Window Shopper

Desiring for something I cannot gain; My depressing experience. The story continues...

I am the lonely window shopper
looking at the most beautiful thing for sale
priceless jewel it is, fit for any crown
desiring it to be mine

everyday I imagined I'm the king with that crown
and cleaned the window of the shop and swept the floor
sat in a bench in front of the window 
and did my bidding hour and hour

one day the "reserved" notice I've seen
some prince overbid me while I've not been
it is indeed your crown jewel your majesty
i shall keep away 'cause this is my destiny

me the window shopper have never learnt the lesson
not to desire a jewel while being a peasant
nevertheless I came to the conclusion 
that my heart will fall and that jewel has no heart at all!!!

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Once Upon a Time in Syria; Analysis on Syrian Conflict.

The human civilization was never free of problems and chaos in which war and destruction was common. In human history, there is no point in time which was free from conflicts and warfare. In the last century, the world was plagued with two world wars, struggles for independence, cold war which was fought as a set of proxy wars and countless other internal and external conflicts. In the turn of this century, a new form of war; international terrorism has emerged. The newest ongoing conflict is the conflict between the government of Syria and its opposition groups. Although it can be categorized as a civil war its effects are anything but confined to Syria. It is now evolved in to a regional conflict and who knows; it can be the spark for the World War 3. Most of the public got to know about the Syrian conflict because of the involvement of opposition group, ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or commonly known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and their actions such as kidnapping, beheading, burning and drowning but, there is far more to the Syrian conflict than ISIL thus it is important to go into the  root of this conflict to get a clear idea of why Syrians had turned against their ruler and why factions such as ISIL are so successful. As the ISIL had wowed to carry on their struggle to control much of the middle-east and a substantial portion of Europe and Asia, it is for everyone’s benefit to understand what had happened in Syria and the neighboring Arab world.

This all started with the Arab Spring, the popular uprisings against leaders in the Arab World. Started in Tunisia, it swept across a good portion of the middle-east. It starts with small protests in the name of democracy and usually escalates in to armed conflicts between the government forces and the opposition groups and eventually leads to the downfall of the government and leaders. The outcome of the subsequent power vacuum is different from country to country. Having overthrown so called oppressive dictator was no guarantee for democracy or stable government. Only a handful of countries had transformed in to the state that the protesters hoped for while the majority slid in to chaos and anarchy. Libya, Yemen and Egypt are examples.

Like the other Arab Spring affected countries, in Syria, the opposition backed by Syrian opposition started as a wave of protests against the President Bashar Al Assad. It soon escalated in to an armed conflict where countless rebel factions (both pro-Assad and anti-Assad) fighting each other only to further erupt in to a regional conflict where even the world’s superpowers involve.

Syria is now a melting pot of different rival factions fighting each other for achieving their respective goal broadly categorized in to pro-Assad, anti-Assad and Kurdish. The anti-Assad can further be categorized into secular/democratic and religious ideology.

Even though we tend to look for the starting point for the civil war in Arab spring, the root is not there but further back in time for more than a two millennia. This whole area of middle-east containing Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine is unique. It was influenced by Islam (both Sunni and Shiite), Christianity and Judaism. Moreover due to its changing hands several times starting from Romans, Arabs, Ottomans, and Franco –British to Baathist, Secularist and Islamic forces.

Originally occupied by the nomadic Bedouin people, Islam had swept across the region and managed to unite majority under a one religious ideology, but this is not without problems. Ideological sectarian tensions between Sunni, Shiite and Alawite were common throughout the middle-east. It had multiplied in the second half of the 20^th century. There is a particular reason; almost all of the countries in this region were claimed from the Ottomans after World War 1 by either French or British. When those countries became Independent, the ruling elite of those countries were the minority in most of the cases. Absolute monarchies in some of those countries were abolished either by armed conflicts or leftist revolutions lead by the minority communities. This was apparent in Iraq where Saddam Husain who was a Sunni took control of the Shiite majority Iraq and where the President Bashar Al Assad who is an Alawite Muslim controls Sunni Majority in Syria. This had happened in Libya (tribalism took hold there, not sectarianism). In Lebanon, after the independence from the British, the rule went to Christians who were the minority in a Sunni and Shite majority state resulted in a bloody civil war in 70s and 80s costing thousands of lives and brought the country to an irrecoverable anarchy which still plagues the country. Not to mention Israel where the Jews who were the refugees consisting only about half a million where given the best portion of the land of Palestine from the partition plan of 1948 leading to the biggest crisis the middle-east.

The occupying Franco-British colonials had done an irreparable mistake of alienating the rule from the Majority and giving privileged positions to the minority communities. It seems that this had happened in most of the countries under French or British colonial occupation. If that occupied country couldn’t build a nation state after independence due to various reasons including the divergent ethno-religious factions, soon the majority discontent on the governing minority emerge. This has to do with economic factors also. The ruling minority groups will get wealthy while depriving the majority with economic opportunities. Above situation is no other than a ticking time bomb.

Since this region is once belong to the Ottoman Empire and was a melting pot of different ethnicities and religious groups. Those differences were highlighted when the French and British took control and more prominently after independence. Creation of modern nation states from the former Ottoman Empire was mostly under the British and French discretion making the European colonials, the architects of the middle-east. The problem was that the Europeans had hardly any idea of the Ethnic composition and culture of the people when creating new states. One of the best examples was creating Kuwait from the historical Iraqi territory. They might have done that considering its massive oil wealth and it was easier to manage and make post-independent relations with a small country with virtually homogeneous population. Iraq always claims Kuwait as their territory. This led to the first gulf war in 1991.

Let’s turn our attention to Syria once more. Minority Alawite faction is controlling the state and economy. Assad, like many other Arab nationalistic leaders tried infrastructure development and religious tolerance. It is the only secular state in Arab world. Christians in Syria felt relatively safe. Assad has a strong eastern bloc inclination like Gamal Abdul Nassar in Egypt. When the Arab Spring started, from the beginning Syria was a targeting point. People driven by economic and social inequality was to riot against the regime. Demonstrations were about to happen but, what wasn’t expected is this kind of full time armed insurgence but either a peaceful transition like in Tunisia, riots and violent civil uprising not amounting to armed conflict like in Egypt or a small scale insurgence only by the opposition within that country like in Libya. None of that happened in Syria but a civil war dragging sovereign countries, opposition groups, international terrorist organization and home-grown militias. USA and its allies want Assad to go while Russia wants Assad to prevail. Kurds in Iraq and specially Syria want to win autonomy from Syrian regime. Meanwhile the ISIL want everyone to lose and to establish an Islamic Caliphate spanning from Syria and Iraq into global domination. It is natural that in Arab Spring many rival factions clash to grab power but in Syria, the outside influence from USA and its allies in the name of ‘humanitarian aid to restore democracy’ has led to the escalation of this problem. Russian president Vladimir Putin accused USA directly for creating ISIL, it might not be so but a failed US foreign policy surely helped the ISIL to gain lot of support from neighboring countries. Even though USA didn’t directly supply ISIL any aid, the factions who got US support granted or sold provisions to ISIL. Since ISIL controls a considerable amount of oil production throughout their territory, those petro-dollars can surely be a steady income. USA had and still has an unsuccessful foreign policy in the middle-east. They fund a faction to grab power in a region then those who gained US support double-cross them every time. This had happened with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan.

Whenever USA directly support a government in the middle-east regardless of how oppressive or how blackened its human rights record or how undemocratic it is, USA stays in the winning side. Best example is Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar. Whenever they support the opposition, they tend to lose. It cannot be said that the USA didn’t anticipate the consequences for backing an opposition who surely turned in themselves in to oppressors and fanatics more fearsome than the previous regime in terms of religious tolerance and democracy.  They took a risk in supporting the Syrian opposition because, Assad is a close ally of Russia and Russia has assets in Syrian. Toppling Assad would surely weaken the Russian presence in the middle-east greatly. That would have been the US plan but now it had backfired. Russia is now determined to keep the opposition at bay from toppling Assad and with the recent air strikes possible ‘boots-on-the-ground’, they will surely succeed. The difference between Russian and US decision making is that the boldness in Russian decisions. USA has much to lose in taking rash and unpopular decisions than Russia. USA is a democracy after all!!!

However, what was done has been done. Syria was in turmoil. Half of the Syrian population is either internally or externally displaced. Mass immigration resulted in the worse refugee crisis in Europe after World War II; not to mention the incoming long-term demographic changes and cultural imbalance in the European Union. ISIL will continue to gain support unless they are defeated once in for all. Even Assad took control of Syria eventually, ISIL threat will not pass. They’ll operate as a global terror force much fearful than even the Al-Qaeda. They will gain supporters worldwide including countless followers in the western world.

Now it is too little too late! If USA stayed out of the trouble in Syria, none of this would have happened. The opposition might topple Assad eventually. ISIL would not have born even if they, they will be a mere shadow of the power they are now. The resulting government would be religious fundamentalist like the succeeded government after Egypt’s Mubarak but it would never have escalated in to the brink of World War III.

Now, it is not sure where the Syrian conflict is heading. USA will now stay out of the trouble after all they have done to ignite the kindle. ISIL should be prevented from pouring in to Lebanon or Jordan at all cost. With the incoming US Presidential Election, Syrian policy of major candidates both Republican and Democratic should be closely scrutinized. One of the possible candidates in US election, business magnet Donald Trump expressed Assad is a person with whom they can ‘do business with’.

                                

Middle-east was and always will be a violent and volatile place. With its oil, its influence is crucial in global politics. The best strategy for middle-east is dealing with the legitimate governments regardless of how oppressive, undemocratic and religious extremist they are. Let the people of middle-east handle their own problems. The only thing the rest of the world can do is to contain the spread of fanaticism is to keep a close watch and help the governments who keep the terrorists at bay and to resist all temptations for a regime change regardless of how profitable for western foreign policy is, given that helping the opposition will always be counter-productive for the west in the long run.

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Keeping Children Safe: Child Sexual Abuse Epidemic in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has celebrated another children’s day amidst of celebrations, national functions and more and more promises of making a world a better place for children. It is the same country which experienced a tragic rape and murder of a girl-child and a murder and a decapitation of a small boy. Although there were many incidents of child-murders those two incidents have questioned the consciousness of the Sri Lankan psyche towards children. In a country where religion is quintessential entity and the bond between children and parents are very strong, it is important to dig in to the recent wave of violence towards children.

How it happens?

Indeed, the child-friendliness of our society is questionable. Although raping and murdering children was a rarity, child sexual abuse is a common occurrence. Sometimes the offender is a close personal relative or even the child’s own father of sibling. It is not uncommon to hear stories of even male children getting abused by their fathers and older sisters! Children are always subjected towards domestic violence physically, emotionally and economically.

What are the consequences?

Physical and psychological trauma of such harassment shall remain with the child for the rest of his/her life seriously incapacitating their development and their ability to trust others and forming healthy relationships. Even a minor incident of groping can cause a personality disorder later in the child’s life. There is a serious tendency for the victims of abuse to become abusers themselves creating a vicious circle in violence as well.

Are we giving enough care for the children?

The main reason for child abuse is neglecting children. This can happen due to various reasons. First is economic. In most of the rural areas, mother of a family may go abroad for a foreign employment in the Middle-East leaving the children in the care of the husband or the grand-parents. In most of the cases, the husband may form an extra-marital relationship with another woman. The lack of supervision makes the children an easy prey for sex-offenders.

Young-adults also become victims of sexual abuse. With improper guidance and protection from the adults, these hormone-driven youngsters may form unhealthy relationships hindering their education and future. Not only economically deprived rural children are falling in as victims of the latter phenomenon but also children from middle-class urban families.

What are the solutions?

Vigilance, Protection and Guidance are the three key parts in the solution but you should be seriously concerned with your ability to nurture and care for the children economically and socially before deciding to bring one to this world at the first place. Most of the rural families do not have adequate economical means to support large families today. This was not true in several decades back although the economic and health conditions were far worse, but a rural-agrarian family could maintain five or six children. It is impossible now even to maintain a one-child-family with the rising inflation and skyrocketing commodity prices and ever widening amenities in life so it is important to have at least a stable income and securities for the future to plan having kids. This might prevent the mother from going abroad for economic means.

If you have decided to have children, then it is quintessential to keep an eye on children always specially on very small children. The two child-murders happened recently could have been avoided if the parents were vigilant on the whereabouts of their children and at least make the home secure during all time.

Educating children from an early age is essential. Children should be taught neither to trust anybody nor to accept anything given by others.  In the incident of decapitating a male-child, the killer persuaded the child and lured him to an abandoned house on the promise of showing some toys only to slice him into pieces.  Schools have lot to do in educating children property concerning their age category. Parents should guide their children and teach them the responsibility to keep them safe from possible sexual offenders. It is surprising to see children as old as 15-16 years become victims of sexual abuse and become pregnant without the proper sexual education.

There is a heated debate on bringing up the capital punishment in Sri Lanka again. As a matter of fact, the capital punishment is already here. It is the President who refuses to sign the papers to make someone go to gallows. I do not believe that there will be a reduction of violent crimes and specially rapes if capital punishment in reintroduced unless it was carried out live in public television! Capital punishment is not given for rapists at the first place so the legislations need a change as well.

Prevention is always better than cure. It is truer than ever when it comes to sexual abuse because the repercussions are irreparable. It should be made clear that there is no silver bullet for battling child sexual abuse. The civil society, media, law enforcement agencies, parents and schools have to be the vanguard in the battle. Then only we can make a better future for our children. 

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