AS WE arrived back in the eastern part of Sri Lanka, a graveyard silence
greeted us – scores of eyes tired of crying for their kith and kin taken by
the killer tsunami.
Siritunga Jayasuriya, General Secretary United Socialist Party (CWI, Sri
Lanka) and Jagadish Chandra, Socialist Alternative (CWI, India).
There are ‘families’ who lost everybody except one male member who had gone
to the town or who was fishing in the deep sea. There is not a single
household which has not been devastated by death and destruction in Arugambay
village. Now streets of debris are all that is left of what was once a booming
tourist spot as well as a busy fishing community.
The United Socialist Party (USP) relief team visited the Pottuvil area
again on 22-24 January. Apart from Pottuvil town, villages such as Ullai,
Sinnaullai and Komari have seen the dancing of death in their own eyes. The
team could see the fear of the sea in the villagers’ helpless eyes.
Government agencies claim that fast relief is getting to tsunami victims.
However, the USP team could see that this is a big lie concocted for the
benefit of the western world and the donor countries.
On the sands of Arugambay, there once stood a lively town mostly of
Tamil-speaking Muslims. But today the only reminder is the debris and some
concrete floors which had little houses on them.
The government’s claims that they have set up pukka relief camps is a
travesty of justice to these poor people, who had to build their own thatched
shelter with whatever was salvaged from the disaster.
The government is treating tsunami victims as beggars by giving just a
weekly food ration and washing their hands of responsibility for anything
else. A paltry 5,000 rupees (£27) for the victims’ funeral is the only cash
that those affected have received from the government.
The government has suddenly woken up to the fact that there’s a rule that
nobody should build anything within 100 metres of the sea. While it wants to
apply this rule stringently now, the most adversely affected would be the poor
fishermen folk. Some of the rich and foreigners are already flouting the law
and building dwellings and businesses within the stipulated areas.
The sectarian Janata Vimukthi Perumuna (JVP) is taking advantage of the
post-tsunami situation. In Pottuvil it has tried to communalise the whole town
by making false claims on a piece of land in a predominantly Muslim area to
put up a Buddhist statue!
Relief work
THE USP district centre at Pottuvil town has become a sort of socialist
crisis management centre for tsunami-affected people; a meeting spot for them
to discuss everything worrying them.
The USP has distributed essential items such as cement, bricks, cycles,
household utensils and kerosene stoves to some of those affected. But doing
relief work here is like a cat saying it would drink all the water in the
ocean; it was a daunting task for comrades to decide how to manage on the
resources available.
The Pottuvil comrades’ fantastic work has stretched them to the maximum,
but this sacrifice has its own rewards. Most of the adult population have
turned up at meetings when the USP team was there, and most said that they are
going to join the USP – the only party which came there to help at their hour
of need.
Last weekend, the USP team went to the south of the country to carry on the
party-sponsored relief. A special broadsheet is being planned with the name
Tsunami Janahanda (Voice of the tsunami victims) to expose the government and
to put forward a socialist programme for the fightback. In February, a mass
poster campaign is planned.
Campaign Sri Lanka
AS WE go to press another consignment of clothes, medical supplies and
bedding is being sent off to Sri Lanka. Many thanks to all who contributed,
particularly Jon Dale who organised the medical supplies.
Donations to Campaign Sri Lanka from England and Wales include £200 each
from Paul Rose and Andy Beadle, £100 each from Rachel Harris, Usha Chauhan and
Sharon Heal, £30 from Nasima Patel, £15 from Tom Baldwin and £5 each from Alan
Conchar and Dafydd Ap Tomas.
For more information on the appeal and future consignments call Naomi on
020 8988 8792 or email: [email protected]
Donations can be made:
- Online at: www.socialistworld.net Add the words Campaign Sri Lanka to
the comment box. An appeal sheet can also be downloaded from the website. - Directly to: Campaign Sri Lanka, Lloyds TSB, Leytonstone branch. Account
number 0023293; sort code 30-95-03 - By cheque to: Campaign Sri Lanka, c/o Committee for Workers’
International, PO Box 3688, London E11 1YE. - Messages of support can be sent directly to the United Socialist Party in
Sri Lanka: [email protected] with copies to
[email protected] (in case of problems
with the USP e-mail).
