Dreams and dreamers

Friday 29th July, 2022

Humans are born dreamers, and dreams keep them going. But for their propensity for dreaming, they would never have invented the wheel, much less flown. It may be said that life is a process of chasing dreams, with or without success. Grave crises like the one Sri Lanka is experiencing are no doubt the flip side of dreams; they are nightmares, but they do avail some people who are clever or cunning enough to see opportunities therein and make use of them to achieve their dreams. During Wednesday’s Emergency debate in Parliament, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa named some of those who, he said, were contented, having realised their dreams, while the people were undergoing unbearable hardships and crying out for relief.

Insisting that the government had never so much as made a dent in the magnitude of the current economic meltdown, Premadasa said that the prevailing crisis had enabled some persons such as Ranil Wickremesinghe, Dinesh Gunawardena and Susil Premajayantha to realise their dreams. It was thanks to the crisis and its political concomitants that Wickremesinghe, Gunawardena and Premajayantha had secured the presidency, the premiership and the post of the Leader of the House, respectively, but the dreams of all other Sri Lankans had been shattered, Premadasa said.

The Opposition Leader’s line of reasoning, which is tenable, and some home truths he told the House about dreams and dreamers, the abuse of Emergency regulations for political expediency and attacks on democracy must have struck a responsive chord with the resentful public struggling to keep the wolf from the door and fearing for their future. But still one may argue that the government has also enabled the people to realise their dreams—not by making good on its promise to usher in prosperity but by downsizing their dreams, as it were.

Prior to the advent of the current dispensation, people had dreams, big ones at that; they dreamt of acquiring assets such as imposing houses, flashy vehicles and luxuries of life. But today they are dreaming of small amounts of fuel, a few bags of cement, etc., and they succeed in realising their dreams, albeit after days, if not weeks, of waiting! Before the present-day leaders bankrupted the country, cyclists, huffing and puffing, along congested roads, in the scorching sun, dreamt of cars. Today, car owners languishing in fuel queues which the Grim Reaper frequently visits are dreaming of bicycles, which now cost the public an arm and a leg. Most people are using Shanks’ pony, leaving their automobiles at home for want of fuel.

All Sri Lankans who are fed up with the failed government have one big dream. It is an early election; the public is dying to boot out the wily, incompetent politicians who, having achieved their own dreams, are urging others to stop protesting, and make more sacrifices. The government grandees who are rejoicing at the fulfilment of their own dreams, and have adopted a cavalier attitude towards the suffering of the public, had better take notice of what has happened in Iraq.

Thousands of protesters stormed the Iraqi Parliament yesterday despite attempts by the armed forces to stop them. They were seen singing, dancing and lying on the desks of their MPs. Did they emulate their Sri Lankan counterparts who forcibly occupied the President’s House, the Presidential Secretariat, Temple Trees and the Prime Minister’s Office, and made an unsuccessful bid to march on Parliament?

It has been proved once again that the military is no match for the people, who take to the streets, out of desperation, and make a determined effort to protect their rights and freedoms and get rid of parasitic politicians, who are a curse; their patience must not be tested if trouble is to be averted. Mandates past shelf life and jackboots provide no protection to a government that takes people’s expectations for granted and is concerned only about the dreams of its leaders and their kith and kin.