Focus on women in politics
Socialist Women of Sri Lanka
Editors: Wesley Muthiah, Selvy Thiruchchandran and Sydney Wanasinghe
Young Socialist Publication,
12 Perakumba Place, Colombo
Review: Prof. Bertram BASTIAMPILLAI
 SOCIALISM: Very few know and often too little of the role played by
women, especially in politics in Sri Lanka.
At least, this highly commendable new publication successfully
endeavours to fill in the void with an account of the good work of women
in Sri Lankan Socialist politics to effect desirable changes in the
public economy and society in country.
Unfortunately in spite of the high proportion of women to men in
number the social achievements; women have never been accorded a due
place in politics or public life.
Women received the franchise along with men when our country was
still a British Colony in the nineteen thirties, and our women have
received access to education for a long period.
Yet, in national level or local politics women were never treated
fairly as equals. For this sorry state of affairs which is a blot on our
society: Men have to take a fair share of the blame for we often tend to
think and act patriarchally although it is archaic.
Socialist women
This new publication has diligently assembled a few leading socialist
women who had constructively contributed either in a legislature,
national or local or otherwise, to advance the socialist cause so that
it could benefit the forgotten and neglected citizens of Sri Lanka.
Doreen Wickremesinghe, Vivienne Goonewardena, Florence Senanayake,
Kusuma Gunawardena, Edith Ludowyk, Theja Gunawardhana, Kusala
Abhayawardhana, Heidi and Maud Keuneman are some among the better known
socialists familiar to an average citizen.
But one wonders whether the younger generations of today hardly know
anything about these feminine socialist stalwarts and what they added to
better quality of national life in the country.
Particularly, this lot of inhabitants has much to learn from this
book while even others can gain more by reading the up to date accounts
or refresh their reminiscences of these able personalities in public
life, and in the nation.
Other women this compendium treats are personalities such as Selina
Perera, Heidi Stadlen, Catherine Perera, Ponsinahamy, Maimoon, Soma
Wickramanayake, May Wickremasooriya, Srinawadhie de Silva, Lassie de
Silva, Trixie Mendis and Nirmala Balaratnam of whom one has to learn
much.
Both groups of names enumerated here show that women, irrespective of
their community belongings, took enthusiastic and energetic roles in
building socialism in Sri Lanka and improving life of the needy.
Each contributed in one's own way but did subscribe towards the end
of strengthening and hoping confidently to ultimately forge a socialist
Sri Lanka, in policy and practice and thereby improve the land.
Socialism
Women who battled for socialism had to struggle simultaneously
against male headship so that their effort had to encompass gender and
other struggle against a prevailing class monopoly of leadership.
For instance, Sirinawadhie De Silva was an approachable and
hospitable Marxist who took to left politics like a duck taking to water
because of her paternal heritage.
In Marxist political activism she was coaxed affectionately being
dubbed as Ambalangoda's Vivienne Goonewardene.
Likewise Ponsinahamy, jailed for picketing, was a memorable militant
socialist worker from Suduwella. She allied in a struggle of the working
class as a communist with the better heard of Doreen Wickremasinghe.
On the contrary, Maimoon was a Malay activist, almost not educated,
who came to the fore in active opposition to Sinhala only in a fearless,
and aggressive manner speaking publicly with wit and humour an
ideological bent towards communists.
An enchanting account of my dear friend and colleague Osmund
Jayaratne has been crafted in his inimitably readable portrayal of
Nirmala Balaratnam, a Marxist from among the Tamils of the North. It is
so relishing reading that one can be easily beguiled to consider it as
fiction for a while.
It is worthwhile to examine the account on Lassie De Silva, a leading
lady Sama Samajist allied as political worker with Vivenne Goonawardene.
She was a lively member of the All Ceylon United Motor Workers Union,
engaged herself in trade unionisms and workers' rights while at the same
time climbing up in her career.
Despite victimization on and off, owing to her politics and unionism
she was a faithful and enthusiastic energetic ardent left campaigner and
promote Sama Samajism.
This book will help readers to remember how popular Socialism was in
Sri Lanka once and that appealed to many ladies from different
backgrounds. Nearly twenty women have been focused upon in the chapters
knowledgeably written by competent scholarly women and men.
Visitors who made Sri Lanka their home like Doreen Wickramasinghe,
Heidi Keuneman, Edith Ludowyk have contributed notably to sociologist
campaigns and activities in the Island of Vivenne Goonewardene
understandly much has been said about her role in endeavouring to better
conditions for the lowly, often inarticulate to handle working classes
and the invariably impoverished.
As the politically leaned veteran socialist argues correctly that
"absence of a national movement" provides the avenue "for the
advancement of partial aims" and ventures to assert that "class, caste
ethnicity acquired currency as pre-eminent social objectives".
True selected personalities in the book and of them all pertinent
information to evaluate and illustrate the services to socialism given
by those self sacrificing figures in the country's public and national
scene in given.
Some of these women really rose up from working class origins and
their work in fostering socialist improvements merit singular
praiseworthiness.
Representatives
Six of the women dealt within the study argued their causes even by
serving in the national legislature as representatives of the communist
and Sama Samajist parties, while two others similarly strove on behalf
of socialism in local level political institutions of the Country.
The women worked on an equal level in trade unions and by 1948, year
of independence, organised the first autonomous women's movement, namely
the Eksath Kantha Peramuna.
These women fought for the rights of the workers such as reasonable
wages, fair working hours, due leave facilities, proper working
conditions and after service benefit on retirement such as gratuity and
provident fund.
They clamoured for suitable shelter, compensation on retrenchment and
almost for all that rightly due to underlings when capitalists employed
grudged granting them a fair deal. Unionization gave them strength,
strikes were measures to secure rights, and socialism countenanced all
these demanded dues.
This book is a collection of articles on women socialists by those
who had dedicated to recount efforts of these able women to last as a
tribute to those who industriously strove to make a socialist just
haven.
While the writers and editors deserve unreserved thanks, more, the
book should inspire researchers to gather data and write of the industry
of other similar women to create a free, equal and just society
according to truth labour and time to recount by writers.
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Impartial view of Sri Lanka's political events
A Comprehensive History of Sri Lanka from Prehistory to Tsunami
Author: Nath Yogasundram
Vijitha Yapa Publications, Colombo
375 pp. Price not mentioned
Review: Vito PERNIOLA S.J.
 HISTORY: On reading this title I was wondering whether I knew the
exact meaning of the word 'comprehensive'. I took my dictionary and
read: "Comprehensive: dealing with all or nearly all aspects of some
thing.
Naturally in 375 pages Mr. Yogasundram could not possibly deal at
some length with all aspects of the history of Sri Lanka and its people,
though nearly all aspects are at least mentioned and often very briefly
treated.
There are a few pages on the social history of the inhabitants of Sri
Lanka; there are a few words on the literary development of the Sinhala
and Tamil language; there is something, though not much, regarding the
history of Buddhism and Hinduism in the island.
Most of the attention is on the political and social history, and the
portion which I have found best treated is the political history of Sri
Lanka from the day of its independence in 1948 to 2004.
The initial growth of a new independent nation; the initial blunders
made by this or that government like making Sinhala the only national
language; the initial difficulties of the Tamil people of the Northern
and Eastern Provinces of the island, the formation of the LTTE by
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the attempts made at bringing about a peaceful
settlement, the influence of these political events on the growth or
deterioration of the economy of the country... everything is narrated
with great impartiality.
The fact that Dr. Yogasundram has lived and worked in England and
that now he lives in the United States of America may have helped him to
take an impartial view of the political events of the country
apportioning the blame and the credit to one side or the other in the
conflict of interests. I have found this part of the book very
enlightening.
Impression
The rest of the book leaves behind the impression that Dr.
Yogasundram is a very widely read and critical student of the history of
Sri Lanka.
There are two points connected with the Catholic religion on which
Dr. Yogasundram may not have had access to the latest historical
research.
On p. 158 he says that people of the Parava caste in Mannar got St.
Francis Xavier to come and baptise them. The people of Mannar belonged
to the Kadeyar caste; Francis Xavier did not go to Mannar but sent a
priest, most probably one Juan de Lizano, to instruct and baptise those
people.
On page 185 it is said: "With the advent of the Nayakkar kings, the
Catholic priests were accused of writing anti-Buddhist literature (a
rumour probably spread by the Dutch) and expelled from Kandy." At the
beginning of 1733 some learned people came from Matara to welcome Jacob
Christian Pielat, the new Dutch Commissary of the island.
In the hands of some Catholics they saw some books written by Fr.
Jacome Gonsalves; they started reading them and manifested the desire to
meet the author of those books.
The Catholics immediately sent a messenger to Sitawaka asking Fr.
Gonsalves him to come to Colombo. Fr. Gonsalves met the people of Matara,
accepted their invitation and went with them to Matara.
Enlightenment
On his return he wrote the book Matara Pratyaksaya for the
enlightenment of the people of Matara, refuting the Buddhist religion.
Further in 1737 the same Fr. Gonsalves, at the request of the prince
who in 1739 ascended the throne and took the name of Sri Vijaya
Rajasinha, wrote the book Budu Mula on the contradictions found in the
Buddhist religion.
On p. 152 there is the meaning of the word Colombo, that is, Kolamba,
as port or haven. So far I thought that Kolamba came kola and amba i.e.
a leafy mango tree.
The Coat-of-Arms of Colombo given by the Dutch was a leafy mango tree
(kola-amba) on which is perched a dove (Lat. Columba). I wonder which
interpretation is correct.
Several words are not spelled correctly: p. 6 athakatha for
atthakatha: p. 163 Udaratta and Pasratta for Udarata and Pasrata; p. 167
Estada da India for Estado da India; p. 170 Pacchilaipillai for
Pacchilaipalli; p. 172 Parave for Paravars and a few other words.
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Fiction based on natural calamity
Punchi Kete Vathure Gihin
Author: Professor Kusuma Karunaratne
Review: Padmini MAYAKADUWA
FICTION: Disasters, whether man-made or natural, may come and go. So
did the tsunami on 26 December, 2004. No matter what disaster programmes
and disaster preparedness plans were, it only left behind, bitter
memories of loss of lives, limbs, movable and immovable property, in the
minds of people who survived.
Amidst this calamity, an attempt to shed a glimpse of light on this
background is made by the literary attempt made by Professor Kusuma
Karunaratne by her "Punchi Kete Vathure Gihin", a collection of twelve
short stories. Each of these short stories depict a simple but a unique
incident that took place during the tsunami.
Unique incident
In her foreword to the collection of short stories, Professor
Karunaratne has identified three factors namely, knowledge and maturity,
broad vision and language skills that help a writer to produce a
creative work from an array of thoughts that springs in one's mind.
Taking her own standard and the thoughts that aroused in the minds of
the reader, an attempt is made to analyse and discuss the gamut of
experiences presented through these stories.
Taking all the twelve stories as a toto I observe a special or a
unique incident which took place during and after the tsunami disaster.
People can look at this natural phenomena from different perspectives
and angles. What is important is the fact that from each story an
attempt is made to look at these experiences from a human and a
realistic point of view.
The author has successfully depicted the cause behind the behaviour
of the individuals in each story. None of the main characters in the
short stories has behaved because of instincts but because of a number
of causes that lead to that particular behavioral pattern.
In the story titled "Desambar Visihaya" (December 26) Ranjith Perera
undergoes a struggle in his mind. His snatching the gold chain from a
dead body is the main theme of the story. The importance in the story is
the analysis and the discussion of the causes that lead to his action.
In the story, titled "Le Kiri", the young mother Vasanthi searches
for her infant daughter. Finally, her bio-psycho-social need is
satisfied by nursing another baby boy who is saved and crying in hunger.
The milk meant for her child is fed to another helpless infant and
both of them are temporarily satisfied. This again shows that whatever
the behaviour of a person, the causes are many and vivid.
Here, Professor Karunaratne has shown that one cannot make a
judgement taking a mere incident in life. Even though the incident is
simple, the complex nature of the thoughts in the minds of the actors
and the resulting behaviour has shed ample light on the psycho-social
causes and aspects of life.
Sad feelings
A young mother reading the story, "Baby visieka" (Baby No.21) in the
collection of stories said that it should not have been included; for
according to her it evokes, sad and miserable feelings in mothers (she
has an infant of her own, I observed).
This is natural transference of her feelings. On the other hand, I
believe that the story is written in a very powerful and an effective
way that the readers tend to be so sentimental by reading it.
Language skills evident in this book, though simple but very
important is a good example for the younger generation, even for her own
students, I would say. Here, I have a question in store.
Why do today's students in Universities and also in schools not
observe the writing and literary skills of their teachers and follow
them to write in correct grammatical Sinhala? Throughout the book, "Punchi
Kete Vature Gihin" the language used is rather simple but the author has
succeeded to depict complex human relations and feeling through her own
style.
Little flaws
The reader may find some little flaws here and there in this
collection of short stories. In the story titled, "Desata Desa",
Weerasekara, a lonely man who suffers from a pain in his spine normally
uses either the wheel-chair or a walking stick to move about in the
house and in his garden.
Suddenly when the first stage of tsunami occurred and the water level
inside the house reduces he manages to walk for a while without the
walking stick or the wheel-chair.
The reader may be puzzled at this point but however one could
interpret it in a different way as well. It is known that sudden
disasters and unexpected situations of this nature could produce
unimaginable strength in people where they can do miraculous things
which cannot be done under normal circumstances.
At the same time we cannot expect just facts, without mixing them
with fiction, in literary writing. It is for the readers to make their
own judgments at these points.
On the whole, the book provides good and entertaining reading
material for all ages and stages of life. It would also serve the
posterity of our country in knowing a significant historical event,
unlike in the case of "Vihara Maha Devi" story, which even now is not
taken in the good spirit.
If translated into English and to any other foreign languages, it
will provide good reading material for the international circle,
especially for those who are interested in studying the realities of a
natural calamity experienced by Sri Lanka and other South-eastern
countries.
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Clear and convincing presentation
The Evidence for the Resurrection
Author: Dr. V.J.M. de Silva
5 Dharmaratne Avenue, Rawathawatte, Moratuwa
Price Rs. 40
Review: Vincent GOONEWARDENE
 RELIGION: With the approaching season of Lent, Christians all over
the world will begin to focus their attention on the Passion of Jesus
Christ, His Death and Resurrection.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is pivotal to Christianity. Indeed,
it is one of the cardinal props on which the Christian faith rests. Yet,
there are many who have doubted it, and many who have attempted to
disprove it.
If the Resurrection of Jesus Christ could be disproved, Christianity
becomes a false religion and a huge hoax. If Christ did not rise from
the dead, then He becomes captive to it. The claims He made of eternal
life to His followers become a false claim and He becomes a liar. Is as
simple as that.
While Christians accept that Christ rose from the dead and left an
empty tomb, how many of them would be able to substantiate their belief
and show that the Gospel accounts are historically true? It is for such
believers that the book "Evidence for the Resurrection" by Dr. V.J.M. de
Silva becomes ever so useful.
It has marshalled the evidence meticulously as would any piece of
historical research and is logically argued. While most believers would
argue that the Resurrection is a matter of faith, Dr. de Silva has
treated it as a historical hypothesis and tested it against the
empirical evidence.
The book is short and very lucidly written and all important aspects
pertaining to the Resurrection drawn from many sources are compellingly
presented. For example, some of the chapter headings are:-
Was the Resurrection a myth? The empty tomb and Gospel
contradictions, The evidence of the missing body, Direct Evidence and
Circumstantial Evidence.
All in all, this 32-page booklet is a clear and convincing
presentation of the Resurrection that every Christian should read, so
that he may "be able to give reasons for the faith that is in him".
One has to be totally biased and be guilty of having already made up
one's mind against the resurrection, to reject the evidence given by the
writer.
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Stories to motivate a fuller understanding of our rich past
Timeless Tales from Long Ago
Stories Retold from the Mahawamsa and Chulawamsa
Author: Maureen Seneviratne,
2005, pp. 146
446/15 Thimbirigasyaya Road, Colombo 5
Review: Carl MULLER
 LITERATURE: Maureen Seneviratne, whether writing of the present-day
social evils or the agonies of a land wearing war's bloodied cummerbund,
does not hold back what rises in her mind.
With more than 30 years in the field of literature, I remember how
she wrote so well even as a schoolgirl of the Holy Family Convent,
Bambalapitya, more than 50 years ago.
She has rightly joined such writers as D.T. Devendra, R.L. Spittel,
D. Gunawardena, H.H.S. Nissanka, Lucien de Zoysa, Edirille Bandara, L.E..
Blaze, and so many others who found inspiration in the glories of our
past.
Her tales are exceptionally well told - Princess Citta in her tall
tower and how she smuggled her infant son to safety, the boy who would
grow up to wage war on his evil uncles, then raise the mighty city of
Anuradhapura.
She tells of Elara with his passion for justice and how his fervent
prayers even heated the throne of Sakka. She just could not omit the
iron will of the great queen Vihara Maha Devi who challenged the fierce
tsunami that overtook ancient Kelaniya, offering herself to the sea-god,
setting forth in a rudderless boat.
Yet, it is rather a pity that Maureen has been so gentle-worded in
the telling of these eternal tales - but then, she is speaking to
students and has presented this work mainly for the teachers who had
asked that she write, that they may read these tales to their pupils.
But somehow, I feel that the sense of excitement and fascination has
been keyed low.
I think I need to remind Maureen that our youngsters react to what
they read and learn in a quite different way to that when we were in
school. Mind you, this is no criticism - not in any way - but I see how
the spell is cast in the kind of stories our youngsters like to read
today (or follow on TV).
Of course, there is this modern idiom too, but there is also an
instant appeal, much high drama, impossibilities that are made so
ordinarily possible, sorcery, the magic of future technology and high
adventure that even Enid Blyton has resorted to so well in her Famous
Five books.
What Maureen should have set out to do was to also bring her young
readers into that fever pitch of inner excitement they seem to like -
whether it's J.K. Rowling or C.S. Lewis or Rider Haggard.
They will then look on the wondrous deeds of our yesterdays as so
much more enthralling and so much nobler than the deeds of today and
tomorrow. Yet, I cannot fault her - not one bit. She tells each tale
with the sort of passivity that the teachers, for whom this book was
written, would like.
It is such a pity; but it still seems that in thousands of classrooms
today, teachers also wish for a quiet, passive student body rather than
pupils who show needless excitement and grow restless to hear more,
voice their opinions. It is a pity, but that's how the game is played.
This book is for all who wish to capture and hold close the spirit of
this land, making of it an inspiration for tomorrow. |
