A thread for discussing Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers

I had Sri Lanka in mind a little bit when we were talking about Kurds and I started wondering how the west wants to respond or should respond to ethnic independence movements.

GT, I can only add words of condolence that seem like bitterly little, even to me. Please understand that I'm just tired of the whole mess. The whole bloody, stupid, mess. Like poor ILM poster Alex in SF, the world outside Sri Lanka has tried to understand what the hell is going on with the Sri Lankan people and then gave up in baffled dismay.

The Sri Lankan govt. doesn't represent ANYONE! Can't you see that? To generalize, Ranil Wickramasinga is following the capitalistic/"line my pockets quick!" tendencies of his UNP party by soothing the LTTE to seduce foreign aid and investors. Chandrika Bandaranayake has lost her father, watched her mother rule with an iron first, and lost her own eye to politics, (there's a letter bomb for you, if I'm not mistaken) and reverts to the barking mad isolationist cravings of the SLFP.

A glib but perhaps apt comparison might be the French revolution. The aristocracy suck, but the revolutionaries won't stop beheading people.

Only this is actually more of a fucking mess. What can you say when the govt actually slipped arms to the LTTE, as Parvati also mentioned above? My family left the country because my Sinhalese father was on a hit list...but the people out to get him were Sinhalese thugs taking advantage of the Govt/LTTE/JVP/IPKF/fucking-alphabet-soup confusion, to take out people who'd pissed them off. Then what else to think about the fact that my father was a cruel and arrogant man who pissed on anyone in a lesser position? From a perspective that's not mine, he probably deserved it, yeah?

Here's a question: if the LTTE wins this 'fight' and the NE secedes, what kind of goverment would the LTTE set up? Will there be elections? Would anyone dare form a competing party? Would a group that's justified its tactics in the name of 'the cause' be able to set aside those tactics? What would the border between Eelam and the now-smaller Sri Lanka be like? Let me speculate: two endless lines of impoverished, scared, forcibly conscripted young men (and women, go you feminist Tigers!) staring at each other from behind machine guns. Do you think this will ever end with Eelam?

Haha wait don't feel bad for me! And I'm not giving up in baffled dismay! I'm keeping up the good fight of trying to grasping all the nuances of the situation in baffled dismay!

Even fierce fighters are humbled by a little girl's charms.

you mean Elastica?

i just found out i have a Tamil middle name. 'Jagan'.

(if anybody knwos what this means, i'd like to hear)

ANYWAY folks -- I admit I set up this thread to talk about Sri Lanka/Tamil stuff because people wanted to talk MIA stuff on the MIA thread, so y'know... ;-)

But isn't this thread about the intricacies of Sri Lankan politics not first wave of britpop bands?

(does this make sense?)

x-post

Anthony, it sounds, it is insane, but unfortunately a lot of Israelis (and American supporters of Israel are in some cases EVEN more so) ARE insane and I know that what you are talking about is exactly what they DO believe.

Cicatrix, I was really glad to hear your voice on these two threads. I identify with a lot of things you have said, and it's rare for me to see that in someone of my own age from SL. So often, the Sri Lankans of my age I have met in the West have been very rich ones, who have always been insulated from the conflict, or richer relatives over here who left a very long time ago, and their children grew up here.

I have never before written such open criticism of the Tigers before. It feels strangely liberating but also kind of nerve wracking. But it feels good to occasionally say this stuff out loud.

The difference would be, the Jews got their Israel externally. Our struggle is very similar to the Palestinian struggle in this regard. It's an internal struggle, and it's violent.

Also, this is the other big difference there were hardly any Jews living in Israel when Israel was formed. The Tamils have been living in Sri Lanka for ages. I really don't want to go into who got there first, because it's really irrelevant.

If that offended anybody, I'm sorry. Those were just my observations.

Since you brought it up, GT, I hardly think it's irrelevent. The Sinhalese arrived around 500B.C. when Prince Vijaya got kicked out of India, and washed ashore in Sri Lanka. He, and his followers, proceeded to marry into/kill off the indigenous population. This indigenous population dates back to neolithic times, at least 16,000BC, and still exists, marginalized and dwindling in numbers, in the forests of Sri Lanka. Their fate a source of shame that no one addresses.

Over the next two millenia the Sinhalese evolved into a distinct ethnic group, speaking a language spoken nowhere else, and adhering to the most orthodox (for lack of a better word) Theravada buddhist beliefs. They've always been paranoid about being invaded by the gigantic hordes of Indians who lived barely a whisper away.

Small numbers of Tamils migrated to SL over the years, spurred on by droughts that hit South India, virtually wading over when the Palk Strait dried up. Moors, Malays, Christians, and various other ethnic/religious groups also grew as spice traders and merchants decided they liked the country and stuck around. The Sinhala kings often hired the Muslims as their trade representatives. Then around 600 A.D. the Tamil kingdom in South India invaded, and established the Chola Kingdom in the Northern part of Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese were evicted and the Sinhalese King retreated to the Southwest. Though the chola dynasty was conquered and the Sinhalese ragained control of the whole island after century or two, the Sinhalese began to develop a sense of being besieged. The Sri Lankan Tamils are decendants of this Chola kingdom.

Around 1600 the Portugues and Dutch colonized parts of the country (never the whole, or the Kings). Their descendants are now refered to as Burghers. The British succeeded where the others failed by infiltrating the Sinhala court and promising the throne to any courtier who killed the king. Of course, once the King and his kin were killed, the British took over.

From 1800 on the British brought Tamils over in large numbers when the Sinhalese would riot, or go on strike, in bids for Independance. This is when Tamil-Sinhalese tensions began. The British also forbid the teaching of Sinhalese or Buddhism, and allowed only English in schools. Tamils were given state jobs, and their greater fluency in English lead to economic advantages. The Sinhalese hold this as a grievance. The British also focused economic development in the Southwest, near the capital, Colombo. The Tamils, being mostly in the Northeast, blame post-independance goverments for not doing anything to rectify this imbalance and hold that as a grievance.
Tamil -Sinhalese alliances were formed in the early 1900s in the name of nationalism, and were ruthless crushed by the British.

In the scramble for power after Independence, Senanayake's opponents were mainly communists and Tamils (who were fewer than 15% of the population, but controlled almost half the wealth, white-collar job, positions at Universities, etc. enriched by the British.) In a power play, Senanayake stripped hill-country Tamils of their citizenship. It was a political move, to weaken his opposition. As his policies failed, and people starved, Bandaranayake swept into office by further making scape-goats of the Tamils. Tamils organized, and the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) supported Jayawardana. With his win in 1977 the TULF became involved in the parliment, Tamil became an offical language, and the citizenship issue was no longer a question. However, a TULF faction comprised mostly of students became increasingly violent and splintered into what is now the LTTE. In 1983, the LTTE massacred an army patrol in the North, setting off a retaliatory orgy of rioting by Sinhalese mobs, who targeted Tamils and burned homes.

So much for the history lesson. I tried to be objective, but my apologies if I skimped on parts ..I tried to keep it zipping along.

I guess my point is that Sri Lanka was actually a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, relatively cosmopolitan country. The British created a situation wherein the Sinhalese felt disenfranchised. Post-independance, politicians manipulated this sentiment to win elections, and violence by the LTTE has only firmed-up this belief.

Do you see the stupidity in BOTH sides feeling oppressed? The fact that Sri Lankan Tamils and 50 million South Indian Tamils share the same language, religion and customs adds to the Sinhalese feeling of being besieged.

Again, I'm not defending or justifying anything done by the Sinhalese. Just presenting their side on this board.

I have a question, however. Does anyone know how the LTTE are funded? I'm sure GT is correct in saying that sympathetic Sri Lankan Tamil expats donate money. I also know several South Indian Tamil families that donate money. But are there more? Is that the only source of revenue?

Re funding - I believe that besides donations, the Tigers also are involved in a number of money making exercises. I think they own a shipping company that is pretty lucrative. They probably engage in quite a bit of illegal economic activity also.

thnx so much for the history lesson

Cicatrix, after that last post I really have a hard time believing you are half Tamil!

Anyways, in the version I heard it was the Tamils who were in Sri Lanka first. The people you claimed to be "indigenous population" were infact Tamils. Since Sinhalese themselves have admitted Tamils were from Tamil Nadu, let me pose a question to you.. Doesn't it seem possible that we would have come to Sri Lanka first because Tamil Nadu is separated from Sri Lanka by only a small distance? I'm sure you have heard of Adam's Bridge? It's a group of shoals between Mannar, Tamil Eelam and Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu. The water is so shallow that ships can't cross it. Anyways, the point is, in the early days it would have possible for the Tamils to have arrived in Sri Lanka way before Vijaya.

I'm not trying to tell you my version of the story is true, and yours is not. I know that the government is biased, and I'm sure the Tamils were biased when they did research too. But it doesn't erase the fact that both versions had possibilities of being true. We are dealing with ancient history here. So anything could have really happened! Who knows maybe Martians were there first! That is why I really believe who got there is irrelevant. If that is irrelevant, most Americans & Canadians should go back to where ever they came from.

What I do know is that Tamils have been living there when recorded history took place. When history was recorded by a third party. Even so, Tamils are only asking for the North East, where most of us are living now, in the present. Even though there are Tamils living in Hill Country, we are not asking that as part of our Tamil Eelam.

Anyhow, if you are really questioning our claim, then ask your self this. Where did the Government of Sri Lanka ship the Tamil people from the South to when they became refugees when the anti-Tamil riots occured in 1983? That's right, they were shipped to the North East, our Tamil Eelam!

As for your obsesstion with South Indians, do you know that it's illegal in India to support LTTE? I guess you have never heard of Vaiko being jailed under POTA for supporting LTTE?

Also, I believe 25% of the population of Sri Lanka is Tamil Speaking. 12% of Sri Lankans are Tamils who have been living in Sri Lanka for ages. 6% of Sri Lankans are Tamils brought in from India by the British to work in the Tea Plantations. 7% of the population is called 'Moors', they are Muslims who are descendents of arab settlers. They also speak Tamil.

In anycase, I really feel for the Tamils of Indian origin. Those people were stripped of their citzenship by previous governments. Some were even shipped back to India event though they were 2nd or 3rd generation. The saddest part is that they are still living in horrible conditions.

GT, you're proving my point about why it's impossible to come to a peaceful solution. Mixed in with your opinions and stories are personal attacks that have nothing to do with this board and why we're here. Your beligerent and sarcastic tone is becoming really hard to ignore...I really hoped we could be above this sort of pettiness.

As you seem to want to speak for the Tamil seperationists, I will address you. I, for one, don't presume to speak for anyone but myself, so please don't paint me out to be some government puppet. I have stated REPEATEDLY my views on the govt. and that I present the Sinhala perspective for the sake of balance on this board. Parvati mentioned that the LTTE doesn't tolerate dissent. You are certainly proving the truth in that statement.

My god, you want to go back to 16,000 BC, and take that as some sort of claim to the land? Don't you think that back then people were too busy sharpening flints to even HAVE ethnic divisions? I don't think Dravidians existed back then, let alone Tamils!!

I think I was perfectly clear in pointing out that the Sinhalese were invaders who tossed aside and shamefully treated the people who were there before them. Yet you want to shove the Tamil-speaking Muslim Moors under your 25% 'Tamil Speaking' catagory to bolster the numbers though the LTTE kicked them out of the Northeast, out of their homes, as Parvati also mentioned. My best friend as a child, my FIRST best friend, was a Muslim girl who lived across the street. We grew up speaking Tamil together (until my family moved towns when I was 5) and she, and her mother, and MY mother would have laughed themselves silly if someone tried to lump us all together.

I said the Sinhalese were paranoid and have historically felt besieged by South India. How is this MY obsession? Some Indian Tamil friends in school told me their parents sent money to the LTTE. The kids themselves were Western-born and not political, and I don't wear my Sri Lankan-ness or my political views on my sleeve, so they had no idea what a loaded bit of info they just passed on. Not that I could do anything but shrug...It's all too complicated and emotionally charged to explain, the kids didn't really care one way or another....and I'm not the type to make a Sinhalese lion stencil and graffitti art galleries with it.

I am here to learn, and to bring another perspective to this board. I'd like to continue the generally open, receptive and thoughtful tone of this discussion. You can wave a flag for Eelam all you want, but please don't be so myopic as to think that I'm doing the same for the Sinhalese people.

I don't really want to continue to post to the MIA thread, but I wanted to respond to a post there by Alex, at least here.

It is not "chicken Littlish" to worry about the Tigers. Can't say too much here, but some of our skies have already fallen down, in ways that a lot of people cannot conceive.

My life will never recover from what they did. My sky did fall in.

GT, if you look at Tamil politics you'll see that before the Tigers started getting rid of other parties, there were many many different groups representing this community. Tamils didn't think alike about how to end discrimination and oppression by the Sinhalese. Splinter groups on splinter groups. Even if you look at pro Tiger Tamils, and talk to them you'll find they have diverging views.

My time in Sri Lanka and in the West has taught me to loathe nationalisms in various guises. It's mostly about excluding certain people. It's about setting rigid boundaries on who belongs.

And often, it's about denying the humanity of those who don't.

When you see it in action, it's unimaginable.

Woah woah two different things here! I didn't say that it was "Chicken Little-ish" to worry about the Tigers (esp. if you live in Sri Lanka.) Nor would I dispute the effect that LTTE have had on yours' and other folks' lives. What I said was "Chicken Little-ish" was the idea that M.I.A.'s albums and interviews were political propaganda of a type that was going to result in a vast negative effect for the Sinhalese folks in Sri Lanka or any sort of really widespread positive feeling for the LTTE in the West.

Just a question: can we begin a list of Sri Lankan authors/musicians/artists who've addressed the war in their work? I'd like to keep in on this thread, if that's ok, because I don't think the list will be very long. (Hopefully, I'm wrong about that.)

So.. the first that pops to mind is the novel "Anil's Ghost," by Michael Ondaatje.

I thought this was a South African "invention"...? Sadly human brutality, like the imagination, knows no bounds...

No need to apologize -- this is obviously a fraught subject and while tensions will be high here I've actually seen much worse threads in terms of real invective obscuring the argument. And thanks for suggesting other areas of discussion!

Ani's Ghost is well worth reading, if you are interested in a humanist, evocative, non-partisan story situated around the war. I think it's spot-on. My relatives who moved here decades ago hated it. "Why does he have to make us look like a bunch of savages?!" I think, was the primary reason given. Typical, aspirational-immigrant, 'don't look bad in front of the white people' response. Ondaatje is Tamil-speaking, but from a seperate, tiny, sub-ethnic group, I believe.

Another book is "Funny Boy" by Shyam Selvadurai. This one's a memoir, about growing up gay in SL. The coda is an hour-by-hour narration of events as they unfolded in his life during the 1983 riot. Shyam is Tamil.

Ondaatje is known as the author of "The English Patient" - the movie completely changed the focus of the book, so it's worth reading even if you've seen the film. He also wrote a memoir "Running in the Family" but it's sort of speculation on what his grandfather must have been like. And his grandfather ran in some very very wealthy circles, so you're not going to get much about present-day SL by reading it. Great writer, though.

Here is a group of international activists that got started a couple of years ago, they are called Nonviolent Peaceforce, they are keeping an eye on both sides and trying to work out a peaceful settlement, on the web at:
http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/english/srilanka/slpintro.asp
I have met these people, I keep in touch with them and they are legit.
They help both the Tamils and the Sinhalese in need.

Another good group of folks in Sri Lanka are Sarvodaya, they have been helping people for decades, working on healing the wounds from the never ending war (& now the tsunami too).
http://www.sarvodaya.org/
They too help both the Tamils and the Sinhalese in need.

And on to less important things: M.I.A, her music, the whole LTTE thing. Here's my take: MIA's music = good, LTTE = bad, real freedom & equality for Tamils in Sri Lanka = good, Behavior of Sri Lankan governments since 1948 towards Tamils = bad. Will I support MIA by buying her music? Probably not (I do not want any of that money going to the LTTE and their war crimes activities). BUT, has the existence of the LTTE kept Sinhala extremist behavior in check all these years (Sri Lanka has not yet had a Rwanda scale massacre - although at least 100,000 dead from the 20 year war so far)? It's possible. Both sides have massacred civilians and I do not know if the killings would have been kept in check if both sides were not armed. Suicide bombing is for fools. Hopefully no one on this planet will ever win a war by randomly killing civilians through the idiotic & evil method of suicide bombing.

So what's the solution music fans? Maybe: We are alive, we will remember the dead, we will do what we can to save the living. International involvement and pressure may cause LTTE to become a political party that respects democracy, human rights, etc., and international pressure may cause the Sri Lankan government to become an actual democracy, value & support ethnic & religious diversity, human rights, rule of law. The horrors of the killings also may soften the hard core hearts of the Sinhala extremists who view all non-Sinhala, non-Buddhists as enemies. Perhaps the experience of the last couple of decades will push the survivors on the Sinhala side to demonstrate through action that they are in-fact Buddhists (peaceful people sympathetic to the suffering of others), not just people who say they are and then spend their time oppressing minorities.

Future generations will hold all of us responsible to some degree for atrocities that happen in our time. We gotta do what we can with what we got to make this world a more human place.

Aside from the heavy & controversial stuff, I am glad MIA is becoming popular because this artist will introduce the Sri Lankan conflict to a whole group of people who have never thought about it before.

Talk to u all soon. All of life is not suffering. Humans made this mess and humans are gonna clean it up.
Sujewa
PS 1:
My Sri Lankan cred/about me:
Born there in the early 70's (parents sinhala buddhist - liberal, moderate, and my identity is not at all defined by the ethnic heritage or religion in which I was raised - more on this below), moved to the US in the mid 80's, got tons of family there & here, visited SL in '89 and saw people dead by a road side, massively influenced by the LTTE/SL Gov/JVP Conflicts/Violence/Killings (the SL situation made me realized the horror & futility of violence, made me wanna work against it), D.I.Y. indie filmmaker in DC, I believe everyone on the planet is related, so all the Tamils & all the Sinhalese, even the evil ones (who should pay for their crimes), are my brothers & sisters. MIA is nice, but I prefer my music more hardcore, by pacifist peacemaker supporting musicians - like Fugazi (although I did enjoy The Nation of Ulysses, they did flaunt the guerrila chic thing back in the early 90's - but they made no real claims of authenticity & actual connections - less of an ethical dilemma - Ulysses music).
My film web site: http://www.wilddiner.com/
PS 2: great to see Priv & the other 2 or 3? expat sri lankans talking on these two forums. Your first person/eyewitness accounts are valuable, tell us more.
PS 3: Let's form an International Sinhala-Tamil Friendship Society or something like that to help Sri Lanka.

I was also born in Srilanka. I am a Tamil and lived there during the war and experienced the brutality of war 1st hand.
What troubles me the most is that your arguments are peppered with the stereo type allegations that the successive Srilankan governments have been using to justify the continuation of the war on the minority.

You merely just ¡± agree that the Sinhala govt. is shit. What third world govt. isn't?¡± and then fast forward the debate to focus only on the LTTE while insisting that you are not waving the government flag.

I am not by any means justifying what LTTE does (They are shit as well), but rather focus on why LTTE came about and why it still exists and why it will continue to flourish in Srilanka.
May be after we answer that question, we can all work on eradicating the ltte from the face of this earth. May be we can even come up with a catchy slogan for the campaign.

How can a government pass a law making one language as the official language (The official language act of 1956) in a multilingual, multiracial country?

How can a government enact a constitution that says ¡°The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).¡± when there are other religions practiced in the country?

How can successive governments just sit by idly when thousands of minorities are killed in many pogroms?
Why is that not a single person has been arrested or punished for the successive violence over decades perpetrated against the tamil minority?

Which elected government wages war on its own people using arial bombardments, indiscriminate bombing and shelling, killing many innocent civilians?

As mentioned in the tamilnation.org webite (a very partial site btw) but the events are not disputed,
http://www.tamilnation.org/indictment/index.htm

¡°The whole is a chilling chronology of discrimination, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, extra judicial killings and massacres, indiscriminate aerial bombardment and artillery shelling, wanton rape and genocide. ¡°

To me, this seems like a government that is more than shit. Wouldn¡¯t you say. To me, may be a shitty government is a government that puts you in jail for protesting or saying something against it. Not the one that drops a bomb in your house at night.
Okay¡­now fast forwarding to LTTE. They are not going to go away unless all these wrong are corrected. Not only would they survive, they will continue to breed as long as tamil people suffer under any government.

So when all fails( the government, the justice system, etc) and when you try to get your rights by peaceful means and by protests and the government unleashes the whole military machine on the you ( I am not talking police brutality here.., but the whole Army, Navy and the Airforce..you know ,,the people who are supposed to protect you if someone tries to invade your country), when you see people around you getting killed in mass, when you see your friends just disappear while in the custody of government,

How do you fight back?

I agree that LTTE may not be the answer, but as Nelson Mandela ((I could be way off on this. I am sticking to it) said it is the oppressor who decides what methods are used to fight back. Not the oppressed.
I hope you don¡¯t stretch this as my endorsement of suicide bombing or anything that targets civilian population. My point here is that brutality breeds brutality. We can not just simply go all out to get one side while just simply the other.

Some one in the thread made an excellent point that, if LTTE were a state, we would not be even discussing this in the same context.
When governments (elected by an absolute majority based on race or religion) prosecute the minority population, it is tolerated. But when the minority population fights back to change the established state order that favors only a majority race, there are often labeled as terrorists.
It gets worse when the mainstream media is also manipulated by the governments and they willingly or unwillingly propagate this ¡°supreme sovereign state¡± order.

Whether we all agree or not on who the ¡°terrorists¡± are in Srilanka, once good thing that can come out of MIAs album is that at least people will start a debate ( I am not all convinced that she will continue with the political tone as it will be costly for her). But I do hope that she can keep the focus on the Tamil issue ( with out involving the tigers) and give it a wider audience it deserves.

Btw:
I am not trying to be a fact police here but can you please provide some concrete data, links or what ever you can provide that shows
1) During British rule ¡°Tamils were given state jobs, and their greater fluency in English lead to economic advantages.¡±
2) ¡°Tamils (who were fewer than 15% of the population, but controlled almost half the wealth, white-collar job, positions at Universities, etc. enriched by the British.)
This is one thing that has been repeated as a justification for discriminating against the Tamils but with no facts to back it up. So I am curious. I tried to find evidence that the British systematically favored Tamils over Sinhalese but no luck so far.

I appreciate your attempt to get to the root of the problem, to discuss this sincerely, and to refrain from polemical ranting.

But see...you say "the LTTE is shit" and then catalogue the Sri Lankan goverments failures, just as you fault me for having said, "the govt is shit" and then listing LTTE misdeeds.

We can toss this back and forth forever...but please note that I've always said that I present the Sinhalese side on this board simply because no one else is here to do so...not that I wholeheartedly support them. All the other Sri Lankan posters here are Tamil. I've also never attacked another poster's views, just defended my own.

About the facts you want - I haven't bothered providing facts in my posts because:
1. I'm lazy

2. I don't care whether anyone believes me. I'm not here to espouse a cause, a side, or revisionist history of SL. And some people can't bear to let go of long held beliefs, and will tear you down instead of reconsidering their stance.

3. Like that qoute about "lies, damn lies, and statistics," facts are as valid as the attributed source...and if not foreign and clueless, most fall into either a Tamil-sided website or a Sinhalese. And even if the site screams loud and clear that it's impartial...there will always be a partisan who will pop up with accusations of bias.

4. I get my information from my experiences while I lived there, reading (I got my BA in Anthropology) academic texts (which you might still believe are biased), newpapers etc...and my mother's family. My Tamil half.

I just know I'm going to get torn apart for this, but for those who need 'ethnic credentials' classified by phylum and genus, my mother is a Tamil speaking Catholic. A few generations back they were wealthy, city businesspeople, though the money had been pissed away by the time she was kid. So it's likely they, as most other Colombo Tamils, did benefit from the British and all the rest of it...while Tamils in the North and East didn't.

Then there's the fact that the Northern "Jaffna" Tamils are considered (or consider themselves) superior/purer/whatever (and please don't give me shit about this. I know the Colombo Tamil crowd considered the Jaffna Tamils as a cut above. Just as the Sinhalese consider the Hill-country Sinhalese the most pure or whatever) which is rumored to be why Karuna had support when he formed the Eastern faction of the LTTE. There is a seed of truth in all these stories...the problem is that there are multiple truths, and just because mine isn't yours, does not mean that mine is a lie.

Anyway, your questions are valid, but I think they're questions that all goverments face. To facilitate all transactions, there does need to be an official language, right?...but how to pick one in a land of many? The US, for example, uses English despite a huge Spanish-speaking demographic segment. The US also claims to be "one nation, under God" and has followed christian theology in many legal and national matters. As one of two remaining bastions of Theravada Buddhism, should the SL goverment "protect and foster" it? These are issues most governments still struggle with..but the fact that the SL govt didn't do so successfully..isn't it a idealistic to expect it to come up with the most equitable solution?

To me, may be a shitty government is a government that puts you in jail for protesting or saying something against it. Not the one that drops a bomb in your house at night.
Are you serious? It sounds pretty fucking noble to say that freedom of speech means more than your own life...but would you volunteer yourself for that? I'd rather live to protest again another day.

So here's the thing. I'm hearing from a great many Sri Lankans lately, due to my posts here. One the whole, it's awesome. There are so few of us, it can be a rather lonely...surrounded as we are by Indian restuarants, Hindi songs, Bollywood films, and all this Indian stuff that is fantastic, but still has nothing to do with us. Whether the emails are from people who agree with me, or from people who write that the "LTTE are saviors" and accuse me of lying about being half Tamil....it's still sort of a wonderful shock for me, to hear from all these Sri Lankans.

If only we could see that as a reason for unity - we are Sri Lankan. Not Indian, Pakistani, bangladeshi, and everything else we're mistakenly assumed to be. (I get Ethiopian and Somali sometimes, which I find hilarious.) I have a small curry plant in my apartment, and just smelling the leaves brings waves of nostalgia..nothing else smells like it, you know? Few other cuisines use the leaves.

For those who are determined to prove that they were oppressed and therefore justified, or were in Sri Lanka first and are therefore justified, that the LTTE violence is just way less horrible than government violence and is therefore justified...for you all, I say fine. You win this game that people like me don't even want to play. After you've carved this bombed-up, sea-battered island even further, let us know how you plan to recreate a place where people have normal things like jobs, homes, intact families and peace of mind.

A microcosmic example of the stupidities this war, this blind hate, has led us to:
http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501050117/tsunami_srilanka.html

I was trying to highlight a point that the government was prosecuting the tamil minority even before the LTTE came into the scene. LTTE or the other militant groups came into prominence only after 1983.

"Anyway, your questions are valid, but I think they're questions that all goverments face. To facilitate all transactions, there does need to be an official language, right?...but how to pick one in a land of many? The US, for example, uses English despite a huge Spanish-speaking demographic segment. The US also claims to be "one nation, under God" and has followed christian theology in many legal and national matters. As one of two remaining bastions of Theravada Buddhism, should the SL goverment "protect and foster" it? These are issues most governments still struggle with..but the fact that the SL govt didn't do so successfully..isn't it a idealistic to expect it to come up with the most equitable solution?"

There is a difference in people embracing a language to do transactions and in enshrining that into the constitution or making that a law. It has to be somewhat an organic process especially When there was a common language in place. But to make only Sinhala as the official language purely for electoral gain literaly over night when a significant percentage of the citizens do not even speak that language is just plain racist.
I have no problem with Sinhala being used as an official language in Sinhala areas, but I do find it offensive that the government shoves this down the throats of Tamils living in the north and east where majority of them are not familiar with that language and they see no need to learn it to conduct their affairs.
I found this still to be true when I went to Srilanka after the tsunami. The court orders and the police statements are still in Sinhala. And People sign their statements with out knowing what is written in them.
On the religion part, what is enshrined in the US constitution is the separation of church and state. I am not arguing against religious beliefs to creep into legal or national matters but what I am arguing against is that an absolute majority bestowing a religious right into the constitution that represents a nation of many.
Btw: If anyone gets a chance, you should read the book called ¡°The people shall judge¡±. It contains historical documents of pre-constitution debates between the founding fathers on what kind of constitution we should have in the US. A note of causion. It should not be read while operating heavy machinery or while driving. A very boring book. Nevertheless, it shows a thoughtful debate and why US constitution has not changed all these years. And why Srilanka keeps rewriting the constitution almost every fucking election and still can¡¯t get it right.

"To me, may be a shitty government is a government that puts you in jail for protesting or saying something against it. Not the one that drops a bomb in your house at night.
Are you serious? It sounds pretty fucking noble to say that freedom of speech means more than your own life...but would you volunteer yourself for that? I'd rather live to protest again another day."

Huh¡­.? I think we are saying the same thing here. Even though it sounds fucking cool to say ¡°give me freedom or give me death¡± I am not that stupid to take that literally. I was pointing out, to me, Srilankan government was more than shitty as it drops bombs on its own citizens. But then again I am not an expert in the shitty scale. Some governments are just poop and some are really stinkin shitty. I was trying to put the srilankan government even farther than the stinkin shitty category.
Btw: it does remind me of a hilarious episode (looking back ofcource). I swear when I lived in Jaffna, there was a time the government was literally dropping shit bombs in addition to the real ones. They would drop barrels of shit from the plane in populated areas. I forgot the exact year but I think it was around 85, 86 time frame.

"If only we could see that as a reason for unity - we are Sri Lankan. Not Indian, Pakistani, bangladeshi, and everything else we're mistakenly assumed to be. (I get Ethiopian and Somali sometimes, which I find hilarious.) I have a small curry plant in my apartment, and just smelling the leaves brings waves of nostalgia..nothing else smells like it, you know? Few other cuisines use the leaves."

It really would be nice that if people there can live as a one big happy family tolerating the in-laws. But after living there for most of my life, and visiting there very recently, I find both communities very polarized and entrenched in their positions of hate for each other. I honestly (emphasis on I ) do believe that unless tamils are given a chance to look after their own affairs ( inside or outside of a united Srilanka) there will never be peace and they will never feel as part of Srilanka.
Whether someone likes it or not, in the north (I think to some extent in East), they are running their own affairs and are quite happy about it. Some people did mention their dislike for ltte¡¯s iron fist rule but not a single person said they want the Srilankan government rule back.

I think we may be talking at cross purposes. I am not here to defend the Sri Lankan goverment. I think in some previous post, I mentioned that Sinhalese politicians vied to fill the post-Independance power vacuume by manipulating nationalistic sentiments.

I try to explain the Sinhalese perspective, not justify it. There's a difference. And the goverment does not necessarily represent all Sinhalese people, just as the actions of the LTTE don't, I think, speak of the desires and emotions of the Tamil people as a whole.

If I'm wrong, then, we're screwed.

In my opinion, the actions of the LTTE opened a door for escalating violence, and resulted in the present polarization of both communities. Of course, you can say that the actions of the Sri Lankan government left the tamil community no choice but to resort to violence. But I find it a cruel irony in that case - the Tamils now suffer as much from the leadership of the LTTE as they did at the hands of the goverment.

But the above paragraph is a value judgement that is my own. You, I'm sure, disagree about which is worse. I find most people are too afraid to criticize the LTTE, because, as the poster Parvati mentioned, the repercussions can be harsh. Then, as you said, criticizing the goverment can also have severe consequences.

Don't you see we can go back and forth about this forever? If you insist that the Tamil people are happier with the LTTE, then, fine. I'm not so naive as to think the simile of a happy family can ever apply to Sri Lanka. But we don't have to resort to murdering each other.

Here's my only question: If, perhaps when, the goverment concedes, and the LTTE get the nation of Eelam, how do you think they will transition into a civil goverment of their own? Will an organization that's concerned itself exclusively with paramilitary manuevers and destabilization tactics be able to pave way for a democracy? If the LTTE brooks no oppositions within its own ranks now, will be later allow for the free exchange of ideas vital to a newly developing economy? How will it handle foreign relations, job creation, land conservation, education, and all the other components of a living country, as opposed to the concerns of a "death cult" some now call it?

This stupid war has hurt of all Sri Lanka - Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Christian, Burgher, and everyone else - equally horribly. Playing some "who suffered more?" game, I think, gets us nowhere at this point.

Tragic, shameful, and utterly disheartening. But in terms of shitty goverments, I think it's a fairly common ploy.

Also, some of the constitutional re-writing is partly due to parties with wildly differing political perspectives following each other to the presidency. The communist SLFP nationalized everything and wanted the country to be self-sufficient. The Reagan-friendly UNP won the next election and privatized everything and opened the borders to imports of every kind. So on and so forth...since the constitution was just a few decades old, they felt no compuction about messing with it.

I hate to beat what has by now become a straw man - but the British really are at the root of this mess. That's also why I said that like most third world countries, the SL govt is shit.

Honestly though, I feel like we who don't live there anymore can't rightly speak for the country. But then I hope that maybe the literal distance gives a new perspective of its own. I don't know...

I've been reading your posts & thinking about what I've personally seen in Sri Lanka, heard eyewitness accounts about, and read/have seen through various media, history books, foreign & partisan web sites about the last 57 years (since 1948) of massive violence in Sri Lanka, here's my current conclusion, let me know what you think about it:

The situation in Sri Lanka is utterly unique (not like Nazi germany, not like Al-Queda, not like Isreal-Palestine, not like Rwanda, not like South Africa), there is no clear good guy in the conflict, both various Sri Lankan governments and the LTTE have committed horrendous atrocities - or allowed horrendous atrocities to happen (SL Gov = July 83 riots & killings, massacres of Tamil civilians at various points of the 20 year war, LTTE = suicide bombings, massacres of Sinhala civilians at various points of the 20 year war). At some points in history SL Gov have done positive (or at least defensible on an ethical, humanitarian note) things & at some points the LTTE have done positive (or at least defensible on an ethical, humanitarian note)things.

And here is the real tragedy - the poorest of the poor & the relatively powerless - of which there are many - in both sides - Tamil & Sinhala & from all other communities - have gotten the worst possible deal out of their leaders using massive, unlimited violence for 20 years to try to achieve their complex goals. (BTW I am not a pacifist, but I think violence only has a very limited positive use - self-defense, preventing destruction of life & property, even in those instances violence is a double edged sword - must he handled very carefully)

I am Sinhala (born in SL, lived there 'till 12, 'till '85), semi-Buddhist, and one of my relatives and many of our friends & acquaintances - Sinhala and Tamil - have been killed by the war.

I am encouraged by the current cease-fire & negotiations or the lowering of the level of violence in Sri Lanka. However, a permanent solution to the violence probably will not happen until a radical, massive act of responsible taking & forgiveness - such as the South African Truth & Reconciliation type event - happens, along with economic development/availability of economic opportunity, along with leaders/governments that are responsible to the people & have limited powers to make war, carry out violence. A lot to hope for but then again a lot of people want Sri Lanka to end the violence & its root causes, so there may be reason for hope.

I do not think LTTE achieving their goal of Eelam, or the SL Gov. achieving the goal of militarily defeating the LTTE will create a lasting solution in Sri Lanka because the next generation of Sinhala or the next generation of Tamils (whoever loses the current war - which I think is merely on pause for the moment) will pick up the killing as soon as they are capable.

Let's hope for a permanent, fair solution & do what we can to help bring it about. 'cause no matter what the noble objective is ("protection of the sacred home of true buddhism", "liberation of an ancient homeland"), the violence in sri lanka is suicidal - the tamils and the sinhalese are slowly killing each other in large numbers. Let me know your thoughts about all this. We who live in the US, since we have experienced & observed a functional, plural, economically healthy society & how it works, may be able to help (at least a tiny bit) the people in Sri Lanka move things in the right direction. One good thing that has come out of M.I.A. putting out a CD w/ a political stance that I do not like is that I've had to read & reacquaint myself, get myself updated w/ the war in Sri Lanka (I am sure the CD has had the same effect on many others) - so on a certain level M.I.A. has succeeded. Take care.

Sujewa
http://www.wilddiner.com
**************************

Thank you Sujewa for succinctly capturing the essence of the problem. Circatrix, as usual, excellent in voicing your views. I am neither implying that you are a defender of the Srilankan government nor a spokesperson for the Sinhalese. My assumption is that you are putting forward your views from a Sinhala point of view as I am putting mine from a tamil perspective.

Having said that, Let me angle the discussion from a more personal level to address some of the questions raised.
One of your points is that ¡°In my opinion, the actions of the LTTE opened a door for escalating violence, and resulted in the present polarization of both communities¡±.

That statement taken by itself can look deceivingly (I am not saying you intentionally made it that way. I just don¡¯t know a proper word to use here) acceptable.
But my point is had the government not reacted so violently and in a draconian way to the peaceful protests of the tamil people, LTTE would not have been born in the 1st place.
LTTE was not born overnight. It is the result of a systematic, aggressive, and violent government oppression of a people who were asking for their fundamental right to live as equal citizens.
If we don¡¯t accept this fundamental truth ( from my point of view at least) and on top of that dismiss the government actions as any other 3rd world corrupt government¡¯s action implies that people should accept state repression (shitty scale or no shiity scale) and don¡¯t do anything about it or keep on protesting amidst the violent repurcussions until kingdom comes.

In my 18yrs of existence in Srilanka, I never thought that the government treated me or anyone around me as its citizens. I grew up with a sense that if I want to live and grow up at all, we need to fight back and having a country of our own will be the one and only solution to the problem. Everyone I knew and around me at that time also had the same thought.(btw: I have now changed my mind as have most of the tamils I know. A federal setup that lets tamils look after their own affairs should be a good setup. In any case, cicatrix mentioned, I am not sure, in all honesty that people choose live outside can decide what the solution should be.)

With out any exaggeration, every parent prayed that their kids make it alive home from school. Because there was constant and random bombing and shelling from the government without any regard to civilian life what so ever. Even the most ardent anti- LTTE¡¯ers can testify to this. I had mentioned all the institutionalized discrimination enacted into law in my previous post. So, coupled with that, and an all out war, it is natural for people there to rise up and rally behind some one who they think has the determination and the ability to beat back this onslaught. This how LTTE, that was a small band of guerrillas, became an organized conventional army that holds it own territory now.

Let me 1st state that I am not an LTTE supporter. It is essential to say thatbecause ¡°terrorist supporter¡± is a as dirty label as liberal now a days and can be easily attached to anyone with the smallest stretch of logic.
I also want to mention that it is possible to support the LTTE¡¯s goal of independence for north and east without supporting its use of violence. I hope not everyone subscribes to the logical fallacy that is being espoused ¡°If you are not with us, you are against us¡±.

Okay now that being out of the way, going back to the discussion.
The arguments against LTTE are highly selective and goes something like this.

1) They are terrorists and anything they say or do needs to be ignored irregardless of the cause or reason. After all, who wants to cater to terrorist or defend them
2) If the 1st argument does not work, then it goes into some specifics ( justly so) like, they are terrorists because they use suicide bombing

Once those arguments are made, then the logical extension is ¡°lets all go fight the LTTE and eradicate terrorism¡±.

Then what?

The arguments, and the extension, by the very nature of the arguments, keep the issue solely focused on LTTE and away from the real issue of tamil rights.
This puts tamils in an indefensible position because there is no way they can make an argument for tamil rights with out making references to LTTE because of the ground realities. Then the anti ¨C LTTE¡¯ers also interject and turn this into an LTTE bashing (I mean no disrespect to Parvathi. It takes a lot of guts to voice her opinions and I sure hope she continues to contribute here. I am merely pointing out that when any tamil expresses any solidarity for their rights they are put in a position to defend LTTE (atleast its goals) 1st before they can move on to argue the case for tamil rights for whatever reason.)
This is the position (damn..I should have used conundrum¡­I always wanted to use that word) that tamils in general find themselves in (including M.I.A): The very reason this whole thread got started. As if, she said something along the lines of tamil freedom struggle with no reference to tigers no one will link that with LTTE.

( One day, I do want to have an intelligent conversation about the 2 arguments above leaving aside all moral and ethic qualms just for the conversation sake. I do wonder ¡° who gets to decide what is terrorism? Why does this definition change depending on the political climate of the era? Why do the freedom fighters are called terrorist or vice versa by the same government at different times? Why is suicide bombing is more heinous than the carpet bombing from a plane? If suicide bombers blow themselves up targeting only armed combatants without killing any civilians, is that okay? In that specific case, is that the same as some one in the armed forces putting their life on the line willingly?

Sorry¡­just wanted to get it out¡­

So when we start talking about tamil rights, it is just sad that, even now, how dismissive the Srilankan government is to the collective will of the tamil people. Every election that the tamil people have participated after 1977, they have repeatedly voted to say that they want to look after their own affairs. Even in the 2001 election, they overwhelmingly voted for TNA that ran on a LTTE platform (despite the claims of fraud). But nothing has come of it. This goes to prove what most of the tamil people have been saying for decades that the Srilankan government would only care about the majority Sinhalese and would continue to subjugate the minority tamils by force to accept the notion that somehow Srilanka only belongs to Sinhalease.
This notion gets currency from some dubious claims of ( a) Sinhalese is unique to Srilanka while tamils have culturally same people in India to turn to. Thus Srilanka belongs to Sinhalese. b) We are only trying to make right what British did wrong so there is nothing wrong in laws favoring a majority race.
If the Srilankan establishment can free itself from this communal thinking and devolve power to the tamil people in a federal setup, LTTE will fade into oblivion in no time.

I find it fascinating that, in the US, even a mundane coffee shop discussion of governments¡¯ role in individual citizen¡¯s life, the separation of religion and government, the freedom of speech, is far more thoughtful than it is in Srilankan political circles. It was and still is non-existent there.(I think US constitution is one of the most thoughtful and facinating documents in history it is shame that politians are loosing sight of that and pandering to anyone who will give them the vote. Not as bad as Srilankna though :-)).
I am not sure if it can produce ( I hope to be proven wrong ) a leader with enough common sense and give the power back to the people with whom the real sovereignty rests.

Even the slave owning founding fathers here had the foresight to say ¡°all men are created equal¡± in declaration of independence. But in Srilanka, the thinking in all branches of government is that Sinhalese have the unalienable right to everything and by virtue of being the majority, they will decide who else they want to accommodate.

Is it any wonder then the majority of the tamil people back the violent LTTE? Just telling them that they are supporting terrorists alone is not going to win any points with tamils. Only chance to defeat LTTE will be if someone can deliver them a political setup that will allow them to decide their future.
As for the question of what the LTTE¡¯s government will look like, I have no earthly idea and neither do I care. But what I can say is that from a personal of view, while the concern for tamils under a authoritarian rule is genuine, it is like putting the cart before the horse. Furthermore, with out a political cause, LTTE will not be able to sustain the mass support that it enjoys now and will not be able to hold on to anything if they don¡¯t transition to a vibrant democracy with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

btw: There is a new book called blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Even though it says "it is a book about we think without thinking" it touches on how in some subtle ways race is plays a role in quick decision making, etc...A differetn point of view....

Sujewa, it's really good to have you posting here. Now I don't have to go on about being the only Sinhala poster here. Well, half.

Milthi,
You've said so much here that it'll take a while for me to respond fully, and I'm afraid I'm actually procrastinating like mad whenever I pop on this board, so I don't have time to do your post justice at moment.

I understand you point when you said this:
But my point is had the government not reacted so violently and in a draconian way to the peaceful protests of the tamil people, LTTE would not have been born in the 1st place.

Because you might have missed that my previous post already said this:
Of course, you can say that the actions of the Sri Lankan government left the tamil community no choice but to resort to violence.

Ok, on the the rest of it (or as much as I can tackle right now):
LTTE was not born overnight. It is the result of a systematic, aggressive, and violent government oppression of a people who were asking for their fundamental right to live as equal citizens.
NO ONE is disagreeing with this. The problem is that there wasn't just *one* goverment. And as one elected official tried to move things along a path (and unfortunately, this stuff doesn't happen overnight) toward fairness, he'd get voted out of office (let's not forget job loss, foreign affairs, cold war, droughts etc) and the next monkey in would undo it. The goverment was never one monolithic entity that oppressed the Tamils. It was several self-serving (more or less), power hungry, idealogues in a row.

So, coupled with that, and an all out war, it is natural for people there to rise up and rally behind some one who they think has the determination and the ability to beat back this onslaught. This how LTTE, that was a small band of guerrillas, became an organized conventional army that holds it own territory now.
Here's is where I'm not sure we have the same information/perspective. "onslaught"? From my understand of things the TULF was enganged in violence-free, parlimentary discussions to stregnthen the rights of Tamils in SL. The LTTE decided that violence was the only option and splintered off. I rather doubt it can be considered a conventional army, what with the forced conscription..

I'm starting to reply point by point and I don't have time, so I'm sorry if I try to sum up. You seem to say that although you don't support the LTTE, anyone who wants rights for Tamil people is a de facto LTTE supporter since they are at the helm. (please correct me if I'm wrong.) Ergo, you have to defend the LTTE.
I find the problem here is that it IS the LTTE at the helm. A group that has violently supressed dissention from the very Tamil community it's supposed to represent.
devolve power to the tamil people in a federal setup, LTTE will fade into oblivion in no time.
Do you really think the LTTE will gracefully step aside in a democratic election after Eelam? There is no other group within the Tamil community to be considered a valid party. The government is faced with a group that oppresses the very people it claims to represent (and I KNOW) you say the Tamil people say it's still better than the SL govt. but that's where it get's a bit thorny, doesn't it? The govt blankets the area with bombs because the LTTE has made no distinction between civlians and soldiers (I'll get to the terrorist point in a bit). With young children and women as soldiers, where is the line drawn? I'm not justifying the govt. but in fighting the goverment the LTTE has thrown a lot of former civilians in front of the tanks (metaphorically speaking).

On the terrorism points:
1) They are terrorists and anything they say or do needs to be ignored irregardless of the cause or reason. After all, who wants to cater to terrorist or defend them
2) If the 1st argument does not work, then it goes into some specifics ( justly so) like, they are terrorists because they use suicide bombing

Once those arguments are made, then the logical extension is ¡°lets all go fight the LTTE and eradicate terrorism¡±.
This may be a Bush doctrine line of thought, but it certainly isn't mine. I don't know any Sri Lankan dim enough to accept something this simplistic. But point (2) is valid I think, not for the suicide bombing argument (the niceties of whether any bomb is less a bomb than a human bomb I'll leave to someone with more time and patience. I think it's all the same for this argument)) but for the manner in which the LTTE supresses dissenting voices within the Tamil community (talk about ¡°If you are not with us, you are against us¡±.!) and for its inhumane use of children as cannon fodder. I have yet to hear anyone disagree on the latter point.

Ok..I'm going to stop. I think I might have picked out minor points and left out major ones, but it's all getting too long, and I'm proving my own point that trying to say who's more at fault is a excecise in futility. As Sujewa said both sides commited atrocities. We're never going to move ahead, if we don't accept this. Milthi, I don't really understand what you want. For a global acceptance of the fact the the LTTE is justified because the SL govt. oppressed the tamils?

The US constitution is full of things that were preached but never practiced for hundred of years. Do you realize you glossed over *slave holders*? The US has yet to see a female president and SL had one thirty years ago. The constitution is being ignored left right and center these days. Of course the SL version is a jerry-rigged nightmare, so I'm not even trying to compare the too. Just that I hope your reading of the US system yields insights, but for right now, let's now idealize it too much.

Sorry if I seem rant-y ... hard to pay attention to how you sound when you're trying to get thoughts out fast.

Sub- committee on Human Rights and International Development of Canadian Paliament takes up recruitment of Children by the LTTE

The Canadian Parliamentary Sub-committee on Human Rights and International Development raised the issue of recruitment of children by the LTTE, at a meeting held this week. Making a statement at the commencement of the meeting, Chair, the Hon. David Kilgour, M.P., said that the forcible recruitment of children as child soldiers by the LTTE is a matter of major concern and that Canada must address this issue, ensuring that Canadian funds are utilized for strengthening recruitment prevention and child protection initiatives.

In a prepared statement Chairman Kilgour said:

(Quote) Violation of the human rights of children in Sri Lanka, through forcible recruitment as child soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a matter of major concern to members of the international community and was recently discussed by the UN Security Council.

UNICEF has documented 3516 cases of child recruitment by the LTTE during the ceasefire period since February, 2002. According to UNICEF, "An enormous recruitment drive began with the cease-fire. The LTTE had access to government controlled areas like never before." The recruitment became so intense that less than 50% of students went to school as many parents kept their children at home out of fear that they would be taken away by the LTTE while walking to and from school.

According to UNICEF and Human Rights Watch, following the tsunami devastation in Sri Lanka, LTTE began recruiting orphaned children in a number of affected areas. Human Rights Watch states: "The Tamil Tigers are preying on the most vulnerable by taking advantage of children who have been orphaned or displaced by the tsunami. Every effort must be made to stop this unconscionable recruiting from families who have already suffered so much. As the LTTE seeks to rebuild its forces afterlosing soldiers in the tsunami, children are at enormous risk. Children have always been targeted, but children who have lost their homes or families from the tsunami now are even more susceptible to LTTE recruitment."

Canada must address the issue of child soldiers in Sri Lanka and ensure
that Canadian funds provided to improve the situation of children in vulnerable circumstances meet our objective. Recruitment prevention and child protection initiatives should be strengthened in all areas, including tsunami-affected areas, relief camps and orphanages. (Unquote)

The govt blankets the area with bombs because the LTTE has made no distinction between civlians and soldiers (I'll get to the terrorist point in a bit). With young children and women as soldiers, where is the line drawn? I'm not justifying the govt. but in fighting the goverment the LTTE has thrown a lot of former civilians in front of the tanks (metaphorically speaking).
SOunds nothing like what I actually meant in my head. Forget I ever brought it up, please. I can't think straight right now.

Milthi,

Thanks for the positive words re: my web site. I've heard about the book Blink, I will have to check it out - sounds like it may have some useful ideas that can be used to help disassemble the concept of race (it's actually more like a religion for most people :).

On Race & Sri Lanka:
Last night I had dinner w/ some of my relatives, all Sinhala, all my parent's generation, some younger, and I asked them what would happen if a Tamil person learned Sinhala, became a Buddhist, lived & worked with the Sinhala community - would they still be considered Tamil? Would that persons children be considered Tamil? The point of the question was to examine criteria used by some in the previous generations to divide the population into Tamil & Sinhala groups.
The answer I got was hopeful, my relatives agreed that language & religion does not make a totally different kind of human species that deserves drastically different treatment (then again my folks are liberal buddhists who have lived in the US for a while, I expected the answer I got from them).
Since the issue of skin color is not as big a problem in Sri Lanka when it comes to the idea of race as it is here in the US (Sri Lankans come in all shades of brown, black & white - for those who have not met many SLs), the major lines that separate the people are - at least from a Sinhala prespective, seems to me - are language, religion, and to some degree the language & or religion of parents, grandparents, etc.
Since colonialism is officially over and the politics of race are no longer fahionable as a reason for oppression & teritorial conquest by the West, there is hope (at least I have it) that Sri Lankans will be able to recognize the humanness - equal to their own - of people who kind of look like them but may primarily speak another language or may belong to another religion.
But first they will have to end the war. So on to the violence related items:

Cicatrix,
Good job on pointing out the complexity on the make up of the two sides engaged in the conflict. I think only the exact people who commit an act should be held responsible for that act. For example, a death squad soldier who tourtured & murdered an innocent rural, civilian youth during the '89 gov't crack down on the JVP - and the official(s) who ordered such actions, are different from an ordinary soldier in the SL Army who joined the army in '95 out of sincere partiotic feeling to protect the nation, and goes on to serve according to accepted norms in warfare (norms accepted by the international community - not just the SL Gov.). Thus, due to the length of the conflict and the number of different players involved, it is difficult to say that everyone on the side of the Governmnet of Sri Lanka are evil.

As you pointed out, the LTTE's suppression & killing of dissenters and holding themselves up as the only representatives of the Tamil people will not score any points with anyone in Sinhala society or the outside world who wants the right thing to happen in Sri Lanka. Here is a doc by the University Teachers for Human Rights (jaffna), Sri Lanka, members of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, that talks about their experience with disagreeing with the LTTE:
http://www.uthr.org/history.htm
Here is a quote from the doc mentioned above:
" By combination of internal terror and narrow nationalist ideology the LTTE succeeded in atomizing the community. It took away not only the right to oppose but even the right to evaluate, as a community, the course they were taking. This gives a semblance of illusion that the whole society is behind the LTTE. Since the UTHR(J) was part of the initiative in trying to open up space in the University, many sharing its aims associated with it openly in the early days. This was until Rajani Thiranagama was killed. Abandoning and winding up the UTHR(J) now would mean capitulating of the oppressor. We therefore felt that it is essential to continue with the reports under the same name, although we had been forced to leave the University of Jaffna [See Report 11, Appendix]."
If that is the kind of the world that the LTTE is creating inside land that they control - a military dictatorship that entertains no opposition - then there will be much & constant opposition to the LTTE in Sri Lanka & elsewhere in the world (and also from within LTTE - as is evident from the existence of the Karuna faction). And the reported removal or muslims & sinhala from LTTE controlled areas looks a lot like ethnic cleansing, not a popular thing in the west or with a lot of Sri Lankans at the moment (as fas as I can tell) - these are some of the reasons that the LTTE and Sinhala or Sri Lankan Gov. parties that deal with the LTTE are not thought well of by many Sinhalas. Those practices & of course suicide bombing, more on that next:

Re: Suicide boming. Is it worse than a soldier who is commited to his work? Yes. Because there is no guarantee that the soldier will die, where as the suicide bomber almost always dies. Also, as a weapon, the soldier has better control over his or her target, and suicide bombers do not, they kill or harm their intended target and anyone in the nearby area. Are suicide bombers any worse than regular bombs? Only very slightly. In the Sri Lankan situation where suicide bombing is used by the LTTE, at times of heightned conflict, all Tamils are suspected by the Sinhala as a possible grave threat - this no doubt makes the lives of ordinary Tamils a hell as they attempt to move about & live in Sri Lanka (in the non-LTTE controlled areas). Is the use of suicide bombers worse than dropping bombs from a plane? I think bombing from a plane can be worse. However, the pilot of the plane is not guaranteed an automatic death (whereas the suicide bomber is), so it would depend on who the bomb was dropped on (on actual military targets = acceptable in war, on civilians = never acceptable). As a battle tactic I do not think suicide bombers are effective. As a terror tactic they may be, but a terrified army may go overboard with their response, resulting in unnecessary killing. As far as I know no war has been won by the use of suicide bombers. I am no expert on warfare, and I think in genral war is evil, certainly has caused too much misery on this planet & in Sri Lanka, war may only be one step away from suicide, and in some cases war may be suicide.

Less bombing, more love.

I think strengthenig of civil society is a way to check & balance the activities of the government - so in the Sri Lankan Government controlled areas this may be possible to various degrees, and I am sure it has happened a countless times during the past 20 years of intense conflict. The multiple political parties, the NGOs, the various religious groups, all are able to pressure the gov't against policies & actions that they do not like. But if the LTTE does not allow criticism and does not allow political competitors, then I do not know how the Tamils who live in LTTE territory will enjoy a quality of life that is above the level of survival - if they do not agree w/ the LTTE. I am biased against military dictatorships because open democracies offer so many more opportunities to individuals. Also I've heard that many more Tamils live among the Sinhalese in government controlled areas then they do in LTTE controlled areas, perhaps this shows support & preference for a flawed democracy in flux (Gov't controlled areas) over a very effective & functional military dictatorship (LTTE areas) by Sri Lankan Tamils.

I am sure I will hear about these thoughts in great detail Milthi & Cicatrix :) Yeah man, posting here is addictive, it does take a lot of time away from other work, I will have to limit myself to once or twice a day from now on.

Off to get some work done, talk to everyone on another day.

! Sujewa !

I became an anthropology major (cultural, not the pots&bones or the paleo&jurassic kind) simply because I was confused as all hell, and stumbled across a class entitled "immigration and heritage." Walked in with a bit of a swagger, I'm embarrassed to say. Very - "well, tell ME what immigration's about you ivory tower yuppies!" and to my surprise, they did. Massive relief to know how much of it has been studied, analysed, thought over. Of course, it never gets beyond academia cause no one else is interested.

So from anthro pundit Cicatrix (massaging brain to unclog brain cells):
-There is no such thing as race. There is far too much variation within homo sapiens as a species for further division. Talking about 'race' is a moot point. (nerd details if you want 'em)

- All we have separating us are our ways of eating, behaving, speaking and praying. Culture, in short. The original inhabitants of SL are the veddas. For all the Sinhala/Tamil who-got-here-first shit-fests, that fact is inescapable. And no the veddas aren't some original band of Tamils (or Sinhalese) who just happened to hop the Palk Straight first. Some accounts say that they are closer to the australian aboriginese than anything South Asian (baffling, huh? I'll look into that one a bit more. It's always interested me, and I've been lazy about it).

-So the Sinhalese are descendents of the Indian aryan people (not race! there is no such thing) and I believe Pali was the Sanskrit-off shoot they brought with them. That became Sinhalese. The Tamils are of the Indian Dravidian people (I think they are known to be the first civiliation to have standardized bricks and a sewer system - also must brush up on this). So basically, we're all Indian, in a way.

- From what I understand during the reign of the SL kings, if there was no male heir, the female heir would be married to an imported Indian prince (most likely Tamil). The guy would be crowned King immediately and then set to learning Sinhalese (or buddhism, I forget whether it was language or religion that was considered the sole necessity for being Sinhalese, but I do remember that only one was considered important.) His Indian/Tamil background was shushed up as fast as possible. Now, I'm really going to have to dig to find sources on that cause I know it's not widely discussion, but, I think, that it was also mentioned in that linguistics book I mentioned upthread.

- As far as your dinner table conversation Sujewa, (wow you do have nice liberal parents. Lucky Bastard. Mine don't like getting into conversations like that) .. language and religion are not fixed entities. If they were, what the hell would I be? I'm sinhalese/Buddhist/Tamil/Catholic. If I converted to Islam, and followed its tents like any other good Muslim girl, then I'd be Sinhala/Tamil/Muslim...ignoring whether they cared to accept me or not, I suppose..It's all pretty fluid (and I mean that from an Anthro perspective, not a some new-age, pot-head hippie)...

-Which is why questions of authenticity are really pretty pointless. Cultures come into contact with each other, cross-pollinate, adopt new ideas as their own, etc. and most of the time economics had more of a guiding hand than any nationalistic pudit would have you believe. Why do you think there are Muslim communities all along the major ancient sea-faring routes? The Muslims were considered the best traders, so most kingdoms invited Muslims to settle down and do their trading for them, since matters were facilitated lots when it was a Muslim-Muslim transaction.

- While it is nice to have a culture preserved in all its glory for the sake of diversity, if nothing else...culture is people, and as people move and change, so does the culture. It's not static. That being said, I took a Hindi class last fall, and as I mentioned being Sri Lankan half/half, the teacher looked misty for a moment and then said that SL Tamil is so beautiful because it's close to the original form that South Indian Tamil. Make of that what you will.

Oh..I just read this. Sorry for going on with the lecture!

Sujewa, thanks for tackling the regular vs human bomb debate...(I know I'm evil for even making light of that. No 40 virgins waiting for me).. to be honest, I don't completely agree simply because I can't parse the issue that far. I feel a weird mix of sympathy and pity for the suicide bombers themselves. They, after all, do die. And whatever lead them to that choice, I can't belive it's one that is undertaken lightly. I do think the political leaders who manipulate young minds into becoming suicide bombers, who talk of glory in death while sheathed in bodyguards themselves...they are pretty vile.

I don't know, that's as far as I care to judge. Can't say about anything else, not while I'm sitting on this nice office chair, typing on my nice computer. I don't have the right.

I need spellcheck for myfingers.

Urrr¡­.I can¡¯t do anything without reading this board now¡­and then there is so much to read..it is putting a serious cramp on my social life¡­but like cicatrix said..this is the 1st time I had a chance for a level headed conversation¡­

Okay..in the essence of keep the thread short¡­I guess I will just write 2 pages instead of 3¡­
The point I am repeatedly trying to make is this¡­
The notions that LTTE has no support in north and east and tamils hate LTTE are completely overblown. Only way to find that out is to hold an election in the North and east again under international monitoring asking people what they want to do ( if you don¡¯t want to believe the last election) ¡­I am all for that¡­.then we don¡¯t have to discuss about how much tamils hate LTTE¡­

Why do I say this¡­because I went there as recently as 4 months ago. I have family there..if there was a ground swell of hate for LTTE I would have known because people there (or my relatives ) would have discussed it with me because they know I am not a big fan of LTTE. On the contrary, only thing I heard from talking to people there was that LTTE is the only one that is capable getting them a fair deal from the goverment..
We have not heard from gt lately¡­but I think she might be talking about the same thing because it was mentioned she also went to Srilanka recently..
Then again¡­in my layover in Colombo..I got the feeling ( I did not talk to enough people to get a definite opinion) that people are just hoping that LTTE would just go away so that they don¡¯t have to deal with the terrorist problem.
It is easy to believe that people need to be and want to be liberated from terrorists. And most of the time we make that assumption with out talking to that very people and then find out the hard way that those people did not think they were under terrorists to begin with. Their voices have not been heard. One good thing that came out of Tsunami at least is that government could not prevent foreign journalist from visiting the area so hopefully we can hear more about what the people who are living in those areas are actually thinking. (I still can not come to terms with the fact that government prevented Kofi Annan from visiting the affected areas in the north)

This also goes back to one of my other core arguments that states are judged differently than political organizations. Political organizations lack the resources to put their point in an articulate and cohesive way. Unless there is a dictatorship, or communist evil empires, it is a hard sell a story to the public to be convinced that even the elected governments can be evil.
That will be the fate of people in Chechniya (ohh well..I can¡¯t spell it), Ache and everywhere else.

My take is that unless there is a meaningful dialog in the Sinhalese area about what kind of the power devolution model is needed for Srilanka, LTTE will continue to enjoy the support of the host population. A meaningful talk or debate about power devolution is utterly lacking in the Sinhalese area. Only thing I read or hear is everything is fine the way it is and we need to eradicate LTTE.

The article below (biased ofcource) sums it up nicely.

http://www.sangam.org/articles/view2/?uid=590
¡°I have been mixing with the Sinhala media personnel and the opinion makers/analysts from the Sri Lankan South for the last 15 years and I have come to understand one issue very clearly. That is, as far as the Tamil issue is concerned, the Sinhalese nation is only prepared to listen to what they want to hear. This is a fact. This is why the Singhalese supremacists like to hear news and views such as "In their heart of hearts, the Tamil people hate the Tigers completely," "Because of internal conflicts, the Tigers are going to disintegrate, " "There is strong opposition against the Tigers among the Tamil diaspora" and " The Tigers will kill the Tamil journalists which is the only reason these journalists write in support of the Tigers." Even the Sinhala public likes to hear the same, i.e. all of the above. They adore Tamil journalists who write views and opinions that they want to hear.
The Sinhala nation is not ready to accept Tamil voices who say that the liberation war is happening because the just political rights of the Tamils have not been granted¡±

Btw: On the US constitution, I like the fact that it is forward looking document that has withstood the time. All white, slave owning, judaio Christian founding fathers could have very well have written that fact into the constitution. I am sure they were representing that majority at that time. There was actually a vigorous debate about how to prevent a majority forming along religious or any other monolithic criteria in addition to the kings suck debate.
How it is interpreted or manipulated for political ends is a different thread all together.

But the fact remains, a pluralistic, forward looking constitution made it possible for the judicial branch to interpret it as such when the time came.
Can you imagine a constitution bestowing the rights specifically to whites? In that case, can you imagine the reaction of the supreme court¡¯s to the civil rights movement? Rosa Parks would have been in more shit for violating the constitution. If anyone argues that we could have changed the constitution, would be mistaken because by that time that belief would have been etched further into citizen¡¯s psyche making the debate difficult and some senator from the south could have filibustered the whole thing.

Anywys,my point is, institutionalized racism is the worst kind of racism there is. It does not even leave room for debate. That is exactly the situation we have in Srilanka. We have a constitution that confers rights on certain section of the population giving the feeling that the country belongs only to them. To this date, people are fighting tooth and nail to keep it that way. And anyone who does not subscribe to that notion is considered more or less enemy of the state.

But then we are all still cultural drifters. In this ¡§we¡¨, I meant everyone in this thread who has some personal tie to Srilanka. Including M.I.A. (sorry..gypsy mothra and Ned..I don¡¦t know enough about you guys to put you in this category. There is elitism for you¡K. ƒº )
We have a home but our identity is torn.
We want best of both worlds. Some people are good at choosing one and moving on and some people aren¡¦t. Since one part of our identity is not all that glamorous ( not saying being of Srilankan origin is bad..but it gets associated with civil war..or now tsunami..not anything positive) we feel the need to debate at all hours.

Wouldn¡¦t that be the same for M.I.A then? Giving voice to that..I know..it is a different debate about artist and their right to a political opion¡KI am not saying that artist have to be like ( I am about to make a stupid reference to a movie) the Adam Sandler character in the movie wedding singer. Where he goes¡K¡¨ I have to mike and you don¡¦t¡¨.. why is a political message of an artist is more loaded than a controversial social message.
I can¡¦t believe that MTV asked her to clarify ¡§putting salt and pepper in her mango¡¨ I thought that was hilarious.. I am not into the current music scene but it is amusing how people take on the lyrics of a song. I guess the same way I do with my favorite band DMB.
Just wanted to throw it out there before heading out..
It is going to take more than a six pack to not check this thread when I get back¡KI need therapy¡K.

Ned, good job on setting up this board, a neutral space for variously inclined Sri Lankans to talk & figure stuff out. You are perhaps Norway :)

I will keep this posting short, the suraya is going down, need to get out & enjoy this spring - srilankaesque - weather while there is still some sunlight. But I'll do a full point by point response to recent posts later this week.

In the mean time - Cicatrix, thanks for all the "academic" details that support the no-race theory. We in the US are lucky that we have the intellectual & social space to figure this out, whereas people in SL at this point do not - most people - since the group that each person belongs to = economic, social, religious, etc. success & survival. Our knowledge & discoveries, preferences are valuable, since we are in touch with Sri Lanka & the diaspora we will influence Sri Lanka (and since our kids & grand kids, etc. will have to deal with Sri Lanka/their connection to the island, it is important that we figure things out, speak & make our ideas known - yes, it is like some Star Trek situation :) - we are influncing the future through silence or by saying something - so let's try to say what we think is right).

Cicatrix, re: "I don't know, that's as far as I care to judge. Can't say about anything else, not while I'm sitting on this nice office chair, typing on my nice computer. I don't have the right."
I believe that it is the right & the obligation of people who are related to, or who care about, people in trouble/a not so cool situation to think & figure out new ways to make the situation better & act. So I think you totally have the right to reflect, analyze & speak about, do something positive about, anything in Sri Lanaka or for that matter any other part of the world - but specially Sri Lanka.

Beyond that my approach is that any human has the right and or the obligation to speak about any aspect of the total human experience, I do not see - in human history & present situation - any insurmountable barriers between humans, more on that a little later.

Several people from my family are going down to Sri Lanka in the coming months, I'll see what they have to say about various things when they get back. Also I am in touch with Nonviolent Peaceforce
http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/english/welcome.asp , they have I think 18-20something international activists/peacekeepr types in various parts of SL, perhaps I can start corresponding w/ some of those individuals to get perhaps a relatively unbiased account of things that are happening on a daily basis if need be.

Yeah, any permanent solution would have to include, in order for it to last, an acknowledgement & recognition by a majority or the politically active of the Sinhalese that all others on the island are equal citizens. Not only that the Sinhalese will have to actively enforce this idea (luckily this idea of egalitarianism is at the core of Buddhism, even though obviously it has not been practiced well in Sri Lanka http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/EH08Df01.html ). This may be one of the positive things that may come out of the Tamil resistance in Sri Lanka (oppress minorities = all kinds of fucked up violence & destruction can come into being). The JHU, a new political party - ultra right/sinhala - made up of Buddhist monks (the segment of Sinhala society that a significant number of ordinary Sinhalese have looked to as the final & one of the most important guardians of their way of life/themselves/the nation over the past 1500-2000 years, as far as I can tell) say on their web site that they are for a plural society w/ equal citizenship for all (I just looked for half an hour for their web site, couldn't find it, !damn, did not bookmark it when I visited it a few days ago! when I do find it later I will post the link), of course this could just be talk to attract international support, but, 20 years ago, an ultra right Sinhala group would not have said anything like that - as far as I can tell by my study of SL history.

Re: suicide bombing - the first victim I think of is the bomber, because it is nearly 100% certain that the bomber - young, most likely poor boy or girl, young man or woman, died violently. Some of the targeted people may survive, but it is completely certain that the bomber will not. I think it is this guaranteed self-destructive nature of suicide bombing that makes most people in the world recoil in disgust when any group suggests that suicide bombing is an acceptable weapon. And since many guerrilla & revolutionary groups have achieved their aims w/ out using suicide bombing (the US revolution, Viet Cong vs. France & US, the Cuban revolution) it is difficult to accept that suicide bombing is an essential thing.

Anyway, there goes my attempt not to write a long post, I just spent over an hour writhing this. The sun has completely gone down, dang.

Re- torn identity - since race, ethnicity, etc. are social conventions, invented for a specific purpose by someone, I think pulling all the way back to just the human level, pre-political, is the way to go - at least for me. Human first, age, gender,nationality, religion, all that stuff after that. This also allows me to see through political & social explanations for murder. 'cause if, no matter what, people - humans - are getting killed, harmed at a given space & time, there is probably some seriously fucked up shit going on there & I need to look into it & or I need to try to get others to look into it. One of the ways that most people are able to turn off their sympathies for the suffering is to see if those affected belong to the same group as them & if not, not to worry too much about it. I like the idea of worrying about any human suffering anywhere because if it is happening to another human it can easily happen to someone I know & care about or myself - that's the general idea. (Also I want people to be alive so I can show them my movies:) killing is bad for commerce) I am sure most people here hold something like this view so let me stop myself here.

OK, dinner time, talk to you cats & kittens later.

I would love to do a book or a documentary film about the whole
1948 up to now period in Sri Lanka, look at it from a personal point of view - not political - or tell the story from/through the experience of relatively ordinary Sri Lankans who were affected by things that have happened on that island. Good & bad. I can connect so much better with accounts of personal experience - such as the ones Cicatrix & Milthi have written about things they have experienced in SL - than facts & figures that attempt to provide a birds eye/traditionally journalistic view of an event. Both methods are important but the personal experience method is very powerful. When I visit the place next (hopefully in '07-'08) I can videotape some interviews, take some notes to prep for a project like this. I should also interview some of my relatives here in the US.

Milthi, did you take a video camera with you when you went down to SL recently?

OK, out for sure this time, later.

Sujewa
http://www.wilddiner.com/
PS: when "Date Number One", my new movie gets done, I am going to use it for a lot of benefits, so I can raise & put some serious cash behind my ideas of helping the needy (poor war orphans, tsunami victims) in Sri Lanka, will post screening dates as soon as they are set up, I think I will be ready to go by September
****************************************************

Heheh, thanks, though I just set up the thread on the board rather than the board itself. Still, pleased as punch to know it's taking on a life of its own. :-)

http://members.tripod.com/amarasara/jhu/

No, that JHU link you gave does not talk about the JHU's supposed commitment to a multi-ethnic/religious society. I am going to look for that site for a bit now.

Of course, regardless of what a site says, we will have to see what they do. And a lot of people are watching the JHU, this is the first time in SL/ceylon/ilanka/lanka/heladiva/etc. history (in the whole 2000 some years of Buddhism in SL, as far as I know) that monks have taken a DIRECT role in politics (I think at present the JHU monks hold 9 seats in the parliment, out of 225 seats), they have always played an advisory & guiding role for kings & politicians in SL, just 1 step away from political matters prior to the current time.

BTW, not all Buddhist monks in SL have the same opinion or politics, many were/are against monks running for political office.

Later.

Heheh. Hey, spiritual cousins are fine things. :-) (Now if only I could be doing that for every spot in the world that needs a good place for detailed and thoughtful dialogue! But then I'd have no time for eating and sleeping and all that, which would kinda stink.)

On a completely side note, all this movie talk interests me! Let me know if you have a role for a kinda deep-voiced narrator (cause I can do that and can recommend others).

I am giving up the search for the JHU website that I mentioned 2 posts ago (if I see it ever again I'll post the link here, but here is a quote from a leading monk member of the JHU:
" A: It is the political parties with political agenda that look for a percentage. We have no petty political agenda. We have no party politics. We have a noble aim. Our aim and aspiration is to make this country a place for all to live in brotherhood, in peace and harmony. We strive to serve the country, the nation and the Buddha Sasana. Hence, we do not look for percentages."
Here's where that quote came from:
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2004/03/28/fea07.html
It's from about a year ago.
Regardless of what they see, we'll see what they end up doing (a must for all polititians & leaders - specially in SL). I think so far the biggest thing the JHU has done is introduce anti-conversion ("unethical conversion" I believe this refers to Christian missionary groups converting Buddhists using money as an incentive) legislation. I'll have to check with my relatives in Sri Lanka to see what else is actually going on w/ the JHU.

Cicatrix & Milthi (& anyone else of course):
Check out this March 28 '05 news update from University Teachers For Human Rights (Jaffna):
http://www.uthr.org/SpecialReports/spreport18.htm#False#False
I believe the University Teachers are Tamils who are not fans of the LTTE, and not SL Gov. propagandists.

Ned,
Re: "Now if only I could be doing that for every spot in the world that needs a good place for detailed and thoughtful dialogue! But then I'd have no time for eating and sleeping and all that, which would kinda stink."
Eating & sleeping is for the weak. The Nation of Ulysses did not sleep, and they were always 18 years old.

Re: becoming a narrator for a movie, will keep it in mind. My current project does not need a narrator.

Must...do...some...actual...dayjob...work.

Sujewa
*******

Or for washing?

Very good post Sujewa.

It will be an excellent idea for you to a project (documentary) on Srilanka. If you do, please make an effort to visit the North and East of Srilanka and talk to the people there.
I did not take a camera with me last time because it was right after the Tsunami and I thought it may not be a nice thing to bring the camera. But in hindsight, I wish I did take a camera.
Hey you can intentionally ask some one to do a Pro-government and another to do a pro-tiger documentary and then you can mix them up as a parallel story. That will be interesting to watch.

I read a little bit about the recent birth of the political party. JHU. Even though, they had a good showing at the recent elections, I am not sure if this is some thing they can sustain in the long run. I might be wrong.
But what I am worried about it is the nationalist party JVP (which already has subtantial following) starting to use religious over tones in their recent campaign against everything. The Srilankan conflict was never about religion. It was always about ethnic identity. The Buddhist part of the Sinhala identity is now being played up by political parties for electoral gains. I would have dismissed this as a fart in a hurricane but reading the news reports suggest this seems to be a growing phenomenal. Some of the morons (read politicians) are moving away from the argument of preserving the Buddhism to attacking other religions. If this gathers any support, that will be a true sad day for Srilanka as a whole.
Here are some links for more info.
"Sinhalese nationalist fringe have seized religious bigotry for [political] mobilization through violence¡±
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=11088

Sri Lanka's Blow to Freedom
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB111230991890294839-IhjfYNolaR4o5uoZXmGcaaIm4,00.html

JVP slams NGOs, western countries for meddling
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=14625

btw: I came across another gem of a quote today. It took me a while to get off the floor laughing¡­and this from a pro government website¡­
¡°He said that white people, the LTTE and local henchman have joined together to discredit the government.¡±
http://www.theacademic.org/stories/11128306540/story.shtml

I know..the tigers have been accused of everything under the sun. But conspiring with the ¡°white people¡±????? that's a first.
I guess all of this must have stemmed from this Srilankan government Member of Parliament reading the Simon Reynold's village voice article on M.I. A where he mentions she danced while ¡°while the 99 percent white audience punched the air.¡±

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0508,reynolds,61282,22.html

get it? M.I.A = LTTE (tiger) apologist. M.I.A= 99 percent white audience. Thus LTTE = (approx) white people¡­

Sorry..I don't mean this as any political discussion of this board. I was just higlighting that a funny story.

Sri Lankan-American filmmaker on the front page of a local newspaper in US:
http://www.gazette.net/200515/kensington/news/269401-1.html

I am showing some movies along w/ 2 other filmmakers (the screening will benefit a local non-profit that works to lower youth/gang-violence in DC), the films include one of my own, here in Kensington, MD, and the local paper wrote about it - it's a cover article - w/ a nice color photo. Check it out. Thanks.

Sujewa
http://www.wilddiner.com/
**************************

1. Mystery Train (by Jim Jarmusch)
2. Amelie (french movie from '01) - (my favorite movie of all time at this point)
3. Down By Law (by Jim Jarmusch)
4. She's Gotta Have It (by Spike Lee)
5. Manhattan (by Woody Allen)
6. Night On Earth (by Jim Jarmusch)
7. Drugstore Cowboy (by Gus Van Sant)
8. Living In Oblivion (by Tom DiCillo - sp?)
9. Slacker (by Richard Linklater)
10. Italian For Beginners (a Dogme 95 movie)
11. The Unbelievable Truth (by Hal Hartley)
12. Buena Vista Social Club (doc. by Wim Wenders)
13. Wings of Desire (German, by Wim Wenders)
14. Instrument (doc by Fugazi & Jem Cohen)
15. Annie Hall (by Woody Allen)
16. Do The Right Thing (by Spike Lee)
17. Malcolm X (by Spike Lee)
18. Blue In The Face (by Wayne Wang)
19. Basquiat (sp?)
20. Before Night Falls
21. Johnny Suede (by Tom DiCillo)

As you can tell I am a big fan of movies where people hang out & talk, for the most part. Knowledge of recent Sri Lankan history has, for the most part, cured me of finding violence entertaining (except for historical near-realistic reenactments such as "Saving Private Ryan", that stuff is acceptable if not outright entertaining, educational I guess).

Looking forward to the new Jim Jarmusch movie - coming out this year, which has Bill Murray in the lead. Maybe this movie will be like Jarmusch's early movies - I like them more than his post-Night On Eath movies. Also looking forward to the new Star Wars, may the Force help it suck less than the last 2 Star Wars movies. Also looking forward to Date Number One, out this Fall in DC. which I think will be awesome.

I am going to go see Hotel Rwanda this week.

All right, talk to you guys soon. Post your lists of fave movies.

Sujewa
*******

So, I like movies by Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, etc.
I like the usual suspects, The shawshank redemption, etc.
I am also starting to like the movies by Night.

M.I.A is blatant about defending our rights
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6272

From what I read recently, it seems that her dad released a book in Jaffna titled monetary exploitation sometimes last month. I have not been able to get any details on it.
Looks like the fruit does not fall far from the tree.

it will be interesting to see what the book is about.

Read your list of fave movies. Out of that list all I can say I mostly enjoyed was parts of "Pulp Fiction". Not a fan of M. Night's movies, nor am I at the moment a fan of him (in a recent Premiere article about him he said not having a white lead in a movie is an impossibility, see my blog entry # 21 re: this at: http://www.wilddiner.com/film_journal.htm). But I guess he does bring a tiny bit of diversity to Hollywood movies. But at this point, by and large, I find 99% of Hollywood movies to be relatively useless & a waste of my time & money , looking forward to seeing more real indie films come into being, I and a filmmaker friend have started a new film movement called DIY 2005 to encourage this, here's the web site: http://www.wilddiner.com/diy2005.htm
It will be cool to see real indie film take off like indie rock, there is a long way to go before that happens, since at this point "Sideways" -a low budget Hollywood movie w/ Hollywood stars, financed & distributed by a Hollywood studio, is being sold as indie. Whenever the papers say something like "the independent film with the meager budget of 1.5 million $s" or something, it makes me laugh, about 100 - 1000 or more real indie movies can be made for 1.5 million $s.
Anyways, let me get back to work on finishing up my movie. Talk 2 ya soon.
Sujewa
*******

Dharmaretnam Sivaram, 46, was a senior editor of the Tamilnet website and a writer for an English-language paper.

He was abducted from a restaurant on Thursday and his body found early on Friday close to the parliament complex.

No one has yet admitted carrying out the attack. Mr Sivaram had been gagged and shot in the head, police said.

Mr Sivaram had been close to the leader of a faction that broke away from the Tamil Tigers but his articles favoured the main rebel body.

Ned,
I am very saddened by the news. He was one of the most brilliant journalist to have emerged from Srilanka. His simple yet extremely insightful articles have been read by many. I had extensively quoted him in this thread. Some of my Srilankan friends knew him personally and I was hoping to meet him in my next visit to Srilanka.
I surfed the web everyday single day hoping to see his new articles.
As with countless other killings in Srilanka, this will be dismissed as another ¡°collateral damage¡± in the fighting and people will forget this in no time. No one will be arrested and no one will be punished.
I want to provide a link to another author. I also like his writing style.
He and Sivaram were writing from the opposing sides. Yet, this is what he had to say about the killing.
http://www.theacademic.org/feature/114753867013896/index.shtml

this is probably dealt with elsewhere, and you're probably aware of this nabisco, but the refugee situation in the UK is massively politicised; there is a strong right wing here that was campaigning explicitly against refugees, which is why the skit sounds so powerful to me. i agree with what you're saying, about the 'scenesterism' (to an extent, and i know you were gingerly presenting it also), but just to hear a pop record that is stridently pro-refugee is such an awesome thing here right now.

New Canadian film about slain Sri Lankan female human rights activist.
Here's the URL:
http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=51681&lg=en&v=h#
The movie is called "No More Tears Sister: Anatomy of Hope & Betrayal"

Here's a synopsis (from the film's web site):
A story of love, revolution, and betrayal, No More Tears Sister explores the price of truth in times of war. Set during the violent ethnic conflict that has enveloped Sri Lanka over decades, the documentary recreates the courageous and vibrant life of renowned human rights activist, Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Mother, anatomy professor, and symbol of hope, Rajani was assassinated at the age of thirty-five. Stunningly photographed, using rare archival footage, intimate correspondence and poetic recreations, the story of Rajani and her family delves into rarely explored themes - revolutionary women and their dangerous pursuit of justice.

This film is a re-enactment, have not seen it yet, will try to soon.

I mentioned Dr. Thiranagama in an earlier post way up there.

Talk 2 u later.
Sujewa
*******

http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/nomoretearssister/

http://www.newyorkcool.com/archives/2005/June/film_1.html#tears

http://samudaya.org/articles/archives/2005/06/no_more_tears_s.php

The Foreign Minister was a Sri Lankan Tamil who was instrumental in getting the terrorist group LTTE banned in foreign countries. Sri Lanka will miss his excellent services and he will probably be remembered as a great patriot, a brave soldier on Sri Lanka's 20 year old war on LTTE terror. Here's part of a news story with the link to the full story:

* Sri Lanka's foreign minister assassinated
Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was shot in the head Friday night just outside his private residence in Colombo and died an hour later after emergency surgery, according to hospital and police sources.
The Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) were immediately suspected in the shooting. Earlier this month, two LTTE members were arrested outside Kadirgamar's official residence -- about a kilometer away from where he was shot -- after conducting surveillance and videotaping the area.
full story at: http://www.lankapage.com/

Apparently, the end.

wow

So does this make M.I.A. less cool now?

Goodbye, fucko....

Sri Lankan gov't: Tamil Tiger rebel chief killed

By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer
14 mins ago
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka declared Monday it had crushed the final resistance of the Tamil Tigers, killing rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and ending his three-decade quest for an independent homeland for minority Tamils.
State television broke into its regular programming to announce Prabhakaran's death, and the government information department sent a text message to cell phones across the country confirming he was killed along with top deputies, Soosai and Pottu Amman.
The announcement sparked mass celebrations around the country, and people poured into the streets of Colombo dancing and singing.
Prabhakaran's death has been seen as crucial in bringing closure to this war-wracked Indian Ocean island nation. If he had escaped, he could have used his large international smuggling network and the support of Tamil expatriates to spark a new round of guerrilla warfare here. His death in battle could still turn him into a martyr for other Tamil separatists.
Sri Lanka's army chief, Lt. Gen. Sareth Fonseka, said on television that his troops routed the last rebels from the northern war zone Monday morning and were working to identify Prabhakaran's body from among the dead.
"We can announce very responsibly that we have liberated the whole country from terrorism," he told state television. It was widely presumed Fonseka was waiting for President Mahinda Rajapaksa to announce Prabhakaran's death.
Fonseka and the commanders of the other security forces were scheduled to formally inform the president of the victory Monday evening.
Senior military officials said troops closed in on Prabhakaran and his final cadre early Monday.
He and his top deputies then drove an armor-plated van accompanied by a bus filled with rebel fighters toward approaching Sri Lankan forces, sparking a two-hour firefight, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Troops eventually fired a rocket at the van, ending the battle, they said. Troops pulled Prabhakaran's body from the van and identified it as that of the rebel leader, they said. The attack also killed Soosai, the head of the rebels' naval wing, and Pottu Amman, the group's feared intelligence commander, the officials said.
Suren Surendiran, a spokesman for the British Tamils' Forum, the largest organization for expatriate Tamils in Britain, said the community was in despair.
"The people are very somber and very saddened. But we are ever determined and resilient to continue our struggle for Eelam," he said, invoking the name of the Tamils hoped-for independent state. "We have to win the freedom and liberation of our people."
But in Colombo, which had suffered countless rebel bombings, people set of fireworks, danced and sang in the streets.
"Myself and most of my friends gathered here have narrowly escaped bombs set off by the Tigers. Some of our friends were not lucky," said Lal Hettige, 47, a businessman celebrating in Colombo's outdoor market. "We are happy today to see the end of that ruthless terrorist organization and its heartless leader. We can live in peace after this."
The chubby, mustachioed Prabhakaran turned what was little more than a street gang in the late 1970s into one of the world's most feared insurgencies. He demanded unwavering loyalty and gave his followers vials of cyanide to wear around their necks and bite into in case of capture.
At the height of his power, he controlled a shadow state in northern Sri Lankan and commanded a force that including an infantry, backed by artillery, a significant naval wing and a nascent air force.
He also controlled a suicide squad known as the Black Tigers that was blamed for scores of deadly attacks. The rebels were branded a terror group and condemned for forcibly conscripting child soldiers.
Earlier, the military announced it had killed several top rebel leaders, including Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony, also a rebel leader. The military said special forces also found the bodies of the rebels' political wing leader, Balasingham Nadesan, the head of the rebels' peace secretariat, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, and one of the top military leaders, known as Ramesh.
The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority after years of marginalization at the hands of the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
Government forces ousted the rebels from their shadow state in the north in recent months and brought the group to its knees. Thousands of civilians were reportedly killed in the recent fighting.
Senior diplomats had appealed for a humanitarian cease-fire in recent weeks to safeguard the tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone, but the government refused, and denied persistent reports it was shelling the densely populated war zone.
Diplomats in Brussels said Monday the European Union will endorse a call for an independent war crimes investigation into the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions were ongoing.
The rebels were also accused of using the civilians as human shields and shooting at some who fled.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband says there have been "very grave allegations" of war crimes on both sides of the conflict adding "they should be properly investigated."
The U.N. said 7,000 civilians were killed in the fighting between Jan. 20 and May 7. Health officials in the area said more than a 1,000 others were killed since then.
On Monday, more than a thousand angry Sri Lankans protested outside the British Embassy in Colombo, pelting it with rocks and eggs and burning an effigy of Miliband and throwing it inside the compound. Protesters held posters calling Miliband a "white Tiger," and several tried to climb the embassy's high walls.
___
Associated Press writers Krishan Francis and Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.Questions or CommentsPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceCopyright/IP Policy

The announcement sparked mass celebrations around the country, and people poured into the streets of Colombo dancing and singing.

youtube, or it didn't happen...

They left a good looking flag-

http://fotw.fivestarflags.com/images/l/lk-tamtg.gif

graven images + weapons: probably worth a C
http://www.otago.ac.nz/philosophy/Staff/JoshParsons/flags/meth.html

i can't believe a government army beat rebels. i predict a massive comeback in 5 years.