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Why the Liberation Tigers are not Liberation Fighters
Thursday, 24 July 2008 - 6:50 PM SL Time
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At its worst, a little learning can indeed be a dangerous thing, but at any time it can be exceedingly annoying. As Marx once expostulated `ignorance never helped anyone yet`. In recent days the Sri Lankan press has seen the most careless flinging about of analogies, with the LTTE being written of in the same paragraphs as the IRA, the ANC, Hezbollah, Hamas and Nepal`s Maoists. Either the Sri Lankan state or the LTTE is urged to adopt these situations/movements as a model. This is simply ridiculous because one cannot profitably compare apples and oranges, chalk and cheese. The LTTE, while certainly not unique, does not belong to the any of the categories that the earlier mentioned movements or struggles belong to.
The relationship between the UK and Ireland was a colonial one, with the UK being a metropolitan imperialist power, and Ireland being Britain`s first and oldest colony. Britain invaded, occupied and settled Ireland with Scottish Presbyterians. Sri Lanka is a former colony, not a former colonial power, and its relationship with the largely Tamil North, though arguably iniquitous, is certainly not - and could not have been-a colonial one. The IRA`s struggle was therefore a residual national liberation struggle, complicated by the demographics (the Protestant minority of the North whose elected MPs were vital to the balance of power in Westminster).
After three decades, the Provisional IRA realized that a military victory over the British presence was impossible to achieve. The LTTE has not realized that. The LTTE murdered or attempted to murder those it negotiated with (Premadasa, CBK), moderate ethnic politicians (Amirthalingam), foreign intermediaries (Rajiv Gandhi) and its own negotiators (Mahattaya). The equivalent conduct would have been the IRA murdering Tony Blair, John Hume, George Mitchell and Martin MacGuinness. The IRA had a powerful political arm, the Sinn Fein, which had been in existence for decades. It contested elections in Northern Ireland since the early 1980s, though it refused to take its seats in the Stormont parliament. The LTTE registered a political party as late as 1990, dissolved it in short order, arresting and murdering its chairman, Gopalaswamy Mahendrarajah alias Mahattaya. The IRA did no such thing, because the IRA was no such monstrosity.
The IRA agreed to a settlement which entailed the de-commissioning of weapons under international auspices. The political contours of the settlement fell well short of what the IRA had fought for: troops out of Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland out of the UK. Northern Ireland remains very much part of the UK, the IRA shares power with their Protestant foes and Britain remains a unitary state, unconverted to federalism but with devolution of power. The LTTE has done no such thing because it is no such creature.
Contrary to the nonsensical nattering of some columnists, it is not the case that the Tigers were not offered a reasonable alternative to Tamil Eelam. India did so, with the Indo-Lanka Accord. Though Sinhala chauvinist limited the scope of devolution, Prabhakaran did not go to war against the Sinhala Army - which was `gated` by the IPKF-but against the Indian peacekeeping force, proceeding to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi on Indian soil in 1991. Premadasa was willing to give Prabhakaran `the North east on a silver platter` according to Anita Pratap (Island of Blood), but that wasn`t good enough. Nor was Chandrika`s offer of a restructuring of the Sri Lankan polity into a union of regions. True, Sinhala opinion was opposed to it, but it is not as if Prabhakaran sat down and concurred. He had broken off contacts by blowing up two naval gunboats in Trincomalee harbour-and for his pains, lost Jaffna at the end of that year, never to regain it. Contrary to the lie that federalism was never on the horizon, it is the Tigers that pulled back from and disowned the Oslo understanding to `explore a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka`. Anton Balasingham wrote a tract disclaiming any such understanding and provoked even the Norwegians into releasing the minutes of the talks containing that understanding. Lastly, we have the example of the LTTE`s sabotage of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesingthe`s Presidential campaign, which, had it been successful, would have resulted in a discussion - though not inevitably an acceptance - of the ISGA and/or PTOMS.
Given that both the structural situation and the actors are very different from Sri Lanka and the LTTE, the Northern Ireland model is no model at all.
Things turn even more irksome for the informed reader when encountering references to the ANC, Hezbollah, Hamas and Nepal`s Maoists as recommended models for the Tigers.
Full Story:
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080724_03
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Kusum
Joined: Oct 2006
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 24 Jul 2008 14:37:40 GMT Report for Abuse
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There is a lot of truth here. Prabakaran's goal is not to end Tamil suffering, but to increase and make use of it.
Edited By - Kusum - 24 Jul 2008 14:41:31 GMT |
Thambi
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 24 Jul 2008 15:16:08 GMT Report for Abuse
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Defense.lk should focus on defense , if this is part of propaganda fighting with LTTE , then fine , otherwise do not confuse sinhala people !
Nelson Mandela and IRA ARE GOOD EXAMPLEs ,HOW THE TERRORIST LABEL WORKS ON , they are not terrorist , they are freedom fighters 'ONE MAN'S FREEDOM FIGHTER OTHER MANS TERRORIST ' NO NEED AN EXPLANATION . |
Pathi1
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 24 Jul 2008 17:01:55 GMT Report for Abuse
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Kusum, I agree with you. Even Tamils live in areas under ltte control are aware of it. Only the Tamils live in south and other countries support these terrorists. Definitely they are a terrorist group.
Edited By - Pathi1 - 24 Jul 2008 17:17:07 GMT |
noworries
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 24 Jul 2008 17:51:59 GMT Report for Abuse
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There's a massive difference between the IRA and the LTTE. The most important one is that the IRA was fighting to re-unite a nation divided by Britain, the LTTE are fighting to DIVIDE a UNITED nation!!
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nale
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24 Jul 2008 20:09:24 GMT Report for Abuse
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The LTTE is fighting for independance from the sinhala State terrorists who had occupied with the help of British imperialism - the independant Thamil Homeland - which existed when the Dutch and the Portugese colonised the Island.Then when British took over the Island from the Portugese,for their administrative convenienc they made Island as one nation,the same way they made several kingdom in the sub-continent to state of India.
Sinhala Nazi barbariens are last one in the planet to say that the LTTE is not a liberation organisation. |
Damed
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 24 Jul 2008 20:35:25 GMT Report for Abuse
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Prabakaran would have succeed if 60 Million Tamils Supported him,where sri lankan Tamil Diaspora abandoned the struggle mid way.
He is struggling for man power...LTTE needs more liberators.
Most Tamils went abroad and settled with there relatives,making innocent young generations to perish.
Edited By - Damed - 24 Jul 2008 20:36:27 GMT |
kiwikanga
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 24 Jul 2008 21:02:52 GMT Report for Abuse
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DIVIDE a UNITED nation!!
United in what way? SL as a nation is devided politically, racially, by cast, by class and by relegion. There is absolutely no unity.
Even before the Portugese Dutch and British arrived wasn't there a division by way of Ruhunu Rata, Maaya Rata and Pihiti Rata? |
noworries
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24 Jul 2008 22:09:31 GMT Report for Abuse
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'nation is devided politically, racially, by cast, by class and by relegion.'
You don't get the point. Anyway, differences are not divisions. Show me any sizable nation where class, political, racial, linguistic, or ethnic differences (or a combination of these factors) doesn't exist. Should they all be split up? This is a very naive view. I am old enough to remember when there was true unity in our land despite differences. I'd argue that in much of the country it still does exist. Most Sri Lankans regardless of ethnic, language, religious, class, or caste differences want to live in a united country where differences can peacefully coexist. I don't know of any country where there isn't tension between different groups of people from time to time, perhaps you can enlighten me.
Anyway, my point was that in an article which complains about LTTE being compared to IRA amongst others, no mention was made about the key difference between the IRA and LTTE, the former fighting to unite, the latter fighting to divide. I know which one has greater legitimacy in the eyes of the world and even they were persuaded to give up their armed struggle. It's only a matter of time....... |
Ariyalai_SB
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 25 Jul 2008 08:14:32 GMT Report for Abuse
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Noworries,
Anyway, my point was that in an article which complains about LTTE being compared to IRA amongst others, no mention was made about the key difference between the IRA and LTTE, the former fighting to unite, the latter fighting to divide. I know which one has greater legitimacy in the eyes of the world and even they were persuaded to give up their armed struggle. It's only a matter of time.......
No one has said that both struggles of IRA and LTTE are directly comparable. The Irish Catholic community of Northern Ireland endured harsh discrimination at the hands of the Protestant community. The basis for Catholic support for the IRA was based on this very fact. This situation is directly comparable to the Tamils issue in Sri Lanka, that the LTTE enjoy the Tamil support because of their perception that they have been wronged.
How did the British Government approach this issue having realised that a military option was futile? They appointed a Royal Commission headed by the Right. Hon. Chris Pattron, which after two years came up with 90 recommendations. The British Government accepted and fully implemented them including the restructure of the police constabulary. By doing so, all Catholic grievances had been alleviated leaving the IRA in an untenable predicament.
This was the foundation of the Irish Peace advancement, basically it takes two to tango!
What did the successive Governments of Sri Lanka do to alleviate the Tamil Grievances? |
Ruhunu
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25 Jul 2008 17:43:20 GMT Report for Abuse
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They are the worst type of terrorists
Edited By - Ruhunu - 25 Jul 2008 17:44:23 GMT |
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