News: JVP

NOTEBOOK OF A NOBODY<br /> by Shanie A group of people who shared the vision and thinking of Thiranagama and the UTHR formed the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee to remember the twentieth anniversary of Thiranagama’s assassination. The Committee continues to function and has taken the initiative in publishing, in collaboration with Vijitha Yapa Publications, the diaries of Ben Bavinck, a Dutch church worker, who was both a teacher of Thiranagama and a close friend of the founders and leaders of the UTHR. The diaries are published under the title ‘Of Tamils and Tigers - a journey through Sri Lanka’s war years’. The book was launched in London recently and the quotation at the head of this column is from the Introduction to the Diaries written by the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee. Whereas the UTHR bulletins were based on investigative reporting by the authors, Bavinck’s dairies are personal reflections by the author during the period covered which is from 1988-1994. (A second volume covering the years 1994-2004 is under preparation.) The bulletins and the diaries therefore complement each other in providing the only accurate and independent recording of the events of that period in our country’s troubled past.

It is the responsibility of the political parties to organize a people’s struggle similar to other countries like Libya. The JVP will undertake this responsibility on behalf of the masses, JVP Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath said today. (YP)

The university has been the most dependable and organic reservoir of full time political as well as leading carders of the JVP throughout its history since its inception in the late the 1960s. With their youthful idealism, the JVP’s utopia of a ‘socialist state’ can be easily inculcated in their minds until the hard reality of their class character contributes to dissipate their determination and make a return to their normal life. The JVP profits from this short period of young people’s inexperienced and immature political journey and tries to make a political come back on their misery. The universities face an uncertain future for two fundamental reasons today. Firstly, the JVP continues to use the genuine issues within the university system to bolster their flagging political fortunes in the Sinhalese dominated South which has been their historical power base. Secondly it appears that the government has failed to understand or unwilling to acknowledge that there are issues in our universities that need to be resolved.

Recent months in Sri Lanka have seen a dramatic increase in the number of protests involving thousands of university students, many of which have turned violent. An online poll by the Daily Mirror has, out of 795 votes to date, 79% agreeing that the involvement of university students in politics has far exceeded limits and needs to be curtailed