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If MR's Defeat Is Certain, Why Not Vote JVP Choosing Between Urgent Immediacy and Long-Term Perspectives
If MR's Defeat Is Certain, Why Not Vote JVP Choosing Between Urgent Immediacy and Long-Term Perspectives
[In parenthesis let me deal with a tangential matter. If the UPFA secures
more seats than the UNF-GG alone, say 90-plus UPFA to 90-minus UNFGG, and if RW forms a government its legitimacy will be contested. "We
won the election, they formed the government! What mockery! Its a Tamil
plot!" The anger may extend to burn, loot and mayhem. Therefore a RW
government, based on plurality, needs to win at least one seat more than
the UPFA (say 90-plus UNF-GG to 90-minus UPFA 80) for moral legitimacy.
For that the UNF-GG needs to make gains in Kegalle, Kalutara and
Anuradhapura Districts where Sirisena polled 4.8%, 6.2% and 8.2%,
respectively, less than MR in January 2015. In general the UNF-GG must
secure a +5% swing in Sinhalese areas].
The JVP grows up
I now return to the theme of this essay, the JVP option. Allow me to say
good things before I balance it out with critical remarks. Anura Kumara has
matured into an able leader; he comes thoroughly prepared, his points are
well argued and correctly presented and his delivery is sober. With the old
left leaders (NM, Colvin, Pieter and Bernard) no longer heard in the
Chamber, AKD and his colleagues are beginning to fill the void. The
existing slew of UPFA politicos are the dregs; it is unimaginable that NM,
Dr Wicks and their contemporaries, or Anura Kumara and his comrades
would debase themselves and call an opponent a pakaya in parliament.
JVP parliamentarians are a cut above UPFA garbage and in most cases
higher quality than the UNPs ranks there are of course some 10 or 20
quality people in the UNP parliamentary group as well.
Let us not judge the world by Westminster behavioural standards alone;
what of the JVP as a national political entity. It is the most serious minded
and far thinking of all parties currently represented in parliament. I have
three reasons for arriving at this judgement. First the JVP seems to have
undertaken an evaluation of some mistakes of its past - and they were
gross - recognised them and moved away. It has issued no confession or
apology but to judge from its current behaviour it seems to have
recognised some, if not many of its former defects. Only a serious party
can review and learn from past mistakes. See how badly the Dead-Left has
failed, or indeed regressed, in this respect.
The second reason is that the JVP seems to be struggling to evolve an
economic strategy that takes into account current global realities. After the
end of the Soviet Union and a new model of mixed economic growth
became apparent in China, which of us socialists is not grappling with the
complexities of globalisation and with both the crises and the survival of
world capitalism? The JVP manifesto is an honest attempt to cut a way
through this maze. Superficially it may read like RWs 60-month plan and
the UPFAs load of platitudes (these days economic strategy, verbally, all
over the developing world read like photocopies of each other). Still I
sense an underlying seriousness; The JVP grasps the need for a mixed
economy, creating opportunities for the middle classes, and guaranteeing
protection for the masses. Crucially it sees that all this must be embedded
in strong directive principles. Economists call it a dirigisme approach. The
JVP has not worked through the details in this first shot, but it is thinking
seriously.
My third point is controversial; I see the JVP inching in a progressive
direction on the national question. It has a long way to go; it is unwilling to
accept the right of Tamil people to govern themselves in their traditional
homelands. Nobody expects the JVP ever to adopt a Marxist position on
the right of nations to self-determination; it is too rooted in its past to
escape. It even gets loose bowels at the mention of devolution and the
word federalism gives it diarrhoea. Nevertheless a recent statement was
vouched in interesting language. I quote from a web-report of about 10
days ago.
JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said that the TNA had failed to meet the
expectations of the Tamils in the North and now it is attempting to use the
communal issue to win votes. He said the TNA election manifesto will go in
favour of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as it speaks of a Federal
solution and devolution of powers. He said hard-line Sinhalese are opposed
to a Federal solution and Mahinda Rajapaksa is using this to win votes.
This is a damned sight better than the hot chauvinism years ago. The
emphasis is not that devolution or federalism are bad per se, but that the
TNA is playing into the hands of Sinhala chauvinists. I dont mind at all if
these JVP chaps move towards a reasonable position on the national
question without admitting that they were all wrong in the past; something
is better than nothing. After all it is only a person of Lenins calibre, for
whom educating party and the class was bounden duty, that could openly
discuss mistakes, why the party erred, and how to avoid them in future. It
is not reasonable to judge the JVP by this yardstick.