Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

01 August  2019

To Be  Racist or Not to be a Racist?

Last night our son shared with us his feelings about Indigenous Football player Adam Goodes whose story is now a documentary – Final Quarter . I was reminded of the young footballers in the Toddy-Tapper village of Thunaivi who are outstanding football players. But that held good largely when they played to ‘show’ they were as clever as the Farmer-Caste. Now that they are separated at social level – they do not feel that strong push to ‘show’ and hence they do not play as well as they did before. This is an important factor influencing the ethnic war in Sri Lanka. Like in Cholesterol there is good racism and bad racism. Likewise as in the case of genes – inherited racism cannot be cured through current compensation.

Some White Australians who liked me – did not think that what happened to me at the University of NSW was racism. Likewise in the case of Adam Goodes many White Australians did not consider what happened to be racism. Like the folks of Thunaivi, we also could isolate ourselves and lose the impetus to compete. To the extent the group that is discriminated against uses the pain to compete, recognizing it is positive. We would stop there to the extent our pain is genuine. This is because Truth tells us that we are One human race. If we do not actively compete but are ‘given’ equal position  as per theory of equality – we tend to isolate ourselves. This happened with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) – leading to loss of that Equal Opposition Leadership position in National Parliament. Subconsciously – they know that ‘showing’ separation is important to win votes.

During Media discussions Sky News host Andrew Bolt states words to the effect ‘imagine a White Athlete pretending to shoot fans from another race’ . That did happen in London by a Sinhalese officer – Brigadier Priyanka Fernando – showing Tamil protestors outside Sri Lankan Embassy in London - on 04 February last year – the throat slitting sign. The protestors did not complain under racism but under ‘common’ complaints of ‘harassment, alarm and distress’. This is a true picture because the LTTE fought on Equal basis to establish that they were equally clever as the Sri Lankan armed forces – who were predominantly  of Sinhalese race. Racism is cured when one so establishes.

Racism happens when minority also do not oppose it actively. I realised this through my own experiences. Then we allow ourselves to become juniors taking lower positions than we would if we were positioned through common merit based measures. The mistake Adam Goodes made was – the same as many Tamils make – they withdraw to the comfort of those who pamper them. TNA leaders as well as Mr Wigneswaran have demonstrated that. Without that inner strength as per our own merit – we become racists – the moment we exceed the merit based limit of  our group pain. I was also going to withdraw back to Sri Lanka when Pauline Hanson asked those of us who could not ‘assimilate’ to go back to the countries we came from. But instead of withdrawing, I became common to both nations. I realised that I had the duty to myself to not give up the place I had invested in – as Common Australian. Later I realized that if I stayed on in Thunaivi and Vaddukoddai  - only – I would lose my earned position in Jaffna – which is much more common than Vaddukkodai. I did not make any conscious calculations. I just thanked my mother that morning (Thai Pongal day)  and my mind went to the structure when my mother sacrificed much to educate us. In a free environment – we acquire the mind structure of majority, unless we oppose them. Then majority become seniors. I was born – not in Vaddukoddai but in Jaffna town. Hence the gene-power is more common than in Vaddukoddai where caste was actively practiced until militancy.

Excessive reaction extended beyond local area – Football for Adam Goodes and Academic opposition for me – would depress the whole. I believe I was good in my own field and this has been strongly endorsed by many of my supervisors – who are the parallels of  Sydney Swans who did support Goodes. The public would receive it at their own levels – and that is multicultural  Australia. I did not receive any leadership status nor other forms of compensation.  Hence I remain the individual who in real terms is a senior Australian. Mothers who carry the discrimination pain and continue to share equally become leaders of respectable the family. The faceless system of truth communicated to me through my book ‘Naan Australian’ reaching the shelves of Australian National Library . To my mind  that is natural sharing in my pain by the intellectually driven Australian Public. If I take any more compensation – then I would be profiting from that pain and would lose the power to invoke such true outcomes for  Common Australia.

Healthy racism would happen when we feel the weakness of the other as ours. Once we cure ourselves of inferiority complex due to long periods of unopposed suppression – we would share our experiences and true seekers would find their cure. Those who profit become separatists / radicals.

The Sri Lankan government seeks unitary state. Good racism is essential for such status to continue.