The Year 1988: The Red Moon Over Sri Lanka And The Dawn Of New Wisdom
By Rajan Hoole -
Rajan Hoole
“So bloody was the march of revolution, and the impression which it made was the greater as it was the first to occur… Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question inaptness to act on any…. even blood became a weaker tie than party, from the superior readiness of those united by the latter to dare everything without reserve. For such associations had not in view the blessings derivable from established institutions but were formed by ambition for their overthrow. Moreover, the confidence of members in each other rested less on religious sanction than upon complicity in crime…
“Oaths of reconciliation, being proferred by either side only to meet an immediate difficulty, held good only so long as no other weapon was at hand. But when opportunity offered, he who first ventured to seize it and to take his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, considerations of safety apart, success by treachery won him the palm of superior intelligence. Indeed, it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons honest, and are ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the first.” - Thucydides, on the civil war at Corcyra (Corfu) (427 BC), from his History of the Pelopponesian War, between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BC)
The Moon occupies a special place in the human psyche. By comparison, the effects of the Sun are easily comprehended. The qualities that occur in relation to it are heat, light, beauty and sunstroke. The effect of the Moon is on the other hand subliminal. It calls forth the wilder emotions without one being conscious of it. Its transforming effect on the mind is far less understood. 1988 was the year when the JVP’s terror worked subtly on the minds of the people in the South. It targetted individuals carefully, and more than paralysing the Government it paralysed minds. It convinced a broad section of the impressionable young that it stood for honesty, justice and equality and was a genuine alternative to the corruption that was only too visible in the ruling class.
Very remarkably, it made a significant section of the intelligentsia rationalise the previously unrationalisable and accept the previously unacceptable. Their world was turned upside down. As opposed to the self-seeking opportunism in the upper segments of society, the JVP, the underdog and a victim of state repression, seemed to exemplify the qualities of courage and sacrifice. By an extension of the logic, many were only too ready to accept that the victimhood and sacrifice of JVP rank and file, also gave the JVP leaders the right to sacrifice whomever they chose on the road to their supposedly socialist goal.
By Rajan Hoole -
Rajan Hoole
“So bloody was the march of revolution, and the impression which it made was the greater as it was the first to occur… Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question inaptness to act on any…. even blood became a weaker tie than party, from the superior readiness of those united by the latter to dare everything without reserve. For such associations had not in view the blessings derivable from established institutions but were formed by ambition for their overthrow. Moreover, the confidence of members in each other rested less on religious sanction than upon complicity in crime…
“Oaths of reconciliation, being proferred by either side only to meet an immediate difficulty, held good only so long as no other weapon was at hand. But when opportunity offered, he who first ventured to seize it and to take his enemy off his guard, thought this perfidious vengeance sweeter than an open one, since, considerations of safety apart, success by treachery won him the palm of superior intelligence. Indeed, it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons honest, and are ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the first.” - Thucydides, on the civil war at Corcyra (Corfu) (427 BC), from his History of the Pelopponesian War, between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BC)
The Moon occupies a special place in the human psyche. By comparison, the effects of the Sun are easily comprehended. The qualities that occur in relation to it are heat, light, beauty and sunstroke. The effect of the Moon is on the other hand subliminal. It calls forth the wilder emotions without one being conscious of it. Its transforming effect on the mind is far less understood. 1988 was the year when the JVP’s terror worked subtly on the minds of the people in the South. It targetted individuals carefully, and more than paralysing the Government it paralysed minds. It convinced a broad section of the impressionable young that it stood for honesty, justice and equality and was a genuine alternative to the corruption that was only too visible in the ruling class.
Very remarkably, it made a significant section of the intelligentsia rationalise the previously unrationalisable and accept the previously unacceptable. Their world was turned upside down. As opposed to the self-seeking opportunism in the upper segments of society, the JVP, the underdog and a victim of state repression, seemed to exemplify the qualities of courage and sacrifice. By an extension of the logic, many were only too ready to accept that the victimhood and sacrifice of JVP rank and file, also gave the JVP leaders the right to sacrifice whomever they chose on the road to their supposedly socialist goal.
