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Unfortunate Split of The JVP-It's Negative & Positive Influence on Sinhala CommunityBy Darmitha-Kotte
The political path of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP) has been arduous, painful, slow but steady. From a group of youth who thought that with only socialist dogmas they could overthrow governments in the early 1970s, they matured through a period of three decades to take the path of democratic politics and enter mainstream politics in Sri Lanka. Whether one likes it or not, one must commend them for the dedication, organisation and discipline with which they managed to establish an island-wide network of JVP branches that could organise a campaign " with the flick of a finger" if and when necessary. Socialism according to their training and understanding could be the panacea for all social ills in any country. Unfortunately, the home of modern day socialism the Soviet Union or Russia as we now call it, saw tremendous changes and a final separation from the original infra-structural establishment and with the advent of time, transformed into a more democratic path with an open economic policy and encouragement of private enterprises as against the state enterprises of former years. No doubt, "Perestroika" of Michael Gorbachev saw the entire Union collapse and fall into total disarray. Together with the Soviet Union the entire Eastern European Socialist Block countries also lost "their socialism." Today all these countries are chasing after "market economic" rat races. Given this background of the socialist world and the realities of survival in a highly competitive environment where globalization has taken its toll in quite a lot of the developing countries, the JVP and the Sri Lankan context too needs to be alert and careful about an ever changing world and manipulations. Initially in the early 1970s it was the JVP that terrorized Sri Lankan civil society. In so doing, they destroyed many social values that were held sacred until then by our citizens. It was the JVP that first began to attack and destroy State Administrative systems and internal security network by attacking Police Stations and murdering their officers. They then went on the rampage to attack the academia, businessmen and also openly criticized and victimized ordinary citizens with their high-handed and thuggish onslaughts of total disrespect and disregard for authority, seniority, experience and decency. For these destabilizing actions of theirs, they too suffered at the hands of the authorities for over 25 years. To say the least, JVP like well tampered iron came out of the doldrums to enter mainstream politics in a democratic set-up and are what they are today as we see them. Having entered mainstream politics, to their credit they have shed off quite a lot of their crude mentality and methods. Through this period of 20-30 years the JVP also lost quite many of their hard-core comrades who either disappeared or left Sri Lanka looking for secure and more lucrative "safe haven environments" in the capitalist world, to live in and enhance themselves. Due credit must be given to the extremely well organised JVP party activities which we have seen which surpass in standard, all other older and accepted political parties. However, all these achievements seem to be experiencing tremours and cracks which have eventually resulted in the JVP breaking up into 2 factions namely- the Wimal Weerawanse faction and the Somawanse Amerasinghe faction, the latter known to be more dogmatic and conservative than the more vibrant and buoyant Weerawanse faction which is hoping to establish a new political party and go on their own path. Here we are seeing the "Impermanence" that Lord Buddha taught us! The Negative Aspects of JVP and The Effects on The Sinhala Community: The early JVP movement came into being during the early 1970s under the hawkish supervision and training of Rohana Wijeweera (who like Prabhakaran of the LTTE and his immense hatred towards the Sinhalese) also had a hatred towards the established institution called "The State" and its administration. They also had a hatred towards the rich and educated because in their eyes such people were "capitalist" and belonged to the bourgeoisie. To the misguided and disillusioned undergraduate Sinhala youth of this country at the time, Wijeweera happened to be their hero who "supposedly" could provide solutions to all their problems of social standing and unemployment. It was the JVP that was first responsible for wreaking terror and mayhem on the civilian society with their acts of civil disobedience, attacks on Police Stations, murdering in the most brutal manner, heads of institutions whom they deemed were enemies of the common man. They even had the audacity to dictate on how the funeral ceremonies of such assassinated/murdered civilians must be conducted! Only those who lived in Sri Lanka during those times would understand how much fear and insecurity the JVP managed to "dole out" on the civil society of this country. For a national movement to obtain the maximum civilian support for their success, antagonism towards the educated and successful business establishments cannot help and these misguided youth never understood this aspect. Just like the LTTE terrorists, when an armed gang takes it on themselves to decide on what is good or bad for an entire nation, naturally the governments of the times had to take stringent measures to curtail such brutality and the JVP had to go underground for their own survival -waiting for a more suitable opportunity to re-surface. Before the JVP finally decided to enter mainstream democratic politics in this country there were two to three major areas for which they and no one else must take responsibility- Sri Lanka losing one or two generations of healthy useful Sinhala youth who if they remained alive could have contributed in no uncertain terms towards the socio-economic development of Sri Lanka. Due to the "blurred vision of JVP" the government authorities at the times carried on a mass scale elimination campaign of Sinhala youth in the South giving much heart-burn to parents and families and even fear and trauma to the families of those who became JVP targets of murderous/brutal attacks! Depriving Sinhala Youth of A Sound Education: The biggest disservice the JVP movement did and is still doing to the Sinhala youth of this country beginning from early 1970s up to date, is to systematically take our university students down a path of "half-baked and disqualified "university life where Sinhala youth are brainwashed into joining their student movement, controlling their lives and halting them from gaining the maximum knowledge available in universities once they have entered it. A university is the institution of the highest level of learning in any country but no, JVP students have been encouraged instead, to waste their precious 3-4 years of a Basic Degree time agitating against the university authorities, clashing against other students who do not tow their line of thinking, destruction of university property with their misguided "anti-capitalist socialist dogmas" which have been used to insult the academia of this country. What they failed to realize then and are still failing to realize is that an individual must first and foremost educate himself/herself in whatever discipline one wishes to specialize in and learn that subject to the maximum while at university because no where else can a student obtain the kind of facilities available in a university. What they also failed to acknowledge and sympathize with, is the fact that the majority of undergraduate students in universities do not come from rich urban families but from far away rural families. When the children of these rural families gain university entrance, those families undergo many hardships to facilitate their children's education in a university-they more often than not even sell or mortgage their family assets and farmland for the sake of their precious children in the hope that they will one day become worthwhile citizens of this country! However, the results are too negative and shameful. These children's lives are controlled to the extent that they are not permitted to learn English because it is called " Kaduwa(sword)" which is considered to be a tool of the rich and affluent and JVPers do not need to learn it even though it is absolutely useful in later life for these undergraduates when the pass out as graduates and go out into the open society and begin to search for employment. Many are the so called JVP graduates who regret about their own mistakes once they come out into the open society of competition and begin to understand what JVP politics has done to their future.. When these half baked citizens cannot gain useful employment due to their own mistakes, again they agitate against governments demanding jobs. No where in the world, does a country provide complete education and then ensure that every citizen is offered employment to suite their qualifications. The success story of a graduate gaining useful employment depends very much on that individual itself and how much of additional skills one has amassed during the university life. No where are jobs offered on a platter merely because one holds a BA or BSc certificate in one's hand! What is more dangerous now is the fact that the JVP is now found to be infiltrating into Secondary School Education as well and destroying our Sinhala boys and girls who are stepping towards their Ordinary Level Examinations and Advanced Level Examinations- even they are not being spared. Can this be considered to be a movement with the best interests of society in mind? These young children who are still under the guidance of their parents and facing a highly competitive student life, are given "classes" outside school hours in designated location in the rural or far away towns. They are being indoctrinated into breaking away from their traditional Sinhala Buddhist culture and are being encouraged to refrain from engaging in any Buddhist activities on the grounds that such activities are "JHU oriented!" Long before the JHU came into being as a political party in this country, Buddhism has been engraved in our culture and history and has become a way of life. In many schools, Buddhist activities are sabotaged by these tiny misguided children who are still learning their elementary facts of life! For any child to grow up into a full grown adult and be principled one has to learn the principles of one's religion whether it be Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or Christianity but when the JVP is conducting a damaging campaign against Buddhist children in schools one tends to question the sincerity of their mission towards the history and culture of JVP? In this situation one tends to question whether the JVP as national movement, is working hand-in-glove with anti-Sinhala/ anti-Buddhist forces to destroy our national heritage for their political survival? We do not need to analyse how the misguided young Buddhist Monks in the JVP will one day open their eyes into realizing that the JVP will attack the very Temples in which they reside. Using Buddhist Monks in the JVP movement is merely "a front" to create disunity among the Bhikku community of this country. Trade Unions and Their Activities: Trade Union activities in this country go back many decades when the Communist Party and Socialist Parties like the LSSP formed unions within State Organs to fight for worker's rights. What we fail to realize is the fact that the role and function of unions has also evolved during a period of 40-50 years in this country as well as in the rest of the world. With modern technology and the advancement in the fields of education and State administration, the die-hard socialist oriented trade unions have changed in-keeping with modern developments. However, in Sri Lanka we are still clinging on to the threads of socialist movements which began in the early 1920s and 1930s in other countries. Our unions are now formed not so much according to "socialism" or "capitalism" but according to colour politics of whether they are UNP,SLFP, LSSP, CP or JVP! These unions know and understand only one slogan and that is "get the maximum benefits from The State for the minimum given by employees and unions towards The State." It is basic theory that if a institution runs at a loss, such an organisation cannot afford to give more and more welfare benefits to their employees but these hardcore unionists never analyse their own actions and where their shortcomings are? They never instruct their followers to give of their best without misusing and abusing working hours in any given day at any given institution BUT they are extremely quick, to demand for any and every benefit humanly available! If these unions wish to learn from the outside world, they will learn that unions are now working together with the managements of successful enterprises, understanding the complexities of operations and helping enterprises to profit because they understand that only through profits can employees obtain more benefits, bonuses, promotions and better living standards. Unions which have changed into Joint-Consultative Councils and working together with the Management of enterprises whether in the public or private sector are working wonderfully. Until and unless Sri Lankan unions understand this basic principle, Sri Lanka can never hope to develop because the unions are "pulling the legs" and obstructing progress through their short-sighted as well as one-sided viewpoints. In this operation there is much for which the JVP has to take responsibility. When a nation is facing a crisis- that is not the time and place, for responsible unions to call for nationwide strikes to teach a lesson to the incumbent GOSL. Understanding the true nature of society is most important for the development of the entire nation not just trade unions and their members. Any movement must love its Motherland, love it's people and must uphold
the highest disciplines and moral standards, if they hope to do anything
constructive for one's nation. The JVP need re-thinking and re-adjustment
if they wish to gain popularity islandwide. It is difficult for Sri
Lankans to forget the horrible past experiences which have left an indelible
black mark in our society. |
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