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“Defying Extremism: Gendered Approaches To Religious Violence”

By Basil Fernando

26 February, 2015
Countercurrents.org



The topic we are discussing can be viewed from many points of view and in fact it is being viewed by many from so many different perspectives. Perhaps no theme had recurred so often in the last few decades as this one.

Perhaps for those in developed democracies in the United States and European countries the telling moment at which this theme has entered their mind is 9/11 in 2001. However for many others from many other parts of the world this theme has been a familiar one much earlier.

I wish to approach all issues related to this through experiences of three different places. In two of these places it can be said that the problem of extremism has to great extent has exhausted itself. The two places are: Sri Lanka, my own country; and the other is, Cambodia, where I had the privilege of working for about three years in the early 1990s. The Sri Lankan story in this regard goes from around 1971 when a group of young people were in the process of learning or teaching themselves on what they thought was the art of revolution in what they call Maoist or Cheguera model. That was the first shift to what we may call extremist approach to achieve change.

As usual one form of extremism give rise to responses in similar terms. Thus, the state itself also responded with far greater extremism than the young rebels were capable of. In compensation for small number of security persons who were killed the estimated number of those who were killed by the government was over ten thousand, mostly young people. Disproportionate use of force in order to deal threats from extremist is generally a common practice. The result was disestablishment of the normally functioning legal and judicial system. Long years of training that has gone to create disciplined officers who are expected to carry out their functions within the framework of rule of law suffered a great setback. now there were among the officers those who have had the direct experience of having illegally arrested, interrogated, tortured and killed persons and who thereafter have disposed of their bodies in secret. We call this kind of thing enforced disappearances. The meaning of this term in fact is the introduction of methods of dealing with suspects as enemies with a permissive attitudes to use any kind of violence with the guarantee of impunity.

Thus, with the state acts of extremism enters this new experiences of impunity the officers lose the consciousness which they once had to the effect that they are accountable about everything they do to themselves and their superiors. If they use excessive force, they act illegally and in fact criminally.

This first experience of extremism by one rebel group and its consequences travel to others who also had grievances and who are looking for urgent solutions. In their mental calculations they began to take account of harsh treatment on the part of the state officers if they pursue their goals. The result of such calculations was the development of even more sophisticated forms extremism called also by the name of terrorism. The next way of extremist came from a minority group who felt that their grievances are not being heard and that the only way to get a hearing was to resort to extremism. In deciding to engage in acts which would amount to violent act they calculated that judging by the earlier responses of the state agents would be of equal or more violent nature they calculated ways to improve their methods of violence so as to be able to beat the violence of state agencies. This developments when practically carried out ushered a period of extreme insecurity on the part of the whole of civilian populations. As expected, the state response was many times worst as thus the civilian population was in the receiving end of acts of violence of both sides.

Extremism does not merely consist of acts of violence. It also brings violence into all modes of speech in every aspect of social life including that of media. The experts may call this psychological warfare. Whatever that be the result is that whole social discourse is thus transformed and what are called normal times disappears. And this continued for many decades.

As the violence between the state and these extremist groups representing the minorities who are taking place between the majority community itself there took place second uprising which was in comparison to the first one was much more fearsome, rootless and unscrupulous. As to be expected the state also reacted trying to demonstrate that it was capable of being more violent than the extremist. The result among many other things was enforced disappearances of over 30,000 persons and the virtual disappearance of the normal law enforcement habits.

Meanwhile, the fight between the extremist element in the minority and the Sri Lankan state developed into what was called: a war. Entire populations were displaced, large number of persons were killed and even up to date there is no agreement between the government and others who are making accusations about large scale deaths and other forms of violence. When finally in May 2009, the war was ended by extraordinary forms of violence used by the State in response to what they called: the extraordinary terrorism of the rebels. While the rebels were destroyed the State also has lost the capacity to rule these areas within the normal framework of peace and rule of law.

The result of all these violence was the growth of authoritarianism in the country and authoritarian rulers exploiting the nation’s resources for their own personal benefits. Just on the 8th of January 2015, by way of an election which surprised many people voted against such a government that came as a result of the war.

Now both the state and the rebel groups have exhausted their capacities for extremism and the country is quite uncertain of how to find the way back to normalcy and peace. Violence has brought only destruction both to the State and to the rebels and also to the population as a whole. Having exhausted this violence people now are looking for a way out.

The persons who best express the tragedy of extremism are the survivors of the families of both rebels as well as the soldiers who lost their lives in the course of such violence. It is they who by their very lives pose questions about extremisms both to the State as well as to the extremists. Among them it is the women more than others who have to face up with the consequences of such destruction. Besides living their own life, without the normal support they had from their families and also the state in normal times. Now they have faced abnormality in everything. And it is also they who have to face the task of caring for surviving children and elderly. If we are to find the senselessness of extremism it is to them that we must listen to. They are so many and they are usually silenced. Everyone is afraid of the truth that they may reveal yet it is this surviving victims who are the most forceful spokesman for the lost humanity as a result of such extremism.

Cambodia

What we have learned about the outcome of extremisms from Sri Lanka is many thousand times more magnified in the experience of Cambodia. The actual tragedy of Cambodia under the extremism of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime lasted only for four years from 1975 to 1978; however, the catastrophe that was caused during those years destroyed one seventh of the whole population and also caused the loss of all its public institutions and the ways of life they were used to till then. Almost all more educated and sophisticated sections of the population perished or fled. When it was all over there weren’t even teachers for primary school children. In fact, it is futile to attempt to put into words the extent of that destruction and how long its consequences would last. In any studies of consequences of extremism a study of Cambodia is a must.

The few pictures that are produced here both from Sri Lanka and Cambodia speaks more forcefully that any words that one could find.

I want to add to this reflections two stories which I had one time put by way of two poems. These two poems are produced below.

Yet another incident in July 1983

Burying the dead
being an art well developed in our times
(Our psychoanalysts having helped us much
to keep balanced minds, whatever
that may mean)
there is no reason really
for this matter to remain so vivid
as if some rare occurrence. I assure you
I am not sentimental, never having
had a “break down”, as they say.

I am as shy of my emotions
as you are. And I attend to my daily
tasks in a very matter-of-fact way.

Being prudent, too, when a government says:
"Forget!" I act accordingly.
My ability to forget
has never been doubted. I’ve never
had any adverse comments
on that score either. Yet I remember
the way they stopped that car,
the mob. There were four
in that car: a girl, a boy
(between four and five it seemed) and their
parents, I guessed, the man and the woman.
It was in the same way they stopped other cars.
I did not notice any marked
difference. A few questions
in a gay mood, not to make a mistake,
I suppose. Then they proceeded to
action. By then a routine. Pouring
petrol and all that stuff.

Then someone, noticing something odd,
as it were, opened the two left side
doors; took away the two children,
crying and resisting as they were moved
away from their parents.

Children’s emotions have sometimes
to be ignored for their own good, he must have
thought. Someone practical
was quick, lighting a match
efficiently. An instant
fire followed, adding one more
to many around. Around
the fire they chattered
of some new adventure. A few
scattered. What the two inside
felt or thought was no matter.

Peace-loving people were hurrying
towards homes as in a procession.

Then, suddenly, the man inside,
breaking open the door, was
out, his shirt already on
fire and hair, too. Then, bending,
took his two children. Not even
looking around, as if executing a calculated
decision, he resolutely
re-entered the car.

Once inside, he closed the door
himself, I heard the noise
distinctly.

Still the ruined car
is there, by the roadside
with other such things. Maybe
the Municipality will remove it
one of these days
to the capital’s
garbage pit. The cleanliness of the capital
receives Authority’s top priority

How Gunadasa Died

Go, go, said he,
Laughing loud,
Smiling, his face radiating happiness.
He was a villager from Baddegama.
Though lawyer with a subtle mind
Capable of making clever arguments,
He had a rural soul
That had survived through centuries.
His name was Gunandasa Buddegama.

Yet one day
This man and his smile
Came to an end.

Having received a message
Of tragedy befalling
One of his brothers
Who walked
On a day the insurgents
Had declared a curfew.
He left hurriedly, he left for his for village.

When he went there,
What he saw
On the road,
Covered with a cloth -
A body cut into pieces.

It was a different man
That retuned.
Never was there a smile
On his face again,
Thinner he got each day.
His body shrunk
Like a lizard.
Some said “it’s Cancer”
“ There’s no disease to be found,”
Said the doctors,
“There’s no medicine for this,
Except a miracle,”

Said a professor.
Thinner and thinner he wasted away,
Ina final defiance against the inhumanity
He witnessed.

A contrast

A contrast to destructive consequences of extremism we see a different example of exuberant and committed protest seeking peaceful transformation for improvement of democracy and rule of law in Hong Kong.

When the students embark what was called the Occupy Central it was aimed at achieving from fundamental changes to improve the quality of democracy in Hong Kong. The students sought the right for more effective use of the ballot for selection of the Chief Executive for Hong Kong.

Students occupied the streets for several months. They resorted to no violence and observed the highest levels of discipline and responsibility. The students wanted to rely on the rule of law tradition in Hong Kong and to work within that framework for expansion of their freedoms.

Despite some inconsistencies Hong Kong authorities also reacted to the student protest within the same, the rule of law framework. The protest has enhanced the critical capacity of the Hong Kong people as a whole to look into their future with greater concern and to demand changes within the framework of Democracy and rule of law. The protesting students have learned their first lessons through their own efforts and sweat. These lessons were contribute to the way the young people will develop their perspective for the future. Wiser counsel by more moderate people to the government is to listen to the students and to find ways to accommodate their reasonable and just demands. This discourse between the government, the students and the people will go on. Everyone has benefited from the experience and their future actions are likely to reflect the lessons learned.

A few critical issues

In terms of the reflections made above, a few critical comments I believe are in order. Opposition to extremism does not imply an opposition to seek changes and even radical changes. Societies require changes and some societies are very much in need of rather radical changes in order to ensure the basic rights for all the people living in such societies. The differences between extremist approaches to change and those are not maybe many. One most important aspect relates to the use of force. The accepted mode of seeking change is through winning the consent of the people for such changes. Winning such consent requires work towards convincing the people of the needed changes and the ways to achieve that. Extremism attempt to force change by use of violence and by virtually threatening the people. While the acts of terrorism maybe directed towards the state often those who are targeted involve the civilian population. Opposition to extremism therefore is not an opposition to change but opposition to the manner in which change can be achieved by morally justifiable means.

It should also be noted that extremism is practiced not only by the extremist but also by states. When the states deviate from their legitimate means of social control through democratic processes and resort to excessive therefore illegitimate use of violence the often create the conditions for violent responses. Therefore, in discussing the issue of extremism it is necessary to emphasize the duties of the state to ensure that they allowed democratic space for achievement of changes.

The need for changes arises from just grievances. Redress of grievances is an obligation of the state. The state redress grievances through its legal mechanisms. Therefore it is the duty of the state to ensure a functional legal mechanisms which people could resort to for the purpose of seeking redress for their grievances. In this regard it has to be noted that particularly in developing countries the states often fail to provide for genuinely functional legal mechanisms for achieving changes. Unfortunately, civil society activism has not adequately intervene in order to improve the legal systems under which they live so that the avenues are always open for achieving redress and even changes through lawful means without resorting to violence. In this regard the democratic movements themselves need to take a critical view as to whether they have discharge their obligations in order to ensure that all the peoples have legal avenues open to them to deal with their problems within a democratic framework.

In this regard, there clearly appears to be lesser commitment to global developments in democracy in recent decades. Oliver Stone well known film producer and a critique writing together with Peter Kuznick have raised this issue regarding United States particularly since United States policies since the Second World War in the rather famous work, Untold History of the United States, the authors tried to point that they had been a serious drift away from commitment to democracy that was a part of the American heritage prior to the Second World War and have this have eroded in the decades after the Second World War. No serious critical review of extremism of various forms, such as ethnic extremism, religious extremism and the like, can be made without reexamining the global commitment to create a just world by creating the possibility of democracy in all countries of the world. The possibility of democracy means also possibility of developed legal systems within which grievances can be dealt with by just legal processes and ultimately any problem could be resolved through the expression of the consent of the people through the use of the ballot. Displacement of the use of bullet and the possibility for the use of the ballot to achieve change should in fact be the discussion on the ways to displace extremism.

Basil Fernando is a Sri Lankan jurist, author, poet and human rights activist. Having been a lawyer engaged with human rights issues, he had to flee Sri Lanka decades ago. After that he became a legal adviser to Vietnamese refugees in a UNHCR-sponsored project in Hong Kong before joining the United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTAC) in 1992 as a senior human rights officer for Cambodia. He also served, later, as the Chief of Legal Assistance to Cambodia of the UN Centre of Human Rights (now the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights office). He is associated with Asian Human Rights Commission and Asian Legal Resource centre, based in Hong Kong since 1994. He was executive director of the organization for almost two decades.






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