{"id":61073,"date":"2012-11-20T14:02:41","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T14:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=61073"},"modified":"2012-12-02T16:19:06","modified_gmt":"2012-12-02T16:19:06","slug":"the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/","title":{"rendered":"The JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

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

\u2018Lost Revolution\u2019 was the title of Rohan Gunaratne\u2019s part-fiction, part-fact account of the second JVP insurrection<\/a><\/span>, i.e. the one which ended with over 60,000 people being killed between 1987 and 1989.\u00a0 Puritanical Marxists, ex-JVPers included, would balk at the use of the word \u2018revolution\u2019 to describe that particular adventure.<\/p>\n

The strange arrangement of words, \u2018lost\u2019 with \u2018revolution\u2019, hints at \u2018possibility\u2019 and squandering of the same.\u00a0 In other words, that there was something that was \u2018winnable\u2019 here.\u00a0 It is easy, in retrospect, to say \u2018it was doomed\u2019.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a long time and long-time gives perspective.\u00a0 The debacle was remembered this year (on November 13) by two groups, separately.\u00a0 It made me think of \u2018old\u2019 and \u2018new\u2019, of both the general \u2018Left\u2019 and the JVP.<\/p>\n

The JVP had a selling point when the party was launched in the early sixties.\u00a0 \u2018New\u2019 was the tag, which simultaneously pinned \u2018Old\u2019 on the Communist Party (both the \u2018Moscow\u2019 and \u2018Peking\u2019 wings), the LSSP and other groups that had splintered over the course of several decades.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The \u2018old\u2019 or rather the strength-wise significant sections of it had moreover sold out by entering coalitions with the SLFP. The JVP would be different.\u00a0 It was.<\/p>\n

It was, in 1971.\u00a0 Different in approach to politics.\u00a0 Different in dreams dreamt.\u00a0 Different in assessment of victory potential.\u00a0 They went for guns.\u00a0 Got gunned down.\u00a0 Back then there was nothing to suggest that the much talked of \u2018objective preconditions\u2019 had matured to a point that warranted an armed strike against the state, except of course that the state was ill-prepared to handle armed insurrection, a weakness that was quickly sorted out.\u00a0 Years later, as Gamini Samaranayake points out, the LTTE picked on the state\u2019s seeming incapacity and prospered, not because the state was incapable but successive governments weren\u2019t sure of the state\u2019s ability to wipe out such a movement.<\/p>\n

By 1988, the JVP was still young, although its leader was pushing 50.\u00a0 In 2012, the JVP and its leadership is \u2018old\u2019, not just in age but in terms of the perennial youth-queries \u2018relevance\u2019, \u2018knowing\u2019 and \u2018method\u2019.<\/p>\n

The JVP had its moments.\u00a0 It was a self-styled punchi<\/em> \u00a0aanduwa <\/em>(small government) that did a lot of big things including holding the maha anduwa <\/em>by the proverbial short hairs on occasion, not to mention assassinating some big names.\u00a0 Following the elimination of the entire leadership (apart from Somawansa Amarasinghe) in a matter of a few days, the JVP went out of circulation.\u00a0 For a while. \u00a0It re-emerged following the assassination of President Premadasa, using avenues created by the Lakmina newspaper where Wimal Weerawansa, using the penname \u2018Wimalasiri Gamlath\u2019, first made his mark as a phrase-turner, and of course the spaces for politics reclaimed by the \u2018Jathika Chintanaya\u2019 group.\u00a0 In 1994, the JVP used the vehicle of that good hearted by na\u00efve politician, the late Ariya Bulegoda, to return one member to Parliament.\u00a0 Until then no one had heard of \u2018Galappaththi\u2019.<\/p>\n

By the year 2000, the JVP had 10 MPs and the following year 17.\u00a0 In that one year, the JVP succeeded in dictating terms to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, making for a new addition to the political lexicon, \u2018Parivaasa\u2019<\/em> or \u2018probation\u2019.\u00a0 It was short-lived, naturally, but in that brief period the JVP authored and got through the only Amendment passed in Parliament since the UNP lost its two-thirds majority in 1989.\u00a0 The 17th<\/sup> Amendment was flawed, but it is the only concrete measure that sought to restore balance to a constitution heavily favoring the executive.<\/p>\n

The JVP also got some important decisions from the Supreme Court, most notably a determination that the North and East should not remain merged.\u00a0 The JVP played a key role in bringing down the UNP Government of Ranil Wickremesinghe by persuading the then President to dissolve Parliament and contest as a coalition.\u00a0 The result was a massive surge for the party, with 40 being elected mostly from SLFP votes.<\/p>\n

The JVP, by that time, perhaps emboldened and cocky, and thick in parliamentary\/coalition politics, no longer deserved the \u2018radical\u2019 tag.\u00a0 Indeed it had all but buried all Left pretensions. \u00a0\u00a0It made a massive error by supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005.\u00a0 It was a gross underestimate of the man\u2019s potential.\u00a0 Within a couple of years, the new President had ensured that the JVP needed him more than he needed the JVP.\u00a0 The second error was when the JVP decided to go it alone in the local government election, rejecting the President\u2019s offer of control in 25 bodies.\u00a0 They even lost the one they had, Tissamaharama.\u00a0 It was downhill thereafter.<\/p>\n

The JVP lost its most vocal spokesperson, Wimal Weerawansa, whose oratorical skills more than anything else was responsible for the resurgence of the JVP after the 1988-89 debacle.\u00a0 In 2010, the JVP was forced (like the UNP) to back Sarath Fonseka to save electoral blushes.\u00a0 They clutched on to him long enough to win a few seats at the April 2010 General Election.<\/p>\n

Then the final blow: a new split, and one on old-new\/conservative-radical lines.\u00a0 With it, the JVP lost its main agitation front, the Inter University Student Federation, whose hot-bloodedness found the Frontline Socialist Party more attractive.<\/p>\n

And so, on November 13, 2012, the (mis)adventure of 1988-89 was commemorated by two groups, the JVP and FSP.\u00a0 Both seem to be fighting for \u2018rump\u2019 status, which alone speaks of the party\u2019s decline in recent time.\u00a0 The latter, though, is amply equipped to fancy another 1971 or 1988-89.\u00a0 Tilvin\u2019s group has had it.\u00a0 If elections were held today and the JVP went alone, they will go back not to 2010, not to 2001 or 2000, not even to 1994 but to that seat-less period before.<\/p>\n

As for ideology, there\u2019s no need to worry.\u00a0 The JVP was never hot on ideology, not even during Wijeweera\u2019s time.\u00a0 They were good slogans.\u00a0 Good at coalition politics (just like the LSSP and CP).\u00a0 Good at helping unpopular regimes regain control by inviting suppression.\u00a0 Good, therefore, to help snuff out tens of thousands of lives.\u00a0 Only, this time, it won\u2019t be the likes of Tilvin, Vijitha, Anura and others who will do it, but the ideology-bereft, cloak-dagger-loving firebrands plotting \u2018revolution\u2019 with ex-LTTE cadres and politically displaced individuals such as Kumar Gunaratnam.<\/p>\n

\u2018Revolution\u2019, then, was a faded banner that there was no one to grab and made it possible for an adventurer like Wijeweera to obtain youth appeal.\u00a0 There was no \u2018revolution\u2019 that was \u2018lost\u2019; only young men and women who were unfortunate to have been born in the sixties and early seventies.<\/p>\n

It is not a history that we can afford repeated.\u00a0 If 1988-89 is to be remembered only the learning of this lesson matters.<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0.<\/em><\/p>\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":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera - 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\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-20T14:02:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-02T16:19:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/\",\"name\":\"The JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-20T14:02:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-02T16:19:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"width\":\"336\",\"height\":\"413\",\"caption\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2012-11-20T14:02:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-02T16:19:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":336,"height":413,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/","name":"The JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","datePublished":"2012-11-20T14:02:41+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-02T16:19:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","width":"336","height":"413","caption":"Malinda Seneviratne"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-jvp-23-years-after-wijeweera\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The JVP 23 Years After Wijeweera"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61073"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62766,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61073\/revisions\/62766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}