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He Scottish re!erendum has come and gone and the "ritish Union has survived the challenge but only at the cost o! public promises!rom #estminster about signi!icant constitutional changes in the immediate!uture" he Uva vote is underway even as I write this article to meet my generous deadline$ and the election results will be %nown by the time it reaches those who are glad to su!er reading it.
Исходное описание:
Оригинальное название
The Pangs of British Union and the Predicaments of Uva Provincial Election
He Scottish re!erendum has come and gone and the "ritish Union has survived the challenge but only at the cost o! public promises!rom #estminster about signi!icant constitutional changes in the immediate!uture" he Uva vote is underway even as I write this article to meet my generous deadline$ and the election results will be %nown by the time it reaches those who are glad to su!er reading it.
He Scottish re!erendum has come and gone and the "ritish Union has survived the challenge but only at the cost o! public promises!rom #estminster about signi!icant constitutional changes in the immediate!uture" he Uva vote is underway even as I write this article to meet my generous deadline$ and the election results will be %nown by the time it reaches those who are glad to su!er reading it.
Once again I am trying to hit two birds with one stone writing about the Scottish vote and the Uva vote in the same article. he Scottish re!erendum has come and gone and the "ritish Union has survived the challenge but only at the cost o! public promises !rom #estminster about signi!icant constitutional changes in the immediate !uture. he Uva vote is underway even as I write this article to meet my generous deadline$ and the election results will be %nown by the time it reaches those who are glad to su!!er reading it. I will not pretend that Uva and Scotland are comparable$ but I can say that as Sri &an%ans$ given our colonial heritage and current international image$ we cannot avoid having our commentaries on local political developments in!ormed by developments abroad. here are lessons that we can draw !rom the Scottish e'perience even as there are plenty o! areas in the Sri &an%an state and government where such lessons can be applied. I can also say that much o! the Uva Provincial election demonstrates that our political leaders are learning nothing and !orgetting everything about democratic and participatory politics. (emocracy and participatory politics were the ultimate victors in the Scottish re!erendum on independence$ while the ultimate losers in the Uva election have already been identi!ied as the hapless voters in the Saturday Island editorial. (espite the heightened anticipation and the momentous conse)uences o! the re!erendum$ no one in power either at #estminster or *olyrood could throw their weight around during the campaign and in the conduct o! the vote. +veryone including state and government leaders$ political campaigners and the media scrupulously obeyed the rules o! the re!erendum. he Scottish grass root administration wor%ed li%e cloc%wor% in conducting the re!erendum$ with Scotland,s -. local councils ta%ing responsibility !or the operation o! /$/01 polling stations in .$234 poling areas including the counting and announcing o! results 5ouncil by 5ouncil$ with the 5hie! 5ounting O!!icer le!t to announce Scotland-wide tallies at brea%!ast time !or the whole o! "ritain. In Uva$ the people lost the election even be!ore they cast their votes. here have been more news stories about everything that was going wrong with the election than about the issues that e'ercised the people$ and about the plat!orms that contesting parties were o!!ering !or consideration. 6iolence and abuse at all levels became the rule and when a journalist as%ed whether Uva in .378 is bad as what #ayamba was in 7111$ the beleaguered +lection 5ommissioner bemoaned that in #ayamba matters started getting out o! hand only on election day. "ut great preparations must have been made to stage what is now %nown as the 9poll plunder9 in #ayamba$ and we will soon !ind out whether Uva has been spared o! or victimi:ed by a similar plunder. I! the ;es vote won$ Scotland would have gone on to become independent on <arch 72$ .372. "ut the meaning o! the re!erendum is that it is the ultimate e'ercise in sel!-determination$ and that either vote =;es or >o? is an e'pression o! that sel!-determination. @nd no one can appreciate that nuance better than the people o! Scotland$ !or as *ugh <ac(iarmid wrote in 71.0 that 9the absence o! nationalism is$ parado'ically$ a !orm o! Scottish sel!-determination.9 here was no absence o! nationalism in this re!erendum$ but there was a greater acceptance o! the process and the willingness to abide by the results and move on. I! the ;es side won$ the "ritish government would not have stood in the way. he process o! separation would not have been easy at all$ but we can sa!ely say that !or all its complications it would not have become a blood bath li%e the partition o! "ritish India. @s I mentioned last wee%$ "ritain %eeps living up to its old reputation in doing things much better at home than it used to in the colonies. here is another aspect to this re!erendum. he re!erendum was made possible because Scottish nationalism had no truc% with violence at any time. he repeated Auebec re!erendums in 5anada would not have been possible i! Prime <inister rudeau had not ta%en the strong measures he did to )uell the rise o! political violence among the Brench 5anadian separatists$ while allowing the separatists to ma%e their case democratically and without violence. he problem with political violence is that it unleashes unintended conse)uences !ar more than it achieves intended goals. he ultimate cost o! political violence in the cause o! national sel!-determination$ is the permanent !oreclosure o! the re!erendum option. he chic%en or the egg argument can go both ways in the case o! Sri &an%a whether the unli%elihood o! a re!erendum precipitated the violence$ or the abortive violence has !oreclosed the re!erendum optionC but inso!ar as the search !or the truth is a practical )uestion$ postwar Sri &an%a can learn )uite a !ew lessons !rom the Scottish e'perience$ not only !rom the re!erendum but also its a!termath. he lesson to learn !rom the role o! the "ritish government and parliamentarians is not that they were being hypocritical in opposing Scottish separation while supposedly supporting separatism in other lands$ but that they were honest in canvassing !or the 9"etter ogether9 =>o? option while being open to the possibility o! Scotland separating !rom "ritain by voting ;es in the re!erendum. In !act$ the campaign !or unity stood !or more than the monosyllable - >o. It projected a more positive 9"etter ogether9 option$ promising changes$ and at times crossing the line in pointing out the dangers o! separation. <ore importantly$ the "ritish government did not try to co-opt or charter Scottish salesmen to sell "ritain in Scotland. hat would have been a disaster. Instead$ the "ritish establishment stood aside and let the people o! Scotland organically debate and determine their !uture. @nd the people o! Scotland included everyone who is a "ritish citi:en living in Scotland regardless o! race$ religion or ethnicity. he premise was to be territorially inclusive and not tribally e'clusive. he re!erendum ethos gave !ree rein to the two contending sides to ma%e their case as best as they could. hose who were campaigning !or the >o side were not ostraci:ed or condemned as traitors$ and they were able to ma%e their case !or a united "ritain while a!!irming their pride in the uni)ueness o! Scotland. @s I wrote last wee%$ the intervention o! Dordon "rown in the !inal stretch o! the campaign$ a!ter the >o side had blown away its .3 point lead$ stopped the bleeding o! &abour supporters !rom the >o side to the ;es side. It was a success!ul Scottish comebac% !or a highly substantial and articulate politician a!ter his rather unsuccess!ul stint as "ritish Prime <inister. Underlying the surge in the ;es support was the Scottish disa!!ection with ory +ngland. he legacy o! <argaret hatcher is as much reviled in Scotland as it might still be loved in parts o! +ngland$ and poor (avid 5ameron came close to pic%ing up the pieces !rom the !ollies o! the Iron &ady who insisted that she did not %now how to turn. he re!erendum and the prospect o! a brea%-up !orced 5ameron$ not to send the "ritish @rmy to Dlasgow =that voted ;es?$ but to ma%e vows o! !ar reaching constitutional changes. he changes will go !ar beyond addressing the Scottish )uestion$ to address the #elsh )uestion$ the >orthern-Irish )uestion$ but most importantly the )uestion o! +ngland itsel!. o use the old clichE$ "ritain is living in interesting times. #hile constitutional changes will ta%e their course$ the immediate lesson is that no one in "ritain is swearing by its unwritten unitary constitution. >or is anyone stretching the argument o! proportionality to the limits o! absurdity. he utterances o! the UF Independence Party have so !ar contributed to political hilarity without any diminishing o! political civility. #e can blame "ritain endlessly !or its colonial evils$ but that need not prevent us !rom learning how "ritain minds its own internal business. It was in Uva that the "ritish le!t the bloodiest scars o! colonial rule in Sri &an%a$ two hundred years ago. here is enough history about the Uva rebellion o! 7474 and its brutal suppression. "ut the political )uestion today is whether our political leaders can still claim rhetorical mileage !rom the 7474 rebellion$ or whether they should be held accountable !or what they have done$ and not done$ to ma%e positive changes to the lives o! the people living in the Uva Province. +)ually$ will it not be hypocritical to condemn "ritish action in 71th century Uva$ while turning a blind eye to what the military is accused to be doing in the .7st century >orthern Province. In Uva$ as well as in the >orth$ political and electoral calculations are supervening humanitarian considerations. Birst !amily bandyism is in !ull !low in Uva$ while there is no !low o! water !or the drought-stric%en population. #ater bowsers rolled in to give water and buy votes$ and money was doled out as additional compensation even as the +lection 5ommissioner,s objections were predictably overruled. Political leaders and observers are paying boo%ma%ers, attention to Uva elections as a precursor to the Presidential election apparently divined !or Ganuary$ .37/. "ut there has hardly been any discussion about the controversial Uma Oya project underta%en with Iranian !unding and engineering support$ despite serious technical$ social and environmental concerns raised by !ormer Irrigation (epartment o!!icials and current activists. @ whole general election was !ought in 7103 on the then =(udley Senanaya%e? government,s plans !or <ahaweli diversion and development. >ow a provincial election has come and gone$ but no one o! conse)uence said anything about the Uma Oya scheme. It is tragic$ more than it is strange. Posted by Thavam