Features
The jvp and the Tamil people change the party line now!
by Kumar David
The JVP must change its position on the rights of the Tamil people. The Tamils are themselves no longer demanding secession therefore, self-determination in the Leninist sense, is irrelevant, but the they must have the right to manage their affairs in their areas of domicile. In this context “devolution” is a useful term; the small print obviously has to be negotiated with the Sinhalese and the Muslim people and the Upcountry Tamils to the extent that they see themselves as different from the “Ceylon Tamils” (for want of a better term). Even the TNA has conjured up a verbal gymnastic posture called the “right to internal self-determination” to avoid being lynched by both sides. I wish it luck.
Hold it! I am running ahead of myself. It all started with a straw poll I sent to more than a dozen people about ten days ago. They were not all leftists and included progressives and liberals, but all were what one might call intellectuals and included former university colleagues. I don’t know what motivated me to do this out of the blue. I enquired of my sample “If the next presidential election were to be held in 2023/4, and if not voting was not permitted in so far as this straw-poll is concerned, who will you vote for?”I offered a big range of choices: Sajith, Ranil, the Sajith-Ranil combo in any form, and Rajapaksa-pohottuwa options in many forms (Dullas, Namal etc.) and the Rajapaksa-Ranil marriage of reprobates. Of course, the left options were included such as the JVP-NPP and the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) also known as Peratugami.
Imagine my surprise (I am not making this up because I am an NPP member) when well over half replied that they would support the JVP-NPP, while nearly all the others said they had the JVP-NPP very much in in their sights but needed more time. While some respondents thought the JVP/NPP could not win, no one explicitly expressed their own support for any of the other options. This was a wake-up call, frankly an unpleasant wake-up call for me. Why unpleasant? Because if the JVP-NPP is going to do well then there is work, a lot intervention and kicking arse that needs to be done to knock sense into these fellows! You don’t want a JVP-NPP government in office with cock and bull notions full of its head, do you? If they are going to win you and I and all us have a hell of a lot of work to do before that.
There are three massive issues on which the JVP must be confronted and put right: one, Democracy, two the Tamil Question, and third the Economic role of the State. The JVP is humming and hawing about Democracy, it hints that it has finally seen the light, it slyly concedes that it was a bloody fool in 1971 and 1989-91 and forfeited the confidence of the people etc; good, good. However, it has not issued a full and formal admission of its errors, nor has it spelt out its current “Democracy” programme: That is, its plans for elections and future changes of government. Crucially it has not proposed a structure of government e.g. (a) Westminster, (b) Executive, (c) Legislative like the old Ceylon State Council or similar to the vast powers of the US Congress, or (d) the One-Party state. It is high time the JVP thought through the options available all over the world and publicised its views.
The second “massive” issue that the JVP has to address is the subject of this essay, the Tamil Question which will take up most of this column. The third is the economic role of the State. I have often expressed the view that in the early stage a dirigisme state (setting directions and choosing priorities for growth) is a necessity. However, I have also pointed out in recent pieces that this is a passing phase. The state must not become an enduring encumbrance on the people (like Stalinism). It must pass away, otherwise it constrains human freedoms, stifles creativity and undermines economic productivity. The state must “wither away” to use the classical terminology of anarchists and socialists. Right now, the JVP is rightly concerned about safeguarding sate-enterprises from privatisation and fears that encroaching capitalism will reduce worker’s rights and the benefits of the people. In a philosophical sense however it would also be good if the JVP, like the anarchists, Marx, Lenin and Rosa also declares the need to protect the people from an overreaching dictatorial state. To recap then, I am saying there are three “massive” topics to discuss with the JVP: Democracy, the Tamil question and fundamental role of the State.
The Tamil Question
Observe that I speak of the Tamil Question and do not mention a Muslim or a Catholic Question. There is a reason for this. Imagine for arguments sake that some Pope or Saint, some centuries ago had proposed a damn-fool moral theory (it actually did with Galileo). Then in later historical times this becomes an encumbrance because to refute it the Church will have to anger many believers who have in the interim aligned themselves with the said damn-fool theory.
The JVP is in a similar quandary. The leadership, or at least most of the current leaders know that Rohana Wijeweera was a racist in his feelings about the plantation workers, he had no sympathy for the rights of the “Ceylon” Tamils and he formed racist alliances with Mahinda Rajapaksa. It will be traumatic for the inner circles (Central Committee and ex-military leaders) to wake up now and call Wijeweera a damn-fool racist. The obstacle to correcting the inherited standpoint on the Tamil question is the embarrassment of having to call Wijeweera plain wrong. The problem does not end there, we have the Somawansa episode. Somawansa in cohorts with racist Chief Justice Silva broke up the combined northern-eastern provincial unit. Somawansa may or may not be an intrinsic racist at heart, he may have been playing opportunist race politics, I don’t know. But the episode is an acute embarrassment to the current leadership. How can it denounce these deified Saints and Popes?
Anura Kumara in bad company!
It is very interesting that the JVP adopted a progressive attitude towards the Muslims as against its stance on the Tamils. Saint Wijeweera and Pope Somawansa were long gone and no longer burdened the Party with their venerable bull-shit. The JVP could stretch its arms and legs (atha-paya diga arala) and act progressively on the Muslim issue. The humiliation and ill-treatment of Muslims by looney extremist Buddhist monks and the Rajapaksa regime was mainly a post-2014 phenomenon (Wijeweera was assassinated in 1989, Somawansa left the JVP in 2014 but was marginalised earlier).
It is not for me to propose tactics to the JVP leaders; they will work something out themselves. Some points though are obvious. The Tamils themselves are not (no longer) demanding Eelam or a separate state. The great majority, I think are simply not interested in separatism or dismiss it as an unattainable fanciful dream. Therefore, the theory of self-determination including the right to secession is no longer relevant.
The NPP (National Peoples’ Power)
Perspectives on the Tamil Question and the Democracy Issue are better in the NPP than in the JVP. This is thanks to the intervention of Attorney Lal Wijenayaka, Professor Vijaya Kumar, both long established in the Samasamaja tradition, as well as many other left and liberal minded activists in the NPP’s top committees. I am confident that the NPP supports devolution of power to communities and regions and is well ahead of the JVP in this respect. The NPP also has clearer ideas about democracy. Like the JVP it rejects the executive led presidential system, option (b) in my list some paragraphs above, and both the NPP and presumably the JVP oppose option (d), the One-Party State.
Neither has spelt out its preferences between various versions of the Westminster model, first-past-the-post or proportional representation, or between unicameral or bicameral legislatures. Nor has either proposed committee structures (the Ceylon Legislative Council of yore had some attractive features) or examined the committee structure of the US Congress and other countries. So, you see there is still a lot of work to do in both the JVP and the NPP to flesh out how Democracy is actually to be practised.
The State
Humans lived in communities without formal hierarchies long before States came into being. The original ‘stateless’ form was democratic in the sense that it was an association of humans with minimal hierarchy – anthropologists can enlighten us more. Formal anarchism usually associated with Marx’s great rival Mikhail Bakunin advocates stateless societies, that is forms of free associations. Socialists see anarchism as a utopian left-wing movement farthest left on the political spectrum, but running ahead of its time. Marxists have a relationship with anarchism similar to what St Augustine said about chastity: “Oh Lord give me chastity, but not yet”.
The state is bad; it is a coercive instrument; it is an imposition (for example of the capitalist class, the fascists or a foreign power) upon the freedoms of the people. But right now, I am intrigued by a more prosaic topic. The dirigisme or directive state has a role to play in the initial stages of economic growth, but there has to be a time-line when that phase can be transcended; when the impositions can pass. In the meantime, there is the JVP’s current problem of the need to protect state enterprises from being handed over to capital. There are no abstract answers to these questions, it is concrete events and the hands-on experiences of the next three years that will tell us what to do and when to do what. In the meantime it would be useful to initiate discussion of these topics in the chambers of the JVP with its more indigenous factions and with the residual military sections if any in the Party.
At a time when the US is veering towards a policy of international isolation, it augurs well for international growth that Africa is emanating signs of stepping up intra-continental cooperation. Above all, Africa is in the process of proving that she could ‘stand-alone’ and be relatively autonomous in her ground-breaking growth drive.
Of course such epochal developments should not be construed as meaning that Africa would sooner rather than later be rid of the socio-political and economic bottlenecks that have been dogging her at heel for decades. What they mean is that she is managing these problems in a consistently constructive fashion currently.
We in South Asia in particular need to take note of these developments. This is mainly in view of the fact that SAARC is non-functional. It is not ‘dead’, as a former President of Sri Lanka tried to have us believe, but its virtual paralytic state at present should have discerning sections in the region concerned. It is robust regional cooperation in the fields that matter that helps a country in its growth and development and if SAARC is dysfunctional this is a serious setback for Sri Lanka and the region.
Closer integration into BIMSTEC and ASEAN is certainly desirable but if governments are having Sri Lanka’s best interests at heart it is primarily to the SAARC region that they need to look. For instance, how Sri Lanka is hoping to further its growth prospects by not factoring in stepped-up and positive economic interaction with India and Pakistan, for example, is incomprehensible.
There is a strong regional dimension to any country’s economic growth and unless the relevant regional cooperative mechanisms are rendered operational, the desired level of national development could not be achieved in full. Hence the need to render SAARC fully operational once again.
However, unless and until governments of the region realize the urgency of meeting the above challenge, SAARC would remain in a state inertia. The pressing need is visionary political leadership at the regional level. Right now this is seriously lacking.
It would seem inappropriate and misleading at first blush to attempt to draw comparisons between the vast continent of Africa and the South Asian region in view of the latter’s comparative geographical smallness, but this is more so why Africa’s present exercises in intra-continental cooperation need to be positivey assessed. If Africa could be making some headway in intra-regional cooperation, given her ‘Giant’ status and her seeming unmanageability as a collectivity, why can’t South Asia, a comparatively physically small region? ‘This is the Question’.
While the above and connected matters of importance for regional growth need to be seriously studied by political leaders and policymakers of South Asia, they would be acting in the regional interest by taking a leaf or two out of Africa’s book of cooperative growth and development.
All watchers of international development should feel compelled to take a hard, discerning look at the 38th African Union (AU) Summit held in Addis Ababa, beginning February 15th this year. Interestingly, the Summit theme was, ‘Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations.’
Coincidentally, erstwhile Namibian leader Dr. Sam Nujoma passed away on the eve of the Summit. Nujoma was perhaps the last of those prominent leaders from Africa who doggedly championed the cause of the libration of his country and of the continent from the shackles of colonialism. More leaders of his ilk are required by the South in general and Africa in particular.
While the acquiring of ‘reparations’ for colonialism’s ravages could prove a very long-gestation project, it is vitally important for Africa and other regions that came under colonial control to keep the issue constantly in focus.
Meanwhile, Africa’s gains in economic cooperation under the AU need to be studied appreciatively by the South and other regions in their interests. Some of the achievements of the AU under the aegis of the African Development Bank (ADB), as outlined by outgoing president of the Bank, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina at the Summit were: ‘515 million African lives were transformed over the past decade, including 231 million women, 127 million people gained access to better services in terms of health, 61 million people gained access to clean water, 33 million people benefited from improved sanitation, 46 million people gained access to ICT services, 25 million people gained access to electricity.’
Reports said that the Summit also, among other things, adopted the ‘African Financing Stability Mechanism’. Under this arrangement, $20 billion in debt refinancing will be provided for African nations. This will happen alongside the adoption of the ‘Strategic Framework on Key Actions to Achieve Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development in Africa Report’.
The Report outlines key actions for Africa to ‘Achieve and sustain an annual growth rate of at least 7% of GDP over the next 5 decades.’
The above are a few aims that the AU intends to achieve going forward for the whole of Africa. But they are sufficient evidence of the current effectiveness of the collective organization. We see here a notable example in South-South cooperation which is a dire need today in the developing world.
South-South cooperation is the way to go particularly in consideration of the US’ current policy of virtually ridding itself of the past policy of helping the South by way of development assistance. Instead of bemoaning the fact that institutions, such as USAID, will be almost no more, the South would do well to take a hard look at Africa’s success stories in helping itself with little or no external assistance.
The discontinuation of US assistance needs to be seen as the proverbial ‘blessing in disguise’ by the South. Here is an opportunity for the Southern hemisphere to finally rid itself of those neo-colonial umbilical binds that have been preventing it from achieving genuine national liberation.
To be sure, the South is not going to meet with spectacular success by adopting the African model in the near term. But if the model is doggedly persisted with by enlightened governments of the South some success is certain to accure to the hitherto ‘Wretched of the Earth’, going forward.
While most of our pageant winners get involved in frivolous activities, during their reign, the 40th Mrs. World pageant winner, Tshego Gaelae, from South Africa, is keen to bring into the spotlight her country’s potential.
Before her departure for the Mrs. World pageant, held in Las Vegas, in the USA, in January, the Lawyer, Entrepreneur, Model and Digital Creator, said:
“I’m so excited to be sent not only as a delegate but a representative of those hopeful hearts that always want to see South Africa’s potential shine and win. I stand on the shoulders of icons, world champions, the Queens that have gone ahead of me, and of the world leaders that continue to ensure our global participation and impact.
“Thank you everyone for the support so far!”
A coke and a smile…with Sprite Cucumber her pick
Referring to the interview for the position of Mrs. World, Gaelae said: “We get to bring our most authentic self to advocate for the causes we want to advance through the most prestigious platform that is the Mrs World Pageant. What an honour to have such experienced judges who care to hear about what I want to achieve.”
The lead up to the prestigious Mrs. World event was doubly exciting for Gaelae as she got the opportunity to display not only her country’s creations but also check out certain nostalgic venues.
“We received the honour of being at the Elvis penthouse suite, at the Westgate Vegas! The space is spectacularly filled with iconic and historic presence, fit for the king that was Elvis Presley.”
The Mrs World participants spent an evening honouring Victoria’s Voice Foundation and Gaelae’s gift to the Foundation was a canvas shirt with President Nelson Mandela’s face printed on it. The shirt can either be worn or displayed in a frame, and Gaelae says she is so glad to have had the opportunity to present a piece of her beloved South Africa.”
The bangles she gifted to all the participants at the Mrs. World pageant
Gaelae went on to say: “I always joke about being Zulu in my past life, but on a serious note, I love the Zulu Culture so much, that I gifted my Mrs. World Pageant Sisters some beautiful bangles.”
They also visited the special Coca-Cola Store in Vegas, and got to taste some interesting flavours. And Gaelae’s pick … “Sprite Cucumber definitely wins for me.”
Mrs. World enthusiastically said that one of the biggest gifts she received out of her Mrs South Africa journey was that of sisterhood, “and it’s so amazing to come to the Mrs. World pageant and find it once again,” she went on to say.
“My roommate was the gorgeous Ishadi Amanda from Sri Lanka! We bonded with no delay, and laughed till we cried! I was literally paired with a sister from another mother.”
Tshego Gaelae also had a special comment to make regarding the article we published about her in The Island of 6th February, 2025.
“Thank you so much for the beautiful article and coverage.”
Hi! This week, too, I’m giving you some easy to prepare tips to help you achieve all that is good for your skin.
* Cucumber and Lemon:
Mix equal parts cucumber and lemon juice and apply the mixture on your face (avoiding eyes). Allow it to sit for 10 minutes and then rinse it off. This natural face beauty tip will brighten your skin tone and lighten blemishes, if used on a regular basis. The best aspect is that it is appropriate for all skin types!
* Tomatoes:
Scoop up the pulp of one tomato and apply it evenly on your face. Allow it to dry for 15 minutes before washing it off with warm water … to reveal a naturally radiant skin.
* Green Tea:
After steeping green tea in hot water for about 05 minutes, allow the tea to cool. Transfer the tea to a spray bottle and spray, in short bursts, or place a little amount onto a cotton pad and pat on your face after thoroughly cleaning it.
* Chilled Tea Bags:
A chilled black or green tea bag does wonders for your skin. This natural face beauty technique may rapidly reduce puffiness around the eyes, making them appear brighter and more alert. Place the tea bags on your eyelids and relax for 05 to 15 minutes while they perform their magic.
* Honey:
Applying a small amount of honey to your face every day is an excellent approach to getting healthy, bright skin. Honey’s absorbing properties draw out pollutants from skin pores and help completely cleanse your skin. Honey’s antibacterial effects heal and prevent acne. Honey’s antimicrobial qualities soothe skin irritation and protect skin from bacterial infections. Honey, has remarkable moisturising effects and is also a terrific relief for dry skin.
* Coffee:
Exfoliating on a regular basis improves the appearance of your skin, making it look younger and healthier. For those who enjoy coffee, a homemade coffee scrub is all the weekly nourishment your skin requires. Coffee’s anti-inflammatory qualities minimize redness, irritation, and acne. All you need to do is mix freshly ground coffee beans, coconut oil, and brown sugar to your desired consistency in a bowl. Massage gently in circular strokes over your face, then rinse with warm water. After using an exfoliant, always moisturise.
Cabinet approves debt restructuring between Hungarian Export Credit Insurance Private Limited and the Government of Sri Lanka
Cabinet approval to conduct the National Productivity Award Competition
Amendments to National Transport Commission Act No. 37 of 1991 to be gazetted
-
Sports5 days agoRemarkable turnaround for Sri Lanka’s ODI team
-
Business5 days agoUN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka: Empowering Businesses to Lead Sustainability in 2025 & Beyond
-
Features5 days agoScammed and Stranded: The Dark Side of Sri Lanka’s Migration Industry
-
News6 days agoSpeaker agrees to probe allegations of ‘unethical funding’ by USAID
-
Features4 days agoDon’t betray baiyas who voted you into power for lack of better alternative: a helpful warning to NPP – II
-
Features4 days agoTwo films and comments
-
Features7 days agoClean Sri Lanka and Noise Pollution (Part II)
-
Editorial6 days agoCoal giant awakes, but uncertainty prevails