January 16, 2010

Capitalism Has no Tears for the Young

On the 13th of Jan 2010, 15 year old Eresh Madusanka, son of a poor farmer, started his day waiting for a bus to his school at the village stop of Akmimana in Galle district. Little Eresh did not know that death was approaching very fast in the form a bus. When he boarded the overcrowded bus, he was forced to hang out on the footboard. As the bus started moving fast, Eresha’s weak hands could not hold on to the railings and loosened, as he slipped  from the front door entry of the bus he was run over by the rear wheels of the bus completely smashing his face within minutes. Only mangled flesh remained on the road.

This is not a rare occurrence on the roads of the Island country. Everyday, hundreds of people die in road accidents which are totally avoidable, but the capitalist class with its greed for huge profits has worsened the transport situation.

Eresha was the eldest son of H.A. Samarasena, a leading comrade of USP in the Galle District. Sirituga Jayasuriya, the Presidential candidate, took time out of his hectic campaign tour and rushed to Samarasena’s house to console the parents and show his solidarity at the time of this extremely unfortunate incident. During his presence there, while mourning with the parents, he explained to them how the hunger for profits has ruined hundreds of youngsters by killing them in road accidents. It is futile on the part of the capitalist parties in the elections to promise the moon to the ordinary people, but fail completely to solve the practical problems such as transport, schools and colleges in every town, and hospitals in every village etc. Siritunga correctly pointed out that only a socialist society can genuinely solve the problems of the poor in the country.