The Second Freedom Struggle (Part II)
Victor Ivan returns to 1947-48 to show how the Soulbury Constitution was made and how quickly it was disfigured — the disenfranchisement of the plantation Tamils, the Sinhala Only Act, and the habit of amending away inconvenient safeguards.
Overcoming the crisis: The second freedom struggle
If the collapse of the state cannot now be avoided, what should replace it? Victor Ivan calls for a ‘second freedom struggle’ led by public organisations rather than political parties, aimed at a new constitution.
ජනාධිපතික්රමය ගැන නගන පුහු තර්ක
As one uncivilised era nears its end, Ivan answers those who still defend the presidency. Israel and India, he shows, keep a nominal president under a parliamentary system, and India’s model of devolution works within it. He describes how the old parliamentary system made MPs answerable and governments changeable, how the 1978 presidency reduced Parliament, and how violence has been bound up with the presidential system from its start, arguing that the electoral system must change too.
අශීලාචාර තත්ත්වය පවත්වාගෙන යමුද? ශීලාචාර රටක් ඇතිකර ගමුද?
Ivan frames the January 2015 election as a choice about the country’s future. After defeating a rebellion a state must heal, not keep ruling by fear; yet after Prabhakaran’s defeat the Rajapaksa government had no vision for repairing the damage to people, infrastructure, society and institutions, and turned the victory to its own ends, using the forces for power. He asks why the rebellions arose and argues that re-electing Mahinda Rajapaksa would entrench an uncivilised state.
මෛත්රීපාලගේ භූමිකාව
Using a chess metaphor, Ivan describes Maithripala Sirisena’s defection from the government to become the common opposition candidate as a move the Rajapaksa camp never expected. He assesses the MPs who crossed with him and the split in the SLFP, the roles of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe in the anti-Mahinda alliance, and the JVP’s stance. He urges the challengers to avoid lies and communal appeals, credits Mahinda Rajapaksa with defeating Prabhakaran, but argues that his rule has done great harm, including its pro-China policy.
විරුද්ධ පක්ෂ ව්යාපාර අරාජිකත්වයේ සෙවණැලි
Ivan warns that full anarchy, the end state of a system without civility, is frightening, and that the coming election is a historic chance to defeat the Rajapaksa regime. Comparing the JVP’s support for Mahinda in 2005 with today, he assesses the roles of the Venerable Sobitha’s movement for a just society, Karu Jayasuriya, the UNP, the JVP and the Jathika Hela Urumaya, and argues frankly that Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has never won an election and lacks Mahinda’s charisma, should not be the challenger.
රාවයේ මහජන පෙත්සම
Ivan describes the response to Ravaya’s public petition for reform of government: calls and emails on the day it went on sale from Gamini Viyangoda, Chandra Jayaratne, a professional association and ordinary readers. Ravaya’s readers, he writes, are an unusual constituency; the petition’s aim is to win a political framework the country needs after decades of decline. He then examines the President’s election-year budget promises, from university places to allowances for kidney patients and pensions for garment workers, and asks what they are worth.
සෝභිත හිමිගේ ප්රවේශය
Ivan assesses the campaign led by the Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha to abolish the executive presidency through a common candidate. He cites two indicators of institutional collapse, a former Chief Justice’s estimate and the substandard-cement case, and sets out six reservations: it seeks limited amendment rather than a full new constitution, ties everything to one election, and depends on a candidate. He then lists steps the opposition, especially the UNP, must take to correct course.
මේ මොහොතේ කළහැක්කේ කුමක්ද?
Contrasting the prosecution of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with the removal of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, Ivan compares India, whose leaders built a nation and a democracy, with Sri Lanka, where independence brought ethnic, religious and caste conflict. With a presidential election near, he weighs the idea of a common candidate against Ranil Wickremesinghe’s own bid and his promise to abolish the presidency, and floats the idea of a third social movement for system change, inviting readers to write to a dedicated email address.
ජවිපෙ ප්රහාරයට පිළිතුරක් (ලංකා පුවත්පතේ පළවූ විවේචන දෙකට පිළිතුරකි.)
Ivan answers two attacks in the JVP paper Lanka by a writer calling himself ‘Kasakaraya’ (the flogger), who branded him a fraud and accused him of preparing the ground for Ranil Wickremesinghe as he had for Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1994. Calmly, he replies that he began writing books in prison after 1971, recalls Ravaya’s 25th anniversary, explains that the Kaha Pati campaign arose from the violent North Western provincial election of 1999, and states that his aim is not to install any leader but to win a framework for changing the political system.