Conditions that contributed to the origin & development of the political violence movement (PVM) in Sri Lanka: The case of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP)

Abstract

The political evolution of Sri Lanka since independence has been marked by general strikes as in 1947, 1953, 1981, ethnic riots, as in 1956, 1958, 1977,1979, and 1983, and insurrections. Of these incidents of violence, insurrections, have posed a formidable challenge to the political system in Sri Lanka since the. beginning of the 1970s', These insurrections have varied in its origin and forms. There have been insurrections motivated by a need to make revolutionary changes in the socio-economic and political structure and in the related institution. The insurrection of April 1971 and the violence waged from 1987 to 1989 by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or the Peoples Liberation Front represented the above mentioned violence. Some of it has been either associated with or resulted from the separatist ethno-nationalist movement. The separatist guerrilla war waged by the LTTE in the northern and eastern provinces since the mid 1970s has been an example of this category. The crux of this political violence is the struggle between the forces that endeavor to preserve the status quo and those which urge revolutionary or separatist change. On the whole it may be said that the political violence which has characterized Sri Lanka's political processes since the early 1970's is a manifestation of a crisis that is inherent in the country's political and socio-economic structures,