Hypocrisy, democracy and the silence of lambs

From the time we received independence, we Lankans have been warned by the US and the UK -our former colonial master- that democracy in our country was being endangered by various acts of omission and commission of our widely divergent different governments.   

When Lankans did not pay heed to these foreign warnings, punishments have been imposed on governments of the day. 

One of the best examples being the prosecution of Lanka before the UNRHC for alleged crimes committed during the LTTE insurgency of 1983 - 2009.   

The US and West European governments demanded the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa to halt military operations against that organisation and reach a political solution to the problem.   

Rajapaksa rejected and the proposal and the LTTE was defeated on the battle field. The US and its allies are presently prosecuting Lanka for alleged crimes against humanity at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).   

During the closing stages of World War II the US nuclear bombed two civilian cities in Japan -Hiroshima and Nagasaki- killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in addition to injuring hundreds of thousands more.   

Apparently the UNHRC has not heard of these killings. Even today the US has neither expressed regret over the mass killings, nor has it been hauled up before the UNHCR and prosecuted for war crimes.   

Examples of war crimes committed by the US around the world are too many to be covered in a single editorial column, so a single example will have to suffice.

Again in the land of our past colonial master -the UK- the government of Rishi Sunak published on Tuesday, draft legislation aimed at stopping migrants entering the UK illegally in small boats.   

The United Nations refugee agency said the law would amount to an asylum ban, adding the legislation would be a clear breach of the Refugee Convention. Denying refugees access to asylum on this basis undermines the very purpose for which the Refugee Convention was established, it said.   

Since last week, Georgia has been the scene of protests over a “foreign agents” bill backed by the ruling party. Critics allege it represents an authoritarian shift in the country.   

Thousands took to the streets and clashed with the police on Tuesday over the proposed bill. Critics claim the bill has been moulded on a Russian law.   

Under the proposed law, organisations receiving more than 20% funding from abroad will be required to register as such.   

State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday (7 March) Washington might impose sanctions against the Georgian government over the proposed law and the handling of the protests  European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell described the Georgian draft law on “transparency of foreign influence” as a “very bad development” for the country and could seriously affect its ties with the EU.   

The US embassy in Georgia called the legislation “Kremlin-inspired” and said it was incompatible with the country’s desire to join the European Union.   

The joke, though a bad one, is the 2012 Russian law,was itself based on the American Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), passed in 1938!   

In our own country government has come down harshly on protesters demanding local government elections and lowering the cost of living etc. One protestor died when police used water canon and other means of crowd control.   

Even the political party which organized the protest has been largely silent regarding the incident.   

Our ‘vibrant non government organizations’ (NGOs) who in the normal course of events would be issuing condemnatory statements of ‘violent police action’, have suddenly fallen silent.   

Even a particular NGO well-known to take up cudgels in the halls of justice at the drop of a hat so-to-say has not commented.   

The international NGOs too have remained perfectly silent on the developing situation here.   

Could it be they have realized the gravity of our financial meltdown and the need to proceed with IMF dictated policy changes? If so this is good.   

On the other hand, could it be, these worthies are simply following the dictates of their paymasters and are being as silent as lambs.