SRI LANKA STRIPPING OFF WHAT THE TSUNAMI COULD NoT Last years Boxing Day tsunami took nearly forty thousand lives in Sri Lanka. Here Yamuna Bandara shows how, as soon as the waters receded, the president gave a clear signal to the country that what the waves could not take would be taken by sheer state force. Laying the foundation stone of a proposed housing scheme for tsunami victims in Southern Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, president of Sri Lanka, warned that anyone who continued campaigning to stop the sale of the phosphate deposit will be 'locked up in a hotel and be taken care of". The phosphate deposit the president was referring to is situated in Eppawala in the north central province of the country. When an earlier government launched a plan to sell its mining rights to the US-based conglomerate IMC- and trade Agrico, environmentalists, farmers unions fought against it on the streets and in court, eventually getting a court ruling in 2000. which called the sale unconstitutional. The president's statement sums up where the United Peoples Front Alliance government is heading. Tsunami Nearly 37,000 were killed and more than 420,000 were displaced in Sri Lanka after the devastating tsunami. The International Monetary Fund in its twice-yearly assessment on the world aconomic outlook issued on April 13, said the damage to Sri Lanka is estimated at 4.5 per cent of the GDP. According to early predictions the Sri Lankan economy was expected to record a 6 per cent growth rate in 2005. But the IMF says that because of the tsunami it has now been lowered to 5.25 per cent. The fisher folk of Sri Lanka were the worst hit in the whole of Asia. Two thirds of the fishing fleet was demolished and ten out of twelve fishing harbours were damaged. But the worst was the loss of the habitat along the coastal belt the fisher folk have enjoyed for generations. Resettlement of victims Before a month had elapsed, the government an- nounced a buffer zone along the coast, banning any new construction. "No new building struc- ture will be permitted within 100 metres of the Western coast of the island.' In the Eastern coast the distance has been extended to 200 metres. • New towns will have to be built one kilometre from the coast". director of coast conservation Dr. Samaranayake explained to the media. Vickramabahu Karunaratne. General Secretary of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (Sri Lankan section of the Fourth International) calls this ban a 'double discrimination'. This is what he said addressing a symposium on National Inte- gration & Economic Reconstruction attended by the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, Government displacement policy shows clear discrimination against Tamil-speaking people. In the first place the 100 metres rule is applicable only for the tsunami affected areas. For western and north western re- gions the rule does not apply: For the south- western region, which is predominantly Sin- hala-speaking, it is 100 metres. Thereafter; for the north east, it is 200 metres. The fishing community, who will be pushed away from their traditional homelands, say that this offshore limit is an arbitrary decision com- ing 'from the top'. Herman Kumara, President of the World Fishermen's Association (WFA), says the fishing community was not consulted before these offshore limits were enforced. However, tourist hotels along the coastal belt will not be affected by the buffer zone ban. Partly damaged or undamaged structures will be allowed to carry on with their business. People who wish to move away from the coast cannot do so as banks have been instructed not to lend money for land within the buffer zone. There are many protests by those affected by the tsunami. On the day marking three months 29
SRI LANKA Continued since the tsunami, those affected from the southern village of Peraliya, where the mighty waves toppled a train full of passengers kill- ing nearly two thousand people, came to the capital of Colombo for a demonstration. They called for speedy resettlement and compensa- tion for the dead. The government is yet to find land away from the buffer zone for those displaced by the tsunami. Everyone wants to leave the temporary shelters and restart their lives with dignity. Pauline Tangiora, Coordinator of World Fo- rum of Fisher People (WFFP), visiting the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, in early March said, 'One thing the fisher people made very clear to me was that they do not want to live off charity, whether it is from the government However, resettlement of displaced people is not high on the agenda of the govern- ment. Despite receiving millions from donor agencies and foreign states they were quick to announce a master plan that says fifteen new townships will be constructed along the south and east coast. Calling the plan, 'Re- building the Nation', the president has ap- pointed top business leaders with hardly any background in science, technology or engi- neering, as a task force. These new town- ships will not be any use to the people of those areas, they will not be called in for the decision making process and do not have the buying power in these mega projects. The north and east of the country, where the government waged a two decades long war against minority Tamils, was the worst affect- ed part of the island. While a fragile Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) has been in place for the past three years, parts of the north and east, the homeland of the Tamils, are under the control of the LTTE (Tamil Tigers). While the government is launching some relief ef- forts among the majority Sinhala population in southern Sri Lanka, none is reaching the Tamils in the areas under rebel control. But the Tamil Tigers have themselves imposed a 500 metres buffer zone in areas under their control. The LTTE, with its own administra- tion, have managed to make use of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) to provide for those affected in these areas. In a bid to provide better support they have called for a joint mechanism with the government for the distribution of relief and rehabilitation. The leadership of the Tamil Tiger rebel move- ment aptly called the Boxing Day catastro- phe, 'a second tsunami'. Originally displaced by the war Tamils have now been displaced a second time. A joint mechanism would en- able those displaced by war as well as the tsunami victims to return home. Although details of the proposed joint mechanism have not been made public, it will also call for the 30 demilitarisation of their homelands. Most of those displaced by the war cannot return to their lands even under the CFA as vast areas, occupied by the government military, have been turned into massive military complexes named 'High Security Zones' (HSZ). Meanwhile, a split in the LTTE has led to a series of killings in Eastern Sri Lanka, includ- ing the commander of the eastern wing who had broken from the LTTE in 2004. The ITTE has accused the military of using this breaka- way group as paramilitaries to wipe out LTTE supporters. Eight top aides of the breakaway were gunned down last July sheltering in a safe house next to a government military com- plex close to the capital. The political wing leader of the LTTE in the east was killed in January escalating the situation. The LTTE has attacked two paramilitary camps in gov- ernment held territory. The latest was in gov- ernment held Aralaganwila bordering the Ti- ger held east, killing five breakaway loyalists. Ceasefire monitors from Nordic countries are rendered useless in this situation as the breaka- way faction does not come under the CFA. The government deny any complicity with them, though their camps have been found in areas under government control. A CFA without a power devolving mechanism acceptable to the LTTE and the Tamil nation is gradually drag- ging the country towards another war. The joint mechanism proposal has come under attack from racist Sinhala forces within and without the coalition government. The JVP, the Sinhala Nationalist party and junior member of the coalition, is totally against any type of power sharing with the Tamils. It has already taken to the streets under the banner of a front organisation, the Patriotic National Move- ment (PNM). At a rally held in the Colombo district this month, Elle Gunawansa Thero, the Buddhist monk co-president of the PNM said, 'Even if they chop us into pieces we will never accept federalism as a solution to the conflict'. Addressing this meeting. the JVP parliamenta- ry group leader attacked all those who support the setting up of a joint mechanism, as 'forces bent on dividing the country'. He called on the Sinhala forces to be vigilant. In a bid to outwit the coalition's junior partner that is threatening to break away on the nation- al issue. the president recently announced her willingness to accept the joint mechanism. In a statement marking the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in April. she said, 'The proposed joint mechanism to provide aid to the people of the north and east would be a foundation to find a final solution to the protracted national con- flict.' Earlier she announced that 80 per cent of Sri Lankan voters are for the devolution of power. But the leader of the JVP scoffed at her calculation, proclaiming in a rally to com- memorate the 1971 armed uprising, dilute her 80 per cent to 20 per cent' if federal- ism is contested in a referendum. Country for Sale Meanwhile, the Public Enterprise Reform Committee (PERC), under direct control of the executive president, has advertised inter- nationally for the sale of state enterprises and assets such as the Eppawala Phosphate depos- it. Even the state media is up for grabs under the term 'reconstruction'. Though not creative in providing for those affected by the tsunami, the government has shown more innovation in selling off public assets. Workers of the state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Ceylon Petroleum Cor- poration (Ceypetco) have taken industrial ac- tion and managed to stop the government 're- structuring' these institutions. Both run with a massive subsidy by the government. Even the trade unions affiliated to the ruling parties participated in these demonstrations. The trade union leadership of the JVP in CEB has said that they will not back off 'even if our party leadership orders us to do so' However, the JVP leadership that shouted anti- imperialist slogans when in opposition is only making meek sounds against the neo-liberal onslaught. The local media reported that the finance minister 'has made the JVP understand the reality' about privatisation. Wanting to crush the Tamil liberation movement by mili- tary might, the JVP assumes that US forces may be useful against the LTTE and they did not oppose the presence of US marines in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the tsunami. Laptop Brigade Nor was it only foreign military forces on board massive naval vessels who flocked to the coun- try, but also armies of foreign agencies equipped with high tech equipment and ever present lap- tops. They have provided temporary plastic shelters on this tropical island where daytime temperatures in the tents are over 80C. The four-wheel drive vehicles of these 'volunteers' who roam around the sandy beaches collecting data, can be seen gracing the car parks of five star clubs in the city in the evenings. 30 March Protest The trade unions have formed a new move- ment and protested on the streets against the government's neo-liberal plans, and in support of the joint mechanism between the govern- ment and the LTTE for tsunami rehabilitation. This non-racist, anti- imperialist Movement for Rebuilding the Country held a highly success- ful protest in Colombo on the 30th of March with the participation of the NSSP and other left wing organisations. Several mass organi- sations including fisher people also participat- ed. It is very important that the left wing and progressive forces get together to fight back. It is futile to expect a powerful resistance to grow within the ruling alliance or from the parliamentary opposition that has no left wing representation. The strength of the progressive forces will be tested on the first of May where plans are afoot to have a joint May Day plat- form of all those who are for sharing power with the Tamil Tigers, and against a sell off of the country's assets to corporate finance. Meanwhile, the immediate task for progres- sive forces in the western world is to call upon their governments to apply pressure on the Sri Lankan government to implement the joint mechanism with Tamil Tigers so that the relief efforts reach the Tamil homelands of the north and east of Sri Lanka. It should also call upon western agencies to stop feeding on the carcass of tsunami-hit countries and abolish all debt.