diaspora as change agents

The Sri Lankan Diaspora as change agents in feeding a positive political conscience into the Diasporic populous is currently becoming more of a reality than ever before. The need to identify a political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, trans-national identities and the positive and proactive involvement of the Diaspora in this process and the inevitability of co-existence has become paramount. The Canadian Democratic Tamil Cultural Association (CDTCA) has taken a positive step towards making this a reality and held its first major event on Sunday 13 April 2008 at the Agincourt Collegiate Auditorium in Scarborough. It was a cultural programme to celebrate the Sinhala Tamil New Year. The programme was titled“Celebrating Sri Lankan People’s Solidarity” and was well attended by Sri Lankans of all backgrounds. The speech made by Sam Rajendran, President of the Canadian Democratic Tamil Cultural Association, Toronto (cdtamilca@yahoo.ca) is found below:

History has shown, time and again, that though forces of fanaticism, intolerance and extremism may dominate in the short run, ultimately it’s moderation, reasonableness, and sobriety that prevails. Because human beings – no matter what their backgrounds are – are innately fair-minded, decent and reasonable. Human beings are also pragmatic and rational. No matter what horrendous atrocities are committed – ultimately sanity will prevail. This is what history shows us. There simply is no history of extremism dominating forever.

We of the Canadian Democratic Tamil Cultural Association are unshaken in our belief that this tragic chapter in our history will pass – that the people of Sri Lanka will ultimately find a way to resolve their differences and accommodate each others’ concerns. This mutual understanding and adjustment is already reflected in the way they are coping with the ongoing war.
One of the positive developments in Sri Lanka today is that more Tamils are living among the Sinhalese in the South than ever before. Ironically this is a consequence of the actions of those who are trying to turn the two communities into hostile camps. A basic truism of social science is that all social action have unintended consequences. One of the ironies of social changes brought about by the conflict in Sri Lanka is that social interaction between the two communities has increased phenomenally. Tamils who have had little interaction with the Sinhalese in the past are now living side by side with them.

In spite of the conflict, people of all backgrounds …. all walks of life….. somehow manage to get along in Sri Lanka in their day to day lives. In most parts of the country …… Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays and Burghers ….. they all live side by side and they toil together in their fields, factories and offices and in their neighbourhoods.

Though the world media portrays otherwise, we - Sri Lankans – know in our hearts we are a caring, civilized society. No one can take that away from us. We no doubt have our difficulties and challenges as any multi-ethnic society does – but we have not lost our humanity. Though we may belong to different communities, as Sri Lankans we all share the joy of living on this beautiful island along with our common predicament: the need to find a way to accommodate each others’ concerns. We shall endure. We are a resilient people.

This is what we decided to celebrate: our solidarity as a decent people. And what more fitting occasion than the Sinhala Tamil New Year. This festival reflects the fact that we share common cultural bonds. By celebrating together we are also showing the Canadian mainstream that we are not hopelessly divided by some unbridgeable gulf as portrayed by the superficial western media.

Finally, the best tribute that we can pay to the ordinary but courageous people of Sri Lanka is to emulate them and live amicably in the Diaspora. We can learn from them how to live together in spite of all the political strife and the negative media hype. We can learn from them how to remain human in the most brutal circumstances…..how not to lose one’s humanity in the face of the gravest of provocations.

In Sri Lanka we live together, work together and struggle together to achieve peace. So why can’t we in Canada? Why can’t we have a dialogue? In my view, nothing that we do in the Diaspora to promote the well-being of our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka can be more useful than such a dialogue.

But in order to make that contribution, we must not forget even for a moment that we are also Canadians. Yes it’s possible to be a Sri Lankan and a Canadian at the same time in today’s postmodern world. Under globalization multiple allegiances and trans-national identities are becoming facts of life. I believe it’s by exercising our “Canadian-ness” that we can make a positive contribution towards resolving the conflict in Sri Lanka.

As Canadians, we are entitled to the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Canadian Charter. Are we going to pursue narrow, divisive political goals in Canada and invoke the charter when inevitably the Canadian authorities start cracking down on these activities? In other words are we going to use the very Canadian Charter to undermine the democratic rights of our own people in Canada? Are we going to abuse Canadian democracy to create more suffering for our people in Sri Lanka? Or, are we going to use the Charter in its proper spirit - its intent, rather than its letter.

Today I believe we have taken the first step in that direction. For what we have done by celebrating Sinhala and Tamil New Year together in Toronto on 13th April, 2008 is to emphatically exercise one of the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Canadian Charter: the freedom of association. The right to associate as we like, the right to gather as we choose - not as those with authoritarian, extremist persuasions among us would prefer.

Speech courtesy: Ethiroli, Issue 7