Mahinda got Sinhala
votes, Tamils and other minorities have shifted away from him. Estate workers
have substantially voted against the regime. In the coming period this can
create a potential threat in the trade union field. The election is a victory for the Mahinda regime and its chauvinist policies. However it is not democratic to resort to chauvinism and blind the masses with the idea of crushing the protest of a minority, and win an election on the basis of majority nationality.
I said at Kundasale on February 4 that the government was doping the masses with chauvinism. In that condition, with derailed minds, one can get masses to make irrational decisions. After all, even Hitler first got into parliament through elections.
While
Mahinda got Sinhala
votes, Tamils and other minorities have shifted away from him. Estate workers
have substantially voted against the regime. In the coming period this can
create a potential threat in the trade union field.
Already in July 2008, plantation workers defied Thondaman and Chandrasekaran and joined the one day token strike launched by urban workers. This time it could be a prolonged action for better pay which has become an essential demand.
No food convoys
While this development has taken place in the worker’s front LAKBIMAnEWS reported on that “No food convoys have reached LTTE controlled territory since February 2", Essential Services Commissioner S B Divaratne confirmed yesterday.
Forty trucks loaded with around 450 tonnes of food - flour, dhal, coconut oil and cereal, among other essential items - are loaded and ready to go. But intense fighting and “a complete breakdown of the distribution system” are hindering the passage of the convoy.
Divaratne revealed that areas from Puthuku-durippu to Putamattalan are heavily mined; increasing the risk posed to the food convoys which are usually accompanied by UN and WFP officials.
“Even the security forces don’t want to take a risk because even if one UN or WFP vehicle is blasted, it might boomerang against the government,” he said.
“It’s not light fighting now in those areas, it’s really heavy fighting.” The government agent of Mullaitivu has been working for the past two weeks from Vavuniya and no longer travels to the battle zone.”
On the other hand the suffering has not completely wiped out the fighting spirit among Tamils. Ranga Jayasuriya of LAKBIMAnEWS wrote:
“But, there is another segment of the Wanni population who would opt to live with the LTTE: Maveerar families and families who have active LTTE cadres. They will be the last to leave, if they do it ever! The LTTE though reduced to 700-1000 cadres are not letting up...The LTTE strategy, military officials confided, is to break through the defence line south of Puthuku-durippu and retreat to the jungles. If the LTTE succeeds, it would create an operational nightmare for the troops, who would have to clear the Iranamadu jungle from scratch.”
So we should expect this brutal war to continue and the pressure from the international community to increase considerably. One pivot of concerted international pressure tactics appears to hinge on the fact that the Sri Lankan economy is precarious.
A section of the international community feels that Sri Lanka is headed for dire economic times where the government would have to appeal for international funding due to dwindling financial reserves. This they feel is the time to get the Sri Lankan government to agree to stop hostilities and allow international arbiters to come in to arbitrate matters.
On the other hand the campaign in India, particularly in South India is continuing, in spite of the position of the central government which is supportive of the government of Mahinda.
Internationalised
We see that the situation before the triumphant government is full of problems. Already the Mahinda regime has internationalised the Tamil national problem. Now the latter has gained a position internationally similar to that of the Palestinian problem.
The Mahinda regime, which is unfortunately still considered to be a friend of the Palestinian people, is in the jackboots of Israel in relation to the Tamil national problem.
A struggle which is both local and international is developing against the regime. Plantation strike, Tamil Nadu agitation and the pressure of the international community will constitute a powerful obstacle to the triumphant march of Mahinda.