Editorial 

Water cannon & flames of unrest

August 30, 2012, 7:10 pm , The Island

The JVP has a peculiar attitude towards higher education. When universities are open, it wants them closed and when they are closed, it wants them reopened!

In the late 1980s, during its second uprising, the JVP coined a catchy slogan, 'Motherland first, Degree second––palamuwa maubima, devanuwa upadiya––to justify its efforts to disrupt universities and involve undergrads in protests against the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord and terrorist activities. Dissent was violently suppressed and undergrads, teachers and others who put up resistance were gunned down. Its slogan for schoolchildren was 'Motherland First, Education Second'––palamuwa maubima, devanuwa pasala.

But, today, the same political forces are braving water cannon and tear gas to have universities re-opened. What a volte-face!

On Wednesday, a large number of undergraduates led by JVP dissidents turned Colombo into a mini-battle field by trying to march to Temple Trees. They were demanding that universities be re-opened and university teachers' grievances redressed immediately. The riot police liberally used teargas and water cannon to disperse the protesters. The government had better brace itself for more such protests as ideology-driven student groups are sure to regroup and try to make a comeback.

One may not endorse the modus operandi of protesting undergrads who hurled projectiles at the police. However, one cannot but agree with them, in spite of their political motives, that the time has come for the government to swallow its pride and resolve the dons' strike through negotiations so that universities could be reopened without further delay. The Cabinet is said to have worked out a formula to solve the problem, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

The government cannot resolve the university crisis by closing universities, and water cannon cannot douse the flames of political unrest spilling over onto the streets. Earlier, Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake boasted that only a section of university teachers had gone on strike and the strikers were reporting back for work in response to a government appeal to that effect. But, no sooner had he made that claim than he had to close the universities!

The government is apparently trying to turn public opinion against the striking lecturers by keeping universities closed indefinitely and blaming it on the strikers; its propagandists have already embarked on a campaign to vilify the office bearers of the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA). It is hoped that university dons will not play into their hands by boycotting the GCE (A/L) examination answer script evaluation due to commence shortly. Such action may serve the purpose of disruptive political elements riding the FUTA piggyback, unable to gain political mileage otherwise, but will certainly anger hundreds of thousands of children, their parents and well-wishers.

The government's waiting game is not going to work. Minister Dissanayake sought to justify his 'crackdown' on JVP student unions by claiming that universities had to be rid of politically-motivated student outfits and kept open at any cost. His tactics have apparently yielded results to a considerable extent. The JVP is no longer active in some universities and is fast losing its grip on others. But, Minister Dissanayake has done exactly what he once accused the JVP of; he has closed the universities! It is a supreme irony that he is now coming under pressure from JVP student activists to reopen universities! This is an interesting role reversal as it were.

Protracted labour disputes are like old anthills into which venomous snakes creep. Hence the need for the university crisis to be resolved through negotiations urgently! Regrettably, the government's arrogance knows no bounds. It seems to believe that simply because it commands a two-third majority in Parliament and is winning elections with the Opposition in total disarray it could railroad the striking dons into giving up their struggle easily. Its arrogance is likely to be its undoing.