Despite Sri Lanka's achievement of independence in 1948, the ethnic divisions set in train by the British colonisers continue to affect its politics today. Here, Yamuna Bandara, a Sri Lankan journalist based in Britain, and regular contributor to 'Haraya', Mesinhala newspaper of the NSSP, charts the history of the island and shows how neo-liberal policies continue to impoverish much of the population. From Colonisation to Neo-Liberalism in Sri Lanka: Any change? Children to the motherly, that they prosper, Carts to good drivers, that they be driven well, The valley to the waterer, that it yields fruit. Land to the tiller Bertolt Brecht, Caucasian Chalk Circle British colonisers, the third band of European Empire builders to set foot on Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, landed there in 1796. They started changing the social fabric of the Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) society in an entirely different way from the early European rulers of the country: the Portuguese and the Dutch. The British introduced a new social structure to the Sri Lankans: capitalism. The lush green hills of this Indian Ocean Island caught the eye of the new rulers: not for its beauty, but for the gold it could generate. The earth was stripped of its evergreen cloak and an alien crop was planted. The soil that nurtured the greenery was a godsend to cultivate tea. While an alien crop was brought in, the people of that land were alienated from it. They were left only with the choice of either being slaves until death in the newly created tea plantations or fleeing The first up-country rebellion of 1818 was the response of the people who faced the danger of being chased off their land. This uprising was brutally crushed. The first organised political mass uprising against the new rulers was drowned in blood by British firepower and ruthlessness. The first displacement of Sri Lankan masses due to western intervention commenced. Politi- cally crushed and hounded from their homeland, the up-country Ceylonese fled to other areas, mainly the south of the country. HISTORY I THEORY The rulers acquired the land of the up-country people by a crafty piece of legislation called the Land Requisition act of 1833. Of course, everything had to be done legally! Tea and slaves The up-country peasants' rehabilitation commission set up after the British officially left the Ceylonese shores, found that the number of people living on one acre of land in the hill country was far more than in the south. This was despite the fact that they had left the hill country en masse. Why? Because vast areas of land were given to British planters and would-be planters at "buy one get many free' prices. The virgin hills of the Sri Lankan up-country were stripped of trees to be replaced by a cash crop - tea. Indian Tamils were brought in by shiploads to be slaves in the tea plantations. In 1948 the British handed over the colony to the elite of the country. But the troubles were not over. Fearing that the plantation workers would join hands with the left-wing movement, the Lanka Samasamaja Party, the Sinhala and Tamil rulers disenfranchised the Indian Tamils. Thus the plantation workers were denied a role in the decision-making process. Unfortunately, they did not have the means to leave the country and seek political asylum in a European country. Therefore, they were left with the option of complying or being condemned. Some left Sri Lanka and went back to India to become citizens. The first armed political uprising in post-colonial Sri Lanka happened in 1971. The sons of the peasantry rose against the rulers, mainly against impoverishment. They were the sons of peasants, but had no land to farm. Since the mid-nineteenth century a minority of foreign and local businessmen owned the majority of land. Although the rebellion was crushed with might the government was forced to carry out land reform. This •e• Page 24 Socialist Outlook spring, 2004 issue 003
?! 660! reform was to limit the land ownership of a person to fifty acres. The new constitution of 1972 had also, for the first time, a chapter on human rights. This was the first time that the country accepted that human beings lived in that part of the world and the issue of political asylum in foreign countries became a subject of discussion. Free Trade Zones The J R Jayawardene government that came into office in 1977 ushered in a new system of economy hitherto not practised in Sri Lanka: Open Economy. Gates were open to investment, but doors were closed to employment. The most ambitious single venture of the free market economy was the damming of Sri Lanka's longest river, Mahaveli. It was widely proclaimed that this would help agriculture. But the main reason was to provide electricity to multinational companies in the Free Trade Zones. This in a country where two-thirds of the population lived without elec- tricity. The main dam named after Queen Victoria was declared open by Queen Elizabeth II. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. In 1978 a new constitution was adopted. For the first time in Sri Lankan history it allowed the people to go to courts against human rights violations. But it also had provisions that could override the fundamental rights of the people. These were called the Emergency Regulations (ER) and The Prevention of Terror- ism Act (PTA). At the same time the Tamils were stripped of their right to claim their homeland. This was done through the notorious Sixth Amendment, barring anyone using their right to have a separate state. The Tamil United Liberation Front issue_003 spring, 2004 Socialist Outlook Page 25 135 10 (TULF), which had been the leading opposition party in parlia- ment, had to leave it. They had campaigned during elections to win a separate state through parliamentary means and they were denied that right. The Tamil farmer of the north faced economic difficulties due to the free market economy, where the market was flooded with imported food. The Tamil politician was defeated in parliament. The Tamil youth took up arms in a popular uprising. This was the breeding ground for the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - LTTE) as well as many other Tamil armed groups. Opposition to the free market The free market economy introduced by the J R Jayawardene government was not at all popular among the Sinhala majority in the south. The working masses of the country came out on an historic general strike in July 1980. The rulers used all their might to crush it. They even went to the extent of shooting and killing to assure their entrepreneurial masters that investment was here to stay. Workers who were on strike were struck off the payroll with no compensation. The government sponsored pogrom of 1983 saw Tamils killed in their hundreds in the majority Sinhala-dominated south. Tamil militants retaliated by attacking the government forces. Tensions that had been brewing since the late 1970s erupted in a war. The first mass exodus of Tamils began. To face Tamil militancy while keeping the Sinhala sentiments at bay was proving difficult. The government tried to ••• HISTORY / THEORY
••• apply a power-sharing formula in the name of provincial councils. This was under pressure from the Indian government led by Rajiv Gandhi. To contain the Sinhala right wing youth uprising, led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the government wanted the Sinhala army to be in the south. But, what about the north? The help of the Indian Army was sought. The rebellion in the south was quashed with unprecedented terror. The Sinhalese too started seeking political asylum in the rich countries. Indian firepower could not bring the Tamil uprising to heel. But it increased the number of political asylum seekers by leaps and bounds. This was towards the latter part of While waging a war in the north to acquire the land of the Tamils, the government was giving away the land of the Sinhala peasantry to multinational companies. A prime example is the handing over of more than eighteen thousand acres of fertile land to the Booker Company for sugarcane planting. The land was robbed off its richness and farmers who had been self-sufficient were turned into factory labourers. The Ceylon Tobacco Company (the Sri Lankan subsidiary of British American Tobacco) utilised thousands and thousands of acres of land for tobacco planting. Traditional paddy fields that supplied the staple diet for all Sri Lankans had to give way to cash crops such as tobacco, gherkins and butternut. After a few years the farmer is left with a barren land and no livelihood. In essence their land is robbed. It is these farmers and their sons and daughters who demand a better living standard and politically oppose the free market giant that robs them of their land. Political and economic measures introduced by the rulers backed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund always breed opposition. This the government met with oppression. The opposition resorted to armed struggle. Those prosecuted by the state forces but who were still lucky enough to flee the country, sought political refuge in faraway lands. The irony is that one of these countries was and is the UK, the mother of all these ills. Those seeking asylum are the ones who fought to win their rightful heritage and were prosecuted for that crime. Today in Sri Lanka Today the Sri Lankan government, led by Ranil Wickramasinghe, is engaged in talks with the Tamil Tigers in a search for a negotiated settlement. Although they are having a dialogue with the Tamil Tigers, the government has never eased their military pressure in the Jaffna peninsular, the capital of the Tamil homeland. Thousands of Tamils who fled Jaffna cannot return because the state has built huge military installations, calling them High Security Zones. These take up one-third of the Jaffna peninsula. People who live around these areas live in constant fear and their movement is strictly limited by government forces. Massive demonstrations by the LTTE as well as the people around the High Security Zones have had no effect. So, thousands of Tamils who are eager to return to their land of birth are denied that right. They are still fighting for their right to land. At the same time Sinhala racist forces are on the streets in the south denying the Tamils their birthright. At present the LTTE has left the negotiating table temporarily as the government left them out of crucial talks with donor countries in Washington. At the request of the Tamil Tigers the government has today forwarded HISTORY | THEORY proposals for a provisional administrative structure for the north and east province. The LTTE has clearly stated that they will only return once the government comes out with an administrative structure that would give the Tamils substantial power in the province. While attempting to restart talks with the Tamil Tigers the government is hell bent on selling off the country's assets to multinationals and foreign companies. One such effort is to sell off the bus clusters. The buyer, Ibis Transport Consultants and Transbus International, is part of the giant Mayflower Corporation of UK. Redundancies to follow! In the Tamil homelands an oil farm that can store millions of oil barrels, has been already been given to India. The main aim of re- opening a highway running from the Capital Colombo to Jaffna is to open the north to investors. When talks with the Tamil Tigers end, with or without a political settlement, part of the Tamil homeland will be under military occupation while another major part will be sold off to multinationals. What will the Tamils be left with except another struggle to wrench their land back? Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government is in talks with the main aim of attracting investment to the country. The government has brought thirty-six pieces of legislation to parliament to help foreign investors exploit labour without hindrance. The Alliance for Protection of Natural Resources and Human Rights (ANRHR), opposed to the privatisation of the country's assets, points out that the main thrust of these laws is to enable the employer to hire and fire at will. The Sri Lankan worker had enjoyed secure working conditions since the turn of the twentieth century thanks to numerous struggles. Even after the defeat of the 1980 strike, the rulers were unable to take that security away. But today, eager to please their western masters, the government has resorted to these drastic measures. Already ANRHR has started massive demonstrations to reverse this dreadful trend that will end in making Sri Lanka a colony once again under the rule of western powers. Resistance The Tamils and the Sinhalese in the north and the south have started voicing their dissent against the way this scenario is unfolding. The state has already responded by using force several times. In one incident in Kanchirankudah in the east, seven demonstrators were shot dead by the Special Task Force. In the south, a march led by the JVP was attacked by the police, injuring several demonstrators and journalists. Rulers taking measures to deny the right to land of the people have always been met with resistance. Today the government 1s taking the Sri Lankan peoples' land and assets, to hand them over to multinationals. People have always resisted such measures. Rulers have always met resistance with force, brutal force. But what else can a people who have been robbed of their land do? Either abide by the laws of the victor and be a beggar or run, run and seek political refuge in an alien land that bred the culprits who created those conditions. 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