Hamza Haniffa: A strong advocate for a Palestinian homeland By Thalif Deen

Hamza Haniffa, who passed away this week after a brief illness, was a relentless champion of the Palestinian cause, going back to his undergraduate days at the Peradeniya campus in the late 1950s.

Armed with a bachelor’s degree in Western history, he expressed support for some of the liberation movements of the day, including Algeria’s long-drawn-out battle for independence from France.

When Ferhat Abbas, one of the leaders of the Algerian independence movement, visited the Peradeniya University in the early 1960s, Hamza was one of four undergrads who carried him on a chair shoulder-high around campus to loud cheers from undergrads. Abbas later served as the first president of the Provisional Government of the new Algerian Republic.

Hamza was a prize-winning Zahirian schoolboy-wrestler, along with his elder brother Riza Haniffa. He continued his wrestling on campus and also graduated to boxing and bodybuilding when he was judged a finalist in the first-ever Mr. Campus contest. He was the leader of a group of 5 Zahirians, affectionately called “the Arab League,” while his leadership on campus was best exemplified with a title bestowed on him: “War Lord.”

And, when the Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was assassinated in January 1961, there were widespread protests, with the accusing fingers pointing at “Western imperialism”. The protests reached the Peradeniya campus, which was home to many political causes. The two largest political groups on campus—the Trotskyites and the Communists—organised a protest march, with over a hundred undergrads parading along the streets of Peradeniya to the heart of Kandy.

The demonstrators were to meet at the foot of the statue of former British Governor Sir Henry Ward, described as a relict of British colonialism. But unknown to most demonstrators was a hidden agenda: to unceremoniously bring down the statue. And one of the undergrads fished out of his bag a 30-foot-long manila rope while another daring undergrad climbed the statue and put the noose around Ward’s neck.

As 20 of the toughest, heavily built undergrads, with Hamza as the anchorman, kept heaving the long rope, there was a heavy downpour, and the rope snapped, with the protesters suffering a fall on a slippery, rain-swept street. But mercifully, no one was hurt, not even Governor Ward, who stood still.

After graduation, Hamza joined the editorial staff of the Observer as a subeditor, copyediting news stories and feature articles. And this was when he used his editorial skills to launch a popular, widely read monthly tabloid: Al-Islam, in which I was co-editor. Since any such newspaper would have been regarded as a clash of journalistic interest, the entire newspaper was published under a cloak of anonymity.

At a time when Muslim politicians were overwhelmingly supportive of the UNP, Hamza went off the beaten track. The newspaper famously quoted an SLFP Muslim politician, with a vibrant sense of humour, as saying, “I say, our Muslim politicians are capable of only two things: “Eating biriyani and voting UNP”—but not necessarily in that order.

At the Observer, Hamza was religiously dedicated to the Palestinian cause. And not surprisingly, we received an invitation to meet with the Israeli consul general, who had offered several journalists all-expenses-paid trips to Jerusalem to write about the political virtues of Israel. When the envoy offered us a similar trip, Hamza was diplomatic in his response: “We will accept your offer,” he said, “when the Palestinians have a homeland of their own.”