Argument generates the heat of emotion but rarely the light of understanding – I attempt merely to share some perspectives on race and racism. However, the boundary delimited by one cultural criterion – system of government, language, religion, social customs and practices – does not coincide with those established by other criteria. “Sri Lanka” means for many “Sinhalese Buddhist”, and secondly Sinhalese Christians. As Patrick Grant writes (‘Buddhism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka), Dharmapala lauded Buddhist tolerance and inclusion but believed in Sinhalese hegemony. Camps are “cruelty’s quintessential sites” and perpetrators create them in a manner guaranteeing the victims will suffer cruelty “regularly, daily and nightly”.

Source: The Nation May 26, 2021 01:01 UTC