The Galle Lit Festival – A Retrospective Opinion by Richard De Zoyza
Talking of Michaelangelo – Richard de Zoyza
I’d like to be a poetess
And sit aloof in Sapphic state
Load chicken livers on a plate
Declare the world’s a total mess
Preside, beringed and kaftan clad
At coffee mornings, soirées, teas,
Expound the need for nuclear freeze
Pop ice in drinks, shake head, look sad
About the teeming underfed
Then launch into impassioned reading
Of a Sonnet on the need for feeding
Them; while munching garlic bread
O, all you splendid Amazons
Come, let me join your sacred band!
Unwrinkled yet of throat and hand
And mind, I’d like to wear the blazons
Of a lady poet too!
Perhaps the Daily News would then
Accept the ravings of my pen.
I yearn to write of me and you
And of the wondrous middle class
Of gracious windows barred to life
That never shook to the sounds of strife-
Excuse me while i fill my glass.
That’s Fan- freaking – tastic
The official government trip to China cost the tax payer 56 million bucks. Isn’t that great. As though buying unusable MIGs will not suffice we are also paying for 192 people to go count the stones on the Great Wall.
It surprises me continually that the Sri Lankan public continues to accept whatever is thrown at them. A huge government expenditure is going unchecked because of the abject faith we have in the “Social Contract” and yet there continues to be no proper mechanism to hold the powers that be accountable.
Interesting questions to be raised would be as to why there hasn’t been a serious move to question this trend. But most importantly what does it say about our political culture? How do we change this?
The fact of the matter is that the present political system doesn’t provide any space for a rethink of the strategy. With proportional representation system political culture is dependent on party seniority. Which means that there is no chance for the political culture to change for a good twenty years.
I love Sri Lanka and her history and her diversity and everything about her. But sometimes i wonder is it worth the effort i am putting in to change a culture that is so entrenched in the way things have been done, that it refuses to change.
As a young person that means a lot to my future. But given the system how is it possible to kick it and work with it.
Any ideas?
F.I.T.M.S – Foot in the Mouth Syndrome
Sri Lankan leaders seem to be suffering from a severe case of FITMS – Foot in the Mouth Syndrome. Coming at a time when Sri Lanka is being increasingly marginalized by the international community it is imperative that our leaders speak with a clear voice. Furthermore a clear voice alone will not suffice. They need to make sense and they need to gain credibility for themselves as well as the country through what they say.
However our present leaders seem intent on sending us further “down the pallan” while the people of the country continue to fund their trips abroad. I believe it is well within our rights to question the statements made by our leaders in international forums which continue to make the country look like a banana republic.
For instance Caitlin’s GYCA blog on the 8th ICAAP noted that President Rajapakse had made a “bizzare” speech. His excellency had noted that drugs and alcohol lead to more drug abuse and thus to HIV infection. He has quite clearly shown himself to be a greater expert on the subject of AIDS than all 2200 delegates who had gathered for the congress.
Nimal Siripala De Silva whom i considered the more respectable of many of the government ministers, is also eminently capable of blowing his foot of off with a rocket propelled grenade. At the closing ceremony of ICAAP he had noted that Sri Lanka doesn’t promote gay and lesbian relationships as we have pretty girls and smart guys who can get married. He also noted that condoms are not really necessary since we are a monogamous society. I believe he missed his vocation – he should have been a sociologist. Furthermore at a recent UNFPA event to felicitate two of their female staff members he had noted that “no wonder the rate of HIV Infection is going up. Look at the amount of women in this room”!
You see in Sri Lanka HIV/AIDS is not really the most fearful communicable disease; Foot in the Mouth Syndrome is.
Meaningful Youth Participation: Moving Past the Rhetoric
With the conclusion ofthe 8th ICAAP in Colombo yesterday serious questions need to be raised with regard to the rhetoric of youth participation in conferences of this nature.
It has been said ad nauseum that youth are our future, we must support youth activity, we must involve youth in decision making but such talk is rarely seen in reality.
The 8th ICAAP was a fantstic opportunity to move past this as unlike in many other spheres HIV/ AIDS has a major impact on young people with 50% of all new infections being between the ages of 15-24.
However, the reality at ICAAP was much different and quite disapponting. It toook some active lobbying on the part of the youth committee on the final day of the conference to ensure that youth had a space to speak at the closing ceremony after being informed that there was no space to hear them at the closing ceremony. There was no space at the opening ceremony either.
There were extremely few youth focused sessions and even then the panelists can hardly be considered young. Furthermore young people can no longer afford to be the subjects of research without seeing positive action taken based on such research.
The next international AIDS conference in Mexico in 2008 still appears to have no youth committee visible on its website. Despite the fact that young people are the most at risk, conferences of this nature continue to relegate young people to “if we find the space” status. Personally it appears quite clear that any talk of youth participation continues to be purely rhetorical.
While appreciating the willingness to talk about issues facing youth the time has come to move past the talk and see positive action.
So what does this mean for the youth of the 8th ICAAP and what does it mean for youth around the world.
It means that we need to be calling for and holding leaders accountable to the promises made to youth. We need to demand greater funding for youth led initiatives, more significant involvement on panels and most importantly provide real opportunites for youth to attend and participate in conferences of this nature.
It is time we moved past the rhetoric and stepped in to concrete action.
University Rox0rs
It was 3am in the morning today when my phone rang. Two of my best friends from uni called me to see if i was awake. They had just returned from the going down for the arts faculty which i missed because i was ill.
And as we spoke we slowly realized (drunk as they were) that we had actually completed 2 years of our tertiary education and were now officially third years.
Third Years – argh i feel so old. It seems like only yesterday i walked in to campus knees shaking, barely looking up and not meeting the eye of anyone except the person sitting next to me. Now i stand and watch as people just like me walk in to campus and wonder what’s going to happen to them.
It seems like only yesterday we sat in the gym sipping some weird concoction and praying for safety. Now we swagger through university as though we owned it from day one and stare down any first year who looks like he/she is slightly posher than the rest (all of them like to think so).
How life changes over time. Looking back now i can only feel thankful for the amazing opportunity of attending a Sri Lankan university. Its been altogether eyeopening and one of the better experiences I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying.
So with much nostalgia and hopes for the remaining years in university.
Viva la SL universities.
Gratiaen Prize 2006 awarded – Any thoughts on the Winners?
The Gratiaen Prize 2006 was jointly awarded to Senaka Abeyratne for his play ‘Three Star K’ and Isankya Kodituwakku for her collection of short stories “The Banana Tree Crisis”.
-The Sunday Times 25/03/07
(article not available online)
A kickback to my earlier post would explain this writer’s interest in finding out to what extent the Gratiaen is seen as being a useful developer of Sri Lankan writing in English .
Has anyone read the stories or seen the play? If so what are your thoughts on this year’s winners? Has the Gratiaen lived up to its potential and raised the bar for Creative Writing in Sri Lanka?
I have not had the time to read Good Little Ceylonese Girl (though I have it with me) and haven’t really heard much of the other two writer’s.
Am I the only frog in the well with regard to these writers? If that is the case then the Gratiaen must be commended. But how good are the works(in your opinion)? Maybe not even a comparison but at least what you felt about an individual work.
Your time and opinions would be much appreciated.
The Need for Free Education
All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.
- Aristotle.
Given the continuous hullabaloo the JVP creates over free education the need for free education in Sri Lanka is a topic of hot discussion. As a person who has had the benefit of receiving a private primary and secondary education and is now engaged in a “free” tertiary education program this writer’s is in a better position than most to discuss the issue.
Education in Sri Lanka has been free following Dr. C. W.W. Kanangara’s initiative in 1938. Almost 70 years of free education later Sri Lanka has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. S’s comment on Sach’s blog again promotes the whole make-them-pay-for their-education as a panacea for dealing with her particular situation. This is not a fresh view of the system and has been promoted many times before.
The idea is that if a person has to pay for her/his own education they will take it more seriously and be more circumspect in their activities during this period.
However, this view in itself is inherently flawed. It bases itself on the preconceived notion that only those rich enough to pay for their education will make proper use of it and the logical progression from that point onwards is that those who cannot afford such education, are uncivilized pigs being handed pearls on a platter.
The elitist mentality behind this view is unbelievable. Some of the biggest thugs around the Colombo night scene are the sons of ministers supposedly well educated at the best international schools. Consider the Royal Park murder as a prime example of this. Yet many people continue to make the point about how education needs to be limited.
It is also not very easy to compare a private education with a public one. The biggest difference this writer sees is that while there is very little exposure to the wider spectrum of society in a private education the public education system provides for a great diversity in class and views. This is especially apparent in the Universities. By limiting education only to those who have the ability to pay for this one’s obviously blinkered view of society is merely promoted rather than stripped away.
A free education also provides for those who do not have the ability to afford education. Many of them benefit through the grade 5 scholarship program. Yet this call for limited education notable excludes at least 80% percent of the population (on the basis that 20% of Sri Lanka’s population consume 80% of its products). Would this limiting of education better the situation.
Given a best case scenario Sri Lanka would then be reduced to a literacy rate of around 40-50%. This would no doubt have adverse effects. Despite the high literacy rate Sri Lanka has a high crime rate, a high number of teenage preganancies and a very high suicide rate. This is not to say that those issues are based solely on education but rather than education goes a long way in curbing those numbers. It would also be a serious drain on the country’s economy.
So why then this passionate cry for limited education. The issue is that Sri Lankan youth have continually proven to lack the understanding of the responsibility that comes with free education. There are very few who believe that they are being handed a gift meant to handled responsibly.
There is a definite assumption that the Government should provide everything ‘free’. This writer cannot comprehend why graduates are a.) finding it so difficult to find jobs and b.) why the government has to provide them with these jobs. The fact that each presidential candidate keeps making these promises to graduates without jobs does not help the situation. If one has received a free education right through to tertiary education the onus is firmly on the beneficiary to give back to the system or at the very least not be a burden to the system.
It is this writer’s view that free primary and secondary education should continue and I doubt many arguing with this stance. However I call for a change to the free Tertiary education system in that the university education be tied to a period of service to the government similar to the Singapore University Scholarship system which requires a beneficiary to stay and work in Singapore for two years. By bringing a sense of responsibility to the state through the means of making a period of service compulsory would bring about a sense of responsibility especially to the university system. A period of service of teaching in a government school for example would be a good starting point as well as address the dirth of teachers.
It is this kind of change that would enable people to view their education as being more than a free lunch. Not the parroting of elitist views of limited education. Sri Lanka needs education and that education must continue to be free. But let us never never forget that Free Education is not just a right but is more importantly our greatest responsibility.
And Royal Went Phut… Again
When this writer observed Ah Royal! How the mighty have fallen even he did not think that Royal had fallen so badly.
But then came the one day and it was plain to see that the Royalists had gone so far as to shock themselves.
This game of cricket is indeed a funny one. And seeing the formidable Thomian batting line up decimated boded well for the outcome of the match. Not that I wanted Royal to win just that as a human being I was kind of wanting them to save a bit of face… Kind of. But as I mentioned on Parthi’s Blog I am left to wonder if the Royalists “rise” at all.
What of spirit and grit and saving face? What of courage and commitment? What of driving the nails in to the coffin?
As a Thomian supporter I feel really let down that Royal did not put up a proper fight and at least get close to wining properly. I mean when you have 150 to score to win and you are 50 for 2?
So basically Mowjood and co are now getting their knickers untwisted by the pool attendants and the Thomians are celebrating the great escape.
And following this year’s showing even Thomians are left to wonder…Ah Royal wherefore art thou Royal?
Questioning Neosexism
“A man is a man, is a man, is a man, is a man.”
Reading Sach’s post on her experiences at the hands of “male chauvinists” was thought provoking. Even in the pro-feminist era men are still to come to terms with the fact that women are their equals and not their sex objects.
Centuries of conditioning doesn’t help either. In this light it is pertinent to examine the issue of sexism in today’s context.
This post does a lot to examine the idea of male chauvinism. However, there appears to be a perception that male chauvinism is about “getting some”. This in itself is an inherently sexist notion that stereotype men in general. This is not to say that men are not like that but rather to point out that chauvinism need not necessarily be limited to that. The simple view that women are inferior to men is the starting point of this type of chauvinism and may manifest itself in many different ways. For example one need not have sex permanently on their minds to be sexist.
Women no doubt will have a lot to say about the above assessment.
But then life in the pro-feminist era is heavily complicated. Simple statements are easily misconstrued. Its the era of Reverse Sexism.
While appreciating the value of the feminist movement it is also important that women use this tool with commonsense. There is little use of being feminist in a non-feminist situation. For example, at the forum theater at Checkpoint (last year) this writer was amused to find women clamoring to hear the wives speak as it was patently obvious that the resolution of the drama lay with the men. That was a shortcoming of the stock scene but my point is that while feminism is appreciated it must be used with commonsense.
Failing to do so would result in a loss of credibility for the movement. Women have to deal with many issues as a result of their sex and this type of unnecessary promotion of feminism will only further this divide.
This is not to say that Feminism is bad but rather to point out that any kind of position of power must be used with commonsense for that position to be maintained.
Where then do men stand on this? It is this writer’s firm belief that men need to move on with the time. We are no longer the uncivilized Neanderthal and times do change. Failing to appreciate this fact will only serve to widen the divide between the sexes.
At the same time however it is important to establish the principle of equal rights. This is what the feminist movement based itself on.
But then after centuries being the “traditional woman” is being “equal” to man good enough?
Critiquing Creative Writing in Sri Lanka
The shortlist for this year’s Gratiaen Prize has been announced and the readership of Colombo eagerly awaits the final decision come March 24th.
As such it would indeed be a good time to examine the state of creative writing in Sri Lanka at present.
The fact that SL has a flourishing publishing industry is painstakingly obvious. One merely needs to browse through the book racks of Vijitha Yapa to note the growing number of relatively little known writers among the likes of Carl Muller, Yasmine Gooneratne and Nihal De Silva to name a few.
While appreciating the growing industry, it is important that Sri Lankans do not forget that creative writing requires certain standards and talent. Having read Lal Maddawattegedera’s The Window Cleaner’s Soul which was shortlisted for the Gratiaen a few years back has left this writer to seriously question the ability of the Gratiaen Prize to set the right kind of benchmark for Sri Lankan literature.
Having gone through the horror of a couple of really putrid books by authors I have thankfully forgotten it is indeed with a deep sense of regret that I wonder why Creative Writing in Sri Lanka has never really been able to attain a greater global audience. If one leaves out Michael Ondaatje, Romesh Gunesekera and Shyam Selvadurai, simply for the fact that they are more “foreign” writers, Sri Lankan literature looks rather bare.
This is not to say that Sri Lanka is incapable of producing writers of the caliber of Kiran Desai or Arundhati Roy. Nihal De Silva and Carl Muller as well as Jean Arasanayagam have all been great proponents of Sri Lankan Creative Writing in English.
My point however is that homegrown writing in English is woefully below standard at present.
This is why the Gratiaen Prize becomes imperative to the future development of creative writing in Sri Lanka. It serves to set a benchmark for what should be achieved and in that sense it should do its best to attain a high standard. Perhaps even going so far as to not award the prize if there is no work that should be awarded a prize.
This writer also firmly believes that there is an urgent need for the educational authorities to institute creative writing as part of the curriculum in secondary and tertiary education. The ability of writers need to be developed in a more formal environment as well. This is not to suggest that structures and theories be imposed on students but rather that in a formal educational environment space for creativity be provided for those seeking such guidance. It could take the form of the informal Inklings of Oxford lest this writer be accused of being pedantic.
Furthermore the staging of such events as the Galle Literary Festival is a step in the right direction. However, the benefits accrued by the Sri Lankan readership needs to filter down to the writer as well. While exposure to the writers of international standards are useful and workshops at the festival no doubt come in handy is there any possible means of sustaining that good work throughout the year?
This writer does not wish to seems as though he has all the answers. However it is time that Creative English writing in Sri Lanka get the boost it has long been in need of. Yes lets encourage young writers and yes lets give them the publicity they deserve. But never never let us compromise on quality.
Which is why this year’s Gratiaen Prize will be eagerly looked forward to. So it is hoped that the Gratiaen prize will do its best to set a benchmark for the future of Sri Lankan writing in English. I have not had the opportunity to read any of the books shortlisted for the prize. But it is my hope that when I do I will be encouraged to continue looking forward to the arrival of the next Michael Ondaatje who is Sri Lankan in every sense of the word.
