THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

By: Layananda Alles

In all developing countries where there are many ethnic groups, there is an acceptable link language, and the predominant stratum in the society happens to be the culture. This stratum encompasses music, drama and culinary arts. Photography is also a strong cultural medium that goes across ethnic boundaries. The important observation is that in all these countries, religion and the ethnic languages happen to be subservient strata. This configuration is completely inverted in Sri Lanka; religion and the language being the dominant layers. Culture takes a back seat. Promoting culture and sports as an agent, trusted to bind the different ethnic groups is paramount in bringing together national unity in Sri Lanka. The state must be a facilitator but the people at the grassroots levels must take an active interest; meaning you and me. Some of the actions that must be taken at the grassroots levels are listed below:

• Developing culture and sports as the overarching nationally binding elements in the society at the exclusion of linguistic elements and religious elements as national elements. Ethnically parochial linguistic elements and religion should be developed as ethnically important elements and not as national elements.
• Sports is an excellent binding agent and more effort should be used to spread it across ethnic boundaries. It should be national in nature and not limited or defined in terms of linguistic or ethnic boundaries
• Music devoid of linguistic differentiations must be encouraged. Sri Lanka currently has no instrumental culture. Sinhalese especially has no appreciation of instrumental music; they only seek sinhala songs. Developing instrumental music across the ethnic and linguistic boundaries will naturally eliminate the current divisions defining music as either Sinhala, English, Tamil or Hindi etc. and help to bring the ethnic groups together. There should be more concerts of this nature. The state should be a facilitator
• Photography yields itself to redefining these boundaries. Yet today there are many photographic clubs spawning based on linguistic boundaries.
• Drama while intrinsically is linguistically based, would be a good platform to bring different linguistic elements together thus improving the cross-fertilization of usage of languages across ethnic divides
• Culinary arts is a good example of how ethnic boundaries could be conquered. We all enjoy and appreciate different types of ethnic foods. Music and drama must do the same.
• These things can only happen if sports, music, drama, photography, and culinary arts are positioned nationally under the purview of the government, at the exclusion of the religious and the linguistic importance currently given by the governments.