Political Tsunami

A struggle is underway for the hearts and minds of the people of Weligama -- and it's not at all clear to me who is winning. There are many different groups and individuals operating here, from a variety of ideological positions: pro-Western and anti-Western, Buddhist and Christian, capitalist and communist, the naïve and the rapacious. The outcome of this struggle will help determine what kind of country Sri Lanka will be in the years to come.

Of course, nobody puts it quite like I have described it. If you talk to aid workers, both Sri Lankan and foreign, they will tell you that their sole motivation is to relieve the suffering caused by the tsunami and they have no other agenda. In some cases, they may be quite sincere. But whether they acknowledge it or not, the fact is that everybody involved in the aid effort has become a player in a larger political drama.

Let me tell you about the People's Liberation Front, or the JVP as it is known here by its Sinhalese initials. A hard-line Maoist political party that staged an unsuccessful armed insurrection in the '70s or '80s, the JVP has reinvented itself as a Sinhalese nationalist group with a leftist, populist streak. (It is opposed to any concessions to the minority Tamils.) Last year, in one of the Byzantine maneuvers that characterize Sri Lankan politics, it joined the very government it had earlier attempted to overthrow by force.

Even though the JVP is only a junior coalition partner, it's widely believed that its political influence is on the rise.

The notion of a JVP-dominated government gives many Westerners here the jitters. While it has moderated its rhetoric recently, historically it is committed to throwing foreigners out of Sri Lanka and nationalizing private business. Furthermore, it has a cliquish, fanatical edge to it with a discipline and sense of mission that none of the other political parties can match.

The tsunami has provided the JVP with an excellent opportunity to gather recruits by demonstrating its commitment to the common people. It has set up refugee camps and clinics and is distributing food and building materials to tsunami victims (helped by its access to government-controlled warehouses). It has also exhibited a communist flare for propaganda: Its relief efforts are well advertised.

-- Michael Dobbs

By washingtonpost.com |  February 16, 2005; 5:00 AM ET  | Category:  Michael Dobbs
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