By Jaliya Wickremarachchi Ontario, Canada.
Part I
It was six months ago that American insurrection took place in Washington DC. January 6th 2021, will undoubtedly go down in history as the darkest day of American democracy. The world watched with horror as the most powerful beacon of democracy was coming apart by angry White mobs. They were politically and racially motivated, fuelled by their supreme leader Donald Trump and his Republican enablers. He had been shamelessly and cleverly manipulating his followers for four years with lies and conspiracies, like never seen before.
Many pundits and commentators on mainstream and social media described how shocking and horrifying these attacks on Capitol Hill were. It was the temple of the American democracy, boasted as the epitome of the democracy since the inception of democracy in Greece centuries ago.
America had been telling the world how great its democracy, rule of law, and freedom were. All the while they were turning a blind eye to their own racism, social injustice, violence, and income inequality, including lack of basic social services to millions of low-income Americans, most of whom are Black, Latino, and Indigenous Americans.
Every American administration in the past, be it Republican or Democrat, had been boasting and preaching to the world – especially to developing countries like Sri Lanka – to follow those American values they hold so dear to their hearts. They told us in the developing world that we should follow the rule of law and democracy, respect human rights, and treat minorities with respect and dignity. Yet, they never follow their own rules in treating American minorities with respect and dignity. Human Rights? America is the biggest violator of human rights in the world. They have killed, maimed, and caused unprecedented human miseries around the world, in the name of preserving their version of democracy, rule of law, and freedom, by invading other nations.
U.S. Wars and Hostile Actions: A List – Let’s Try Democracy (davidswanson.org)
Yet, despite the rhetoric and hypocrisy, the rest of the world, including us in Sri Lanka, believed America for decades for its version of democracy, rule of law, innovations in science, technology, and their so-called exceptionalism – the theory that they were inherently better than other nations.
Like many in my generation, I clearly remember the day in July 1969 when the first man landed on the moon, which was an unprecedented milestone in the history of the mankind. As a teenager interested in science and technology, I became a great admirer of America and what it had to offer to the rest of the world. I was not alone in this respect. Millions of young baby boomers around the globe admired USA for many reasons. Among them rock and roll music, cowboy movies, luxury automobiles, open and vast landscape, not to mention the Hollywood – a portal to the unique American culture and its glamorous lifestyles, like no other. Like many teens at the time, I was in awe and mesmerized by this glorified culture that was exposed to the world through its mainstream media. We did not realize at the time that there was a dark side to its glory.
However, after living nearly five decades in Canada, America’s friendly neighbour to the north, I see now how we have been misled and lied to by this self-proclaimed protector of the world. Not only to the world, but to a generation of its own citizens, American governments (like many governments around the world) have not been exactly honest. In my opinion, every US administration (Republican/Democrat alike), had been misleading the American people for decades.
The most obvious deception is how America fabricated facts to invade other nations. There are many examples, such as the Vietnam and Iraq wars. These are some of the most obvious wars that America got involved in to fulfil its own imperialist agenda.
For example, in August 1964, the US claimed that one of their naval vessels was attacked by the North Vietnamese (Communist) forces at Gulf of Tonkin, to justify the invasion. It was admitted later by US naval officials that such an incident never happened.
The Truth About Tonkin | Naval History Magazine – February 2008 Volume 22, Number 1 (usni.org
The result of this lie was the massacre of thousands of innocent Vietnamese by the American war machine, and loss of over 50,000 US soldiers, who were mislead by their own government into thinking that they were fighting to save their country from evil Communism.
There was no other war that has created such social, cultural, and political upheaval in America the way Vietnam War did. Yet America has never learned from its past mistakes, perhaps due to their ongoing perception of American exceptionalism.
The invasion of Iraq was another debacle that the US fabricated, accusing Sadam Hussein to have weapons of mass destruction. This turned out to be one of America’s biggest propaganda lies, causing wide-spread destruction and atrocities for years to come. This also led to the destabilization of Middle East, giving rise to Jihadist terrorism.
All this destruction and mayhem was caused by America and its Western alliance in the name of preserving democracy, rule of law, and the biggest lie of all is to protect human rights, while killing thousands of innocent people in the process. The biggest crime of all is that America has never been held accountable for the war crimes committed in other countries. The United Nation Human Right Commission (UNHRC), Human Right Watch (HRW), had failed to raise concerns against these heinous war crimes. It clearly shows how biased, and who these organizations are working for. It was obvious as none of these human right crusaders uttered a word when an innocent Black man – George Floyd, was murdered (lynched) by White police officers in public. If that was not blatant violations of human rights, then I do not know what it is?
Yet these same human right champions are quick to accuse and shame other countries (like Sri Lanka), for alleged war crimes and human right violations. America talks a good game on human rights and international law, yet refuses to sign most human right treaties, or to be part of the International Criminal Court (ICC). https://thehumanist.com/news/international/the-international-criminal-court-why-is-the-united-states-not-a-member/
America calls itself a moral leader and protector of freedom and rule of law, yet cozies up to some of the worst dictatorships, such as the one in Saudi Arabia, as well as other well-documented human right violators like Israel, Brazil, etc. There is no end to American hypocrisy.
What we have witnessed on the January 6th, 2021, could well be the beginning of the end of a superpower, thanks to its own arrogance, ignorance, and exceptionalism.
The Myth of American Exceptionalism – Foreign Policy
Confidence is an asset for any nation. But when a nation perceives itself as above the law and convinced of invincibility or that it cannot fail, then reality is likely to deliver a wakeup call – which came for US on the 6th of January, at the Capitol Hill. Ancient Greece, Napoleonic France, imperial Japan, and colonial Britain have demonstrated this sort of arrogance, and all with disastrous results.
The conspiracy theories (https://www.factcheck.org/2020/10/trumps-long-history-with-conspiracy-theories/), and pathological lies of Donald Trump and his Republican enablers had managed to convince almost 70% of the Republican voters that Trump would have won landslide if the election was not rigged by the Democrats.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-12-06/donald-trump-election-fraud-lies-psychology This is despite any evidence to prove it. That is an astounding number of Americans who no longer have faith in their electoral process of democratic institutions.
For four years, Donald Trump conditioned his supporters to distrust democratic institutions such as the government. At every political rally, he drove his supporters into frenzy with lies and conspiracy theories. Like those ancient Viking and Anglo-Saxon warriors, they love to bang their chests chanting USA! USA! USA!” and carry the flag, including the Confederation flag – a clear symbol of White Supremacy and systemic racism. His supporters call themselves patriots, willing to die for their cause. This cause is the preservation of White supremacy and White privilege.
Of course, Donald Trump did not invent White Supremacy or racism. He just gave oxygen to those under currents that were always there already. They never went away. If they did, Black leaders like Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Malcolm X, and their ancestors would not have had to fight for civil rights for decades. The Black Lives Matter movement is the result of ongoing injustice and systemic racism in America and its institutions, including in the media.
To understand what happened on the 6th of January, one must understand America’s violent history, which led to the creation of the US constitution after the civil war, nearly 245 years ago.
White entitlement, racism, and slavery were the undeniable factors that shaped the American political and cultural landscape for centuries. Times may have changed but the American (White) mentality may have not. The brutal violence and racist sentiment that led to the first civil war and subsequent insurrections were clearly on display on the 6th of January, when a White mob attacked Capitol Hill. In some ways it may be a precursor to what to expect in the future if the US leaders and law makers ignore this reality. The White Supremacy in America is not a new phenomenon. It has always been there.
In 1877, the southern Democrats passed the Jim Crow law to maintain White Supremacy, segregating and denying civil rights to Black people. These policies continued for generations and were worse in some southern states as late as the 1960s. https://onlinellm.usc.edu/a-brief-history-of-jim-crow-laws/
It is a prime example of how White lawmakers embedded systemic racism to marginalise Black people and other minorities to maintain White privilege and entitlement intact for generations. Unfortunately, many Black people are still treated like third class citizens in their own country, especially by the law enforcement agencies and many other institutions.
White supremacy is not limited to America. It thrives in many European countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and in regions of Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe. Even in countries perceived as progressive, like Canada and Australia, there are some groups who still believe in White supremacy and Nazi ideology.
Despite generations of injustice, systemic racism, and oppression, the history shows the American Blacks have never stormed US institutions like Capitol Hill. Yet it was the most privileged, well-protected, group of White Supremists who done the most damage to their own institution that protected them for generations.
It was often the Black community, with leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, who have upheld peaceful and non-violent principles to demand basic civil rights. Perhaps it is time for the White America and its leaders to learn and understand from Black community how hard it has been in their life-long struggle in America. Perhaps it is also time for the rest of the world to stop stereotyping Black people as violent, lazy, drug addicts, and criminals – the ugly picture that America and its White media portrayed to the world for generations.
We are living in turbulent times, with a global pandemic like none we have witnessed almost in a century. Last year (2020) the world’s most powerful country was out of control in their handling of the pandemic. This is mostly due to the ignorance and impotence of the former Trump administration, also due to the American public’s distrust of authorities, and refusal to follow rules like wearing a mask or follow social distancing. No country in the world has politicized COVID-19 the way America had done under Trump – making them the number one nation of COVID-19 deaths and cases so far. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-maps-and-cases/ It was truly a tragedy and a shame, especially for a country that used to lead the world in many areas, including medical and health field.
The rest of the world may be having serious doubts if the US can face its challenges, unless the new administration manages to stop the proverbial bleeding initiated by Trump four years ago. It will be a monumental task to unite a country that is deeply divided racially, politically, and economically.
No matter how painful it is, America must come to terms with the new reality of a fragmented country. American leaders must stop misleading the people with their political rhetoric and hollow slogans of American exceptionalism and past glory. They must look inward to their own problems, rather than lecturing the other nations and trying to police the world.
America is not in a position to dictate its terms on democracy, rule of law and human rights to other countries, especially when its own citizens are refusing to obey those rules and values. It has lost its credibility and moral values. Then again, America has a habit of interfering in other nations, ignoring all their own problems that happen in their own backyard.
President Biden, recognising the dire state of the Union, gave a passionate and emotional speech at his inauguration (January 20, 2021), reminding Americans of the uphill battle that America is facing. Biden’s speech was a sombre reminder to all Americans that they cannot take democracy, liberty, or freedom for granted, which White America (majority) had enjoyed for generations. These values are under attack not from a foreign enemy, but rather by made-in-America White terrorists. It was a rude awakening for America to see their symbol of democracy – Capitol Hill- surrounded by heavily armed military, more like what we have seen in Bagdad or Kabul. Ironically, those were the images the world saw in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, etc., after the US military invaded and destabilized these nations. Now, the chickens have come home to roost to remind Americans that pain and mayhem that they had caused in those countries may easily come back to haunt them. It remains to be seen how America will overcome these self-inflicted wounds, which will have ramifications not only for US but for the entire world.
America is not the dominant power it once was. There are new and upcoming nations in the world. Once a powerhouse of economic, military, technological, and industrial strength, the country now has a formidable challenger. China will surpass US in these areas soon if it has not already.
(China – the rise of next superpower | theindependentbd.com)
America and Europe led the world in the 20th century, as they have benefited and prospered, especially US. All the while the developing countries were struggling to survive the brutal European colonialism, and the mess it had left behind. After the Second World War, the Western nations led by US – dominated the world’s finances, industry, trade, manufacturing, etc. They established global institutions like International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), and the World Trade Organization (WTO), which greatly benefited a limited number of countries and is used to control developing and less developed nations. Thanks to these organizations and their pro-Western policies, the West has prospered tremendously, especially US becoming the most powerful nation on earth, economically and militarily. Global wars and conflicts have been extremely profitable for the US economy, and its war machine.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the shifting of economic power from West to East had started, as China and India begun to develop their economies rapidly. This is especially true of China, which has become an economic powerhouse. With economic dominance comes the financial and military power. The West cannot afford to ignore or treat China as an enemy, the way they had treated Soviet Union during the cold war. The rise of China is a remarkable story itself, and the West did not expect China will be their biggest rival economically and militarily in such a short time. Today world’s economy, especially US, depends on China, as majority of consumer, industrial and medical products are manufactured in China. While the rest of the world is facing a negative growth in economy due to COVID-19, China is the only country showing a significant growth of its GDP this year, surpassing all the other major economies.
China’s economy grows 18.3% in post-Covid comeback – BBC News
America has a new President, who has made promises to be a healer of the deep divisions of inequality and systemic racism. Nearly half of the country https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/results/president voted for Donald Trump, who literally set fire to American democracy, and its institutions on his way out. Yet almost seventy percent of Republican voters still believe in Trumpism, including many Republican law makers. Whether President Biden can safely navigate the landmines laid by Trump and his supporters and bring back the country to its normality, remains to be seen.
Part II: Lessons for Sri Lanka
Like USA, Sri Lanka has been a divided nation politically and socially for many decades. Sri Lanka had its share of corrupted leaders – be they Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim – who were hypocrites, liars, and conspirators. They have been misleading Sri Lankans for generations for their own benefits and gains. We have seen how our political and community leaders manipulate their own communities with lies and conspiracies, fuelling racial and social disharmony. Such unscrupulous activities led to 35 years of terrorism and a war, killing innocent Tamils, Sinhalese, and Muslims, while sinking the country economically, socially, and politically.
Just like the US must learn from its ugly past, Sri Lanka must also learn from its past if the country is to move forward as a unified nation. It is always the politicians (not the citizens) who exploit and create division and mayhem. There are many lessons Sri Lanka can learn from America and its mistakes of racial, divisive, and entitlement politics.
Whether we like it or not, a change of government in America will affect Sri Lanka in one way or the other. The Biden administration will not be favourable towards Sri Lanka when it comes to HRs and reconciliation efforts. There is no reason to believe they will be any different this time around, especially at the UNHRC session in Geneva. If anything, America will continue to harass and bully developing nations like Sri Lanka with their hypocrisy of HRs, democracy, freedom, etc, with the help of their biased agencies like UNHRC, ICC, HRW, AI, and other NGOs.
The underlined motive of America (and its Western alliance) towards Sri Lanka is not necessarily democracy, HRs or rule of law, or the ethnic issues, but the importance of strategic geo-political location of Sri Lanka in relation to China – the nation considered to be the single biggest threat to Western economy and security today. The US dominance of Indian and Pacific oceans is threatened by the rising navel and military power of China. Whoever controls the Indian Ocean will greatly benefit from having Sri Lanka on their side, since it is only 10 nautical miles north of the world’s busiest navel traffic.
The rise of China and its close relationship with Sri Lanka is the main reason why Sri Lanka has come under scrutiny of America and its allies. India has always been a political conundrum for Sri Lanka due to its unwelcome political influence and proximity. For majority of Sri Lankans, especially for Sinhalese, India is like an obnoxious and annoying relative who is always poking fingers in their family affairs, mainly due to historical, cultural, and religious bind between two countries.
Sri Lanka should be careful not to depend on India for its economic, political, and national problems. India has its own agenda and own problems when dealing with Sri Lanka due to its domestic politics in Tamil Nadu, and perceived threat to their security from emerging China, which is gaining a wide foothold in India’s neighbours. Taking advantage of India’s insecurity, America is exploiting it heavily to make India their proxy to counter China. America is no different than the defunct British Empire which used divide and rule” tactics to destabilize and colonize countries. America is following the same path in a different manner using democracy, HRs, rule of law, as their weaponry to control or destabilize countries like Sri Lanka. The shameless manner of the former US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina B. Teplitz interfered in domestic issues is a classic example of how Western diplomats meddle in Sri Lanka well beyond their diplomatic mandate.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (known as the Quad) is an example of how US is trying to form a strategic partnership between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India to counter the emerging economic and military power of China. QUAD is called an Asian NATO led by USA. Why the Quad Alliance Is Ambiguous and Contradictory | Time
The West exploits local divisions of ethnic and religious minorities, and internationalizes those issues through their institutions like UNHRC, HRW, AI, and other Western based NGOs and think tanks, to show that the West is concerned about the freedom and human rights of global minorities. This is while turning a blind eye to systemic racism, and oppression of minorities in America – such as Black people, Latinos, and Native Americans, Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia, non-white immigrants and Muslims in UK, and in the European Union. The list goes on, but they conveniently turn a blind eye to their own biases and prejudices.
Yet these hypocritical Western nations are eager to point fingers on developing nations, such as Sri Lanka for eliminating terrorism and bringing peace and stability, which benefited the war-ravaged North and East the most. Democracy, freedom, equity, justice, and lasting peace are universal values shared by all of humanity. The difference is that the West believes (arrogantly) that these values belong only to them, and they can weaponize such values to crucify other nations that do not buy into their hypocrisy.
Sri Lanka should tread cautiously. Certainly, Sri Lanka needs global markets, investors, and expertise to further develop its economy, manufacturing, and infrastructure. Due to its strategic geo-political location, Sri Lanka must be careful in identifying its allies and enemies. The most strategic way to leverage geo-political importance is to be cautious about aligning with India, USA, or China. Sri Lanka must not give ownership of its natural resources or sell off national assets like harbours and airports. However, Sri Lanka desperately needs the support of reliable partners like China – not only to develop the country but to defend Sri Lanka at the international stage from hostile and bias institutions like UNHRC. It might be a high wire balancing act to stay non-aligned, especially when Sri Lanka is in significant debt and its economy is perilous. But opportunities exist if the current leaders are politically and diplomatically savvy to understand that global politics is a chess game, which needs strategic, and out of the box thinking. The late Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Quan, understood it early on. That is why Singapore is one of the countries with highest per/capita income in the world today, equally admired by the East and the West.
Richest Countries in the World 2020 | Global Finance Magazine (gfmag.com)
Unfortunately, we have yet to see such a visionary leadership that can guide Sri Lanka, to move forward with unity, prosperity, respecting the will of the people. Almost 73 years after independence, Sri Lanka is still struggling economically, socially, and politically. Many other countries in the region such as Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, which have been ravaged by wars and other disasters have moved on becoming economic miracles and social models that many countries look up to.
Culture of corruptions, ego-centric politics with entitlement, with little or no respect for the law and order are the primary reasons why Sri Lanka has been unable to move forward as a nation; making it dangerously vulnerable for the foreign, and other undesirable forces to interfere in domestic, and international affairs of the nation.
The latest developments in Canada and USA should be a great concern for the present regime in Sri Lanka. The passing of Ontario Bill-104 (Tamil Genocide and Education Week Act –Bill 104, Tamil Genocide Education Week Act, 2021 – Legislative Assembly of Ontario (ola.org)) sent shock waves among Sri Lankan communities around the world. Its ramification on future generation of Sri-Lankan Canadians will be devastating as every school in Ontario will have to teach every year (in May), about an alleged genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The other most disturbing development is the passing of a resolution by the US Congress recognizing North and East of Sri Lanka as the traditional homeland of Tamils. This is a recipe for disaster if not met head on by the Sri Lankan government. H. RES. 413
Both these events are extremely damaging to Sri Lanka, and it might open a pandora’s box as many pro-LTTE associations and their supporters in many countries will be encouraged to bring numerous bills and resolutions against Sri Lanka, especially after the passing of Ontario Bill-104.
Sri Lanka may have won the terrorist war, but unfortunately it has failed the propaganda war miserably after the war. As a result, well-organized, well-funded, well-connected LTTE organizations in the West are ramping up their propaganda war against Sri Lanka in the international arena with vengeance.
Ignoring these critical and dangerous issues is not an option for Sri Lanka any longer. There will be a domino effect of these in the Western countries where powerful pro-LTTE Diaspora is lobbying relentlessly with the help of their supporters (politicians) to make Sri Lanka a global pariah.
What we are witnessing now is the results of 12 years (since the end of the war) of negligence and inactions by the successive Sri Lankan governments to counter pro-LTTE propaganda in the Western nations like Canada, UK, USA, and Australia where pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora lobbying is powerful and effective.
Sri Lanka no longer can afford to ignore these highly critical issues, which will not only affect the reputation of Sri Lanka severely, but more importantly its international trade, tourism, etc. This will have a devastating effect on economy, which has suffered badly already due to global pandemic.
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