Black July
‘April is the cruellest month,’ T. S. Eliot tells us in The Wasteland. But, in this blessed land the cruellest month is July, when two incidents of mindless savagery occurred—the sacking of about 100,000 strikers (1980) and the anti-Tamil pogrom (1983), both under the J. R. Jayewardene government which promised to create a righteous society. And, the prominent members of that repressive regime which created conditions for hundreds of Tamil civilians to be massacred and their properties plundered in broad daylight and brutally terminated so many workers overnight are today promising us good governance!
The 35th anniversary of the 1980 July Strike is commemorated at the Colombo Public Library today. Regrettably, the July strikers who stood up to a mighty government which, intoxicated with power, cracked down on trade unions, are a forgotten lot. They were sacked for demanding a 300-rupee pay hike, a five-rupee increase per unit in the Cost of Living Index and the withdrawal of punitive action against some workers who had taken part in a protest in June that year. The UNP regime with a five-sixths majority in Parliament refused to negotiate with protesting unions and, instead, let loose its goons in the garb of pro-government trade unionists to crush the workers’ legitimate agitations, killing a protester, D. Somapala, who had five little children.
The July Strike, as it is known today, was a trade union version of The Charge of the Light Brigade. All odds were stacked against the strikers with an arrogant government hell bent on crushing their struggle at any cost, but the brave workers chose to fight it out. Bludgeons to right of them, bludgeons to left of them, bludgeons in front of them, they marched on valiantly!
The general strike had the blessings of all Opposition parties. But, the JVP pulled out at the eleventh hour, trotting out some lame excuses. The workers’ struggle was savagely crushed and about 100,000 of them were sacked. The JRJ government, making use of Emergency Regulations, imposed strict censorship on the media. Not even references to the strike in Parliament were allowed to be published! In a strange turn of events replete with irony the members of that repressive regime who wholeheartedly endorsed such brutal action are today championing the rights of workers and the media!
The July strikers who lost their jobs went through hell, unable to keep the wolf from the door. Their families were reduced to penury. Children’s education was disrupted. Many of those hapless workers committed suicide. Regrettably, the SLFP which came back to power after 14 years did precious little to deliver the victimized workers from their suffering; it only adopted some piecemeal remedies. It should have compensated them all. The surviving July strikers, most of them in their twilight years, are still protesting. They deserve relief before they cross the great divide.
Let the vociferous trade unionists and champions of good governance and human rights be urged to attend today’s commemorative event and pledge solidarity with the July strikers who had the courage to take on the mighty JRJ regime to protect workers’ rights. It is they who kept the trade union movement alive under that repressive regime. The UNP owes them an unqualified apology for its crimes against them and ought to make a pledge in its manifesto to compensate them in case of its victory at next month’s election. The SLFP, which has let down those strikers for the past 20 years or so, must make a similar pledge in its manifesto to pay them compensation if it forms the next government. Better late than never!
