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The Silence Surrounding Sri Lanka
NEW DELHI - The horror that is unfolding in Sri Lanka becomes possible because of the silence that surrounds it. There is almost no reporting in the international press - or in the mainstream media in India, where I live - about what is happening. From the little information that is filtering through, it looks as though the Sri Lankan government is using the propaganda of "the war on terror" as a fig leaf to dismantle any semblance of democracy in the country and commit unspeakable crimes against the Tamil people.
The government is working on the principle that every Tamil is a terrorist unless he or she can prove otherwise, and civilian areas, hospitals, and shelters are being bombed and turned into a war zone. Reliable estimates put the number of civilians trapped at over 200,000. The Sri Lankan army is advancing, armed with tanks and aircraft.
Meanwhile, there are reports that several "welfare villages" have been established to house displaced Tamils in the Vavuniya and Mannar districts. The Daily Telegraph in London reports that these villages "will be compulsory holding centers for all civilians fleeing the fighting." Is this a euphemism for concentration camps?
Mangala Samaraweera, a former foreign minister of Sri Lanka, told The Daily Telegraph: "A few months ago the government started registering all Tamils in Colombo on the grounds that they could be a security threat, but this could be exploited for other purposes like the Nazis in the 1930s. They're basically going to label the whole civilian Tamil population as potential terrorists."
Given the government's stated objective of "wiping out" the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelan, this malevolent collapse of civilians and "terrorists" does seem to signal that the government is on the verge of committing what could end up being genocide. According to a United Nations estimate, several thousand people have already been killed. Thousands more are critically wounded.
What we are witnessing - or, rather, what is happening in Sri Lanka and is being so effectively hidden from public scrutiny - is a brazen, openly racist war. The impunity with which the Sri Lankan government is able to commit these crimes unveils the deeply ingrained racist prejudice that is precisely what led to the marginalization and alienation of the Tamils of Sri Lanka in the first place. That racism has a long history, involving social ostracization, economic blockades, pogroms, and torture. The brutal nature of the decades-long civil war, which started as a peaceful, nonviolent protest, has its roots here.
Why the silence? In another interview, Mangala Samaraweera said, "A free media is virtually nonexistent in Sri Lanka today." He described death squads and "white van abductions," which have made society "freeze with fear." Voices of dissent have been abducted and assassinated. The International Federation of Journalists accuses the government of Sri Lanka of using a combination of anti-terrorism laws, disappearances, and assassinations to silence journalists.
There are unconfirmed reports that the Indian government is lending material and logistical support to the Sri Lankan government. If this is true, it is outrageous. What about the governments of other countries? Pakistan? China? What are they doing to help or harm the situation?
In Tamil Nadu, India, the war in Sri Lanka has fueled passions that have led to more than 10 people immolating themselves. The public anger and anguish - much of it genuine, but some of it obviously cynical political manipulation - has become an election issue.
It is extraordinary that this concern has not traveled to the rest of India. Why is there silence?
Given the scale of what is happening in Sri Lanka, the silence is inexcusable. More so because of the Indian government's long history of irresponsible dabbling in the conflict, first taking one side and then the other. Several of us who should have spoken out much earlier, have not done so, simply because of a lack of information about the war.
So while the killing continues, while tens of thousands of people are being barricaded into concentration camps, while more than 200,000 face starvation, and a genocide waits to happen, there is dead silence from this great country. It's a colossal humanitarian tragedy. The world must step in. Now. Before it's too late.
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34 Comments so far
Show AllThis is not the first time I have noticed the deafening silence here on CD whenever an article on the horrors faced by the Sri Lankan Tamils is published. It's outrageous that the Sri Lankan government and their military are trying to ride the 'war on terror' bandwagon. What is happening in the northern and northeastern parts of Sri Lanka is not too different from what happened in Gaza - only that this has been going on for much longer. Shame on India, that wants to be recognized as a major, responsible player on the world stage, for letting such carnage take place at its very doorstep! Shame on the Indians living in "the rest of India", as the author puts it, for their ridiculously blinkered worldview that prevents them from paying attention to what's happening just beyond their southern tip!
Just call it Gaza and you'll get so many comments you won't be able to count them. Siri Lanka, Burma, Darfur and other places aren't as "sexy". There's the shame.
Quite on target regarding Sri Lanka not being the "cause celebre du jour" of CD. Like those others, the whys and wherefores are quite complex and defy simple explanation and comment (this includes Gaza). There is too much of a tendency to pose like problems in simple terms of black and white, hero and villain. That sort of intellectual laziness should left to the neo-con douche bags.
Excellent comment. You put it far better than I did.
You are right in the sense that we are mostly ignorant of what goes on in different places. And when one finds out, all this war and brutality can be overwhelming.
I feel an obligation toward Gaza because US hardware and support plays a key role in the siege. Therefore boycotting Israeli goods seems appropriate.
I feel an obligation to Congo because of our history there and the fact that the murder and rape is fueled by an ongoing desire for cell phones and electronics. Therefore we can cut down on purchasing new items.
In other words, I feel an obligation to do something where I can see a connection with my country or my personal activity. Sri Lanka seems to have little connection with the United States. Based on pattern recognition, the British may have been involved in a divide and conquer exit strategy there as they were with Pakistan, South Africa and Palestine.
I am now motivated to read up on Sri Lanka.
Joe
jclientelle, you guessed right - there's a British hand, all right - but it was a hold-over from the colonial days. Although a majority of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka have been there for hundreds of, if not for over a thousand, years, there is also a section of the Tamil population that was taken there as plantation workers from India to work in the tea plantations. When the British left, the Sri Lankan government (representing mostly the Sinhalese majority) refused to acknowledge them as citizens, even though by the time of their independence (1948, I think) these plantation workers' ancestors had been there for over a hundred years there. Similar situation was found in Malaysia (formerly Malaya) where there are people of Indian origin (mostly Tamils) who were taken there to work in their rubber plantations by the British, but in the last few decades there seems to be a government policy of favoring the Malay population and marginalizing the other ethnic groups there. It must be remembered that having been taken to these former colonies 100-150 years ago, these Tamil people have practically no roots in India anymore - so if and when they go back, they do so as refugees.
Thank you. Can you mention how you know this? Any specific books?
Joe
I think the book "Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World" by Mark Curtis talks about Malaysia - don't remember exactly since I read it a while ago. But I found this book truly fascinating - and Mark Curtis is a British journalist to boot. Curtis and John Pilger (also a British journalist - though originally from Australia, I think - http://www.johnpilger.com) are great examples of investigative journalists who are also activists driven by their conscience.
Keep in mind, though, there's also a book called "Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush" by Barry Lando (60 minutes - originally Canadian I think). I'm sure these authors must have thought long and hard about their title, and probably decided on 'Web of Deceit' even though there's another book by the same name. Recently I read "Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth about Our Money System and How We Can Break Free" by Ellen Brown (whose article appeared here on CD recently). So there are all these webs to navigate through, you see? :)
Excellent explanation. Thanks
jclientelle
Good points.
I simply feel that there are many places we should intervene....IF we are going to intervene at all.
We need more people like you that really care rather than those that provide lip service to the cause of the moment.
My respects to you.
The last time there was an article on Sri Lanka, I posted a link to, and some excerpts from, the last editorial which was published after his murder, by the editor of the Sri Lankan Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickrematunge. Who expected to be murdered, and wrote that last editorial expecting to be murdered. You can find that editorial on the UK Guardian. It is definitely worth reading. It is definitely worth reading, for American newspapers writers who want to blame their readers for declining readership.
My post got deleted. And the entire thread was basically Sri Lankan apologists attacking the author of the article.
It's too bad that CD seems to have disabled posting 'clickable' links.
rfloh, yes, The Guardian newspaper is definitely an example of the kind of coverage needed in the US. Thanks for referring me to that editorial.
"When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me," wrote Lasantha Wickrematunge, in a posthumous column published last Sunday that speaks for the ideals of good journalism everywhere, reads the editorial:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/13/praise-lasantha-wickrematunge
(or) http://tinyurl.com/a7j6n7
'I hope my murder will be seen not as a defeat of freedom but an inspiration'
This extraordinary article by the editor of the Sri Lankan Sunday Leader was published three days after he was shot dead in Colombo:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/13/wickrematunga-final-editorial-final-editorial
(or) http://tinyurl.com/7sph9z
I read the article a while back and i also posted the link on CD about Lasantha Wickrematunge, an intrepid journalist with a conscience ... a true role model for the drivel that passes of as jornalism in this country. Its simply amazing that he predicted his own death at the hands of the Sri Lankan Government and it actually played out as he predicted it.
Its only a question of minutes before Sri Lankan Nationalists take over the forum and trample everything around ... so say what you have to before the trash trucks arrive !!
You say "Shame on India, that wants to be recognized as a major, responsible player on the world stage, for letting such carnage take place at its very doorstep!" but what about Kashmir, not just on the doorstep but inside the house. Kashmir that was promised a plebicite in 1947 by the UN is still waiting for India to agree. And carnage has happened there many times.
I work with someone from Sri Lanka so I get all of the government propaganda, although some might actually be true. Did/do they (the Tamils) really want to take over 2/3 of the area of the country even though they are only 20% of the population? I don't know. If so it does appear to be overreaching. On the other hand even if it is true, parts of the area claimed might not be habitable or cultivable, or it might not be true.
There was an article in the paper yesterday (SCMP) that
"Indian commandos launch hunt in south for fleeing Tamil Tigers"
Apr 01, 2009, Reuters in Thiruvananthapuram
Heavily armed commandos have locked down a stretch of the southern Indian coast and begun a house-to-house search for a group of suspected Tamil Tiger rebels believed to have fled from Sri Lanka, police say."
So I do think that there could be some truth to the claim that India is helping the Sri Lankan government, or maybe they are still looking for Rajiv's assassins. Certainly it seems possible that there might be some alternate reasons for wanting to pursue these guys than just assisting the Sri Lankans.
The parallels are more to other guerrilla wars where the fighters mix and mingle with the populace and where it seems the rulers always try to take out as many of both as possible. Gaza is really a unique situation, being so small and so confined and totally under the control of the occupying power.
There are serious human rights abuses going on in Sri Lanka and undoubtedly some (most/all?) are perpetrated by the government which has just recently rejected a cease fire. I feel strongly that the war crimes I know about and that are bought and paid for by US tax dollars are the ones I feel most moved to address.
Happy to see brilliant Arundhati Roy in print again. But, as to "the world" stepping in...that is a lame comment. What "world"? CIA? Mossad? MI-6? KGB? Does Sri Lanka have oil? I don't see anyone buggering about in that particular sphere of India's influence.
Wow, Roy has certainly souped up the hyperbole in this one. Please read up on the Malayan Crisis and how the insurgency there was effectively defeated by the British. That's what Colombo is trying to do here. And as for the Gaza comparison, that is outright backwards. If Ms. Roy was following the news of Sri Lanka more closely she would know that the Tamil Tigers have retreated behind civilians to use as cover, bargaining chips and human shields. These 'concentration camps' that our very shrill author writes of are refugee camps for those very civilians who are being CLEARED from the fighting. Shame on you for your spin, Ms. Roy. Shame on you.
"If Ms. Roy was following the news of Sri Lanka more closely she would know that the Tamil Tigers have retreated behind civilians to use as cover, bargaining chips and human shields."
If you replace civilian 'Tamils' with civilian 'Palestinians', there would be no difference between what you are saying and Israeli propaganda on Gaza. There is no hyperbole ... just the truth ... get over it.
As if the people will ever go for "might makes right", cronyism, and all the rest of the extreme right principles needed by elites to justify their oppression of people. May happen in the belly of the beast, but never outside it.
There is not a country on the face of this earth anymore whose leadership can speak with strength and respectabiity about honoring human rights, other than those from a few Scandinavian countries whose voices at the global table are small, and Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, who seems to be putting oil money where his mouth is and the majority of his people are benefitting, and maybe a few others with small voices.
Can't help but ask: Have we always been as collectively insane as we are now? or is it that we who read and research on the internet and pour through books and articles because we are interested/fascinated and we care and want to find ways to change things now have a genuine, more comprehensive view of the escaped contents of the unlocked and overturned Pandora's Box? ... What we see is overwhelmingly nasty, self-serving and destructively insane, and those who purportly serve us seem both blind and deaf and NUTZ. At least it feels that way to me.
How 'bout you?
/cm
I have often asked myself the same question. Was it always this bad? Looking at history, the marauders, the empire builders, the lords, the exploiters, I feel that there have always been such things. Have you ever seen the movie "Ran"? Perhaps since technology and travel were slower, there were places where people could exist knowing only of local problems, such as plague and famine. They were not aware Genghis Khan was on his way until he got there.
Nonetheless most of us are sane. We kiss our kids goodnight and think about how we will get through the next day as decent humans. I wish goodness led to power, but so far it seems to work the other way.
Joe
Sioux Rose
CEE MIRACLES: As we know from Zinn's telling of American history there have always been nefarious plots and a number of senseless (apart from profit for a few) wars. The difference now may be related to the following:
1. Our media is saturated in violence. If you go back 35-50 years, there was no blatant sex, and often there was a suggestion of malevolent behavior, but the camera didn't stay ON violence (of all sorts) making it integral to the plot.
2. There are no countervailing voices in mainstream media to stem the tide of uniformity, so-called patriotism, or challenge voices that champion war... in short the growth of the military industrial complex has lent its tendrills to fully extend into mainstream media making aggression what the US is too often about.
3. The religious have been brainwashed to see violent conflict as a manifestation of God's will and/or Biblical prophecy. We are talking 45-55 million here, not some small fringe group.
4. The emptiness of modern life, for all the faux food filler, lousy entertainment, meaningless jobs, time spent in traffic/commuting, and in paying off debt... puts many into a gear unable to respond as "public citizens" rather than consumers.
These four would be my take on the influences for a sort of public acceptance of the banality of evil. There are also astrological influences that have for some time emphasized the Machiavellian sign of Capricorn, energizing its authoritarian predilections. This suggests why modern times are so materialistic, in direct opposition to the far less earthbound values of the l960's and l970's.
And as for eruptions of violence in other lands, part is the excess population and competition for resources; part the exportation of US films; part the trafficking in arms worldwide; and part that a leader like Bush set loose a "follow-the-leader" "force first" precedent that is being emulated by "leaders" of other lands in their "get tough against terrorism" policies. In short the misuse of power has been given America's consent by example.
I greatly admire A. Roy and am also happy to read something of hers again, but I think she has written about the Tamils' current plight mainly for her fellow Indians, as India is Sri Lanka's neighbor. I'm really annoyed by Common Dreamers moaning about causes neglected by progressives. We Americans, God damn it, are in great part responsible for the injustice and suffering of the Palestinians. We are collaborators. I'm sure links can be made between U.S. imperialism and just about every trouble spot on the planet, but not to the profound and transparent extent as in the Middle East. THAT is why many "progressives" focus on the evils of Israel--because WE enable and empower them. Period. We can't even get a third party candidate in our own presidential debate, let alone on the ballot. We have accepted usurious credit cards in exchange for stagnant shitty wages and no universal health care for 30 years and now we're standing by while the masters of the universe add insult to injury and manipulate the global economic crisis they caused, to implement yet another major redistribution of wealth into their coffers. What are we little schmucks supposed to do about Sri Lanka? Let's get real and clean up our own backyard, if we possibly can. And I really don't know if we can, since we in the choir are so few, evidently. Talk, talk, talk.
While Arundhati Roy often writes as a strong and responsible voice of conscience on compelling social issues, in this case she is representing only one side of the story, and doing so, apparently, with an inadequate and distorted understanding of what is happening in the country. I don't intend to offer any accolades for the Rajapaksa government, which has indeed often engaged in brutal acts of aggression and suppression; nor do I defend the Sinhala majority, which from the 1950s on has pursued communal policies that have ultimately proved self-destructive. But once the Tamil Tigers took control of the movement for greater Tamil autonomy, they proved to be one of the most vicious rebel movements in the world. They decimated all the other Tamil militant groups. They assassinated Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, SL president R. Premadasa, and many other government ministers; they have killed off virtually all moderate Tamil leaders, especially those who offered the best hope for a peaceful resolution of the ethnic conflict; they detonated bombs in cities, and they have launched blood-curdling massacres against dozens of Sinhala villages. At present, they are the ones most responsible for the deaths of the Tamil civilians, for the simple reason that they will not allow them to flee from the fighting, but prefer to hold them as hostages. They often shoot in cold blood those who attempt to flee. Yet all this Arundhati Roy omits to mention.
Good for you!
So essentially it comes down to this ... if the vicious, uncivilized, brutish Tamil Tigers can do it (kill civilians) we can do it too and the rest of the world should shut the f!@# up. That seems to be your justification and it doesn't fly.
As brutal as the Tigers are ... when the Sri Lankan State commits similar crimes they deserve to be pulled up and examined. The current strategy of the Sri Lankan State of gunning down civilians and the Tigers together exhibits the very attitude that got them in this bind to begin with - the oppression and demonization of the minority Tamil population.
Roy is not defending the Tigers in the article. At all. She is talking about how the entire Tamil population is being treated. How journalists, including Sinhalese journalists who criticise the government have been murdered.
Just because the LTTE have committed all manner of atrocities, doesn't mean that the government, which is supposed to be the government of Sri Lanka, not the government of the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka, gets to go around bombing Sri Lankan Tamil citizens.
The LTTE had nothing to do with Premadasa's assasination. I was in country as a Peace Corps Volunteer when it happened, stationed in a Sinhalese village in the south near Matara. The villagers literally came out and danced in the streets. We all knew the score had been settled from the recent assasination of the widely popular General Denzil Kobbekkaduwa whose popularity posed a real political threat to Premadasa, whose own political fortunes were on the wane. Premadasa was well known for running an exceptionally corrupt government, and in Sri Lanka, that's really saying alot.
Mark Stevens
RPCV Sri Lanka, 1991-1993
The Human Rights Subcommittee of the European Parliament - in a meeting open to the public - has just held a hearing about the human rights situation on Sri Lanka. The representative of the Sri Lanka government was chided by the chair for just reading up the usual government propaganda, the European Commission representatives gave the Sri Lanka government an earful about exactly the issues you are mentioning, Ms Roy, since they had visited camps and had insisted on not being shown some kind of model showcase camps.
These facts are also reported in quality papers throughout Europe.
So I don't know what "silence" you are talking about. I was aware of it.
America and what they deign to notice isn't "the world"!!
Good for CD for printing Roy's courageous comments. Roy refuses to do as others have done in their comments here... she refuses to concentrate only on the Tamil Tigers. I mean, isn't this the game they always do? ...have us concentrate on the defects of The Resistance? So many of the people writing here have taken the bait once again! They never seem to learn, I guess...?
We should see this conflict in the light of experience with how the World ignored Peru's US backed counter insurgency under the Fujimori regime. Nobody wanted to say a word because of those big bad Sendero Luminoso folk. So they sat back, did nothing, and allowed a slaughter to take place as the US from afar directed. Well, their attitude was, those Sendero types deserved what they got! Oh what great progressives the world is made of in the European countries and US English speaking bloc! They pick and choose!
We have the same thing going on once again in Sri Lanka, as nobody wants to mention it. Stupid Tigers.... they deserve it! Or do they? Fujimori's time in Peru has come and gone and he is now thoroughly discredited as having been a monster by the Peruvian capitalist government of the moment. But you know what? Peru is still a hell hole. Has nothing to do with the Resistance. Had nothing to do with 'Presidente Gonzalo'.
Today, we look elsewhere as the US allies in the region, India and Sri Lanka, carry out their racist slaughter of Tamils. It's those damn Tigers fault many say as we have seen in the discussion.
Or is it? I think not. And our country, the US, looks on and endorses the slaughter through its silence. That's what Arundhati Roy wanted us to know though so many are resistant receiving her message.
It appears to be that you are the one who is resistant to Roy's message.
You, like the Sri Lankan government, are conflating the Tigers with the entire Tamil population. Something that Roy doesn't do.
"India and Sri Lanka, carry out their racist slaughter of Tamils."
India is not involved in the slaughter of Tamils. Tamils are of Indian origin. Indian sympathies lie with the civilian Tamil population. There may be sympathy for the Tigers in Tamil Nadu ( a State in India) but that's mostly reactionary. In fact most Indians hate the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) for the simple fact that they assassinated Rajiv Gandhi and Indians haven't forgotten it. There are definitely State level contacts with the Sri Lankan government but India has mostly kept out of Sri Lankan politics (and has actually lost influence) after the Rajiv Gandhi incident and its backlash. The biggest players in Sri Lanka (as usual) are Pakistan, China and Israel.
rfloh
riddimboy
Good comment.
Thank you Ms. Roy. I was not aware of this situation, only vaguely aware there is a conflict. What can we do?
Joe
Was it Paul Krugman recently arguing US policy to "save" US leadership? Was he talking about US leadership in neglecting the world's people such as those in Sri Lanka?
The Sri Lankan government could not exploit the "war on terror" to target innocent civilians if Ralph Nader were in the oval orifice today. Just so everyone understands how far the "audacity of hope" extends.