Colombo, December 17: Earlier this week, the Sri Lankan cabinet decided to investigate the execution of a young Ceylonese entrepreneur Duenuge Edward Henry Pedris 108 years ago by the British for a crime he did not commit.
Pedris was sent to death by a firing squad for attempted murder.” The shots that he fired in self-defence into a mob that was converging on his shop in Pettah, had only injured a policeman. No one was killed.
Pedris, then only 27, was executed by an army firing squad in Welikade prison on July 7, 1915. The unconscionable execution was part of the widespread repression the British rulers resorted to in order to control the Buddhist-Muslim riots which they suspected were part of a sinister scheme to overthrow them.
Pedris was executed primarily to set an example to those among the newly-emerging Sinhalese-Buddhist elite who had developed a sense of cultural and religious nationalism with a political undertone. However, contrary to the expectation of the British, Pedris’ brutal execution did not frighten the emerging Ceylonese political elite but only spurred them on.
Independent Ceylon remembered the young martyr by naming places after him and issuing a postage stamp in his honor. But the indefensibility of the British decision to execute him was not fully gone into and publicised. This lacuna will now be filled by a three-member cabinet-appointed investigating committee chaired by Anil Gunarathna, a retired Supreme Court Judge.
Pedris as Captain of the Colombo Town Guard
Shooting and Riots
Pedris was from one of the richest families in Ceylon. And like his class, was by no means anti-British. In fact, he was a member of the Colombo ‘Town Guard’, a force raised by the government to help the police in emergencies.
The Sinhala-Muslim riots had started in Kandy at the end of May 1915, and had spread to Colombo. It wreaked havoc in Pettah, the town’s main market. On 1 June, when Pedris was at his shop on Main Street Pettah, a Muslim mob, incensed by the destruction of their shops, was seen advancing towards his shop. Pedris came out, whipped out a gun and fired six shots into the crowd. One of the bullets hit police constable Seneviratne in the head. Seneviratne survived, but the charge of attempted murder was slapped on Pedris.
The police raided his house and seized a cache of arms and ammunition. He was produced before a Court Martial, and sentenced to death. The sentence, grossly out of proportion to the crime, was handed down despite contradictory evidence about the time at which the shooting took place. Further, the trial was held under Martial Law even though the shooting had taken place before Martial Law was imposed.
Appeals for clemency to the Governor Sir Robert Chalmers from the highest personages in Ceylon fell on deaf ears. Chalmers and the Inspector General of Police, Herbert Layard Dowbiggin, wanted to make Pedris’ swift execution a lesson for the other ‘ringleaders’ of the ‘anti-British’ movement such as D.S. Senanayake, F.R.Senanayake, D.B.Jayatilaka, Dr.W.A.de Silva and Dr. C.A. Hewavitharana. Like Pedris, these members of the emerging Ceylonese elite were striving to foster a new cultural nationalism based on Sinhala-Buddhist ideals. They were among 86 leading lights of the anti-drink ‘Temperance Movement’ who were imprisoned in Welikade for ‘waging war against the King’ and abetting the riots against ‘His Majesty’s Moorish (Muslim) subjects.’
Execution
On the day of the execution, at 7.30 a.m., the man in charge, Additional District Judge Arthur Charles Allnut, an Oxford University graduate and a member of the Ceylon Civil Service, lined up the 86 Sinhala-Buddhist notables in the verandah outside L-Hall in Welikade Prison, so that they could watch Pedris walk to his death.
According to Jayasena Dahanayaka, author of Deshabandhu F.R. Senanayake (Vijitha Yapa, 2011), Pedris, dressed in his Town Guard uniform, marched with his head held high and chest forward. At the site of the execution, behind the jail, Pedris was made to sit on a chair. He had just one request to make: he wanted to be shot, not by Christian or European soldiers, but by Asians. Allnut agreed and ordered the men of the 28th Battalion of the Punjab Regiment, which had been brought from India to help quell the riots, to carry out the sentence. Pedris faced the Punjabis fearlessly, rejecting a blindfold offered to him.
Punjabi troops deployed in Ceylon
Sharp at 8 a.m. gunshots rang, signalling the end of the young man. Twenty minutes later, Allnut arrived at L-Hall with a posse of prison staff carrying the blood splattered chair on which Pedris had died. Showing the chair to the Ceylonese leaders lined up there, Allnut declared: Any person who commits an act of treason against the government by forming organizations like the so-called Anti-liquor Movement, will have to die facing such a fate as this.”
An infuriated F.R.Senanayake shot back : Are you such a cowardly and timid nation to shoot one of our young men and bring the chair splashed with his blood? Aren’t you ashamed to parade the results of your foolish and stupid act to us when we are sorrowing at the demise of one of our people? Each drop of blood of this young man Pedris, who I treat as one of my own, should be considered as sacrificed in the name of the nation. If the stream of blood wetting that chair is counted in drops of blood, the British will definitely have to pay compensation.”
The killing of Pedris and the liberal use of the charge of treason in dealing with rioters and suspected instigators made the British very unpopular among the politically conscious sections of Ceylon. Even the British lawyer, Eardley Norton, dubbed this tendency as ‘Treasonitis’, a new disease afflicting Colonial Establishments all over the world.
Edmund Hewavitharana, brother of Buddhist revivalist Don David Hewavitharana (who later became Anagarika Dharmapala) was sentenced to ‘penal servitude’ for inciting a mob to attack ‘Chrystal Palace’ a huge Muslim emporium on Keyzer Street, Pettah. Constable Senanayake was sentenced to death for extorting money and jewellery from a Muslim businessman.
Punishments out of proportion to the crime, such as these, eventually turned the leaders of the social reformist ‘Temperance Movement’ into national political leaders demanding self-rule, albeit in a non-violent, gradualist and constitutional ways. Their efforts culminated in the British withdrawing from Ceylon and D.S. Senanayake becoming independent Ceylon’s first Prime Minister in 1948.
Reasons for excesses
There were several reasons why the British used excessive force to quell the riots. The basic reason was a lack of understanding of what was happening in the socio-cultural, political and economic life of the Ceylonese.
A.C.Dep, the author of Ceylon Police and Sinhala-Muslim Riots of1915, says that the relationship between the British rulers and the people of Ceylon had been as distant in 1915 as it was during the Matale rebellion in 1848 and the Uva uprising in 1818. Very few of the British administrators knew the local languages and customs, though, ironically, the Governor of Ceylon in 1915 was Sir Robert Chalmers, a well-known scholar in Buddhism with academic papers to his credit.
But Chalmers was a bad administrator. Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, who had taken up the cause of the Buddhists and was also close to Chalmers, tried to meet him and persuade him to see the riots in the right perspective, but Chalmers would not see him. Some of Chalmers’ paranoia could be explained by the fact that he had just lost two sons in World War I which was then raging in Europe.
The Inspector General of Police, Herbet Layard Dowbiggin, also showed lack of understanding despite the fact that he came from a family with a long connection with Ceylon. His father was Rev. R.T. Dowbiggin, was a Sinhala scholar who had translated the bible into Sinhala, and taught Christianity to none other than Anagarika Dharmapala, the Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist.
Dowbiggin was a hardworking officer, but he tended to be untrusting in his approach and impetuous in action. The then Army commander Brig. Gen. H.H.L.Malcolm was of the same kind.
According to A.C.Dep, the Governor did not bother to find out from the newly emerging elite, including the Mudaliyars and Muhandirams appointed by them, what was meant by the Sinhala-Buddhist National Movement and National Day,” whether it had any political content. The new elite had also made no attempts to engage the government. They passively looked on as the riots spread, giving the British the impression that they were the behind the scenes instigators.
Governor Sir Robert Chalmers
Crucial Letter
Chalmers and Dowbiggin went by a letter written by a nephew of Ven. Hikkaduwa Sumangala Thera in 1914, which happened to fall into their hands.
The letter said: Advantage should be taken of the present opportunity to obtain our freedom from the manifold hardships we have to put up with at the hands of the heathen and coast Moorman and the Moors of Ceylon, as our object in view can be obtained as the English are at present hampered owing to the war, and because the opposing enemy will render us assistance. That the century of the British occupation of Kandy will be completed on the 2nd of March, 1915, it is the object of our association to take steps to cause rebellion in all the provinces and take possession of Kandy on that day itself.”
Army’s Induction
Since the Ceylon Police were understaffed (According to police historian A.C. Dep, there were only 2600 men in the force and these had to man 132 police stations across the island), troops had to be requisitioned from India. About 300 Indian troops of the 28th Battalion of the Punjab Regiment led by Lt.Col. Chichester were inducted.
With the imposition of Martial Law on 2 June, the police, army and volunteer corps especially the planters’ brigade, went berserk. Shoot at sight orders were issued. Miscarriage of justice took place on large scale.
Although, historically that is the stark truth, we all should be ashamed that nothing had been done to rectify the historical injustices done to our own heroic ancestors in the former Kandyan Kingdom, by the colonial invaders for 443 years by any government that took over the reins of government of this country in 1948, even though 75 years have lapsed, since the invaders have left the shores of the country.
Kandyan Peasantry Commission 1949
Although a Commission called the Kandyan Peasantry Commission was appointed in 1949 by the then Government in an attempt to look in to the problems of Kandyan people (calling them peasants- a social group never existed in this country since the advent of Buddhism in 307 BC), its objectives were limited, To inquire in to the socio-economic conditions of the Kandyan people and make recommendation to ameliorate them” This in my opinion was only a very superficial scratching of a deep rooted national problem manifested by Western colonial plunderers over a long period of nearly 500 years (1505-1948) of brutal and savages colonial destructions of one of the greatest millennia old Eastern civilization.
The KPC never addressed the basic issues of a nation robbed of its natural wealth such as millions of acres of land, its pristine forests and making hundreds of perennial rivers dry and a nation pauperized and culturally poorer due to ruthless colonial exploitations and depredation. The restoration of their lost birth rights and the heritage starting from 1815 up to 1948 was not given any attention. Firstly, by returning their ancestral land to their original owners, the right to restore the premier forests cover destroyed by the invaders on the prime watershed in order to restore the lost physical stability of the nation’s Heartland that led to acute soil erosion and land degradation, and the depletion of water resources and the loss of bio diversity in the geographical heartland of the country. The demographic complication of the presence of a foreign labour force of nearly 1.2 million Indian labour right at the center of the country that would bring about internal demographic, political and socio-economic problems and future geopolitical problems that threatens the political stability of the Island a nation and finally, the reparation of the lost rights of the native Sinhala people, the sons of the land who owned it for millennia
It may be that both the politicians and policy makers of the time had been debarred from looking in to other critical problems like, touching the tea plantations, the issue of the Indian labour and the crimes committed by the British on native Sinhalese, including their war crimes, genocide and murder, their draconian land policies that made thousands of native Sinhalese landless.
To that extent the KPC Report is also an incomplete public record that has failed to do justice by the Kandyan and their land.
What is worse was that even the extensive recommendations made in the KPC Report which made to ameliorate the socio-economic conditions of the Kandyan peasants, were never implemented as recommended and left justice denied to them up to date.
For example even the first and the only 6 Year Plan 1953/54-1959/60 prepared under the findings of the KPC Report 1951 still remains unimplemented fully, due to non-provision of funds and absence of necessary institutional arrangements and more specifically due to objections by some of the so-called low county Sinhala politicians like M.D.H Jayawardha, the then Finance Minister who raised his objections against special treatment for a particular area and a particular group and refused to give allocations. This evinces how the black white rulers have treated their own ancestors of the Kandyan areas, who had died on behalf of them.
The chronic apathy on the part of the Kandyan present day politicians (from 1948 to date) on the other hand who should have fought the battle on behalf of their own people is even worse. The disinterest on the part of all Sinhala politicians in the Parliament, who have no feeling for their country or for their own people who had fought and died to protect this country for them, who were and who are more interested in estate Tamil votes and their own narrow party politics than the destiny of the country and their own Sinhala voters whose ancestors had died in thousands in battle under extremely deplorable and pathetic condition as Davy had mentioned above, to protected this country, for them to do politics today and enjoy the lavish privileges of political life are responsible for this unfortunate situation. (See Annex 111 for details)
Two other eyewashes.
Meanwhile two other political” eyewashes to deceive the Kandyans, were also made in recent times by the same genre of politicians who were never committed to rehabilitate the Kandyan areas.
The first was the formation of the Udarata Development Authority under Act no 26 of 2005. This was closed down on Jan 1st 2014 by Minister Basil Rajapaksa to from his own pet project Divineguma.
The second attempt was made in 2017 to form an Authority called a Statutory Board for the protection of Kandyan Heritage. Those who sponsored this were also never concerned about the rehabilitation or the welfare of the people. This Authority has no final Cabinet approval or an Act passed by the Parliament up to date. But it continues to operate rather illegally in the Kandy town in a rented-out building paying a monthly rental of Rs 1.2 million spending millions of public funds, looking after their own benefits.
A Nations Indebtedness to Kandyans
The whole nation is eternally indebted to the Kandyans who sacrificed their lives for 443 years on behalf of the Motherland and its people which enabled us to have a country to live today.
This sums up the 75 years of an appalling and tragic story of how the successive governments since 1948 have treated the brave and patriotic sons of the soil who had fought and died in battle in thousands to liberate this country, from three western colonial enemies for, four centuries and forty-three years.
Therefore, the crying need and the timeliness for formulating, and implementing a comprehensive rehabilitation and development Programme, for the Kandyan areas to uplift these forgotten, neglected and betrayed sons of the soil whose ancestors have protected this land by paying with their lives in thousands for us to live today in our beloved motherland and to do justice to these neglected people at least now, though belated.
It is on behalf of these patriotic freedom fighters who died on our behalf for 443 years and their victimized and destitute decedents who are landless, poverty stricken and therefore helpless, today, I am making this request for their rehabilitation, reparation and upliftment in order to do justice by a patriotic generation of people.
Needless to say, the whole nation is eternally indebted to the Kandyans who sacrificed their lives on behalf of the Motherland and the posterity.
At the same time there is also a legitimate and moral need to rectify the historical injustices done to the country and the people as a whole.
First, by the colonial invaders, more specifically by the British by way of reparation and an open apology for the destruction and devastations done to this country and its people.
Second, by our own politicians who succeeded the colonial rulers in 1948 for the criminal negligence committed by them on their own people who protected a country for 443 years for us to live up to date.
The area proposed to be taken up for rehabilitation and development under this Authority covers 1/3 the total area of the Island also with a beneficiary population of 1/3 the total population of the country.
Proposed Political and Administrative mechanism to implement this programme.
1. A proposal to establish
A powerful Ministry of Kandyan Rehabilitation, Development and Protection under the Head of the State as proposed by the Kandayan Peasantry Commission Report of 1951
2. A Kandyan Areas Rehabilitation, Development and Protection Authority of Sri Lanka under the above Ministry as the Agency in charge of carrying out the activities of the Master plan
The mandate of the Kandyan area Rehabilitation, Development and Protection Authority are as follows.
1.First,
To complete the recommendations made for rehabilitation under the Rehabilitation and the Development programme given in the first six-year plan made under the Report of the KPC 1951.
2.Second, to complete the other recommendations of the KPC Report 1951.
3.Third, to carry out a comprehensive socio-economic development programme through an intensive and sustainable agricultural livestock, small and medium industries and tourist development program geared to employment and income generation within the rural sector on 1/3 the total area of the Island with a view to raising the standard of living of nearly 7 million people there by rescuing them from abject poverty and discrimination.
4.Fourth,
To implement a comprehensive infra structure development programme like roads, irrigation facilities (anicuts, village tanks and canals ect) hospitals and Ayurvedic centers, schools, multipurpose cooperatives with banking facilities, Agrarian service centers, marketing facilities, and postal facilities etc throughout the project area.
(See Annex 1V for details.)
5.Fifth,
To implement a Settlement Development programme to settle 250,000 families within the areas between 1000-3500ft msl in the above three Provinces and in the selected Divisional Secretary Divisions mentioned in para 2 to solve critical socio-economic problems prevailing in these areas such as landlessness, unemployment and abject poverty rampant and acute. This settlement and development package is based on the NADSA Development model implemented in the Districts of Kandy and Kegalla (1985-1991) that was extended to Monaragala, Badulla, Rathnapura, Nuwaraeliya from the year 1992, after its resurrection with a 12.5 m us$ WFP package obtained by me as its then Executive Director under the new name HADABIMA Authority of Sri Lanka)
The original NADSA project (National Agricultural Diversification and Settlement Authority was confined to Kandy and Kegalla Districts, was a UNDP project started in 1978 August with the three-fold objectives of
1 Watershed Protection (management)
2 Settlement Development and
3 Agricultural Diversification
In addition to these objectives the new proposal is also geared to employment and income generation within the rural sector. leading to overall socio-economic development in the country.
6.Sixth,
To initiate a program of returning the lands of native leaders confiscated by the British to their legitimate inheritors. (See Annex 1V 12)
8. Seventh
This will be followed by a call for reparation, compensation and apology from the British government both for natives and Indian estate labour who had been exploited to the rim under most inhuman treatment. (See Annex 1V 10&11)
9 And finally,
To engage in any other activity the Authority deems appropriate to meet the lost rights and grievances of these great people and improve the standards of life of the permanent residents of the selected Divisional Secretaries Areas.
‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’
e-Con e-News 10-16 December 2023
One objective of the USA’s ‘colour revolution’ in Sri Lanka aka ‘Aragalaya’ has been achieved – mission accomplished! The Sri Lankan & Indian Navies are now operating under USA-England’s Combined Maritime Force (CMF). Midst lots of blabber about ‘nonalignment’ and ‘strategic neutrality’ etc, we are about to end up embroiled in white military (naval) attacks on the Western IOR (Indian Ocean Region), already stalked by the US Central Command. This could immediately mean fighting against Ansarullah (which BBCysts call Houthi) of Yemen, against Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, and potentially against Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, and even Palestinian Liberation Movements. They aim to use us as cats’ paws to claw at our neighbors.
So, what was the media headlining while this Anglo-US takeover was being effected? Readers can check our past ee NewsIndexes to verify this: The media was jabbering about Chinese ‘spy’ ships, about protracted kerfuffle between the headline-grabbing Minister of Justice and the National Aquatic Resources Research & Development Agency (NARA) over control of the mapping of the country’s ocean floor, about Tamil Nādu’s incessant poaching, and about the rare interceptions of their dangerous drugs and fake medicines (which are yet flooding the country), etc. How we can intercept contraband when allied to the main drug dealers of the world (of English Opium Wars & US Golden Triangles, anyone?) remains a mystery? It was also pointed out this week that the international (read: English) media ‘without hesitation categorizes all Chinese research vessels as spy ships’.
The CMF is commanded by a US Navy Vice Admiral, who also serves as Commander, US Naval Forces Central Command (Navcent) and US Navy 5th Fleet (stalking the Persian Gulf, Red Sea & Arabian Sea). All 4 commands are based at US Naval Support Activity (NSA) in colonized Bahrain. CMF’s Deputy Commander is an English Royal Navy Commodore who recently visited Sri Lanka, again rather hush-hushedly.
So, what’s going on? Wasn’t SWRD Bandaranaike murdered for also kicking the English navy out of Trincomalee & Katunayake? So, is this the end of ‘flag & anthem’ independence… of ‘briefcase independence’? (see ee Random Notes, US Navy)
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• He likes to play the baba: this University of Colombo Professor S Abeyratne. ee used to mock him as Reductio Ad Abeyratne, for his ability to condense any and all trivia into the utopian talking points demanded by the white embassies: rule of law, corruption, free trade, etc. He writes a weekly column in the President’s family rag The Sunday Times. ‘Endless bribes & commissions from top to bottom’ are required to do business in Sri Lanka, he wails this week, saying villagers impudently ask, ‘What do I get? – Mata Monavadha Lebenne?’ when private businesses are set up in their communities – in this case on Temple Lands!
He’s such a baba, but then so are the rest of these 5th-column economists. They rather attack Sinhala (nay, all Black peoples & countries) as somehow genetically corrupt. Someone should ask Mistuh Abeyratne why the English embassies (England, South Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) in Sri Lanka call their chief agents, High Commissioners. Is it cos they take the highest commissions? Monavadha Oonta Lebenne? – What do they get? This he can’t & won’t, and is simply not allowed to, say.
The USA speaks its own variable English, and calls their siccarios, Envoys (from the French for ‘on the way’, perhaps to invade!). The English & their settler colonies as well as kalusuddha colonies (India, etc) are more honest – if we choose to explore or rather excavate their English – an English never taught in our obese & flatulent English departments. These – D’Oyly’s great-grand-spawn – have never heard of England’s industrial revolution, nor of their de-industrialization of our world. This ee continues examining the metasizing of imperialist ‘supranational’ institutions under the guise of ‘aid’ and ‘development’. Premier among them is the Crown Agents Office in Sri Lanka set up way back in 1833:
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‘The Office of the Crown Agents (OCA)
was the English empire’s middleman:
if colonial governments needed to buy something,
they set it up. Under the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
it then managed colonial investments and the supply
of all non-locally made goods, as well as supervising
construction projects & paying colonial officers’ salaries & pensions’
(ee Focus)
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• This ee charts the evolution of the OCA into England’s Commonwealth Development Corporation, originally called the Colonial Development Corporation, to use exports from colonies to pay off the vast US loans that funded their 20th century world wars. The term ‘development’ was a cunning corporate 1950s advertising strategy led by Unilever in Africa to justify the continued dominance of companies closely linked to the English empire. Think of all the government ministries who sport the title ‘development’ now, think of the names of NGOs & banks (eg, World Bank’s real name, IBRD). This ee unearths the origins of imperialism’s fake aid business in England’s Crown Agent Office (OCA); the US World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which under the guise of ‘poverty reduction’, is behind several so-called ‘commercial banks’ in Sri Lanka; the USA’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which makes electricity expensive for people yet diverts it inexpensively to tourist hotels, the UN’s ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ which talk of ending ‘poverty everywhere’ and providing ‘quality education for all’ but insists on teaming up with big businesses (aka IMF).
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• This ee looks at the close corporate links with NGOs and continues our charting of the corporate coup d’etat to overthrow ‘independent’ governments. In Sri Lanka, this attack is led by Unilever, one of the largest corporations in the world, who not only has captured our home market, but also controls our media. ee therefore examines the colonial origins of Unilever and the devastation it has left in its path; and also looks at the setup of an international legal system to control and plunder the resources of the world, and overthrow governments that challenge corporate domination. This involves, the ‘nefarious alliance’ between so-called NGOs like Care USA, Save the Children, Oxfam etc & corporations (Unilever also claims to be an NGO!). They all seek to promote profit over justice, weakening labor laws and eviscerating workers’ protections & rights. To enforce this predatory behavior, MNCs have created a global Supreme Court (ICSID) and are raising & funding private mercenary militias (death squads) to crush labor movements, and intimidate & murder activists. Welcome to the age of perpetual war and full spectrum dominance: Gaza is meant to show us their ways…
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‘Hotels, catering to foreigntourists,
bask in the luxury of subsidised electricity,
paying a mere Rs28/unit, while ordinary households
over 181 units monthly face a peak-time tariff of Rs106/unit’
The concern with Pathirana’s critique is that he naively absolves the IMF of culpability by suggesting that the IMF demanded direct taxes. IMF staff, however, know full well that in order to meet their ambitious fiscal targets in short order, indirect taxes are the easiest to collect for governments. Taxing the rich would require stringent capital controls & a strong government which IMF-supported policies have happily eroded over the past decades.
Education is surely an essential, but education for what? More arts & humanities graduates to bloat government bureaucracy? More lawyers, doctors, nurses & technical workers to immigrate to the white West? In a way, funding road & infrastructure is more productive as it at least provides livelihoods for rural workers.
It is true that taxes are low & tax holidays are excessive in Sri Lanka. But anyone who calls themselves Marxist has to ask why this is the case. It cannot just be due to the unique meanness of the Sri Lankan ruling class. It is a reflection of very low levels of productivity, requiring tax cuts to maintain profits.
High interest payments are specifically due to the high exposure to private debt. Sections of this pseudo-Left jumped on the anti-China debt-trap narrative and helped manufacture consent for further exposure to private debt in 2015. Unlike Chinese debt, there are no records or corresponding assets of the way higher private-US-vulture-bank ISB debt has been used!
The purpose of state-led industrialization is not just to correct market failures, but to actually build the home market, which would ensure further industrial advance, particularly in the countryside
Finally, Pathirana refers to so-called ‘independent trade unions’. ‘Who are they ‘independent’ of? Are they those that met with US & EU ambassadors & their agents in the lead-up to the 2015 Yahapalana mess and/or during 2018’s so-called ‘coup’, or during the Aragalaya, which delivered us to the IMF? Are they just independent of mass political parties, and therefore of the people? Does their leadership reflect the social character of the membership? Do they derive their funding from members, or from foreign NGOs & CIA-backed ‘unions’ like the AFL-CIO? Do they represent the productive workers of the countryside? Or are they simply a small urban enclave representing the interests of government bureaucracy & the neocolonial service sector?
Recall that some of these so-called independent unions were linked to certain sectarian fellow-travelers in various ‘international’ unions, all, if not mostly, based in Europe or the US. Most of whom supported the US & EU & English wars on Iraq, Syria, Libya, Palestine, etc.
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• ee also reproduces the criticisms by the Nicholas father-&-son tag team, of the new Central Bank Act (CBA). They point out it is Washington (metonym for the powerful US state) who demanded that the IMF release funds only after passage of the new Act. The old Central Bank Act of 1950, also being a US Federal Reserve creation, has now outlived its purpose. The Nicholases also record that another NATO-faithful economist & WG columnist WA Wijewardena recalls that the current governor of the Central Bank, Nandalal Weerasinghe, a former IMF stipendiary, stenographed this US demand for a new CBA, much earlier on, during the 2015 US-misbegotten Yahapalana regime, while working under Governor – now criminal fugitive – Arjuna Mahendran.
At this moment when the new pro-NATO President of Argentina, as a candidate wielded a chainsaw to indicate his anarcho-corporatist intentions for their Central Bank, the next government should not just amend the new CBA, but abolish the existing US-sculpted Central Bank, which SBD de Silva pointed out, has always opposed the independence of the country, from day one. They should establish a new People’s Bank to directly finance heavy industry and put the current Governor on public trial – along with his old boss Mahendran hiding out in rule-of-law Singapore, who CNN easily located & interviewed when the US dislodged the last President Gotabhaya Rajapakse!
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• And speaking of Argentina, well known for its animal husbandry, wool, etc, this ee Focus continues sharing the Communist Party of Sri Lanka’s Alternate Program: this week examining Livestock & Dairy. Until JR Jayawardena’s post-1977 ‘open economic’ policies promoting imports, local milk production could fulfil 80% of Sri Lanka’s milk consumption needs. Now Sri Lanka produces only 45% of the demand for milk & related products. So, in a country where parents consider providing milk and milk-related products to their children as a mandatory obligation, what is to be done?
We should point to a curious lacuna, though. The failure to address what SBD de Silva called Staple Base Dynamism (SBD!) This refers to the practice allowed in the settler colonial countries, where primary staples were developed through dynamic rural industrial processes: milk to yoghurt to cheese, etc; wheat to flour to bread and desserts, and industrial chemicals, etc. Nonetheless, ee is pleased to continue our coverage of the CPSL’s program, of matters rarely well-detailed in other party programs (see ee Focus).
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Contents:
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A1. Reader Comments –
• ee Fires up • MAS’ Israeli & South African Directors • CPSL Program is Cool • Colombo’s Eco Ice Waste • Kissinger the Only War Criminal?
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A2. Quotes of the Week –
• IPKF Follies • SJB’s Ranil-run Economics • LNT Mendis & CPSL • White Riots & Cuban Protests • Liberals are the Real Face of US Imperialism • Boeing’s Bedded Presidential Candidates • Israel’s Radiation Wall • Hollywood Avoids Napoleon’s Real Rise & Fall • Napoleon & Proletariat • Fake Optimistic US Indicators
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A3. Random Notes –
• Sri Lanka & India under US Navy • JVP Goes NutFlix • IMF’s Austerity Budget Means • Was Kissinger or Obama Worse? • Lanka-Japan Friendship • Bureau Veritas’ Tech Imports • Sim’s Chemical Imports
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B. ee Focus –
• B1. Taxing the Impoverished to Reward the Rentiers – Budget 2024: Dhanusha Pathirana
• B2. A future government should significantly amend the Central Bank Act – Part I: The Nicholases
• B3. Colonial History of Aiding Unilever & NGOs under Cover of Development
• B4. Livestock & Dairy & Idirimagen Idiriyata: Alternate Program of Communist Party of Sri Lanka, Pt10
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C. Building Blocks –
• Guaranteed Rice Price for Industrialization • Creation of a Home Market for Industry • Japan’s Limits on Industrial Exports • Smallholding & Science • Extraordinary Culture of Machine Tools • Making Central Banks Independent of the People? • On State-owned Enterprises & Privatization
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D. News Index
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A1. Reader Comments
ee thanks Readers who send articles of interest. Please excerpt or summarize what is important about any news sent, or your comments, and place any e-link at the end. Email: econenews@gmail.com
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• ‘I get fired up with all sorts of good ideas after reading through ee. But there needs to be more continuity with the themes.’
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• ‘There are no Sinhala directors on the MAS Board. However, they have an Israeli Jew and a White South African. Maybe that’s what they mean by diversity, inclusivity & equality – DIE!’
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• ‘It’s cool that ee is reproducing the Communist Party’s alternate program. Last week, I learned lots about Sri Lanka’s rivers, that I never knew before.’
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• ‘Colombo has a new ice rink called Eco Ice. Where do these people live? Perhaps it’s export-substitution. You don’t have to travel to subarctic Canada or Sweden to experience deep freeze. But at what cost? How cynical to call it ‘eco’? Especially when the country may experience furthers power cuts after the US escalates wars in West Asia.’
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• ‘Why has the capitalist press found Kissinger a war criminal only after his death? When he was calling the shots, all were with him.’ (see ee Quotes & Random Notes)
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A2. Quotes of the Week_
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• ‘In the final analysis, [India’s] highly professional foreign service officers carry out their briefs from headquarters, keeping aside their personal reservations, if any. As Counsellor in our embassy in Bonn (West Germany), my ambassador DS Kamtekar summoned me one afternoon to give me a cable which had just arrived from Delhi regarding the decision to deploy the IPKF to Sri Lanka. Kamtekar, an extraordinarily cerebral mind, asked me with a twinkle in his eye what I thought of the GoI decision, since I had only recently completed my 3-year assignment in Colombo as 1st Secretary (Political). I told the ambassador in brutal frankness that the decision was a monumental folly, as Sri Lankans were sure to close ranks against us & evict us eventually. Nonetheless, we did a fine job and briefed German officials exactly on lines Delhi wanted. That is the wonder that was India.’
– Bhadrakumar (ee Sovereignty, Diplomatic blow to India as Biden turns down invite)
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• SJB’s Ranil-run Policies – ‘The SJB economic platform represents policy continuity with Ranil, not change. The Harsha-Eran economic model has 5 pillars which make it morphologically Ranilian: 1) Renewed access (through an IMF rubber-stamp) to the foreign money markets, ie, a return to the original addiction. 2) A castrated Central Bank incapable of state intervention to offset external shocks, ie, do a Mahathir. 3) Unilateral rewriting of the Social Contract in favour of foreign & local big capital, by scrapping labour & land reform laws. 4) Unfettered, maximum – not optimum – privatisation & foreignisation of the economy, deleting the state & cooperative sectors. 5) Retention of the 2017 foreign exchange law which facilitates outflow and loss to the country of hard currency earnings.
Weighed-down by the albatross of Harsha’s Economic Blueprint, Sajith is handicapped in 2024 in his ability to compete with the JVP-NPP by losing the liability of a UNP profile as Ranasinghe Premadasa so easily did in 1988.’ – Dayan Jayatilleka (ee Economists, Sajith-Ranil equation, Opposition Alliance, Tamil Question & Foreign Policy)
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• ‘LNT Mendis was a Marxist until his death. Of the old traditional school. As a young undergraduate at University College, Colombo, in 1940, he became a founder member of the-then Ceylon Communist Party headed by SA Wickremasinghe. He always worked for the state. He abhorred the very thought of ever working for the private sector. Starting as an elections officer, he went through being Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services at the time Phillip Gunawardene’s Paddy Lands Act was operating at its zenith, to serving the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (being one of the pioneers with Sam Silva, James Lanerolle & former Auditor-General Wijesuriya in 1961), to heading the Oils & Fats Corporation and the Building Materials Corporation that he set up under the Ministry of Housing & Construction with Pieter Keuneman as minister in the mid-1970s. He prematurely retired as Senior Asst Secretary of his Ministry.’ – Susirith Mendis (from FB)
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• ‘Given how the facts are communicated, a paradox arises: if the incidents occur in Europe or the USA, they are riots; if they happen in Cuba, we are dealing with a civic protest against the regime”. If the demonstrators are European or US citizens, they are rioters or violent criminals, to whom the law must be rigorously applied; if they are Cubans, they are activists, fighters for democracy” etc.’ – ee Media, Double standards & new protest linguistics
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• ‘Contrast Kissinger to the ideological maniacs of ‘US democracy & human rights’ in power today who are responsible for far more carnage, death and destruction than him. I recommend anyone take a trip to DC. You may think that the face of US imperialism is some ruthless, cold-hearted pragmatist – but it’s the opposite. It’s ‘bleeding heart’ liberals willing to spill the blood of children to pursue their idealistic fantasies.
I reject this ‘universal celebration’ not because I think Kissinger is defensible. To be clear, he is a criminal with blood on his hands. I reject the ‘universal celebration’ where John Fetterman advisors, Biden campaign staff, ‘democratic socialists,’ liberal UkroNazi-NAFO supporters, ‘anarchists’ and young idealistic liberal interns for the US State Dept & other vermin – join alongside self -proclaimed ‘Communists’ & ‘anti-imperialists’ to hold hands, sing together, feel good about themselves, and throw a party together.
This is just sanitized Hollywood Leftism that is completely inauthentic and distracts from the fact that imperialism’s most aggressive champions are in fact maniacal ideologists like themselves, not cold-hearted realists.
It reminds one of the ‘humanitarians’ in the state dept who – while concretely fully supporting ‘Israel’ – engage in ‘humanitarian’ platitudes as a fake attempt to show sympathy to Gaza (while ‘condemning Hamas’). This actually helps imperialism by giving it a mask of principled ideological consistency.
In reality, the bloodshed of Gaza proves the irredeemability of the US ‘rules based’ world order!’ – ee Sovereignty, Not Sorry for Ruining the Fun
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• ‘In general, I don’t think we want capitalism & democracy to share the same bed anymore. It’s time for a clean divorce. Let companies be companies but I don’t like the crony capitalism. This dates back a long time in both parties.
And I think that we need to end the lobbying, and I personally believe that if you have been working in the Government, you should not lobby that Government for 10 years. If you have been a government-elected official, doing deals with companies, be they Boeing or be they pharmaceutical companies, you should not join the board of that company for 10 years after.
The former chair of the FDA, the Commissioner of the FDA, ended up on the board of Pfizer. Nikki Haley did deals for Boeing and ends up on the board of Boeing. I don’t care if it is a Republican or Democrat, we need some basic principles that end the corruption in Government. That’s how we got the health insurance exemptions. That’s how we got the pharmaceutical liability exemptions. We need to end the corruption.’ – Vivek Ramaswamy, ee Industry, ‘Mr. Trump Says He is Very Proud of Operation Warp Speed: Should He Be?’
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• ‘The neutron bomb was invented in 1958 by Samuel Cohen of the Livermore Laboratory of California and then RAND. In 1984 he proposed that Israel construct a neutron radiation wall around the country. ‘What I am suggesting is the construction of a border barrier whose most effective component is an extremely intense field of nuclear radiation (produced by the operation of underground nuclear reactors), sharply confined to the barrier zone, which practically guarantees the death of anyone attempting to breach the barrier. Establishing such a nuclear wall” at the borders of a threatened country can make virtually impossible any successful penetration by ground forces – as well as a preemptive ground attack by the threatened country’.’ – ee Sovereignty, New Evidence that Israel is Using a New Uranium Weapon – Make that the Neutron Bomb
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• ‘The Hollywood movie has no real explanation of why Napoleon rose to the top in the French revolution, why he won his battles and why he lost the war in the end… France may have occupied Europe, but England had the colonies of the USA, Canada, Africa, India, & Asia behind it. England, based on its international trade, could mobilize more economic resources, raw materials and labour than France. In a prolonged war, England could survive longer and better than France.’
‘The workers who dug the canals, raised the triumphal arches and manned the factories were not allowed to go on strike, or to form unions to bargain for better working conditions or higher pay. However, Napoleon’s government saw to it that wages should keep abreast of prices, that bakers & butchers & manufacturers were under state price regulation, and that – especially in Paris – the necessaries of life should be supplied. Until the last years of Napoleon’s rule, wages rose faster than prices and the proletariat shared (modestly) in the general prosperity, proud of Napoleon’s victories. There was no unemployment, so no political revolt. ‘Nobody is interested in overthrowing a government in which all the deserving are employed,’ said the great man.’ – Roberts (ee Economists, Napoleon’s War Economy)
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• ‘The economic indicators that the optimists and mainstream economics single out to judge the health of a capitalist economy are mainly ‘lagging’ indicators. They look at employment, consumer spending, GDP and prices. But Marxist theory tells us that what drives capitalist economies first is profits; then profits as invested in productive investment (this raises productivity of labour & output, not invested in fictitious capital like stocks & bonds); and only then does investment & production growth feed down to employment, wages & consumer spending. And when we look at these forward looking indictors of the US economy, it is not so rosy.’ – Roberts (ee Economists, Goldilocks & the last mile)
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A3. Random Notes (‘Seeing Number in Chaos’) _
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• Sri Lanka & India under US Navy – In July 2022 the Indian Navy quietly joined the USA’s Combined Maritime Force (CMF) based in colonized Bahrain. It didn’t get much media in India, for it was ‘buried 12 paragraphs deep in the joint statement issued at the end of the India-US 2+2 dialogue in Nov 2023’, in a 3-line paragraph that says less than what it means: ‘The Ministers welcomed India’s full membership of the multinational Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) headquartered in Bahrain.’ The apparent hush-hush is due to: ‘A Shift in Policy as India Joins Multinational Force Not Led by UN’ (see ee Sovereignty).
On 2 Oct 2023, English Deputy Commander Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), Commodore (Royal Navy) Philip Edward Dennis, based in colonized Bahrain, called on SL Navy Commander Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera in Colombo. Deputy Chief of Staff & Director General Operations, Rear Admiral Pradeep Rathnayake, Naval Assistant to the Commander of the Navy & Chief Hydrographer of the SL Navy Hydrographic Service, Commodore Kosala Warnakulasooriya, Defence Advisor at the English High Commission in Colombo, Colonel Darren Woods, et al, were also reported present.
Midst media diversion about battles between Minister of Justice Wijedasa Rajapakse and the National Aquatic Resources Research & Development Agency (NARA), the US Army Pacific Deputy Commander entered Sri Lanka ‘unheralded’, reported ee (18 Nov 2023). US Envoy Yatathvijitha Koreavay Julie Chung twitted on Nov 16 that she ‘welcomed Major General Christopher Smith, Deputy Commanding General of the US Army Pacific to explore ways to enhance our US-SL security partnership… ensuring a secure Indo-Pacific region. ee also noted that India & USA were moving ‘to grab Oceanic Surveys around Sri Lanka’.
On 20 November 2023, Sri Lanka joined the USA’s Combined Maritime Forces in West Asia as its 39th Member. ‘We are excited to have Sri Lanka as part of CMF,’ said Vice Adm Brad Cooper, CMF commander, calling it a ‘growing international naval coalition in the Middle East, which protects some of the world’s most important waterways. The naval partnership upholds the international rules-based order (except in Palestine etc) by supporting security & stability across 3.2mn sq.mi of water encompassing some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.’
On 4 December, the Indian Navy marked its Navy Day, which commemorates India’s attack on Karachi harbour during the 1971 War under ‘Operation Trident’. India’s navy is also gearing up to host its largest multilateral exercise Exercise Milan in Feb 2024, with over 50 countries, ‘to assist countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) as the first responder & Preferred Security Partner. The Indian Navy conducts 17 multilateral and 20 bilateral exercises annually. The last edition of Milan was held off Visakhapatnam with over 40 countries.
Apparently, India’s Mobile Training Teams (MTT) have undertaken Operational Sea Checks of ships from ‘2 friendly countries’ – Sri Lanka & South Africa at Gokanna (aka Cheena Varaaya aka Trincomalee) & Cape Town. INS Nireekshak also conducted mix gas diving training for Sri Lankan Navy personnel in Trincomalee, in 2022-23.
Indian Navy Survey Ships have also conducted several hydrological surveys in Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Maldives, and Mauritius, as well as joint Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) surveillance, as ‘requested’ by Indian Ocean littoral states such as Maldives, Seychelles, and Mauritius. And these are not spy ships, apparently.
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• ‘See the venue AKD has chosen to showcase his ‘knowledge’ of the music industry, of global supermarkets and Netflix: Uda Dumbara, a sleepy mountainous area inhabited by impoverished paddy, vegetable & highland cultivators!
AKD should be taught about the speech given by China’s Premier Zhou Enlai at a forum on literary & artistic creations & screenplay writing in 1961. Zhou delineated physical & intellectual production and discussed class struggle & united front, to whom art & literature serve, development laws, heritage, creation & leadership in art & literature.
Before uttering unscientific nonsense AKD should learn the ideas expressed by Marx, Engels and Lenin on art & literature, and Chairman Mao’s treatises on art & literature which have a profound relevance to countries in the East.
Has AKD written any theoretical essay? If the JVP claims that it is a Marxist party, what extraordinary profound knowledge of Marx do they have, of the ability to apply Marxism-Leninism to the economic and political situation of Sri Lanka? Is it able to unite Marxist parties and circles into a single unit giving it political leadership? It is an affront to Lenin if we try to describe what Lenin did before the Great October.
What ideological struggle do AKD & JVP/NPP wage against the SLPP, UNP, SJB & other splinter groups, except calling all of them horas? Is he criticizing their political & economic programs? What work have they done to unite Marxist groups & circles when it is not banned, at a time of enjoying democratic rights without any police persecution?
What change – if the JVP is not using the term ‘Revolution’ – is the JVP going to bring about? Is it a bourgeois-democratic revolution as Lenin put forward in his Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution or A Phase of New Democracy as expounded by Mao? Both leaders said the Proletariat – Working Class – Communist Party must be the leader. Is the JVP or NPP such a party becoming the leader of the bourgeois democratic or new democratic revolution?
Giving an interview to the Sunday Times, AKD had stated that his party’s aim will be a ‘Pohosath Janathawak – Pohosath Ratak’ (Rich People – Rich Country). All are hackneyed phrases (like ‘engine of economic growth’), nothing new in what he says; we have heard all this from all people who sought a mandate from people since Independence. These so-called engines are like the different types of locomotives the Ceylon Government Railways (CGR) has imported from its inception, which still cannot provide an efficient and effective service to commuters! What kind of ‘economic democracy’ AKD imagines, we do not know.
How is AKD going to make people ‘rich’ is the biggest question. ‘Rich’ in what? They are ‘rich’ in rhetoric. In words, not deeds. It seems that AKD is thinking that statecraft – with apologies to Mao – is ‘a dinner party or writing an essay or painting a picture or doing embroidery’.
If the JVP/NPP assumes that they will come to power very soon, in preparation to hold power we advise them to read and understand Lenin’s essays Impending Catastrophe & How to Combat It and One of the Fundamental Questions of Revolution (Collected Works – Vol25).’ – ee Politics, Janus-faced JVP: False Conceptions & the Harini Amarasuriya Factor
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• Analyzing Sri Lanka’s 2024 Annual Budget – ‘Over the last 7 or 8 months our economic policymaking has been almost on autopilot – we have just been following the IMF benchmarks and what there is in the World Bank Country Partnership Framework. These are 4-year term agreements and programs and the government really doesn’t seem to be thinking about how to get either the people or the economy out of this crisis except through this IMF path, and austerity is very much a part of it. And by austerity, I mean that there is very little government expenditure for people and programs, and even investment for that matter. Along with that, their vision is one of serving commercial interests – about what is best for business, what is best for the private sector and more importantly over the last 4.5 decades not just in Sri Lanka all over the world, Finance Capital has been dominant, big finance, the banking sector and as we all know Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt last year and much of that debt is owed to powerful bondholders, hedge funds, western pension funds, insurance companies who buy Sri Lanka’s debt, and this budget is focused on repaying them their debt and then creating a climate in Sri Lanka where those who might be interested in taking forward commercial interests are given all sorts of goodies.’ – ee Economists, Analyzing Sri Lanka’s 2024 Annual Budget with Ahilan Kadirgamar
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• Was Kissinger or Obama Worse? – ‘What is notable in the current moment, in the moralizing obituary circuit, is the framing that Kissinger was somehow uniquely evil & murderous – a moral cancer on the US body politic – and that he personally shifted US policy in this direction.
The Wickedest Man Alive – This ‘exceptional war criminal’ framing is especially promoted by the Imperial Liberal Press, in particular the Overton window gatekeepers such as The Nation, DemocracyNow!, NY Times, and Washington Post.
These sources draw liberally from the Bishop of Bombast, Christopher Hitchens, who described Kissinger as a ‘one-man rolling crime wave’, and his actions as ‘the wickedest thing ever done in American political history’, a moral crisis and stain on US politics. But is this characterization correct?
Kissinger had his fingerprints all over Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, East Timor, Chile, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cyprus, implementing or greenlighting horrific, genocidal-politicidal atrocities. But these actions were not sui generis nor were they uniquely Kissingerian. They had already been templated, foreshadowed, & rehearsed for by previous US policies, long before the realpolitiking Kissinger had laid his felonious fingers on the reins of foreign policy. Korea (1948-53), Indonesia (1965-66) and the Philippines (1899-1902) are some key exemplars.
Gaza Covered with Snow – In the case of Korea, 20% of the population were killed, according to General Curtis LeMay, who designed and conducted the bombing campaign. What had been done tactically to individual cities – Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima – was concretized as continuous strategy for Korea: 635,000 tons of bombs, more than the entire Pacific bombing campaign, dropped in endless sorties of high explosives, cluster bombs & napalm over an entire country.
To get a contemporary image of this, take the worst bombing of Northern Gaza – already unimaginable and unthinkable in its sheer, atrocious barbarity – imagine, eg, the devastation of the Jabaliya refugee camp – and then double the intensity of that bombing, and then magnify the theater of bombing 800-fold. Add in endless napalm and time-delayed cluster bombs – to kill anyone who tried to rescue survivors – then you have a small sense of what Korea went through. Then add snow: Korea borders Siberia, and temperatures can drop to -25 degrees Celsius. If you were bombed and somehow survived the shredding of your flesh by cluster bomb shrapnel, or its incineration by napalm, there’s a good chance you would die from exposure to cold under an open sky, as the US rolled out massive air strikes in the month of November, 73 years ago. And still, if you survived all this, and had dug yourself into subterranean shelter, you could have been drowned later when irrigation and hydroelectric dams were attacked, and entire valleys inundated with flooding, while subjected to threats of biological & chemical weapons.’ – see ee Sovereignty, Question the Narrative that Villainizes Henry Kissinger: Correcting the memory of the obsequious butler of US empire
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• Lanka-Japan Friendship Society new office bearers: ‘Exco for 2023/24: Patron Hideaki Mizukoshi, Ambassador for Japan, Vice Patrons: Merrick Gooneratne/Immediate past President, Sumana Liyanage, Deepal Gunaratne, Mikinaga Hotta, President: MD (Tony) Saldin, VPs: A Anandagoda, Jayaraja Chandrasekera, Gaminda Haegoda, Neomal Perera, Sunitha Wijepala, General Secretary: Samadara Mampitiye, Asst Gen Secretary: Diloshini Nesakumar, General Treasurer: M Thiyagaraja, Asst Gen Treasurer: R Kadirgamar Rajah, Executive Committee: Nemantha Abeysinghe, Dhammika Attygale, Vijaya Corea, PHP de Silva, Mahendra de Vaz, DARM Nishanthi Galhena, WI Gunawardena, Jannath Ismail, Upali Jayawardena, Brigadier Samantha Jayasundara, Captain Ganesh Mendis, Sarojini Nagendran, Rohan Pallewatte, Shanil Perera, SN Raghavan, Shelly Thenuwara, Manoranjan Wijebahu, Himani Wijemanne.’ (see ee Sovereignty)
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• Bureau Veritas of France exports to Sri Lanka: ‘Calibration of calipers, external micrometers, circular sample cutters, steel rulers, dial gauges, thickness gauges, crock meters, balances, weights, glassware, piston operated pipettes, refractometers, hydrometers, pH meters, thermometers, cold refrigerated storages, ovens, incubators, water baths, furnaces and RPM of rotors, among many others.’ – ee Industry, Bureau Veritas provides high-precision calibration services for diverse industry sectors
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• Serving large MNCs for 22 years – Sim Lanka Ltd has partner companies Cable Solutions, Aluflex Lanka, Prime Packaging, and Quality Floors. Sri Lanka Export Development Board assisted its products for the multinational electronics industry. Its newest alliance is with Control Print, India, a coding and marking solutions provider. Sim operates in 4 key sectors: electronic manufacturing, printing & packaging, industrial oil regeneration services, and industrial automation. Partners offer solutions for cables and harness applications for white goods, industrial, automotive & aerospace industries, industrial plastics and biodegradable products for paints, lubricants & dairy industries, aluminium foil lids, sealants & heat transfer labeling (HTL) for applications covering dairy, pharmaceutical, tea & industrial sectors, and flooring solutions, such as laser leveled, polished concrete and heavy-duty PU and epoxy flooring. Sim Lanka has strategic alliances with global brands such as Weller, Murr Elektronik, Simco-Ion, Huby, Distrelec, Kleentek, Ferrocare Machines, Sure Print, Giantlok & Oilmax. The company embraces women’s empowerment, diversity & inclusion, carbon neutral operations, children’s education & nutrition. – ee Industry, Sim Lanka
Ibrahim Khalil Ahasan – independent columnist and freelance journalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Deliberations at COP 28, the 28th UN Climate Summit in Dubai, have focused on several strategies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere to slow down climate change and global warming. To identify methods to fund non-carbon and renewable energy, participants (governments, financial institutions, and investors from the private sector) have been debating several solutions, such as carbon taxation, emission trading, and lowering the large amounts of subsidies given to the fossil fuel industry. According to experts, the world has to spend billions of dollars a year on renewable energy to transition to a “low carbon economy.” To raise the money required to address the climate catastrophe, IMF Managing Director Christian Georgieva recommended imposing “an implicit price on carbon emissions” during the COP 28 summit. According to her, initiatives aimed at increasing the cost of carbon emissions would hasten the global decarbonization of economic activity. Advocating for a swift phase-out of fossil fuels, more extreme viewpoints propose limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. There is, however, no denying the need of rapidly adapt to renewable energy sources, drastically increasing funding for the research (and usage) of renewable energy, and gradually ceasing to utilize fossil fuels.
Bangladesh and other nations face several obstacles as they transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Bangladesh is now a nation that depends on energy imports. The importation of coal, LNG, and liquid petroleum is necessary to maintain the nation’s economic operations. The country’s energy balance has seen a considerable strain from domestic energy sources, namely natural gas. But solar energy—that is, solar-powered irrigation systems, solar-powered rooftop and land systems—is becoming more and more common. Due to significant technical developments in wind turbine efficiency improvement, there are encouraging signs that the nation’s offshore and coastal regions may see the development of wind energy-based power. However, the price of electricity produced by renewable energy sources like solar and wind is still rather expensive, at over Taka 12 per unit. Furthermore, a restriction on their proportion in the national grid is necessary due to the intermittent nature of solar and wind energy. For the same reason, maintaining and expanding a sizable fossil fuel-based capacity backup is necessary to ensure grid stability.
Experts believe that by increasing energy efficiency and adopting energy-saving practices, Bangladesh may drastically (up to 30%) lower its energy consumption. Bangladesh does not have the topographical or geotechnical advantages necessary to capture significant amounts of hydroelectricity, but it may benefit from its neighbours’ hydroelectric power potential via a regional system. Furthermore, the bordering nations’ developing “green hydrogen” technology may make it possible for the local energy sectors to convert from LNG to liquid hydrogen (import and usage). The capacity of the renewable energy basket may be significantly increased by improved and efficient battery technology. Bangladesh might thereby enter the race to phase out fossil fuels. Almost twice as much (around Taka 22–25 per unit) may be obtained from renewable energy sources with battery backup for solar and wind power as from the current, sporadic, and small-scale use of grid-connected solar power. The large differences in energy production and distribution costs that the steady and diverse range of renewable sources may provide cannot be sustained by government subsidies.
Bangladesh has already entered the age of producing nuclear electricity. There is increasing global agreement that nuclear energy is a non-carbon source. Even though developing nuclear power and securely using it requires significant upfront costs, ongoing costs are still quite inexpensive. Bangladesh may thus increase its nuclear energy capacity in order to get more dependable baseload electricity.
The technologies that are now and in the near future accessible provide means of gradually replacing fossil fuels with non-carbon and renewable energy-based economies. However, the global community’s climate funding and technology support are necessary for the solutions to be both socially and economically acceptable. Bangladesh and other low-income industrialised nations shouldn’t be forced to transition to a non-carbon (net zero) economy on the same timelines. Furthermore, the international community should give Bangladesh, the country most affected by climate change, a high priority in receiving many financial resources for both adaptation and mitigation.
UN climate conferences have repeatedly discussed achieving net zero by 2050, 60% reductions in GHG emissions by 2035, and 43% reductions in GHG emissions (compared to 2019) by 2030. However, these discussions will not produce significant outcomes unless the international community swiftly and effectively provides technology sharing and funding to developing nations such as Bangladesh.
Colombo, Dec 15 (Daily Mirror) – Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was reappointed leader of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) at its convention today said his party would become the most formidable political force at the next presidential elections.
Addressing the convention convened at a challenging time, the former President referred to the achievements of his government during the 2005/2014 period under two consecutive terms including the end of the war and infrastructure projects such as the Hambantota port. He said the per capita income improved from US $ 1200 to US $ 3,819 during his time and the middle class expanded.
Still some people resorted to mudslinging. When we built the expressway, some people harped on it saying it was meant for transportation of Ambul Thiyal for my consumption,” he said.
He said there was an era when the country was engulfed by the fear of terrorist attacks and parents used to travel separately from each other to avoid both getting killed in a bomb blast.
Youths who have no wartime experience have been misled today by some political forces acting according to the interests of foreign elements inimical to the country’s interests,” he said.
SLPP founder Basil Rajapaksa who addressed the gathering said people were struck by fear for life on two occasions – the war and Covid-19 – and the governments led by his party openly ended both.
We are proud about it,” he said.
In an obvious response to reports about planned attacks on SLPPers who attended the event on their way back from Colombo, he said security measures had been taken, and asked participants to exercise extra caution to avoid any mistake on their part.
When you cross the road, you have to make sure that you use only Zebra crossings. Social media teams with vested interests are alert on our movements to find any mistake to be blown up political ends,” he said.
While asking his supporters to be patient, he said others should not consider it as cowardice.
One should not consider our patience as cowardice. When a stone is thrown at a dog, it will bark and run away. But, when a stone is pelted at a lion, it will turn back and explore who did it,” he said.
Diyathalawa, Dec. 16 (Daily Mirror)- Emphasizing the monumental responsibility borne by the security forces in protecting the sovereignty of the country, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that no external interference or restrictions should be tolerated.
President Wickremesinghe, serving as the Chief Guest at the Parade of Cadet Officers during the ceremony of Colours Re-Awarding and Commissioning Parade of the Sri Lanka Military Academy, Diyatalawa this morning (16), highlighted the security forces’ role in safeguarding both the people’s sovereignty and the distinctive identity of Sri Lanka.
He emphasized that any attempt to act independently based on racism or religion would pose a threat to the Sri Lankan identity, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.
In his address, President Wickremesinghe expressed his admiration for the Sri Lankan Army, acknowledging its talent and proud history. He underscored the collective responsibility of all individuals joining the army to uphold its esteemed legacy.
Addressing the officers and women present, the President urged them to provide fearless leadership to those under their command. Emphasizing that true leadership emerges during challenging times, he encouraged everyone to dedicate themselves to fulfilling their responsibilities for the betterment of the country.
The President reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s status as a sovereign state, emphasizing the nation’s history of independence since 1948. He underscored that the sovereignty of the country belongs to its people, with governments elected through popular vote. The President emphasized the foundational importance of the Sri Lankan identity, urging all citizens, irrespective of ethnicity Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim, to work collectively to safeguard and preserve the national identity.
Referring to economic matters, President Wickremesinghe stressed the need for increased economic growth in the country. He drew attention to the consequences of a collapsing economy, noting its impact on the overall vitality of the nation. The President emphasized the importance of social progress alongside economic advancement, highlighting the need for equal treatment of all citizens. He called upon each group within society to play a role in protecting this framework, extending the responsibility from the President downwards.
The President emphasized the profound responsibility of the army in safeguarding the sovereignty of the country. He asserted that this duty should remain unquestionable and impervious to any attempts to restrict or compromise it. Simultaneously, the President underscored the importance of protecting the people’s sovereignty and preserving the unique identity of Sri Lanka. He warned against any actions or attempts to fracture the national identity based on racism or religion, emphasizing the potential harm such endeavours could inflict on the essence of Sri Lanka.
Ambalangoda, Dec. 16 (Daily Mirror)- Steps will be taken to confiscate all property and wealth earned illegally through drug smuggling and underworld activities within the next three months, Acting IGP Deshabandu Tennakkon said today.
He made this remark at an event held in Ambalangoda today.
He said underworld activities are rampant in the Western and Southern Provinces which amounts to 7 percent.
The Acting IGP said some 1,091 individuals have been identified as being engaged in underworld activities and that information on 790 among them have been gathered by now.
He said CCTV cameras have been fixed at the counters of the exit terminals at the airport to prevent them from fleeing the country with forged passports.
The Acting IGP further said that some 70,000 individuals with open warrants are at large in the country and that their whereabouts are unknown.
Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles has urged the public to corporate with the Police in its efforts to tackle all underworld and drug-related activities.
Speaking at an event in Ambalangoda on Saturday (16 Dec.), the Minister asserted that he will not sway from his goal to eradicate all underworld activities in Sri Lanka.
He also mentioned that island-wide operations would be carried out starting Sunday (17 Dec.) to combat organized crimes and drug peddling.
We are implementing these operations very strictly. Regardless of what any high-profile personnel says, I will not allow for drug-dealers to be safeguarded. I have given the police only until 30 June. By 30 June, there should be a complete change in respect of drugs and underworld activities in this country”, Minister Alles charged.
Speaking further, the Minister also noted that his goal will not be wavered by potential attacks via social media. If they think that they can stop us by doing such things, that won’t happen”, he assured.
Sri Lanka is trying to attract Arab visitors by promoting the travels of the famed 14th-century explorer Ibn Battuta, Colombo’s envoy to Riyadh said on Saturday.
The famed Moroccan explorer’s ship arrived in the northwestern port of Puttalam from the Maldives in September 1344. At that time, Puttalam was under the rule of the king of Jaffna, who received him with honors.
He spent a few days there, entertaining the king who, as he recalled in his Travels,” understood Persian and was interested in his voyages and stories about the rulers of Africa, the Middle East and South Asia whom he had met since starting his journeys in 1325.
Ibn Battuta then went on a pilgrimage to Adam’s Peak, a 2,243-meter tall conical sacred mountain located in central Sri Lanka, which is venerated by Muslims as the site of the footprint of the first man and prophet, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The king gave him a palanquin and sent men to accompany him.
From Adam’s Peak, he took a southern route to Dondra, a southern coastal town, which was a rich temple port town complex. It was destroyed by the Portuguese in the 16th century.
From Dondra, Ibn Battuta went to Galle and Colombo, and from there, he went back to Puttalam and sailed to the coast of Tamil Nadu.
Sri Lanka, whose economy is highly dependent on tourism, is now hoping to attract visitors from Arab countries by evoking the memory of his travels.
It’s important to refresh the memories of this historic visit and project it among the Arabs,” P.M. Amza, ambassador of Sri Lanka to Saudi Arabia, told Arab News.
Ibn Battuta is a celebrated traveler … We believe such a celebrated traveler’s connection with Sri Lanka will be of definite attraction to the tourism sector of Sri Lanka.”
Earlier this week, the embassy in Riyadh inaugurated the Ibn Battuta Trail as part of the Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Ministry’s economic diplomacy program in the Kingdom.
The trail package follows the footsteps of the famed traveler to Adam’s Peak with highlights including cultural attractions, wildlife, nature, adventure activities, and cuisine.
Amza was hopeful that it would contribute to increasing arrivals of Saudi travelers, which have dropped since the COVID-19 pandemic.
We used to attract over 35,000 Saudi tourists to Sri Lanka annually before 2019 and it has significantly dropped since 2019,” he said.
Now there is a renewed interest, and we would like them to explore Sri Lanka’s beauty, beaches, waterfalls, rich culture, hospitality, nature and adventure.”
Sri Lanka’s economy grew by 1.6% in the quarter from July to September, official data showed on Friday, as the country claws its way back from its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades following a record fall in foreign exchange reserves.
The expansion was the first since the end of 2021, with the upturn driven by a lower base, moderating inflation, a strengthening currency and lower interest rates, Sri Lanka’s Census and Statistics Department said in a statement.
Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector grew 3% from a year earlier, with an increase of 0.3% in industrial output, while services grew by 1.3%, the department said.
Helped by a $2.9 billion IMF bailout in March, Sri Lanka’s economy began a painful path towards growth. It locked down a second tranche of $337 million this week, although the IMF has warned the island is not yet out of the woods.
Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to contract by 3.6% this year, the IMF says, after shrinking 7.8% in 2022.
Full-year growth will return next year, with the Sri Lankan economy projected to grow 1.8%, but challenging reforms lie ahead, such as higher taxes, reforms to loss-making state enterprises and a complete restructuring of its foreign debt.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has slashed interest rates by 650 bps since June to boost growth, in parallel with inflation shrinking to 3.4% in November from a high of 70% last September.
The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices rose to Rs. 2,946.1 billion in Q3 2023, marking an increase from Rs. 2,900.6 billion in the same period in 2022. The year-on-year GDP growth rate for this quarter is reported as a positive 1.6%, showcasing a positive trend in economic performance.
At current prices, Sri Lanka’s GDP for Q3 2023 reached Rs. 6,906.8 billion, reflecting a 4.9% positive change from the previous year. The three major economic activities; agricultural, industrial, and services sectors; contributed 7.8%, 28.1%, and 57.5%, respectively, to the GDP at current prices during this period.
The DCS highlighted the favorable changes in uncertainties in foreign exchange, a positive economic outlook, and reduced interest rates as contributing factors to the economic expansion in Q3 2023. Notably, the tourism sector showed positive impacts, with service exports, accommodation, food, and beverage services recording notable growth.
While the economy has rebounded, challenges remain. Sri Lanka is projected to experience a contraction of 3.6% in 2023, following a 7.8% shrinkage in 2022. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has emphasized the need for challenging reforms, including higher taxes, restructuring loss-making state enterprises, and addressing foreign debt issues.
Despite these challenges, the recent growth indicates a positive trajectory, driven by factors such as a lower base, moderating inflation, a strengthening currency, and lower interest rates. The country’s economic recovery is further supported by the recent USD 2.9 billion IMF bailout, signaling a step towards stabilizing the economy amid ongoing challenges
This document is expected to serve as the blue print of a Master plan for the rehabilitation, Development and Protection of the Kandyan areas as defined in this paper below and its people, located right at the center of this Island (The Geographical heartland HADABIMA” of this Island) and it is designed to usher in a new chapter in the development story of this Island nation, with special attention on the Kandyan areas.
The Kandyan areas (more fully described in annex 1) referred to in this essay were the most affected firstly, due to political and economic isolation from the outside world for 319 years (1505 to 1815) due Portuguese, Dutch and British occupation of the coastal belt with intermittent attacks and secondly, direct and accelerated repression, oppression, destruction and exploitation by the British UNTIL 1948. It is also the worst affected part in the country’s physical, economic, social and cultural spheres during the 133-year period of direct British colonial Administration (1815-1948) in this country. The two darkest black marks in the history of British occupation were the 1817-18 Uva Wellassa rebellion and the 1848 Matale rebellion. These two have gone down in history as the most horrendous and inhuman black marks in British colonial rule in this country. What is even more despicable was that these areas were also the most neglected, discriminated and denationalized region by all governments since 1948-up to date with no regard for a great people who defended this country for 443 years, against the military might and the atrocities of three foreign invaders namely, the Portuguese, Dutch and the British to protect the motherland for posterity at great expense.
The Master Plan
This master plan of development is designed to rectify all these historical injustices inflicted upon the natives of these regions and usher in a new and vibrant development era in the Kandyan Areas.
The Proposal referred to in this document covers mainly the Central and Uva Provinces referred to in the Kandyan Peasantry Commission Report of 1951, that were the main theaters of the freedom struggles waged by the patriotic Kandyan Sinhalese of the then Kandyan Kingdom in 1818 and 1848, against the oppression and genocide by British invaders. However, the area of implementation of the proposed development plan extends to a wider area covering all other Divisional Secretary Areas in the districts adjoining the central hill country in other provinces as well, recommended by the proposed Authority or requests made by the public so that it will cover some parts of Sabaragamuwa, Southern, NWP and even the Eastern province in the Ampare District, as they all were within the affected Kandyan areas, where in the people were also victims of colonial rule suffering the same colonial victimization. Initially it will be implemented within the project area and broaden the spillover benefits of this project to a wider segment of deserving citizens in the country covering almost 1/3 the area of the whole Island as it gathers momentum.
The oppressive and exploitive rule of the British for 133 years (1815-1948), constitutes one of the worst criminal records of British colonial administration in the world, as John Davy has once said.
I quote,
John Davy commenting in the aftermath of the 1818 observes that The history of British rule in Sri Lanka after 1818 rebellion cannot be related without shame. None of the members of the leading families in the Kandyan families in the Kandyan country have survived. Small-pox and privations have destroyed those spared by the gun and the sword”. (John Davy Scholar, Army surgeon and physician in attendance on Brownrigg during 1817-1819.)
Their criminal records of oppression and suppression and extra judicial murder and genocide committed during the 1848 Matale rebellion, by Torrington were even worse and were more savages according to extant historical records.
Kandyan areas
The Kandyan Kingdom (Kandaudarata) at the time of annexation to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1815 was that part of the country covering nearly 90 % of the Island of Sri Lanka/ Sinhale, bordered by a narrow maritime belt that was under the Portuguese, Dutch and the British consecutively, for 310 years from 1505 to 1815. This Kingdom was found by King Wimaladharmasuriya in 1594 with Sekadagala as its capital and continued as an independent country until it was ceded to the English by a convention between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Sinhale on 2nd March 1815.
It was also the legitimate successor to the Lankadhiipa /Sinhale Kingdom found in 543 BC and the last link of that great Sinhala Buddhist Kingdom that protected its sovereignty and independence for 2358 years until it was ceded to the British crown in 1815 by deception and intrigue on the part of the British led by a cunning British Civil Servant called John D’Oyly who was supposed to be the best spy in the British empire, due to disunity and lack of farsightedness among the native leaders.
Had the Kandyans also not resisted and not fought against the invaders, during this 310-year period definitely, the Sinhala nation too would have got extinct, just like what happened to the native N&S Americans, Australians and New Zealanders due colonial invasions by the Western invaders. It was those patriotic and brave Kandyans, (a term coined by a British naval Captain Robert Percival in 1805 to call those who lived on the hilly center of the country) who protected the motherland for posterity.
It was these Sinhala patriotic people called Kandyans who fought fearlessly and died in the battles against three invaders to protect the heartland of the motherland and sacrificed everything they had, including their lives in tens of thousands on behalf of all those who lived even in the maritime belt of this land during the colonial rule.
Therefore, the present-day generation not only Sinhalese living all over the country but also all others including Tamils and Muslim as one unified nation with no distinction as Kandyan or low country Sinhalese even though their ancestors had taken the side of the British as they were helpless before the invaders mighty gunpower owes the greatest debt to the brave and patriotic Kandyans, the sons of Lanka who sacrificed everything they had cherished and jealously guarded for 2 ½ millennia including their land, system of government, legal system, religion, culture, traditions and customs and personal belongings including their loved ones, wives and children and finally, their own life to protect this land for us to live today. Therefore, it is the bounden duty of not only the Sinhalese living all over the world but even all other communities such as Tamils and Muslims who have made this country their home, to join hands with the government to solve the socio-economic problems of the people in these areas and also to agitate for reparation for the crimes done to a country and a nation with a rich culture by the British colonial rulers, who built an Empire where the sun never set as they boast, with riches plundered and robbed from countries like ours.
A brutal tragedy is being played out on an epic scale between Israel and Gaza. Though the scale is truly epic, it still constitutes but a sub plot in the cosmic drama of a hegemon’s fall, to describe which Milton’s description on another epochal fall is apt:
From morn till noon he fell,
From noon to Dewey eve.”
This is a particularly poignant moment for the US because at least two of its stellar proteges are at risk. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a tiger. Should he dismount, he will be devoured – so he must continue pounding a hapless people.
The other protégé, Volodymyr Zelensky is running around, cap in hand: Please Sir, may I have some more.”
The genocidal war continues but US would not like to be seen to have pressed for a ceasefire without terminating Hamas. The absurdity of this war will dawn on Tel Aviv and Washington when the guns fall silent, because Hamas will still be there possibly more rejuvenated.
In Elia Kazan’s Viva Zapata, named after the Emiliano Zapata who led a peasant revolt against a corrupt Mexican landlord, the army surround the hero (played by Marlon Brando) and pump a hail of bullets in him to make absolutely certain in their state of funk that Emiliano is dead. In a symbolic last shot Kazan focuses his camera on Emiliano’s trusted white stallion dancing in the hills. The Idea of Zapata will ride on.
Netanyahu and his fearsome right wing make rational debate impossible. US displeasure matters not a jot to them because Israel, by their lights, is not protected by the US. It is protected by books of the Old Testament contained in the Torah.
This reminds me of a huge distortion in the Idea of Israel that has always puzzled me. The projection of the conflict in Israel in Muslim-Judaic terms is patently false.
In Andalusia, Spain, Jewish philosophers like Maimonides who complied the Mishneh Torah, were much celebrated during the long Muslim rule. During the Reconquista” when Muslims and Jews were hounded out by the Inquisition, Jews found refuge in Morocco, where the Royal Palace to this day invites representative form the world Jewry for an annual jamboree. I interviewed the second most powerful man in the Kingdom, Andre Azoulay, a Jew, principal adviser to the King.
This explained photographs of King Hasan V on the walls of many Sephardic Jews in Jerusalem. This is only one of the social habits which separates Sephardics from the Ashkenazi Jews who migrated from Europe and Russia. They control most of the levers of state power. Prime Minister Menachem Begin was leader of Irgun the avowedly Israeli terrorist organization responsible for blowing up the British headquarters at Jerusalem’s King David hotel killing 96 British subjects in 1946.
This digressive flourish simply to provide perspective. And now that president Biden is unequivocal that Israeli bombing of Gaza is indiscriminate” I suspect he has gone as far as he can. But will the Minister of Defence, Yoar Gallant and Minister for Internal Security Ben Gvir take note? Their support base flaunts Biblical guarantees to neutralize most US advice which moderates hardline Bibi” Netanyahu’s position.
Very often Washington has to look over its shoulders at the all powerful Israel lobby before outlining serious policy options on Israel. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s classic The Israel Lobby” is strewn with nuggets on the Lobby’s extraordinary influence. An American participant at Camp David in 2000 told the authors: Far too often, we functioned as Israel’s lawyers.”
It is established beyond the shadow of a doubt that on matter relating to Israel, the Lobby can trump any policy. Remember how Barack Obama’s opposition to a Netanyahu visit was thwarted: the Israeli Prime Minister sailed over the president’s head and addressed a joint session of Congress.
Biden’s words of caution to minimize civilian deaths have been largely ignored during the current Israeli brutalities. In this operation as in previous ones, Israel derives its impurity largely from the Lobby’s capacity to manipulate the US establishment.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s signal to Netanyahu two weeks ago was clear: you must complete the operation of destroying” Hamas within limited time. Civilian deaths on this scale are leading to a collapse of support worldwide. The ground situation shows Dresden like destruction, but there is no evidence of Hamas having been destroyed.
To the contrary, the Chief Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Major General Hossein Salami says Israel are in a quagmire” because Palestinian youth” are adopting new methods. So far 180 of their 1,600 tanks have been destroyed.” The number of dead Israeli soldiers is in three digits.
This is a do or die situation for Israel as well as its patron, the US. Vladimir Putin, whose nose the West was determined to rub in the dust ever since the Special Operations” began in Ukraine on 24th February, 2022, looked none the worse after nearly two years of military operations, even as he visited Saudi Arabia and UAE and received Iran’s President Raisi in Moscow. Meanwhile a high powered EU delegation, European Council President, Charles Michael and European Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen trooped in to meet President Xi Jinping and implored him to use his influence in Moscow to end the conflict in Ukraine.
Just when Ukraine and Gaza were both looking unmanageable, Nicolas Maduro has opened up a front claiming 61,000 km oil and gas rich disputed Essequibo enclave on the border with former British colony, Guyana.
Venezuela is right under the US’s nose. Moreover, just a year ago Washington had produced from its hat one Guan Guaido as its preferred President. The country is oil rich, you see. The eager beaver initiative was abandoned because it was so patently childish. Now Maduro’s move has invited a tepid response from Secretary of State Blinken. He turned up in Guyana but said not a word about the disputes. President Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson once famously thundered. The Monroe doctrine is still alive.” Really? #
There’s definitely a growing concern, a growing nervousness at the indiscriminate nature of the bombing of Gaza by the IDF.” A tipping point” is approaching where the West will stop supporting Israel because of the “dire” situation in Gaza, says Huff’s Post, Kevin Schofield, as the UK foreign secretary slaps a travel ban on “extremist” Israeli settlers.
A meeting between Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Cuban Ambassador Andres Marcelo Gonzales Garrido took place on 14.12.2023 at the Temple Trees in Colombo.
The Prime Minister thanked Cuba for the consistent support extended to Sri Lanka at the United Nations and other international forums. He also referred to the assistance given to Sri Lanka to combat Dengue pandemic and stressed the need for continuous cooperation in the field of medicine. The Ambassador agreed to share Cuban expertise in mosquito eradication with Sri Lankan health authorities. The Prime Minister emphasized the need to exchange new scientific and technological innovations in agricultural sector between the two countries.
The Ambassador said that he was happy with the successful experiments carried out by the Sri Lankan Coconut Research Center and mentioned that he is working to get coconut saplings for cultivation in his country. The Prime Minister assured the Ambassador that a donation of 200 coconut seeds will be made to Cuba shortly. The Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka will also provide expertise to Cuba to develop its coconut industry. The ambassador further stated that there is scope to develop cooperation in food production, farming and animal husbandry sectors in Sri Lanka.
Member of parliament Yadamini Gunawardena , Secretary to the Prime Minister Mr. Anura Dissanayake and First Secretary of Cuban Embassy, Maribel Duarte Gonzalez and also participated in this event.
While the attacks of October 7 have left death and destruction in their wake, one thing that they failed to damage was the relationship between Israel and Sri Lanka.
SRI LANKAN volunteers help out on a farm in Israel.(photo credit: Nimal Bandara/Facebook)
Men, women, and children from the US, UK, Canada, France, Thailand, Nepal, Russia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Germany, the Philippines, Chile, Brazil, Italy, Tanzania, and Ireland were injured, slaughtered, or kidnapped into Gaza on that horrific day. No one was spared. The 7,000-strong Sri Lankan community living and working in Israel as caregivers was no exception.
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of meeting Sri Lankan Ambassador to Israel Nimal Bandara who told me how his people, all of whom have stayed in Israel since the attacks to assist in any way they can, have been affected by the atrocities.
How Sri Lankans in Israel have been impacted by the October 7 massacre
Tragically, two of their number, Anula Ratnayaka, 49, and Sujith Yatawara, 48, both of whom lived and worked on Kibbutz Be’eri, were murdered in the attacks, leaving the Sri Lankan community in Israel and in their homeland shaken to its core.
A mother of two, Anula, spent the last decade of her life in Israel, where she worked tirelessly as a caregiver. It was in this role that she made the ultimate sacrifice on October 7 to save the life of Ettie Morado, the Israeli woman she was looking after.
The destruction caused by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in southern Israel, October 11, 2023 (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Having hidden Ettie under a bed, Anula came out of the house to see what was happening, whereupon she was shot and killed.
I am blind. Anula was my eyes. She hid me under the bed and went forward to see what was happening,” lamented Ettie. Anula meant so much to so many and will be missed terribly by all who knew her.Advertisement
A memorial was held in Petah Tikva on October 25, where Israelis and Sri Lankans, among others, gathered to pay their respects to their much-loved friend.
Yael Gilboa, the niece of Aliza, a woman whom Anula cared for before she moved to Be’eri, eulogized Anula as devoted and with a heart of gold… She also took care of the cats in the yard, and probably also birds and other creatures.”
SRI LANKAN father of two, Sujith Yatawara, was also murdered on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7. Initially, it was thought that he had been taken captive into Gaza, as his remains were not easily identifiable. Three weeks after the attacks, the Sri Lankan embassy announced that, through the DNA samples of his children,” his body had been located.
Sujith was murdered along with 72-year-old Haim Zohar, for whom he was caring at the time. Haim’s wife, Erga Zohar, wrote on Facebook that Sujith was an angel, he took care of my Haim excellently, took care of everything. He really loved Haim, we loved him so much and we made sure he was part of our family. So, so sad.”
Although Sujith lived and worked in Israel, like so many in his position who crossed the world in order to provide for his family and secure a better future for his children,” he always maintained close ties with his family in Sri Lanka, The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants stated.
Sethuli, his 13-year-old daughter, wrote in a heartfelt letter: My father loves us. He always asked my mother how we were doing. His entire phone was full of our photos. He loves us that much. If we ask him for something, he will get it for us… He only wanted me and my brother to study well and do a good job.”
Another Sri Lankan, Sujith Priyankara, was also shot in the attacks on the beach in Zikim. The 12 people who were with him at the time all died from their wounds; however, he managed to hold on until he was evacuated by ambulance to Soroka Hospital, where his life was saved.
THESE TRAGIC events not only affected the tight-knit Sri Lankan community in Israel; they also greatly affected Ambassador Bandara greatly. He personally identified the bodies of the deceased and arranged for their repatriation. He also ensured that their coffins were draped in Sri Lankan and Israeli flags, as a testament to their devotion to both their homeland and their adopted country.
Having taken up his post in Israel less than a year ago, in February 2023, Bandara has worked tirelessly to support his people in every way. This unwavering support has been invaluable for his community, especially at this difficult time. As a result, none has returned to Sri Lanka, as have other foreign workers. Instead, they have all stayed to continue caring for their clients and to join in the war effort as best they can.
Encouraged by the ambassador himself, who provides regular updates on his Facebook page, many have volunteered to help on the farms where there is a huge shortage of workers as a result of the cessation of work permits for Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, coupled with the departure of many foreign workers.
So great have been the efforts of the Sri Lankan volunteers that they have been widely praised, including on Israeli TV. Many Sri Lankans also answered the call to give blood.
Looking ahead, it appears that ties between Israel and Sri Lanka will be strengthened further, as the ambassador confirmed in our meeting that since October 7, a significant number of additional permits have been issued by the Israeli government for Sri Lankans to live and work here.
Approximately half will work in construction, plugging the gap left by the Palestinian workers whose permits have been revoked and the foreign workers who have left for home. The remainder will largely fill the vacancies in the agricultural sector, while a small number will join their Sri Lankan brothers and sisters who already live and work in Israel as caregivers.
While the attacks of October 7 have left death and destruction in their wake, one thing that they failed to damage was the relationship between our two countries. If anything, they have only served to strengthen the ties between Israel and Sri Lanka.
The writer is a former lawyer from Manchester, England. She now lives in Israel, where she works at The Jerusalem Post.
Suresh P wants to know who represented govt. at Nepal talks
Former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Suresh Premachandran has demanded to know who represented Sri Lanka at talks in Kathmandu, Nepal in April this year, which led to the so-called Himalaya Declaration jointly prepared by the ‘Sangha for a Better Sri Lanka’ and the Global Tamil Forum (GTF).
It was presented to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on 12 Dec., in Parliament. Premachandran has questioned the validity of the GTF’s initiative.Pointing out that those who participated in Kathmandu talks on behalf of Sri Lanka weren’t known, Premachanran alleged there was no transparency.
The Ex-MP has asked why the Buddhist prelates who blessed GTF spokesperson Suren Surendiran couldn’t request President Ranil Wickremesinghe to implement the 13 Amendment to the Constitution fully. Premachandran stressed that granting police powers would be the initial step in confidence-building measures. Repealing of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) would also be necessary, he said
The ex-MP has asked whether the GTF is used by the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government to build international goodwill for the incumbent administration ahead of forthcoming UNHRC sessions. Premachandran claimed that the GTF was a much weaker grouping now against the backdrop of many influential Diaspora groups quitting the organisation.
TNPF MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, too, has condemned the government- GTF move that has attracted praise and appreciation of some members of the parliament.
Jaffna District MP Ponnambalam accused the GTF of whitewashing the government regardless of an ongoing severe crackdown on human rights in predominantly Tamil speaking areas. Ponnambalam who had been at loggerheads with the TNA, called the TNA as an ‘extension’ of GTF.
The TNPF is represented by two MPs whereas the TNA is the third largest party with 10 members in parliament.
MP Ponnambalam has alleged that the TNA is engaged in desperate efforts to protect its share of the northern vote in view of next year’s national election and provided much needed backing for the government through the TNA. He has revealed that the TNPF’s central committee rejected Surendiran’s request for a meeting. Alleging that GTF’s actions had harmed Tamil people in the past, Premachandran asserted that the ongoing move was part of that strategy.
SLPP MP and retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera said that whatever the criticism he appreciated Surendiran’s declaration that he wouldn’t support a separate state during discussions with a group of MPs.
Ven. Kalupahana Piyarathana Thera, convener of ‘Sangha for a Better Sri Lanka’, addressed the gathering at the parliamentary complex and expressed his views on the ‘Himalaya Declaration’. Ven. Thera pointed out that this document is open for discussion and amendments.
Surendiran said that after 39 years, during his visit to Jaffna, he met the Tamil, Muslim Christian people and priests and they unanimously accepted that this national task should have been implemented earlier.Sources said that the GTF delegation also had an opportunity to meet US Ambassador in Colombo Julie Chung. (SF)
President Ranil Wickremesinghe held discussions on Thursday (07) with a delegation comprising representatives from the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and Buddhist monks, as reported by the President’s Media Division (PMD) on Friday (08).
The PMD mentioned that the Joint Himalayan Declaration, a collaborative effort between the Global Tamil Forum and the Buddhist delegation, advocates for a pluralistic Sri Lanka that actively promotes the well-being of all its communities.
The declaration highlights the need to learn from the nation’s historical mistakes and emphasizes the necessity for implementing measures that ensure accountability.
The joint delegation included Buddhist monks Ven. Dr. Madampagama Assaji Tissa Thera, Anu Nayaka of Ambagahapitiya Chapter, Amarapura Nikya; Ven. Siyambalagaswewa Wimalasara Thera, Chief Sanganayaka of Northern and Eastern Provinces, Malwatta Chapter of Siam Nikaya; Ven. Kithalagama Hemasara Nayaka Thera, General Secretary, Siri Dharmarakshitha Chapter, and Chief Sanga Nayaka of Western Province; Ven. Prof. Pallekande Rathnasara Thera,
Acting Mahanayaka of Vajirawansa Chapter of Amarapura Nikaya; Ven. Kalupahana Piyaratana Thera, Former Member of SL Human Rights Council 2023, Chairperson of Human Development Edification Centre; Ven. Narampanawe Dhammaloka Thera, Chief Sanganayaka of Pathathumbara of Central Province, Asgiriya Chapter of Siam Nikaya; and Ven. Wadduwe Dhammawansa Thera, Deputy General Secretary, Ramagngna Nikaya.
Furthermore, the delegation comprised international representatives: Suren Surendiran (UK), Dr. Kannappar Mukunthan (Australia), Bhavan Bhavaguhan (UK), Prakash Rajasundram (Australia), Velupillai Kuhanendran (UK), Raj Thavaratnasingham (Canada), and Dr. Elias Joseph Jeyarajah (USA).
According to the PMD, the handover of the Joint Himalayan Declaration signifies a significant step towards fostering dialogue and collaboration for a harmonious and inclusive Sri Lanka. The President expressed appreciation for the initiative and committed to considering the recommendations outlined in the declaration.
Colombo, Dec 15 – Sri Lanka’s public security minister, Tiran Alles, is the first sitting Sri Lankan minister to be identified in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Pandora Papers data trove as having offshore holdings.
An ICIJ analysis of the leaked records and U.K.’s public property register shows that Alles, a media tycoon and politician, owns two British Virgin Islands companies that hold properties in London.
The Pandora Papers is a trove of 11.9 million leaked documents obtained by ICIJ that were at the core of a 2021 global investigation exposing the financial deals and hidden assets of politicians, celebrities, business people and criminals in more than 200 countries. The files came from 14 offshore service providers that specialized in setting up shell companies and trusts in tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions.
ICIJ’s analysis shows that Alles’ Brompton Properties Ltd. owns a flat in an affluent area of London that was purchased for about $960,000 in 2006.
His second BVI company, Banham Ventures Ltd., has owned a separate property near the city’s posh Chelsea neighborhood since 2008. U.K. records don’t list the purchase price.
The funds used to finance the BVI companies came from Alles’ work as a businessman, according to a declaration in the leaked files.
In 2017, a notary who penned a reference letter included in the Pandora Papers data, described Alles as a very enterprising and very enthusiastic business entrepreneur” in Sri Lanka and the pillar of strength behind the success” of Apogee Group, a business consultancy firm, and Ceylon Newspapers (Pvt) Ltd., which owns the Ceylon Today newspaper and other dailies.
Alles did not respond to ICIJ’s requests for comment.
In the 1980s, Alles, now 63, founded telecommunications company Communication & Business Equipment. He entered politics in 2010, after a stint as the head of the Civil Aviation Authority. He was appointed Sri Lanka’s public security minister in charge of the police last year, during the country’s political and economic crisis that culminated with the ousting of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Leaked files from Overseas Management Company, the financial services provider that administered Alles’ BVI companies, did not identify him as a politically exposed person, a type of client that, due to their prominent position, requires providers to conduct stricter due diligence checks because of a higher risk of involvement in corruption or money laundering.
OMC did not respond to ICIJ’s questions about Alles, citing confidentiality reasons. A spokesperson for the firm said in an email that OMC complies with all applicable laws” and maintains a robust compliance program, including due diligence policies and procedures.”
The Pandora Papers documents list Alles as a dual resident of Sri Lanka and the U.K., at a London address that was used as the registered office of Gateway Educational Services (UK) Ltd. In 2006, U.K. corporate records described the business purpose of the London entity as investment in property for the promotion of nursery education.”
The company appears to be linked to Alles’ Gateway Group, a group of elite private schools founded by his late father. One of the schools provided free tutoring to the son of then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, according to a 2007 U.S. diplomatic cable published in Sri Lankan media.
The Gateway Group did not respond to questions from ICIJ.
The Pandora Papers connection
Sri Lankan newspapers began reporting about Alles being identified in the Pandora Papers data in early November, after reporters and members of the public found his name in the ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks Database. The public database contains information on more than 810,000 offshore entities that appeared in leaked documents obtained by ICIJ since 2012, which have led to several investigations, including the Pandora Papers and the Panama Papers. ICIJ publishes the names of companies, shareholders, owners and other information included in the files. It does not publish entire sets of records.
Alles told reporters at The Island daily who inquired about the findings that singling out his name was a mischievous effort to tarnish his reputation.”
There are legitimate uses for offshore companies, such as those owned by Alles. Sri Lankan authorities have not opened an investigation into the politician’s holdings, The Island reported.
The public security minister is one of four Sri Lankan politically connected people identified in the Pandora Papers so far. (The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists)
Sri Lanka’s economy grew by 1.6% in the quarter from July to September, official data showed on Friday, as the country claws its way back from its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades following a record fall in foreign exchange reserves.
The expansion was the first since the end of 2021, with the upturn driven by a lower base, moderating inflation, a strengthening currency and lower interest rates, Sri Lanka’s Census and Statistics Department said in a statement.
Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector grew 3% from a year earlier, with an increase of 0.3% in industrial output, while services grew by 1.3%, the department said.
Helped by a $2.9 billion IMF bailout in March, Sri Lanka’s economy began a painful path towards growth. It locked down a second tranche of $337 million this week, although the IMF has warned the island is not yet out of the woods.
Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to contract by 3.6% this year, the IMF says, after shrinking 7.8% in 2022.
Full-year growth will return next year, with the Sri Lankan economy projected to grow 1.8%, but challenging reforms lie ahead, such as higher taxes, reforms to loss-making state enterprises and a complete restructuring of its foreign debt.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has slashed interest rates by 650 bps since June to boost growth, in parallel with inflation shrinking to 3.4% in November from a high of 70% last September.
Economic recovery really took root in the last three months of 2023 with stronger recovery in the services and manufacturing segments,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research at First Capital. This means growth could be as much as 7%-8% for the fourth quarter,” Mathew added.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says a special commission should be appointed to investigate the incidents of harassment experienced by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) members during the ‘Aragalaya’ protest movement last year.
Addressing the SLPP’s National Convention to unveil the party’s political mission titled ‘Ayubowan 2024’ got underway at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo this afternoon (Dec.15).
At the event, the former President was unanimously re-elected as the leader of SLPP.
SLPP’s founder Basil Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and many other high-profile politicians were in attendance.
Addressing the supporters, Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed that the SLPP members were subjected to harassment by certain individuals under the false front of the ‘Aragalaya’ protest movement. We will justly resolve these issues one day.”
Meanwhile, Basil Rajapaksa, delivering a speech, expressed confidence that the SLPP would definitely win the upcoming parliamentary election. Let’s get ready to form our own government,” the former finance minister told the supporters.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been re-elected as the leader of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.
MP Gamini Lokuge proposed the former president’s name while MP Johnston Fernando seconded it.
SLPP’s 2nd National Convention got underway at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium this afternoon (Dec.15), under the aegis of Mahinda Rajapaksa and the party’s national organizer and founder Basil Rajapaksa.
Hitherto men have constantly made up for themselves false conceptions about themselves, about what they are and what they ought to be. ……They the creators have bowed down before their creations. Let us liberate them from the chimeras, the ideas, dogmas, imaginary beings under the yoke of which they are pinning away”. (Karl Marx & Frederick Engels: The German Ideology”)
(1) Dual Face of JVP-The NPP (Malimawa”) and Strange Bedfellows
Janus is also described as god of duality, depicted as having two faces, who presides over beginning and ending of conflict. With the creation of NPP, JVP got its double face hitherto uncovered since its beginning in the sixties. Only the other revolutionary groups active from mid 1960s who were observant of JVP tactics and behaviours of JVP leadership since its formation are privy to its dual nature and above all else its betrayals which are legion.
NPP is not an independent grouping, a partner in a JVP-led United Front. It is the dual face of the JVP, a receptacle to hold few artists, writers, academics, so-called professionals, ex-leftist elements, retired revolutionaries, Revisionist and Trotskyite ideologues, foreign -funded so-called civil society activists and now some ex-servicemen.
We wrote in September 2020 an article titled, Forward, Not Backward”, Under Whose Command? A Story of Strange Bedfellows” to now defunct Sri Lanka Times” about a Fresh Civil Society Project, ‘Forward, Not Backward’” launched ahead of August 2020 Polls. Having failed to derail GR’s campaign for presidency, a hurriedly formed offshoot of the so-called civil society had started a campaign to prevent the SLPP obtaining a two-third majority at the July General Elections (postponed due to Corona pandemic) appealing to the followers of the UNP, SJB, JVP and TNA to fall in line with them. They must have thought that the masses are idiots, short of memory to perceive the UNP, SJB, JVP and TNA constitute the pro-democracy camp” in Sri Lanka. It was not unusual for the civil society paragons of virtue looking for another straw after failing to clutch on to Fonseka in 2010 and Sirisena-Wickremesinghe in 2015 respectively.
During election times strange things happen. Earlier it was the formation of different coalitions of warring parties and factions for political expediency. We cannot blame those party men because their motive is coming into power striking the right note.
People have fresh memories about the statement made by the then US Secretary of State John Kerry that the US providing US $ 585 million to Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Myanmar to stabilise democracy” (read as to destabilise the country). Looking at the strategic importance of Sri Lanka to US interests rather than Nigeria and Myanmar, we can surmise that Sri Lanka’s civil society groupings getting the lion’s share of it, not an equally apportioned one third. People know that the Civil Society worthies themselves contributed to the downfall of the Yahapalana regime with their anti-national programmes which are beyond description. But they as the boogeymen of US succeeded in ousting the popularly elected President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in 2022.
Now a section of these worthies has found a haven in NPP. Other than the civil society Brahmins some other segments have joined the NPP bandwagon.
But how can we explain old Trotskyite ideologues, old Revisionists of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin eras, previous yahapalana campaigners, architects of failed federal constitutions joining the NPP forgetting all what they have said about the JVP beginning from early nineteen sixties? Various types of Trotskyists were in the forefront criticising JVP ideology and its stand on Tamil question. They were not interested in its strategy and tactics of capturing power in a one day revolution” for obvious reasons. Some of these strange bedfellows were included in the JVP national list. They had forgotten the fate of ex-Auditor General Mayadunne. He had the privilege of attending only the inaugural session of the last 2015 Parliament. As any other party did JVP too appointed two defeated candidates to their national list slots. Some academics who cannot bag a handful of votes and some unknown personalities were also included in the JVP national list.
These Trotskyites and Revisionists have completely forgotten how they had criticised the JVP and its leaders prior to 1971 and afterwards. During 1988-89 several Communist Party leaders and Samasamajists, trade union leaders, card holders, members of the rank and file and sympathisers were gunned down in broad daylight by the DJV, the armed wing of the JVP. Many who survived were in their hit list. Some hid in the plantations and among the rebels in the North. Some fled to India whilst some others left shores seeking greener pastures and came to roost when the dust has been settled.
JVP gonibillas” (in short billas”) who were in the service of the security forces identified leftist cadres and sympathisers, also their own folks and assisted to intensify the suppression of left forces. Later some of these old gonibillas” have entered mainstream politics, even Parliament. In Kenya in the 1950’s during the Mau Mau uprising Kenyan villagers were brought before betrayers, those who took the Mau Mau oath with the jungle fighters to identify the fighters remaining in the hamlets. They were dressed in huge hoods with eye-holes who became known as Little Sacks” or Gahunia”, the precursors of our own billas!
Some other leftists also joined in the killing spree. They formed the most notorious PRRA(Peoples’ Revolutionary Red army) as against the atrocities of DJV. Whoever was first to pull the trigger was the ultimate winner. The members of the civil society condoned these killings and suppression of JVP. Later some of these men were in the higher echelons of the Yahapalana regime as ministers and parliamentarians which included a person who cheated at University examinations, who was debarred to sit any examination conducted by that particular university.
Members of the so-called civil society condoned these killings and suppression of JVP. These men and women do not have any shame as they have also joined the NPP. How can one embrace his own killers? This applies to armed forces also. In 1971 JVP’s few Navy supporters were entrusted with mixing ‘japala’ (Croton tiglium L.) seed to water tanks making the naval ratings to purge (japala is a purgative) and immobilize them until JVP captures power. In 1988 Katunayaka Airbase was penetrated and arms taken away; Police Field Force Headquarters was attacked. JVP/DJV issued an order to members of the armed forces to leave the forces, if not their family members will be killed. True to its nature JVP/DJV killed many such family members. Army like the JVP/DJV put up posters everywhere and began mopping up operations. Did the ex-servicemen who address meetings, act as mobilisers and attend JVP/NPP rallies ask for an explanation why JVP issued such an order to kill their family members?
After the 1971 insurrection thousands of youth were taken into custody. For those who joined the JVP without any understanding of Marxism-Leninism, revolutionary path befitting an Asian country, prisons and rehabilitation camps became political schools. Some of the leading cadres who fought against the State were disillusioned about JVP policies and its leadership formed their own political group JanathaSangamaya” when they were released. The best books criticising the JVP were written by these breakaway groups.
JVP began killing their erstwhile comrades with the killing of Nandana Marasinghe, the person who led a group of aficionados to storm the Jaffna prisons and rescue Wijeweera in 1971 and founder of JVP’s VimukthiGee”. In 1988-89 several leading figures of JanathaSangamaya” were killed by the JVP labelling them as traitors. Deva Bandara Senaratne, T. B. Wijesuriya, JamisEthugala were among them. It’s incomprehensible to state that some of the leading men of this group cum Diyasa” editors entering the fray finding slots in the JVP district lists. People owed an explanation from them, what extraordinary qualities they saw in the present JVP leadership, what Wijeweera and the old leadership of the JVP lacked.
Wedid notknowwhether to laugh or cry when we saw the names of some Trotskyite and Communist” academics who fought against colossal like NM, Colvin, S. A. Wickremasinghe and Peiter Keuneman, castigating them as reformists, who have drowned the left movement in the quagmire of bourgeois parliamentary politics and bourgeois coalitions, economism, revisionism, opportunism and alleging that they have betrayed revolutionary ideals and the working class in NPP National List. They who formed their own splinter groups to carry out the revolution in Sri Lanka, after taking a full circle finding national list slots in the party they hated more than the Democratic or Republican or Conservative parties, sitting in a common rostrum in their senile lives was indeed deplorable.
(2) Enter Harini Amarasuriya
After the 2020 General Elections for the JVP’s solitary national list slot an outsider, Harini Amarasuriya was selected dumping all these ideologues and civil society” worthies. Even their party stalwarts, defeated candidates or former JVP Ministers or Deputy Ministers (under CBK) were not selected.
What was the reason? Reason was the NGO factor within the JVP/NPP becoming predominant. JVP is the largest and organised NGO in Sri Lanka (not the party of the proletariat) getting enormous funds from undisclosed sources.
Later some NGO academics including an history teacher in the NPP voiced their opinion that Amarasuriya should lead the JVP/NPP and she should be its Presidential candidate). Reason cited was that Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, the present leader of JVP/NPP cannot sustain a dialogue in English. They must have thought that a ‘leader’ of a former English colony should be conversant in English to discuss world affairs with former colonial masters!
More than that, it is evident that Harini Amarasuriya’s class origins and class affiliations and class allegiances had played a significant role (to match Rajapaksas and Wickremasinghe?). In her many interviews she is very careful not to divulge her ancestral roots. She simply says that her father was a planter without naming him. She may have heard JVP/DJV killing a number of plantation managers and setting ablaze more than a dozen tea factories.
It is not unfounded to guess that Harini Amarasuriya belongs to a clan which represented comprador- bourgeoisie consisting of colonial plantation interests, bankers and MNCs. We did not have such representatives of comprador- bourgeoisie and MNCs in the leadership of Old Left. We refrain here to add the part played by Amarasuriyas in local politics as it is well-known to oldtimers. They claimed that they descend from the Kshatriya warrior royalty of India.
Entrepreneur proprietor given a Muhandiramship by British government; buying estates from British planters leaving Ceylon when many plantations were set on sale gave opportunities to local land owning gentry; pioneers of low country tea, extending a plantation empire up to Morawak Korale; owners of tea and rubber factories, owners of Monrovia, Citrus Group,Kurulugalla Group, MorawakaKorale, Diyadawa Group, Mahendra Group, Olympus Group; moved to upcountry higher elevations in Ambagamuwa, Dickoya and Dimbula tea districts; Members of State Council; Members of Parliament; Cabinet Ministers (through some of them links to business magnates like Dilmas); General Secretaries of UNP; Deputy Speakers; OBE recipients; Presidents of Senate; first Ceylonese Chairman of the Planters’ Association; occupying top echelons of MNCs and banks; Crown Counsels, President’s Counsels, and top doctors; Cabinet Secretaries, diplomats, Ministry Secretaries (of Felix Dias), Public Prosecutors (who prosecuted JVPers at the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC), Law Professors and vice-Chancellors (like G. L. Peiris: we mentioned only G.L.’s name as it is necessary because he is in a political ‘gandabba’ state and we do not know where his ‘helicopter’ lands after a General Election!) are in the Amarasuriya clan. Does Anura Kumara’s flock know these?
Not long-agoRoar Media Sinhala (which played an active part at Galle Face), funded by IREX (International Research & Exchange Board – funded by USAID, US State Department, Ford Foundation and Millennium Challenge Corporation and Google), carried an article about Amarasuriya clan, with its genealogical records. Nobody can doubt that Harini Amarasuriya was selected by the JVP/NPP because of the connections she has to landed gentry, comprador-bourgeoisie and multi-national business conglomerates. Caste had played a decisive role in this selection as in 1971. JVP was a group of a particular caste fighting for its own emancipation.
It is a supreme irony that the JVPers and dissidents of old Trotskyist groups who were critical about class origins and class characteristics of old left leaders who became an appendage of NPP, having one of them in their fief.
Who is Harini Amarasuriya?Wikipedia says she is ideologically on the Centre-left of the NPP” and she considers herself to be a liberal”. JVP, if it is a party of the proletariat cannot accommodate Centre-lefts and liberals. What is liberalism? In his essay titled Combat Liberalism” (1937), Mao identifying 11 main manifestations of liberalism says, ‘‘liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective”; liberalism stems from petty-bourgeois selfishness”; liberals look upon the principles of Marxism as abstract dogma”; liberalism is a manifestation of opportunism”; it is negative and objectively has the effect of helping the enemy; that is why the enemy welcomes its preservation in our midst”; no place for it in the ranks of the revolution”. All loyal, active, honest and upright communists must unite to oppose the liberal tendencies shown by certain people among us and set them on the right path. This is one of the tasks on our ideological front.” So, it is all bunkum calling JVPers as Marxists and Maoists.
This is clear-cut evidence to show that JVP no longer upholds Marxism. It is the capitalist press and Sri Lankans domiciled abroad paint them as Marxists. (Even some incorrigible Sinhala youtubers are Marxists for them). Calling them RathuSahodarayas” and Socialists” is the worst thing they do to Communists and Socialists all over the world. Kowtowing at Julie Chung as her parlor boy, addressing meetings at venues in US adorned with American flags, JVP leader Anura Kumara knows how to butter both sides of the bread.
According to various interviews of Amarasuriya which are in the public domain, (Gossip Lanka News on 19/8/2020, E- International Relations 25/6/2220, Daily Mirror on 10/3/2021; One to One Video) her father is a planter; young days spent in a plantation bungalow; she proudly says that she was born in McCarthy private hospital and educated at Bishops College; did English, Greek and Roman Civilisation, French and History for her A/Ls (those days at Peradeniya the combination of kultur lot, except History); an avid reader, she was spoon-fed while reading; English was the language spoken at home; had American connections from her school days; goes to California on a Student Exchange Programme.
When I was exploring options for higher education my interest was in English. My father wanted meet a friend of his – a rather eccentric former diplomat for me to discuss my ‘future’ with him. When I announced that I wanted to study English Literature this was immediately scoffed at as a typical, elitist, bourgeois Sri Lankan thing” (says she did not know the meaning of what bourgeois was). I don’t know whether the ‘eccentric’ was right, as he had recommended her to read a godfather of Sinhala academics of the NPP. So, she selects Sociology.
She obtains a degree from Hindu College, Delhi University; joins an NGO doing Community Mental Health” by an organization called Nest” and work in mental institutions such as Mulleriyawa, IDH and in a psychosocial support programme as a child protection and psychosocial support practitioner in the north and east war-torn areas, Batticaloa and Mannar; Tsunami work with UNICEF; not a product of a Sri Lankan university she obtains a doctorate from Scotland; joins the Open University and immediately participates in a FUTA (2021) struggle demanding higher wages for the academics under the guise of increasing the vote to education to 6% of the GDP. It is farcical to mention the names of the academics she mentions who had influenced her and mentored her (Sundara Minissu) at this juncture, all members of the so-called National Intellectuals Organisation” (NIO) affiliated to JVP/NPP. It is a meteoric rise to be elevated as a nominated MP.
NPP had 29 names in its national list. The first in the list was Bimal Ratnayaka who was a Deputy Minister under CBK. Everybody thought that the choice was Ratnayake. Sunil Handunnetti, Nalinda Jayatissa, Nihal Galappatti who were in the last Parliament was not appointed. It was decided to give it to NPP, (a decision made by Anura and Tilwin Ayya, according to Amarasuriya). There were Trotskyite ideologues and yahapalana constitution makers. How and why Harini Amarasuriya becoming more suitable than these worthies to fill the solitary national list slot? Bringing defeated candidates to Parliament via National List is constitutional as the constitution provides for such appointments. All political parties have made use of this provision as it was the practice; JVP dumped its National List MP former Auditor General Mayadunne soon after him taking oaths and appointed Handunnetti, a defeated candidate in his place.
This is a case of JVP turning into NGO politics from its traditional vote base; I do not say it is working class politics; using village and subaltern votes it has polled the JVP has nominated a Colombo upper class NGO activist, a political part timer; dumping rural politics or rural women it has embraced Colombo’s posh politics; a Bishopian waiting to meet a Thomian prince charming (she says in an interview that Bishops College as a finishing schoolprovides wives to Thomians) to represent the masses!
JVP knows that it gets votes or seats from urban areas; it has metamorphosized into a party of urban and semi-urban lower middle class and middle class; that was the reason for AKD shifting to Colombo district from Kurunegala district, mainly an agricultural area (paddy and coconut). He knows that his seat is secure; Vijitha Herath born in Badulla found a secure place in Gampaha district. Although Sunil Handunnetti was thrown out from Colombo, he could not secure a place in Galle district. Lal Kantha can remain as a rabble-rouser, but cannot get elected from Anuradhapura district. Wasantha Samarasinghe and Namal Karunaratna are more comfortable as JVP’s trade union aristocrat and lord of the peasants respectively rather than entering Parliament. Others have lucrative careers either as medicine men or attorneys.
In a newspaper interview Amarasuriya replies to a story shared in social media about Bimal Ratnayake and his wife’s BMW as follows: I wish he had a BMW. It would have made our lives much easier. I work very closely with her and we could have swung around in the BMW”. This shows the mentality not only of the national list MP Amarasuriya, but also of her party stalwarts who send their children to foreign universities and private universities in Sri Lanka who are famous for their sartorial elegance.
Our sorrows are with the young Sinhala-educated academics, artists and writers and men and women who do not know the class and caste structure, history of the left movement in Sri Lanka in general and JVP politics in particular. But the senile academics should know that getting themselves elected even as a national list member has become a distant dream.
People owe an explanation from them, what extraordinary qualities they saw in AKD, what old Left leaders such as NM, Colvin, SA, Pieter lacked. All rights, welfare and services the working class in particular and the masses in general enjoy are the fruits of struggles waged by old Left. What indelible effect or influence the JVP had made except renaming Bombay onions (‘Bombai loonu’ or ‘B’ loonu) as ‘lokuloonu’ (big onions) and Masoor dhal (‘Mysoor parippu’) as ‘rathu parippu’, the crude way they defied Indian expansionists during 1988-1989.
If the senile academics think that the JVP/NPP is a different from the Old Left Movement in Sri Lanka, the conspicuous difference between the two is that the old left leaders wore white/satin drill or tussore suits whereas present day so-called revolutionaries wear high end products; their press conferences show glimpses of fashion parades.
Let us briefly examine Harini Amarasuriya’s American connexons after her US student exchange programme, what we gather from public domain. She along with US Ambassador Julie Chung met Samantha Power, the Administrator (Head) of USAID in September 2022 (see the timing; just one month after deposing GR). The other Sri Lankan politicians Power met with Amarasuriya were, Sajith Premadasa, Dayasiri Jayasekera (then SLFP General Secretary), Rishard Bathiuddin, Abraham Sumanthiran, Rauf Hakeem and Mano Ganeshan. We do not know what Power and Chung discussed with an anti-Rajapaksa group.
She joined a Sri Lankan women parliamentary caucus study tour to New Zealand funded by USAID along with Seetha Arambepola, GR’s ‘Viyathmaga’ ‘political bombast’ who shredded ACSA and SOFA into pieces at ‘Viyathmaga’ and ‘Eliya’ meetings.
Amarasuriya bombarded the JVP Headquarters and revealed the true nature of the JVP (making the leadership to hide as ostriches) uttering that she supports 13 th Amendment to the Constitution.
Harini Amarasuriya was not the first one to join JVP ranks from the elite class. In 1971 we saw the late Susil Siriwardena, Oxford educated Administrative Officer (of Bandaranaike-Obeysekera clan) and Viraj Fernando, British educated Marine Engineer joining JVP. Susil Siriwardena became the trusted lieutenant of Ranasinghe Premadasa, managing his housing and poverty alleviation (Janasaviya) programmes. After 1971 Sunila Abeysekera, daughter of a top Civil Servant marrying a JVP front liner joined its ranks. Soon after she became a topnotch NGO activist, heading a foreign-funded NGO called INFORM” (Inform Human Rights Documentation Centre), monitoringand documenting Human Rights situation in Sri Lanka in the context of ethnic conflict and civil war”. The Catholic nun who sang songs in JVP’s ‘Vimumthi Gee’ recital ended her political career after marrying a 1971 JVP leader (who participated in the decisive discussion at University Sangharamaya to begin the armed struggle on April 5, 1971, attacking police stations, who hid in a Buddhist temple donning a saffron robe when thousands of unsuspecting village girls and boys were dying in the name of revolution), now living a luxurious life Down Under earning a Ph.D.
Similarly, Harini Amarasuriya’s truck with the JVP/NPP can be short-lived unless JVP nominates her to a Cabinet post in a future coalition government.
(3) Cockeyed Predictions – AKD and His NPP Well-pointed to Win”
YouTube is full of talk shows given by JVP front liners. They all say that JVP is winning and AKD will be the next President of Sri Lanka. They make very optimistic statements that they will capture power and take decisions against saboteurs; 32 more Sundays (why 32 Sundays? Mahinda calculated the decisive day according to number of poya days. Why Sunday or the Sabbath? Is it Julie Chung’s Calendar?); what would happen during Malima’s (Compass -symbol of NPP) first week after coming to power; ex-servicemen joining the NPP for the second War; determination of tri-forces; our coming is definite; we will punish the rogues; an operation to prevent AKD becoming President; what game Ranil plays next October will usher a new administration. They have already come to power!
JVP astrologers reading AKD’s horoscope and seeing rajayoga is the biggest farce. Some brainy chaps had joined the fray in making predictions. One such predictor is a pseudo -theoretician who gave/gives dead ropes to Premadasa, Mahinda and Gotabhaya and now to Junior Premadasa.
The other one who predicts that AKD will poll 50%+ at a Presidential Election and JVP/NPP getting 113 seats at a Parliamentary Election, is the man who claims that he did all behind the scene work with Atureliye Ratana in bringing Sirisena in 2005, an acolyte of Janatha Mithuro,Sihala Urumaya and Jathika Hela Urumaya. (In 2005 he wrote a book titled Yuga Peraliya” just to tell us that he singlehandedly changed the regime. He completely ignores the part played by the imperialists headed by US, RAW, UNP, NGO cabal and other anti MR groups. With the blessings of Sirisena this person became the chairman of a very important statutory body). In the first section of this essay we have stated that the then US Secretary of State John Kerry saying that the US providing US $ 585 million to Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Myanmar to stabilise democracy”. It is an irony of history to state that this forecaster is the son of one time Communist Party General Secretary and a Member of Parliament, who led a struggle of plantation workers at Gasnawa rubber estate in Kegalle district to capture” the estate (Gasnawe Weeraya – Hero of Gasnawa), much to the consternation of Communist Party hierarchy that led to his ouster as the General Secretary of the Party!
Who reports these predictions that AKD crosses 50 +%? One is EconomyNext, owned by Capital Media (also publishes Echelon” and Cosmopolitan” for fearless women”- in partnership with Hearst Magazines International”. HearstCommunications” is an American mass media conglomerate), whose bigwigs linked to Sarvodaya Development Fund” and many more.
Who are the opinion trackers”? USAID funded Institute for Health Policy” (IHP). Its latest Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey” (SLOTS) MRP estimates of Presidential Election voting intent for October 2023 show support for AKD reaching half of the likely electorate (51%)”. What is their sample size? Just 567! If their Survey Team goes to a JVP/NPP meeting and conducts an on-field Survey they can achieve the miracle number 99.99%. These foreign-funded researchers who live in ivory towers should be taught that the electorate does not behave according to their statistical techniques! We ask why they have gone outside their designated research areas to election predictions.
An unknown body, this Institute gained media coverage during Covid pandemic giving false interpretations about the crisis and criticizing government initiatives.
We bring this information to the readers because knowing the messenger is important to assess the validity of the message. We should know who brings us gifts before accepting their gifts. Fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts” as warned by the Trojan priest Laocoon.
In our article in Lankaweb News posted on November 1, 2023 we have clearly stated that JVP cannot poll 50% and 1 vote at a Presidential election and get 113 seats at a parliamentary election respectively giving reasons for coming into that conclusion. Increasing current 3% to 51% and 3 seats to 113 is a herculean task never witnessed in a Presidential or Parliamentary election. Our assessment stands as it was without any change. Then why all this fuss of coming into power?
Oldtimers will recall that there was a popular belief (no forecasting at that time) that Philip Gunawardene’s Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) will sweep the polls in March 1960 General Elections. One of the popular slogans during the elections was, Sangha-Veda- Guru-Govi- Kamkaru=Rekumata A Pilip Kumaru”. For a 143- seat Parliament, MEP fielded candidates for 87 constituencies but got only 10 seats, including three won by Rajapaksas from Hambantota district. (D.A. Rajapaksa was defeated at Beliatta electorate, coming second). Gunawardena’s wife Kusumsiri Gunawardena became fourth at Kiriella electorate polls. Although not hyped LSSP won an equal number of seats. In July 1960 elections MEP was able to field only 51 candidates and got only 3 members elected. Some who were elected in March 1960 in MEP ticket switched over to SLFP and were elected again in July 1960 as SLFPers.
Philip, the architect of the Paddy Lands Act which made a genuine effort to free the peasants from feudalistic economic relations and unequitable patron-client relations, who introduced multi-purpose cooperatives, a far reaching measure for the benefit of rural farmers as Minister of Agriculture and Lands and his able lieutenant William Silva as Minister of Fisheries who introduced wide ranging reforms in the fisheries sector were unable to secure a mandate from the people. What had happened to Philip in 1965 was a different story. How can JVP/NPP or AKD for the sake of argument match such a colossus who is coming forward without any meaningful track record?
This writer’ s contention is that Sri Lanka’s ‘Left movement’ began as a Trotskyite Movement (Lanka Sama SamajaParty- LSSP) headed by some London-educated Trotskyists. It was not a Marxist Movement in true sense of Marxism. It was an irony of history never seen in any other country. LSSP was the strongest Trotskyite group in the world at one time. Although in 1943, Marxists-Leninists of the LSSP broke away and formed the United Socialist Party, later renaming it as Communist Party of Ceylon (CPC), after Nikita Khrushchev became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU) it degenerated into a Revisionist Party. This led to the formation of Ceylon Communist Party(dubbed asthe Peking Wing by the capitalist press). This gave birth to various splinter groups of which JVP was one. Don Nandasiri Wijeweera (later baptized as Rohana Wijeweera) was expelled from the Party as he was engaged in conspiratorial work to grab the reins of its youth league.
Had some Communist Party (Moscow Wing) bigwigs allowed Don NandasiriWijeweera who visited Ceylon on a short holiday to go back to Moscow and continue his medical studies and qualify as medical practitioner without blocking his visa, Sri Lanka’s recent political history would have been changed avoiding many catastrophes.
Election forecasters should be warned that at the 1977 General Elections nobody in his wildest dreams had thought that the Left being wiped out without winning a single seat. Giant pillars in the Left Movement were crumbled down by minions, never to rise again. As a result, what remained as ‘Left’ is a group which degenerated within a very short time than the ‘Old Left’ which has no illustrious history, an appendage of dubious elements. The presence of this group is essential for the protection of the capitalist class. Its presence is not a threat to the capitalist class. Although dubbed as Marxist-Leninists”, Socialists” and Rathu Sahodarayas” by the media, reasons for the existence of such a group and attributes and characteristics of such a group are found in the world Marxist- Leninist history.
Did not JVP participate in governmental affairs? We can give two instances. Firstly, we still remember how the JVP managed the affairs of the key Ministries assigned to them by CBK. These key Ministries Agriculture (Anura Kumara), Fisheries (Piyasiri Wijenayaka), Rural Industries (Lal Kantha) and Culture and National Heritages (Vijitha Herath), taken together were like the heart and soul of the peasantry, fishermen, rural artificers and craftsmen and cultural activists respectively good enough to capture power waging an ideological campaign as the above stakeholders consisted of more than 90% of the total population of Sri Lanka. In a time of plain sailing in tranquil waters undisturbed by any natural calamity all four Ministers failed miserably without keeping any lasting footprint. This is enough for their future governance.
Secondly, in Sirisena-Ranil yahapalana government AKD had a separate office at the Temple Trees. He was entrusted with catching rogues of the previous government. But in the midst of the Galle Face protest AKD staged a drama at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) presenting a set of files as documentary evidence of corruption of Rajapaksas and some other politicians, already exposed in detail by political commentators of Sunday newspapers many years ago and their own Dooshana Viroddhee Peramuna” (Anti-graft Front) during Yahapalana regime. This was queried by a government parliamentarian during the recent budget debate. His answer was if I had power, I know what I would be doing”. This statement is enough to be construed as a threat if the JVP/NPP come into power.
(4) Lal Kantha’s Readiness for an Armed Struggle
If the JVP/NPP and its godfathers and forecasters are certain of victory at a Presidential Election and a Parliamentary Election why does Lal Kantha JVP’s political bureau member and self-styled regime changer, uttering that he is ready for an armed struggle if required as the reincarnation of Keerthi Wijebhahu of DJV during 1988-1989? Daily FT on 8, November and EconomyNext on 20 November reported his readiness to participate in an armed struggle if the need arises. At a meeting held at Kandy he has said: I am also ready to join an armed struggle at any time; sacrifices are essential; we cannot succeed without sacrifice, without passion, without acts of heroism”.
He, at various public rallies gives warning signals: We come to power to make the final judgement for saboteurs”; Ranaviruwas join the Malimawa for the second battle”; Determination of the tri-forces”; Our coming is certain; we give maximum punishment to rogues”.
Is JVP/NPP mobilizing ex-servicemen for the third armed struggle? Have they heard what Lenin said about armed forces of a capitalist state as, instruments for the exploitation of the oppressed class”; instruments of state power”; ruling class strives to restore the special bodies of armed men which serve it”? Lal Kantha and AKD should read just the first few pages of The State and Revolution”!
OnMay 09, 2022, Helmet Brigades” turned the Island into an inferno. Arson took place with the aid of drones and Molotov cocktails. Nearly hundred private residences of government politicians were set ablaze. Lal Kantha at the height of the Galle Face protest, addressing a meeting at Thambuttegama in May 2022 threatened to lay siege to Parliament until the present Parliament was dissolved. Lal Kantha, and a few other JVP leaders were seen inciting demonstrators to storm and occupy the Parliament – ‘the final battle’- culmination of his Revolution” – in July 2022, at Polduwa Junction. But atthe crucialmoment when the military crackdown began, true to the form of JVP leaders they all slipped away.
What type of an armed struggle he is going to wage?
World history is replete with various types of armed struggles. During The CivilWar in France (Paris Commune) (1870-71), there were Monarchists, Communards (revolutionaries and supporters of Paris Commune), Capitulards (capitulationists ), Blanquists and the petty-bourgeois democrats Jacobinists (two leading sections of the insurrection).
In pre-revolutionary Russia there were Anarchists, God Builders’ (who advocated the founding of a new socialist” religion),Narodniks (who considered the peasants and petty-proprietors as the chief revolutionary force in Russia; formed terrorist groups which considered terrorism to be the main means of fighting tsarism (JVP of 1971); denied the leading role of the working class; later compromised with tsarism and voiced the interests of Kulaks against Marxists); Cadets(Constitutional Democratic Party- hiding behind democratic slogans who betrayed peoples’ interests), Black Hundreds (gangs set up by the tsarist police to murder revolutionaries); Socialist Revolutionaries (a petty-bourgeois party who refused to recognize the proletariat’s leadership in the Revolution; later with the Mensheviks and Cadets became counter-revolutionists), Legal Marxists” (a set of liberal- bourgeois intellectuals who distorted Marxism in the interests of the bourgeoisie) and Decembrists .
It is evident that JVP/NPP have all the components of these groups.
In China, during its two-stage Revolution, New Democratic Revolution and Socialist revolution respectively, various types of deviationists, Left” deviationists and Right” deviationists, Left” and Right” opportunists, Ultra” revolutionists, Putchists and Roving Rebels”, pure” militarists emerged. It was the Communist Party of China that resolved all these problems and won the final victory.
JVP also had two armed insurrections in 1971 and 1988-89. Lal Kantha’s utterings show that JVP is having an armed wing and arming themselves, conducting military training; We may ask is that the role of ex-servicemen who join NPP?
Looking at the JVP/NPP we conclude that it is a hotchpotch of bourgeois, petty-bourgeois elements, anarchists, duplicates of old Russian Narodniks and Social-Revolutionaries.Now NPP has become the receptacle of all elements including ex-servicemen.
The JVP revolutionaries” should be taught that Engels wrote, that no revolution could break out there (in Paris) without assuming a proletarian character, that is to say without the proletariat”.Where are Lal Kantha’s proletarian forces? Ex-servicemen? Does he think that the Sri Lankan tri-forces would stand at the gates” as they did on July 9, 2022?
(5) AKD’s Infantile Disorder”
What is JVP’s programme to capture power? What AKD utters at Parliament and public meetings are just rhetoric. If we take the current Budget Debate for an example, JVP could have exploited it to its advantage informing the masses their programmes in resuscitating the economy, their fiscal and monetary policies, policies in agriculture, industry, health, education and culture, foreign relations, investment and so on and so forth, if they are certain in winning Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. Sadly, we heard nothing, except exchanging verbal abuse as usual.
Addressing a meeting at Uda Dumbara, AKD had nonsensically stated the paucity of our music industry comparing it with that of South Korea. Why he has chosen South Korea as an example when there is a long list of countries which produce best music including Russia and China? He says that we are still reciting ‘Pel Kavi’ (a genre of folk poetry recited by peasants from their watch huts in the night in good old days!).
He said supermarkets world over do not sell Sri Lankan products, (he may have visited Costco, Target, Walmart, Tesco, Myers, David Jones or Chadstone in his foreign junkets, flying business class, wearing haut couture dresses- exclusive custom fitted clothing) and Netflix does not have any Sri Lankan film! (Why sudden craze for Netflix, the American video-on-demand over -the-top streaming service? Was he briefed by his Californian fans about Netflix while visiting California recently? Does AKD know Netflix does not serve Russia, China and North Korea?)
Since he has in his fold (A) several music men, some who judge Derana” Dream Star Reality Shows (one man is an NGO artist of German-funded FLICT (Facilitating LocalInitiatives for Conflict Transformation, which was actively operational during the Eelam War; their stage play Ratnavalli’ defames the character of Vihara Devi, an epitome of bravery and self-sacrifice and an inspirational power in opposing foreign domination) and the other the JVP stage performer (accompanied by his vocalist spouse), (B) a film actor who shoved Sajith Premadasa at Galle Face Carnival, (C) a soap opera actor who carried a wooden cross from Katuwapitiya church to Galle Face Green, (D) Sinhala lyricists, (E) film producers who produce films with foreign collaborators to screen at international film festivals, depicting Sri Lanka as a Sinhala-Buddhist Majoritarian” country which victimizes ethnic and religious minorities; our village folk with incestuous sexual orientations unable to free themselves from tribal traits and who distort our history; (some of them won premier awards at the recently concluded Derana -Lux Film Awards” judged by NGO affiliated film critics, film producers and journalists) and (F) some Youtubers who livestream JVP/NPP activities, Sri Lanka can be rest assured that its music and film industry going global when AKD comes to power!
Above categories show the type of artists who are attracted to JVP/NPP in a nutshell.
Teenage sex, extramarital activities, problems of gays, lesbians, gender neutrals and transgender people, frigid women (or women suffering from vaginismus), Sinhala supremacy and ethnic discrimination provide themes to literature propagated by writers who represent JVP/NPP.
One mediocre writer who was seen among these Colombo-based NPP groupings, once interviewed by US-funded ROAR media, portrayed PrincessYasodara, who had earned much reverence from the Buddhists all over the world, cherished as an epitome of chastity, womanhood and motherhood in classical Sinhala literature, having a clandestine affair with Prince Siddhartha’s Minister Channa. Accordingly, Prince Rahula was Channa’s illegitimate child. When this person was charged for this sacrilege the NGO cabal wept buckets of tears in the name of freedom of expression. Have we ever heard a Western writer or a Catholic writer in Sri Lanka, writing a blasphemous short story about Virgin Mary?
AKD has not yet stated that Sri Lanka has failed to produce a Nobel laureate in Literature!
See the venue AKD has chosen to showcase his ‘knowledge’ of music industry, global supermarkets and Netflix; Uda Dumbara, a sleepy mountainous area inhabited by impoverished paddy, vegetable and highland cultivators!
AKD should be taught about the speech given by Premier Zhou-en Lai at a forum on literary and artistic creations and screenplay writing in 1961, how Zhou delineated physical and intellectual production and discussed class struggle and united front, to whom art and literature serve, development laws, heritage, creation and leadership in art and literature.
Before uttering unscientific nonsense AKD should learn ideas expressed by Marx, Engels and Lenin on art and literature and Mao’s treatises on art and literature which have a profound relevance to countries in the East respectively.
Has AKD written any theoretical essay? If the JVP claims that it is a Marxist party what extraordinary profound knowledge of Marx they have, the ability to apply Marxism -Leninism to the economic andpolitical situation of Sri Lanka? Is it able to unite Marxist parties and circles into a single unit giving it political leadership?
It is an affront to Lenin if we try to describe what Lenin did before the Great October.
What ideological struggle AKD and JVP/NPP wage against SLPP, UNP, SJB and other splinter groups except calling all of them horas? Is he criticizing their political and economic programmes? What work they did to unite Marxist groups and circles when it is not banned in a time of enjoying democratic rights without any police persecution?
What change – if JVP is not using the term Revolution- JVP is going to bring about? Is it a bourgeois-democratic revolution as Lenin put forward in his TwoTactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution” or a phase of NewDemocracy” as expounded by Mao? But both leaders said proletariat- working class- Communist Party must be the leader. Is JVP or NPP such a party becoming the leader of the bourgeois democratic or new democratic revolution?
Giving an interview to a Sunday Weekly AKD had stated that his party’s aim will be a Pohosath Janathawak- Pohosath Ratak” (Rich People- Rich Country). All are hackneyed phrases (like engine of economic growth”), nothing new in what he says; we have heard these from all people who sought a mandate from people since Independence. These so-called engines” are like the different types of locomotives Ceylon Government Railways (CGR) had from its inception, still could not provide an efficient and effective service to the commuters! What kind of economic democracy” AKD imagines we do not know.
How AKD is going to make people rich” is the biggest question. Rich” in what? We are rich” in rhetoric. By words not deeds. It seems that AKD is thinking statecraft, with apologies to Mao, as a dinner party or writing an essay or painting a picture or doing embroidery”.
If the JVP/NPP assumes that they will come to power very soon, in preparation to hold power we advise them to read and understand Lenin’s essays ImpendingCatastrophe and How to Combat It” and One of the Fundamental Questions ofRevolution” (Collected Works-Volume25).
(6) Why No Opposition to JVP/NPP?
It is intriguing why nobody in the opposition or media criticize JVP/NPP and give a plausible interpretation why it cannot come into power except some pohottuwa parliamentarians. Reason is their uncertainty and political expediency keeping options open for a coalition government after a General Election.
The other reason is fear psychosis! Reminiscences of 1988-89 haunting everywhere.
The people in the nationalist camp who criticize RW’s policies and who advocate that this government should be chased out do not say HOW? WITH WHOM? and UNDER WHOSE LEADERSHIP?
(7) Dual Tactics of Western Embassies
It is interesting to assess the role of Western Embassies, especially the US Embassy, how they have evinced a greater interest in JVP/NPP? Do they think that the JVP/NPP has shed its anti-imperialist” stance by embracing the stars and stripes flag? What are the reasons for this delusion? Are they igniting a Third” insurrection giving JVP/NPP a false consciousness that the Western countries are willing to recognize and prepared to work with JVP/NPP, ensuing its total annihilation? Or have they thought that they have found a fangless ally to foster their geopolitical strategies and counter China?
Recently JVP/NPP have released photographs of their frontrunners, may be the members of the Central Committee, (or Military Commission!), a group of middle class and upper middle-class parasites. Among them we were able to identify (i) An old Trotskyite, who was involved in yahapalana constitution-making under Sirisena-RW (ii) An American specter haunting at Peradeniya who teaches Sinhala literature, advocating counter-culture and other euro-centric rubbish; who wrote an open letter to Julie Chung that he has American connections and he was supporting Galle Face protest (iii) A Sabaragamuwa Sinhala lecturer who plagiarized Ms. Padma Edirisinghe’s Sinhala translation of R. L. Brohier’s Changing Face of Colombo” as KolambaKomaliya”, who made a public apology on its exposure, was forced to remove the books issued to booksellers (iv) A person who worked at MR’s office at Temple Trees and who decamped on account of MR not arranging funds for his son’s education in America (v) An LGBTQ+ activist who openly admits his sexual orientation and who made films portraying gays and lesbians (vi) A lawyer who represented Garnier Barrister aka Sriyalatha Perera of Swiss Embassy local recruit, who was chosen as the scapegoat by local and international conspirators to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka (the first step in the ouster of GR) (vii) A lawyer who fought against ‘Upadhi Kada’ calling their closure,who celebrated his son’s graduation from a private university offering him floral tributes, when JVP students’ wing of the state universities molest female undergraduates, ordering them to attendlectures wearing bathroom slippers” and cheap dresses without underwear, who forcibly take other students for street demonstrations against private universities, (viii) Some members ofthe electricity mafia, who oppose solar, wind and other renewable energy sources representing the interests of agents of fossil fuel, coal power and thermal power generation.
In 1971 Wijeweera was conscious at least to enlist some workers cum trade union leaders from Land Development Department, DI leather factory and Wellawatta Weaving Mills.
(8) A Few Questions That Need Answers
(I) Why AKD’s trip to America was planned just a few months ahead of an election? (2) Did he meet any personnel of US State Department at least through proxies? (3) Can we forget that Sirisena visited US prior to 2015 on the pretext of receiving an ‘award’ and his sojourns in Singapore? (4) Why does Lal Kantha ask the people to come to the streets and demonstrate if the government does not give an election knowing very well that any election will be conducted next year? (5) Is it a ploy to mobilize people to come to the streets, if the election result is not favourable to them, questioning its validity, refusing to concede defeat as Trump and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil did? JVP cried computer jilmart” after the defeat of Sarath Fonseka, the Presidential candidate they supported with UNP, TNA, SLMC and a host of NGOs. How Somawansa Amarasinghe, the then JVP leader wearing a three-piece suit shamelessly embraced Ranil and Fonseka at a Presidential election meeting!
(9) AKD As American Protégé? Or Modern-day Icarus?
RW government’s budgetary proposals increased taxes at the behest of IMF to get the second tranche of IMF loan. VAT will be increased from 15% to 18% in certain items and from 0% to 18% in some other items burdening all segments of the society. This provides an excellent spawning grounds for future agitations and open revolt. US and IMF are doing this deliberately expecting future riots for them to intervene. Already Julie Chung has released an X message on 13 December 2023, on account of the release of IMF second tranche as she did at the release of first tranche. We welcome the positive news from the IMF Board about the completion of the first Extended Fund Facility review with Sri Lanka providing access to about US dollars 337 million for Sri Lanka to support its economic reforms and policies”. Although she says while safeguarding the most vulnerable” in her message, she hides how Ranil’s VAT affects the most vulnerable”.
In the midst of such a turmoil and open revolt, Americans may install AKD or Harini Amarasuriya as their protégé to govern Sri Lanka as they installed Nguyen Cao-ky deposing Ngo Dinh Diem their own protégé in South Vietnam and Lon Nol in Cambodia respectively.Looking at this scenario it is wishful thinking that if someone comes to the conclusion that the Western Embassies are deluded by JVP/NPP.
What is the other interpretation? Is AKD the modern-day Icarus? Icarus was warned not to fly too low nor too high, lest the sea’s dampness clog his wings or the sun’s heat melt them. He ignored instructions not to fly close to the sun causing beeswax in his wings to melt. He felt from the sky, plunged into the sea, was drowned and doomed.
We discuss President Joe Biden’s “full support for a scorched-earth campaign” in Gaza with _The Intercept_’s Jeremy Scahill, who says the U.S. is providing “political cover and rushing weapons there and giving support to the most pernicious lies that Israel [is] telling.” Despite the Biden administration’s recent assertions that it is helping to restrain Israel, Israel’s military and intelligence operation is significantly propped up by resources from the United States State and Defense departments, explains Scahill. “This is a joint U.S. operation militarily and politically.” Meanwhile, he says, Biden continues to repeat debunked falsehoods about pictures of beheaded babies from the October 7 Hamas attack.
The relics unearthed from the Deegawapiya site during the excavations and the Crest-Gem which are in exposition around the island to provide the devotees with an opportunity to pay their homage, are expected to be placed at Kahawaththa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya on Saturday morning ( Dec 16).
The Sacred Relics and the Crest Gem will remain at the Kahawaththa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya on December 16 and 17 for public veneration. Subsequently, the revered articles will be displayed at several Buddhist shrines covering the Rathnapura area for public veneration to provide the devotees with an opportunity to pay their homage during the rare exposition.
The Deegawapiya Stupa and the premises have been damaged due to various invasions in the past and therefore, restoration works are currently underway to bring it back to its former glory. Hence, the devotees have the opportunity to support this meritorious act by making financial contributions to the restoration project while worshiping the Sacred Omniscient Relics and Crest Gem of the Deegawapiya Stupa.
Arrangements have been made for the exposition of these revered articles at Ganegama Rajamaha Viharaya premises, Pelmadulla from December 18 to 20 morning, at Nivithigala Kshethrarama Viharaya from 20 to 22 morning and at Weragama Sri Pushparamaya, Palawela from 22 to 24. Afterwards, the revered articles will move in a religious procession to Rathnapura Sri Sumana Saman Devalaya.
