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| Sunday, 4 May 2003 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 Labour May 1st is the annual day that celebrates the life and work of the working classes of the world. By 'working classes' there is in use a specific meaning of all the people, particularly the wage-earners who belong to certain social classes. These are those people of the lower and lower-middle income categories who labour in their millions in the industrial, commercial and other work places and fields to keep the wheels of the national economy turning. The societal contribution of the working classes in this country must certainly be upheld and honoured not only annually but constantly and in every social practice from due professional recognition to remuneration. While honouring the contribution of the working masses, however, it is not possible to honour or otherwise dignify their lot or predicament in this country. The predicament of the working classes of this country is a pitiful if not tragic one. It is one of the burning social issues of our time. The Sri Lankan working masses underwent a colonial experience that left them a battered, malnourished social sector, thoroughly exploited and socially weakened. Even if this has prompted these classes to politically mobilise and struggle for their rights, it has been a long, hard struggle and their rights have been won with blood as well as sweat and political activism. A half-century of freedom from colonial rule has not seen any significant social liberation of the country's working masses from their own economic and social bonds of poverty and industrial and agricultural exploitation. The degree of their political mobilisation has been such, however, that the socially dominant classes, especially the dominant socio-economic elite can no longer ignore or sideline the workers. The power of the electoral ballot by sheer strength of numbers has placed the working classes on the political map of the country. The significance of their political organisation is such that national economic policy cannot be formulated without some form of consultation with the workers organisations, such as the trade unions. That is why successive governments, whatever their party ideologies, have had to genuflect to the power of the working classes. A considerable corpus of legislation enacted in favour of the workers have made Sri Lankan workers among the most privileged in Asia. But privileges alone will not satisfy the millions of people who labour on but are compensated for the labour-time with only a meagre pittance that is barely enough for physical survival let alone social and cultural well-being. No privileges or 'rights' of workers can compensate for extreme deprivation and their human consequences in the form of malnutrition, family disruption, social violence, delinquency, and crime. Happily this country's political leadership is keenly aware of these social needs and even today, in the teeth of national economic hardship and pressures of foreign donor agencies, successive governments have shown the capacity to ensure that social well-being of the masses of toilers is protected in some form even as economic strictures are complied with. The powerful, tragic explosions of social violence that have occurred both North and South in these post-Independence decades have served to emphasise the need to keep such dire social issues such as poverty and socio-economic rights on the immediate policy horizons of planners and strategists. No strategy for economic recovery can go forward in a significant manner without ensuring that the working masses interests are also protected and their social lot is improved. Expression Yesterday, May 3rd, the world community marked as 'World Press Freedom Day'. The mass communication media in this country too must commemorate this day as one of importance to the life of this country's media industry. Modern democracy depends on the mass media, originally the Press, to provide an environment of free expression that, in turn, enables the free practice of the will of the people. 'Press Freedom' then, does not merely mean the facility for media organisations and ventures to operate freely. More importantly, it means the ability of the mass media to facilitate the freedom of expression of all sections of the people. |
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