I find your thoughts on separatism very interesting. Before I go on – I refer back to the quote I used “The significant problems that we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created them.”

You say that you have “modern” thinkers who live in a “global” village as friends. These people seem to be able to get along, irrespective of their ethnic and/or religious background. So by inference, the separate state you believe in is for…..? I’d use the term masses, but that sounds pretty derogatory.

The Sinhala and Tamil people, along with pretty much everyone else in the world (irrespective of the label they choose to live with) have to deal with the fact that we all live on a planet with limited resources. So there’s really not much chance that we can go back to a life where people lived relatively isolated from one another, without perhaps some serious ethnic cleansing.

Which brings me back to what I’ve written before. The current situation in the country is due to the fact that so many people haven’t woken up to the fact that globalization is in fact a real phenomenon that they cannot escape. The need IMHO, is to get more people to realise that the world is both bigger and smaller than they think. Bigger in the sense that there are far more things than they know about, smaller in the sense that there’s less to go around than they’d like to believe. At present, most of them don’t – or at least don’t show it. Hence the relative (perceived) lack of “modern” thinkers in Sri Lanka.

So the creation of a separate state on the basis of race – a factor which no one has any control over – sounds very fascist to me. I’m all for human rights, but more so for an evolutionary step in human thinking.

Then again, I’m still working on my own attitudes and thought processes….

I have to confess, I know that “separatism” is a dirty word in our country but I am a firm believer in it – sorry.

As I have said before – some races were not designed to mix with each other. We just don’t get along. Well – some of us might but & of course I have a Sinhalese friends – but they tend to be “modern” thinkers who live in a “global” village. We never discuss politics, yet we show sympathy & respect for each other when crimes are commited against either side.

I want a seperate state because i feel that we need a break trom each other. Not for any reasons of mad national fanatical pride or ambitions – but just so that we can stop, think what we are doing & start again.

The army occupation in the North – is just out of control. You tell me that the people of Jaffna don’t want a seperate state & I say crap. They are simmering with rage. An example of this was the almost unbelievable brutality shown in the “barbershop incident’.

Only nationalistic fools who have no vision cannot see the benefits of a seperate state for Tamils. The ethnic composition of the Eastern province was deliberately changed. Well if this means that the only seperate state we can have is in the North – so be it.

Either way – it will give us enough breathing space to get on with just living our lives. You simple things, fishing, growing paddy, having kids, getting an education, living, dying – of natural causes that is

if you knew that this would make hundreds of 1000s of people happy & it was in your power to grant this to them – surely as a reasonable human being, you would lay down you nationalistic pride & say – the time has come????

Tell me dulan that I’m right – nothing to do with politics, (or pigs) – tell me that a reasonable man also desires freedomw for everyone???

btw – am not an anon nutter, just trying to work out how to get my name on this blog to link to my blog – think I have worked it out…

I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.

Actually, I think you’ve taken me a little too seriously. But to answer your questions:

in the old days it was good ol’ physical strength

These aren’t the good old days. With the wide variety of cultures available to lay claim to, I’d say it’s a lot easier to band up as descendents of so-and-so and so forth. Strength is also of lesser importance now than before.

Would having to fight them for freedom like the Indians and the British forge a sense of national identity and pave the way to a better government based on the best man for the job?

I really don’t know. Even though India does have a significantly more impressive sense of national identity, there have been a number of tribal separatists in action there as of late. This being, as I’ve already said, due to the modern way of life not being compatible with their established ways and values.

As for government – perhaps what you’re talking about might occur. But as far as I see it, I’m unsure if the people of Sri Lanka today will fight for freedom under one banner – perhaps as a coalition to further their individual needs.

My point was simply that separatism is not a solution to the problems of today. My examples of the HPPF and MILK were to clarify my point that separatism can be taken to extremes.

Hence my original query – where do we draw the line?

The significant problems that we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created them.

Albert Einstein

is the reaction isolationism or Tribal separatism as suggested?

hmmm…. I used the term tribal separatism here loosely, to express my point of view. I see people banding up together due to the various pressures exerted by modernism (as you have pointed out) into historically defined tribal groups – i.e. groups based on race, religion or even geographical location.

Frankly, I think you’ve said it a lot better than I have.

Thus, separatism can be seen as reactions to the “flattening’ effect of the modern world. It is a sign that a society is undergoing a revolution as it transforms from the pre-modern to the modern. The memes of modernity are spreading though a society. It is joining civilization ( none of this plural civilizations BS, it’s the singular )

On the other hand, as you have noted, globalisation brings various cultures to our lives and challenges the local socio-cultural norms. In this situation, is the reaction isolationism or Tribal separatism as suggested?

In the case of sri-lanka I don’t think we can easily separate the two. That’s why I’m more inclined to see it as the effect of modernity than globalization.

The great conflict of the 21st century will not be between the West and terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic, not a belief. The true battle will be between modern civilization and anti-modernists; between those who believe in the primacy of the individual and those who believe that human beings owe their allegiance and identity to a higher authority; between those who give priority to life in this world and those who believe that human life is mere preparation for existence beyond life; between those who believe in science, reason, and logic and those who believe that truth is revealed through Scripture and religious dogma.

–Robert B. Reich