| Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions |
Sri Lankan News & Discussions |
|
Report this post by 'CholaPandyan' for abuse
When you submit an abuse report, the modetrator will take an immediate look at this post and his/her previous posts to
see if there are any posting guideline violations are done by 'CholaPandyan'.
|
|
[What can and should Tamils do if LTTE (Tamil Militancy) fails?
by E. A. V. Naganathan Is the path of armed resistance adopted by the LTTE the only course open to Tamils? NO. There are in my view two insuperable and inevitable objections to the militarism advocated by the LTTE. Firstly, it is out of date. The world unfortunately for Mr. Prabhakaran does not look favourable on totalitarianism, especially where it is in tandem with terrorism. The trend increasingly is towards democracy. Maybe, because of a growing conviction that even the worst-run democracy is usually more just, more peaceful, and even more prosperous than the best-run dictatorship. So there can be no quarrel between Tamil rights of nationality and democracy, because, as a part of the great whole of humanity, the Tamils have a claim on democracy, and the LTTE and all its works, just does not fit into this wider and futuristic framework. Secondly, the LTTE methodology of militancy is proving far too expensive in terms of Tamil lives and resources. The question has been asked whether any other strategy could have coped with the violence of the Sri Lankan state practiced on the Tamils since 1956. The answer is that violent militancy, too, has failed to deliver, instead devastating the North and East and stalking the Tamils with displacement and death. There is an alternative that I support and that is Non-Violent Direct Action, exemplified several decades ago by the Civil Rights Movement under Martin Luther King in the USA, and in our own times by the Falun Gong Movement in China, which are very practical alternative techniques to militancy-cum-terrorism. I see several features in this strategy which are positive and relevant to the Tamil people everywhere. Firstly, it will involve large masses, if not all, of the Tamil people. No longer will the lucky ones, who managed to get or stay away and are currently marketing their brains or brawn aboard or in the non-combatant zone in the country, be able to get the vicarious satisfaction of participating in the `struggle` by simply opening their purses from time to time, leaving it to the rustic inhabitants of the `uncleared` area of the North and East to face the reality in all its nastiness. Secondly, it will preclude the enormous waste of resources in the purchase of arms, presently finding its way into the pockets of the global merchants of death, which could be far better spent in rehabilitating the N. and E., presently lying in ruins. Personally, I find the spectacle of 3rd party Tamils gloating over the conflict on their TV screens or in the headlines of newspapers, deplorable. The alternative I support provides a less unethical, less immoral and certainly less mortal route to the same experience of involvement - and it is open to every Tamil. In line with this thinking I suggest that all Tamil parties should establish their permanent headquarters in the North and the East. So, also, the Tamil social service organizations or humanitarian agencies. All the foreign NGOs have already done so. The Hindu cultural and religious organizations should follow suit. The Tamil people everywhere else should consider it their bounden duty to look after their less-fortunate brethren in the N. and E. as a priority, live soberly, and demonstrate to the rest of the world that they take their responsibilities as a people, seriously and ethically Non-violence with Direct Action is not naive, but a rough factor for real politic based on careful study of human psychology. There is the Tamils evolution in the revolutionary tactics of non-violence to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Mr. Thondaman s prayer campaigns were a case in point. It will enable the Tamils and the parties to appeal with confidence to the conscience of the international community, as expressed in international law, world opinion and international institutions. It will realistically facilitate an UN-sponsored armistice and UN-supervised referendum that will hand back the Tamil land to the Tamil people. I believe that it is for the Tamil people in the North and East to decide how they wish to settle the Tamil question - to plagiarize Al Gore, `Let the people have their say`. There has been no properly elected civilian representation in the N. and E. since 1977 - a period of 23 years in which a whole generation has grown to maturity without experiencing democracy in action. The Tamil peoples will can only be vindicated after this lapse of 23 years, if they have an opportunity of expressing that will at free and fair elections. This is not possible, regrettably, under the present dispensation, whether it be the present Government or the Opposition that is in power. It can only be feasible under the auspices of an UN-sponsored Election Monitoring Team. All current peace initiatives seem directed towards one end - talks with LTTE. I am sorry, but I do not see that as an equation that is ipse facto, true. Does the LTTE, or for that matter any of the Tamil parties, have a mandate from the Tamil people? The peace groups, the Government, the Opposition, the Norwegians, the British seem to accept this as an axiom. No one has, however, cared to test it with the Tamil people. That is why I say that it is time that Tamil people everywhere, whether in the `cleared`, or `uncleared` areas, or in the rest of the country, or abroad, demand their right to an open forum in which to have their say. How create the conditions for the Tamil people to exercise their right to enter the debate and negotiate the final answer to the Tamil question that concerns them most? My suggestion is, in the context of the inability or unwillingness of all these parties concerned to keep the peace in the North and East, that a UN Elections Monitoring Team be called in to install a properly elected, civilian government, freely chosen and clothed with power and responsibility. This is the rationale for UN intervention. For one thing, it will yoke all the Tamil parties, including the LTTE, into agreements and arrangements that explicitly provide for democracy and human rights safeguards. In addition, life in the N. and E. will return to normal. What that means can, perhaps, best be expressed in terms of the reverse of all the abnormal, aberrant behaviourism that have been observed in that land in recent times. Every opportunity should be grasped by the Tamil people and parties alike to establish links with groups of enlightened Sinhalese opinion that perceive the good of all implicit in breaking the hold of the present Sinhala ruling class over the affairs of the country, defeating majoritarianism and replacing the present unitarianism and centrist structure of government by a new confederative structure or consociation of nationalities. This, in a plural society such as ours, is the only suitable vehicle for democracy, according parity, equality and tolerance at all levels of government and society and culture and liberating the down-trodden and oppressed, whether Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malaya or Burgher or other, so that they may live in peace, dignity and concord, without either class or ethnic bias and where there is scope for all without the one subsuming the other. (An extract from an article * What can Tamil people and Tamil Political Parties, do to resolve Tamil question? * written by E. A. V. Naganathan)] Right from the day the British gave Sri Lanka independence, the Sinhala leadership had a hidden agenda. They wanted to make the multi-ethnic Sri Lanka into a mono-ethnic (Sinhala) country. DS Senanayake started the Sinhalization process by colonizing the Sinhalese in Tamil areas, changing the Tamil area names into Sinhala names and then systematically convert the Tamils or naturalize/nationalize by promoting inter-marriages with Sinhalese, etc. He was very successful, the Tamils including their leaders were sleeping. It was only the power hungry SWRD Bandaranayke woke up the Tamil leaders by introducing the *Sinhala Only* act. From then till the early eighties the Tamil leaders managed to stop the Sinhala governments from colonizing the Tamil areas and later the Tamil militancy (LTTE) was able to protect the Tamil lands from Sinhala settlers. Now, if the Tamil militancy (LTTE) fails, what are we Tamils going to do? Are we going to elect as our leaders, those Sinhala government bootlickers who betrayed us, those like Douglas, Ananda Sangaree, Karuna, and so on to further ruin our homeland? Are we going to allow the Sinhala government to colonize the Sinhalese in Tamil areas? Are we going to let the Sinhalese erect Buddha statues in Tamil and Muslim Areas? Are we going to let the Sinhala government to change the Tamil area names into Sinhala? It is high time that the Tamils in Sri Lanka and abroad realize that unity among us is our first priority. It is time for the Tamils to unite by leaving our petty differences. The Northern (Jaffna) Tamils, the Eastern (Batticaloa) Tamils, the Upcountry (estate) Tamils, and the Tamils of Tamil Nadu should unite as one Tamil Nation. It is only then we can do wonders. If there is a sign that the Tamil militancy (LTTE) is failing, then the Tamils should not waste any time. We should get ready for our next step. What is our next strategy? The above writer is giving a wonderful suggestion, can we follow what he is saying? If not, then what is our next plan of action? Let us Tamils get ready with our next strategy, or action plans to protect our homeland from Sinhala occupation and settlements. Let us get ready to protect our race, language and culture in our homeland. |
(C) 2000-2008 www.lankanewspapers.com - Sri Lankan News & Discussions - Contact Us - RSS Feed - News Archives - src - FAQ |
Search All News and Discussions