·
10 SEPTEMBER 2014
BY LIONEL
BOPAGE
Comrade Sarath Justin Fernando and I met as
students of the Engineering Faculty in Peradeniya campus in the late 1960s.
Justin as we came to know him was from a very well-known leftist family from
Kegalle. Together we were involved in university students’ issues and
activities both independently and through ‘Socialist Society’, which was a
student’s association affiliated at the time with the Peking wing of the
Communist Party headed by comrade Shanmugathasan.
With the uprising of
April 1971, comrade Justin was taken into custody and his family property in
Kegalle was set on fire by the security forces and their goons. When we were
held in Magazine prison in Borella, we spend some time together in one of the
prison wards. He had political differences with the JVP as he had his
pro-Maoist ideological views, orientated more towards organising the peasantry
of Sri Lanka, which was about 70 percent of its population. He was also devoted
to his religious views with his compassionate attitude towards the people who
are subjected to suppression and exploitation. It took a long time for me to
convince him to join the activities organised by the 1969 Engineering Batch of
the Peradeniya campus. I understand he was extremely happy in associating
himself with those activities later on.
While in prison our
political journeys diverged. Despite this, we have remained friends and used to
meet every now and then when I visited Sri Lanka. He had devoted his whole life
for achieving socialism by organising the peasantry through the extremely good
work done by the movement he founded ‘Movement for National Land and
Agricultural Reform’ (MONLAR). I personally know that through this organisation
many progressive activities had been supported. The anti-capitalist and
anti-neo-liberal policy platform presented by MONLAR under comrade Justin’s
leadership had been widely discussed in global alternative gatherings such as
World Economic Forum. Though he retired from his work as founder and leader of
this movement, I know in heart and soul he was still involved with the progress
of this organisation. Currently the organisation and till his untimely death
Justin have been involved in agitating against perceived actions of the
government to turn the country’s traditional agricultural practices to one more
conducive of transnational agri-business.
I met him last in July
this year when I was in Sri Lanka to attend my mother’s funeral, at a family
and friends gathering organised in Rambukkana by our friend Dr Raja Wijetunga.
It was a great and happy occasion where comrade Justin and his wife sang
together for a while. Though he was unwell, he discussed his plans for future
including publishing his memoirs. He wrote to me wishing me on my last
birthday, but it was so sad to hear his passing away a short time afterwards.
I have really appreciated
the positions he and his organisation took when the people of Sri Lanka were
faced with crucial situations, be it the national question, neo-liberal
exploitation, or destruction of natural environment. As a Sri Lankan left
intellectual and activist what he did for the progress of the people of Sri
Lanka will never be forgotten. The major lesson I take from his life is that
there are many schools of socialist thought on addressing the socio-political
and economic issues faced by the society and that all these schools need to
work together in achieving our goals, rather than fighting and destroying each
other and ultimately the socialist camp itself.
On a personal, he is also
one of my brother in laws and I farewell comrade Justin both politically and
personally. He will be missed both as a friend and a comrade whose life was
devoted to making Sri Lanka a more democratic and egalitarian nation.
Lionel Bopage, is a former General Secretary of the Peoples Liberation
Front (JVP) in Sri Lanka. He appeared before the Criminal Justice Commission as
the second accused in the failed JVP insurrection in 1971.
Courtesy: Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka
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