ISGA and Economic Democracy
-- Ahilan Kadirgamar
While the LTTE officials were busy reviewing their proposals for
ISGA (Interim Self-Governing Authority), some 80,000 healthcare
workers began one of the largest strikes on Sept 17th. It was
a multi-ethnic island-wide strike challenging the neo-liberal
policy package that is being pushed through along with the peace
process. This was a characteristically different challenge to
the 4.5 billion dollar Donor package promised for 'Regaining Sri
Lanka' and reconstructing the North and East. It was a strike
demanding wage increases, threatening the austerity measures of
the neo-liberal program and questioned the extreme salary anomalies
between their wages and those of the doctors. The other challenge
was from the LTTE, which refused to attend the Tokyo Donor Conference,
demanding an interim administration to control the North and East,
including control over the funds allocated for reconstructing
the North and East. The LTTE then went on to draft their proposals
for the ISGA.
It is worth looking at the report from the WSWS (World Socialist
Web Site) on how the SL government and the LTTE handled the healthcare
workers strike:
"The UNF government has refused to make any concessions
and denounced the strikers, blaming them for endangering patients'
lives. In a flagrant breach of Sri Lankan law, it has sent members
of the armed forces into the hospitals to take over the duties
of the striking workers. The Health Ministry has sacked 1,600
casual workers and recruited hundreds of scabs to replace them.
At the same time, the police have been used to harass, intimidate
and even detain strikers.
The LTTE has decided not to defend the workers, but to openly
back the government. On September 23, its leaders in the Northern
Province city of Jaffna convened a meeting at the Jaffna base
hospital-a major state-run facility-and told workers they should
end their strike on "humanitarian grounds". The LTTE's
argument dovetails exactly with that of the government and the
Colombo media, serving to cover up the fact that full responsibility
for the undermining of the public health system, and the resultant
threats to patients, lies with the government and its policies.
The Jaffna hospital workers engaged in a heated exchange with
the LTTE officials, demanding to know why they had decided to
oppose the strike, yet had supported earlier industrial action
by doctors. In the end, the workers defied the LTTE's warnings
that the military would be sent into the hospital, and resolved
to remain on strike.
According to media reports, similar incidents have taken place
in other areas. Jaffna regional leader Illanpirai reportedly ordered
a return to work at the town's main teaching hospital, warning
that LTTE cadres would replace the strikers. In Vavuniya, LTTE
leader Amirthab told the press that 20 LTTE members had been sent
to the local hospital to compel strikers to go back. The same
orders were apparently issued in eastern Batticaloa, where workers
again defied the LTTE in at least one major hospital."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/ltte-s30.shtml
The LTTE's ISGA proposals drafted in the various capitals around
the world and finalized in the Vanni have to be situated in the
historical unfolding of such local struggles and corresponding
repression, and in relation to the dynamics and fields of global
economic power. First, the political and economic program in the
ISGA is written based on its ability to shut down struggles by
people on the ground, including those struggles around economic
democracy. Second, the LTTE's ISGA proposals as they apply to
economic questions are attempting to be in tune with the "international
community" and its friendliness towards neo-liberalism and
technocracy.
As illustrated by the LTTE's actions and its ISGA proposals,
the LTTE is against economic democracy. Here it would be worth
borrowing the definition of economic democracy from a recent statement
titled 'Regaining Lanka for economic democracy,' which addresses
the Sri Lankan state's neo-liberal economic package 'Regaining
Sri Lanka': "In terms of the substance of economic policy,
economic democracy would, at a minimum, seek to guarantee basic
human security and opportunity for all Lankans, rather than pandering
to the interests of the privileged few. In terms of process, economic
democracy would signify a commitment to local ownership of economic
policy with a transparent, consultative and participatory process,
rather than importing a blue print designed in Washington and
peddled by those in Colombo who stand to share in its spoils."
While the statement above was concerned about the undemocratic
moves by the state in the South, it speaks to where the LTTE is
heading as well.
The concerns above about economic democracy in Lanka can be translated
into questions about the allocation and responsibility of killing
economic democracy in the North and East in the near future. Does
it lie with the LTTE, the Sri Lankan state or the "international
community"? While the dynamics and field of economic power
have been determined in a technocratic and neo-liberal direction
in the interests of the powerful, it is the share of such power
and wealth that are yet to be determined by the negotiations that
are to ensue between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan state under the
legitimizing eyes of the "international community".
Nevertheless, it is worth engaging with the ISGA proposals. Engagement
that would be steps towards mobilizing for economic democracy.
Engagement here could mean at a minimum, criticism and alternatives
to the ISGA and the various other political and economic manifestos
of the Right such as the Regaining Sri Lanka or even stronger
responses such as struggles on the ground like the recent healthcare
workers strike.
Economic provisions in the ISGA
Economic decision-making and policy will be controlled by the
ISGA, which in turn will be controlled by the LTTE. There is no
mention of the need to democratize such decisions; local communities
and individuals will have little say in their economic future.
Rather, it is a recipe for the technocratic control and execution
of economic power by the LTTE, resulting in further accumulation
of wealth and power by the LTTE and its future allies.
Next, economic concerns are clothed in humanitarian discourse
to justify technocratic control, de-politicize the interests of
the people and to suppress democratic participation. For example:
"Determined to establish an interim self-governing authority
for the NorthEast region and to provide for the urgent needs of
the people of the NorthEast by formulating laws and policies and,
effectively and expeditiously executing all resettlement, rehabilitation,
reconstruction and development in the NorthEast" First, how
does any state structure understand or know the urgent needs of
the people? Without participation by the people, how are the needs
of the people to be known. Second, the language of needs attempts
to de-politicize the interests of the people. Even when we consider
those who are displaced, their interests are varied, as some may
want to return, some may wish to resettle in the their new homes
and others may wish to be compensated. Depending on their class,
caste and ethnic make-up, their interests are going to be different.
The concerns of Tamil refugees, who fled to Tamil Nadu in the
face of an invading army, are going to be very different from
the security concerns of the Muslims, who suffered ethnic cleansing
and eviction at the hands of the LTTE. Hence humanitarian needs
of the people as defined by the ISGA will stand conceptually in
opposition to the peoples participatory economic interest. Note
also how the LTTE invoked "humanitarian grounds" to
intimidate and threaten the striking workers.
To take another example about participation: "The ISGA will,
giving due consideration to an equitable distribution, determine
the use of funds placed at its disposal." While there is
lip service to equitable distribution, there is no mention of
how local community interests will be represented or given "due
consideration" in getting such distribution. In terms of
process, there is no mention of participatory processes to ensure
that the interests of local and minority communities are met,
rather, that distribution is to be determined by a Financial Commission
appointed by the ISGA.
This brings up the question of monitoring the workings of the
ISGA. That is, concerns about monitoring its policies to ensure
the economic interests and welfare of the people. What are the
processes that will ensure local accountability and transparency?
The ISGA states: "The ISGA shall appoint an Auditor General.
All Funds referred to in this Agreement shall be operated, maintained
and audited in accordance with internationally accepted accounting
and auditing standards." As mentioned at the beginning of
the article, the LTTE's concerns seems to be how they can satisfy
demands of the "international community", however, economic
democracy would demand access, transparency and accountability
by the people on the ground.
Finally, economic policy in the ISGA seems to mean nothing more
than centralized control and efficient allocation of finances
and resources, rather than looking at policy as the stage for
producing and transforming political, social and economic relations.
When it comes to the policies on land, "The ISGA shall appoint
a Special Commission on Administration of Land to inquire into
and report on the rights of dispossessed people over land and
land subject to encroachment…" Again a commission appointed
by the ISGA, will determine the future of relations between communities
in a context where tensions exist between those whose access to
the land has changed due to the conflict. If the relations between
these communities are to be nurtured and developed it would involve
active participation by the communities, not to be dictated by
a commission that could be partisan. Furthermore, in looking at
how ethnic and other identarian (caste, gender and class) relations
and inequalities are going to be transformed, concerns arise about
the entrenchment of patronage systems. How will the ISGA ensure
that patronage systems do not take root, merely stating that the
ISGA will "ensure that no bribery or corruption is permitted"
is not sufficient; Tamil - Muslim relations have suffered by a
history of such ethnic patronage and perceptions of such ethnic
patronage. Hence there is a need for active participation by all
communities along principles of economic democracy to ensure such
inter-ethnic relations are nurtured.
The striking healthcare workers for example questioned why they
could not get proportional pay raises in line with those of the
doctors. How are such workers concerns going to be addressed by
the ISGA? While the ISGA proposals have specific sections about
finance, administration of land, accounting, trade, marine resources
etc., the words labor and worker are not even mentioned once.
This silence along with the silence on caste and gender are deeply
troubling; it reflects the spirit of the ISGA as at best indifferent
and more likely against the concerns of the oppressed. The prospect
of economic democracy and more specifically transforming class
and production relations in this context are dismal.
Looking to the Future
The healthcare workers strike has many lessons for those concerned
about democratizing the North and East and economic democracy
in Lanka. First, it clearly highlights the position of the LTTE
with respect to workers rights. That in addition to excelling
at repressing other minorities and political dissent, it will
also become a ruthless machine of economic oppression. The second
lesson to be learned from the courageous strikers in the North
and East is that if there is to be any long lasting change in
the North and East, it will have to come from the ground. Compared
to the games that international facilitators and even international
humanitarian organizations play, this was a real and determined
resistance worthy of hope for change. The third lesson is that
resistance in the North and East has to be on two fronts; both
against the Sri Lankan state and the LTTE, and that it can gain
strength in uniting with progressive forces in the South. That
joining the LTTE to defeat the Sri Lankan state, and vice versa
are both bound for failure in terms of putting forward a progressive
agenda.
Economic democracy gains meaning only in the context of struggles
to democratize, in real struggles unfolding out of history and
in shaping the institutions that may provide for economic democracy.
Hence, while we should look at the ISGA proposals and see what
they may mean for economic democracy in the near future; while
we should engage with the ISGA proposals to include provisions
for participation, transparency, monitoring, accountability and
transforming ethnic, class, gender and caste relations, it may
be equally and in the end, more important to encourage and strengthen
those struggles for economic democracy and to support such mobilizations
and social movements that are the life and blood of democracy.
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