{"id":60101,"date":"2012-11-14T07:37:36","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T07:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=60101"},"modified":"2012-11-15T12:20:05","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T12:20:05","slug":"budget-2013-and-the-july-80-strikers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/budget-2013-and-the-july-80-strikers\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget 2013 And The July \u201980 Strikers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Thirty two years is a long time to wait for justice.\u00a0\u00a0Too long for some.\u00a0\u00a0So long that some decided to take matters to their own hands: they killed themselves.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s been thirty two years and four months, and still, after all these years, there are those who continue to petition for redress or for some kind of relief so bring closure to a union action whose architects didn\u2019t suffer much and indeed moved to greener pastures of one kind or another.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
We are talking about the July \u201980 strikers.\u00a0\u00a0That was the last hurrah of what was called \u2018The Old Left\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0The \u2018new\u2019 of that fringe is past middle-age now and splintered in very much the same way,\u00a0\u00a0but that 1980 strike and its brutal suppression all but killed the \u2018old\u2019 and made things that much easier for the \u2018new\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For a while at least.<\/div>\n

The strikers who lost their jobs have spent decades petitioning.\u00a0\u00a0The parties that persuaded them to take to the streets had already lost political clout by then and had to cling to the SLFP\u2019s coattails for relevancy.\u00a0\u00a0The leaders, at least.\u00a0\u00a0They were included courtesy a bland mix of compassion and tokenism, just to secure a red\/left hue to the blue.\u00a0\u00a0They could do nothing.\u00a0\u00a0Relevancy of appeal got some currency during major elections, simply because championing causes is part and parcel of politics.<\/p>\n

Promises were made.\u00a0\u00a0And forgotten.\u00a0\u00a0The strikers grew old.\u00a0\u00a0Some died.\u00a0\u00a0Time took fight out of heart.\u00a0\u00a0But some persisted.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s budget proposes \u2018redress\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0Those strikers over 65 years of age are to be given Rs. 5000 every month by way of a Cost of Living Allowance.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s a pittance, but better than nothing.\u00a0\u00a0The recipients will be grateful no doubt.<\/div>\n

The problem is that even the youngest of the strikers (let\u2019s say they were 20 then), would be over 50 now.\u00a0\u00a0The vast majority of those who have survived three decades of disappointment would be over retirement age.\u00a0\u00a0Those who are 64 cannot be in \u2018lesser need\u2019 than those who are 65.<\/p>\n

Granted that it is inconceivable that all these individuals remained \u2018jobless\u2019 and without income all these years, it is still a fact that they were terribly wronged in July 1980 and that the wrongs were never made right.<\/div>\n

We are not a society or a polity that is blind to wrongs done or to the distress of our fellow creatures.\u00a0\u00a0Those who suffered from natural disasters benefit from a largesse that is an integral part of our cultural make up.\u00a0\u00a0The state intervenes.\u00a0\u00a0Individuals and organizations do their part.\u00a0\u00a0Victims of human-made disasters do not go uncared for either.\u00a0The state intervenes.\u00a0\u00a0Individuals and organizations do their part.\u00a0\u00a0We saw this and see this in post-war Sri Lanka.\u00a0\u00a0Even prisoners get their sentences reduced.<\/p>\n

These people have suffered.\u00a0\u00a0Their suffering has been used as political capital.\u00a0\u00a0They did not take up arms.\u00a0\u00a0They did not hold anyone to ransom.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They deserve respect. They deserve justice.<\/div>\n

Rs. 5000 is not enough, but it is better than nothing.\u00a0\u00a0Yes.\u00a0\u00a0The better-than-nothing should not be dished out as generosity but as part compensation.\u00a0\u00a0And that compensating cannot be selectively done.<\/p>\n

The budget is being debated.\u00a0\u00a0This issue cannot go un-mentioned.\u00a0\u00a0We have, as a society, failed these people. For more than three decades.\u00a0\u00a0They are old.\u00a0\u00a0Every passing day, their political worth diminishes.\u00a0\u00a0That is not reason enough to ignore them.\u00a0\u00a0We would indeed be diminished if we did.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Over to the honorable members of the Parliament!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
* Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation<\/a>\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a>\u00a0.<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[6416,6417,6415],"class_list":["post-60101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","tag-budget-2013-sri-lanka","tag-july-1980-strikers-sri-lanka","tag-july-80-strikers-in-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"\nBudget 2013 And The July \u201980 Strikers - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/budget-2013-and-the-july-80-strikers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Budget 2013 And The July \u201980 Strikers - 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