After the great victory by Vickramabahu Karunarathne
THE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE GOVERNMENT! "liberation" war [against the Tamil Tigers] is claimed to be a great success. ASIAN Unfortunately, Tamils generally CALLABORATORS refused to be liberated. They ran away from the Sinhala "liberation" army as if it was the Devil's army advancing on them. Many Tamils have abandoned the Jaffna peninsula altogether, and come to the Vavuniya district. Some half million people have been made into refugees. PA leaders FOREIGN claim that the Tigers forced these people to flee. There is some truth in this. But, in general, people started leaving when they realised that the Tigers were incapable of resisting the attack of a well-equipped traditional army. The moment Tigers started retreating, the exodus started. Obviously, the Tigers did not want only the lame and the Loyal to be left behind: hence the order for everyone to leave. Thus we had the ridiculous spectacle of a Sinhala army "liberating" the virtually empty city of Jaffna from the escaping Tamil people. Whatever Prime Minister Chandrika claims, the reality is that she has occupied the hub of the culture and identity of the Lankan Tamil people sans Tamil people! The purported victory over the Tigers is an illusion. But she has so severely hurt the Tamil that the TULF [Tamil United Liberation Front, the Tamil liberal bourgeois party, has withdrawn its support for the PA. All upper class Tamil intellectuals, like the feminist Radika Kumaraswamy, have broken off their romance with the PA with a sigh of grief. Certainly, this is a defeat for the Tigers. They used to have illusions about their ability to resist the attack of a conventional army. They under-estimated the Sinhala army's potential. We have now seen how, with enough resources, it can become a ferocious military machine. The Tigers also over-estimated the support and sympathy they can mobilise within the imperialist countries. In recent years they have repeatedly claimed that they only represent a national liberation force, and that their heroes are of the Napoleon type. They clearly tried to avoid being classified as Marxists. And they expected Western protection for their "genuine" national liberation struggle. Actually, Chandrika's reform "package", her noises about devolution, and her unwavering support for the IMF "development project" for Sri Lanka enabled her to mobilise military aid from imperialism. Besides, imperialism today is
US - JAPAN IMPERIALISM ANC'S ADB not interested in liberating oppressed nations. All capitalist leaders in the Third World have agreed to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Special economic zones are appearing to facilitate this new international division of labour. And, on top of all this, the Tamils are now accused of helping international troublemakers. It appears that they are now hunted throughout the world. IN THIS ACTUAL SCENARIO, THE TAMILS HAD TO RETREAT, AND the Tamil people were evicted from their famed city. Chandrika agreed that this called for celebrations. The people, burdened by rising prices and vexed by the sell-out to capitalism, did not respond enthusiastically to this call of the racists. But state-sponsored celebrations went ahead, at great expense. This went far beyond a general chauvinist act. Supporters of Deputy Defence Minister, Colonel Anurudha Ratwatta, hope to promote him as an alternative prime minister to replace the ailing Sirimao Bandaranaike, Chandrika's mother. They dug deep in his genealogy to establish a connection to the historic Sinhala war hero Leuke Bandara Deiyo. It is now claimed that the would-be descendent "did the job", while the commanders of the war drive, Generals Gerry de Silva and Rohan Daluwatte, are treated as the errand boys from the South. All this is not only chauvinist, but vulgar and pretentious. After hurting so many people in this manner, Chandrika and her adjutant started clumsy talk about devolution and her famous "package". This The author is a leader of the NSSP (Nava Sama Samaja Party - New Socialist Party), the Sri Lankan section of the Fourth International.
International Viewpoint n° 273 25
* Sri Lanka could only appear to the Tamil nation like an offer of true love from a rapist to his victim. This governmental military victory has multiplied many problems. The war continues, as a protracted guerrilla activity. Half a million Tamils have become refugees. Almost all Tamils are alienated. Chauvinist militaristic forces have gained strength. Last but not least, the burden on the masses has increased many fold.
The rise of the right wing inside the IMPERIALISM Cabinet is shown in the rise of the Minister of Industry, C.V. Gunaratne at the expense of the "liberal" Peiris, presently Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Deputy-Minister of Finance. "CV" is openly supported by a substantial section of the right wing UNP [United National Party] opposition. This has put UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe in crisis. In fact, the rise of right-wing forces within the PA means that the objective need for a Ranil-type UNP has ceased. The UNP will not vanish, but for the moment it is clearly in the margins. THE OPPORTUNIST LEFT IN THE PA IS FEELING THE KICKS ON their backs. They compromised too much on the issue of war, and are now totally incapable of challenging the occupation of Jaffna and the eviction of the Tamil people. However, on the issue of privatisation, there is no way they can back down. All workers' parties in the PA, including Thondaman's CWC [Ceylon Workers' Congress, the dominant force among Tamil plantation workers in Sinhala majority areas], have challenged Chandrika's privatisation plans. In fact, a common campaign has been launched by a joint committee of all sectors under threat. In particular, the Tamil plantation workers of the Maskeliya areas came out on strike against their private sector managers. They demanded 25 days work per month, jobs for their children on the plantations, and a gratuity at retirement. Perfectly reasonable demands. Though plantation management companies' representative Sepala Illangakoon claims that these are "impossible" demands. The "old" bonded labour is on the march, for their destiny and their children. These workers will not relinquish their right to this land without adequate compensation. When the plantations were nationalised, the State undertook to safeguard their right to land and work. The State cannot change this agreement unilaterally. War and racism have temporarily dampened the agitation against privatisation and other dictates of the IMF. But it will certainly gain momentum in the coming period. When that happens, opportunist left leaders may get dragged out, at least for a period. At the moment, while the opportunist left leaders are howling within the PA, Chandrika is using public money to advertise the sell-off of public property. With the rise of militaristic forces, workers also faced new repression and attacks. In many work-places employers used police, and sometimes paid thugs, to drive away protesting workers. Police visited the houses of agitating or striking workers in the middle of the night, to threaten them. Many female workers were threatened in this manner, after employers complained to the police. Police often came in the middle of the night to take workers into 26 January 1995 custody, threatening everyone in the household. Peaceful marches were dispersed. IN THE PARLIAMENT, JVP [PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT MPS consistently spoke and voted against the war, though their party took a dubious position in relation to the devolution of powers to the provinces. At first, they condemned devolution for dividing the country into eight parts (though theoretically they stood for Tamil autonomy). But as the NSSP persisted in raising the question of autonomy and referendum, JVP leaders hastily retreated, and raised the slogan of equality. We had several debates with JVP leader Wimal Weerawanse, who defended their position by claiming that "socialism will resolve the national conflict" But the question remained: if a hypothetical JVP government granted autonomy, which area would come under this home rule? But there has nevertheless been a very important development at their rank and file level. A significant section of JVP membership came over totally to our position. Some took almost an ultra-left position, of uncritical support to the LTTE. The journal Hiru is the indirect voice of this tendency, which is supported by several student leaders from Colombo, Japura, Kelaniya and Peradeniya. In addition, there is dissatisfaction on the way the JVP leadership handled the student struggle during the war period. Only lukewarm support was given to the struggle against war and privatisation. Many JVP members feel that their party has made concessions towards Janatha Mithuro [Friends of the People], the Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalists. Will the JVP break from the racists and come to a revolutionary alliance with the proletarian organisations? This will depend on a number of factors, above all on the strength of the independent workers' movement. ON 13 DECEMBER 1995, THE NSSP PARTICIPATED IN A common campaign to mark Human Rights Day (which fell on 10 December). After a long hesitation, the opportunist left in the PA agreed to a common picket in defence of human rights. But we were unable to agree on a common document. The NSSP insisted that it was essential to condemn the government for its attack on Tamil people, and to demand the withdrawal of the army to allow the self-government of the Tamils. The opportunist left in the PA rejected our requests. Nevertheless, the picket was a success. We marched to Hyde Park, Colombo, where we held our meeting. The opportunists did not participate officially, but over half their people came with us, which exposes the weakness of their leadership. Despite all the setbacks, 13 December was a new beginning for the left alternative. We can expect the movement to grow, both on the political side and on the mass action front. Can the government take a sharp turn towards reforms? Or contain inflation? With the growth of the right wing inside the PA, and the strengthening of the racist militaristic forces, such a scenario is very unlikely. The revolutionary left remains optimistic, though the mood is still against us. * notes 1. The PA is the "popular front" type of coalition that came to power in Colombo, in the summer of 1994. See this author's article in International Viewpoint #264, March 1995
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