Monday, June 22, 2020

The prediction of post electoral reality in Sri Lanka after August 5th 2020




I know people have been saying it for 70+ years – but I will repeat it this time too. Sri Lanka is at a watershed event now, where the election results will determine how we emerge from the unprecedented crisis we find ourselves in, a much worse state than most other countries on earth, despite the major backslapping still unabashedly going on for winning the Covid 19 war!

The reality is that the Economy is faltering, while policies to date have not helped in reducing the impact of the fall, and the people are being misled that whoever comes to power that things will improve. Whoever manages to form a government, will face an impossible 5 years, a whole term where if not carefully managed the Country could fall into chaos, starvation, and unrest, further justifying the use of security forces to quell the hunger of an increasingly agitated populace. Those who can will take their money and leave. God help the rest of us

The race card will be played out with a vengeance in blaming all the ills on a minority community, who will be singled out as being wealthy, and whose wealth could even be confiscated by fair means or foul, as they will have no recourse of legal means for defense, when the law of the jungle reigns supreme.

If the SLPP faction wins, then there will be a further move towards China’s sphere of influence, increasing Chinese Power within SL, so much as to sell most of the sellable assets to pay for the regime’s very survival, at the expense of the people. The very sin they are accusing all opposing parties of being engaged in!

Without a vision or concerted effort to increase productive capacity of  industries, especially the most inefficient being agriculture, as the inputs of imports needed to increase productivity have been banned, and there is little incentive on the part of the state to use the latest technology in producing healthy food for the nation’s people to consume. Stopping food imports will only create chaos.

The sad fact is neither party engaged in electoral politics has even touched upon the basic right of citizens, freedom from hunger and ensuring food security and the protection of those who grow the food from theft, and being left bereft, due to the inability to market as the populace is too poor to buy despite being hungry~!

The END RESULT in trying to hold onto power in a Country where there is civil unrest, will be to use the Security forces to keep the peace and keep the people cowed down and in fear, where the rule will be simply by fear of arrest and incarceration. Man you don’t know what is in it for you or me! A dictatorship.

How come after 70 years of broken promises we still fall for the same crap?

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Why can’t we admit the common ground in what we are trying to achieve?



The George Floyd’s death awakening! Now has become politicized!

The context

Due to the powerful images that the world witnessed, when a black man was asphyxiated by a sadistic cop while his three colleagues seem quite unperturbed, America has come to protest in streets up and down the country for a week or more now. People are saying it is just one too many.

Let’s step back and review the real issue here. The real issue is the way black America feels, and that they feel that systemic racism has not been eliminated, despite there being a Black American President for 8 years prior to Trump. Many whites, especially the young feel that blacks must have a level playing field and are sympathetic to that cause and are showing their disgust by demonstrating.

The real situation, generally not mentioned

If one looks at the facts, the actual number of killings of UNARMED blacks by trigger happy or use of undue force by the Police, is miniscule. Not even 10 a year, while the number of Police Officers dying from Gunshot injuries is many times that, though I don’t have the breakdown of how many died from shots fired from Blacks as opposed to those from whites, as white supremacism is of particular concern in the USA since the election of President Trump nearly 4 years ago.

Furthermore due to the ghettoization of blacks with the resulting drug culture and violence they seem to live under, due to their circumstances in inner city neighborhoods, the black on black crime is overwhelming with nearly 7,000 murders attributable to blacks killing other blacks. It would be fair to state that poor blacks look the police, (made up of all races) for safety and security in such neighborhoods where mothers fear to take their children to school lest they fall in range of stray bullets of turf battles of gangs.

White America avoid such inner city ghettoes like the plague and for the most part have never set foot in those areas as they are effectively no go areas.

So have we forgotten the real issues here?

While there is overwhelming support in the Country for some kind of gun control, especially limiting assault weapons sales, it is the NRA a broadly white Republican supporting movement that is preventing reform.

The other more important issue is not the killings of blacks by cops, but the constant questioning and arrest of blacks wherever they are due to racial profiling, which has been lost in this divisive and polarized stance taken. In every instance they are treated more harshly that whites due to their likelihood of being guilty, as a fact. Is that correct to profile them, as even black cops are complicit.

So it is clear what is at stake, but the right wing or despise the present protests, and who instead concentrate on the looting and vandalism that a small minority of are guilty of, seem to endorse the strong arm tactics of the President and fail to understand that he is simply fanning the flames of discontent, instead of trying t find common ground and unifying the nation.

Whose fault is it anyway?

The debate has shifted away from where it should be, to a police brutality argument, and that is why there is no common ground in which to address the issue dispassionately. The fault lies with both sides of the argument, as they have been unable to completely stamp out the rogue elements in society that use the opportunity to loot on the one hand, while the other side simply think that law and order has broken down in the USA and the Second Amendment rights for peaceful protest are illegal as they are without merit and are carried out by the liberal left, a moniker and a misnomer if ever there was one.

Elder Statesmen

Former President in commenting on this matter, has been very vague, as he does not want to create a divisive line as in the response by President Trump, and merely states that it is definitely an opportunity to reset the debate on how racism is being handled in the USA, and is a great time to improve it with procedures that should be implemented immediately to satisfy this glaring inequity.

The silver lining

Young White America who hitherto have been very complacent in protesting about injustice, is on the streets in force. So at least one can appreciate that this is a problem that needs further investigation, and community participation.
                   
So the violence, where ATMs being blown up by dynamite, are merely opportunistic thugs trying to make a fast buck and obfuscating the real purpose of the protests, MUST not be used as excuses (Arsonists, Looters, Violent killings) It is unfortunately collateral damage that has happened, and it is extremely disingenuous of Stations like Fox to highlight the violence to deviate from the real purpose of the 95% peaceful demonstrations.

BLM (Black Lives Matter)

The right wing is using an organization that has emerged to safeguard the interests of the Blacks – BLM, as a criminal organization set to fight the Police. Why are they so full of Bull Shit and fake news? They are merely making it divisive. So when the Police are arresting people for breaking curfew is merely inciting anger, if they are demonstrating peacefully. It is unfortunate that the Police forces have not still learned compromise. They are using the letter of the law to enforce harsh treatment instead of engaging the protestors to get their supporters to move.

When NYPD union says aggressive things like they are losing control of NYC, that is in itself a statement that is giving the right wing a chance to gloat.

They don’t know how to allow crowd control and but stop riot control and then use lame excuses to arrest peaceful demonstrators instead of rioters.

The reality is that the Police are arresting peaceful protestors and they are not arresting the rioters, looters and arsonists!! What is going on?

The President’s use of National Guardsmen and out of state Law Enforcement is adding fuel to the fire of protestors. The President’s job should be to unify a divided nation. Instead he persists in making silly photo ops, by tear gassing peaceful protestors, whether he knew it or not as his AG Barr is the one who had issued the order to clear the crowd.

Why are not the first line of defense the Police, incapable? Why is the second line of defense the National Guard being used? Why is the President ready to use the third line of defense, the Military, against their own citizens.

He is so ignorant that the rest of the world are looking into his actions and now it is carte blanche for repressive regimes to use the Military against their own citizens, citing the precedent of the President of the United States, compromising the peaceful protests around the world.

America instead of being the leader of the Free World is now showing a dictatorial stance that will be used by the rest of the world to eventually affect their own security or compromising democracies the world over. What is the result of that? America will have to increase its defences, its military, as the rest of the world, due to the American precedent, of using the Military to control peaceful protests. The accusation that the right wing are laying on the protesters is horrific. We know that right wing agitators and opportunist thugs are using the protests to give ammunition to the right wing media and President to continue to justify his sledgehammer tactics. That is the state of the state.

the 5% of criminals seem to be the darlings of the right wing to bash the 95% of the public genuinely engaged in wanting a more unified nation. Unfortunately the President's goal is division as that is politically expedient to him just as it is for many countries in the world, mainly de facto dictatorships that are now being given the go ahead by Trump. God Help the Rest of the World, as the USA will be OK after all is said and done!