“Can Sinhalese live in peace when minorities suffer?” - Shobasakthi

“I subscribe to the theories on nationhood set out by great theorists like Marx - who is an internationalist and says that a worker has no nation - all the way down to Benedict Anderson, who has described nations as imagined communities. I have no theoretical affinity to Tamil nationalism.” “However, in Sri Lanka, the reality is that as long as Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism is intact, for the sake of peace, security and dignity, Tamils and Muslims have no choice but to resort to nationalist ideologies.” “Please do not confuse the Tamils’ right to liberate their community with the fascism of the Tigers, other armed groups and the Jaffna hegemonic, Vellala centric, casteist Tamil nationalism that the TULF has projected.”

“Tamils are being discriminated against and are being oppressed by the Sri Lankan state for the simple reason that they were born Tamils. This is an incontrovertible fact. I am not quoting from books or from newspaper reports. Every scar in my body and mind whisper this to me in my ear.”

Eastern reawakening? “Through military might, the state has weakened the Tigers considerably. It does not bother me one bit. But in the regions where the army has re-established control, the Sri Lankan government will indulge in deceptions such as provincial council elections, interim administration, etc, and hand over the power that was in the hands of the Tigers to other Tamil groups which are no different, but loyal to the government.” “The real power will be in the hands of the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinist government. Do you call this peace? Is this called the ‘dawn’ of the east? And is this called restoring the rights of Tamils?”

Oppression
“I believe in organised resistance. Oppressed people have no choice. I have faith in the politics of liberation from social and economic injustice.” “In liberation movements, power should be deployed from the bottom-up rather than from above. The LTTE is a fascist machine, its intention being no different from that of the Sri Lankan state - ie, to oppress people. The oppressed Tamils must rise up against both these structures.”

Tamil writers in exile
“Our literary men have no courage to challenge the murders and atrocities being committed by EPDP, TMVP and PLOTE. They do not feel ashamed to support the TULF and its leader, even though the TULF represents the reprehensible Jaffna centric, casteist ideology of the upper caste Jaffna Tamils.” “Finally, they do not hesitate to step into European embassies of the Sri Lanka Government which is guilty of innumerable atrocities against the Tamils.” “I have no objection that the exile literary movement has named the Tigers as their number one enemy as they are a curse upon the Tamil people. But the murders and human rights violations being committed by EPDP, TMVP and PLOTE - how can they tolerate them?” “Are we to accept the inevitable truth that these twenty years of soul searching by the dissenting Tamil community’s activists - have just ended up in supporting the puppet forces of the Sri Lankan state and the Indian Government, murderers and child abductors?”

“A true democrat will say, ‘I will oppose any one who supports the LTTE’. And so should he declare. But if he says, ‘I will support any murderer, any casteist and any rogue or fascist who opposes the LTTE’... then he is not a democrat. That is pure opportunism.”

Political ideology
“Caste oppression within Tamil society is the one issue that preoccupies my mind the most. Without liberation from caste oppression, there is no liberation possible for the Tamils.” “In Jaffna, 150 Kovils are still not open to Dalits. Newspapers still carry marriage advertisements mentioning people’s castes. We hear that there is caste-based segregation in refugee camps. Dalits are recruited in large numbers by the LTTE and they die in the war. Thirty per cent of Dalits go to war. But this does not get reflected in the leadership of the LTTE.” “Politically, we have elected only two Dalit MPS in the entire period of modern parliamentary elections - Rasalingam and Sivanesan.The levels of economic and social deprivation that Dalits suffer in Jaffna are still very high.” “You can imagine when the suffering of ordinary people in Jaffna is so high, how the Dalits who are at the bottom of the heap would fare?”

Reaching out to the Sinhalese
“I want to explain to them that Tigers and the Tamil people are separate and have different interests.” “Tigers want power - unaccountable and unlimited power - and to this end they will do their worst. They are carrying out violent acts in the south to kill ordinary civilians. But they do far worse things to the Tamils - far worse than what they do in the south.” “There is a growing number of Tamils who are opposing the fascist murderous politics of the LTTE. On the other hand, the current Sri Lanka government has unleashed its violent atrocities against the Tamil people. The Sinhala people have to raise their voices against this. The Sinhala people must call its political leadership to account on its treatment of minority communities in this country.”

“We ask you, as a large majority community who have the power to change your governments, to send a message to this and future governments that you... understand Sinhala people cannot live in peace and prosperity when the minority communities are suffering.” “This is the message I want to say to the Sinhala people as a Tamil writer who oppose the LTTE.”

Courtesy: http://www.lakbimanews.lk 25/05/2008