A
Preface To Peace In Sri Lanka:
Tamil Self-Rule? Part II
By BJ Alexander
27 February, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Read
Part I
"In a time of universal
deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act" George
Orwell
There
are always two sides to a story they say. Perhaps there is more than
two sides. In a conflict truth is always the first casualty and prior
to that innocence is killed. People often have their own axes to grind.
And it is inevitably the poor and the vulnerable who bore the brunt
of the pain and suffering as a consequence of war. Since the independence
of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1948 one must be mindful of the fact that the
State has been institutionally racist and biased. Tamil homelands have
been secretly colonized and the politico-Buddhism has vehemently played
its overt part to be professed as “Sinhala religion” and
often seen as the symbol of hegemonic power.
‘Scrap the
Truce’ Protest
Buddhist monks in general, exceptions are very few, instead of working
towards holistic intercommunity relations, they have tragically aided
the State in its racist agenda. Their vision of Sri Lanka is tragically
myopic and ethno-centric. To the majority of the Sinhala nation Sri
Lanka is the Sinhala Buddhist Land and hence concepts such as pluralistic
society is just a fiction. The Tamils judging by half a century of Sinhala
hegemony had every reason to view the State as “native colonisers”.
In such a context of lethal aggression, the Tamils moving towards the
cry for secession could hardly be interpreted as extremism. It was indeed
a necessity for honourable survival [1]. Why should this cry for freedom
take the shape it did, as an armed resistance or “terrorism”
is a question often asked by Western friends. One can give the short
answer to that, it is an action of self-defence and résistance
against one’s own state aggression. However, often it is misunderstood.
When the State and its State forces have a systemic bias against you
and refuse to protect your fundamental rights then what else can you
do? This is the reply you get from people who have seen and experienced
the lethal brute force of the Sinhala state. One is reminded here the
words of Father Trevor Huddleston. Speaking to a spellbound black audience
in February 1953 he said “ It has been the teaching of the Church
through the centuries that when government degenerates into tyranny,
laws cease to be binding on its subjects” [2]. So, any future
peace-broker who is working towards the goal of genuine peace first
ought to deal with the institutional racism of the state and all its
apparatus. Of course, over night fixes won’t work. There requires
a sea change of mind sets. The state have to unlearn its habits of the
heart in order to gain the trust of the Tamil people.
Self-Defence
When the Tamil Tigers speak
of self-defence it is generally understood that they are referring to
the struggle for the defence of the Tamil people and also to protect
their homeland. It is not always easy when they are fighting against
such a large state armed force to keep the balance right. Liberation
struggle, we are reminded, is not a tea-party. However, Makkal - the
lives of Tamils have to be protected. That should be the pre-eminent
cause. Munn - the soil or the land needs to be protected from violent
encroachment. In the process however, lives of innocent civilians (Makkal)
cannot be compromised. Accidents may be unavoidable but moral lapses
in this regard have to be avoided at all cost.
Chomsky
It is the general view of
the international community (IC) US and UK in particular that they are
supportive of the self-determination only in principle in so far as
the Tamils agree against secession - because that trend is no longer
acceptable…The difficulty one faces, I commented to Prof Chomsky
[3], is that it defeats the purpose of SELF-determination. It is the
others - the IC who are determining against their [Tamil’s] best
wishes, in the name of international trends and systems!
I wonder what you would say...should the Tamils risk against the global
systems?
Chomsky responded by saying:
“It's a good question. There are complex issues involving the
right of secession, and no simple principles that mechanically apply.”
But any comments on the armed
struggle?
“I don't feel that
there is any general answer to the question whether armed struggle is
legitimate.” Chomsky continued, “Sometimes, as a last resort,
but any resort to violence has a very heavy burden of proof to bear.”
I drove the question further
about the UN declared universal principle of self-determination touching
on the Wilsonian principle [4]. His response was penetrating:
“Self-determination
is a principle to be valued (but for historical accuracy, Wilson's concept
was very limited). But as we all know, we constantly face choices with
conflicting principles. We live in broader communities, and the community
has rights, which might be violated by our secession. And there are
questions of human rights that may override the right to secession.
There were just these conflicting principles during the US civil war,
for example, when one of the principles involved was the right to own
slaves. There are many such issues everywhere.”
Chomsky suggested to look
at the plight of Bolivia. And he added:
“In Bolivia, for example,
most of the wealth happens to be concentrated in the Europeanized mostly
white Eastern regions, who don't want to be part of a country governed
by a poor Indian majority. Do they have the right to secede, effectively
destroying the country and the majority of its population? Not so simple,
in my opinion.”
”Life is full of conflicts
between principles,” he pointed out, “and they rarely have
abstract solutions.”
The Plight of the
Palestinians?
“Palestinians, in my
opinion” he put to me, “they are living under harsh foreign
military occupation, sustained only by US refusal to agree to the international
consensus on a two-state settlement. I don't think any serious issue
of conflict of rights arises in this case.”
But what about all the historical
claims of the Tamils? Being an ancient indigenous inhabitants of Ceylon;
their inalienable right to live with honour and dignity in their traditional
homelands; why should they be denied the right to determine their political
future?
“Going back to historical
claims is a hopeless endeavour.” Chomsky reminded me…
“Since 1945, there
has been a system of (more or less) established rules, which did not
exist before, so for practical purposes, we pretty much have to start
with that. That puts Israel in an ambiguous position: the colonization
began long before 1945, based on alleged "historic rights"
and continuity of desire to return (though orthodox Jews strongly oppose
claims to pre-Messianic return, and have been vigorously anti-Zionist).
But the real reason for Zionist success is Christian-Western support,
in part for imperial reasons (an outpost of the West among the "barbarians")
and in part for religious reasons: Christians were the earliest Zionists.”
So, the case of the Tamils
is in some ways not similar to the Palestinians.
“The Tamil case is
different because it is appealing to pre-1945 demands. There's no justice
in any of this, just recognition of how power relations work themselves
out.” [ Emphases mine]
Choice
In the end, of course, it
is the Tamil people’s independent choice (as opposed to the cajoling
of external forces) that truly matters. They must choose and decide
what is best for them in alignment with the international laws. There
are times however established rules may prove to be part of oppressive
global systems. The international community may have to be convinced
to re-think the international configuration by skills of persuasion
under girded by primacy of reason. There aren’t any imperative
to submit to established rules provided the struggle holds firmly to
a moral high ground. Sometimes it is appropriate to overthrow oppressive
systems and rules as had been done throughout history. It is the dispossessed
people who have endured the brunt of the brutality of war for over 25
years; they should be given the privilege to choose and granted the
right to determine their political destiny.
It is generally an accepted
fact that there is no military solution to this conflict.
The current ground reality however is that violence has escalated exponentially.
The State is using as tools of war - food, medicine and blockade on
other goods necessary for human basic needs to the Tamils in general
but particularly to the Northerners. Over a telephone call for instance,
some weeks ago, a person in the Northern town Yarlpanam (Jaffna) told
me that food items are very scarce and even when they scrape up to cook
a meagre meal they have no matchsticks and kerosene. The latter two
items have sky-rocketed in price owing to the scarcity ONLY in the North.
This is no doubt just a tiny example. The cost of human tragedy is appalling.
Any form of talks thus far has been just a dialogue of the deaf. Fresh
creative approaches have to be implemented in order for a lasting solution
to be found.
Another error of judgment
that is being currently made by the state armed forces including their
paramilitaries is that they are thinking what the Tamil Tigers want
them to think. The state is made to think that they are at the brink
of winning the war and the Tamil Tigers have gone all quiet (giving
the impression of losing). In the mean time however, increasingly the
state treasury is becoming bankrupt, war budget has gone through the
roof; investments are pulling out and the country is becoming ungovernable.
Bombs, landmines are all over the place. Radicalisation of the extremist
elements among the Sinhalas (The pseudo-Marxists and the Buddhist Monks
party]and Moslems in the eastern province is also deeply worrying.
Future talks have to directly
deal with the causes of war. There is no mistake, I think, for the Tamils
to be asking for self-rule within their territories. A viable structure
of democratic governance could be found, no doubt, with the help of
the international community. These are urgent matters that the future
peace-broker must explore with the parties at conflict. It cannot be
dragged on forever but proceed with a pragmatic time frame within which
a lasting and a more humane solution could be achieved. Freedom and
liberty should be guaranteed to ALL because realistic peace is interdependent:
The emancipation of the Tamils would be an unshackling of the Sinhalas
too – a true recovery of the meaning of common humanity.
In Conclusion… Its
been a long while since I played a Beatles record from my vinyl collection.
As I was working on this piece last night, my turntable was churning
out from a track appropriately titled Revolution. The lyrics aptly came
to me as a revelation. The penny begins to drop…
“You say you got a
real solution…
You say you’ll
change the constitution
Well you know
We all want to change
your head
You tell me it’s
the institution
Well you know
You better free your
mind instead
But if you go carrying
pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t going
to make it with anyone anyhow
Don’t you know
its going to be alright
Al right, Al right.”
[5]
*Revd BJ Alexander is a Methodist
Minister based in London, England.
Notes:
1] Subramaniyan Sivanayagam, Sri Lanka: Witness To History(1930 –
2004), January 2005, Sivayogam, UK.
2] Anthony Sampson, Mandela
– The Authorised Biography,1999, HaperCollins, UK; p.83.
3] My sincere gratitude to
Noam Chomsky for his generosity with his precious time in order to engage
with me in this helpful discussion.
Also see: Conscience of a
Nation by Maya Jaggi, January20,2001;The Guardian: http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/20010120.htm
4] An ideology of the US
President Woodrow Wilson which he believed if implemented would create
global peace. Its main principles are: a) Advocacy of self-determination
to ethnic people b) Advocacy of the spread of democracy c) Anti-isolationism
– intervention to create peace and/or spread of freedom.
5] Revolution, Lennon/McCartney,
1968, Northern songs Ltd.
Read
Part I