CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

No More Banana States!

Janaka Yagirala

Federalism looks really nice on paper, but in practice it is much like a Rube Goldberg Machine, a machine (invented by Prof. Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, a cartoon character by Rube Goldberg) that gives an awfully complex solution for a simple problem.

Throughout history, different countries came up with different political systems to govern themselves. Always the political system comes to suit the uniqueness of that particular nation. The Egyptians governed through a central monarchy, the Greeks came up with a system of city states and ancient India was ruled by a system of large states ruled by monarchs or tribal unions. On the other hand, the Australian aborigines came up with no form of formal government because their hunter gatherer lifestyle did not require so.

Today, there are successful federal states such as the United States, Australia, Austria, Argentina and Germany. However, they succeed mainly due to political cunning and ethnic homogeneity rather than the success of their respective federal systems.

The US adopted federalism because it was the only way to unite the many petty states into a single country. Some were the result of British colonization; others like Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California were incorporated into the US after its invasion and dismembering of Mexico.

Despite having a federal constitution, the US recognizes only one language, English. Its African-American and Hispanic minorities are spread out across all states so they hardly have the critical mass to unite into a common secessionist movement. Native Americans were relocated onto reservations. These reservations were carefully planned so that they are were either fragmented, surrounded by European populations or span many states such as the Navajo Nation which is spread across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.. Therefore, in case there was a revolt, it could quickly be subdued.

Australia maintains its federal system successfully due to similar reasons. Despite being a federal nation, Germany is nearly homogeneous in ethnicity and language with the exception of Bavaria and miniscule minorities of Sorbs and Frisians. The same can be said about Austria. Argentina is also almost homogeneous with Spanish speaking people of European descent.

Other countries that adopted federalism were not so lucky. The Indian federal model has not succeeded in stopping the 25 or so macro secessionist movements from the Kashmiris to Assamese. A federal constitution in Spain failed to stop the Basque terrorist organization ETA. Belgium is considering a partition after the muddles of its French and Dutch speaking federal deadlock.

Federalism in Canada is a hallmark of political eunachism. The federal government of Canada bent down on its knees on numerous occasions and implemented numerous measures to appease the Quebecers. The Quebecers of Canada can be compared to a crybaby who always cries to get a toy. In this game, the baby that does not cry ends up with nothing. It is much like what we see in our parliament where minority political parties bargain for more ministries by threatening to leave the government.

The strategy of bargaining by threatening to secede worked exceptionally well for the Quebecers. Canada has two official languages English and French. Despite having a negligible French population outside Quebec, everything has to appear in both languages. However, within Quebec this fairness is not shown back to the English speaking minority. Everything from sign boards to education has to be in French.

Despite the Canadian federal government being reduced to a eunuch status within Quebec unable to even put up a sign board in English, secessionist attitudes in Quebec are high and growing. During the referendum in 1980 59.5% opposed secession. In 1995, this value dropped to a razor edge 50.5%.

Ethnocentric political autonomy is the psychological and legal stepping stone for secession. Sri Lanka was pushed by secessionists towards a more ethnocentric de-centralized system. The Provincial Councils are one example. However, neither did the Provincial Councils quell secessionism nor make Sri Lanka better. Today when a road has to be repaired, it's a problem of who owns the road, the Central Government, Provincial Council or Pradeshiya Saba. The same thing comes when it comes to collecting garbage.

The solution for Sri Lanka is to stop all forms of political lunacy and help minorities integrate. Sri Lanka needs more people like Muralitharan, Muththu Sami and Mohideen Beg who integrated while preserving their identity. The Malay people are well integrated and have preserved their ethnic, linguistic and religious identity without any political backing. It is possible to argue that the Malays are recent arrivals but then again the Veddas have preserved their distinction for more than 2500 years!

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