56 Facts About Vivienne Goonewardene

Violet Vivienne Goonewardene, commonly known as "Vivi", was a Sri Lankan anti-colonial activist and prominent politician, serving as one of the world's first female ministers.

Vivienne Goonewardene was the first and, to date, only female National Hero of Sri Lanka.

Vivienne Goonewardene volunteered during the 1934 Malaria Epidemic, at which time she witnessed rampant malnutrition of the poor.

Vivienne Goonewardene served as a prominent member of Parliament, and as President of the All Ceylon Local Government Worker's Union from 1949 until her death.

Vivienne Goonewardene was the eldest of five children born to Dr Don Allenson Goonetilleke, a pro-monarchy conservative who believed in the continuous British rule of Ceylon, and his wife Emily Angeline Gunawardena.

Vivienne Goonewardene was named Vivienne after the French nurse who had helped to deliver her.

Vivienne Goonewardene spent her early youth in Tissamaharama, a remote village in which her father was stationed.

Vivienne Goonewardene's maternal grandfather, Don Jakolis Rupasinghe Gunawardena, was a wealthy landowner having served as the village headman under colonial governance.

Vivienne Goonewardene was known as "Boralugoda Ralahamy" by locals; this came from him being the headman, or ralahamy, of the village of Boralugoda.

Vivienne Goonewardene was a leader in the Buddhist revival of the early 20th Century and was one of those incarcerated by the Governor General, Robert Chalmers, under the pretext of involvement in the Sinhala-Muslim riots of 1915.

Vivienne Goonewardene was educated at Musaeus College, a private girls' school in Colombo along with her younger sister Tulin Kulasinghe.

On Remembrance Day 1934, Vivienne Goonewardene sold the Suriya flower in her school to students and teachers.

Vivienne Goonewardene noted that it was a complete success with the students, but only a half-success with the older generation.

Vivienne Goonewardene did go further, leading fellow students to place their boxes of instruments atop the blackboards and at 11.00 am to topple these, with the subsequent noise masking that of the ceremonial gun salute.

The volunteers, including Vivienne Goonewardene, observed that there was widespread malnutrition among the poor, which was aggravated by the shortage of rice, and which reduced resistance to the disease.

Goonewardene's father, as a traditionalist, opposed the continued education of Vivienne and believed that she should be married off to another man of wealth.

At University College, Vivienne Goonewardene boarded at the women's hostel on Queen's road.

Vivienne Goonewardene attended these meetings with her Aunt Caroline and Uncle Robert.

Vivienne Goonewardene joined the anti-Fascist demonstrations against Spain's Franco organised by the Party in Colombo.

Vivienne Goonewardene continued to secretly attend political rallies in the company of her Aunt Caroline.

Vivienne Goonewardene was a founder of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party in 1935, and served as its Secretary General and leader.

Vivienne Goonewardene was born on 31 October 1909 in Panadura, south-western Ceylon, to the wealthy Methodist Goonewardene family, which was active in local colonial-era politics.

Vivienne Goonewardene was from the well-known Fernando family of 'Whitehall' Katana, one of the wealthiest families in Ceylon, privately owning very significant amounts of land.

Vivienne Goonewardene was later described by Hector Abhayavardhana as "the custodian of the consciousness of the LSSP".

Vivienne Goonewardene was kept a virtual prisoner at home, and Goonewardene was forced to file a habeas corpus writ, a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court, to get her released.

Vivienne Goonewardene settled in Calcutta and established networks with the local Trotskyist organisations, including that of the Uttar Pradesh Trotskyist group, as well as groups in Bombay and Madras.

Vivienne Goonewardene's travel had not yet been restricted as she wasn't, at this time, on the colonial authorities' wanted list.

In India, Vivienne Goonewardene immersed herself in the Quit India Movement, a movement with the demand to end the British Rule of India.

Vivienne Goonewardene remained uncaptured throughout the war years both in Ceylon and India.

In 1943, Vivienne Goonewardene sheltered Jeanne Hoban from the authorities when she was threatened with deportation for organising plantation workers unions.

When Vivienne Goonewardene returned to Sri Lanka following the end of the Second World War, the LSSP was split, with two separate groups under the LSSP name.

Vivienne Goonewardene's return led to her founding and becoming one of the major backers of the world's first socialist women's organisation, United Women's Front or 'Eksath Kantha Peramuna'.

In December 1949, Vivienne Goonewardene stood for the Bolshevik Samasamaja Party to represent the Havelock Town ward of the Colombo Municipal Council.

Vivienne Goonewardene's father passed away on the night of the election, his final query had been "has Vivi won", to which a relative had replied "yes".

Mrs Vivienne Goonewardene moved that the Medical Officers of the Minicipal Council should be requested to hold regular inspection of children of pre-school age in shanty town housing schemes at least once in three months in view of the very high child mortality in the city.

Vivienne Goonewardene remained a member of the Colombo Municipal Council from 1950 until July 1954 and again from 30 January 1960 until December 1969.

Vivienne Goonewardene orchestrated the improvement of sanitation, the provision of lighting and the widening of paths in shanty towns.

Vivienne Goonewardene was instrumental in the organisation of sewing classes for single mothers.

Vivienne Goonewardene became President of Sri Lanka in 1989, coming from a slum area and joining the rival United National Party.

Vivienne Goonewardene had offices outside of the Colombo Municipal Council, allowing her to serve not just her own constituency.

Vivienne Goonewardene was appointed President of the All Ceylon Local Government Worker's Union.

Vivienne Goonewardene brought this up with the Minister of Finance, JR Jayewardene, who proceeded to include Municipal Workers in the bill.

In 1964, while the Sri Lanka Freedom Party leftist coalition was in power, Vivienne Goonewardene demanded parity of status for state employees and CMC workers.

Vivienne Goonewardene remained President of the All Ceylon Local Government Worker's Union until her death.

In 1964, Vivienne Goonewardene was elected as MP for the Borella Electoral District.

Vivienne Goonewardene believed she could have the most impact as Secretary of Home Affairs, so took up the role.

In 1968, Vivienne Goonewardene orchestrated the LSSP joining the SLFP and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka in a United Front.

Vivienne Goonewardene became good friends with Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world's first female Head of State, and proceeded to attend multiple delegations with her.

Vivienne Goonewardene headed the Committee for Solidarity with Palestine, as well as the Arab-Ceylon Solidarity Group.

Vivienne Goonewardene died on 3 October in Colombo in 1996 following a heart attack few months before her 80th birthday celebrations which saw guests ranging from multiple past and present Sri Lankan presidents and Prime ministers, alongside an envoy from Cuba.

Vivienne Goonewardene was mourned by all on the Left and there was a week of mourning announced.

The funeral of Vivienne Goonewardene took place at Borella Kanatte, and there was a kilometre long funeral procession via motorcade, attended by tens of thousands of onlookers.

Vivienne Goonewardene fought for the rights and welfare of all.

Vivienne Goonewardene was designated as the first female National Hero of Sri Lanka after her death and was featured on multiple postal stamps; she, and the other National Heroes are celebrated each year on the national holiday of Independence Day.

Vivienne Goonewardene is cited, to this day, as one of the greatest Sri-Lankan women of all time for her contributions to feminism, and the Sri Lankan independence movement.

Vivienne Goonewardene was widely celebrated in 2016 on the Hundredth Anniversary of her birth.