Marxism in Sri Lanka, RIP

The museum of Communism in Prague.
The entrance is through McDonald's. (A pic by udijw)

The Rajapakse Administration won, despite some irregularities, a genuine victory over the UNP in the recent provincial council elections. Perhaps the most exciting thing about the last election is how poorly, the Marxist-Nationalist JVP did in the polls. Here's a bit of a summary from the Island editorial on the JVPs plight:

[..]a huge crisis is staring the JVP in the face. Its ignominious defeat has strengthened the hands of its breakaway group. Dissident JVP MP and leader of the National Freedom Front Wimal Weerawansa said yesterday afternoon that he was willing to join forces with the JVP if the present leadership of the party changed. He has pointed out that the JVP vote has dropped in Anuradhapura from 50,000 at the 2006 LG polls to 19,000 at 2008 PC polls within two years. In 2006, it polled 19,500 in Polonnaruwa, 38,000 in Ratnapura and 36,500 in Kegalle but on Saturday it managed to secure only 7,000, 9,700 and 9,000 in those three districts respectively. The breakaway of Weerawansa and others has, inter alia, manifestly taken its toll on the JVP.

The pathetic performance of the JVP where the postal votes are concerned is proof that the JVP lacks following among the public servants in spite of its campaign to obtain a 5,000-rupee pay hike for them. More importantly, the JVP's vote has shrunk despite an increase in the number of young voters.

The indications are that, faction ridden and enervated, the JVP is reaching the end of the road in electoral politics. Another disastrous split is inevitable sooner or later. The JVP must be ruing the day it parted company with the SLFP, which helped it gain benefits disproportionate to its real strength which has now been exposed. [link] (emphasis mine)

and it's worth emphasizing. JVP is no longer, or fast unbecoming the youth party. That's a cause for celebration. Marxism is alive and (somewhat) well in the local universities, but since only less than 2% of the population (pdf source) ever gets to enjoy Sri Lanka's "free" education, and the rest of the 98% has found other ways of acquiring higher education, that's no longer a deciding factor.

True enough, in recent times, portraits of Lenin, Marx and other communist symbols were little more than decorations for the JVP, while most of it's popularity came from it's Nationalist and anti-LTTE rhetoric. But great many JVPers (and I've met some) are Fabian Socialists, thinking of the nationalist rhetoric as a vehicle for some sort of socialist society in the future. And it's agenda, however nationalist, has always contained a very definitive left-wing economic agenda.

Nationalism and anti-LTTEism is alive and kicking in Sri Lanka, but the movement has a different symbol and a leader in Mahinda Rajapakse's coalition. Separating the nationalist lobby from the socialist baggage of the JVP, if and when the party is sufficiently pushed off from the political discourse is definitely a step in the right direction and a happy outcome of this election which will help put Marxist and other leftover socialist thinking to the dustbin of history, where it truly belongs.

Related -- Museum of Communism, the website.

Will there be a youth uprising?

A friend of mine commenting on my post about youth participation on the BB blog, contests my view that economic liberalization in Sri Lanka has made youth uprisings unlikely. She writes,

Economic Liberalization still remains, sadly, the dominion of cities & certain strata of society within those cities.

So the state is PRETTY MUCH the only opportunity for most young people, especially on the road to becoming young people where most of the education depends on the government. (Think free education policies, no teachers for English & Math etc… ;)

While it may not be the exclusive domain of the state, the state is definitely majority stake holder, unless & until these economic liberalizations you are talking about trickle down to the majority living without it! (taking my earlier example of education, you have to give them an opportunity that doesn’t cost too much to opt for private education, if the country can’t find enough English teachers for state schools!)

Money is the motivator, but money needs to go to everybody, not be hoarded by a few!

So true, young people are the present, agreed! But where is the present going to get them without a state that can back the initiative? Stopping youth uprisings is going to be quite hard in this context! [link]

My reply to Nipuni can be read on the same comment thread, but I want to expand on it here.

I agree that fruits of economic liberalization, the resulting growth has been largely concentrated in the Western Province and other urban places. In fact, earlier I've suggested quoting Shanta Devrajan, (World Bank chief econ geek) that the reason for this has been thattrade liberalization and deregulation which started in 1970s has benefited the western province who have been able to adjust with greater reliance on services and manufacturing industries. There haven't been any significant reforms, for example, in agriculture, where majority of the rural population depends on. This means that rural population is more dependent on government than others in terms of price supports, subsidies, and owing restrictive land regulations, etc which makes them enslaved to that in agriculture-based livelihoods (a grave mistake in my book, but that's another post)

I agree with her that education reform too has not come about and this is a place again, where rural youth in particular are made to depend on governments. I've long been an advocate of abolishing this fallacy called free education.

So as I mention in my reply to her, If Nipuni were to say that the greatest threat of a youth uprising is from lack of economic liberalization (which is partially related to lack of decentralization of political power, but economics matter more) I'd agree.

In fact, I think that the primal causes for both the Marxist insurgency of the JVP, and the rise of Tamil militancy which signaled the beginning of the 'ethnic conflict' (both examples of youth uprisings, so to speak) are essentially the same.

Both movement looked at the mainstream and saw no opportunities for them. One, the JVP, saw it as a class conflict, the rich dirty elites denying opportunity the rural mases. Whereas the Tamil militancy (including the LTTE, which was among many small militant groups at the time) saw it as the Sinhalese majority denying the Tamils opportunity, and therefore the conflict manifested itself in ethnic terms. The latter conclusion had more currency due to the discriminatory language policies practiced by governments of the day.

Now, at the time when the momentum for these violent movements was being built, Sri Lanka was nothing like a market-economy. The State was involved in almost everything. It was in fact the dominant employer. So if I was a young person in the early 70s, I can only look to the state to bring me prosperity, increase my quality of life, which every human being strives for. When those opportunities are denied to a section of people who can identify some commonality with others who suffer the same fate (i.e. rural youth in the case of the JVP, Tamilness in the case of the LTTE-types) it's not a mystery to me why they resorted to violence against this state and the status quo which they believed wasn't structured to bring about prosperity and justice for them.

Lot of other dynamics were in play of course, but this to me was one of the prime motivating factors. My contention is, that this is no longer the case.

Thanks to liberalization we have seen, with varying disparity, poverty rates reduced, incomes rise and private sector rising to be the dominant employer while the state has become less and less important in all aspects of life including development in general.

There is an enormous amount of internal migration that's taking place, which in my opinion might partially explain the disparity one sees of poverty rate aggregates outside the western province, since migrants tend to be young and the most educated of those areas, and therefore the highest income earners had they remained there.

So yes, I think that youth uprising, especially violent ones like we saw in the past, would be extremely unlikely. Because young people today don't suffer from the same lack of opportunities, or is at the mercy of the state in trying to bring them prosperity. Not many may explicitly think in those terms, but that's what's largely being happening in the country and indeed, around the world.

In fact I honestly believe that If the LTTE were to disappear today, there wouldn't be another insurgency owing to the facts I outlined above despite there being ethnic biases in the system, especially if the south learns to moderate it's own nationalist nutjobs. Unfortunately I don't think a a complete annihilation of the LTTE is possible without a huge loss of life, and short of something close to a genocide.

President, Pissing his Pants

or Sarong I should have said.. I just watched (mostly out of circumstance) the news on ITN (a government-owned TV channel), which dedicated a good 15 minutes on their main news bulletin showing various people (mostly those Jhathika-Chintana morons and other clergy types) speak on "how government cant loose the budget" tomrrow, and how it would be "helpful for the terrorists" if they did.. it looks as if His Excellency is more than a bit nervous about tomorrow.

I don't see why though, JVP is unlikely to vote against it even if there are more cross-overs. oh well, relax mahinda machang... there's some more time to party.

Emergence of the Telecom Patriot

First it was Lanka Bell with their 100% Sri Lankan campaign, promising a sizable dose of ‘abhimanaya’ (pride) enough for any self-proclaimed patriot to sport semi hard-on.
All you have to do is chat with your friends on your very own Lanka Bell CDMA. Swell deal, especially for those white-haired members of the PNM (Patriotic National Movement) who find themselves having to depend on pariah products like Viagra to achieve the same feat.

These are good times for patriots– there is a war going on and it’s completely fought by other people. All the patriots have to do is cheer on the ‘Api Wenuwen api’ commercials while forwarding the latest Sirasa-bashing emails to friends and family and cousins living in Melbourne or London. Of course such moments of patriotic bliss come at small price, all of us are required to tolerate the sky-rocketing inflation, and sit patiently while one of the 100something ministers decide to take a ride across Colombo as part of the new National Security measures, designed to protect us from the terrorists during our president’s War on Terror.

Occasionally some terrorists would succeed, but a quick look at Daily News would confirm that “everything’s cool, east is clear, all they have is toy planes, and we are winning the war”. Hell, if you are lucky enough you might even catch a glance at His Excellency himself, smiling almost as widely as Thamilselvam during the latest foreign visit on his very own budget airline.

With the state of arousal in the nation at an all time high, everybody seems to be setting up their own Patriot organisation, the latest in the fold are the Telecom Patriots. Yes, after all, these are modern times and certainly if shares of the ‘National Telecom Operator’ are been sold to a Malaysian Tamil, there’s got to be something fishy and unpatriotic. The Jaffna-Tamil roots confirm he is a Tiger, and therefore a Terrorist (notice the Ts).

But no worries, now that the ‘Telecom Protection Front’ and the nation’s most patriotic son – Comrade Weerawansa - is on the case, these unpatriotic moves would soon be thwarted.

This would give patriots much needed time to focus on other burning issues of the nation, like finding a coach for the nation’s cricket team, (who everyone agrees should be a white middle-aged Australian) to induce the unique brand of Sri Lankan cricket our ‘sinha patau’ (lion cubs) play.

So until the next national crisis needing the urgent services of the patriots, suffice to say, the nation and its bhoomiputhra’s are on full alert.

Karu Vateyta Horu

Gone are the days when the UNP was shouting slogans like ‘Awoth Karu, Payayi Hiru’,
Nowadays the party loyalists are shouting (or rather squeaking) along the lines of ‘Giyoth Karu, Penei Tharu’ while others, at least the sirikotha faction have settled for the slogan ‘Karu Vateyta Horu’. Sighting the alleged corruption charges found during a COPE investigation, against the likes of Milinda Moragoda and some say even Mr. Jayasuriya.

In the wake of the mass jumbo exodus, to what is essentially now, a UNP government headed by Mahinda Rajapakse many have speculated as to the fate of what remains of the Grand Old Party. The answer is – quite a lot.

As one Sunday newspaper claimed some time back, most people in Sri Lanka is inherently UNP. The party can command quite easily, at least 35-40% of the electorate regardless of whether there’s a split, or who’s in the Leadership.

Given this fact, Some say, that the crossovers are in fact a blessing in disguise for Wickramasinghe and the mainstream UNP. I’d beg to differ. Lets be honest, this is a HUGE set back for the UNP, one from which they will have a tough time getting over. Especially, in the reality of having your own parliamentarians against you and given also the possibility of yet more UNPers joining the government, to the point where the opposition leader post could be handed over to the JVP, things does indeed look bleak for the UNP. But even so, it would be premature to pass definite judgments.

The motives of the so called reformists (crossover faction) could be diverse; For some, it could be escaping corruption charges, the others it’s just a matter of sheer lust to become a Minister.

It’s not however, like Rajitha Senarathne proclaims an attempt to promote ‘good governance and peace’ if these were the motives, the act of joining the jumbo cabinet itself is the greatest deterrent for ‘good governance’ in the country.

In any case, there is now, a redrawing of political equations. The JVP after at years of avoiding the programme now participate in the ‘Jana Handa’ the programme hosted by TNL, both UNP and JVP participants were seen in close conference with each other trying to bully poor Tissa Vitharana representing the government. It is clear that the UNP will try to go into a common cooperation with the JVP, similar to that of the pre-2001 era.

Another element of the changed equation is the dissident SLFP members, led by Managala Samaraweera and the Bandaranaike’s. Whether these dissidents are as dissenting as the Morning leader would tell you, remain to be seen.

Brith, Death and the resurrection of Saddam

It is said that President Bush is hailed by some as kind of a messiah, and it is alleged by some that ‘America’ likes to play god. They could be right, at least in the case of Saddam Hussein. When Saddam was handed down the death penalty I thought he, or the persona of ‘Saddam Hussein’ had been dead for a long time, the once majestic dictator appeared out of a rat hole looking like, to put kindly, a rather deprived Arabic version of Santa clause. After that incident those were the images that one associated Saddam Hussein, but not anymore. After his televised and youtubed hanging, Saddam has been proclaimed as a martyr.

The ‘America’ who created Saddam and who killed him has now, it seems have aided in his resurrection. His persona is now heroically celebrated all over the Sunni-Muslim world including here in Sri Lanka. The very event is hailed here as a moment of unity of all political parties, historic perhaps in its own right. The JVP has put out posters in support of this great man, and the likes of Asaad Sally are organizing bush-bashing, flag burning exercises in front of the U.S. Embassy. All’s well, freedom of expression (despite the Rajapakse administration) is still a constitutional right.

But perhaps everybody needs a reality check.

Saddam Hussein was a brute, a murderer and a ruthless dictator. He was no hero. This so called partisan unity on the issue is not coming from genuine sensitivity to Muslim sentiments here, but rather out of sheer necessity and a range of other ulterior motives. For the JVP, it’s a chance to poke at the Americans and play ‘hero’ after a while, for the UNP it’s a necessity, Muslims are its most consistent vote base, for the P.A. and the rest of them - well they got to be in the show somehow.

Lot of people, not just the Sri Lankan politicians seems to be using the Saddam hanging as an excuse to attack the U.S. and the opposition sometimes seems to stem from the general opposition to the Iraqi war. I think there are more genuine reasons to oppose the hanging, one is that Saddam never faced trial for all the crimes he committed, another is the trial process was flawed (although it’s difficult to see how he could not be found guilty had the trial been fair), and thirdly it would, as it has done now, would induce further sectarian divide Iraq.

Apart from that personally my opposition to the hanging also stems from my fundamental opposition to the death penalty but perhaps the real shocker for me was the fact that it was televised. That was just atrocious, any man, brute or not, deserved better treatment than that. Strangely enough, none of the newly united Sri Lankan politicos gave prominence to the video, that’s hardly surprising since we all remember how Wimal Weerawansa used his mobile phone camera to record Mervin Silva crunching the JHU monks’ testicles in parliament.

Whores, Brothels and the JVP

Photo by indi

The JVP and the SLFP has accused each other of engaging in ‘the world’s oldest profession’, a somewhat politically correct way of saying both parties act like a bunch of whores.

The first ‘blood’ of the now unraveling saga was drawn by the JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe, evidently upset that the SLFP is engaging in a dialog with the UNP accused the SLFP of acting like a prostitute waiting to be picked up by anyone who comes along the way. A somewhat honest statement, but a one that perhaps his supporters wish was never made. The Rebuttal came a bit later at another public rally by the SLFP general secretary, Maithreepala Sirisena who said that the JVP would have had to engage in the “world’s oldest profession” had the president called for general elections after the pathetic showing by the JVP in the Local Council elections. The marriage, or rather the ‘living-together’ era of the SLFP and the JVP has never seen such troubled times in recent years but no one should speculate a permanent rift as long as the President Mama is in office.

If the two main players in this rather unexpected but highly entertaining drama is the SLFP and the JVP, the third player is none other than Sirasa TV or rather the whole Maharajah network who for past few days has given extensive coverage of the issue and added some fuel to the fire by getting interviews from other leading SLFP men including Anura Bandaranaike.The keen interest taken by the Sirasa seems to stem from a larger, multi-facet battle fought between the Maharajah group and the JVP. In recent times the battle has intensified with the JVP-run ‘Lanka’ newspaper accusing the Maharajah boss of having links with the LTTE, claiming that his brother in London is a LTTE-funder (or something to that effect).

In a strange twist to this already twisted tail, the authorities have cracked down on a Brothel with links to a member of a ‘certain political party’. Sirasa, promptly carried this news item two days on a trot, right after it traditionally reports the Amarasinghe-Whore story. In its report Sirasa virtually threatens to give out the details of the member which fuels speculation that this ‘certain political party’ could well be the JVP. The Sirasa-JVP media battle can be seen as a type of a David vs. Goliath battle but the story might not quite end as in the bible.

Deane.

Gizoogle-it yo

I've been around online for a while now, and this just has got to be one of the coolest things i've ever come accorss, ive discovered it like a few hours ago, and cant seem to stop playin' with it.. scrap google dawgs, enter gizoogle..

gizoogle is google, and therefore da web turned snoop-doggy speak. it connverts any webpage into what it calls 'jive' it's probably not new, but for those of you who didnt know it, go check it out, you'd have a blast.


This is part of my last post gizoogled..

Mobbin' tha GOP

"I don’t really like Republizzle Two years of B-to-tha-izzush presidency has seen tha United States playa on most th'n ‘American’. From tha war in Iraqta spy'n on its citizens President Bush has done a pretty lousy job. But this isn’t `bout Biznush, Cheney or Schwarzenegga this pizzy is `bout our own Grand Ol Party – tha UNP . Drop it like its hot."

Here's the link to the whole site gizoogled (got to add a permanent link )

and the CNN headlines :

# srael sez 100 Hezbollah targets hit before diznawn
# Rockets shizzot back fizzy Lebanon, po-po say
# Haifa now like ghost ghetto baller Hezbollah attacks
# Tony Blair seeks U.S. support fo` U.N. resolizzles

they do have, a images page but if they jive tha images, heres wizzle dat red-jinglin boi t-ilvin wud look like.

i cud go on, but hell go C-H-to-tha-izzeck it out. pez out.

Deane.