We are forwarding herewith an article by one of our members. This is a Sinhala translation of an article by one of our members.
As we have pointed our earlier, the present socio-political condition is a result of rapid globalization and the increasing influence of capitalism. This condition is causing a new trend in politics. We have argued, time and again, that many political groups today are only a reaction to this situation, and not really attempts to counter this the existing social order. Following the theorizations of Yannis Stavrakakis, we argue that a demand for a return to a totalitarianist system, which is a demand for a guaranteeing Other, is the logical outcome of the chaos caused by capitalist social relations. This article discusses how the new demand for a ‘father’ and the establishment of order’ – probably the most powerful and popular political slogan in Sri Lanka today- is in fact a continuing demand for a totalitarian system.
We have taken the writings of the X Group as our point of departure, because they are the man proponents of this political slogan. However, we wish to emphasize, that the X Group is only the symptom of the real problem and they are not really the problem itself. The question that anybody would with to ask today is ‘where will our country end up?’ We don not even pretend to answer this question. But we feel that recent studies in psychoanalysis point the way towards totalitarianism, and we can already see its emergence in small groups that are organized around a central primordial figure.
We feel that this is an important contribution to the study of politics in Sri Lanka, and at the same time a study that has very practical implications. The way it points is a serious warning and if unheeded, this tendency can have dire consequences. Realizing the gravity of this situation, we have tried to theorize this problem and look at a very practical example that is available to everybody in writing. We have pointed out many times that our society is in search for a ‘master’. However, it is difficult to show this at a practical level, unless it is available in writing (we wish to remain clear of personal clashes because we are not interested in the individuals’ shortcomings) and the writings of the X group provide a very good example.
We sincerely hope you will publish this article in your newspaper, opening the possibility of a public discussion on this issue.
Politically motivated cyber-bullying on the part of so-called leftist groups
Prabha Manuratne
I see this latest attack by Sumith Chaaminda and his group on you as yet another display of their myopic politics. As someone who has been a repeated target of politically motivated cyber-bullying for many years now, I fully sympathize with the unenviable position you have been pushed into. Such politically inflected bullying does not demand that a truth be revealed but that we prove a lie to be a lie. Bullying and hate speech are characteristic arsenal of those who wish to silence others on cyber platforms. They were part of the strategy of the former X group. It was a strategy that we eschewed after the break-up of the group, and it is sad that former X-group members Sumith Chaaminda and Vidarshana Kannangara have chosen to continue such attacks. In my opinion, cyber-bullying has had a deleterious effect on the entire youth oriented political scene in Sri Lanka..
Deepthi Kumara Gunaratna is the leader of the Sri Lanka Vanguard Party. His lawyer Thushara N Daskon has issued the following threat to the opponents of their party on the Facebook: “ When one gets to listen to Sumith Chaminda’s confession in the form of an hour and forty minutes lecture the democracy of these gentlemen will be revealed to everyone. In December everyone will be able to hear these in Sumith’s voice.” In this statement the term “these gentlemen” refers to those 140 odd members of the former X Group who broke away from the political group on the day of the Tsunami. Since then Deepthi has been out to destroy these opponents. It is not clear why Sumith Chaminda is making a recorded confession and to whom under what conditions,: nor who will be the publisher of this voice recording.
Sumith Chaminda having broken away from the X Group set up his own political group known as the Praxis Group and a web site called Disneylanka. He is said to be the theoretical advisor to the Frontline Socialist Party
එක්ස් ෆයිල්ස් 