Midweek Review

The epidemiology of violence

Published

1 year ago

2023/07/5

Sahan Weerasooriya

A file photo of protesters inside the President’s House

By Prof. Susirith Mendis

Introduction

Violence, by simple definition, is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of violence is “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.”

In this essay, I will not take the whole gamut of the WHO definition of violence, but a limited aspect that is required by my initial intent to write about violence in the context of what developed in Sri Lanka during 2022 and early 2023. Therefore, I will be limiting myself to the category of ‘Collective violence’ where violence is committed by larger groups of organised or disorganised individuals and retaliatory violence of the State.

The Present Setting

It is almost a year since the expulsion of the President of Sri Lanka without a shot being fired. Perhaps, the only instance in the world when that has happened. What came to my mind then, was the storming of the Winter Palace in Petrograd in October 1917 by workers, peasants and soldiers and the Palacio de La Moneda (the presidential palace) by military units loyal to Pinochet which led to the death of the President Salvador Allende. But they were extremely violent events as against what happened at the Presidential Residence in Fort, Colombo.

The most unlikely political process has come to pass in Sri Lanka in the Parliamentary election of the Executive President on 20th July 2022 – where a man who was not even elected to Parliament by the people, becoming President. The probability of such an event occurring anywhere in the world of democratic politics and state governance is so infinitesimal. But it has now come to pass. This is a unique confluence of events that is unparalleled in the world. Ranil Wickremesinghe will certainly find his place in the history books in decades to come – for this feat alone.

We need to wait and watch. History will unfold slowly; and surely it will.

Last year, we experienced a new type of violence. An ostensibly non-violent, non-political-party waves of anti-President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (GR) and anti-government protests expectantly transforming into two serious spasms of violence on 9th May and 9th July 2022.

Preamble

Therefore, in preamble, a short analysis of the current and developing situation in Sri Lanka in terms of the nature of violence, I think, is appropriate and necessary. The foreign exchange crisis that commenced with the dramatic fall in our dollar income from zero tourism and serious decrease in the influx of dollars from the Middle East workers due to Covid-19 pandemic was further aggravated by gross mismanagement of our finances by the government. The totally misplaced tax concessions at the outset of the GR Presidency and the asinine policy decision to ‘go organic’ in agriculture with ‘immediate effect’ created the first wave of protests by farmers who justifiably felt that there was an existential threat to them and Sri Lanka’s agriculture.

The ‘straw that broke the back’ of the people’s patience finally was the gas and fuel crisis. Never have we experienced kilometres long queues and 48-hour waits for them ever in our history – not even during the worst of 1971 and 1988-89 Southern insurrections nor during the 30-year Northern ethnic civil war. It is my considered view that if the fuel and gas crisis could have been avoided by foresight and prudent politico-economic thinking, President GR would still be in his seat. There is little point in going back and blaming GR for his grossly inappropriate appointments to key government positions not mentioning the cabal of retired military men who had no experience in civil administration.

Since GR was not doing anything to stop the Galle Face aragalaya, Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) in his foolishness prompted by his close coterie of low-IQ, but inherently violent henchmen decided to counter-attack. This led, in reaction, to the first spasm of widespread violence by the hitherto non-violent aragalaya enterprise. What took me, and many other observers, by surprise was the magnitude of that violence. The organisational capacity of the nationally widespread violence was not expected nor foreseen. Neither did we expect the JVP politburo member Lal Kantha to take covert responsibility. We discovered that there had been a subterranean stream of incipient violence hibernating within the aragalaya. Whether the innocuous ‘candle-lit vigils’ that began it all, had a hidden hand (local or foreign) is a moot point that will need analysis when the history of these events are written with quietly contemplative hindsight.

There is little doubt in my mind that the episodic signs of incipient violence were initially led by the JVP. But soon it became obviously apparent that the FSP and its student-wing, the Anthare (IUSF) had taken over and had decided on the future course of the protests. Soon, the non-violent aragalaya had taken a sinister violent demeanour. As we watched, the violence gradually, but surely, increased and exploded on 9th July with the invasion and takeover of the Presidential Residence, the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Residence (Temple Trees) and subsequently, the Prime-Minister’s Office and the residence of Ranil Wickremasinghe. The FSP-Anthare quickly took responsibility. JVP-NPP-AKD took a back seat. The JVP-NPP had lost the initiative though being the larger and better organised political grouping. Kumar Gunaratnam was seen more on TV being interviewed by political commentators. To me, it looked as if that the JVP-AKD had, at least temporarily dropped the NPP. AKD was appearing at news briefings in front of a pure JVP banner. This may be due to the more genteel and only NPP parliamentarian Dr. Harini Amarasuriya possibly declining to be part of or take responsibility for the developing violence.

Political blogger, Sepal Amarasinghe, Lal Kantha and Handuneththi were seen at the entrance to the road to Parliament. Amarasinghe was urging the aragalites to invade and takeover Parliament. Lal Kantha and Handuneththi were of similar mind. The violence there took a turn for the worse. The military had to take more severe decisive action to prevent an invasion and takeover of Parliament.

The elite upper crust Colombians and the urban genteel middle-class saw their politically innocent and sometimes joyous family protests at Galle Face green take a turn violent. Many said, ‘enough is enough’ and backed out of further participation in the protests. Their motivations and their role that began with the candle-lit vigils and the aragalaya will need a detailed socio-political study in the near future. I believe that a few factors drove them onto the streets: these included the fuel crisis that made their transport for work and leisure a hitherto unexperienced irritant; and their inherent political affiliations and anti-Rajapaksa sentiments accentuated by the large-scale corruption and nepotism of the Rajapaksa clan and their acolytes.

President Wickremesinghe, perhaps enraged by the torching and destruction of his home, and his well-known propensity to use violence when politically needed, conducted himself true to form. The rapidity with which he ordered the midnight raid on 21st July on the illegal-criminal occupiers of the Presidential Secretariat had been well-scripted in his scheme of things. It portends of things to come.

I will not dwell nor delve into the “international” ramifications of the suspicious funding of the aragalaya in this article. That must also be left for those who are professionally capable and have the means for ‘deep penetration’ and ‘extreme investigative journalism’ to uncover. Since the motivations of Wimal Weerawansa are generally looked upon with suspicion, his hastily complied book Nine the hidden story, will be kept out of this discussion.

Well, that is a very long, but necessary, preamble to the topic at hand – The Epidemiology of Violence.

What begot the aragalaya in the first place and what factors enlarged it into a state of violence?

Structural Violence

Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung introduced the term ‘Structural Violence’ in his 1969 article “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research” in the Journal of Peace Research. Some examples of structural violence as proposed by Galtung include institutionalized racism, sexism, and classism, among others. Structural violence and direct violence are said to be highly interdependent, including family violence, gender violence, hate crimes, racial violence, police violence, state violence, terrorism, and war. It is very closely linked to social injustice insofar as it affects people differently in various social structures. Galtung also lists “structurally conditioned poverty” as the first category of structural violence. violence does not necessarily need to be done to the human body for it to be considered violence. Galtung proceeds to identify ‘repression’ as another factor in violence.

It can, therefore, be argued that the State perpetrates violence in the manner they govern without any seemingly observable incidents of violence.

Hence, can it be said that the aragalaya was a final cumulative eruption in reaction to the ‘structural violence’ that has been perpetrated on the populace for an indefinite period in our recent political history? That the fuel and gas shortages was only the final straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back? That the long-term effects of societal structural violence were the final trigger? Sociologists and social psychologists will need to delve into this aspect when the history of the aragalaya is written in the aftermath when we get back to a ‘new normal’. When we are capable as a nation to NOT ‘look back in anger’.

(To be continued)

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Midweek Review

The collapse of two-party system and rise of JJB

Published

7 days ago

2024/09/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

Newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake receives blessings on Monday (23). Dissanayake, visited the Most Venerable Mahanayake Theras of the Malwathu and Asgiri Chapters after paying homage at the ‘Dalada Maligawa,’ the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.

Newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in consultation with the Parliament should take tangible measures forthwith to stop former parliamentarians and serving members from abusing the presidential election at least prior to the next one if the presidency is not done away with before that. In fact, the entire system has to be overhauled to prevent citizens joining the presidential fray at public expense. Of the 38 contestants who were in the fray, over 20 were either members or former members of Parliament who abused provision that allowed their former/present status as MPs, the only requirement to be eligible to contest. The former MPs included several JVPers, including one – a one-time colleague of President Dissanayake, accused of human smuggling during the 2004-2010 Parliament.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

While we congratulate JVP/NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake on his hard fought victory at the just concluded presidential election and the exemplary manner how he stamped down usual crass behaviour of winning parties at elections of the past, we wish him good luck on the difficult road ahead.

The presidential election, without any doubt, politically ruined the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). The party that had been founded by Basil Rajapaksa in 2016 obviously suffered irreparable damage at the hands of the Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) aka National People’s Power (NPP). SLPPer Namal Rajapaksa who replaced parliamentarian Dhammika Perera at the last moment as the ruling party’s candidate polled just 342,781 votes (2.57%) of the total valid votes. His performance should be examined taking into consideration the SLPP’s sterling performances at the 2018 local government polls, 2019 presidential and 2020 parliamentary elections. The bottom line is that the SLPP cannot, under any circumstances, recover in time for the next parliamentary election with the certain dissolution of the current House at any moment now. With most of the current SLPP MPs having betrayed the party for personal benefits to back Ranil, who ended a distant third in the contest, are now in the eyes of the public political nonentities.

Having won 145 seats, including 17 National List slots at the 2020 general election, the SLPP simply disintegrated in the wake of the Aragalaya (March 31-July 14, 2022), which drove democratically elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office, somewhat similar to what happened to Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina with plenty of foreign inputs. The SLPP fielded Namal Rajapaksa, who lacked even basic understanding of public resentment caused by the economic crisis due to short-sighted policies coupled with internal and external conspiracies and ended up suffering a debilitating setback. The Hambantota District MP ended up at a distant fourth place.

Of the once formidable SLPP parliamentary group, the largest section threw its weight behind the parachuted President Ranil Wickremesinghe. That group included Premier Dinesh Gunawardena, Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga and Leader of the House Susil Premjayantha. Having assured UNP leader Wickremesinghe of certain victory, that group ended up with egg on their faces. Wickremesinghe polled 2,299,767 votes (17.27%). In the run-up to the presidential election, Minister Ranatunga declared that Wickremesinghe had the backing of 104 SLPP parliamentarians. It would be pertinent to mention that Wickremesinghe’s tally included a significant number of votes from the Northern and Eastern electorate as well as the upcountry region.

That SLPP group obviously failed to garner the necessary votes for Wickremesinghe, pathetically. The third breakaway SLPP group backed entrepreneur Dilith Jayaweera who contested on the Communist Party ticket. Ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s close associate Jayaweera secured 122,396 votes (0.92) and was placed sixth out of 38 candidates. Jayaweera, however, did better than former ministers, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka (22,407, 0.17% in the 9th position), Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe (21,306, 0.16%. 10th position) and Roshan Ranasinghe (4,205 votes, 0.03%. 30th position). A brave band of rebel SLPP parliamentarians, including Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, Gevindu Cumaratunga and Weerasumana Weerasinghe, were among those who accepted Jayaweera’s leadership and backed him to the hilt. Their political future, too, is precarious, but at least they can walk with their heads held high for making a principled patriotic stand with a political minnow in an uphill fight against known political heavyweights.

Another section of the SLPP parliamentary group backed SJB candidate Sajith Premadasa. That group included former SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris and Dallas Alahapperuma. Perhaps, the SLPP should have voted for Alahapperuma at the vote in Parliament in July 2022. Instead, the SLPP felt confident in coming to a temporary arrangement with Wickremesinghe, in the face of a total breakdown of law and order, especially in fear of the Aragalaya mob, and in a bid to defuse rising public resentment directed at the Rajapaksas. That move divided the SLPP, thereby paving the way for the rapid deterioration of the party, now in tatters in the wake of the devastating defeats all-round.

Rapprochement among SLPP factions is very much unlikely, with the largest group, headed by MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena, in disarray, after betraying the party to back a political disaster like Ranil Wickremesinghe, who because of his sheer arrogance even antagonized the country’s top judicial body the Supreme Court. In fact, the Wickremesinghe-SLPP combine facilitated the NPP/JJB triumph at the first post-Aragalaya national election possible. Had that grouping properly understood the Aragalaya, perhaps it could have taken remedial measures in agreement with the SJB. Instead, they played politics with the developing crisis. The Wickremesinghe-SLPP combine, nor the SJB, genuinely wanted to address the issues at hand. They never realized how the JJB/NPP meticulously moved ahead with its plans. Therefore, the Wickremesinghe-led government and the SJB never countered the growing threat. Until the very end, they believed a major rift between Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the electorate can be caused by attacking the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the main constituent of the JJB/NPP over the 1971 and 1987-1990 insurgencies that claimed many innocent lives.

Post-2019 developments

Over the years, the JVP developed relations with foreign governments. The formation of the JJB/NPP in August 2019 in the run-up to the presidential election in Nov 2019, facilitated the project though the newly recognized political party couldn’t make an impression at that national election. Dissanayake polled 418,553 (3.16%) whereas Sajith Premadasa contesting on the National Democratic Front (NDF) ticket secured 5,564,239 votes (41.99%). Dissanayake was placed a distant third.

At the parliamentary election conducted in August 2020, the JJB/NPP won two seats. Dissanayake and Vijitha Herath entered Parliament from Colombo and Gampaha, respectively. The National List slot received by the party was filled by Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, a key member of the 73-member National Executive Committee.

Having succeeded Somawansa Amarasinghe at the 17th National Convention of the party held in early Dec 2014, Dissanayake transformed the outfit. The formation of JJB/NFF accelerated Dissanayake’s project and by early 2022 he was ready to move on. The JJB/NPP received the recognition of the US and India. Their role in Aragalaya, subsequent acceptance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) project and keeping mum about the clandestine visit to Sri Lanka by CIA head, soon after Ranil Wickremesinghe was installed as the President to complete the balance term of ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, made them acceptable to the US, and even to India to some extent.

Dissanayake achieved the unthinkable by just having the backing of parliamentarians Herath and Dr. Amarasuriya. In July, 2022, Dissanayake received only three votes, including his own when Parliament elected an MP to complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term. Wickremesinghe received 134 votes, including his own, whereas Alahapperuma got 82. Obviously, the Parliament does not reflect the electorate at all.

Let me reproduce the JJB/NPP description of the movement in its website: “Welcome to the Jathika Jana Balawegaya (NPP), a dynamic political movement comprising 21 diverse groups, including political parties, youth organizations, women’s groups, trade unions, and civil society organizations. Established in 2019, NPP is driven by a shared vision of fostering a more progressive Sri Lanka. Our core objectives encompass cultivating an uncorrupted, service-oriented, accountable, and transparent political culture, promoting economic democracy for fairer wealth distribution, strengthening social protections, and championing an inclusive, democratic Sri Lankan identity. Our organizational structure, from the Steering Committee to District Executive Councils, empowers voices at all levels, making NPP a force for positive change in the nation. Join us in shaping a brighter future for Sri Lanka.”

Over the years, the JVP has clearly indicated that it does not seek reunification with those who quit the party whatever the reasons be. At the height of its pre-Aragalaya popularity, the JVP had a 39-member parliamentary group during Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s presidency (second term). Dissanayake had been a member of that group and served that administration as the Minister of Agriculture. Wimal Weerawansa (backed Dilith J) and Mohammed Muzammil (backed Ranil W), too, had been in the same parliamentary group. The latter now faces an uncertain political future.

Dissanayake wouldn’t have won the presidential election if not for the Aragalaya and the post-Aragalaya environment. That is the undeniable truth. In other words, Aragalaya gave a turbo boost to the JJB/NPP. The breakaway JVP faction Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) aka Peratugaami pakshaya regardless of its spearheading role in the Aragalaya, didn’t receive the recognition it deserved at the presidential election. The FSP, through Jana Aragala Sandhanaya, fielded Attorney-at-Law Nuwan Bopage as its presidential candidate. Having secured 11,191 votes (0.08%), Bopage was placed 18th.

During the Aragalaya, the JJB/NPP was accused of making an abortive bid to seize control of Parliament. Having acknowledged the JJB/NPP role in Aragalaya, Bopage, in the run-up to the presidential poll, alleged that the JJB/NPP on its own decided to storm Parliament. Wickremeinghe often claimed credit for thwarting the JJB/NPP attempt but finally lost to Dissanayake at the presidential poll.

Controversial UNP-JVP alliance

The JVP made an abortive bid to influence President Kumaratunga to appoint Lakshman Kadirgamar as the Premier following parliamentary polls in 2004. That move was meant to derail Mahinda Rajapaksa who aspired to be the premier ahead of the presidential poll in the following year. Somawansa Amarasinghe’s JVP went to the extent of threatening Kumaratunga over this matter though it failed to have the desired result. Having failed to prevent Mahinda Rajapaksa from securing the premiership, the JVP threw its weight behind Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 2005 presidential election. In fact, the then UPFA candidate would have suffered defeat without the JVP’s support as his own party, still led by Chandrika, quite openly sabotaged him. Having helped Mahinda Rajapaksa win the presidency, the JVP went against him when the combined armed forces were making headway in the north and east battlefields against the dreaded LTTE, which many thought could not be defeated by our armed forces. The JVP made a failed attempt to defeat the budget. By the time, the armed forces brought the war to a successful conclusion in May 2009, the JVP moved its operation to the next stage.

The JVP joined an alliance comprising the UNP, SLMC, CWC and one-time LTTE ally, TNA, to field a common candidate against Mahinda Rajapaksa. Having realized Wickremesinghe simply had no chance in facing war-winning President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the joint Opposition enticed ambitious war-winning retired Army Chief Fonseka into the political web. Fonseka contested on the ticket of the hitherto unheard NDF (National Democratic Front), a registered political party that was never represented in parliament, provincial councils or Local Government. The Sinha Regiment veteran Fonseka suffered a massive defeat. Fonseka suffered his second resounding defeat at a presidential election last week.

The JVP served the UNP’s interests at the 2010 (Fonseka) and 2015 (Maithripala Sirisena) presidential elections. On both occasions, the UNP led grouping fielded contestants on the NDF ticket with the ‘Swan” as its symbol. The JVP caused itself quite serious harm by getting involved in UNP-led projects in 2010 and 2015 but moved out in 2019 to form the JJB/NPP. The two-party system has caused so much destruction over the years, the JJB/NPP, over a period of six years, managed to apparently convince the people that it could fulfill public aspirations.

Dissanayake received 5,740,179 votes (including preferences) while main rival Premadasa polled 4,530,902 votes. The preferences had to be counted as Dissanayake failed to secure 50% of valid vote +1 at the poll.

A simple and brief swearing-in ceremony, held at the Presidential Secretariat (old Parliament), on Monday morning, stressed the importance of austerity at a time when the country depends on the IMF formula. Acknowledging the extremely difficult challenges ahead, Dissanayake appealed for the support of all, including those who didn’t vote for him, to achieve public aspirations.

Dissanayake’s triumph shook those who lavishly and brazenly exploited the two-party system, regardless of the consequences. The angry electorate, though Dissanayake polled only 5.7 mn out of 17.1 votes, sent an unprecedented warning to those who took the public for granted. Have they properly scrutinized the results at an electoral district basis, the UNP (down to just one National List MP in the current Parliament), SLFP (one elected member from Jaffna) and the utterly shattered SLPP faces an uphill task at the forthcoming parliamentary polls?

Wickremesinghe and Premadasa bombarded the electorate with election promises. Both targeted the public service with much publicized salary hikes. Their promises seemed so far-fetched at a time the country having declared bankruptcy in April 2022 is still struggling to cope up with the post-Aragalaya challenges. If the electorate really took the promises made by Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the President and Finance Minister seriously, he could have obtained more votes. In fact, had that been the case, the UNP leader could have won the election comfortably. In spite of a costly propaganda campaign, Wickremesinghe had to be satisfied with just over 22 mn votes.

People-friendly administration

Having examined Dissanayake’s manifesto, the writer felt the JJB/NFF proposals submitted under ‘People-friendly administration’ are of crucial importance and should receive the overwhelming public support. The proposals are (1) Abolition of the executive presidency and enactment of a new Constitution meant to devolve power to smallest unit (2) A new Constitution aimed at strengthening democracy (3) Commission against Discrimination (4) Amend hotly disputed Online Safety Act No 09 of 2024 (5) Restrict the number of ministers to scientifically recognized 25 ministries and equal number of deputy ministers. Abolish posts of State and Project ministers (6) Do away with the much abused duty free car permits scheme implemented for the benefit of parliamentarians (JVP benefited from this scheme as well) (7) abolition of pensions granted to former Presidents and ex-parliamentarians (the JVP, too, benefited from this scheme) and (8) implementation of language policy to enable citizens to obtain services through their choice of language.

The success of AKD presidency may depend on the JJB/NPP readiness to go flat out on these proposals. These proposals are likely to receive public support regardless of ethnic divisions. The issues can be a major topic at the next parliamentary election held in an environment conducive for a relatively young party.

Another set of proposals placed before the public under the topic of ‘A disciplined society’ dealt with some issues that attracted public attention over the years. Dissanayake’s manifesto has proposed (1) A special institution to recover stolen public wealth (2) A three-member High Court Trial-at-Bar to expeditiously hear corruption cases (3) Corruption inquiring offices at district basis (4) Specific measures to address law’s delay and (5) Expedite Easter Sunday investigations; deal with those found guilty in the Fundamental Rights case in terms of Criminal Law and action against those named by the Presidential Commission.

Midweek Review

‘Catholic Action!’:

Published

7 days ago

2024/09/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

Nun Other Than; The Chithra Bopage Story by Udan Fernando

Reviewed by Laleen Jayamanne

Udan Fernando, though unknown to me, wrote to ask if I would write a piece on his new film, adding that it was about a Lankan woman who was once a nun and also involved with the JVP, now living in Australia. As a lapsed Roman Catholic, living in Australia, taught by nuns (both Irish and Lankan), with friends who were enthusiastic nuns, I was intrigued, but to write I had to be moved in some way by the film, I said.

I found the archival photos and images documenting the era of the JVP in the 70s and 80s, and also the family photographs moving, as they now carry memory-traces of a deep history of religious and political idealism and historical violence in Lanka within living memory.

‘Nun Other than; The Chithra Bopage Story’ has been screening in different forums in Colombo and Jaffna just before the presidential election. I have just watched it alone on my computer. There is something a little sad about not being able to see this film with other Lankans well disposed towards its rather unusual ambitions. After all, in a Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarian country how many would find a ‘nun’s story’ interesting! Hollywood of course made A Nun’s Story with Audrey Hepburn working in Africa, which was a hit. I recall having seen it with my parents at the Liberty. Then, there is the great British director, Michael Powell’s magnificent technicolour classic of the tragic emotional turmoil among white nuns, set in a remote convent perched precariously high up on a Himalayan crag, called Black Narcissus (‘47). A Catholic priest, I think Father Noel Cruz, made a lively 16mm film set in the slums about a bicycle, I think, in the 60s. Apart from that and of course, the Catholic, Lester James Peiris’ contribution to the Lankan cinema, the internal spiritual-ethical social values of Christianity and its modern institutional ethos (post Vatican 2 reforms), have not been material for cultural production in Lanka, as far as I am aware. I am thinking here about the 60s, and a part of the 70s, when I lived there or visited regularly for research on the Lankan cinema.

Nun Other Than; The Chithra Bopage Story is a ninety-minute Docu-Drama in English and Sinhala by Udan Fernando, who has made several documentary films and has lived and worked overseas for many years. The documentary part is structured on the central figure of Chithra (Mudalige) Bopage, now living in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, Lionel Bopage, who was, between 1978 and 1984, the General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in its second iteration. Chithra recounts her life in Lanka as a young girl and how she decided to become a Roman Catholic nun, having observed as a patient herself, foreign (white), nursing-nuns working in the General hospital with a great sense of care and kindness to the patient. I remember these nuns well and the last of them who worked with dedication at the ‘Leprosy-asylum’ at Hendala, with its very high walls.

The dramatic re-enactment consists of Chithra’s life as a young novice and nun and her early married years after she left the religious order. The film is basically in the genre of ‘Talking-Heads’ with key figures in Chithra’s life, like her elder sister Rohini and brother Kingsley Mudalige and wife Shyama and a delightful nun, Sr Noel Christine Fernando, who was a confident, conveying a vivid sense of Chithra as a spirited and highly focused young girl and woman with a strong sense of social justice and a passion for singing, with a voice to match it.

Lionel and Chithra Bopage with Nirmala Rajasingham at the Jaffna screening

Importantly for me, through these reminiscences, we come to know not only Chithra, but also the liberal ethos of her Roman Catholic family, their easy bilingualism, their openness to the world, a certain Humanist ‘Catholicism’, which means ‘Universal’, not narrowly parochial. I found the absence of any residue of feudal attitudes in Chithra’s family an eye-opener, as I myself come from a Catholic family, with deep roots in Catholic villages, which had some deplorable feudal values, despite being bilingual and my parents also having been educated by religious clergy. The way Chithra’s mother agrees to her becoming a nun (though her clear preference was for her to get married), is one example of this liberalism, and the other being, her attitude to Chithra leaving the religious order to marry Lionel.

It’s not to her liking either and is willing to find another ‘suitable’ person for her, but accepts it, respecting Chithra’s choice. However, her mother is fully there to help out when she takes up the care of her granddaughter, so as to lessen the burden on Chithra at the time when Lionel is unlawfully held in custody without cause. This tolerant and open-minded attitude of Chithra’s Catholic family from Avissawella is a remarkable aspect in our Lankan culture and a real tribute to her parents and siblings. Her siblings and sister-in-law who lovingly talk about Chithra on camera, also have very open attitudes to interpersonal relations between the sexes and are remarkably non-judgemental about Chithra’s choices and admire her courage and her considerable singing talent. I find all of them thoughtful, exemplary Lankans.

In the context of the Sinhala cinema, where ‘sexual promiscuity’ is often coded as Christian (e. g. Hansa Vilak, Dekala Purudu Kenek…), in a censorious manner, this relaxed liberalism, openness to differences, focused on in this film, is a breath of fresh air.

This, one might say, is the real, enlightening “Catholic Action,” – to use that screaming political headline of the 60s differently here. I remember its use well, when there were organised protests against the ‘Take-Over of Christian Schools’, by the government. My family was involved in the so-called ‘Catholic Action’, fearing that Christian religious education and values would not be taught when they were incorporated into the government school system. It is ironic that when Lionel decided to leave the JVP for good in ’84, the JVP also called it ‘Catholic Action’, no doubt blaming Chithra’s influence on him.

I find the wedding photos of Chithra and Lionel very moving, especially the one of both of them seated with Lionel’s mother, in a white Kandyan sari, looking directly at the camera with a grave expression. I wonder what she thought of her son’s marriage and politics. The photos of the group of friends all seated eating their rice packets, a modest wedding feast, conveys a sense of community feeling. Lionel’s progressive attitude within the JVP context is seen in his choice of the signatories at their marriage; a Tamil and a Sinhala brother in the party. This multi-ethnic-cultural gesture corresponds to his position on the “National Question’, on which he deviated from the official JVP line, having worked in the North and the East.

Apart from the ‘Talking- Heads’, the film also presents an array of photographs, the most remarkable being those of the JVP in their second phase, after Rohana Wijeweera, Lionel Bopage and the rest were released from prison in 1977. They also include news photos of mass murder and mutilation of bodies in the period of 88-89 terror, in the bloody confrontation between the UNP and the JVP. Some of these images evoke strong feelings while also being informative, given their historical resonances. The timing of the release of this film during the days leading up to the Presidential elections on 21/9/24 will also resonate deeply with many Lankans who lived through the 70s and 80s J. R. Jayewardene era, when the current President, Ranil Wickremesinghe was the Minister of Education during July ‘83.

The interplay between the contemporary Chithra at 77, wearing a mauve straw hat, talking to the camera directly in large close-ups, in Melbourne, Australia and her younger self, slowly gathers a rhythm of sorts, a hesitation there and light-sorrow felt here, thoughtfulness and regret that she can’t remember everything well enough. She wishes that she had written down everything, and so do I. But I do wish that Udan had varied a little the mise-en-scene (i. e. the compositions of the shots) so that we might have been able to see Chithra in her ‘new’ context, Australia, her home for over three decades. The same continuous shot of her in close-up meant that we never got the chance to see her in the country which offered her and her family refuge in the 80s. Apart from the opening establishing-shot of her walking down a tree-lined street full of large white Galah birds typical of Australia, she could have been anywhere. This is a missed opportunity because one is curious to see this remarkable woman in her new context, her adopted, generous country, Australia, which has been very hospitable especially to Lankan intellectuals, scholars, artistes and activists over the years and many, others, too. The discursive information provided of the work Chithra did in Australia doesn’t create a milieu and its rhythms, which would have enriched the film and informed Lankans who might still be rather snooty about Australia and how its egalitarian ethos and values work.

: Director Udan Fernando

One sometimes feels that the director was carried away, enjoying watching the young nun in her crisp pastel blue habit and the sari clad Chithra so much, that the camera lingers on her for a little too long, (cinematically speaking), just enjoying looking at her lovely appearance, in tastefully matching saris, though we hear that Chithra had only two or three saris and that too threadbare. Or more generously, it can be viewed as a nice ‘Brechtian touch! A glimpse of the young Dinara Punchihewa as an actress enjoying her role as Chithra, or so I thought, trying to find an excuse for the duration of these scenes. But then again, they do capture the young Chithra’s quite normal enjoyment of clothes, jewellery and hairstyles, in the life of a fun loving young middle-class girl. Dinara is a very watchable, fresh cinematic presence, in that she conveys through her quietly expressive face and capacity for stillness, a quality of intelligence, which I see as a capacity for introspection, self-reflexivity, which are also linked to Chithra’s religious vocation as a nun.

As young Sisters of Perpetual Help, Chithra showed intellectual interests and was chosen to be trained in working with young people in underprivileged backgrounds. During her training at Aquinas University College, she was expected to research the reasons for the devastating 1971 JVP uprising, and massacre of so many young educated youth of the country. We see her reading a book on it in her room. And it’s this exposure, in a proud Lankan Catholic Higher Education Institution (also my Alma Mater), that makes Chithra question her own privileged life in the convent with three square meals and a pleasant environment. She questioned why people rushed to give her a seat in buses and other such preferential treatment to clergy. It is these thoughts that led her to leave the convent and join the JVP. While Lionel’s presence in her life by then appears to have facilitated this radical move, she asserts that the decision was due to her own firm convictions. Her marriage to Bopage, without informing her own family, was felt as a big upheaval by her brother who added lightly that, ‘it’s something you see in the movies or in a novel, not in normal life!’

The post ‘77 JVP appears as a different organisation from that which led to the April ’71 uprising. Women convened a ‘Conference of Socialist Women’s Union’, at which delegates from Iraq and Palestine were present. Also, a striking difference was the creation of a repertoire of Vimukthi Gee (Songs of Liberation) of the JVP, which drew Chithra to it even before she left the convent. It was a lovely surprise to see a photograph of my late friend Sunila Abeysekera in the group and hear Chithra talk about her with affection.

But the abiding emotional impact of the film comes from the reflective, steadfast consciousness at its heart, Chithra herself at 77, a quietly wonderful presence. That she can talk about the importance of her work as a nun and of her complex feelings so lucidly with ease is again linked, I think, to the ‘Westernised’, bilingual attitudes in her ethos and also at the convent where she was free to confide in a friendly nun who admired Chithra’s decision to leave the convent and also of her ease with the priest who she considered a good friend with whom she felt free to discuss her decision.

These are urbane aspects of a Catholic institutional ethos, after the Ecumenical Council of the 60s. Buddhists unfamiliar with this aspect of Christianity can learn about an ethos free of feudal ideologies. Sinhala- Buddhist ideology appears to re-feudalise institutions and practices (even secular ones) of Lanka, in an alarming way now, thus betraying the universal avihinsa, rational values of Buddhist philosophy itself. In this sense too, the film shows a progressive church with considerable freedom for women to choose alternative ways of living and behaving. Udan himself as a Protestant (Methodist), appears to be fascinated by the institutional architectural richness of the Catholic church interiors, their ritual ornamentation, which Protestantism eschewed with Luther’s Reformation.

Chithra and Lionel’s quite considerable social and religious differences would have become, in a Sinhala genre film, the stuff of melodrama and tragedy. But in Udan’s film we see them age together with grace, as their children grow up in a foreign country, which offered them refuge from the political violence of Lanka. Thus, Australia also shines in having offered refuge and hope to this remarkable couple and their two children.

As I see it, the film is also a tribute to the Ecumenical values (broad sympathy and interests), of the Catholic Church in Lanka, in that it facilitated a rare and happy (romantic), love story of personal steadfastness to each other and to the political and ethical values they stood for, at a time of great danger in Lanka.

One wonders if the film might create a public discourse on the history of the JVP (the role of women and ethnic and religious minorities), in its several iterations.