Memories of November for Tomorrow - The Case for Critical Thinking Over Blind Loyalty

Memories of November for Tomorrow
The Case for Critical Thinking Over Blind Loyalty

Lionel Bopage

November 13 marks 36 years since the arrest and subsequent murder of comrade Rohana Wijeweera, the founder of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). His disappearance in 1989 symbolised the turbulent end of the JVP’s second insurrection; a period of extreme political violence involving the State, its affiliated groups, and the JVP itself. This occasion offers an opportunity to reflect not simply on the past, but on the lessons that remain essential for Sri Lanka’s future.

1989: A Watershed Year

The late 1980s were one of the most painful chapters in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history. The 1983 anti-Tamil riots and the 1987 Indo–Lanka Peace Accord turned the political tensions that existed, into open conflict. The Accord, introduced as a peace initiative, instead triggered widespread mistrust, and heightened nationalism in the South. The JVP, operating underground as it was already proscribed, seized on these sentiments to launch its armed campaign against the State.

Both sides responded with escalating violence. Thousands of civilians, activists, and ordinary youth paid with their lives. Forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings were tragically commonplace.

The year 1989 also coincided with major global shifts. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its influence marked the decline of the socialist order that inspired many left movements around the world, including in Sri Lanka. Neoliberal economic policies were rapidly expanding, reshaping international relations and national priorities.

Three and a Half Decades Later: A Changed Landscape

Today, Sri Lanka stands in a dramatically different political moment. The JVP, which struggled through parliamentary democracy, has travelled a long path into mainstream politics. The National People’s Power (NPP) coalition led by the JVP achieved resounding victories in 2024, forming the government under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The NPP administration has committed itself to combating corruption, controlling narcotics trafficking, and rebuilding the credibility of public institutions. Like other global movements for reform, such as the progressive shift symbolised by Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win in New York, the NPP government emerged from widespread public demand for change following years of mismanagement and economic decline.

However, gaining political power is only the first step. Transforming governance and rebuilding trust will require a sustained commitment to transparency, accountability, and social justice.

Blind Loyalty, Class Compromise, and the Social Justice Imperative

Sri Lankan politics has long wrestled with the tension between blind loyalty to party or ethnicity and faith, compromise with entrenched interests, and the pursuit of justice for all citizens.

Blind loyalty distorts democratic decision-making. It leaves little room for dissent or rational debate. During the Southern insurrections and the Northern conflict, loyalty to leadership, rather than to truth or humanity, justified violence and silenced differing voices. Such uncritical allegiance continues to threaten our institutions and civic values.

Globally, many countries struggle to separate religion from governance. Sri Lanka, with constitutional preferences granted to the majority faith, faces the same challenge. Effective democracy requires that national policy be guided by equal citizenship, not sectarian influence.

Class compromise, meanwhile, describes alliances between left forces and capitalist blocs. In Sri Lanka, partnerships between socialist parties and the SLFP date back to the 1950s. While such arrangements achieved short-term reforms, they also diluted transformative agendas. The global rise of neoliberalism from the 1970s further tilted power towards capital, normalising privatisation and diminishing labour rights.

Against this backdrop, social justice seeks to remove structural barriers and guarantee equal opportunities, particularly for marginalised communities. It calls for redistributing power as well as resources — a principle increasingly central to contemporary political reform.

Learning from the Violent Past

The violent episodes of the late 1980s continue to be the most contested part of JVP history. Allegations against government death squads and armed JVP units remain unresolved, contributing to deep emotional trauma among families that had become targets of the violence.

To their credit, in 2014 the JVP publicly acknowledged its role in the conflict and expressed regret for the suffering caused. This was an important moral step toward national reconciliation. When the JVP returned to democratic politics in the 1990s, it was perceived as a sign of its readiness to participate in institutional procedures and nonviolent discourse.

Electoral success followed — especially in the 2004 parliamentary polls, where the JVP entered government as part of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). This participation provided governance experience yet also raised internal debates about ideological consistency and coalition politics.

Economic Challenges and Public Expectations

Following the Aragalaya protests of 2022, public confidence in political elites collapsed. The eventual ascent of the NPP reflected broad frustration with corruption and economic instability. Inheriting a fragile economy, the new government must now balance fiscal constraints while protecting vulnerable communities.

Despite early criticism, the administration has worked within the IMF programme to achieve stabilisation, while also signalling greater safeguards for social welfare. The 2025 budget introduced measures aimed at supporting low-income families, promoting local industry, and restoring economic growth.

Success, however, will depend on visible outcomes; especially in reducing poverty, supporting small and medium enterprises, and strengthening agricultural and employment opportunities.

Towards Wider Inclusivity

The NPP’s electoral coalition brought together youth, workers, and professionals from diverse regional and ethnic backgrounds. It demonstrated that politics in Sri Lanka can transcend traditional divides.

Yet, much more must be done. The concerns of Tamil - and Muslim communities, including language rights, land issues, and political representation, remain unresolved. A firm and fair commitment to meaningful devolution is essential.

Sri Lanka has long relied on a majoritarian model of governance. This approach deepened mistrust and contributed to decades of conflict. Global examples demonstrate alternatives: Belgium, for instance, ensured equality between Dutch- and French-speaking populations through constitutional power-sharing. power-sharing strengthened national unity rather than weakening it.

The government’s recent commitment to allocating funds for Provincial Council elections is a positive signal. A clear roadmap for implementing the 13th Amendment would reaffirm Sri Lanka’s commitment to pluralism and reconciliation.

Responsible Governance: Evidence Over Emotion

The central message from the upheavals of our recent past is simple: democracy cannot rely on blind loyalty. Effective governance must be built on:
Informed public trust
Respect for facts and law
Accountability for wrongdoing
Openness to criticism
Civic participation at all levels

Both Sri Lanka and the United States illustrate how political gains achieved through wide grassroots mobilisation must be continuously nurtured. The NPP came to power on a wave of public activism. Maintaining that engagement, especially among young citizens, will determine whether reform succeeds or stalls.

At the same time, legal and institutional reforms must be seen to deliver justice. While anti-corruption and anti-narcotics measures are underway, delays in holding offenders accountable may erode trust. People need to see that the law applies equally to all.

Above all, governance must remain focused on easing the daily burdens of citizens: cost of living pressures, unemployment, healthcare, and education. Economic stability and social dignity must progress hand in hand.

Conclusion: A Future Built on Critical Thought

As we remember the events of November 1989, we are reminded that political violence and blind allegiance brought only divisions and tragedies. The responsibility of this generation, and its elected representatives is to ensure such mistakes are never repeated.

Sri Lanka’s path forward requires:
● Critical thinking over unquestioning obedience
● Democratic debate over emotional polarisation
● Integrity over expediency
● Unity in diversity over majoritarian dominance

From the beginning, many JVP members and supporters believed that achieving their goals required obedience rather than critical thinking. Nevertheless, that obedience can be attributed to the blind loyalty that unconditionally supported the unprincipled deviations from a left perspective, which ultimately led to devastating consequences.

The lack of democratic debate led to the clique formation within the JVP, which caused the party to break up on several occasions. It appears that factions were unwilling to reach a consensus when their political perspectives were not always in alignment. However, for the most part, the JVP had made decisions unanimously throughout its existence.

The NPP needs to look at these issues more seriously since they are elected to power. In order to prevent emotional polarisation that will ultimately weaken or paralyse it as a political entity, democratic debate should be permitted, and critical thinking should be encouraged in the development of their policy and programmatic positions.

The transformation of the JVP into a governing force demonstrates that societies can evolve beyond past conflicts. The challenge now is to build a political culture where trust is earned through transparent action, not demanded through loyalty.

If Sri Lanka can cultivate a mature and inclusive democracy, one that respects all its citizens and learns honestly from its history, then the painful memories of the past will serve a noble purpose: guiding us toward a just and peaceful tomorrow.

13 Nov 2025

Australia Must Move Beyond Symbolism in Its Support for a Sovereign Palestine

 

Australia Must Move Beyond Symbolism in Its Support for a Sovereign Palestine

Lionel Bopage

There was a time when Australia’s foreign policy on the Israel-Palestine conflict was underpinned by broad bipartisan agreement. It was the notion of a two-state solution, in which Israel and a future Palestinian state coexist in peace and security within internationally recognised borders. This consensus reflected both moral obligation and international norms. It was always imperfect, but it was something.

Today, however, that two-state vision is under severe threat—not least from the very man whose leadership is decisive in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear—most prominently in a December 2023 press conference—that he is “proud” he prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state. He has also publicly rejected several international proposals for Palestinian statehood, insisting that Israel must retain security control over territory west of the Jordan River. These are not arguments born of the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023; similar positions and policies predate that event by many years. The path of blockade, settlement expansion, administrative obstacles, legal restrictions, and diplomatic resistance long preceded and in many ways laid the groundwork for the current collapse of what had been modest hopes for a viable Palestinian state.

Historically, the architecture of a two-state solution was baked into early 20th-century and mid-century international decisions: the Balfour Declaration of 1917; the Mandate for Palestine; United Nations Resolutions, especially following 1947’s Partition Plan; the establishment (or attempted establishment) of Palestinian self-rule and sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza under various treaties (such as Oslo). These landmarks articulated the claim by Palestinians to statehood alongside the Jewish right to a homeland. But over time, every Israeli government—Netanyahu’s included—has been complicit to varying degrees in undermining those efforts. Whether through settlement policy, legal obstacles, securitisation, or diplomatic rebuffs, the cumulative effect has too often been to deny Palestinians sovereignty even in principle.

In this light, the recent decision of the Australian government to recognise the State of Palestine in September 2025 is overdue but significant. It represents a shift from rhetoric to deed: from merely supporting a two-state solution to affirming Palestinian sovereignty as a political reality. It is also a decision made by a democratically elected government, one with the backing (or at least broad tolerance) of Australia’s population. Polls show growing support for recognition and rising frustration with the status quo.

Of course, this recognition is not a magic wand. For many, including those who have suffered decades of dispossession and conflict, it may seem symbolic. But symbols matter—especially when official recognition helps shift the terrain of what is possible in diplomacy and law.

It is important, too, to call out those in our own polity who seem intent on reversing or undermining this recognition. The Liberal-National Party and certain individuals, such as Sussan Ley, have explicitly criticised this recognition and have promised to revoke it if they come to power. These are not abstract disagreements about diplomatic niceties; they are choices about whether Australia stands with human rights, international law, and the legitimate aspiration of a people for a homeland—or whether it aligns itself with powerful states that reject those principles.

Even more urgently, if Australia’s recognition is to mean more than applause, it must be followed by concrete actions. The government should prepare to meet resistance—both diplomatic and political—from Israel, its allies (not least the US), and domestic actors. If the recognition is to safeguard the possibility of a sovereign, free Palestine, then Australia should consider more proactive tools: trade sanctions, restrictions on diplomatic travel, excluding from entry those individuals who are directly complicit in violating international law; perhaps even legal cases in international fora. These aren’t easy tools and come with costs, but if recognition is genuine, they must be on the table.

In summary: Australia has made a commendable step—but it should not delude itself about how much more needs to be done. Allowing Palestine the dignity of a state is not concession; it's justice. The two-state solution is not dead so long as it is still fought for—by diplomacy, by policy, and by principle. Australia can help make that fight less marginal, less symbolic, and more real.

28 September 2025

2024 June 22 - Our Wishes for a Happy 75th Birthday to comrade Hendry Wickramasinghe

 

OUR WISHES FOR A HAPPY 75 TH BIRTHDAY

Dear Comrade Wickramasinghe,

Our association started towards the end of the 1970s and in that long passage of time we became comrades and friends. It is with immense pleasure that we are sending our best wishes on the occasion of your 75th birthday, three-quarters of a century of a life filled with incredible memories and experiences.

We went through a lot when we were young and survived many perilous moments. Our unforgettable political journey, started during days of communal living, spent at the JVP Head Office; located in a single small room at the Weerasinghe Sawmills in K Cyril Perera Mawatha, Colombo–13. All of us were holding on to a firm belief in progressive politics that we believed was and is essential for building a better Sri Lanka for all communities, where justice and fairness will prevail. It remains a dream yet to be achieved, even though we have no assurance whether we would be able to realise that dream during our lifetimes.

In the 1970s, you joined the movement that campaigned for the release of political prisoners led by comrade Prins Gunasekera and others. I vividly remember the days you spent at the Virakesari Newspapers working long hours and then coming to the party office to spend the rest of the day with us discussing the socio-economic and political issues that were prevailing at the time. We knew you then as Matale Chelva and you assisted in many of the media matters at the JVP’s Shakthi Printing Press in Kohilawatta, Angoda.

I recollect your involvement in matters such as proof-reading Tamil articles published in the JVP’s Tamil organ, ‘Sen Shakthi’, and the Tamil translation of “A Marxist Analysis of the National Question”, which I had written while in Magazine Prison in 1973. Most of the prominent leaders of the JVP stopped by at your parent’s house in Matale and enjoyed your late mother’s hospitality.

The Black July pogrom and the proscription of the JVP in July 1983, changed everything. I had to bid farewell to the JVP due to many factors, the main one being the position the JVP adopted towards the national question in Sri Lankan since mid-1983. Afterwards, we had to fight for our own survival and to do it in our own ways. Despite this situation you continued to assist comrades of the JVP such as Ragama Some and Somawansa Amerasinghe, who sought your financial and material help. Comrades Ranjitham Gunaratnam of Kegalle and Periyakarippu Thangarajah of Matale would have survived, if they listened to your advice not to go to the farm in Piliyandala they maintained. They went there without heeding your advice and on the same day they were killed.

You risked your life in 1990, to secure the lives of the Somawansa Amerasinghe family, by making arrangements to send them to India so that they could escape certain death that awaited them in Sri Lanka. An army captain drove Somawansa to Kochchikade and then he had been taken to Subramaniya Swamy Temple in Tiruchendur, Tamil Nadu, India by boat. Meanwhile comrade Amerasinghe’s wife and son flew to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) from Katunayake and caught a local flight to Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum), Kerala.

Meanwhile you flew Katunayake to India and brought Somawansa from Tiruchendur to Thiruvananthapuram, where you rented a house from one of your friends and made arrangements for the Amerasinghe family to stay there. Afterwards the Amerasinghe family flew from Trivandrum to London. All travel expenses were borne by a comrade called Ranasinghe from Dubai.

You personally managed many of the arrangements, even travelling to India and then arranging for them to leave India safely. This was an indicator of the strength of your commitment, your personality, your character, and your devotion to a cause to which you had been committed to. Both of us survived threats to our lives that were posed towards the end of the 1980s. You were taken into custody in October 1990 and released sometime in 1992.

In search of survival during and after those difficult days, we have moved in different pathways. Despite the difficulties you had to overcome, you served your community and the people of Sri Lanka in the best way you possibly could. I am grateful for the trust you had placed in me, when you discussed very personal aspects of your life and in choosing ways of surviving at a challenging time, when none of us were able to help.

However, since we left Sri Lanka in 1989, we made it a habit to visit each other whenever we visited Sri Lanka, or when you visited Australia. Since those days, the children of our families whom we met, have grown up to become professionals, with their own families, with several grandchildren. It is a pleasure to see them doing well. They may not have exactly followed our footsteps in life, not that we expected them to. They are endeavouring to find their own ways of adopting and surviving in this complex world. We need to be appreciative of the fact that they are contributing to building a better world in their own ways.

Our personal as well as political friendship have survived almost close to five decades and will survive for the rest of our lives. Almost always, our birthday wishes to friends have had something in common, being appreciative of the contributions they made during their lives without harming broader conceptualisations of a fair go and social justice. We have always wished them a happy, healthy, peaceful, and constructive lives. Yet, each person with whom we have associated with are different, and have their own special characteristics associated with their personalities and politics. Still, our wishes to the people we love, should not only be resonant, but also true.

In that context, we wish you good health, happiness, success, and in anything else that you wish to do. We have proven through our actions and conversations, and whatever the difficulties we confront in our lives, that we will always try to help and care for others who are in need, in our lives and society.

So, we sincerely wish you all the best in all your future endeavours and that you will achieve everything that you wished to achieve in your lifetime.

May your day be adorned with the sweet memories of seventy-five remarkable years well spent! In life, there are beautiful moments yet to arrive.

Happy 75th Birthday, dear comrade!

Lionel and Chitra Bopage

Melbourne, Australia

22 June 2024

2024 August 6 - My Thoughts on the Video Clip - Veil in between - by Mahesh Haris

 The film - “Veil in between”

The first thought that came to my mind while watching the movie clip “Veil in between” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHIPz3Z_qdM) by Mahesh Haris, was the song that I had very fondly listened to in the sixties and still fond of singing. It is the famously popular song - “Sannaliyane” (The Weaver) that Mahagama Sekara had written, and Maestro Amaradeva had sung. The theme of the song is a “saluwa” (a shawl) and had been based on a poem “Indian Weavers” written by the famous Indian poet Sarojinee Naidoo.

The song “Sannaliyane” and the film the “Veil in between” is an artistic expression and an adaptation of the general concept of life, its reality, its emptiness, and the journey through its diverse phases, using the artistic media of music and film. The song “Sannaliyane” focuses on different periods of the day, while asking the weaver for whom the shawl is stitched, the film “Veil in between” focuses on different epochs of life itself. The movie starts with a dress a young child wears, and a sewing machine used for stitching that dress, both being brand new. It denotes the charm and the joyfulness of a new life, a new day.

The film depicts life in its distinct phases passing through infancy, toddlerhood, early childhood, late childhood, becoming a youth, the search for a shared life, and finally passing away. The film signifies these divergent phases skilfully and in an extremely artistic style, but in a very sophisticated way. The first veil, a brand-new dress of a child and the new sewing machine represents the beginning (birth) of life. Those items become a dress of a youngster, and a machine used over time, but represent the youthfulness and joyfulness of life.

Then appear a dress of a more matured person and a slightly worn-out machine, symbolising the end of the youthfulness of life. Before the end, the dilapidated dress with no life wearing it and a corroded and rusty machine denote the end of life and of the machine both. Finally, both end up being in a cemetery like environment. With the passing of life, the movie reminds us of the demise of life, its gloominess and distress and the sadness that remains within the minds of those living. Throughout the film, Javier Navarrete reinforces the message of the movie through his melancholic music, by providing an intense feeling of gloom, sadness, loss, and despair, very appropriate for the content the film depicts.

The song “Sannaliyane” illustrates this phenomenon by its lyrics about the smiling faces and the passion with which the weaver stitches the dress, but that does not last long. Their mood turns sour, with faces having become withered with hands trembling to find it difficult to weave the dress further. Beautiful lyrics illustrate the birth, marriage, and death of a life, though ironically by telling us about the impermanence of life. The three main characteristics of everything in universe, the coming into being, the existence and the destruction.

It is about change that is irreversible, ending up with death and destruction. Is not that the reality that we are experiencing in so many places in the world including Gaza, Ukraine, Bangladesh etc. etc. Destruction and death are unavoidable and constants in life.

In short, the film symbolically and sensitively depicts the impermanence and shortness of life, the phenomenon that everything in the universe comes to an end. Nothing lasts forever. Impermanence constantly continues over time, from the beginning into the ever-distant future. Something that we all need to be aware of and kept in our thoughts always in a world where everyone is prepared and made to compete for survival without thinking of the other, the planet and the universe.

We always knew you are such a clever and talented artist when we came to see your arts exhibition, a long time ago. We are incredibly proud to have you as a family friend. You have set an amazing example that will be difficult for any filmmaker to follow.

Congratulations on your incredible effort, skilfulness, and the artistic success!

Lionel Bopage