Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Against Our Will

Image Credit: The Decider


Sometimes whole countries find ourselves, as Salman Rushdie once expressed it, in ‘Midnight’s Children’, “handcuffed to history”. Two events of differing magnitude have occurred in the past several days: an African American megastar, Will Smith, resigned from the institution which confers the Academy Awards, because of his own unmannerly conduct at the awards ceremony where he won his first Oscar. 

Smith is only the 5th African American man to win an Oscar. And in his acceptance speech, through tears of self pity and remorse, he said his conduct did not express the man he wanted to be, a man who - in his own words - was a ‘River to my people’. It sounded like a political speech. And it was - a direct quote from Anthony Quinn’s character in ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’. 

While this was going on in Hollywood, Sri Lanka’s citizenry were engaged in mass peaceful protest, across boundaries of race, religion, gender, age and even socio-economic class, calling for an end to power cuts and fuel shortages which have robbed some of quality of life, and many of essentials for survival. 

It may seem as if these two events have nothing in common. But let’s look again. These events, shocking and disruptive as they are, have never happened before. They indicate that society as a whole is experiencing a desire and a need for change. In Will Smith’s case, he was allowed to remain in the forum and accept his award despite flagrantly breaking the rules of acceptable conduct and protocol. But the public outcry against the ‘slap that was heard around the world’ has turned the tide against him, and against socially endorsed male violence in general. Will Smith’s son had Tweeted, presumably from the Smith family’s mega living room, shortly after the event: ‘And That’s How We Do It’. This was before his father’s public apology, which took place the next day. 

For the past 74 years, from the time of Independence to now, in Sri Lanka, such a unified movement as we are now seeing has not occurred in living memory. Successive governments have strategically played majoritarian politics, and minorities have been excluded, threatened and scapegoated. Women and girls and the issues they face have been relegated to minority status by a series of toxically masculinist regimes, while the areas of economic and fiscal management were supposedly handled by the men in charge. The focus was on economic growth, rather than education, awareness of civics, or peace and reconciliation. An area of Colombo specifically demarcated for the expression of protest was ominously set aside for the purpose, thus ironically reducing the public space in which protest could ‘officially’ take place. Anyone protesting there would be isolated and visible. Dissent was disincentivized. 

The military forces were hugely amplified, in numbers and scope of action, to ensure the security of the populace, but members of the police force have been seen on CCTV cameras via phone video assaulting unarmed citizens, immune to accountability under the expanded ‘state of emergency’ PTA act. 

The most striking aspect to me is that the protestors are predominantly young and female, some with toddlers held in their arms. This is not only for optics. Many young mothers cannot afford childcare. But it is also strategic. Military forces would be very unwise to publicly use force such as tear gas and rubber bullets against unarmed young women, with the cameras of the world watching. These young women are bravely stepping up in front at the protests, often against the express cautions and anxieties of their parents and grandparents, and the subduing dictates of their conservative culture. 

Hollywood has been examining its own underlying systemic structures and assumptions for some time now, in the wake of the ‘Me Too’ movement, and holding even its most successful and awarded actors, directors and producers accountable for their abuses of power. Will Smith and the way his conduct is being dealt with is informed by this growing awareness, even in the face of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the perception that ‘woke politics’ is giving minorities too much leeway.  Smith’s wealth, success, amiability, gender and race are not going to operate to modify the decision. 

In Sri Lanka, the frustration of the younger generation is fuelling the protests for better governance. The young people of this country are articulate, well informed, and technologically literate. They are also sceptical of political rhetoric, and contemptuous of nepotism and cronyism; and unlike the respectful generations of the past, who were brought up to be dutiful, passive and obedient, they do not automatically respect those in authority. For them, as for young people all over the world, respect must be earned. 

In the past, their sense of injustice and oppression has been cynically manipulated, to divide their generation, and many young people in Sri Lanka have disliked and distrusted the diaspora, and railed against the perceived privilege and elitism of the wealthy. This is the direct result of the systemic inequities and lack of opportunities in their society. In refreshing contrast to this cycle of negativity, the clear focus of the younger emerging leadership is on inclusion and acceptance of diversity. 

Lacking the financial resources to study overseas, the younger generation clearly feel they must co-operate and do their best to make this country a place in which they can live and work - and rightfully enjoy the fruits of their sustained efforts. 

And this is how they do it.