“Their spirit of rebellion was a re-affirmation of the human spirit. They resented being forced to live by the rules they did not make. They knew to change the complex web of rules and sanctions that held society together was difficult. Yes difficult, but not impossible.”_______________________
by Lorna Wright
(April 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Father Cyril Edirisingha enjoyed good health, had loads of common sense and an ability to listen and learn. Always in white robes he sported a neatly trimmed beard, in later years was a flowing white one. His cheerful disposition and he would open every pore of his existence to the whisper of ‘being’. Evident always around him was a climate of affection, confidence and trust and optimism.
Never was there in his dealings with others that flabbiness that sweeps everything away and conspires to weakness. So committed was he to the aspirations of youth that with him it was embarking with them on a heart’s journey in search of a new-age leader. Someone who could cry halt to moral decay racial intolerance, economic decline and a lax work ethic.
But it was said he conspired with the JVP perhaps he did so with emotional and spiritual maturity.
After many, many years a chance meeting on the road at Kalutara in 1997. "Hi Father how goes your Skills Training"?
"Lorna, I did not turn out any doctors or lawyers but l did turn out three millionaires" he laughed. For years the orphanage at Hiniduma disciplined and guided the lives of hundreds of ‘golayas’ ‘Athudauwas’ into employable skills, especially turning out master carpenters. Father was a man dedicated to skills training. Hard-headed practicality, self-respect and pride in their trade workmanship made for strong successful men. My husband was AGA Galle in the ’50s and it enabled us to help him with his work. Reminiscing for awhile, it was living in the twilight of memory. The orphanage expanded. Calvery became a reality....the swinging bridge that was washed away each year was now a real bridge!
"But l had my problems". There was a steady hammering of questions by the Church and others over my association with the JVP. There was debate, accusation of guilt, innocence, complicity, by those in and outside the Church.
However my claims unclouded, uncomplicated by any deception were easily explained. My deep concern was exploring how young people got to where they were, calculating what moral options they had blocked off. What options, if any, they had left, so they could have some control over events, some power to make the world a better place".
"Let me tell you......
"Wait, not standing on the road, I’ll come over to Matara [where he was parish priest] and I’d like to tape record your story".
For to Father Cyril the youth, these boys and girls were frustrated. They were joyous, young people full of life. They were deeply concerned about the quality of that life, their day to day relationship with people, rather than hypocritical status and ill gotten possessions.
As told to Lorna Wright:
When I came to Embilipitiya - May ‘68 - there was a lot of unrest, I wanted to find out. Parishioners I always have a special care for those in my area. I learnt from them and others, the youth were having secret weekly, monthly, meetings and sending reports to CBO. It was I thought necessary that we did not allow the young to go astray. We, as priests were here to lead them, to guide them. I had no idea what the movement was. Being secretive worried me. I thought of a plan bringing young people together, as many of them as possible. At least 90% of them were Buddhist. I met four High Priests, and told them we could not allow or afford to have the young go astray. The four High Priests I had invited, an Anglican Minister, DRO, Police Inspector and some prominent residents met at my place. All right what should be done. Let us form an association of young people - a Youth Club - a place where they could meet regularly.
First sports. Then OK - we’ll have a cricket club, football team, volleyball team. For the girls a net-ball team. OK we bought the materials for the clubs - it worked very well. Second step these girls must be trained to earn, also be good mothers. We sent them for training, one batch of 12, then another batch of 12 to Piliyandala to a training school. They learnt batik making, dress making, poultry keeping, hairdressing and cooking. All the time the boys went to the secret meetings. Yes they were going and I was getting information from them and through them. They knew I was interested, I was sympathetic. I was with them in their problem solving.
I had my club. We had a sports meet once a year. 1 had one in 1970 on the 4th Feb. - Independence Day. Now it was ’71 Ind. Day. The Secretary of the area Che Guevare movement came to me.
"Fr. you had the sports meet last year and the year before. Fr. We have our club now [I did not ask what sort of club but I knew what he meant] "Fr. Can you allow us to celebrate Independence Day with a sports meet?"
"Very good I will ask my boys, they’ll have no objections". Then he said "Fr. You take over Sinhalese New Year we’ll support you. Let us have Feb. 4th". "Very good" I said "we will give you some cups also for your "club" I knew it was no club but the Che. Movement. On that day we all co-operated there was a huge, huge big crowd. There were about 4,000, mostly young men, young women. Just before the distribution of prizes, they said "today there will be no long speeches only one will speak a few words, that’s all, and that is Fr. Edirisinghe - no other speech".
My speech that day was simple. "Look here my young friends. I am so happy to see a big crowd of young people. You young people are the elite of the land. You are, all you young people more educated, more informed, more experienced than we were at your age. You want to earn, get married and live a good happy life. To the older people I say we must all support these young people as they look for improving their life. We must support these young people, because someday from these young people will come those who will govern the country. Young people who will help everyone to give a new shape to the island - for the good of the island". I was thrilled at seeing so many young people interested in action - in wanting to do something. I wanted to encourage them. All those young people had come from rural areas. They wanted jobs, to get married, have children.
It was only later that I realized it could be thought as anti-Govt. propaganda, because the government was doing nothing for them. That meeting was a trial run for the Che Movement’s meeting. For a few days later there was another meeting and Rohana Wijeweera, the leader of the movement was going to address the meeting.
Rohana Wijeweera’s meeting. The difference the police were there in full strength. My ‘boys’ those in my club and their club, came to me and invited me - " Fr. they said "our leader is coming, you must come on the stage, you will have to."
"I am sorry my dear" I said. "I cannot come on the stage. I can’t. I must not get involved, the little I could do I’ll be prevented from helping you all".
"All right Fr. Then you come and we’ll put the chair next to the stage".
"No, no my dear, I will certainly come but I cannot publicly associate myself with any speech your leader would make."
So I went in my car, remained in my car on the road. There were two police trucks, my car was between the trucks. Then when they knew where I was, they came and invited me. I said "no my dear, don’t worry about me, you go ahead, I can hear very well from here".
Wijeweera spoke for at least 1 1/2 hours - you could hear a pin drop. At six sharp - he said - "I am sorry I am allowed to speak over a loudspeaker only till 6 p.m. so I must stop now" giving everyone the impression of a good disciplinarian, one who abides by the law. "If anyone is willing to help us financially, please come forward — give me anything you like". I got out of the car to look. I could see heaps of Buddhist monks. Women took off their earrings, their necklaces. Everyone was looking for something to give. It was proof, how captivating his talk and their methods were. A priest — had talked to the same crowd a few days before.
Contents of Wijeweera’s speech were simple and appealing. We have been ruled by foreigners for over 450 years, now we have got our Independence, but in fact we still do not have Independence. Lots of things are lacking. Our people do not get work, therefore there is no progress. It is our turn to see our country, our motherland prosper — and the wrong ideas people have must be got rid of — we must be like any other modern country and progress in every way. There was nothing fiery or revolutionary in his words. In fact it was sort of appeal asking you to believe him. It was clever and certainly sounded well read. His manner was that he was resentful. We had let our society become more and more unequal and uncaring.
His speech and words, and he was not inciting anyone to take up arms for the sake of fighting. He talked of unemployment. There was talk of solving unemployment, that it should be accorded the highest priority, that it was the most pressing issue! Yet unemployment remained words, words. Since Independence there have been speeches and planning documents but we have the highest unemployment rate for years now. He just mentioned facts with figures.
They say a bad man at the top could be autocratic, hierarchical, inconsistent and non-intuitive but a good man is clearly decisive, intelligent, visionary and fair. That is the impression I got of him. Also he seemed a good team player, able to draw people to him. He had a head and a heart.
All we could do was go home and wait for - the revolution? We knew that the secret meetings were going on, especially at night. They were learning to use firearms and other weapons. The police knew of it.
Their spirit of rebellion was a re-affirmation of the human spirit. They resented being forced to live by the rules they did not make. They knew to change the complex web of rules and sanctions that held society together was difficult. Yes difficult, but not impossible. If plans were sketchy and did not have many specifics to offer at the top — at the time, they found that they were down the line an egalitarian society that had become a messy mix of haves and have nots. So it was necessary to raise explosive questions mixing pain and struggle with political rhetoric to give people their dreams back.
When they shot Dr. Rex De Costa — Deniyaya
They rushed up the front steps of the house, Young arms flaying the air. Those arms, a very few seemed muscle bound, the majority, were teenage, slim with a vague compulsive urge towards self assertion. The waving right hand and the fist was clenched and closed, the left hand invariably on the hip. Two hurried steps determinedly forward, Halt. There was no real sense of direction. Two running steps sideways, their spirits sparky, they sounded loudmouthed show-offs, that could turn into vicious, maybe vindictive bullies. Yet somehow, despite the upbeat note, the overall effect was one of instant, meaningless teenage flamboyance. It suggested a sudden and chaotic lack of discipline, a loosening of law and order. In the leader - the first man up the steps, charging in, was very evident a declining will to deflate the blindly nurtured resentments that had in the first place brought the gang storming the bungalow.
The confusion, noise brought Rex and Doreen out on to the verandah. Seeing them, a gun or two jerked in obviously hands unaccustomed to using them. Ten feet away and the first bullet hit Rex on his arm, another hit his shoulder the others tore into his stomach. He dropped clutching his stomach. Shouts, confused conversations blotted out the intermittent crackle of gunshots that sprayed Doreen’s legs.
Rex was a Colonel in the Army 49 years old . After 3 years in Bangkok as Regional Director for the World Veterans Federation of Ex. Serviceman of World War II he returned to Sri Lanka in 1967. In Deniyaya town he set up his surgery, most times working free for the people of the area. It was Doreen’s home town, village where she was born.
After the shooting says Doreen "The boys were very good to me. My daughter was down with chickenpox they would bring medicinal herbs. "Aiho hamu, we are very sorry". I forgave all of them. In fact I lost my deeds, they searched the house and found them - they stayed for a few days in the house. I was frightened, but somehow I was able to pray and be at peace".
Police were never meant to engage in combat Fight. Their job was only to control mobs, maintain law and order. At Deniyaya most all of them had never handled a gun before, certainly not a sten gun. When lawlessness threatened to disrupt civil life and make it an ugly reality of murder, arson and looting the Police redefined their thinking about using weapons.
Police Inspector at Wellawaya was an unsmiling, drab, dull man and trouble always put him in an uncombative posture. He needed Rex to lean on. He needed a gun to lean on and he begged Rex to show him how to use the sten gun. The police had taken in some trouble-makers, seven or eight young prisoners, and that worried him.
There were fourteen members in the Police force in Deniyaya. Men tired with non-stop day and night duty, so very tired that very quietly they were becoming defiant of a situation that was forcing them to conform meekly. Duty. Events were becoming hard to control. The Inspector appealed to Rex to help him to make his routine work bearable, workable in the circumstance that prevailed.
Dr. Rex happy to oblige sought assistance from the planters’ some refused. The others relieved the police on night shifts at Waralla Police Station. However this Police station was a small, pokey building, so on the 1st April they moved into the premises of the Planters Club, taking with them the prisoners. Every evening Rex the soldier, was there to train the police personnel in between a game of billiards.
The prisoners housed on the premises and in their minds the line separating victims from oppressors was to say the least not at all understood. They were the unemployed. Often an unemployable labourer with no skills training, a sense of emptiness and frustration had at most times taken over their lives. Now they were totally unable to take charge of their lives and resented it. Prisoners. The hammering of slogans had been about extremes of ostentatious wealth and dire poverty. But now locked up their very freedom taken away, it was all hopeless.
Listening to careless words does indicate what obsessive anxiety and anger the prisoners further grappled with. While eavesdropping on Rex, in the billiard room next door to their dormitory, they heard him say to a question "If we have to evacuate in a hurry what do we do with the prisoners?" Carelessly said "You have to take them with you or shoot them". Words that imprinted a perversity on the psyche of the prisoners. With these youngsters there was already a mood of disillusionment and individual helplessness. Those words supplied a certain twisted logic for the inevitable that followed. The fabric of life had not merely frayed, it had been torn to shreds, especially hearing police personnel, a desensitized group of people, callously discuss what they should do with them if they became an inconvenience. "Shoot them" was heard loud and clear.
Physically taking over the area - the unemployed, or would be more correct to say ‘unemployable’ now had a, new found usefulness. It had a lot to do with newly attained self-confidence tackling social problems. Black marketing was dealt with in an arbitrary manner. If seen to cheat all goods were confiscated. At every shop two JVP lads checked sales prices that shopkeepers were not selling over the controlled rate. Glaring errors and omissions were scrupulously revealed. Pulsing everywhere was raw energy and certainly the great need of our time, a weapon to fight apathy had been found Affirmation of Youth, immersion of youth. They had the opportunity to, on many and varied subjects think, ask questions and supply durable home made answers. There was lost that self-defeating sense of inadequacy, no longer did that repressed bitterness towards life, surface — they were now living life to the full. It demanded commitment — they gave it. There was the importance of accomplishment it was there conveying its importance to others.
But soon their individuality was obliterated, and their group effects on the public became muddled in vast paroxysms of public disorder which lead ultimately to authoritarian countermeasures. Yes, the youth had struggled............Time. Soon increasingly harsh outbursts of destructive interaction and deepened hostility slowed down the ‘movements’ progress. Soon it was lost. Struggled with life’s standard challenges and disappointments with the hypocritical perimeters of class morality.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
(April 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Father Cyril Edirisingha enjoyed good health, had loads of common sense and an ability to listen and learn. Always in white robes he sported a neatly trimmed beard, in later years was a flowing white one. His cheerful disposition and he would open every pore of his existence to the whisper of ‘being’. Evident always around him was a climate of affection, confidence and trust and optimism.
Never was there in his dealings with others that flabbiness that sweeps everything away and conspires to weakness. So committed was he to the aspirations of youth that with him it was embarking with them on a heart’s journey in search of a new-age leader. Someone who could cry halt to moral decay racial intolerance, economic decline and a lax work ethic.
But it was said he conspired with the JVP perhaps he did so with emotional and spiritual maturity.
After many, many years a chance meeting on the road at Kalutara in 1997. "Hi Father how goes your Skills Training"?
"Lorna, I did not turn out any doctors or lawyers but l did turn out three millionaires" he laughed. For years the orphanage at Hiniduma disciplined and guided the lives of hundreds of ‘golayas’ ‘Athudauwas’ into employable skills, especially turning out master carpenters. Father was a man dedicated to skills training. Hard-headed practicality, self-respect and pride in their trade workmanship made for strong successful men. My husband was AGA Galle in the ’50s and it enabled us to help him with his work. Reminiscing for awhile, it was living in the twilight of memory. The orphanage expanded. Calvery became a reality....the swinging bridge that was washed away each year was now a real bridge!
"But l had my problems". There was a steady hammering of questions by the Church and others over my association with the JVP. There was debate, accusation of guilt, innocence, complicity, by those in and outside the Church.
However my claims unclouded, uncomplicated by any deception were easily explained. My deep concern was exploring how young people got to where they were, calculating what moral options they had blocked off. What options, if any, they had left, so they could have some control over events, some power to make the world a better place".
"Let me tell you......
"Wait, not standing on the road, I’ll come over to Matara [where he was parish priest] and I’d like to tape record your story".
For to Father Cyril the youth, these boys and girls were frustrated. They were joyous, young people full of life. They were deeply concerned about the quality of that life, their day to day relationship with people, rather than hypocritical status and ill gotten possessions.
As told to Lorna Wright:
When I came to Embilipitiya - May ‘68 - there was a lot of unrest, I wanted to find out. Parishioners I always have a special care for those in my area. I learnt from them and others, the youth were having secret weekly, monthly, meetings and sending reports to CBO. It was I thought necessary that we did not allow the young to go astray. We, as priests were here to lead them, to guide them. I had no idea what the movement was. Being secretive worried me. I thought of a plan bringing young people together, as many of them as possible. At least 90% of them were Buddhist. I met four High Priests, and told them we could not allow or afford to have the young go astray. The four High Priests I had invited, an Anglican Minister, DRO, Police Inspector and some prominent residents met at my place. All right what should be done. Let us form an association of young people - a Youth Club - a place where they could meet regularly.
First sports. Then OK - we’ll have a cricket club, football team, volleyball team. For the girls a net-ball team. OK we bought the materials for the clubs - it worked very well. Second step these girls must be trained to earn, also be good mothers. We sent them for training, one batch of 12, then another batch of 12 to Piliyandala to a training school. They learnt batik making, dress making, poultry keeping, hairdressing and cooking. All the time the boys went to the secret meetings. Yes they were going and I was getting information from them and through them. They knew I was interested, I was sympathetic. I was with them in their problem solving.
I had my club. We had a sports meet once a year. 1 had one in 1970 on the 4th Feb. - Independence Day. Now it was ’71 Ind. Day. The Secretary of the area Che Guevare movement came to me.
"Fr. you had the sports meet last year and the year before. Fr. We have our club now [I did not ask what sort of club but I knew what he meant] "Fr. Can you allow us to celebrate Independence Day with a sports meet?"
"Very good I will ask my boys, they’ll have no objections". Then he said "Fr. You take over Sinhalese New Year we’ll support you. Let us have Feb. 4th". "Very good" I said "we will give you some cups also for your "club" I knew it was no club but the Che. Movement. On that day we all co-operated there was a huge, huge big crowd. There were about 4,000, mostly young men, young women. Just before the distribution of prizes, they said "today there will be no long speeches only one will speak a few words, that’s all, and that is Fr. Edirisinghe - no other speech".
My speech that day was simple. "Look here my young friends. I am so happy to see a big crowd of young people. You young people are the elite of the land. You are, all you young people more educated, more informed, more experienced than we were at your age. You want to earn, get married and live a good happy life. To the older people I say we must all support these young people as they look for improving their life. We must support these young people, because someday from these young people will come those who will govern the country. Young people who will help everyone to give a new shape to the island - for the good of the island". I was thrilled at seeing so many young people interested in action - in wanting to do something. I wanted to encourage them. All those young people had come from rural areas. They wanted jobs, to get married, have children.
It was only later that I realized it could be thought as anti-Govt. propaganda, because the government was doing nothing for them. That meeting was a trial run for the Che Movement’s meeting. For a few days later there was another meeting and Rohana Wijeweera, the leader of the movement was going to address the meeting.
Rohana Wijeweera’s meeting. The difference the police were there in full strength. My ‘boys’ those in my club and their club, came to me and invited me - " Fr. they said "our leader is coming, you must come on the stage, you will have to."
"I am sorry my dear" I said. "I cannot come on the stage. I can’t. I must not get involved, the little I could do I’ll be prevented from helping you all".
"All right Fr. Then you come and we’ll put the chair next to the stage".
"No, no my dear, I will certainly come but I cannot publicly associate myself with any speech your leader would make."
So I went in my car, remained in my car on the road. There were two police trucks, my car was between the trucks. Then when they knew where I was, they came and invited me. I said "no my dear, don’t worry about me, you go ahead, I can hear very well from here".
Wijeweera spoke for at least 1 1/2 hours - you could hear a pin drop. At six sharp - he said - "I am sorry I am allowed to speak over a loudspeaker only till 6 p.m. so I must stop now" giving everyone the impression of a good disciplinarian, one who abides by the law. "If anyone is willing to help us financially, please come forward — give me anything you like". I got out of the car to look. I could see heaps of Buddhist monks. Women took off their earrings, their necklaces. Everyone was looking for something to give. It was proof, how captivating his talk and their methods were. A priest — had talked to the same crowd a few days before.
Contents of Wijeweera’s speech were simple and appealing. We have been ruled by foreigners for over 450 years, now we have got our Independence, but in fact we still do not have Independence. Lots of things are lacking. Our people do not get work, therefore there is no progress. It is our turn to see our country, our motherland prosper — and the wrong ideas people have must be got rid of — we must be like any other modern country and progress in every way. There was nothing fiery or revolutionary in his words. In fact it was sort of appeal asking you to believe him. It was clever and certainly sounded well read. His manner was that he was resentful. We had let our society become more and more unequal and uncaring.
His speech and words, and he was not inciting anyone to take up arms for the sake of fighting. He talked of unemployment. There was talk of solving unemployment, that it should be accorded the highest priority, that it was the most pressing issue! Yet unemployment remained words, words. Since Independence there have been speeches and planning documents but we have the highest unemployment rate for years now. He just mentioned facts with figures.
They say a bad man at the top could be autocratic, hierarchical, inconsistent and non-intuitive but a good man is clearly decisive, intelligent, visionary and fair. That is the impression I got of him. Also he seemed a good team player, able to draw people to him. He had a head and a heart.
All we could do was go home and wait for - the revolution? We knew that the secret meetings were going on, especially at night. They were learning to use firearms and other weapons. The police knew of it.
Their spirit of rebellion was a re-affirmation of the human spirit. They resented being forced to live by the rules they did not make. They knew to change the complex web of rules and sanctions that held society together was difficult. Yes difficult, but not impossible. If plans were sketchy and did not have many specifics to offer at the top — at the time, they found that they were down the line an egalitarian society that had become a messy mix of haves and have nots. So it was necessary to raise explosive questions mixing pain and struggle with political rhetoric to give people their dreams back.
When they shot Dr. Rex De Costa — Deniyaya
They rushed up the front steps of the house, Young arms flaying the air. Those arms, a very few seemed muscle bound, the majority, were teenage, slim with a vague compulsive urge towards self assertion. The waving right hand and the fist was clenched and closed, the left hand invariably on the hip. Two hurried steps determinedly forward, Halt. There was no real sense of direction. Two running steps sideways, their spirits sparky, they sounded loudmouthed show-offs, that could turn into vicious, maybe vindictive bullies. Yet somehow, despite the upbeat note, the overall effect was one of instant, meaningless teenage flamboyance. It suggested a sudden and chaotic lack of discipline, a loosening of law and order. In the leader - the first man up the steps, charging in, was very evident a declining will to deflate the blindly nurtured resentments that had in the first place brought the gang storming the bungalow.
The confusion, noise brought Rex and Doreen out on to the verandah. Seeing them, a gun or two jerked in obviously hands unaccustomed to using them. Ten feet away and the first bullet hit Rex on his arm, another hit his shoulder the others tore into his stomach. He dropped clutching his stomach. Shouts, confused conversations blotted out the intermittent crackle of gunshots that sprayed Doreen’s legs.
Rex was a Colonel in the Army 49 years old . After 3 years in Bangkok as Regional Director for the World Veterans Federation of Ex. Serviceman of World War II he returned to Sri Lanka in 1967. In Deniyaya town he set up his surgery, most times working free for the people of the area. It was Doreen’s home town, village where she was born.
After the shooting says Doreen "The boys were very good to me. My daughter was down with chickenpox they would bring medicinal herbs. "Aiho hamu, we are very sorry". I forgave all of them. In fact I lost my deeds, they searched the house and found them - they stayed for a few days in the house. I was frightened, but somehow I was able to pray and be at peace".
Police were never meant to engage in combat Fight. Their job was only to control mobs, maintain law and order. At Deniyaya most all of them had never handled a gun before, certainly not a sten gun. When lawlessness threatened to disrupt civil life and make it an ugly reality of murder, arson and looting the Police redefined their thinking about using weapons.
Police Inspector at Wellawaya was an unsmiling, drab, dull man and trouble always put him in an uncombative posture. He needed Rex to lean on. He needed a gun to lean on and he begged Rex to show him how to use the sten gun. The police had taken in some trouble-makers, seven or eight young prisoners, and that worried him.
There were fourteen members in the Police force in Deniyaya. Men tired with non-stop day and night duty, so very tired that very quietly they were becoming defiant of a situation that was forcing them to conform meekly. Duty. Events were becoming hard to control. The Inspector appealed to Rex to help him to make his routine work bearable, workable in the circumstance that prevailed.
Dr. Rex happy to oblige sought assistance from the planters’ some refused. The others relieved the police on night shifts at Waralla Police Station. However this Police station was a small, pokey building, so on the 1st April they moved into the premises of the Planters Club, taking with them the prisoners. Every evening Rex the soldier, was there to train the police personnel in between a game of billiards.
The prisoners housed on the premises and in their minds the line separating victims from oppressors was to say the least not at all understood. They were the unemployed. Often an unemployable labourer with no skills training, a sense of emptiness and frustration had at most times taken over their lives. Now they were totally unable to take charge of their lives and resented it. Prisoners. The hammering of slogans had been about extremes of ostentatious wealth and dire poverty. But now locked up their very freedom taken away, it was all hopeless.
Listening to careless words does indicate what obsessive anxiety and anger the prisoners further grappled with. While eavesdropping on Rex, in the billiard room next door to their dormitory, they heard him say to a question "If we have to evacuate in a hurry what do we do with the prisoners?" Carelessly said "You have to take them with you or shoot them". Words that imprinted a perversity on the psyche of the prisoners. With these youngsters there was already a mood of disillusionment and individual helplessness. Those words supplied a certain twisted logic for the inevitable that followed. The fabric of life had not merely frayed, it had been torn to shreds, especially hearing police personnel, a desensitized group of people, callously discuss what they should do with them if they became an inconvenience. "Shoot them" was heard loud and clear.
Physically taking over the area - the unemployed, or would be more correct to say ‘unemployable’ now had a, new found usefulness. It had a lot to do with newly attained self-confidence tackling social problems. Black marketing was dealt with in an arbitrary manner. If seen to cheat all goods were confiscated. At every shop two JVP lads checked sales prices that shopkeepers were not selling over the controlled rate. Glaring errors and omissions were scrupulously revealed. Pulsing everywhere was raw energy and certainly the great need of our time, a weapon to fight apathy had been found Affirmation of Youth, immersion of youth. They had the opportunity to, on many and varied subjects think, ask questions and supply durable home made answers. There was lost that self-defeating sense of inadequacy, no longer did that repressed bitterness towards life, surface — they were now living life to the full. It demanded commitment — they gave it. There was the importance of accomplishment it was there conveying its importance to others.
But soon their individuality was obliterated, and their group effects on the public became muddled in vast paroxysms of public disorder which lead ultimately to authoritarian countermeasures. Yes, the youth had struggled............Time. Soon increasingly harsh outbursts of destructive interaction and deepened hostility slowed down the ‘movements’ progress. Soon it was lost. Struggled with life’s standard challenges and disappointments with the hypocritical perimeters of class morality.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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