Features
The Notorious RBG
by Vijaya Chandrasoma
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away on Friday, September 18, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 87-years old, and had served most honorably on the Supreme Court since 1993, only the second woman in history to serve on the nation’s highest court. Her life was yet another celebration of the Promise of America, a woman who overcame all odds in a male dominated world to become a legal, cultural and feminist icon.
Chief Justice Roberts said, “Our nation has lost a justice of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her, a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”
The Notorious RBG, as she was affectionately called, was a diminutive 5 ft. 1 in. in height and under 100 lbs. in weight, but she dwarfed the obese 6 ft. 1 in., 280 lb. Despicable DJT (Donald J Trump) not just in stature, but in integrity, honor, decency and competence.
Born Ruth Bader in New York in 1933, Ginsburg grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. Her father, Nathan Bader was a Jewish immigrant from Russia and her mother was born in New York to Polish immigrants. Ginsburg suffered a series of setbacks during her childhood and teens; her older sister died when she was a baby and her mother died shortly after she graduated from high school. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government, and married Martin Ginsburg shortly after graduation.
Ginsburg was one of only nine women accepted at Harvard Law School out of a class of over 500, and even more remarkably, had a one-year-old toddler on enrollment. When her husband took a job in New York, she transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated in 1959 at the top of her class.
After graduation, Ginsburg found difficulty in obtaining employment because she was a woman and a mother. She entered academia in 1963, and was a professor of law at Rutgers Law School till 1972. She then co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she participated in hundreds of women’s rights and gender discrimination cases.
Ginsburg was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993. She continued championing women’s rights, reproductive freedom, health care and progressive legislation until her death last Friday.
Just before her death, Ginsburg dictated this statement to her granddaughter, Clara Spera: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” Trump is already trying to sully the name of Justice Ginsburg’s family, lying that her final wish about her replacement on the Bench had probably been dictated by Speaker Pelosi or Majority House leader, Adam Schiff.
Nothing is too low for this president, whose decisions are guided by his own abysmal standards.
Within hours of the news of her death, even before her body was cold, Trump and his Senate henchman, Moscow Mitch McConnell, sprang, vulture-like, into action. Trump announced that he would be nominating a justice to the Court later this week, and Moscow Mitch said that he would attempt to have his nominee confirmed before the presidential election on November 3. All Republican senators, currently bar one, have supported what is probably the most disgraceful, hypocritical power-grab in Supreme Court history.
It is a matter of paramount importance for Trump to have a stacked Supreme Court by election date. Current polls indicate that Vice President Biden has a comfortable lead. On Wednesday, Trump was asked at a White House press briefing whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power after election day if he loses. Trump said that this would depend on voter fraud because of his distrust of mail-in ballots. He is already paving the way to take a case of election fraud to the Supreme Court. A Court which, with a majority of six to three, will, in the full glory of Republican sycophancy, hold in his favor. Just like the majority Republican Court gifted George W. Bush the election in 2000.
On Justice Scalia’s death in February, 2016, President Obama nominated Justice Merrick Garland to take his place on the Court, a full nine months before the end of his presidential term. Senator McConnell refused to even hold a hearing on Garland’s nomination in the Senate, stating: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president”. Senator Lindsey Graham concurred, stating that he would oppose the confirmation of a justice to the Court during an election year.
McConnell and Graham, and the Republican Party as a whole, have predictably gone against a precedent they had set for themselves by their determination to appoint Trump’s nominee as a replacement for Justice Ginsburg on the Court, less than two months before the election.
Both Graham and McConnell have proved, once again, that their word is not worth the toilet paper they both use to clean Trump.
The principle of separation of powers is enshrined in the Constitution as a set of checks and balances, under which the executive, legislature and the judiciary are equal and separate branches of government.
In a rare rebuke of Trump’s criticism of a jurist who had ruled against his asylum policy as an “Obama judge”, Chief Justice Roberts said: “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
A commendable sentiment, which unfortunately falls far short of what prevails today. The Supreme Court is highly politicized and polarized. Trump would have appointed three justices during his first term, who will form a majority in the Court and act according to the Christian right agenda of the Republican Party and the president, with scant regard for the legal merits of the case, for generations to come.
With a Republican stacked Court, the younger generation of Americans can kiss goodbye to progressive legislation promoting universal health care, women’s equality and reproductive rights, income equality, protection of the environment and climate change, sensible gun control and a host of progressive measures enjoyed by citizens of all developed nations in the world.
More immediately, the Court, with its iron clad majority, is scheduled to make a ruling on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which is due to be heard on December 10, 2020. Repeal of Obamacare, without a replacement healthcare plan, will cost at least 20 million Americans their healthcare insurance, plus 100 million more will be destitute, when treatment for Covid19 will be withdrawn as a pre-existing condition. Trump has been promising a healthcare plan to replace Obamacare “in two weeks”, since his inauguration in 2017. Another blatant lie.
Democrats are not without teeth against the injustices of the composition of the Supreme Court. The Judicial Act of 1789 created the Court with six justices. Over the years, Congress has altered the number of seats in the Supreme Court, from a low number of five to a high of 10. If the Biden/Harris ticket is successful in November, and the Senate flips as seems likely, Democrats can add to the number of seats on the Bench and so mitigate the domination of a radical Republican Supreme Court.
However, if Trump wins, Americans would be faced with the establishment of the Trump dynasty, patterned on the Kim Jung-un regime of North Korea. Or the system of an autocratic kleptocracy, as practiced by his Russian mentor. We can only hope that American democracy will be resilient enough to withstand the onslaught which will certainly be engineered by Trump and Putin if he loses re-election in November.
The death of Justice Ginsburg has provided Trump with another talking point as a distraction to his colossal mismanagement of Covid19 during the last vital weeks before the election. The virus approaches seven million+ infections and 201,000+ preventable deaths, numbers far higher, per capita, than any other nation in the world. But Trump keeps lying that he has done a phenomenal job and recently awarded himself an A+++ for his management of the virus. In fact, he showed monumental contempt for the millions of families who have lost their loved ones to the virus, when he declared at a rally in Ohio on Monday, that “it (Covid19) affects virtually nobody”.
In his desperation to win re-election showing no regard for the safety of regular Americans, Trump is holding “super spreader” rallies for his supporters, with no masks or social distancing, contravening local regulations with impunity. Rallies which will only contribute to another spike in the spread of the virus. A senior member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Ms. Olivia Troye, who resigned from the Task Force last week, said that “Trump had a flat-out disregard for human life during the pandemic.”
The honored memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will endure long after the treasonous corruption of the past four years is a distant memory. Trump’s presidency, and the behavior of his neo-Nazi cult of enablers, will be denounced by future generations as one of the most contemptible aberrations in the nation’s history. Or as veteran journalist and author of the most recent book exposing Trump’s criminal mismanagement of the pandemic, Bob Woodward put it, “Historians writing about Donald Trump’s presidency and his handling of the Coronavirus will be asking, ‘What the F… happened to America?’”
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There’s an ill more dangerous and pervasive than the Coronavirus that’s currently sweeping Sri Lanka. That is the fear to express one’s convictions. Across the public sector of the country in particular many persons holding high office are stringently regulating and controlling the voices of their consciences and this bodes ill for all and the country.
The corrupting impact of fear was discussed in this column a couple of weeks ago when dealing with the military coup in Myanmar. It stands to the enduring credit of ousted Myanmarese Head of Government Aung San Suu Kyi that she, perhaps for the first time in the history of modern political thought, singled out fear, and not power, as the principal cause of corruption within the individual; powerful or otherwise.
To be sure, power corrupts but the corrupting impact of fear is graver and more devastating. For instance, the fear in a person holding ministerial office or in a senior public sector official, that he would lose position and power as a result of speaking out his convictions and sincere beliefs on matters of the first importance, would lead to a country’s ills going unaddressed and uncorrected.
Besides, the individual concerned would be devaluing himself in the eyes of all irrevocably and revealing himself to be a person who would be willing to compromise his moral integrity for petty worldly gain or a ‘mess of pottage’. This happens all the while in Lankan public life. Some of those who have wielded and are wielding immense power in Sri Lanka leave very much to be desired from these standards.
It could be said that fear has prevented Sri Lanka from growing in every vital respect over the decades and has earned for itself the notoriety of being a directionless country.
All these ills and more are contained in the current controversy in Sri Lanka over the disposal of the bodies of Covid victims, for example. The Sri Lankan polity has no choice but to abide by scientific advice on this question. Since authorities of the standing of even the WHO have declared that the burial of the bodies of those dying of Covid could not prove to be injurious to the wider public, the Sri Lankan health authorities could go ahead and sanction the burying of the bodies concerned. What’s preventing the local authorities from taking this course since they claim to be on the side of science? Who or what are they fearing? This is the issue that’s crying out to be probed and answered.
Considering the need for absolute truthfulness and honesty on the part of all relevant persons and quarters in matters such as these, the latter have no choice but to resign from their positions if they are prevented from following the dictates of their consciences. If they are firmly convinced that burials could bring no harm, they are obliged to take up the position that burials should be allowed.
If any ‘higher authority’ is preventing them from allowing burials, our ministers and officials are conscience-bound to renounce their positions in protest, rather than behave compromisingly and engage in ‘double think’ and ‘double talk’. By adopting the latter course they are helping none but keeping the country in a state of chronic uncertainty, which is a handy recipe for social instabiliy and division.
In the Sri Lankan context, the failure on the part of the quarters that matter to follow scientific advice on the burials question could result in the aggravation of Islamophobia, or hatred of the practitioners of Islam, in the country. Sri Lanka could do without this latter phobia and hatred on account of its implications for national stability and development. The 30 year war against separatist forces was all about the prevention by military means of ‘nation-breaking’. The disastrous results for Sri Lanka from this war are continuing to weigh it down and are part of the international offensive against Sri Lanka in the UNHCR.
However, Islamophobia is an almost world wide phenomenon. It was greatly strengthened during Donald Trump’s presidential tenure in the US. While in office Trump resorted to the divisive ruling strategy of quite a few populist authoritarian rulers of the South. Essentially, the manoeuvre is to divide and rule by pandering to the racial prejudices of majority communities.
It has happened continually in Sri Lanka. In the initial post-independence years and for several decades after, it was a case of some populist politicians of the South whipping-up anti-Tamil sentiments. Some Tamil politicians did likewise in respect of the majority community. No doubt, both such quarters have done Sri Lanka immeasurable harm. By failing to follow scientific advice on the burial question and by not doing what is right, Sri Lanka’s current authorities are opening themselves to the charge that they are pandering to religious extremists among the majority community.
The murderous, destructive course of action adopted by some extremist sections among Muslim communities world wide, including of course Sri Lanka, has not earned the condemnation it deserves from moderate Muslims who make-up the preponderant majority in the Muslim community. It is up to moderate opinion in the latter collectivity to come out more strongly and persuasively against religious extremists in their midst. It will prove to have a cementing and unifying impact among communities.
It is not sufficiently appreciated by governments in the global South in particular that by voicing for religious and racial unity and by working consistently towards it, they would be strengthening democratic development, which is an essential condition for a country’s growth in all senses.
A ‘divided house’ is doomed to fall; this is the lesson of history. ‘National security’ cannot be had without human security and peaceful living among communities is central to the latter. There cannot be any ‘double talk’ or ‘politically correct’ opinions on this question. Truth and falsehood are the only valid categories of thought and speech.
Those in authority everywhere claiming to be democratic need to adopt a scientific outlook on this issue as well. Studies conducted on plural societies in South Asia, for example, reveal that the promotion of friendly, cordial ties among communities invariably brings about healing among estranged groups and produces social peace. This is the truth that is waiting to be acted upon.
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By Sanjeewa Jayaweera
It was on 3rd January 1972 that our family arrived in Karachi from Moscow. Our departure from Moscow had been delayed for a few weeks due to the military confrontation between Pakistan and India. It ended on 16th December 1971. After that, international flights were not permitted for some time.
The contrast between Moscow and Karachi was unbelievable. First and foremost, Moscow’s temperature was near minus 40 degrees centigrade, while in Karachi, it was sunny and a warm 28 degrees centigrade. However, what struck us most was the extreme warmth with which the airport authorities greeted our family. As my father was a diplomat, we were quickly ushered to the airport’s VIP Lounge. We were in transit on our way to Rawalpindi, the airport serving the capital of Islamabad.
We quickly realized that the word “we are from Sri Lanka” opened all doors just as saying “open sesame” gained entry to Aladdin’s cave! The broad smile, extreme courtesy, and genuine warmth we received from the Pakistani people were unbelievable.
This was all to do with Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike’s decision to allow Pakistani aircraft to land in Colombo to refuel on the way to Dhaka in East Pakistan during the military confrontation between Pakistan and India. It was a brave decision by Mrs Bandaranaike (Mrs B), and the successive governments and Sri Lanka people are still enjoying the fruits of it. Pakistan has been a steadfast and loyal supporter of our country. They have come to our assistance time and again in times of great need when many have turned their back on us. They have indeed been an “all-weather” friend of our country.
Getting back to 1972, I was an early beneficiary of Pakistani people’s love for Sri Lankans. I failed the entrance exam to gain entry to the only English medium school in Islamabad! However, when I met the Principal, along with my father, he said, “Sanjeewa, although you failed the entrance exam, I will this time make an exception as Sri Lankans are our dear friends.” After that, the joke around the family dinner table was that I owed my education in Pakistan to Mrs B!
At school, my brother and I were extended a warm welcome and always greeted “our good friends from Sri Lanka.” I felt when playing cricket for our college; our runs were cheered more loudly than of others.
One particular incident that I remember well was when the Embassy received a telex from the Foreign inistry. It requested that our High Commissioner seek an immediate meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Zulifikar Ali Bhutto (ZB), and convey a message from Mrs B. The message requested that an urgent shipment of rice be dispatched to Sri Lanka as there would be an imminent rice shortage. As the Ambassador was not in the station, the responsibility devolved on my father.
It usually takes about a week or more to get an audience with the Prime Minister (PM) of a foreign country due to their busy schedule. However, given the urgency, my father spoke to the Foreign Ministry’s Permanent Sectary, who fortunately was our neighbour and sought an urgent appointment. My father received a call from the PM’s secretary around 10 P.M asking him to come over to the PM’s residence. My father met ZB around midnight. ZB was about to retire to bed and, as such, was in his pyjamas and gown enjoying a cigar! He had greeted my father and had asked, “Mr Jayaweera, what can we do for great friend Madam Bandaranaike?. My father conveyed the message from Colombo and quietly mentioned that there would be riots in the country if there is no rice!
ZB had immediately got the Food Commissioner of Pakistan on the line and said, “I want a shipload of rice to be in Colombo within the next 72 hours!” The Food Commissioner reverted within a few minutes, saying that nothing was available and the last export shipment had left the port only a few hours ago to another country. ZB had instructed to turn the ship around and send it to Colombo. This despite protests from the Food Commissioner about terms and conditions of the Letter of Credit prohibiting non-delivery. Sri Lanka got its delivery of rice!
The next was the visit of Mrs B to Pakistan. On arrival in Rawalpindi airport, she was given a hero’s welcome, which Pakistan had previously only offered to President Gaddafi of Libya, who financially backed Pakistan with his oil money. That day, I missed school and accompanied my parents to the airport. On our way, we witnessed thousands of people had gathered by the roadside to welcome Mrs B.
When we walked to the airport’s tarmac, thousands of people were standing in temporary stands waving Sri Lanka and Pakistan flags and chanting “Sri Lanka Pakistan Zindabad.” The noise emanating from the crowd was as loud and passionate as the cheering that the Pakistani cricket team received during a test match. It was electric!
I believe she was only the second head of state given the privilege of addressing both assemblies of Parliament. The other being Gaddafi. There was genuine affection from Mrs B amongst the people of Pakistan.
I always remember the indefatigable efforts of Mr Abdul Haffez Kardar, a cabinet minister and the President of the Pakistan Cricket Board. From around 1973 onwards, he passionately championed Sri Lanka’s cause to be admitted as a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and granted test status. Every year, he would propose at the ICC’s annual meeting, but England and Australia’s veto kept us out until 1981.
I always felt that our Cricket Board made a mistake by not inviting Pakistan to play our inaugural test match. We should have appreciated Mr Kardar and Pakistan’s efforts. In 1974 the Pakistan board invited our team for a tour involving three test matches and a few first-class games. Most of those who played in our first test match was part of that tour, and no doubt gained significant exposure playing against a highly talented Pakistani team.
Several Pakistani greats were part of the Pakistan and India team that played a match soon after the Central Bank bomb in Colombo to prove that it was safe to play cricket in Colombo. It was a magnificent gesture by both Pakistan and India. Our greatest cricket triumph was in Pakistan when we won the World Cup in 1996. I am sure the players and those who watched the match on TV will remember the passionate support our team received that night from the Pakistani crowd. It was like playing at home!
I also recall reading about how the Pakistani government air freighted several Multi Barrell artillery guns and ammunition to Sri Lanka when the A rmy camp in Jaffna was under severe threat from the LTTE. This was even more important than the shipload of rice that ZB sent. This was crucial as most other countries refused to sell arms to our country during the war.
Time and again, Pakistan has steadfastly supported our country’s cause at the UNHCR. No doubt this year, too, their diplomats will work tirelessly to assist our country.
We extend a warm welcome to Mr Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is a truly inspirational individual who was undoubtedly an excellent cricketer. Since retirement from cricket, he has decided to get involved in politics, and after several years of patiently building up his support base, he won the last parliamentary elections. I hope that just as much as he galvanized Sri Lankan cricketers, his political journey would act as a catalyst for people like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to get involved in politics. Cricket has been called a “gentleman’s game.” Whilst politics is far from it!.
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Believe me, seeing certain videos, on social media, depicting action, on the dance floor, at some of these entertainment venues, got me wondering whether this Coronavirus pandemic is REAL!
To those having a good time, at these particular venues, and, I guess, the management, as well, what the world is experiencing now doesn’t seem to be their concerned.
Obviously, such irresponsible behaviour could create more problems for those who are battling to halt the spread of Covid-19, and the new viriant of Covid, in our part of the world.
The videos, on display, on social media, show certain venues, packed to capacity – with hardly anyone wearing a mask, and social distancing…only a dream..
How can one think of social distancing while gyrating, on a dance floor, that is over crowded!
If this trend continues, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Coronavirus makes its presence felt…at such venues.
And, then, what happens to the entertainment scene, and those involved in this field, especially the musicians? No work, whatsoever!
Lots of countries have closed nightclubs, and venues, where people gather, in order to curtail the spread of this deadly virus that has already claimed the lives of thousands.
Thailand did it and the country is still having lots of restrictions, where entertainment is concerned, and that is probably the reason why Thailand has been able to control the spread of the Coronavirus.
With a population of over 69 million, they have had (so far), a little over 25,000 cases, and 83 deaths, while we, with a population of around 21 million, have over 80,000 cases, and more than 450 deaths.
I’m not saying we should do away with entertainment – totally – but we need to follow a format, connected with the ‘new normal,’ where masks and social distancing are mandatory requirements at these venues. And, dancing, I believe, should be banned, at least temporarily, as one can’t maintain the required social distance, while on the dance floor, especially after drinks.
Police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana keeps emphasising, on TV, radio, and in the newspapers, the need to adhere to the health regulations, now in force, and that those who fail to do so would be penalised.
He has also stated that plainclothes officers would move around to apprehend such offenders.
Perhaps, he should instruct his officers to pay surprise visits to some of these entertainment venues.
He would certainly have more than a bus load of offenders to be whisked off for PCR/Rapid Antigen tests!
I need to quote what Dr. H.T. Wickremasinghe said in his article, published in The Island of Tuesday, February 16th, 2021:
“…let me conclude, while emphasising the need to continue our general public health measures, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding crowded gatherings, to reduce the risk of contact with an infected person.
“There is no science to beat common sense.”
But…do some of our folks have this thing called COMMON SENSE!
