Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
M.I.A. in the USA: An Oscar for a bin Laden Next?
A few hours ago, two aircraft flown by a terrorist group, LTTE, recognized as such by the US, were foiled in their attempt to attack the Sri Lankan capitol of Colombo. Thought both planes were shot down, two civilians were killed and forty-six others injured.
In an article in the New Yorker, (Jane Mayer, ‘The Hard Cases,' New Yorker, 2/23/09), argues that the Obama administration faces the tough choice of closing Guantanamo Bay and other detention centers holding so-called enemy combatants who have never been charged with a crime, and being accused of going easy on future terrorists. There is the old argument that it is entirely possible to take an ordinary civilian and transform them into a terrorist simply by treating them as such, for what else but revenge might occupy the mind of an innocent human in solitary confinement for five years. But that is hindsight. The task now is to proceed with cautious speed toward justice and that requires the reassessment of definitions of "enemy combatants" and the multiple layers of incarceration, torture and prosecution that defined the Bush era.
But as Neal Katyal, the new Principal Deputy Solicitor General in the Justice Department (i.e. the person authorized to represent the government before the Supreme Court), and the President find their way toward the surprisingly broad line that separates the terrorist from the person or group with a justifiable grievance, there is another issue that Americans as a whole, particularly American liberals, need to confront: their relationship to minorities, particularly as it pertains to the classification of terrorists.
America's checkered past viz-a-viz its own minorities has made it both capable of massive collective goodness (i.e. two and a half years of working toward the election of a man with solid foreign-resident credentials and a name that echoes America's chosen anti-Christ, bin Laden), and equally all-encompassing myopia. Liberal Americans have, for decades, made the usually, but regrettably not reliably, flawless argument that minority status confers upon that minority the right to unquestioned support and a corner on the market on truth. President Obama, himself fairly and squarely a minority, owes his success not merely to the fact that he has done what most minorities have to do in order to achieve the kind of respect he enjoys, i.e. be above reproach in terms of his integrity and intellect, but also to the fact that he has had the courage to disassociate and even condemn those aspects or arguments of a minority group which he finds to be untruthful.
But the rest of America is still catching up, and none slower than its mainstream media, which has been awash with a new found enthusiasm for throwing the word "genocide" at the Sri Lankan government. Sri Lanka, an island off the coast of India, comprises of a Sinhalese majority, and Tamil, Moslem and mixed-race (of European descent), minorities. Sri Lankan schools are required, by law, to teach each child his/her own religion no matter the denomination of the school, and Sri Lankans live, study, work and exist in harmony in the entire island (about the size of Maine), except in a small area controlled by the Tamil Tigers, a separatist terrorist organization. To be absolutely clear, the Tigers (LTTE), are a group of Tamils, but all Tamils are not members nor supporters of the LTTE and 95% of all Tamils live among Sinhalese and Moslems away from the LTTE.
But none of these facts were part of a series of articles in the Boston Globe. Not in the one calling for the Obama Administration to ask for a UN Council Resolution to call for a cease-fire and for Asian powers to stop funding the Sri Lankan government. Nor the one it ran an about an expatriate kid fasting American style (with the help of Gatorade and vitamins), to bring attention to the "plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka." Nor the opinion piece salaciously titled ‘Genocide in Sri Lanka,' by Bruce Fein, a former deputy attorney-general, who claimed that the state department lists Sri Lanka as a "potential as an investigatory target in the Office of War Crimes," but forgot to mention that the same State Department lists the LTTE as a terrorist organization, moved to freeze the assets of LTTE operatives here in the United States, imposed that decision as recently as last week on yet another American front for the LTTE, and, by the way, shut down all funding from Americans and Canadians to the LTTE, all moves which forced the LTTE to suddenly begin peace talks in 2002.
Swift on the heels of all this was a PBS Tavis Smiley segment (he for whom Obama was just not black enough), dedicated to Mathangi Arulpragasam, the niece of Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE, and daughter of Arula, the leader of a secondary LTTE organization, both criminals and terrorists condemned by the international community. Tavis Smiley ought to have known what was coming, but that would have entailed actually doing some research, and not make the assumptions, as most liberals do, that a person speaking from a minority perspective must automatically be right.
Mathangi Arulpragasam, who goes by the name M.I.A., has been denied a visa to the enter the United States in the past due to her terrorist connections, but is now a resident of Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. MIA was nominated for a Grammy and an Oscar for her song on the current flavor of the month, Slumdog Millionaire which is traveling at breakneck speed toward an Oscar flush. She used her segment on Tavis Smiley to make the statement that she is the spokesperson, the only one!, for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, discrediting the thousands of articulate and frankly more informed and far less dubious Tamils who can speak both for Tamils and Sri Lanka, and, with the connivance of Smiley, continued to accuse the Sri Lankan government of engaging in genocide, that it was "trying to make Tamils extinct," that it had "an army of millions" and that Tamils weren't being "allowed to live" in Sri Lanka. Suffice to say that anybody with a computer and internet access - both of which, I'm positive, aren't denied to Mr. Smiley - could have confirmed the ludicrousness of these pronouncements. The UN, UNHCR and the Red Cross, let alone the Sri Lankan government, have released statements regarding the continued terrorism of the LTTE and its murdering of Tamil civilians before they can cross into the safety zones being maintained by the Sri Lankan government and the Red Cross. UN Human Rights reports regarding its forced recruitment of child soldiers and women as well as international aid workers, are also easily accessed.
Why then did the Tavis Smiley show leave it to Michael Getler, the ombudsman of NPR to make a public apology regarding the conduct of this interview? Why was there no public apology from Tavis Smiley himself but for a forced follow-up segment, thanks to the flood of protests, with the Sri Lankan government? Before the Oscar board decides to take the path of inanity displayed by Tavis Smiley on his show, it might do well to replay the album Piracy Funds Terrorism to which MIA refused to add a disclaimer (regarding her overt support of terrorism), which also contains the song ‘Sunshowers' which refers to suicide bombs ("and some showers I'll be aiming at you") Unless, of course, there's a super-talented rapper niece of Osama bin Laden's singing about killing 2,000 Americans in NYC that they are willing to embrace into the fold.
MIA's music is catchy and should win whatever it deserves. And America is certainly a place where the underdog story, however fictional, guarantees sales. Witness the number of music artists who "authenticate" themselves with borrowed street-creds in order to sell the music they write in nice upper class suburbs. But the idea that the same Hollywood that helped Barack Obama into office is offering M.I.A. the second national platform she said, on the Smiley show, she wants, is to wonder if the America that elected Obama is truly ready for the kind of discernment, self-correction and intelligence that characterizes the man himself.
52 Comments so far
Show AllWhat a garbled piece of journalism, this. What, exactly, is the point here? We're not being vigilant enough in combating terrrists of all stripes, yes? And correct me if I misread: Americans engaging in "massive collective goodness" by electing Obama? I guess it had nothing to do with the fact that the corporate elite had tabbed him as their man and that his campaign coffers were fuller than anyone's in history? (Not to downplay, of course, the historic significance of a man half African-American acceeding to the highest office in the land, but we had long been primed to separate racial emancipation from progressive politics through the likes of Condi and Colin.) The "author," moreover, apparently sees no disconnect between the fact that the redoubtable air force of Sri Lanka can shoot down threatening aircraft but the air defenses of the world's most monstrous military cannot. And now this person is going to inflict a novel on the world as well? Armaggeddon can't be too far off...
LOL ! I agree. The article seems to fly off on different tangents and at the same time attempts to maul M.I.A. for being the niece of the LTTE Chief. Ive searched around the net and havent found any evidence to suggest M.I.A. was directly involved in terrorism of any kind. Yes, she is an outspoken proponent of Tamil rights in Sri Lanka and she has stated unequivocally that she doesnt support terrorist organizations that hurt innocent people. Her provocative lyrics are aimed at making a statement and shocks you out of complacency.
The Tamils get screwed by both the LTTE and Sri Lankas Army (kinda like Palestinians in Gaza). Supporting the Palestinians 'right to live' is not akin to sympathizing with Hamas and neither should M.I.A.'s stated support of Tamils be represented as an act of terrorism.
The Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka needs to learn to live with Tamils and not strip their rights away. They need to integrate the Tamil minority into the mainstream and allow them to be politically vested. Sri Lanka clearly ignored the Tamil minority and allowed a host of atrocities to be committed on them, which enforced the formation of these terrorist entities. This can change, but sensing the weakness in the LTTE, Sri Lanka has decided to throw caution to the winds and is attempting to wipe out the LTTE even at the risk of killing thousands of innocnet Tamils. Violence begets violence. A political settlement is the only choice.
@ riddimboy (February 21st, 2009 6:05 pm)
Do you even know what you are talking about? The comment made by makus (February 21st, 2009 8:55 pm) perfectly highlights what is wrong with the West in general when it comes to issues like Sri Lanka and you are a perfect embodiment of that.
Let me post you somethings i picked up on another site, i found them truly fascinating - they are written by a Sinhalese, but are very clear and crisp in un-varnishing some hidden facts and giving the other side to the conflict:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tamil myths, miss-interpretations, alterations and fabrications
Tamils are not a "minority ". There are 80 million Tamils in the world and 3 million in Sri Lanka (that is going by the 1982 statistic), where as there are 16 million Sinhalese in the world and 15 million are in Sri Lanka.
There are millions of Tamils elsewhere e.g. Malaysia is home to 3 million, South Africa has plenty, so does Fiji and Mauritius, as well as the West -notably Canada with 250,000- 300,000. India is home to 70 million Tamils, 65 million being in the Indian State called Tamil Nadu -which is religiously, culturally and linguistically identical place between the Tamils in Sri Lanka and India as well as elsewhere. Tamil Nadu is the source of all Tamils.
The reality is Tamils are a numerical minority. A numerical minority who's numbers ballooned during the 500 years of Colonial rule in Sri Lanka, where they were imported en masse by the Dutch and British as indentured labour to work on Tobacco and Tea plantations, as well as a military force to crush Sinhalese, especially because Sinhalese refused to tow the ethnically cleansing the Sinhalese who were there before, which is how that became a Tamil "traditional land" in the 1840s). More Tamils were imported to Sri Lanka as a way of "diluting up" the Sinhala population (words of British Viceroy) to alter the ethnic ratio and prevent Sinhalese from opposing British rule. This occurred following the 1848 massacre where during the massacre the British killed over 200,000 Sinhalese. Viceroy Brownriggs order were: "kill every male above the age of 8". An entire generation was wiped out. Now the same murderers and thieves who brutalised the Sinhalese are preaching about human rights.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Coolie
"A massive number of Tamil coolies were shipped to Sri Lanka by the British for the coffee and tea plantations. It was also used to augment the minority populations of Sri Lanka. This was the second wave of settlement after the Tamils settled in Jaffna by the Dutch as laborers for tobacco cultivation. This tactic of demographic alteration was used by the British to suppress the native Sinhalese of Sri Lanka who had revolted numerous times against the British. A similar settlement also took place in Malaysia."
Tamils are nothing more than a non-indigenous numerical minority who are fighting the indigenous Sinhala majority in the Island.
What Tamils call "discrimination" is the loss of the unfair racist privileges they had during Colonialism ("rewards" for their loyalty). After Independence they were no longer favoured & buttressed into high positions just for being Tamil. What else would expect from any self-respecting sovereign Government this racist and unfair system was replaced with a more equal system?
They (Tamils) already have equal rights, they have had such since Independence, what they want is superior rights again i.e. to be MORE EQUAL
They want superior rights because they believe they are superior beings-to be put on a equal level with the "inferior" Sinhalese is a horror they could not and still cannot stomach and so call it "discrimination"
stevetoronoto
-- "Do you even know what you are talking about? "
You sound like a mouthpiece for Sri Lankan nationalists ! I suppose a numerical minority doesnt count as a minority !!
-- "what they want is superior rights again i.e. to be MORE EQUAL"
What does this even mean ?! Yes they want to be equal ... more or less !!
The current Tamil population that takes the brunt of violence perpetrated by the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE, are innocent bystanders in the conflict, irrespective of their antecedents or ancestors. The British are to blame for altering the demographics of Sri Lanka but the current population was born and raised in Sri Lanka. Whether you as a ultra-nationalist wants it or not they exist. And they deserve the same rights as Sri Lankans. What transpired a 100 years ago is irrelevant in the current context. Any which way you look at it the Tamils are currently an oppressed minority and that needs to change.
How does the fact that the Tamil diaspora is spread across several nations have any bearing on the situation in Sri Lanka ? You sound like the author above ... cognitive-dissonance !
--"It is the Sinhalese are the ones who feed, cloth, educate and heal the Tamils."
And by extension you assume the Tamils are unproductive, lazy bums leeching of the system ! How comical this sounds. This is exactly the same argument used by every nationalist-rightwing idiot who cannot find a reason to base their hatred on.
<<<"riddimboy February 22nd, 2009 4:11 am
stevetoronoto
-- "Do you even know what you are talking about? "
You sound like a mouthpiece for Sri Lankan nationalists !"
>>>>
I clearly stated that i was quoting someone else. Learn to read. And i live in Toronto i know what Tamils here get up to. Many have come to Canada claiming to flee war and persecution, yet they do not appear like a war ravaged or damaged community -more like people on a free holiday. Read more:
http://canadianimmigrationreform.blogspot.com/search/label/Tamil
http://canadianimmigrationreform.blogspot.com/2007/07/tamil-sues-over-immigration-case-delay.html
<<<" I suppose a numerical minority doesnt count as a minority !!">>>>
Yet the Sinhalese are a greater minority in the sense they only exist in Sri Lanka, where as Tamils do not.
<<<"What does this even mean ?! Yes they want to be equal ... more or less !!">>>>
You accept the British seeded the conflict in Sri Lanka by playing divide and conquer yet fail to see the rest of the argument made by the Sinhalese i quoted. I am no fan of Britains Imperial past -half of my family has roots in the US and the 13 colonies- and am saddened by America also taking a similar Empire building path, though i do consider myself Canadian now, well make what you want of that).
Anyway going back to Sri Lanka it is clear Tamils were favoured by the British as per their ways of controlling vast amounts of territory all over the globe through dividing peoples and nations by real or artificial methods.
After the British left it is obvious the Tamils would no longer be continually favoured into top positions by a majority community that had been disgustingly disenfranchised and denied their rights in their own back yard by occupying powers, where as a minority (indigenous, numerical or not) was -at the expense of that same majority.
It would be ridiculous to believe that an oppressed majority who had just received independence would continue the same policy of oppression on themselves just to appease a minority high on power and privilege given to them artificially.
That is the point I have quoted, Tamils were never "discriminated" (see the figures below of jobs, education and positions they held up to the 1980s -when the war began), what they view as "discrimination" (and a cause for a separate state etc) is the loss of the privileges they were given by default for being a Tamil during foreign rule in Sri Lanka.
Tamils were taken down from superior position/rights, to one equal with the Sinhalese and the rest of islands minorities e.g. the Malays (also imported to Sri Lanka by the British), the other minority Muslim communities (not imported) plus the people of mixed-European descent -note they have never made the accusation of "discrimination" or "genocide" by the Sinhalese majority). This "down grading" to an equal level has clearly upset the Tamils who were used to being given everything ahead of everyone else. They evidently desire (or desired) a return to the British system of favouritism hence the claim by the Sinhalese i quoted of Tamils wanting "to be more equal" makes a lot of sense to me.
This is whole the argument made by Sinhalese and by doing enough digging around as well as studying the activities of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Diaspora as well as the LTTE, it is clear that the Sinhalese argument has a lot of merit. Yet as Ms.Freeman has said their argument, their side of the story is tossed to the way side because Tamils have a "minority" tag and claims of "discrimination" are taken at face value without proper evaluation.
Clearly you will say and do anything to spit out your fundamnetalist drivel. You can support the rights of the Tamil civilians without supporting LTTE. Obviously you refuse to see this because it challenges your fundamentalist and nationalist urges.
-- "You accept the British seeded the conflict in Sri Lanka by playing divide and conquer yet fail to see the rest of the argument made by the Sinhalese i quoted."
What you have quoted is not an argument ! Its nationalist propoganda intended to paint the victims as perpetrators. Anyone can see this except you.
By banning the media and silencing the voices, not just in Sri Lanka by Regimes but also around the world, in the cover of "war on terror". Let's wake up. Genocide is the worst crime....whoever is it, all need to stop it.
Report of the Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and Human Rights by International Commission of Jurists ( http://ejp.icj.org/hearing2.php3?id_article=167&lang=en) explains several examples of Sri Lanka how the draconian laws and concept of war on terror is being used to suppress fundamental human rights.
Page 55:
"A particulary telling example is that of Sri Lanka, which still facesa long-standing internal armed conflict with the Libration Tigers. The Sri Lanka Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was adopte, first as a temporary measure in 1979, and then as permanent legislation in 1983.The PTA contains far-reaching powers to detail, arrest, hold incommunicado, and to limit access to courts. Torture and other gross violoations have resulted from the undermining of these important safeguards. One commentator predicted in advance that the legislation would inevitably lead to serious human rights violations, noting at the time of the enactment of the PTA:
"A power to detain suspects for long periods,without the opportunity for access by friends, family, or lawyers, or for regular judicial review, notoriously carries the danger that the detainees will be maltreated while in custody: it provides an open invitation for deprivation, assault, and worse - especially if the suspects may be detained by their interogators in police stations or army camps - and more especially still, if no real control is excersied over the periods for which that they are detained".
Continuation from previous post. They are somethings i picked up on another site, i found them truly fascinating - they are written by a Sinhalese, but are very clear and crisp in un-varnishing some hidden facts and giving the other side to the conflict)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sinhalese make up 80% of the population and are the indigenous inhabitants of the Island. So what if we make our Language official and put into place guarantees to protect our unique culture which only exists in Sri Lanka and was brutalised during Colonial rule. There is no Sinhala Nadu in India for us to "retreat" back to, nor are there any Sinhala Indians. Our identity, language and culture began in Sri Lanka, our heritage and ancient achievements dot every corner and flow through every river of this Island. Where as Tamils have the option of going back Tamil Nadu which is so identical that they can simply waltz in there and no one will know the difference.
(In Tamil Nadu, 10% of the population are Telegu speakers, yet the official language is that of the Tamil majority there i.e. the official language is Tamil, so only Tamils allowed to discriminate?)
Most comical of all are Tamils howling genocide when by 1990 Tamils had successfully ethnically cleansed the North and East "traditional Tamil regions" of non-Tamils, yet happily move into Sinhala "areas" where as Sinhalese cannot buy land or live in the Tamil only North and East if they do they are threatened or killed (this happened for 40 years). If we go into "traditional Tamil regions" its "discrimination/genocide" thus the subsequent murder and ethnic cleansing of Sinhalese from "traditional Tamil regions" is also justified.
Sinhalese are confined to the South, Centre and South West of the Island (moves are a foot to ban us from the Centre as well), where as Tamils have sole ownership/exclusive rights to the North and East which 40% of the land mass and 2/3s of the coast line as well as equal citizenship rights in the rest of the country. Sinhalese never got such "preferential treatment". The Special Provisions Act of 1959 made Tamil the administrative language of the North and East, it provided further special rights by introducing Thesawalamai law -Tamil law- in the Jaffna Peninsular which states only Tamils can buy land in Jaffna, barring all non-Tamils from purchasing land, while Tamils can swallow land anywhere in Sri Lanka.
Tamil whining that there is a 'Sinhalese Government' in Sri Lanka is the same as saying that there is an 'English Government' in the UK or that there is a 'Chinese Government' in Singapore. No country in South or East Asia has had free and democratic elections comparable to what we have had in Sri Lanka since the '30s of the last century. A Democratic election necessarily reflects the demographic balance of the mass of voters participating in the free exercise of their legitimate franchise. To call this – at least indirectly – majoritarianism or communalism amounts to a wilful distortion of the ground rules of the democratic process of governance.
Sinhalese make up 80% of the population, who else is going to "dominate" the Government? No one,Tamils in particular, ever makes the same big fuss about the White "dominated" Government of Britain, or Germany's Christian democratic party holding power-No cries of "discrimination"
Only an Anglican Christian can become the head of state of England. Britain does not officially celebrate any non-Christian holy day and provide national holidays for those days sacred to its non-Christian citizens.
Sri Lanka has the largest number of holidays because Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam are celebrated equally. For every Buddhist temple there is a Church, Hindu Kovils are in the Buddhist temples themselves, for every Buddhist site of veneration their is a Muslim one. In France headscaves are banned, in Sri Lanka schools give veils to Muslim girls for free.
In the US, the currency carries "In God we Trust" on it and the Pledge of Allegiance has the words "One Nation Under God" –is that non-discriminatory to non-Chrisitians? The USA also only officially celebrates holy days of Christians. It's just too bad for the Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. The official religion of Norway is Evangelical Lutheran and it is mandated that the majority in the parliament has to be from of this religion. Evangelical Lutheran is the official religion of Denmark and Sweden as well.
More discrimination against Tamils I guess, strangely the Tamils in Norway, Denmark, Britain and Sweden (there are MANY) do not say anything. They humbly accept such "discrimination", heck they have no problem learning English and integrating in to Western societies (like they do in Canada). Yet have a massive problem learning Sinhala, Hindi and Malay, integrating into those countries societies and being productive members. Instead, as in the case of Sri Lanka, they leach off the system and kill Sinhalese without a problem with the full support of the West.
Continuation from previous post. They are somethings i picked up on another site, i found them truly fascinating - they are written by a Sinhalese, but are very clear and crisp in un-varnishing some hidden facts and giving the other side to the conflict)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the corner stone of the Tamil argument and justification for all the massacres and atrocities they have committed as well as refugeeing to Western countries is the claim of "discrimination" (now "genocide") since 1948 lets have a look at this discrimination:
Sri Lankan Tamils were around 12% of the Sri Lankan population in 1982-1983
In 1981 (the last proper statistic done) 30% of all professional jobs and 30% of all government jobs were with the Tamil minority (specifically the Jaffna Tamils).
Sri Lankan Tamils were around 12% of the Sri Lankan population in 1982-1983
In 1982
25% of those entering University for Medical studies were Tamils.
24% of those entering University for Dentistry were Tamils.
40% of those entering University for Veterinary Science were Tamils.
Two of the countries universities were (still are) dedicated for Tamils, i.e. 95% of Students to Jaffna University and 90% to the Eastern University were Tamils. Two out of the nations 6 universities (six existed at the time) were dedicated to Tamils a 12% minority. This also meant the remaining 4 universities had to accommodate the Sinhala majority, the other minorities as well as Tamils who happened to live outside the North (Jaffna) and Eastern provinces.
Just like health care, education from kindergarten to University is provided for FREE by the state, paid for by the Sinhala dominating Tax payer (according to Tamil logic because Sinhalese are the majority as we make up 70% of the population we “dominate” the Government, naturally we dominate in paying tax too).
In 1974 the handful of Sinhala students and faculty members at Jaffna University were attacked by Tamil students and chased away –there safety guaranteed only when the police arrived to escort them out (genocide, human rights violations???). In August 2008 similar thing happened to Sinhala students in the Eastern University with them being threatened and student leader Sucharitha Pahan Samarasinghe murdered for being in a Tamil "only" area and Tamil "only" university.
Sri Lanka Census of 1981 dealing with the % of Tamils in the professions (12 % of Sri Lanka's population in 1981 were Tamil):
Physicians & Surgeons, 35.1%
Dentists, 24.7%
Veterinarians, 38.8%
Engineers, 34.9%
Land surveyors, 29.9%
Engineering technicians, 24.3%
Survey draughtsmen, 27.8%
Public Sector Administrators, 15.9%
Thats "discrimination" for you.
There has not been a proper statistic done since 1982. So whenever they cry for aid and "need for x number of supplies" or "x number of internally displaced" it is based on old data. Since large numbers (roughly 1 million ) have emigrated to Western countries or no longer live in the North and East. Basically they are stealing aid and food by demanding a larger amount than they need. The reason is to get a surplus and use this food to feed their fighters (they get the food in the first place under the guise of "poor Tamil civilians"). Its amusing that the Tamil in Western countries who collect millions of dollars through bogus charities, social benefit abuse and credit card scams do not spend a dime on food, clothing or education materials for the "poor suffering Tamils in the war zone" they shed buckets of tears for when "collecting” money. They use it to buy guns, bombs, artillery and explosives to fund the LTTE and their war (while still crying "bloody murder" over the causalities and consequences of a war they so liberally support –well they need to get their passport applications processed).
Sinhalese are the ones who feed, cloth, educate and heal the Tamils. The hospitals, schools in areas (which were) under "Tamil control" are paid for and run by the Governments Sinhala taxpayer. The staff are trained by and draw their salaries from the very same Government the Tamils are fighting with and trying to separate from. Ironic that it is the Sinhalese who feed and bandage the wounds of their vicious enemy that then comes back to kill them even more ferociously.
Tamils have proven over the last 30 years they lack the ability to feed themselves let alone run a State-they simply are not qualified for that.As a people they are heavily dependent on free services from the Sinhalese (free food, education, healthcare–Tamils do not pay Tax) paid for by the very same Sinhalese they brutally kill & Government they fight
Part II: This is not just killing but a systematic genocide of a race
27. Kiliveddi massacre in 1985
28. Thiriyai massacre - 08.06.1985
29. Sampaltivu - 04 to 09.08.1985
30. Veeramunai massacre - 20.06.1990
31. Nilaveli massacre 16.09.1985
32. Piramanthanaru massacre - 02.10.1985
33. Kanthalai-85 massacre - 09.11.1985
34. Muthur Kadatkaraichenai - 08, 09, 10.11.1985
35. Periyapullumalai massacre in 1986
36. Kilinochchi Railway Station massacre - 25.01.1986
37. Udumbankulam massacre - 19.02.1985
38. Vayaloor massacre - 24.08.1985
39. Eeddimurinchan massacre - 19, 20.03.1986
40. Anandapuram shelling - 04.06.1986
41. Kanthalai-86 massacre - 04, 05.06. 1986
42. Mandaithivu sea massacre - 10.06.1986
43. Seruvila massacre - 12.06.1986
44. Thambalakamam massacres - 1985, 1986
45. Paranthan farmers massacre - 28.06.1986
46. Peruveli refugee camp massacre - 15.07.1986
47. Thanduvan bus massacre - 17.07.1986
48. Mutur Manalchenai massacre - 18.07. 1986
49. Adampan massacre - 12.10.1986
50. Periyapandivrichchan massacre - 15.10.1986
51. Kokkadichcholai-87 massacre - 28.01.1987
52. Paddithidal massacre - 26.04.1987
53. Thonithiddamadu massacre - 27.05.1987
54. Alvai temple shelling - 29.05.1987
I heard the Smiley piece as an american who has lived in Sri Lanka I was similarly disgusted by the uncritical treatment of MIA's claims. Ms. Freeman's point made repeatedly, is simple -- numerical minority status does not confer an automatic monopoly on the truth. And I don't know where you are writing from or what your familiarity with the situation in Sri Lanka, but we americans and the american media *do* tend view conflicts in other lands through the flawed lens of their own guilt about how ethnic minorities have been and continue to be treated in this country (despite the election of BHO).
The point is not being vigilant about terrorism. The point is that americans and the american media should educate themself/itself before taking sides -- or giving prominent airplay to one side -- in conflicts about which they are ill-informed. Do not view complex conflicts whose history you do not understand through the lens of the tensions in your own culture.
I'd respond to your final point about air power but I don't understand it.
Please delete. This was meant to be a continuation of a reply. I clicked on the wrong icon when posting
This writer, more than anything else, demonstrates a mind confusing facts and opinions with no hint of tolerance for disagreements even to the point of good old-fashioned guilt-by-association (as in MIA is the niece of so-and-so and the daughter of so-and-so)!
As someone who has been following the situation in Sri Lanka, it is important to point out that there is much blame to go around, not the least of which should be assigned to various government entities. As an example, see the latest report by Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/02/19/sri-lanka-end-war-civilians) which has information with respect to criminal actions by both the government and LTTE. Examples: "The Sri Lankan government should immediately cease its indiscriminate artillery attacks on civilians in the northern Vanni region and its policy of detaining displaced persons in internment camps." "The government has prohibited journalists and human rights monitors from going to the battle zone in the Vanni, making access to information difficult." "Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones and slaughtering the civilians there."
The same report also has information on criminal activities during this war by the LTTE. However, I have quoted only some related to government activities to point out that all sides must share blame and that the writer of this piece, by cherry-picking information and blaming everything on US media bias and laziness, demonstrates her own significant bias and carelessness.
Thanks for this article, Ru. As a Sri Lankan American, I have been very disturbed to see a ratcheting up of very one-sided, negative reporting and articles in the mainstream media about the Sri Lankan situation lately. That interview MIA gave at the Tavis Smiley show really does take the cake. She used the national spotlight to spew really what is pro-LTTE propaganda (did Tavis once question her sources?). To claim that there is genocide in Sri Lanka is absurd. Sadly there are civilian casualties these days because of the ongoing intense war between the government and the terrorist group, the LTTE (mainly because the LTTE has held a large number of Tamil civilians as human shields to slow the military’s offensive). However, the occurrence of such unintended casualties can in no way be classified as genocide. Mainstream media really needs to be more careful when reporting these events lest they be taken for a ride by the powerful pro-LTTE propaganda network. Even the information that SteveToronto has quoted here at least shows that there is clearly two sides to this story!
Ru Freeman is wrong. Her article is replete with errors. Mathangi (MIA) is not at all related to Vellupillai Prabhakaran. Her father, Arular,is not a leader of a 'secondary' LTTE organisation. He is a Moscow-educated Mechanical Engineer, talented orator, inventor, and author of many books relating to Economics and Sociology. He lives in London. I should know the family very well, because Arular is my first cousin. We come from Delft Island, Sri Lanka.
Ms Ru Freeman is wrong. Mathangi (MIA) is not all related to LTTE leader Prabakaran.
Reading through the comments, whether MIA is related to V Prah, the terrorist leader is immaterial, given that the claims she came out at the interview with Tavis Smiley sounded typical false propaganda coming out of the well organised LTTE (Tamil Tigers) propaganda arm.
The LTTE's hope of survival is to force the Sri Lankan government to a cease fire.
They are attempting to do this by creating a humanitarian crisis by using their own people as human shields as confirmed by UN and ICRC.
MIA's claim that the Tamil people are being systematically eliminated by genocide has not an iota truth. More than 80% of the Tamils in Sri Lanka live peacefully outside the conflict area among the Sinhalese majority and they enjoy the same rights and privileges as the majority by law.
It is unfortunate that many journalists, politicians and NGO's seem to be sympathetic to the LTTE claims, glossing over the fact that they have been far more destructive and more deadly than Al Queda.
The Human Rights Watch is but one of those organisations that seem to have an axe to grind.Please see:
http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090221_03
<<<"riddimboy February 22nd, 2009 4:11 am
stevetoronoto
-- "Do you even know what you are talking about? "
You sound like a mouthpiece for Sri Lankan nationalists !"
>>>>
I clearly stated that i was quoting someone else. Read carefully. And i live in Toronto i know what Tamils here get up to. Many have come to Canada claiming to flee war and persecution, yet they do not appear like a war ravaged or damaged community -more like people on a free holiday. Read more:
http://canadianimmigrationreform.blogspot.com/search/label/Tamil
http://canadianimmigrationreform.blogspot.com/2007/07/tamil-sues-over-immigration-case-delay.html
<<<" I suppose a numerical minority doesnt count as a minority !!">>>>
Yet the Sinhalese are a greater minority in the sense they only exist in Sri Lanka, where as Tamils do not.
<<<"What does this even mean ?! Yes they want to be equal ... more or less !!">>>>
You accept the British seeded the conflict in Sri Lanka by playing divide and conquer yet fail to see the rest of the argument made by the Sinhalese i quoted. I am no fan of Britains Imperial past -half of my family has roots in the US and the 13 colonies- and am saddened by America also taking a similar Empire building path, though i do consider myself Canadian now, well make what you want of that).
Anyway going back to Sri Lanka it is clear Tamils were favoured by the British as per their ways of controlling vast amounts of territory all over the globe through dividing peoples and nations by real or artificial methods.
After the British left it is obvious the Tamils would no longer be continually favoured into top positions by a majority community that had been disgustingly disenfranchised and denied their rights in their own back yard by occupying powers, (while a minority -indigenous, numerical or not- was entitled greater rights at the expense of that same majority).
It would be ridiculous to believe that an oppressed majority who had just received independence would continue the same policy of oppression on themselves just to appease a minority high on power and privilege given to them artificially.
That is the point I have quoted, Tamils were never "discriminated" (see the figures below of jobs, education and positions they held up to the 1980s -when the war began), what they view as "discrimination" (and a cause for a separate state etc) is the loss of the privileges they were given by default for being a Tamil during foreign rule in Sri Lanka.
Tamils were taken down from superior position/rights, to one equal with the Sinhalese and the rest of islands minorities e.g. the Malays (also imported to Sri Lanka by the British), the other minority Muslim communities (not imported) plus the people of mixed-European descent -note they have never made the accusation of "discrimination" or "genocide" by the Sinhalese majority). This "down grading" to an equal level has clearly upset the Tamils who were used to being given everything ahead of everyone else. They evidently desire (or desired) a return to the British system of favouritism hence the claim by the Sinhalese i quoted of Tamils wanting "to be more equal" makes a lot of sense to me.
This is the whole argument made by Sinhalese and by doing enough digging around as well as studying the activities of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Diaspora as well as the LTTE, it is clear that the Sinhalese argument has a lot of merit. Yet as Ms.Freeman has said their argument, their side of the story is tossed to the way side because Tamils have a "minority" tag and claims of "discrimination" are taken at face value without proper evaluation.
Ru Freeman is spot on. We progressives need to educate ourselves sufficiently to discern between the truth and propagandistic dross. 'Minorities' or those who pose themselves as minorities, do not necessarily have a monopoly on truth. For example, how many of us can pinpoint the villains and angels of the horrific genocide in Rwanda? Both the Hutus and the Tutsis were guilty.
The Tamil Tiger propaganda machine got into high gear in the early 1980s when they used the sympathy of liberal governments in the West to ship thousands of Tamils out of Sri Lanka as a fundraising tool for themselves. 'Oppressed minority!' the Tigers roared, and Western liberals bought the BS regardless of the facts. Human smuggling by these criminals, later copied by the Chinese triads, for example, was rife, and millions of $$ were raised by the Tigers to kickstart the terrible war that has engulfed the beautiful island nation.
These cuddly Tamil Tigers pioneered the suicide vests now ably used in Iraq and Afghanistan to kill American soldiers and innocent civilians and in Israel by Hamas. With Western help they built stealth suicide boats to ram Sri Lankan navy ships; this selfsame design was used by terrorists to ram the USS 'Cole'. They have even used Swiss- and Norway-sourced equipment to construct submarines for attacking the SL navy boats taking supplies to Sri Lanka's north; these designs were identified by the FBI as very similar to those transporting drugs from Central America to the US. The point is that misguided liberal endorsement and protection of these groups have unintended consequences.
I saw that appalling MIA interview on the Tavis Smiley Show where the rapper arrogantly claimed to be the only Tamil noticed by the media and, using that platform, spewed out lies and inanities by the bucketload. Her inspiration, Velupillai Prabhakaran, the psychopathic head honcho of the Tamil Tigers, is known as Sri Lanka's Osama bin Laden. How much credibility will MIA have were she to glorify the perpetrators of 9/11? It is telling that although MIA freely used the 'g' word against the Sinhalese people, not once did she plead with the Tigers to free the Tamil human shields they are holding in the pocket of land they still control. Nor did I hear her using her passion to tell the Tigers not to recruit children as cadres (a 13-year-old girl was strapped with explosives and sent towards SL Army soldiers recently; the human bomb was set off by cellphone by a Tiger commander).
It was good to see Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary, Dr. Kohona, being provided the opportunity to rebut MIA inanities but that merely showed how much Americans need to learn about this conflict and about the awful Tamil Tigers before they pick sides. But how many Americans cared to watch this follow-up? Progressives are especially in danger of getting hurt in this minefield. Sure, 'Slumdog' is an inspiring flick and deserves Oscars and accolades but some of the music from the film emanates from an apologist for terrorism and terrorists. The Department of Homeland Security was right in barring MIA from the USA in the past; considering her endorsement of the Tamil Tiger terrorist group (banned by the US) on Tavis Smiley, DHS should revisit its decision to allow her to stay in America.
Nicely written reply for all the false accusations made by MIA who's a LTTE BIG time supporter, and false made up stories published on Boston Globe during the last few weeks. Those were the desperate actions taken by LTTE supporters at desperate times when war is finally coming to an end, from people who can't stand peace, and from people can't image a world without war. Thanks Ru.
We agree 100% with your article. THANKS !!!!!!!!
As you explain it is well known that LTTE is the most brutel, ruthless terrorist organization in the world and it has many faces.
M.I.A is one face of it.
Killing Sri Lankan journalists ( to discredit the Sri Lanka image internationally)is also a face of LTTE.
Thanks again for writing and we look forward to see more.
See the US Senate Hearing on 24th Feb 2009:
Robert Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator,Committee to Protect Journalists
"The lack of reliable investigation into these crimes is in keeping with a long history of impunity for those who attack journalists in Sri Lanka. CPJ counts 10 journalists killed by premeditated murder since 1999, with no prosecutions or convictions. The Rajapaksa government and its predecessors must at least be held responsible for the impunity that surrounds attacks on journalists.
Most of the killings came while Rajapaksa served as prime minister from April 2004, through the time he started his six-year term as president in November 2005, until now. According to CPJ’s records, during his time in high office in Sri Lanka, eight journalists have died of what CPJ considers to be premeditated murder. No one has been brought to trial in any of these cases. The number of dead does not include journalists killed in crossfire or other events. The people we are talking about were intentionally killed.
With a failure to investigate and a realistic suspicion that government actors are complicit in the violence against journalists, the time has come for the international community to act."
ENOUGH IS ENGOUH - DON'T TRY TO CHEAT THE PEOPLE BY BLACKOUTING THE MEDIA IN SRI LANKA
This is for Rajah who claims that Mathangi Arulpragasam's father is just a harmless author of books living peacefully in London. I'm quoting this from M.I.A's own posting on Wikipedia. I'm assuming she knows her father a little better than you, his so-called "cousin":
"Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam was born in Hounslow, London, the daughter of Kala and Arul Pragasam.[4] Her family is of Sri Lankan Tamil descent.[5] When she was six months of age, her family moved back to their native Sri Lanka. Motivated by his wish to support the Tamil militancy on the island, her father became a political activist, adopting the name Arular, and was a founding member of The Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), a political Tamil group that worked to establish an independent Tamil Eelam.[6][7][8] Her alias, M.I.A., stands for both Missing in Acton and Missing in Action.[9]"
And this, also from Wikipedia, about EROS
"In 1976, the EROS established links with the Abu Jihad of the Palestine Liberation Organization and began planning the setting up of camps to train Sri Lankan Tamils in military and guerrilla warfare. EROS even opened up their training camp for the LTTE where Prabhakaran had his initial training. The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), EPRLF and PLOTE sent their own men to the PLO's camps for training under the request of EROS, and EROS also organised for men of other groups to be sent. A number of Tamils, including many who would later form the core of the other Tamil militant groups, started their militant careers in these camps."
You might want to do some fact-checking on your lineage, brother.
Totally agree with Ru Freeman. Americans should be weary of cheering what they feel is the 'underdog' without doing ample research, as was shown by Mr. Smiley's tacit approval of M.I.A's false accusations on his show. There is no genocide in Sri Lanka as I found out by doing a simple google search of Sri Lanka. Futhermore, this article by John Thompson, president of the MacKenzie Institute of Canada, an independent organization researching areas such as domestic and international political instability and organized violence (e.g. terrorism, warfare, organized crime, conflict, causes of instability, political extremism, etc.) describes the truth about the LTTE and their diaspora financiers very eloqeuently: http://blog.americancongressfortruth.com/2009/02/17/enough-already-with-the-genocide-talk/
Here is an excerpt from his article:
"The accusations of genocide in Sri Lanka are getting annoying… and not in the usual ways. Anybody who takes the charge seriously betrays a highly annoying ignorance about the state of affairs between Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Genocide is not happening in Sri Lanka. Plenty of other nasty things are; but genocide is not one of them.
The LTTE and its supporters in the international Tamil Diaspora they dominate would like us to slap the label of ‘genocide’ onto the Sri Lankan government. Ignore this campaign. ...the LTTE claims to represent all Tamils on the Island; and murdered tens of thousands of them to underscore the point. They’ve killed Tamils from rival insurgent movements, from federalist parties, schoolteachers who wouldn’t let them recruit children from their classrooms, people who wouldn’t pay extorted ‘war taxes’, and many more.
When engaged in ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ (a favorite LTTE activity a few years back), it was hard to segregate Sinhalese from Tamils from Muslims when walloping machetes into panicked villagers in the middle of the night. Grenades tossed in crowded cellars aren’t discriminating either. Truck bombs rammed into an office tower and time bombs on crowded buses also couldn’t differentiate between Sinhalese and Tamils.
Many observers who pay close attention to the 35 year history of the LTTE believe that the Tigers have killed more Tamils than the government."
I have always been a fan of the MacKenzie Institute, and whole heartedly agree with its assessments. Even i was puzzled over this "genocide" claim. Why would 60% of the Tamil population (facing "genocide") live in territory controlled by the same people carrying it out? This is before the LTTE controlled territory shrunk to the 100 sq km, and even still the people who were (and still are in this area) are fleeing. To further that why would the UN, ICRC and other international bodies move the Tamils from the LTTE controlled area into Government areas if their is a genocide happening in them? What does that say about the LTTE held territory past and present?
Why is it no one else see this "genocide" except the Tamil Diaspora living in Western countries thousands of miles away from Sri Lanka and who also happen to be the primary weapons purchasers and deliveries as well as vicious fund collectors of the LTTE?
Now I can understand what kind of FAN are you. Unfortunately you can not even see this simple finding by US NGO on GENOCIDE which as covered by ALL GLOBAL MEDIA. - see below:
GENOCIDE PREVENTION - Mass Atrocity Crimes Watch List
The Mass Atrocity Crimes Watch List 2008-09, released with Genocide Prevention Project’s report, More Than an Ounce Required, identifies 33 countries of highest concern regarding mass atrocity crimes based on a range of indicators.
Our campaign aggregated five well-regarded independent indices or watch lists – to create a “watch list of watch lists.” The independent lists were based on a variety of risk factors.
Tier 1 Countries: Red Alert
These countries appeared on each of the five expert indices used as a basis for this report and received the highest composite score on our watch list.
Afghanistan
Burma/Myanmar
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Iraq
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Somalia
Sudan
http://www.preventorprotect.org/overview/watch-list.html
M.I.A was born to Arul Pragasam who was one of the founders of EROS - one of many terrorist..er..rebel groups at that time.
These groups bombed general public, train stations, cinema halls to further a freedom struggle for their own ethnic group. To this day they indulge in the same actions but advanced technology ( planes/submarines ) bought from money coming in from the west.
Some call her father a Revolutionary, an Engineer and an inventor but for others an Engineer of Bombs and Inventor of suicide jackets.
M.I.A says "Terrorism is a method " legitimizing these barbaric acts in an interview she gave, cited in Wikipedia. Wonder how she feels
about 911 now that she finally got VISA to live in New York. Must have been a VISA she printed hereself cause no new yorker is going to
sympathize with Terror after 911.
There are no good terrorists and bad terrorists. Those good terrorists you support today will come back to haunt you in the future.
Because Terrorists or Engineers will learn from each other and there are plenty of groups in the world out for land, money or power.
I can't imagine her winning an Oscar. Its like one of Bin Ladens being rewarded all the time legitimizing 9/11. Ironic.
I feel America is relaxing and getting into a false sense of security.
Free world should not aide, support nor turn a blind eye to Terrorism/methods or however you define it, at any given time.
1.Democracy and Violence in India and Sri Lanka(1995), Dennis Austin, Emeritus Professor of Government, University of Manchester: ‘’ The phrase, A TRAGEDY OF ERRORS is a good description of the train of events in Sri Lanka from the mid-1950s, although one might question whether 'errors' is too forgiving a description of policies deliberately persued. Sri Lanka is an extreme version of many Third World countries in its catalogue of ethnic violence, political instability and military involvement.’’
2.John Richardson, Professor of International development in American University's School of International Service and Director of the University's Centre for Teaching Experience in his book, Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka 's Civil Wars by John Richardson (2005): ''Paradise Poisoned is the principal product of a seventeen year project. Sri Lanka’s problems were caused by declining evenhandedness and transparency of its democratic processes and institutions. Erosion of democratic processes and institutions was caused by leadership failures.
Sri Lanka provides a lens for viewing many challenges with which development practitioners and leaders of developing nations have grappled in the post-World war II era – and for learning from them. My intention is to provide answers to the question, 'how did we come to this' that will help craft more humane, peaceable, sustainable future development scenarios. Such scenarios could make it unnecessary for future generations to contemplate protracted deadly conflict's legacies – suffering, devastation and hopelessness – as Sri Lankans, Rwandians, Bosnians, Ahghanis and many others have had to do. My vision is of a day when no citizens in today's developing nations will have to ask 'how did we come to this?'''
With all due respect, I think that commondreams shouldn't have run this piece. It's a conservative op-d. I mean jeez, the problem with "liberal Americans" is that they think "that minority status confers upon that minority the right to unquestioned support and a corner on the market on truth." We know that M.I.A. is a terrorist because she "has been denied a visa to the enter the United States." Wow, I hope that this is the first time commondreams has run an argument that depends in part on the assumption that Homeland Security doesn't harass innocent people based on their race and background.
In the real world, both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers are guilty of gruesome, horrific human rights abuses. Both have murdered civilians for political ends, and thus have committed acts of terrorism. This fatally wounds any argument that can be fairly summarized in a statement beginning, "Oh no, the *real* terrorists are _______."
The problem with this piece is that it focuses entirely on the crimes perpetrated by the rebels, that it pretends there's no such thing as state terrorism, that it treats the violence of the oppressed as if it were the only violence in the conflict. As everyone here well knows, this is a standard and abhorrent trope of conservative politics. There are places for conservative commentary to be published, but the site that long billed itself as "breaking news and views for the progressive community" should not be one of them.
Though I absolutely love the music M.I.A. makes (as my user name on this and other sites reflects), completely respect her as an artist and as a human being and usually agree with her politics as well, she's wrong both in calling the current horrors a genocide and in laying them entirely at the door of the Sri Lankan military. But though it's inaccurate for her to use the word genocide (which has become the rote lefty insult that "fascist" was 40 years ago), I think it's understandable. If my people were being murdered on such a scale I'd probably fall into overstatement as well.
It is because gross overstatement is all she's guilty of that I'm so repulsed by this article's subtitle: "An Oscar for a bin Laden Next?" M.I.A. doesn't run Al Qaeda. She has never masterminded or financed a terrorist attack. She has never killed anyone by deed or command. Where Osama bin Laden is a Salafi Muslim willing to kill for his religious beliefs, M.I.A. was raised Hindu but so far as I can tell is now completely secular. She doesn't speak Arabic. In short, apart from vehement opposition to U.S. imperialism, all that M.I.A. and Osama bin Laden really have in common is their brown skin. Suggesting such a strong similarity between the two rests on the premise that all brown people the author finds threatening are more or less the same. I assume the author didn't consciously mean to make such a point, but it's there, and it's racist, and it's another reason that commondreams should not have run this piece.
This writer, more than anything else, demonstrates a mind confusing facts and opinions with no hint of tolerance for disagreements even to the point of good old-fashioned guilt-by-association (as in MIA is the niece of so-and-so and the daughter of so-and-so)!
As someone who has been following the situation in Sri Lanka, it is important to point out that there is much blame to go around, not the least of which should be assigned to various government entities. As an example, see the latest report by Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/02/19/sri-lanka-end-war-civilians) which has information with respect to criminal actions by both the government and LTTE. Examples: "The Sri Lankan government should immediately cease its indiscriminate artillery attacks on civilians in the northern Vanni region and its policy of detaining displaced persons in internment camps." "The government has prohibited journalists and human rights monitors from going to the battle zone in the Vanni, making access to information difficult." "Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones and slaughtering the civilians there."
The same report also has information on criminal activities during this war by the LTTE. However, I have quoted only some related to government activities to point out that all sides must share blame and that the writer of this piece, by cherry-picking information and blaming everything on US media bias and laziness, demonstrates her own significant bias and carelessness.
Thank you, thank you.. You've said everything I wanted to. This article seems to have been taken over by Sinhala Nationalists - I'm guessing it was posted on some sort of Sinhala nationalist mailing list / discussion group.
What is truly ludicrous is that anybody who disagrees with American liberals is automatically branded a conservative and racist by people like "slangtang." The whole tactic is so 2008. If you want to be progressive, then read progressive, research progressive, talk progressive, work progressive, my friend. You can't do any of it when you are stuck behind convenient labels like "genocide" "conservative" and "racist."
You want the link between M.I.A. and the Taliban? Assuming the link is brown skin says more about your own prejudices than those of the writer. MIA sings about her music funding terrorism and her father's terrorist group (EROS, which went on to leadership positions within the LTTE), worked with the Taliban to train them in suicide bombing. That, my dear, is the connection, not skin color.
Like I said, you can't attack commondreams.org for being able to stand the truth and just call yourself a progressive. You've got to think like one. And if that means saying that a minority is in the wrong, then have the guts and the integrity to say it and say it loud.
If not, there's always the option of not opening your mouth and stuffing your feet in there. But it looks like there's a big empty space reaching from there right through the back of your head where a brain ought to be.
Slangtang does not agree with Ms. Freeman's opinion so he/she wants to censor the piece. Huh? What gives you the right to say that criticising terrorists and their supporters is the sole province of conservatives? This is nonsense. Ms. Freeman sounds fair warning to us progressives that we ought to educate ourselves before we pass judgment on issues. The Tamil Tigers run a sophisticated propaganda machine, fronted by the likes of MIA, that covers for their fascist and brutal activities in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world. We should not get duped. Slangtang should thank Ms. Freeman.
"The Tamil Tigers run a sophisticated propaganda machine, fronted by the likes of MIA,"
This is pure conjecture on your part. Ive heard her interviews and she unequivocally states her support for the Sri Lankan Tamils and not the LTTE. In fact the LTTE does not have the full support of most Sri Lankan tamils and you know it. Attempting to cast her as a tool of the LTTE is convenient and serves the purpose of buttressing the irrational, fundamentalist and ultra-conservative view points of several posters on this forum.
The murdered(on 8 January 2009) journalist(the fifteenth in three years0 Lasantha Wickrematunge's self-obituary titled, ''And then they came for me'', says:
''.... it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka's ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror .... Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens. Violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting them mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma is forever called into question by this savagery, much of which is unknown to the public because of censorship ....''.
Why haven't the journalists been allowed into the Northeast i.in the last three years, ii. in the second half of the 90s and many more short periods in the last sixty years? Why whasn't been the UN monitoring mechanism resisted for three years? Why wasn't the EU team allowed into the Northeast?
Its only a question of time before this intrepid journalists motives are questioned by the ultra-nationalists on the forum. Lasantha Wickrematunge was Sinhalese. We need Lasanthas here in the U.S. His quest for truth was relentless and he paid a price for it with his life.
Sorry I meant:
Why has the UN human rights monitoring been resisted for three years?
Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, UNHRC Seventh session, 3 June 2008 : ''"In 2005 I sounded the alarm. I said that Sri Lanka was on the verge of a major crisis and I indicated to the General Assembly how to avoid the crisis. But nothing was done. The Sri Lankan government did not try and discuss the recommendations with me and it has not made any serious effort to resolve human rights problems. It only acted in Geneva to avoid the Council taking any measures against it".
The man on the street can only see visible violence of blood and guns. The very vicious and intractable intrastate conflicts can be resolved by third parties who can identify the structural violence of states against ethnic minorites:
SIPRI Yearbook 2004:
''The year 2003 demonstrated that intra-state conflicts can be brought to an end only through sustained and comprehensive external engagement.''
In 1997 World Peace Foundation held a meeting to discuss the deadly conflicts in Afghanistan, Burundi, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Haiti, Israel/Palestine, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Sri Lanka. 12 years after the meeting we can see that intrastate conflicts are very vicious and need sustained and comprehensive external engagement.
What is truly ludicrous is that anybody who disagrees with American liberals is automatically branded a conservative and racist by people like "slangtang." The whole tactic is so 2008. If you want to be progressive, then read progressive, research progressive, talk progressive, work progressive, my friend. You can't do any of it when you are stuck behind convenient labels like "genocide" "conservative" and "racist."
You want the link between M.I.A. and the Taliban? Assuming the link is brown skin says more about your own prejudices than those of the writer. MIA sings about her music funding terrorism and her father's terrorist group (EROS, which went on to leadership positions within the LTTE), worked with the Taliban to train them in suicide bombing. That, my dear, is the connection, not skin color.
Like I said, you can't attack commondreams.org for being able to stand the truth and just call yourself a progressive. You've got to think like one. And if that means saying that a minority is in the wrong, then have the guts and the integrity to say it and say it loud.
If not, there's always the option of not opening your mouth and stuffing your feet in there. But it looks like there's a big empty space reaching from there right through the back of your head where a brain ought to be.
Member of The Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS), a political Tamil group that worked to establish an independent Tamil Ealam.[6][7][8] Her alias, M.I.A., stands for both Missing in Acton and Missing in Action.[9]"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What have you got in your mind? Who are you? How on earth you could assume that Arular is against the sovereignty of Sri Lanka? I hate violence. Like my niece Mathangi (MIA), I was attacked by the Sri Lankan forces. I didn't know whether it was army or police, they were beating us right and left when all the eminent Tamil politicians and civilians were on Satiagraha in 1961, when Arular and I were small boys studying at St Patrick's College, Jaffna. Nevertheless, we never indulged in violence. However, the scar stays in our (body) and minds.
I surely want to tell you a truth: you or people like you, who hates peace in Sri Lanka for the sake of your political survival, will never succeed.
It is simply because the vast maojoity in Sri Lanka wants peace. So cough out your hatred sentiments, and be with the truth. Truth always prevails.
The truth is that it is paradoxical that the innocent blood of all the Sri Lankans cries out in agony for the peace in Sri Lanka.
continuation ..
It is paradoxical that the innocent blood of all the Sri Lankans is bound to determine the future of of Sri Lanka.
A.Jaffna(which has been cut off from the rest of the country thirty months ago) alone has half a million Tamils now and twenty years ago it had a million. Aerial bombing of 80s and 90s drove out half a million.
B.Two weeks ago Chandrika Kumaratunga boasted that she had finished(90s0 80% of the war and rajapakse has done the last 20% of the war. In 2001 Ranil fought the elctions on Economic Development platform because the people were tired of economic downhill because Sri lanka has been spending the lasrgest proportion of its GDP among South Asian countries(the sub-continent afflicted with intrastate conflicts) on military expenditure and the donors insisted on peace talks and he agreed to have ''peace talks'' and he has been talking about this in the last three years and local papers and local Sinhalese have been writing about it.
This author and many more good foreign authors can bring this intractable and vicious conflict(that has been a challenge to experienced academics)to an end by researching and reporting the truth. Please go and find the truth and report. You can hear the guns from afar. But to see the structural violence you need time and patience to analyse why this small country has been afflicted with a very nasty war for so long.
1.Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka 's Civil Wars by John Richardson, Professor of International Development in American University 's School of International Service (2005):
''S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike's term(1956-) marked the beginning of a 'poisonous' cycle in Sri Lankan politics that has worked to polarise society along communal lines.''
2.Democracy and Violence in India and Sri Lanka(1995), Dennis Austin, Emeritus Professor of Government, University of Manchester:
''The phrase, A TRAGEDY OF ERRORS is a good description of the train of events in Sri Lanka from the mid-1950s, although one might question whether 'errors' is too forgiving a description of policies deliberately persued….''
3.Democracy, Conflict and Development - Three Cases(1998), Frances Stewart and Meghan O'Sullivan, University of Oxford: ‘' Inclusive government politically and economically (in Uganda, Kenya and Sri Lanka), is necessary to prevent conflict. This entails political participation by all major groups and a spread of economic benefits throughout society.''
I want to see the world learn lessons from the genocide in Sri Lanka. I hate to see any people suffer because of numerical inferiority when we have amassed so much of knowledge of natural and social siciences. As a scientist I'm for evidence-based practice. The mountain of research over the last five decades on Sri Lankan conflict by western European researchers and North American researchers should help the rest of the world:
1. Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka 's Civil Wars by John Richardson, Professor of International Development in American University 's School of International Service (2005):
''This is the product of seveteen years of research .... Sri Lanka provides a lens for viewing many challenges with which development practitioners and leaders of developing nations have grappled in the post-World war II era – and for learning from them. My intention is to provide answers to the question, 'how did we come to this' that will help craft more humane, peaceable, sustainable future development scenarios. Such scenarios could make it unnecessary for future generations to contemplate protracted deadly conflict's legacies – suffering, devastation and hopelessness – as Sri Lankans, Rwandians, Bosnians, Ahghanis and many others have had to do. My vision is of a day when no citizens in today's developing nations will have to ask 'how did we come to this? .......
2. International Dimensions of the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka, John P. Neelsen(Tuebingen University, Germany), 20th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, 8-11 July 2008: ''A shortcoming in international law as to internal colonialism and the right to self-determination renders the current types of international intervention not just inadequate to contribute to a negotiated solution of ethnic conflicts, but tends to inflame them.''
Oops, someone seems to have pulled the plug on riddimboy's drum machine. Check my post of the 22nd, my friend. MIA is too rich and too wacko to be employed for her publicity work by the Tigers (but who knows?). There is little in common between this brat and the paunchy killer who inspired her dad. Nevertheless, MIA's right-on-cue accusation of genocide against the Sri Lankan government shows massive ignorance, utter arrogance, and a desire to defend the indefensible (=Terrorism). No less than the UN's Sir John Holmes has rejected the genocide claptrap from the Tigers' agitprop corps. So there, MIA. What's Missing in Action is MIA's brain, which is best employed writing songs.Ta dum di dum!!!!!
Guys, what a world you are in. 80,000,000 Tamils around the world are calling the same think, The Entire Tamilnadu People in India are saying the same. Even Oscar winning AR Rauhman is voicing his concerns. ARE YOU CALLING ALL AS TERRORISTS? Please don't silence the voices against genocide. US got independence through struggle. These voices to stop a crime against humanity. Everything is happening by complete BAN on media and international presence - not at all acceptable by Western World. This is not just one or two years - 50 years of struggle. Please understand before writing like this. Just read the senate hearing: http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090224p.html
1.The Review, International Commission of Jurists, December 1983: "The impact of the communal violence on the Tamils was shattering... The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the Sinhala rioters on the Tamils amounted to Acts of Genocide".
2.Paul Sieghart in his Sri Lanka: A Mounting Tragedy of Errors - Report of International Commission of Jurists March1984 :
"Clearly this was not a spontaneous upsurge of communal hatred among the Sinhala people. It was a series of deliberate acts, executed in accordance with a concerted plan, conceived and organised well in advance. Communal riots in which Tamils are killed, maimed, robbed and rendered homeless are no longer isolated episodes; they are beginning to become a pernicious habit.''
3.No Peace,No War:Have international donors failed Sri Lanka's most vulnerable?
Summer 2005, Boston Review:
''On the morning of October 25, 2000, in the quiet central hill-country village of Bindunuwewa, a mob of Sinhalese villagers and residents from the nearby town of Bandarawela stormed the government "rehabilitation" center. Armed with knives and poles and gasoline, the mob hacked and burned to death 27 of the Tamil inmates. Some 60 police officers sent the previous evening and earlier that morning to guard the camp made no effort to stop the attack. Instead, some fired on inmates trying to escape, killing one and injuring two others. No one was arrested. Bindunuwewa and the continuing legal and bureaucratic saga present powerful evidence of institutional discrimination against Tamils that persists even—perhaps especially—at the highest levels of the judiciary and the police.''
1. Belief, Ethnicity, and Nationalism By David Little(1995), Senior Scholar, Special Initiative on Religion, Ethics and Human Rights, United States Institute of Peace:
‘’What is most menacing about the type of religious and ethnic nationalism that has appeared in Sri Lanka is precisely its more or less systematic incompatibility with the right of nondiscrimination. The eminent Sri Lankan historian, K.M. de Silva has pointed out that the Sinhala Buddhist revivalists had no time for such norms: "In the Sinhala language, the words for nation, race and people are practically synonymous, and a multiethnic or multicommunal nation or state is incomprehensible to the popular mind. The emphasis on Sri Lanka as the land of the Sinhala Buddhists carried an emotional popular appeal, compared with which the concept of a multiethnic polity was a meaningless abstraction."
2.UN Special Rapporteur’s Report after a visit to Sri Lanka in Nov 2005
*E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5 (March 2006):
''The State’s failure to convict anyone for the Bindunuwewa massacre is an example of this impunity: on 25 October 2000, 27 Tamil men were beaten, cut, and trampled to death by a mob while they were in custody and “protected” by roughly 60 police officers, but not a single private person or public official has been convicted. The bottom line remains that this is a deeply unsatisfactory outcome and one which is all too consistent with fears of impunity for those who kill Tamils.''
3.Emergency ’58 – The Story of the Ceylon Race Riots(1958, Tarzi Vittachi(The manuscript was smuggled out to the UK for publication and the book was banned in Sri Lanka):
''.... Can anyone doubt that if this glorious principle of statesmanship had been applied in Ceylon the bloodbath of 1958 could have been avoided? .... .... The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse rode into Ceylon in May 1958, without fuss or warning. No one recognised the hoof beats on the dusty provincial roads where they were first heard. People knew about War, Pestilence, Famine and Flood – these were disasters they accepted as part of their human heritage…… . Slight though our acquaintance with these disasters was, it was still acquaintance. But for most people in 1958 the Fifth Horseman – Race-Hate – was hardly even that. We had heard about the attempts of the Australian settlers to decimate the Aborigines ….; ... the Red Indians had been corralled into reservations; …..the Nazi gas chambers, Buchenwals and Belsen: and the tribulations of the Jews ……; Hindu-Muslim massacres in the partition of India. ....''
1.Walter Schwarz commented in the Minority Rights Group Report on Tamils of Sri Lanka, September 1983:
"...The makings of an embattled freedom movement now seem assembled: martyrs, prisoners and a pitiful mass of refugees. Talk of 'Biafra' which had sounded misplaced in 1975, seemed less unreal a few years later... As this report goes to press in September 1983, the general outlook for human rights in Sri Lanka is not promising. The present conflict has transcended the special consideration of minority rights and has reached the point where the basic human rights of the Tamil community - the rights to life and property, freedom of speech and self expression and freedom from arbitrary arrest have in fact and in law been subject to gross and continued violations. The two communities are mow polarised and continued repression coupled with economic stagnation can only produce stronger demands from the embattled minority, which unless there is a change in direction by the central government, will result in a stronger Sinhalese backlash and the possibility of outright civil war".
2.Professor Virginia Leary of the International Commission of Jurists, in her report “Ethnic Conflict and Violence in Sri Lanka” of 1981, stated: “The application of the principle of self-determination in concrete cases is difficult. It seems, nevertheless, that a credible argument can be made that the Tamil community in Sri Lanka is entitled to self-determination ...What is essential is that the political status of the `people' should be freely determined by the `people' themselves.”
3.Washington Post in its editorial of August 4, 1983 wrote as follows:
“If living together is so hard, what about a separate state in the North for the Tamils? They have as good a claim to a nation of their own as most members of the United Nations. But as always it is a question of power, and the Sinhalese have the power. Do they also have the wisdom to see that the
Tamil minority is treated in a way that justifies its retention within a unitary state?”
" Genocide " - DONT USE THE TERM LIGHTLY
its improper to describe the situation in sri lanka as a genocidal tactic used by the government of sri lanka. It is the duty of any government to safeguard its people from terrorism is it not ?
I see here that many people using context from different media and sources to abstract sympathy to a terrorist group. Trying to show that the movement of the ltte are righteous in their cause.
Here is something i want to straighten out........
The LTTE kills people (sinhala and muslim ) relentlessly..... what steps does the UN take- it urges a terrorist group to stop killing.
If suppose this was to happen in america would the UN have any say on this, infact would it even have any value ???
The LTTE plunders all gov and ngo aid, it does not let aid to the people but plunders every bit that is sent there- food,machinery etc. do you think the tamil people want to live that life, under another hitler.
Someone here said that Sri lanka is the only country that bombs its own people.
well i believe it qiuet the opposite.
Sri lanka is the only country that provides for a terrorist group with food,medicine etc. knowing that only sparse amounts will be handed to the civilians in the non-liberated areas.
I understand that people in toronto want to keep the ltte going coz otherwise they will have to leave canada and come back to sri lanka so they wouldn't be paid in dollars.
we dont have to ask osama bin ladens niece about Bin laden to know what kind of charater he is,
likewise......
even if america wants to here from MIA about the LTTE>>>>