boring . But at least the web would not be remembered for transforming cricket into a bloodsport.

ENDPIECE: The Peoples Alliance has stumbled upon an old UNP practice of making a splash, song and a dance in the papers about nondescripts and non entities crossing over from the other side to the party.

The problem with non entities is that sometimes it might be better to have them on the outside- pissing -in, than the converse.

But sensationalizing non entities is the PA's prerogative; what's more important is that this was a tactic used by the losing UNP to shore up credibility during drowning days. Its this lack of political imagination on both sides that makes the political watcher want to raise his hands up over his head. First it seemed that the quality of discourse in parliament was hitting the nadir, but now that tendency has germinated in parallel in newspapers. There is less to be said for the imagination of some political hacks, than there is to be said for the thinking power of parliamentarians. In any event they seem to be competing breeds — competing for the sheer honour of who's best in the imbeciles department.

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