We've all heard some version of what happened when S. B. Dissanayake decided he was going to come back to the place he spent his undergraduate days. Most say the students neatly organized themselves (as they are very used to doing) in an orderly fashion and happily hooted the Minister of Higher Education off the premises. Some more inclined to dramatic moments say they even threw stones, in an organized fashion. Some say the minister was "taken hostage". Either way, we all know the University Students' Union is currently very unhappy (as they are used to being) about the consequences of what happened that day.
Last Thursday, us 3rd years from the English Department coolly walked into Dr. Wickramagamage's lecture on Jane Austen's Emma, oblivious (by choice) to what was going on around us. The Peradeniya Student's Union had declared a token strike and organized a protest rally in Colombo, followed by demonstrations in Kandy over the next few days. The seven of us (and a number of others) still went to class.
Who went to class? Those who call themselves 'anti-rag', or more diplomatically, 'non-rag'.
Why did they go to class? Some say "protests don't work", others, that it's "political". If protests don't work then what does? Do we, who stay away from the protests, have better ideas about how to deal with these situations? If taking part is political, is not taking part not political? Are we naive enough to think we can be neutral? Where does all the cultural theory we learn in class go? What happened to you political activists and rebels fighting against the "frustration" of our generation that has nothing to "fight for"? Where were you that day?
Hiding.
Hiding behind flesh and bone, conformity and the fear of the unknown.
I didn't take part because I just didn't give a shit beyond an indignant comment while passing the TV. Half of you didn't, simply because you're anti-rag, or more diplomatically, 'non-rag', and therefore anti-student-union. Tell me it just didn't bother you; it just didn't bother you because you're anti-rag.
Yes, I differentiate myself from those who call themselves 'anti-rag', or more diplomatically, 'non-rag'. But I am no different: I was not part of the protest; I was not even part of the token strike. I was part of the distinctly 'anti-rag', or more diplomatically, 'non-rag' group of students attending class that day. It never struck me that if I was to be considered a thinking individual, I must needs have known why I was in class that day.
Why was I in class that day? I didn't know. I had not thought about it.
So I thought about it.
Now that I have thought about it, I still don't know where I stand. But I have thought about it, and that makes me that much better than all of you who have not.
Have you thought about it? Thought about it for yourself, as an individual not belonging to a group? Have you thought about it as someone concerned, someone affected, someone in the direct line of assault? However else you'd like to put it, we have this much in common with the accused: we are students of the Sri Lankan University system.
Take a stand; take some responsibility. Decide. If you're going to be undecided, be decidedly undecided.