by Priya Thangarajah
"We shall have to repent in this generation, not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
A quote I love and believe as a feminist. But Tamil Nadu politics surrounding the issue of Sri Lanka has made me think otherwise regarding the silence of good people. For people who know me I must sound schizophrenic. Yesterday I am shouting asking progressive Indians to be more interested. Care about the arms India is sending. The hydro power plant (which is an SEZ) it is building in the land that belonged to Tamils. Arguing that progressive Indians can’t ignore what India does to its neighbors… its big brother mentality.
Today I am saying, almost begging Tamil Nadu to stop caring!! I still think India needs to take interest and be involved and its supposed hands off policy is not correct, given that India has had its hand in this soup for a long time. What I am saying is that when ‘progressive’ people show concern about Sri Lanka, there is a need to not let it feed in to the race politics that Sri Lanka has been battling with for the last three decades.
I am not arguing that Indians or any of us ignore the race dynamics of the issue. But when allegations are made that the Tamil race is being wiped out and that the Sinhala State is involved in the same, we are missing out on the fact that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are not letting the Tamil people leave. That they are conscripting child soldiers. That the Muslim’s are being killed as well.
A political articulation based on race and race alone, an articulation that does not call all parties to task, struggles that necessarily leaves other people out of it can never succeed.
It is with shock and amazement I have seen the Tamil Nadu involvement with the Sri Lankan war. The lawyers protest, the youth who set himself on fire and the parties that kept threatening to withdraw from the coalition. This level of involvement all because Tamil Nadu sees a connection….a race connection!!
Sri Lankan Tamils are many. Jaffna Tamils, Batticaloa Tamils, Indian Tamils and Up-country Tamils. The Tamils of Sri Lanka have struggled just like all identities to carve out a history and a culture. Some Tamils in Sri Lanka have been in Sri Lanka as long as the Sinhalese have. Others came before and during colonisation and others were brought as indentured labor to work in the plantations. A race politics misses these histories, the variety of struggles and the vibrancy of a people. This singular way of understanding a community has a potential to kill any struggle and movement..and movements. I wish to also argue that the local politics, be it the women’s movement or any other movement in Tamil Nadu has also been strangulated.
1 comment:
This argument is not new Priya. Deuring all the mass killing and genocide world hired this arguments. Pro Nazis argue about money lending and other charactors of Juvish people during world war 2. Even in Rwanda victims were rendered as oppressive minorities. Historically and sociologically one can find several evident to justify that arguments. But I cannot support these arguments. Genocide and Mass killing push all these arguments behind. Fighting against to such situation becoming the first priority. Priya only worrying about the alleged difficulties coursed by LTTE to the civilian who want to leave.. But Pria is not talking about the Vavuniya concentration camps where these civilian were herded by the resist state. Pria is not worrying about the youths and girls taken away by the soldiers from this concentration camp. Priya are you justifying GOSL? visjayapalan@hotmail.com (Poet)
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