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ICG Report On Tamil Women Is Woefully Wrong

By Janani Paramsothy

02 January, 2012
Countercurrents.org

The recent International Crisis Group (ICG) report on ‘Sri Lanka: Women’s Insecurity in the North and East’ is a real work of art that has generated much controversy. The full report can be read here

The political agenda that the ICG follow is once again remarkably clear in this report, as it has been in previous reports, notably the report regarding the Tamil Diaspora: ‘The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora after the LTTE’ which was published on 23rd February 2010 and can be accessed here

This current report, like the ones before it, plays an interesting game. It accuses the Sri Lankan state while excusing it, exposes the smaller problems while masking the underlying bigger one, and although it cannot be entirely dismissed out of hand, as it provides essential evidence about what is happening to our women in Sri Lanka, it is such an apologist work that it cannot be regarded as having the final say on what the real situation is in Sri Lanka.

First and foremost, Western culture generally needs to let go of this illusion of ultimate control that they think they hold and of the accompanying notion where they think they know what is best for everyone everywhere. This lingering ignorance from imperialist years, leads to many a misunderstanding, some too grave to allow. They cannot dictate to us what is right and what is wrong, without taking into account what our own understanding of the situation may be. And our understanding of the situation here is not parallel to that of the ICG’s since it fundamentally ignores the genocidal nature of what has been done. In this event, the report appears somewhat patronising and a little removed from reality. Although comments of a very serious nature have been made, some of the additional comments appear so misguided, it is hard to know whether to laugh or be angry.

It appears- and this is observable with many international actors who have failed the Eelam Tamils- that the ICG simply cannot face up to the fact that it is they who have been wrong and we who have been right about Sri Lanka all along. The international community, its NGOs and its media have spectacularly failed in the case of Sri Lanka, leading to the loss of tens of thousands of lives and they are all still in denial. Therefore, instead of admitting that they have done wrong, they appear to choose to justify their actions by pointing fingers at what the Tamils have done. They partially acknowledge that some wrong has been committed in respect of the Tamils, and then backtrack by saying, “But hey, it was their fault anyway.”

They say that the Sri Lankan government dismiss allegations ‘as part of an LTTE conspiracy to garner international sympathy and demonise Sri Lanka’s “war heroes”’ while in part, helping to do just that themselves.

This is illustrated widely throughout the report- in the many references to the diaspora for example, in which we have been made to appear like bloodhounds intent on the destruction and humiliation of Sri Lanka. So despite the fact that those people suffering out there are our family members, our friends and our kin, despite the fact that many of the Diaspora are people who have suffered in Sri Lanka first hand themselves, despite the fact that we- Diaspora and inhabitants of Sri Lanka alike- consider ourselves, and indeed are one single entity, we have been painted as the scavengers who would gladly sacrifice our kin in homeland, just so we can gain ground on our ‘elusive political solution’.

I for one do not particularly care what happens to Sri Lanka or its government. If this all culminates in a happy ending for them, then good, if not, then that is slightly sad. I will not however, intentionally set out to wreck the country. This is what I believe is the sympathy shared by most of the Diaspora. We want our people and their interests to be safeguarded, and that is of paramount importance. No one sets out to discredit Sri Lanka out of pure spite or boredom, but only because they believe that is the only way to bring about our ultimate goal of protecting our people. Hence this idea that we will sell out the Tamils in the homeland to achieve this ‘elusive political solution’ (Tamil Eelam, since the writers of the report could not bring themselves to put this down in words) is ludicrous. The entire point of Tamil Eelam is to ensure that those very people are not sold out, not because we want to win points in some imaginary sparring game with the government, but because there is no other solution to check the protracted genocide of the Tamils that has been happening ever since Sri Lanka gained ‘independence’ in 1948.

The report is also always eager to point out that activists abroad might misuse their material and attempts to disclaim against it: “Given the levels of fear within them Tamil community and the willingness of some diaspora activists to assume the government is behind all violence, there is a real risk of misattribution.”

Obviously no one thinks the government is behind ALL violence. Even indirectly, they cannot have caused every single incidence of violent behaviour on the island. I don’t believe anyone has ever proposed that. They are not omnipresent; although I’m sure they would like to be. However, most violence can be attributed to the government. It need not necessarily be that they sanctioned it, or that their agents carried it out (although that happens a lot). It is enough that through what they’ve done or have not done, they have indirectly created an atmosphere and created a society where these forms of violence happen, that they are acceptable and will not be punished.

Tamil society is not dysfunctional in itself- although reading the report, one can be forgiven for thinking otherwise. You can look to the Diaspora for evidence of that because although the communities operate within different cultures, they still largely adhere to Tamil cultural rules. You can also look to the society in pre-war years, before Tamil society became so mangled by the devastation that was intentionally wrought to it.

On top of this distrust of the Diaspora, there is then the emphasis on who has made the situation ‘worse’, or are guilty on the same level as the Sri Lankan state and its forces in regards to what they are doing, and have done, to Tamil women. This group comprises of the LTTE and Tamil men in general.

The insistent reference to the ‘increasing use of alcohol’ and again to the inherent patriarchal nature of the Tamil community are the main cores of this argument in relation to Tamil men. There is no evidence to suggest that the Tamil community is any more patriarchal than any of its South Asian neighbours- indeed even the report admits we are more liberal. There are many conservative elements within Tamil ideology that must be challenged but oppression of women is not one of them. My grandparents for example, have some very interesting ideas on the caste system, but they would never- and never have- treated any of us girls differently to how they treat the boys. And this is not just because we have different laws in England or live in a different society. It is because that is the way that they have been brought up.

Moreover, there is also the subtle emphasis on the fact that ‘life was bad’ under the ‘brutal LTTE’ who dictated women’s lives so they cannot have been empowered. The holes in this argument are countless, but we will briefly consider a few. The report itself acknowledges that there was a ‘degree’ of equality under the LTTE, many women have openly said their lives were infinitely better under the LTTE- maybe because they weren’t subjects of mass rape then, any citizen living under any state has their life dictated by that state to an extent- this does not diminish their equality in any way, and since the LTTE were first and foremost a military organisation, engaged in war, it is perhaps understandable that some freedoms had to take a back seat to national security, especially since, these weren’t not exclusively restricted for women.

“The male dominated leadership of the organisation prioritised the fight for a separate Tamil nation, and their own survival, over all other goals” states the report. Let us conveniently forget the fact that the LTTE’s decision making body, its Central Committee had five women in a twelve member team. Let us take their statement as true. Even then, it is entirely reasonable because without the success of the war effort, for men and women alike, there is nothing. This has been clearly demonstrated now. Tamil women- safe under LTTE, raped and pillaged under Sri Lankan forces with no one to support them. It’s quite a simple equation really. For Tamil women to be safe under a Sri Lankan state is simply impossible.

The issue is that the real problem has not been understood by the ICG at all, or if understood, then they have just ignored it to assuage their own guilt. The problem is not that the government has ignored Tamil women’s concerns:

“Instead of taking what is a historic opportunity to address grievances that affect well over half of the Tamil population in the north and east, and in doing so highlighting the responsibility of the Tamil political leadership and community to do the same”

The problem is that the Sri Lankan state does not intend to address our concerns. It is not because they are indifferent about our suffering; it is because they are active agents bringing it about. They want it to happen because it all fits in with their pre-planned attack on the Tamil nation as a whole.

When the report points out that the government ‘carefully nurtured nationalist sentiment within Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority to build support for its efforts to destroy the LTTE’ it is not entirely true. This sentiment already existed; it is what the government were voted in on and what successive Sinhala governments have all been nurturing over the years.

The problem is not the current government or their way of doing things. They themselves are a manifestation of the problem.

Furthermore, there is also again, when referring to the LTTE, this idea that stopping the sexual violence is important because otherwise the LTTE will use/ have already used it as propaganda:

“Threats to them reinforced perceptions and experiences of ethnic discrimination; they also motivated – and were used to justify – violent responses and demands for commitment to the LTTE’s separatist cause and brutal tactics.”

The LTTE like the Diaspora, are unfortunately very misunderstood. Without understanding why the LTTE rose in the first place, no actor in this conflict could ever hope to solve it. The idea that the LTTE would act ‘brutally’ and in the fashion described by the report independently of any other cause and this sexual violence is just something that plays into their hands is simply put, foolish.

Reading and hearing about what is happening to our sisters while sitting in England is hard enough. I don’t actually face the physical threat- although many of our Sinhala neighbours here have made many verbal ones over the internet- yet we still feel violated. Our empathy with our sisters leads to fear and anger. We as Diaspora Tamil women also share the additional feeling of helplessness sometimes because we cannot physically go out to Sri Lanka and stop this violence ourselves. Often when we were younger, many activists would talk of forming our own ‘human shield’ around the ‘safe zones’ to protect the people. As we all know now though, this probably would not have deterred the government. They would have shot us all. Tamil women actually on the island have a greater need to protect themselves. The feelings we feel are only magnified and exacerbated. More importantly, they have the chance to physically be there and protect one another. Indeed it is a chance they cannot afford to pass by. And since being a shield won’t work, they have to be the sword.

The report, for all its proposed good intentions, does reduce women into lower agents itself. Women don’t need this propaganda to feel unsafe and angry. They are not stupid. I believe they are more than capable of knowing what is happening around them and making their own choices based on their observations and knowledge. They have faced a lot, a lot has been inflicted on them, yet they are still strong. They are not so easily led astray by the LTTE or by other sources as the report suggests.

In conclusion, the ICG report, although acknowledging some important truths is fundamentally flawed. In an attempt to wash over their own mistakes, they have wiped under the carpet, the most important issue of all- the genocide of Tamils, in which process sexual violence against Eelam Tamil women is part and parcel- and in doing so, have produced a severely constricted view of how to deal with the issue.

Janani Paramsothy is a Law Student at University College London

 

 



 


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