Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Remember, remember the fourth of November

I wonder how many recall the nursery rhyme:

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

The rhyme, like some of their kind, refers to events in history; in this case to the gunpowder plot. On the 5th November 1605 Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several dozen barrels of gunpowder. He and his fellow plotters (eight in all) were attempting to blow up parliament.

On the fourth of November 2003, Chandrika Bandaranaike staged a coup d’état overthrowing the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe and setting in motion events that stilled any hope of peace.

There have been a few turning points in the bloody history of post-colonial Ceylon and this was one of them. The election of SWRD Bandaranaike in 1956 and the riots of 1958; the dismembering of the civil service in the 1960's; the new constitutions of 1972 and 1978; black July 1983. Although seemingly less dramatic than some of the other crucial forks in the rocky road to serfdom, this was surely no less important for it set the stage for the autocratic state.

I have come to think that the power of democracy lies entirely in its institutions: the press, the judiciary and the legislature. Power does strange things to even the most well-meaning of people and once obtained it is rarely parted with willingly.

One never leaves office, one is always forced out; by the institutions. If one tries to cling on, one is first made a fool of by the press, one then finds it impossible to execute any orders for no one would carry them out, fearing retribution by the courts or possibly parliament.

These institutions have been neutered: directly by the constitution of 1978 and indirectly by the corruption it has enshrined. Now how much influence one wields is entirely dependent on how much money one can throw. The courts, the police, parliament are all under the sway of the executive and what rights that have been guaranteed under the constitution have been in near permanent suspension -for decades under the emergency regulations. Measures that were supposedly short-term are now a permanent feature.

Countries that succeeded in the post-colonial period did so largely to the extent that they preserved the status quo. Democracy is a fragile flower and is easily destroyed by those who do not understand what makes it work. In Europe, where it evolved in its modern form, it was the result of a thousand years of struggle - dating back to the Magna Carta of 1215, which was essentially a pact that attempted to check the King's power. Holding power in check is the essence of the system and it was not an easy victory either, being fiercely resisted over the centuries by many a ruler.

These hard-won freedoms will not be given up easily in Europe or the heirs to her traditions in the Americas or the former white dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and elsewhere but in the strange lands of the East, where the peoples received their freedom more or less on a platter and where they do not understand the substance of the matter even though they speak highly of its forms, then there is danger and flower can whither and die.

Look no farther than our neighbours - Pakistan and Bangladesh and it is not difficult to see what lies at the end of the path that we tread.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

true true.sad. What do we do about it?

Angel said...

wasn't the Magna Carta signed in 1215?

Jack Point said...

Angel, oops, what a blunder! Now corrected, thanks.

Jack Point said...

Someone important - that's a tough question.

Machiavelli seems to hold that as long as a Prince is popular he can hold on to power (he needs to do many things besides being popular but if he is hated by many his end will be nigh).

However looking at modern dictators like Mugabe and Kim Jong Il I tend to think that the machinery of the modern state-principally communications and the firepower of modern arms can enable a deeply unpopular ruler to hold on for a very long time.

To put things right here requires a change of constitution- a return to Westminster one of pre 1972, with the right off appeal to the Privy council in London would go a long way to putting things right.

Then there are other measures to deal with corruption as well, which I have blooged about here.

Getting a ruler has the ability and willingness to take on these vested interests is the problem and as far as I can see this can only happen through sheer luck for no one who espouses these thing can ever be elected. We need one who knows but keeps quiet on the agenda during an election campaign and then starts a cleanup.

Nothing short of a miracle, actually.

Serendib_Isle said...

“...where the peoples received their freedom more or less on a platter and where they do not understand the substance of the matter even though they speak highly of its forms, then there is danger and flower can whither and die.”
Well said. Most Sri Lankans think that we “earned” our freedom. I'm glad to see you don’t belong in that camp.