‘Climate Change’ – a Sri Lankan Perspective.

The Summary of discussion at the forum held on the 21st of July 2007, at the British Council on ‘How importantly should Global Warming figure in development agendas of developing countries’ with a focus on Sri Lanka.

Introductory presentations

The event started off with an introduction to the event from Gill Westaway, Director of the British Council Sri Lanka. Gill mentioned about British Council’s ongoing effort to raise awareness among the public about the risks posed by climate change. She mentioned that although Sri Lanka as a country has many issues on to be dealt with, the country is not exempt from the issue of climate change and she emphasized the need for action, stemming especially from young people.

The introduction was followed by a presentation on Youth Yatra, the project from which the event stemmed from.

Yatra was an EU funded project for young people managed by the British Council along with partners in Finland (Finnish Youth Cooperation Allianssi), India (Swechha We for Change Foundation), Sri Lanka (Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement) and the UK (UnLtd). This project brings together 24 young changemakers from Finland, India, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom to go through a practical, professional, personal, reflective and active journey on issues of sustainable development. Three Members from Beyond Borders – two from BB Sri Lanka and one from BB India – participated for the project.

The presentation focused on the learning from a personal point of view from each of the Yatra participants from Sri Lanka. The presentation was delivered by Poornima Weerasekara.

Climate Change in Sri Lanka.

Professor Ajith De Alwis (Head -Department of Chemical & Process Eng., University of Moratuwa) spoke on the risks posed by climate change on Sri Lanka. Following is a summary of the points he raised:

• Young people and people in general can’t be ignorant of issues, and that the 21st century demands us to be more informed of the changes that are taking place.

• According to some experts, Jaffna, and other places is in the north and eastern provinces, and Matra in the southern provinces is in danger of being underwater due to sea level rise caused by global warming.

• The ‘piece of land’ which is at the focal point of the current armed conflict in Sri Lanka may not be there, in a few years time if the predictions are true.

• Loss of solid productivity is one of the main environmental problems in Sri Lanka and the problem of soil erosion, will be further aggravated by climate change. This will have far reaching implications for agriculture sector, among others.

• Climate change will also increase the risks of malaria, and chikungunya outbreaks.

• Sri Lanka hasn’t played a significant role in creating the problem, and similarly what we can do to mitigate the problem is also small.

• Despite this, we stand to suffer from it, especially adding on to problems we already have of poverty and conflict. Imposing climate change issues on top of this will have disastrous consequences.

• There are policy issues that need sorting out, for example the CEB (Central Electricity Board) incurs a loss of Rs.50 Million daily – enough to build a rural hospital a day.

• Sri Lanka suffers from power inefficiency.

• Despite this, most important thing is not to be appalled by the problem, but instead understand if fully and solving it bit by bit.

• Time magazine chose the century’s greatest people. No.1 was chosen as Albert Einstein, next was Mahatma Gandhi. Both science and values are important, and with the correct balance of the two, you can change the world.

• You have to practice what you preach, walk the talk, and like Gandhi said – you must be the change you want to see.

End of part 1. The next part would focus on the actual open forum discussion. If you have anything to add on the issue, please use the comments section below.

Abortion in Sri Lanka

A debate on abortion from a moral-stand point is mostly futile. One can make an equally compelling case both for abortion and against it. Although abortion is illegal in Sri Lanka, It is said there are around 1000 abortions a day performed here. That’s at least 300,000 deaths per year – A silent genocide, if you believe that fetus is a human being.

In Today’s editorial, The Island looks into ‘Abortion Factories’:

The police have descended on a large scale abortion clinic, which had been in operation for years in Colombo 03. The number of abortions performed at this joint is startling—about one hundred a day. Perhaps, it is a misnomer to call it an abortion centre. It is an abortion factory! The police have got hold of the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of such places where thousands of fetuses are eliminated day in, day out. Worse, most of them are run by quacks who don’t give a damn about the standard surgical practices.
[..]

What we are witnessing is the fallout of a serious social problem, which cannot be solved by raids and legal action alone. The police have, no doubt, done their duty by raiding the abortion clinic concerned, which had been functioning in the guise of a family planning centre. But, such ad hoc measures and piecemeal remedies amount to that proverbial squirrels desperate effort to empty the ocean with its tail to save its drowning baby. Our ability as a nation to be calmly perched on simmering volcanoes of social problems, as if they were water mattresses, is truly remarkable.
[..]

Most of the women who visit abortion centres, especially the unhygienic ones, are said to be the FTZ workers who are being exploited in every conceivable way. ..

Poorly paid and overworked, they live, crammed into small boxes in the areas adjacent to the industrial zones. Far removed from their families and reduced to mere hands, they fall easily for the wiles of the urban youth who promise them the sun and the moon. Silhouettes of young men and women on prenuptial honeymoon in dark nooks and corners after the nightfall in and around the FTZs are a common sight. As for safe sex, the girls know little and the boys don’t give a damn. Unwanted pregnancies are the inevitable outcome. The choice that they have is between an abortion and suicide.
It is natural that they opt for the former, given the stigma attached to pregnancy before marriage. The Colpetty abortion centre is said to charge as much as Rs. 3,000 per foetal removal. But, that is a luxury that the poor cannot afford. They go to cheap places despite the risks they run, including HIV infection.
[..]
Rape, incest and the like are also causes of unwanted pregnancies that lead to abortions, but the vast majority of them are said be due to casual sexual relationships prevalent among the unmarried couples and reluctance on the part of the married to practice proper family planning methods: Those who still rely on methods such as ‘withdrawal’ by way of family planning are not few. When fate catches them on the wrong foot they make a beeline for an abortion joint.

Abortions in this country may be as old as the hills as evident from the traditional methods that have been in practice over the centuries among the people to terminate pregnancies. But, the situation has definitely taken a turn for the worse during the past two decades or so. Even schoolgirls in the urban areas, especially in the city, are said to be among those who seek pregnancy terminations. This points to the need for creating better awareness among students about sex and allied matters. An observation by Dr. Victor C. de Munck of the situation here, is of relevance: “Most Sri Lankans acquire their knowledge about sex from their peers and, occasionally, through movies and magazines.” This is something that educationists should give serious thought to.

Although no official figures are available as to the actual number of abortions performed in this country, according to experts such as Dr. Sriani Basnayake, Medical Director of Sri Lanka Family Planning Association, between 765 and 1,000 abortions are done daily.
The response of successive governments to the worsening problem of abortions, almost all of which are performed illegally, has been to either to wish it away or concentrate on the question whether or not abortions should be legalized. True, evolving a solution to a social problem is something that shouldn’t be left entirely to the State. An argument is being peddled in some quarters that the solution lies in our ability to rediscover our basic traditional values such as love, compassion and the sanctity of life. (Dr. M. R. T. Wickramaratna, The Island of April 6, 2002.)

There is also an equally strong pro-choice campaign in this country.

In dealing with the problem of abortion factories, we believe, the emphasis should be on the preventive aspects of the problem. A stitch in time, it is said, saves nine. In this modern world, a pregnancy is something that can always be avoided, if there is the desire on the part of the parties concerned to do so, except in the case of rape and incest, which must be treated separately. It is unfortunate that there isn’t enough public debate on this vital issue, which is fast assuming unmanageable proportions.

As for the police conducting raids on abortion centres, both hygienic and unhygienic, however essential such actions may be legally, they look similar to an attempt to control poverty by rounding up beggars!

[link] (Registration Required)

I choose to remain cynical about finding ‘solutions’ to the problem in “our ability to rediscover our traditional values of love, compassion and sanctity of life.”

Perhaps a more pertinent question is whether, like the article suggests there should indeed be a more “Public debate on this vital issue”? Its an interesting question because, at least in this country – the ‘law’, and ‘law enforcement’ are two entirely different things. So there is a case whether – from a position which supports a mother’s decision to abort – it make sense to start a “public debate”, when for the most part abortion is available on demand, quality depending on the price you are willing to pay for it.

It’s an argument which can be extended to other things ‘illegal’ in this country, from homosexuality to marijuana. Although, given the health risks involved with abortion, it probably makes sense to make it an issue.

Deane.

On rationality and worldviews

Is the earth round? Well of course! you’d say.

But imagine you are in 500 B.C., before sliced bread, Apollo 13 and Sir Isaac Newton. Now consider someone making the same proposition? A layman would argue: Surely the earth is flat; otherwise it would be quite impossible stand on it now wouldn’t it? Now, if this was 500 BC who would you rather believe? Who would be more ‘rational’? I suspect it would be the latter. In fact when Pythagoras proposed it around the same time, no one believed him. The debate of the flat earth vs. round-earth would rage on for many centuries well into the medieval times and beyond.

The problem with rationality is that it’s derived from a person’s understanding, and understanding as we know – varies. So a man from 500 BC uses the same logic to conclude the earth is flat, which we now use to conclude that it is not.

The point is that even though, many of us like to discredit matters of faith as being ‘irrational’ so many of what we consider ‘rational’ are actually matters of faith. We believe and accept, without question, Newton’s laws of physics, or how Pluto is no more a planet. Most of us don’t really understand the science; we just believe it and consider it a perfectly rational thing. We adopt our own value system of what to believe and what not to believe.

In essence we create or subscribe to a ‘worldview’ and develop a knee-jerk reaction to anything contrary to that view.

Amit Verma, writing for LiveMint.com has an interesting take:

The world is terribly complicated, and it isn’t rational for each of us to try and master every subject around us. If that was a prerequisite to having opinions, we wouldn’t have any, and would wander around baffled by everything. It is natural and sensible for us to seek cognitive short cuts to understanding the world. Such short cuts often result in neat little packages known as world views.

World views make us feel that we have it all figured out, with little room for doubt. A world view could be a religion—the devout often find an answer to everything in God. Or it could be an ideology that claims to have answers to all the ills that plague our world. World views are deliciously comforting—in his book, The Myth of the Rational Voter, Bryan Caplan nails it by referring to them as “a mental security blanket.”

While world views bring comfort, they also lead to intellectual laziness. Lured by the certitudes of received wisdom, we often stop examining difficult questions, satisfied that we know it all. This can be dangerous if our world view is fundamentally flawed, especially if it is widely shared, and can actually impact the lives of millions of people.

[Read in full: Comfort of a worldview]

Global Warming : Should We Care?

An Open Forum on the topic of:

“How important should Global Warming (Climate Change) be in the development agendas for developing countries?”

The forum will give space for young people to voice their opinions on this topic which is fast becoming an issue of importance both internationally and locally. The forum will feature Imalka De Silva-Oyewole, an Environmental Economist and Senior Programme Coordinator for the Environment and Economic Consultancy Service and Prof. Ajith De Alwis, Head (Department of Chemical & Process Eng), University of Moratuwa and a host of opinionated young people with diverse opinions on the topic.

If you have something to say on any of the issues, join us on this Saturday.

Date : Saturday 21 July 2007
Time : 01.30 p.m. – 3.15 p.m.
Venue : British Council Hall, 49 Alfred House Gardens, Colombo 03

The registrations will begin at 1.pm on Saturday. If you’d like to reserve your place send us an email to slbeyondborders@gmail.com or notify us via Facebook.

If you come a bit early, (10.a.m. onwards) you would be able to :

• watch a few films done by the winners of the UK Environment Film Fellowships 2005, on the deeper impacts of climate change.
• catch a photographic exhibition based on environment and young people.

Organised by Beyond Borders in collaboration with:

Yatra for Reflection and Action for Change (Youth Yatra) : an EU funded project for young people managed by the British Council along with partners in Finland, India, Sri Lanka and the UK. The key aim of the project is capacity-building of the participants for the promotion of positive social change. It focuses on making a difference through youth empowerment, participation and policy formulation on global issues such as climate change.

Full Event Schedule

This aint a scene…its a god damn arms raise….

fallout boy….yes….

tell me this….as a whole bunch of generations of youth…are we ever taken seriously….we’ve gone through the rebellion of 15, 16, 17 and even 21 and 22….but how many lives have we touched?? how many opinions have we influenced and how many rules have we broken???have we walked the walk to talk the talk?we have so much of energy….barely contained…do we put it to good use??

there was a time when we believed that rules are meant to be broken…and then we came to an age where we actually broke them….and thus dawned the realization that rules when broken came with serious consequences…..so we learned those lessons…one after another….and in time we learn to teach them to others….experience is a reality check….there’s no value to it….its infinite…..its forever…..

I remember so long ago….talking to a little boy with his little head all shaven…listening to his story….one brother dead in mulaithivu….one brother at home after losing a limb in kilinochchi…another brother still at war…..and the parents chose his path for him….he was studying to be a monk….he was only eight….reality bites….and that was a first for me….once bitten….you’re never the same…..the friendly neighborhood Spiderman comes to mind….

time…a kaleidoscope of colors…one after another….contrasting….blending…….phases of life……changes…….time…….we have so much of it left……so much of it to change the world…..and then there’s the man/woman in the mirror…….

who am I??? do I know where I stand…..am I grounded….or do I take flight without reason…..do I love with all my heart….give with all my heart…..do I fight for myself….do I fight for what I believe in…..no matter how small…..do I give up…..give in…..or am I steadfast….

Who am I???

I am tired of not being heard….I will speak……for where there’s a man who has no voice there are shadows singing….jewel….I believe in the discipline of silence. that being said I can talk for hours about it…..George Bernard Shaw….

Passion…we’re all so passionate about our lives….about the trifling miniscule moments…..it’s the passion that drives us to do what we do……it’s the good koththu and great friends that motivate us….it’s the heart breaks that warn us that we have given our heart and soul to what we do…..poverty stole the golden shoes but it didn’t steal the laughter….jewel again….

let me see….all that ranting and raving was about us……you…me…..everyone else out there like/unlike us……fighting for a reason…..to identify a purpose in our lives…..to know ourselves……to change our world…..fighting tooth and nail…..

the story doesn’t end here…..time will come with more vibrant shades of red green and blue….these arms will raise….and stay raised for justice, peace……a tomorrow….with clean air and a clean conscience….

it aint over till we say it’s over…..bite that….

Anuradhi W

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Anu is a member of Beyond Borders, a member of SLYP, a budding filmmaker, a full-time business analyst and the BlogAdict behind RealityBites. Her part-time and weekend activities are unknown.

An Open Letter to the Minister of Youth Affairs : National Youth Policy

Hon. Minister,

National Youth Policy – Requesting Your Immediate Intervention

The release of the Sri Lankan Government’s National Youth Policy was looked forward to with great expectations over the past few years by concerned citizens of this country. Indeed we wish to thank the Ministry of Youth Affairs for taking the effort to formulate a policy aimed specifically at the youth of Sri Lanka. We, the undersigned, had much hopes for a policy which we hoped would;

1. Specifically identify the issues that young people in Sri Lanka face and outline the Government’s approach as to how they could be addressed.
2. Recognize the role of youth in not only addressing their own problems but also the larger contribution that they can make towards the country’s development.

Considering the importance of a national policy concerning a very important section of the community, in this case the youth of this country, we wish to communicate our disappointment that neither of our expectations referred to above has been met by the Draft National Youth Policy. Having perused the draft policy in its entirety we feel that there has been a lack of seriousness and commitment towards the project on the part of the Ministry and the drafting committee.

We wish to bring to your kind notice the following key issues:

1. Content related issues – Effect of Plagiarism

As has already been highlighted in the print media[1] this Draft is an extremely close copy of the National Youth Policy of South Africa formulated by The National Youth Commission of the Republic of South Africa in 1997[2]. While acknowledging the value of engaging in comparative research and making use of such in the drafting of the policy, an identical copy of a policy drafted in a completely different context being incorporated wholly for the purpose of a Sri Lankan National Youth Policy, cannot be acceptable or justified.

Lack of space does not permit us to deal in detail with how this plagiarism affects the objectives of the policy. We would like to highlight just one based on a presentation made by the convener of the drafting committee at a recent gathering[3], as an example in this regard. According to the convener of the Drafting Committee the “core-issue” faced by youth in Sri Lanka as identified in the National Youth Policy is “gangsterism”. While gangsterism maybe a major issue in certain other countries (and it is in fact a major issue in South Africa!) it is not necessarily serious enough to be tagged as the ‘core issue’ faced by young people in Sri Lanka. Thus in terms of issue identification the plagiarism has had a serious negative effect in identifying the specific and unique issues that Sri Lankan young people face. Even where the issues identified are relevant there has been no attempt to discuss the specific relevancy of the issue identified to Sri Lankan youth.

It is rather surprising that no references have been made to already existing policy formulations on issues that affect young people such as National Youth Employment Action Plan and the National Adolescent Health Policy.

We find it shocking that the policy does not make any reference to the two insurgencies that took place in the South and the protracted war in the North and East of the country, in which young people have been involved the most and affected the worst both as perpetrators and victims. The approach the policy could have taken is by acknowledging that young people resorted to violence, partly due to the fact that there was no policy on the part of successive governments to provide young people with access or participation in the mainstream decision and policy making processes of the country. This has not been the case. The contextual analysis of issues in the document is by no means ‘Sri Lankan’ specific.

The policy in language and content takes a ‘sympathetic’ and ‘patronizing’ approach to young people. They are looked upon as a group who need to be ‘protected’ and ‘safeguarded’; as a ‘problematic’ group rather than as capable of playing a role in the main stream development of the country. Therefore, there is nothing significant in the policy about young people’s participation in the proposed mechanisms for implementing the policy such as the National Youth Commission.

2. Process related issues

In relation to the content related issues that we have identified, we also wish to raise our concern with regard to the process involved in formulating this Policy. In drafting any policy it is imperative that there be a well communicated and coordinated consultation amongst the different stakeholders to the issue. We consider that the following is relevant with regard to the process of drafting this policy.

Although the proposal makes mention of the consultation done with young people in formulating this policy, having regard to the content we doubt whether there have been any significant input into the policy from such consultations. We suspect that the consultations held were tokenistic, given the serious misplacement as with regards to issue identification in the policy. We would like to request the Ministry to release and appropriately review the reports on the youth hearings and consultative workshops in which, the policy claims, more than 3500 young people took part from all parts of the country.

We also wish to make note that having a proper consultation with the youth representatives and organisations by the committee from the formulation phase, would have increased the chances of young people having their voices represented in the policy.

3. What should be in an ideal youth policy?

We feel that the National Youth Policy of our country should reflect the following:

• Clear and specific identification of issues faced by young people in Sri Lanka.
• Drafting the policy in a manner which allows for the policy to be used as ‘an evolving document’.
• Institutional and programme related responses to address the issues identified with participation of young people in such responses.
• Creation of mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the policy with youth participation.
• A national youth policy whose language is not ‘paternalising’ and ‘sympathetic’ to young people but one which will create a sense of ownership among the youth towards the policy.

We hope that you would be open and responsive to these concerns as they have a bearing on the standing and integrity of the whole process, apart from the responsibility and the approach of the government on the same. Taking these factors into account, we would like to request you to call for a review and a redrafting of this Policy in your capacity as the Minister of Youth Affairs. We would be more than willing to further explain our stand on this matter, if needed and also contribute to a process aiming at genuinely rectifying the problem at hand. We sincerely hope that you will make public your stance with regard to this issue within two weeks time.

Let us work towards a “dignified youth community for the 21^st century”, in a meaningful way.

Thank you

Signed by concerned young people representing Beyond Borders, Sri Lanka Youth Parliament, Youth Forum – 8th ICAAP, Law & Society Trust, Rotaract Club of Colombo-North, Voice of Youth, Serendib Institute of Research and Development

---

[1] See Daily Mirror, “Youth Policy Draft: Shocking Plagiarism”, 29 June 2007. Also see Ravaya July 1, 2007

[2] Available online at http://www.polity.org.za/polity/govdocs/policy/intro.html

[3] Consultation on SRH and the Draft National Youth Policy organized by the Family Planning Association held on the 21^st of June 2006 at the BMICH

Related Links :

• PDF version of the letter (with signatures)
• The Draft Youth Policy (Ministry of Youth Affairs)

Daily Mirror Coverage :

• http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/07/11/front/07.asp
• http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/07/10/news/06.asp
• http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/06/29/front/03.asp

We are Hiring!

Well, sort of..

Beyond Borders Sri Lanka is a voluntary youth-led, youth-run organisation supported by the British Council office in Colombo, which focuses on building greater mutual understanding, learning and respect while developing an understanding of active global citizenship.

A functional network of almost hundred Core Group Members (CGM’s) in four countries will manage project activities focusing on active citizenship and social development. With workshops and outreach work to distribute learning gained through project work, the CGM‘s will gain exposure to best practice community projects in collaboration with partners. One of the highlights of Beyond Borders is the five festivals organised in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka & UK last year, bringing together CGM‘s in neighboring countries.

As a next step for our projects, we have undertaken initiatives that provide for a space of young people to actively express themselves on issues that include peace building and conflict transformation, Sexual health education and HIV/AIDS, and working with under-privileged children.

If you are interested in community service, and want to be a part of a change that you have always wanted to see in your world, we invite you to send us your C.V. (or info about about you) and why you’d like to join Beyond Borders as briefly as you can, and send us your application be a part of Beyond Borders.

Notes

• email the application to slbeyondborders@gmail.com
• All applicants should be within the ages of 17 to 25 by the end of 2007.
• The deadline for the applications is on 13 July 2007 . EXTENDED TO 26 JULY.
  

More information on who we are and what we do please visit the following links:

• What we do
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• More About us
• BB on Flickr
• BB Festival Documentary

For any queries, do contact us :

Email: slbeyondborders@gmail.com
Phone: 0773505528
Web: http://www.britishcouncil.org/srilanka-projects-and-networking-beyond-borders.htm

Muslims: An ethnic group or an ideological group?

Muslims, contrary to common perception are an “ideological group” as opposed to being an “ethnic group”. They are differentiated by the strength of their faith, and not by their race, colour or tribe.

Sinhalese, Tamils or Arabs are ethnic groups, which subscribe to various linguistic or geographical connotations. But a Muslim is defined by his faith, i.e. his ideology which is Islam.

A fellow blogger had mentioned in his blog that:

“On the point about Muslims being an ethnic group, I think a problem is that in many European countries Muslims in a given nation are overwhelmingly from one particular ethnic group. So of course it is easy to think of them as an ethnic group. Bertram lives in England, where brown (“Asian”) and Muslim intersect pretty well (though many Asians are not Muslim, almost all Muslims are Asian). In France, the preponderance of Muslims is North African. In Germany, it is Turks. And so on. The Muslim ~ ethnic group conflation is easy in nations where Islam and ethnicity have a strong co relational relationship. In contrast, this couldn’t happen in the United States, where Muslims are multiethnic, ranging from black converts to immigrants from the Middle East and Asia.” [link]

A Marxist is an individual who ideologically subscribes to the philosophy of Karl Marx, Freidrich Engels and some others, thus it would be ridiculous to expect a Marxist to differentiate or salute his fellow comrades as a Sinhalese Marxist, a Tamil Marxist or an Arab Marxist.

The same analogy can be crudely yet effectively be applied to the case of a Muslim, where one Muslim greets a fellow Muslim as another who subscribes to his own ideology than as someone who belongs to another ethnicity.

Arabs have been coming to Sri Lanka for trade, long before the advent of Islam to the Arabian Peninsula. And as it turns out to be this cycle continued with no change whatsoever except that after the seventh century A.D the Arabs who were coming to Sri Lanka were subscribing to a new and different ideology i.e. Islam, which had a bearing on all spheres of their life, be it political, social or economical.

The Muslims, as they were called thereafter came to the Island for trade, and some settled in the island, maintaining a harmonious relationship with the Sinhalese and Tamils, to the extent that they got married to Sinhalese and Tamil women, and thereby their cultural and social practices merged into the local cultural sphere.

But then the question arises, why do most Muslims in Sri Lanka speak Tamil, I converse well in English and Sinhalese, with due credit to the fact that I had my schooling in these media, and the little Tamil that I know may be attributed to the Tamil that I have grasped at social or sometimes family circles.

As Wikipedia puts it ..

“The early Muslim settlements were set up mainly around ports on account of the nature of their trade. It is also assumed that many of the Arab traders may not have brought their womenfolk along with them when they settled in Ceylon. Hence they would have been compelled to marry the Sinhalese and Tamil women of the island after converting them to Islam. The fact that a large number of Muslims in Sri Lanka speak the Tamil language can be attributed to the possibility that they were trading partners with the Tamils of South India and had to learn Tamil to successfully in order to carry out their business. The integration with the Muslims of Tamil Nadu, in South India, may have also contributed to this. It is also possible that the Arabs who had already migrated to Ceylon, prior to Islam, had adopted the Tamil language as a medium of communication in their intercourse with the Tamil speaking Muslims of South India.”

In the immediate aftermath of independence, when federalism was first being discussed as a form of governance and even during some other instances,some of the Tamil political elite for hitherto known and unknown reasons wanted to merge the Muslims into the umbrella “Tamil speaking people”, it was to negate these definitive political twists in the local political sphere that the then Muslim elite and Muslim Intellectuals alike felt the imperative need to stamp the Muslims with an independent Identity.

Eventually the Muslim Influentials came up with the term “Sri Lankan Moor”.

“Etymologically, the term “Moor” was first applied by the Portuguese, who labeled all Muslims after their enemies, the Moors,whom they fought in Iberia for centuries. For example, Filipino Muslims are called Moros because of the similar Spanish usage of the term, even though Filipino Muslims had no historical contact with Moors.” (Wikipedia)

In the fold of Islam, language, colour or local culture are immaterial in its judgement of a Muslim, and therefore the aforementioned terms are not even considered criteria in which one Muslim is considered superior to another.

“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).” (Quran)

These factors naturally negate nationalism as a form of political or spiritual leverage in the fold of Islam. Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, outlined certain guidelines in life in his last Hajj, the Hajjatul Widah, soon after which he passed away. He left behind the following statement for all men to sit and think about,
“The aristocracy of yore has been trampled under my feet, the Arab has no superiority over the non Arab, and the non Arab has no superiority over the Arab, also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white – except by piety and good action. All are children of Adam, and Adam was made of earth.”

It is also worth noting that, it was Arab Nationalism that was instrumental in disintegrating the Ottoman Empire. Some Arabs (Muslims) who had been injected and were indoctrinated by Nationalist thought, were not very comfortable with the fact that Ottoman Turks (Muslims) were the rulers of their land, this climate in which Arab Nationalism abrogated Islamic Ideology and practice, was exploited by imperialist powers, and thereby these imperialist powers used the Arabs to fight the Turks, and the rest is History.

Thus it is suitable reiterating the fact that Muslims are an ideological community, as opposed to the common misconception of them being an ethnic community.

Raashid Riza.

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Raashid is a Core Group Member of Beyond Borders Sri Lanka and a student of architecture. He maintains a blog named ‘Navigating on balance’ which he updates from time to time.
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Beyond Borders is a Voluntary, Youth-led, Youth-run initiative active in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. More about who we are and what we do can be found here and here. If you find work we do interesting and think you can make a contribution, send us your application. We are officially on the look out for new people.