May Day: Workers are worthy of their wages

Comrade Bala Tampoe, The Legend Is No More!

1 May 2021

May Day or the International Workers’ Day-- the day marking the historic struggles and gains made by workers and the labour movement,- is observed in many countries today May 1.  In the United States and Canada a similar observance, known as Labour Day, takes place on the first Monday of September. 

Above and beyond the processions, rallies and often false promises given on May Day, the day has deep significance for the working-class people who comprise the majority in our society. Thankfully perhaps this year in Sri Lanka, the processions and rallies have been called off or severely restricted due to the third upsurge in the COVID-19 pandemic where one person is being afflicted every four minutes going by the figures given by the anti-Covid task force while the real figure may be more.  

In 1889 an international federation of socialist groups and trade unions designated May 1 as a day in support of workers, in commemoration of the 1886  Chicago Haymarket Riot. Five years later, the then U.S. President. Grover Cleveland, uneasy with the socialist origins of Workers’ Day, signed legislation to make Labour Day—already held in some states on the first Monday of September—the official U.S. holiday in honour of workers. Canada followed suit not long afterwards.

In Europe, May 1 was historically associated with rural pagan festivals, but the original meaning of the day was gradually replaced by the modern association with the labour movement. In the Soviet Union, leaders embraced the new holiday, believing it would encourage workers in Europe and the United States to unite against capitalism.

The day became a significant holiday in the Soviet Union and in the Eastern-bloc countries, with high-profile parades, including one in Moscow’s Red Square presided over by top government and Communist Party functionaries, celebrating the worker and showcasing Soviet military might. In Germany, Labour Day became an official holiday in 1933 after the rise of Adolf Hitler’s  Nazi Party. Ironically, Germany abolished free unions the day after establishing the holiday, virtually destroying the German labour movement.

In Sri Lanka, May Day was declared a public, bank and mercantile holiday in 1956 by the then Government of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and his Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP Coalition)  spearheaded by the “Boralugoda” Lion Philip Gunawardena. After Mr. Bandaranaike was shot dead by a Buddhist monk on September 26, 1959, his  “weeping widow” Sirimavo was persuaded to take over the leadership of the SLFP, and it swept to victory in the July 1960 General Elections.  Sirimavo Bandaranaike was the executive Prime Minister from 1960 to 1964 and then again from 1970 to 1977. It was during the Bandaranaike administrations that the public service pension scheme was updated to grant a better deal to the largely underpaid public servants, their widows and orphans.
It was the Bandaranaike Government’s  labour and social services minister T. B. Ilangaratne who presented the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Bill in 1958. It was passed by the then House of Representatives and given formal assent by the then Governor-General on  May 09, 1958.

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka the EPF is the largest superannuation fund in Sri Lanka. It covers nearly 60 per cent of the workforce in the private and semi-government sectors. The concept of EPF traces back to 1947 when the Report of the Commission on Social Services headed by Sir Ivor Jennings recommended the establishment of a national provident fund, on a contributory basis. Though the necessity of a superannuation fund to provide security at the old age for non-pensionable workers was widely accepted, it took eleven years to materialise this concept. 

Under the Bandaranaike administration, it was mainly minister T. B. Ilangaratne who took the initiative for the setting up of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, the People’s Bank, the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment and the Multi-purpose Cooperative Societies which provided quality, essential food items mainly to the working people at affordable prices. This was done with rations books. Today this role has been taken over by the profit-oriented private supermarkets most of which justify their role with what they call corporate social responsibility which often means little more than those words. 

Love’s labour or the labour of love is never lost. While responsible and dedicated workers do their duty with honesty and integrity their employers also need to ensure that the workers are happy and content because they are looked after well and their work is recognized.  Yes indeed. In most of the cases, the worker is worthy of his or her wages. In work, both the employer and the employee should benefit but since the work is not regulated, it is often the employer who benefits at the expense of the worker who struggles to maintain the family with the basic needs of shelter, food, clothing, education and a good job. 

 Missing bombs – Controversy after Sri Lankan artillery fire removed from Mullivaikkal memorial

The 'reconstructed' monument unveiled last week, missing sculptures of Sri Lankan shells landing on the outstretched arms.

 

29 April 2021

As authorities at the University of Jaffna unveiled a supposedly reconstructed monument to those massacred at Mullivaikkal last week, there was controversy as key elements of the memorial depicting Sri Lankan military shelling had been entirely removed.

The Mullivaikkal memorial, built to commemorate the tens of thousands of Tamils killed by Sri Lankan government shelling in 2009, was bulldozed by authorities earlier this year. Amidst protests by locals and global outrage, Sri Lankan authorities were forced to backtrack and pledged to reconstruct the monument they had destroyed.

The monument, which featured outstretched arms rising from rubble, amidst half-buried shells, was designed and constructed with the input of survivors of the massacres, such as a student who lost his father in 2009.

However, at its unveiling this week, some students expressed concern at how the supposedly reconstructed monument had sculptures of the shells landing on the arms – representing Sri Lankan military bombardment – entirely removed.

The original monument constructed in 2019.

The sculpture now features only the outstretched arms.

"The demolition of the old obelisk was completely unacceptable," said one student. "The newly built monument should have been just like the demolished monument. Changing it was unacceptable."

"The monument was erected with the efforts of the students," responded the Jaffna University Students' Union. "Some criticisms have been leveled against it which we have taken into consideration. We will be adding more designs on the newly built monument in the future."

The destruction and replacement monument comes as several other Tamil memorials across the North-East, including cemeteries that housed thousands of fallen fighters, remain bulldozed and some entirely paved over. 

"Unimpeded memorialisation is inextricably linked to healing and honouring those lost in the war, and has been one of the fundamental demands of the Tamil people post-2009," said the People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) last year, as Sri Lankan state efforts to halt memorial events ramped up.

 May Day call for May Day

How May Day was hijacked by its very foes

A May Day rally in Colombo: Hijacked by those who oppress the working class

 

30 April 2021

Political parties and trade unions in Sri Lanka have been compelled for the third consecutive year to cancel or

 postpone their May Day events or conduct them on a low note. In 2019, the Easter Sunday suicide bombings forced them to cancel the events, and the COVID-19 outbreak prevented them from holding any public gatherings last year (2020).   
With the country facing the third wave of the COVID-19 following the Sinhala and Hindu New Year, this year too, the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 (NOCPCO) has requested the organisers to cancel May Day rallies and processions.  
Some political parties and coalitions might be happy with the situation as the rifts within them might come out if they hold rallies. Also, some parties might be unhappy since May Day is the only event that would show their existence in politics.   

Earlier the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) was to hold its May Day rally at the Colombo Municipal Council grounds while its ally and partner in Government, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party had said it would have its rally and the procession separately.   
This along with the bickering between the SLPP and the small parties in the Government such as the NFF and the PHU would have created situations unpleasant to the leaders of the Government, had the May Day rallies been allowed. 

"Besides, in a context where everything is politicised to the core, even the workers including the literal proletariat - the people only own their labour, as Karl Marx described - would find it difficult to understand on which platform their rights and aspirations are really emphasised or at least they are emphasised at all anywhere"

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the party that has been holding mammoth rallies and colourful processions every year- since 1978 except during the period they had gone underground between 1983 and 1994 – had planned to hold its May Day rally at the Hyde Park Grounds with a limited crowd due to the pandemic.   
However, they have finally decided on a virtual May Day event with the participation of the leaders of the party and affiliated trade unions leaders and a limited number of members.  

The United National Party (UNP) and its breakaway group, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) too had changed their original plans for May Day events while some small parties also organised indoor events.  
In fact one has to question the political parties in Sri Lanka and abroad if it is worth risking the lives of the people by holding even low-key events on the International Workers’ Day at a time when a deadly pandemic is taking its toll. 

The question is more pertinent since the original essence and the purpose of May Day is now a forgotten subject. Sometimes many people including some of those participating in May Day rallies and processions might be of the view that May Day and the International Workers’ Day are two different days.   
Besides, in a context where everything is politicised to the core, even the workers including the literal proletariat - the people only own their labour, as Karl Marx described - would find it difficult to understand on which platform their rights and aspirations are really emphasised or at least they are emphasised at all anywhere. 

In fact, May Day has become a ritual devoid of original essence for political parties and trade unions. This is the day originally assigned for the working masses to get together and assert their rights irrespective of party politics.   
However, in the practical sense, it has been hijacked by the suppressors of workers’ rights. If one rates the right of the political parties to commemorate the International Workers’ Day considering their performance towards the workers, he would realise that the two main parties and those parties that were in hand in glove with them in governing the country have no moral right whatsoever to celebrate the International Workers’ Day. 

 "One has to question the political parties in Sri Lanka and abroad if it is worth risking the lives of the people by holding even low-key events on the International Workers’ Day at a time when a deadly pandemic is taking its toll"

It is true that it was the Government led by Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who represented the SLFP in the ruling coalition, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna declared May Day a statutory holiday in the country. Also, it was the same Government that established the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for the benefit of private-sector employees. But it was during the same period that the Public Security Ordinance (PSO) was amended so that Governments can ban trade union actions by declaring any service as an essential service.   
Then, during another SLFP rule under Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike, the PSO was included in the Constitution in 1972 so that no future Governments could amend it without two-thirds of the Parliamentary Majority.   

It has been used by almost all Governments thereafter to suppress trade union actions; the best case in point was the suppression of the 1980 July strike. During the end of her tenure, Mrs Bandaranaikes’s name was further tarnished in terms of repression by an incident where estate workers who demonstrated against the alienation of their estates in Talawakelle in 1976 were shot at and one worker named Sivan Letchumanan was killed.   
Once, during President Chandrika Kumaratunge’s tenure, another regime under a coalition led by the SLFP, striking workers of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) were brought to their workplaces by force using Army personnel by Deputy Defence Minister Anurudda Ratwatte who was also the Power and Energy Minister then. This could be expected only under military rule.  

Mahinda Rajapaksa who was another SLFP leader promised to introduce a “Workers’ Charter” to strengthen the rights of the workers in the country. He was the President in the country twice with two-thirds of Parliamentary power during his second term, but the Workers Charter never saw the light of the day.   
Two major incidents that led to Rajapaksa’s downfall were the incidents that took place in Katunayake and Chilaw.   
Roshen Chanaka, a worker attached to the Katunayake Free Trade Zone (FTZ) was shot dead during a demonstration against the Government’s move to convert the EPF into a pension scheme.   
In the other incident, a fisherman was shot dead in Chilaw when a group of fishermen was demonstrating demanding the price reduction of fuel. The declaration of May Day as a holiday would not offset this repressive history of the SLFP.  

On the other hand, the United National Party (UNP) too has a history that could very easily counterbalance the SLFP’s past, in respect of repression against the workers of the country. Two incidents would suffice to prove the point.   

Hundreds of trade unions declared a “National Day of Protest” on June 5, 1980, to protest against the spiralling cost of living and demanding a Rs. 300 monthly salary increment and a Rs. 5 allowances per each rising unit in the Cost of Living Index. A trade unionist D. Somapala was killed during demonstrations by hooligans affiliated to the UNP which was in office then.  

More than 40,000 (some say it was 80,000) workers who struck work over these demands were expelled from work for good and several workers had later committed suicide. Before the strike was started the then National Security Minister Lalith Athulathmudali had threatened the strikers to be sent to 
“Kanatte” (Cemetery).   
Hence, the moral right of a political party to commemorate International Workers’ Day should stem from its attitude and dedication to protect the rights of the workers in the past.   

Sri Lanka: The arrest of poet Ahnaf Jazeem and ordeal he faces – Nethmi Rajawasam

By Sri Lanka Brief-29/04/2021

The lawyers appearing for Chilavathurai-Mannar based poet Muhammadhu Ahnaf Jazeem have been sounding the alarm on the Counter Terrorism and Investigation Division (TID) allegedly coercing the poet Ahnaf and his father, Abdul Gafoor Jazeem, into making incriminating admissions that corroborate the baseless charges the TID has arrested the poet upon, in exchange for the poets release.

Old tricks of the TID

Having failed at coercing the poet into making admissions of guilt, the TID has been determined to prove the poet guilty of the charges based entirely on conjecture on the TIDs part, and the TID Director had allegedly called upon Gafoor to visit the TID on 20 February 2021 and had advised him that, If he (Ahnaf) admits to what I say, I will make him a State witness and release him. Otherwise, he will be in remand for another 10 to 15 years.

A Fundamental Rights (FR) petition had been filed on 16 April 2021 on behalf of Ahnaf, with concerns for his safety inside the TID, a slew of FR violations that have kept him from having adequate and confidential legal counsel and for violations to his freedom of expression through arbitrary detention, which has disrupted his way of life.

Nearly a year in TID detention

The poet, who has now languished for approximately 345 days in the custody of the TID, was arrested on unsubstantiated allegations of being exposed to extremism, spreading extremism at a Puttalam based private international school called the School of Excellence, where he had been employed as a Tamil language and literature teacher since July 2019, and for purveying extremist ideology through a published anthology of Tamil poems of his own.

The anthology, Navarasam or the nine emotions, uses vividly descriptive language to convey messages of anti-imperialism, anti-war criticism of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and military authoritarianism behind the Rohingya genocide, artistically following the ancient style of storytelling called the nava rasa, delving into both complex and mundane subject matter such as the aforesaid, in Tamil. There are no signs of the advocacy of Islamist fundamentalism or extremism in his anthology of poems, which the State intends on incriminating the 26-year-old poet with.

The FR petition also mentions that it was recorded in the Criminal Investigations Department (CID)’s reports to the Colombo Fort Magistrates Court that a copy of Navarasam had been taken into Police custody on 3 May 2020, 13 days before Ahnafs arrest, which is enough time for the Police to have known the contents of the anthology. The petitioner, Attorney S. Devapalan, filing the case on behalf of Ahnaf, further states that those responsible for carrying out Ahnafs arrest and continued, indefinite detention are very well aware of the contents in the anthology.

One of Ahnafs lawyers, Attorney Sanjaya Wilson Jayasekera, said that during his lengthy detention under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA), which has lasted for almost a year, Ahnaf had been produced before a Magistrate only once, by the TID, in compelling the poet to make the aforesaid incriminating admission.

During the said procedure, the TID had tried to, according to Attorney Jayasekera, force Ahnaf to get him to admit that he was exposed to Islamist extremism at his alma mater, the Naleemiah Institute of Islamic Studies, and that he had taught extremist ideology to students, while working as a teacher at the School of Excellence.

Attorney Swasthika Arulingam who is also appearing for Ahnaf claimed that the poet and his father were consistently mentally coerced by the TID officers into making incriminating statements, which were said to lead to the Police considering Ahnafs release.
Ahnaf was arrested under the sweeping powers of the deplorable PTA, which is notoriously known to be wielded for arbitrary detentions, without warrant, with regard to unspecified reasons of alleged suspicions of committing offences thereunder, for up to 18 months, before State officials may produce such an individual before a court.

Guilt by association

The most common reason for the arrest of individuals under the PTA is by and large through guilt by association of an individual to a particular community they may belong to, particularly those belonging to minority groups who are more often than not, targeted with this Law, along with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, No. 56 of 2007, the Computer Crime Act and the Penal Code.

The aforementioned Laws continue to be propagated against the Tamil community and there has been an unmistakably steady increase in the targeting of those belonging to the Muslim community in the last few years, especially in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

These arrests are typically carried out under no grounds of suspicion other than simply because an individual may belong to one of the said communities and unfortunately may be associated with those of the community whenever the Government may routinely direct its racist campaigns in its direction, in time for the General/Parliamentary Election or when it may seek to reaffirm its authoritarian nature.

Ahnafs arrest took place at a time when the State was desperately clamping down on the Muslim community, looking to scapegoat those of the community for the Easter Sunday bombings which was a heavy handed promise made to the voting public, based on which the existing regime with its regressive and despotic tendencies, was electe

Hejaaz Hizbullah

In mid April 2020, the Police arrested one patron of the non-Governmental organization – Save the Pearls, who just so happens to be prominent human rights Attorney Hejaaz Hizbullah, who had appeared for several cases challenging the State and had represented the businesses of one Yusuf Mohamed Ibrahim, in District Court cases in the past too. The latter is another patron of the Save the Pearls, with charities in Puttalam, and is the father of two of the bombers responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks. Yusuf had stepped down from his duties as the Treasurer in 2016.

It is important to highlight that the School of Excellence in Azhar Nagar, in which Ahnaf had been employed as a Tamil literature teacher, had temporarily sought residence in a Save the Pearls owned building for its dormitory facilities.

Hizbullah has been accused of aiding and abetting the Easter Sunday bombers in 2019 and of engaging in activities detrimental to the religious harmony among communities, and lecturing extremism to children at Muslim madrasas (educational institutions focused on Islam) including the Al Suharia Madrasa school at Puttalam. Nineteen copies of Navarasam had been taken into custody by the CID from the Save the Pearls organization’s building where a hostel of the School of Excellence was temporarily housed. Obviously, poet Ahnaf is an innocent victim of the Government’s plan to fix Hizbullah in respect of the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

Further, the CID had, according to what has transpired at the Colombo Fort Magistrates Court, attempted to forge evidence to corroborate their unsubstantiated reasons for Hizbullahs arrest, by showing a picture of Hizbullah to children during clandestine interviews in which no parent or guardian were present with each child, asking them to identify him (Hizbullah) as the hate preacher at their School. The children have since filed FR petitions requesting that all recorded videos of the children giving statements which the children were coerced into signing and the notes taken by the Policemen during those interviews, be produced.

No Minister of Defence 

It is also important to note that Ahnafs arrest, along with the arrest of Hizbullah and hundreds of other Muslims last year, came at a time when the current regime was in a transitional process; which meant that there was no official appointment to the post of the Minister of Defence by the new Government until 26 November 2020. According to the so called law, the PTA, directives or detention orders to arrest individuals are to be approved by the Defence Minister therefore, this move on the regimes part would not have been permissible during the said time period and the wave of detentions were not ostensibly Constitutional on the States part either.

Putting the spate of arrests of Muslims from last year into perspective, it is incontestable in the proceedings that the regime was painstakingly bent on scapegoating those it deems are dispensable to it, unwitting Muslims who have no links to the terror attacks, as those responsible for the attacks that had cost the lives of 269 people.

While there has been no element of extremism in the said anthology of poetry, contrary to the unfounded allegations of the Police, strangely, the Colombo Fort Magistrate had however forwarded a sworn translation of Navarasam to be evaluated by child psychiatrists from the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children.

One commentator and activist who had voluntarily translated a few poems of Ahnafs for the publication of them online was Ramzy Razeek, a retired Government servant, who had also been one of the many other Muslims arbitrarily detained last year under the equally reprehensible ICCPR Act. He was fortunate enough to be released five months into his detention, being targeted with similar baseless charges of advocating for extremism through a Facebook post of his, in which he stated that Muslims should carry out an ideological jihad (struggle) with the pen and keyboard, in the face of the surge of Islamophobia that had taken root in mainstream Sri Lankan media, in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. With regard to the poems, Ramzy said that, (Ahnafs) poems are heavily critical of Islamist extremism and extremist ideas,, adding that the few poems on the war in the anthology that supposedly led to Ahnafs arrest, were in fact, condemnations of war and a calling for readers and the society as a whole to deplore it.

Criminalising Islamic culture

Commenting on the ongoing witch hunt to prosecute unsuspecting Muslims with unfounded accusations, Attorney Jayasekera called it an, attempt to criminalise Islamic culture, educational institutions and writing in a way that isolates the Muslim community. He further said that the Government has been implementing its divisive mechanisms such as the aforementioned draconian laws at hand along with the Police, court systems and prisons to subjugate those of the working class, preventing any united struggle that would cut across all racial divides against the Government’s austerity and counter-revolutionary measures. However, he further said that, “this is an international phenomenon,” and “requires a broad and united political struggle of the working people to defend their democratic rights on an internationalist and socialist perspective”.

Since Ahnafs arrest on 16 May 2020, when he arrived home in Pandaraweli from buying rations before the next State imposed curfew from the nearby Town of Nanattam, the poet has been transferred to the TID in Colombo and in the meantime has been subjected to torture and inhumane conditions which have compromised his physical health and well being. According to Attorney Arulingam who had been briefly permitted to meet Ahnaf, he had stated that he had been constantly handcuffed to a chair and handcuffed to a table even during sleep even though he had requested that his handcuffs be removed while he may sleep.

The FR petition further states that Ahnaf has even been physically compromised to endure being bitten by a rat and has suffered from bladder stones and skin rashes, owing to the unhygienic conditions inside his detention cell.

The FR petition seeks that leave to proceed may be granted, along with release and compensation for the rights violations that have impinged on his freedom of expression and fundamental rights as an individual arbitrarily held in State custody.

(The writer is a freelance journalist)
The Morning

 Slain journalist Sivaram remembered across the North-East

Memorial events were held across the North-East to mark the 16th anniversary of murdered Tamil journalist, Dharmeratnam Sivaram. 

 

29 April 2021

Sivaram, popularly known under his nom-de-plume Taraki, was abducted in front of Bambalipitiya police station in Colombo on April 28 2005, and was found dead several hours later in a high security zone in Colombo, which at the time had a heavy police and military presence due to the ongoing conflict. His killers, highly suspected to be linked to the government of then-president Chandrika Kumaratunga, were never caught.

Read more here: 'Where else should I die but here?' - Remembering Sivaram

The Jaffna Press Club held a remembrance event for Sivaram and another murdered Tamil journalist, Selvarajah Rajivarman.

Rajivarman, who worked for Namathu Eezhanadu and Thinakkural before joining the Uthayan, was killed on April 29, 2007, by a lone gunman in the middle of Jaffna town. He was just 25 years old at the time. Rajivarman used to go to the police stations and hospitals to seek information about the many crimes that were taking place in Jaffna at the time. 

Families of the disappeared in Vavuniya remembered Sivaram by lighting candles on their 1528th day of continuous protest. 

Vavuniya Tamil Journalists Association also paid tribute to the slain journalist by laying flowers and lighting candles. 

In Batticaloa, Tamil journalists marked the anniversary of Sivaram's killing in another remembrance event. 

 

 

Related Articles: 

28 April 2021 : 'Where else should I die but here?' - Remembering Sivaram

Arguing With Racists

By Charles Ponnuthurai Sarvan –APRIL 30, 2021

Dr. Charles Sarvan

Epigraph: “Unhappy the land that has no heroes.” “No, unhappy the land that needs heroes.”~  (Brecht)

Preface. St Augustine said he thinks he knows what time is but if someone were to ask him “What is time?”, he would find it difficult to answer. So it seems with the word “race”. We think we know its meaning and use the term with casual confidence. In literary theory, the Russian Formalists drew attention to the fact that language is the medium of literature, and one of the devices of literature was (through unusual use and collocation) to make strange the familiar and, therefore, draw attention. The terms “race” and “racism” need to be estranged and looked at because of their semantic shifts.

The attempt here is not to provide answers but to share some perspectives on race and racism: different perspectives at the expense of rigorous cohesion for which I apologise. I also admit I have filched bits and pieces from my earlier articles. Though set in motion by ‘How to Argue with a Racist’ by Adam Rutherford, someone who has “studied genetics all his adult life”, it’s not about Rutherford’s book. In passing, I wish Rutherford’s title had been, ‘How to discuss race with racists’. By “argue” it is implied that one side is utterly convinced of its position and seeks to defeat the others who are equally convinced of theirs. But to silence a person in argument doesn’t necessarily mean s/he has been convinced. Besides, as Darwin wrote, ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. May I say that by nature I dislike argument as much as I welcome frank discussion. Argument generates the heat of emotion but often not the light of understanding: argument, as one dictionary has it, means “the expression of opposite views, typically in a heated manner”. Argument can descend to, and end in, vulgar name-calling. The starting point for Socrates was that he didn’t know. This was not the doubt of a Hamlet leading to paralysis but an active questioning, probing, self-examination. Beginning in the late 1950s in what I had thought of as home (Ceylon), race and racism are not abstractions to me. What follows is about race in general though being written for a Sri Lankan readership, it draws on the Island. End of Preface.

The signifier “unicorn” refers to a non-existent animal. Similarly, the term “race” seems to be a signifier without a signified in the real world. But we are loose in our use of language. We speak of colonialism and colonies in instances where it was imperialism and imperial territories: Ceylon was not colonised, nor India.  We perpetuate the mistake of Columbus by speaking of “Indians”, rather than of “Native Americans”. We say “Happy birthday” rather than, more precisely, “Happy birth-anniversary”. We talk of “black” (non-white) people, and sometimes of “the white race”. In reality, there are neither “white” nor “black” people. The paper on which we write or type is white but not the people classified as “white”. Fielding suggested “pinko-grey” instead of white, while Boakye offers “pinkish beige”: see bibliography below. But the dominant West has chosen “white” (associated with cleanliness and purity) and the rest of the world has followed suit through docility or simple laziness. Similarly, there are no black people but shades of brown. But we have a penchant for sharp dichotomy: the guilty and the innocent, good and bad; black and white; 14 million Jews and the rest of the world of almost 8 billion gentiles etc. Shades in between, nuance and complexity are mentally taxing and troubling. “The first problem with being black is that it is literally not accurate.” No matter how dark my skin is, it is not black in hue (Boakye). But ‘Brown’ and ‘pinkish beige’ are not as neat and effective as ‘black’ and ‘white’. The connotations of black are almost invariably negative except, as Boakye notes when, with reference to expenditure and income, one speaks of being financially “in the black”. (Note: the opposite of black in this context is not white but red: to be “in the red”.) I recall that in Sinhala a word of endearment was “Sudhu”, applied even to someone dark-skinned: if I’m not mistaken, the term means “fair”. If someone felt ignored, he would teasingly ask: “Api kalu the?” “Are we black?” Implying, “Is that why you don’t treat me better?” Again, whether the expression has current currency, I don’t know. But Olive-skinned Romans looked down upon people we now consider white, and enslaved them. “In Australia I met many people that to me looked white and yet they swore they were blackfellas – as Aboriginal people often call themselves – and the intensity with which they spoke about their blackness let me know that they really had lived blackness in the harshest sense Australia could possibly muster. How could this occur that people that literally have a ‘white’ complexion (but Aboriginal features) came to be seen as black?” (Akala). Sri Lankan Christopher Rezel, writer and journalist now ensconced in Australia, commented in an email message to me: “being a 100% white Aboriginal makes no difference. First and foremost you are Aboriginal, irrespective of skin colour.” To the chagrin of those Sinhalese who cherish a belief they are Aryans, extreme white right-wing groups will reject them unceremoniously because “Aryan” means “white” to them. (The Nazis narrowed the term Aryan, and even excluded Russians and East Europeans who are very much ‘white’.) Often in the Western press, particularly in the USA and UK, “race” means a non-white skin-pigmentation. In an article written many years ago, titled ‘The term Racism and Discourse’, I suggested, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that a certain kind of racism be more accurately termed not “racism” but “Colourism”. For an instance of Asian “colourism” against Asians, see the personal and painful experience of Martin Jacques whose Indian-Malaysian wife died of neglect in a Chinese hospital in Hong Kong. (It’s argued that prior to the 1600s and the enslavement of Africans, white people saw themselves as belonging to a country rather than to a ‘race’. In simple terms, the enslaved were not Christian and, therefore, could be held in life-long servitude but as the slaves became Christian, another justification was needed, and it was found in whiteness. See, among others, Robert Baird, ‘The Invention of Whiteness’; also the essay by W E B Du Bois, 1868-1963, titled ‘The Souls of White Folk’.)

Though Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty idiosyncratically claimed: “When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean”, language is conventional rather than individual. So though I am careful to distinguish between colonialism and imperialism; though I refer to the autochthonous as “Native Americans” and not as “Indians”, I find myself writing about “black” and “white people”, sometimes with the added cautionary but clumsy phrase, “so called”: so-called white people. Another expedient is the phrase, “people of colour”, though not its opposite: colourless people.

Those who believe in race are unable to agree on the number of races presently existing: Rutherford estimates they range from just one (the human race) to about seventy. Shlomo Sand (2010. See, Sarvan, ‘Groundviews’, 07 March 2013) states that there is no biological basis for Jewishness, and that belief in a Jewish race is nothing but “racist pseudoscience”. Race is a social myth and not a scientific fact but “Zionist pedagogy produced generations who believed wholeheartedly in the ethnic uniqueness of their nation”. Shlomo Sand is Professor of History at Tel Aviv University and this book was first written in Hebrew for a Jewish readership. It’s as if a Sinhalese teaching at a Sri Lankan university were to publish a book – not in English but in the Sinhala language – questioning the fundamental assumptions of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism. (Professor Sand observes that in Sri Lanka identity contains a very distinctive blend of ethno-nationalism with traditional religion where religion becomes an instrument serving political ends: pages 285-6).  Permitting myself a digression, the popular (and legitimising) Sinhalese Buddhist belief is that they (like the Jews) are a chosen race because they and the Island were chosen by the Buddha and tasked with preserving Buddhism in its pristine purity. How this “purity” finds expression is debateable. The title of Professor Sand’s book (see bibliography below) is deliberately ambiguous: Jewishness is not natural and real but is an artificial invention. Another work by Professor Sand has the provocative title, ‘How I Stopped Being a Jew’. (Perhaps, the title should have been ‘Why I stopped being a Jew’.) Opposition to Zionist policy and practice, particularly against the Palestinians, is deliberately and incorrectly met as being racism, more precisely, as anti-Semitism. But there is no Semitic race (Sand). What prevails is but ethno-religious nationalism. Israel today is made ugly by “brutal racism” and a crying failure to take others into consideration (Sand, p. 76). Israel defines itself as a Jewish state but is unable to define who a Jew is: there is no Jewish DNA (Sand, 79).Professor Sand asserts that he can’t be free unless others are also free. “My own place is among those who try to discern and root out, or at least reduce, the excessive injustices of the here-and-now”.

Belief in race is troglodyte. All human beings “are of one and the same blood” (Karen and Barbara Fields). Genetically, women are far more different to men than black men are to white men (Rutherford). Individuals often share more genes with members of other races than with members of their own race, and so we should speak not of race but of “population groups” (Gavin Evans). But language being the invention and tool of human beings, I fear “population groups” will soon grow the negative connotative barnacles “race” has acquired at present.

Yet another synonym suggested for discredited ‘race’ is ‘ethnicity’. However, the latter term can testify to the resilience and mutability of racism, and the disguises it can adopt. Ethnicity is an aspect of relations between groups where at least one party sees itself as being culturally distinctive, if not unique. This sense of difference influences the perception and treatment of others. Though there are similarities and differences, the former are glossed over, and much made of difference. However, the boundary delimited by one cultural criterion – system of government, language, religion, social customs and practices – does not coincide with those established by other criteria. In short, “ethnicity” may be a Trojan horse bringing back disgraced racism. Ethnicity is a term to be used after careful thought. The term culture can now denote something essential, now something acquired; now something bounded, now something without boundaries; now something experienced, now something ascribed. Race as culture is only biological race in polite language. “Language is the source of misunderstandings” (Saint-Exupery) but language can also disguise and deceive. Finally, as with other terms bandied about, it’s a matter of defining terms and clarifying concepts. Take for example, the word “peace”: Is it peace for the conquerors only? Is peace merely the negative absence of overt war or the positive presence of harmony for all citizens which, in turn, is the product of elements such as justice and a sense of security? (Justice cannot be equated with Law because there can be unjust, discriminatory, laws.)

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Politics, religion and arrests

Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith-MP Rishad Bathiudeen- Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Friday, 30 April 2021

One of my friends from Mannar reminded me of an adage in Tamil, araciyalvaathikku aiyo pavam illai, which implies, never feel sorry for a politician.

What follows is not to feel sorry for Bathiudeen the politician, although one should have sympathy for him as a fellow human being, but to feel surprised at how easily the leader of the Catholic community, Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, after being so publicly vocal and accusatory at President NGR’s nonchalance over the PCoI report, has gone amazingly silent soon after the arrest of the above politician and his brother. 

Before them, when Noufer Moulavi and Hajjul Akbar, two Muslim religious notables, were arrested and declared as the masterminds behind that infamy by Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekera, the Cardinal who by that time had access to the report, ridiculed the Government for not catching the mastermind and others who aided and abetted. At one stage, he even threated to take his case before the world judiciary to seek justice to his people. Is his current silence tactical or part of any deal with the President? The public is confused.

Cardinal and Bathiudeens

To start with, it was not the Catholic Cardinal, but the Buddhist monk turned politician Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera who went on a televised hunger strike in front of the Maligawa on 31 May 2019, and who demanded the immediate removal from office two Muslim Governors, Azath Sally and Hisbullah, and Minister Rishad Bathiudeen. 

This drama led to a counter drama when all Muslim ministers and deputies resigned en masse a few days later. They all happily resumed office afterwards, apparently at the request of prominent Buddhist prelates. The Thera should now feel happy, because two of the three are in prison and the third is out of office. 

However, one notable personality who travelled all the way to Kandy to bless the starving Thera was the Cardinal. One does not know whether the Cardinal was prompted to visit that fasting hero, because of Christian sympathy to the hungry or because of the Cardinal’s support to the Thera’s political cause.  Also, whether the Cardinal would have done the same had Bathiudeen not been included among those three is another question only the Cardinal could answer.  

After that drama, one hears of the Cardinal again when that Minister’s brother Riyaj Bathiudeen was arrested on 14 April 2020 under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) but released on 30 October, apparently for lack of evidence.

Current Attorney General Dappula de Livera has criticised his release at that time as ‘improper’. However, when the Cardinal was asked to comment on the release, he is quoted to have said, “Political wheeler-dealing appeared to be obscuring efforts to bring perpetrators to justice” (D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Daily Mirror Online 26 April 2021).

He must have been referring to political bargaining at that time between the regime and Muslim Parliamentarians to get that notorious 20th Amendment passed through the Legislature. The Cardinal’s comments therefore make it obvious that he believes that the Bathiudeens are involved in that tragedy. Now that the brothers have been arrested again under the PTA, the prelate naturally has suddenly gone silent. This raises two disturbing questions.

Two disturbing questions

Firstly, what happened to the Cardinal’s original demand from the President to bring to book all perpetrators behind that massacre, and most importantly its mastermind? 

The PCoI report has made a number of references and clues regarding these individuals and organisations, and the Cardinal, having read the report, should know who they are.  So far, the President’s axe has fallen only on the necks of Muslims. Were there no non-Muslim individuals of high and low ranks and non-Muslim organisations involved in that tragedy? Does the Cardinal believe that the arrests made until now complete the story?

Secondly, recently Harin Fernando, an Opposition MP, dropped a bombshell in Parliament when he mentioned about a certain “boss” and his/her code word “sonic-sonic” to pass messages, which rocked the House and must have echoed inside the presidency. The Government is trying to arrest this Parliamentarian, and along with him a few others whose recent speeches in the House have become a source of irritation and embarrassment to the Government.

Given the security crackdown on freedom of expression in the country, Parliament is the only place where members are privileged to speak freely. Even that privilege is now under threat. All this implies that the mastermind is still out somewhere and the regime is not interested in catching that person or persons.

Politics is depriving justice to the Christian community that lost 269 innocent lives. Shouldn’t the Cardinal continue his mission for seeking justice and speak out, adding weight to the opposition voices? One wonders whether there is a devil’s bargain here at the expense of Muslims.

People losing trust

It was reported that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed to crack down on those who are trying to create trouble and division within the Government and compared his team as a family. It was the Prime Minister’s own family of MR-GR-BR-CR that stitched together the various constituents of this larger family, and a genuine effort to bring to book all those involved in the Easter tragedy has the potential to tear it down to pieces.

Outside this larger family, the public that made it possible in the first place is fast losing its trust. The popularity of NGR and his regime is tumbling by the day, and it was best illustrated for the first time when traffic was held up by security officers, amidst continuous tooting of horns, to clear the way for the VVIP and VIP entourage to pass through smoothly. 

It was the Easter massacre that enthroned this family in 2019, and it is the fallout from its investigation that may eventually dethrone it in the near future.   

(The writer is attached to the School of Business & Governance, Murdoch University, Western Australia.)

Commissions of Inquiry: Grave Threat to Democracy and Judicial Independence

 Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Mirror

CHARYA SAMARAKOON AND KUSHMILA RANASINGHE-04/29/2021

Several initiatives have already been taken to implement the recommendations of the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into political victimization (the CoI) including the obtaining of Cabinet approval, the establishment of a Special Commission of Inquiry and a resolution tabled in Parliament. While Commissions of Inquiry have played a recurring role in distracting attention away from established mechanisms for justice and accountability in the past, the haste with which the recommendations of the present Commission are intended to be implemented is a cause for concern and may have grave implications for the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and democracy in Sri Lanka.

Past Initiatives

Commissions of Inquiry (CoI) and Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry (SPCoI) have a history of being instrumentalized as delaying tactics or as tools for partisan attacks. Past CoI and SPCoI initiatives were also criticized for lacking impartiality and transparency and disregarding due process rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The opacity of the proceedings of these commissions was compounded by their operation outside established legal mechanisms, resulting in delays of ongoing legal proceedings, intimidation of victims and witnesses, and the distortion of evidence.

SPCoIs are particularly problematic as the Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Act authorizes them to recommend civic disabilities on persons found guilty of political victimization. This draconian law was used against Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1980, where she was charged with allegations of abuse and misuse of power and corruption. After being summoned before a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry, Mrs. Bandaranaike was found guilty and subjected to civic disability, resulting in her expulsion from Parliament.

Recommendations of previous commissions have not resulted in prosecutions of those accountable for human rights abuses and corruption. Notably, the CoIs established to aid the processes of reconciliation and accountability have fallen short of their stated goals and functions, contributing to the climate of impunity and victims’ distrust of state-led accountability mechanisms while painting a veneer of justice in the face of international scrutiny.

The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) in its statement regarding the 2006 Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights succinctly described the ineffectiveness of CoIs, and “the absence of political will and the institutional inability of Sri Lanka to conduct human rights inquiries in accordance with international norms and standards.” The IIGEP further observed the unwillingness of the government to “investigate cases with vigour, where the conduct of its own forces has been called into question” and to grapple with “the systemic failures and obstructions to justice that rendered the original investigations ineffective.”

Mandate and Powers of the CoI and the SPCoI

The CoI on political victimization was appointed by Gazette (Extraordinary) No. 2157/44 of January 9, 2020 in terms of Section 2 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, and the original mandate was amended by Gazette (Extraordinary) No. 2159/16 of January 22, 2020.

Since its establishment, the CoI was criticized by several parties for exceeding its already broad mandate. For instance, the Attorney General noted that since the CoI was appointed to look into alleged political victimization of public officers, employees of state corporations, members of armed forces, and the police; private citizens such as the Avant Garde Chairman (Retired) Major Nissanka Senadhipathi have no legal standing before the CoI. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu filed a Fundamental Rights application challenging the broad powers granted to the CoI, as they violate the separation of powers, the rule of law, and the right to equality guaranteed under Article 12(1) of the Constitution.

Despite criticism, the proceedings of the CoI were concluded and the final report of the CoI was handed over to the President on December 8, 2020. In the ensuing months, opposition parties continually called for the report to be tabled in Parliament. It was only three months later, on March 9, 2021 that the report was tabled in Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet approved the proposal by the President to take the necessary steps to implement the decisions and recommendations of the final report of the CoI. On January 29, 2021, a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry (SPCoI) was appointed by Gazette (Extraordinary) No. 2212/53 to implement several recommendations of the CoI. The SPCoI is empowered to recommend the imposition of civic disability on members of the Anti-Corruption Committee, with the effect of bypassing established judicial institutions and mechanisms in the implementation of recommendations of a CoI. The mandate of the SPCoI was amended more recently by Gazette (Extraordinary) No. 2221/54 of April 1, 2021, vesting expanded powers with the commissioners to inquire into, report on, and initiate further investigations regarding complaints of the CoI if they deem it necessary. The ongoing proceedings of the SPCoI are not open to the public.

While the CoI is merely a fact-finding body, the powers of the SPCoI have a far-reaching impact on the basic rights of citizens. Under Section 9 of the Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Act No. 4 of 1978, SPCoIs are authorized to recommend civic disabilities where it finds at the inquiry and reports to the President that any person has been guilty of any act of political victimization, misuse or abuse of power, corruption or any fraudulent act, in relation to any court, tribunal or public body, or in relation to the administration of any law. The President shall cause such findings to be published in the Gazette and direct that such report be published.

On April 9, 2021, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse tabled a Resolution in Parliament seeking approval to implement recommendations related to complaints mentioned in Item No. 09 and 10 in the final report of the CoI. Item No. 09 and 10 include recommendations on criminal investigations into several emblematic cases, and ongoing investigations concerning corruption and financial irregularities. The Resolution seeks approval to institute criminal proceedings against investigators, lawyers, officers of the Attorney General’s Department, witnesses, and others involved in these complaints, and to dismiss several cases currently pending in court. Moreover, it seeks approval to refer these decisions and recommendations to the relevant authorities for implementation. These authorities include the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, the Public Service Commission, the Inspector General of Police, the Minister in-charge of the relevant Ministries, and the Secretaries to the Ministries.

Process

The CoI has faced criticism from parliamentarians, civil society groups and the international community for exceeding its legal mandate, contravening due process guarantees, and clear instances of politicization. From its outset, the CoI came into conflict with the Attorney General’s Department and the judiciary over its conduct and rulings on ongoing cases. On January 27, 2021, the CoI issued an order preventing the Permanent High Court at bar from proceeding in the case filed against the former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda and others and informed the Attorney General (AG) to halt the investigations and prosecution in several cases being probed by the CoI.

The three-member bench of the Trial at Bar noted that Court would not be able to function if commissions of this nature called for documentation, thus crippling the work of the courts. The Court issued an order for the Secretary of the CoI to be present in court to account for the investigation files relevant to the trial, and issued a bench warrant for her arrest when she failed to appear in court.

In an immediate response, the CoI summoned the AG, stating that the Court order is a deliberate attempt by the AG to cross the line at a point when the Commission had ordered the AG against proceeding with this case until the CoI investigations are completed. On this and subsequent occasions, the AG informed the CoI that it has no mandate to issue summons or notice on officials of the Attorney General’s Department and that the CoI has no statutory or legal authority to order the AG to refrain from performing his statutory functions.

On November 6, 2020, five opposition MPs filed a complaint with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, alleging that the proceedings of the CoI were corrupt. The CoI then summoned them before the police to reveal details about their complaint, which should be privileged under the law. The opposition MPs were also summoned to the CoI and informed of the CoI’s decision to file a contempt case against them in the Court of Appeal.

This continuing interference with ongoing judicial processes and attempts to suppress dissent foreshadowed the disturbing nature of the eventual findings and recommendations of the CoI.

Recommendations

Several groups including parliamentarians, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) and civil society groups have raised concerns about the findings and recommendations of the final report of the CoI. Opposition MPs have petitioned the Supreme Court that some of these recommendations amount to contempt of Court, while a group of past presidents of the BASL expressed “serious concern” that the contents of the CoI report may “undermine the Rule of Law in this country, impair independence of the judiciary and erode impartial and efficient functioning of the Attorney General’s Department.” In a separate statement, the BASL expressed its “utmost concern” about efforts to withdraw certain ongoing criminal cases based on the recommendations of the report.

The CoI report recommends that the ongoing criminal investigations and prosecutions in several emblematic cases be withdrawn including the case of alleged abductions involving Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda and others, the assassination of MP Nadaraja Raviraj and former MP Joseph Pararajasingam, the death of Wasim Thajudeen, the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the Welikada prison massacre, the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda and the abduction of journalist Keith Noyahr.

The CoI also recommends that the charges against those accused be dropped in several ongoing cases related to large-scale misappropriation of public funds. These include the investigations of alleged financial irregularities in the Divi Neguma Department, the Tourism Development Authority, Co-operative Establishment (Sathosa), National Lottery Board, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Carlton Sports Network (CSN) and the Tharunyata Hetak Organisation. They also include cases in which various associates of the government are implicated such as the MiG aircraft deal with Ukraine, the investigation into the Avant Garde controversy and the Rakna Araksha Lanka Company as well as the investigation into the purchase of a land by the D.A. Rajapaksa Foundation.

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the withdrawal of an indictment must be done by the Attorney General. The withdrawal of ongoing cases circumventing the authority of the AG undermines the rule of law and threatens the independence and effectiveness of the Attorney General’s Department.

Additionally, these recommendations are a grave challenge to the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka. They reduce orders and decisions of the courts to acts of political victimization and recommend their reversal. Perhaps the most disturbing recommendation in this regard is that the Attorney-General should request a larger bench of the Supreme Court to review the guilty verdict and the death penalty in relation to the case against Duminda Silva in the Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra assassination. It is unprecedented for a CoI to call into question and overturn a judgment made by the highest court in Sri Lanka.

In almost all of the cases probed, the CoI has recommended that the investigators, prosecutors, lawyers and witnesses involved in the investigation of the cases be charged for the offences of fabricating false evidence and corruption under the Penal Code and the Bribery Act respectively.

These recommendations if implemented would result in the intimidation and harassment of witnesses of the case. It also undermines the independence of the police officers and Attorney General’s Department officers who have conducted the investigations and prosecutions and would in the future deter impartial action in cases that are considered politically sensitive.

Conclusion

While recognizing the importance of the access to justice for those subjected to political victimization, it is clear that the CoI itself has failed to safeguard itself against charges of politicization. The mandate, process and recommendations of the CoI violate the rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution, undermine the rule of law and threaten the independence of the judiciary, the Attorney General’s Department and the police service of Sri Lanka. In this light, it is of the utmost importance to be vigilant about ongoing action taken pursuant to the findings of the CoI.

For more information see https://www.cpalanka.org/a-commentary-on-the-pcoi-and-the-special-pcoi-on-political-victimization/