Fighting a globalised LTTE
These closing climactic weeks of the conventional war have been accompanied by tremendous external pressure on the Sri Lankan state. This has its upside because it illuminates. It reveals to us the world as it is and how it might be. It tells us who our friends are. It tells us also who our enemy’s friends are. It educates us as to what we must and must not do, including in the coming weeks and days.
Here is the rude reality. There is a three pronged campaign to save the Tiger. One is mounted from within the overseas Tamil community, the dominant pro-Tiger/pro-Tamil Eelam stream having developed into a global movement. The second prong is the West, with some functioning as the spear-point of that prong, while others are less committed. Some Western quarters are clearly protectors and potential patrons of the Tigers and the Tamil Eelam cause. The third prong is located in neighboring Tamil Nadu, with some parties now committing themselves to the cause of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.
Luckily, this external pressure comes at a time when it cannot really affect our conduct on the ground; cannot deflect our military action. Such is the resolve of public opinion, the national leadership and the armed forces. 2009 is not 1987. For the moment we can absorb this pressure while spotting and noting where it comes from and extrapolating future trend lines from these pressures and agitations.
What is the first and most basic lesson that the mounting wave of external pressure should teach us? It is this: we are seeing a number of sources, Western and sub-regional, which would easily afford patronage and succor to the surviving LTTE and the Tamil separatist project. Furthermore it cannot be ruled out that the anti-Sri Lanka /pro-Tamil Eelam elements in Tamil Nadu would have a stronger position in a ruling coalition in Delhi by early June. Therefore, it is imperative that we act decisively within the narrowing window of opportunity open to us, to eliminate the LTTE as a military force, destroying its leadership and hard core cadres who have been trapped in the Zone, after which we must wheel around and hunt down the residual terrorists who may have escaped into the jungles.
It is precisely because we are relatively weak and our enemy is relatively strong externally, while they are relatively weak and we are relatively strong domestically, that we must maximize that advantage. If we eliminate the LTTE as an army on Sri Lankan soil, we can minimize the effects upon us, of present and future patronage being offered by offshore sources. If on the other hand, we allow the Tigers to survive and escape, they will quickly regroup and be redeployed, with all the external spaces that they have access to. In short the Tigers must cease to function within Sri Lanka, and to cease to function they must cease to exist. The Tiger is a globalized creature but its head is still on Sri Lankan soil. That head must be cut off, now.
Thus the mounting external pressures on Sri Lanka must not only NOT lead to an easing of the final military campaign, but must result in its exact opposite, the determination to inflict the most complete and decisive defeat and destruction possible on the Tigers, while taking maximum precautions to safeguard the civilians.
The second lesson is that the Tamil Eelam movement is more globalized than ever; the struggle between Sri Lanka and the Tamil separatist project will continue in the global arena, on an international scale, and that the country’s future in the next stage will be greatly influenced if not decisively determined in the international theatre. This includes the preservation of the military gains on the ground.
The third lesson is that there must be a shift of national emphasis and priority, to the international front. Just as the country and state matured to the point where it shifted to the correct policy stance on the war, overhauled its military machine and placed the right personnel in the right places, the same or a similar task will have to be undertaken in the domain of Sri Lanka’s external relations.
The fourth lesson is that we must clearly identify and build up our “natural” international defense lines. These are the Non Aligned Movement and the countries of the global South. Within and outside the developing world, Sri Lanka’s most reliable strategic friendships will have to be with those, mainly but not only Eurasian, who place high value on strong states, state sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and within this group of states, those which have no significant Tamil populations. The ties with such states must be upgraded and solidified into a structure or system. We should for example, apply for observer status with the Shanghai Organization for Security Cooperation, a structure which includes Russia and China, and focuses on counter-terrorism.
The fifth lesson is no one, even among our friends, will countenance either an insensitive or slow alleviation of the problems of IDPs and related humanitarian questions or an absence of an immediately postwar political solution based on autonomy and equality, for the Tamil people. (We have until a new administration is sworn in, in New Delhi, to get our act together on both issues, simultaneously not sequentially).
The sixth lesson is that the Sri Lankan state has to catch up, get with the new calendar and new times, and learn to speak a new language. “Bush-speak” had no acceptance outside the USA even during his administration and now it is rejected within the USA itself and has no resonance anywhere in the world. Sri Lanka’s dominant discourse has to change or it will lose the global struggle by simple default. Macho nationalism, religious majoritarianism, unilateralism and “anything goes in the struggle against terrorism” are out; the attempt to combine ethics and power, (“ethical realism”) is in.
The seventh lesson is that if we are to compete with and beat the globalized Tamil secessionist project with its western patrons — better exemplified by MIA making TIME’s 100, rather than by Velupillai Prabhakaran the least articulate and most corpulent guerrilla leader in the world — we have to rebuild our soft power and smart power, just as we did our hard power. This requires that we undergo a collective transformation, amounting to a revolution, in education, culture and mentality. If anyone wants to understand shifts in US policy towards Sri Lanka, they must factor in the 80-100 young US educated Tamils working on Capitol Hill as aides, researchers and staffers of Congressmen and Senators, and then contrast that with the output of our educational system as we have debased it.
It is not that Sri Lanka had no MIAs. We had better MIAs than MIA, way before MIA. Remember Yolande Bawan at the Newport jazz festival? Right now we’ve got DeLon who I think has a far better singing voice than MIA, but who is backing him in the USA to make a breakthrough?
When a collective mentality looks to the past rather than the future, it has lost the capacity to envision and produce future excellence or achievement. As Dr Martin Luther King said in 1967, minting a phrase picked up and popularized by Barack Obama, “we are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now”.
(These are the strictly personal views of the writer)
21 Comments
Leave a Reply
Subscribe to Content Updates
iPhone app
A LESSON FOR OTHER GOVERNMENTS – HOW TO WAGE A WAR AGAINST TERRORISM
We have seen it before… when Israel waged a war against Palestine it had no journalists to report. If there were it makes the party who is waging the war difficult to achieve its objective in the best and highest manner. In a war the world has to expect causalities, innocent civilians to be killed, leaders to be ruthless and iron fisted. War is a war. Once a war is waged only one party can surrender and if the losing party surrenders then the other party should stop attacking. If the losing party goes on fighting then the winning party must continue until the last terrorist is dead or captured alive even if the last man is standing..
It’s unfortunate that after so many human lives are taken by this war the LTTE terrorists are fighting and keeping their own Tamil civilians as a human shield.
Little did the Tamil Diasporas from Canada, UK and Australia who raised million of dollars for arms for LTTE knew that the same arms will be turned against their own brothers and sisters by LTTE terrorists.
This war has gone for too long. Enough is enough. LTTE terrorists should now release innocent Tamils they are holding against their will and surrender to the Sri Lankan government immediately if they truly love Tamils.
Lessons to be taken by other Governments “how to defeat terrorists” When waging a war do it always without witnesses.
How prepared and sincere is Srilanka is to address 5th and 6th lesson will decide on how peaceful and United it can be ? If that is not addressed India may even be pressurised to form a “Tamildesam” out of Srilanka which none of your “friends” will object nor will have the guts to counter. So pull your socks and mend your ways give equal freedom and rights to Tamils brethren in their land and learn to live peacefully.
Dont forget 1970s and 1983, when Srilanka massacred innocent people that gave rise to LTTE and if you revert back to your old ugly ways, the consequences will be more severe and even God will not be able to save SriLanka.
We all pray that there be a peaceful Srilanka where both Sinhala and Tamils live with equality and dignity.
It is funny how Britain and the rest of the coalition is wrecking havoc on the civilians in Pakistan (been reading the news?) right now all in the name of fighting terrorists who killed 5000 US civilians (9/11). Conservative estimates would suggest that at least about 10,000 people (mostly civilians) have paid the price for that in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. After all of that which US can’t even measure if they have been successful. Iraq is a mess and Afghanistan they’re going no where. At least in Sri Lanka we made rapid and effective progress against terrorists. We got something to show!
They say Sri Lanka has white vans but US use unmarked private jets for rendition to countries like Egypt that have no hesitation to use torture. They say Sri Lanka has internment camps.. US has Gunatanamobay. Or at least it did (if you’re naive enough to think Saint Obama closed it down). These are just things that we know of. It is naive to think they’re not hiding the worst of it pretty well! After all CIA/MI5 can’t be that incompetent.
Given the similarities western media would never dare quote an islamist militant web site and quote their allegations in mainstream media. They will face the wrath of the (western) world. But BBC, Channel 4 wold not hesitate to quote Tamilnet. A site run by a terrorist organisation banned in their own respective countries.
My point is these western media should quote Tamilnet with their pants down because its a shameless thing that they do which epitomises hypocrisy. All in the name of getting votes from their constituencies on behalf of their MPs feeding the channels fat cash and buying them broadcast rights (yes media is the best and worst friend of a politician). So Sri Lanka should be proud they kicked out those channel 4 bafoons and any other morons who would give Tamilnet the same weight as democratically elected authorities. They wouldn’t have the balls to quote an islamist web site to balance their reports on shock and awe bombing raids.
You catch my drift I’m sure!
I’m sick and tired of Sri Lankans pointing fingers to the US and UK and their support for / use of torture, killing civilians, etc. in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. Why don’t Sri Lankans have the imagination and morality to forge their own path and get out of the colonial mindset that what the US and UK do is ok for the rest of us to follow!!! GEEZ!!! Gimme a break!!! And puhleeez rise above this kinda finger pointing to some real introspection of where we have gone wrong and how we can put the pieces back together!
Yes, Sri Lanka needs to stop pointing fingers, conveniently speaking of ‘fighting terrorism’ and creating a democracy, yet not allowing in media. No media = human rights violations. Iraq and Afghanistan are a mess…no doubt. But Sri Lanka is a mess too. For those who don’t live in the North u don’t see it. But for those who have family there, we do. The western media is not allowed in for a reason…to hide grave abuses (as said by the UN)…so DUH…who else are they supposed to quote….the government who says…we’ll do ur job for u and be journalists too…?
Our people are being suppressed not just in the North but in Colombo as well. Sinhalese people have been killed by a buffoon dynasty. We are going back in time, not forward.
“Dont forget 1970s and 1983, when Srilanka massacred innocent people that gave rise to LTTE and if you revert back to your old ugly ways, the consequences will be more severe and even God will not be able to save SriLanka.” –SAM
I AGREE WITH SAM. SRI LANKA, IF YOU WANT A UNITED SRI LANKA, YOU HAVE GET THE SUPPORT OF THE ENTIRE POPULATION.
LET ME REMIND YOU, IT’S NOT 1970 OR 1983. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!
so you’re attributing causality to a correlation you feel is uncecessary to substantiate? That the alleged “80-100″ tamils working on and around the “the hill” have had anything more than a superficial effect on US Foreign policy towards SL? What vapid generalization will you make next? Jews and Hollywood? Tamils and terrorism?
Every time you paint the diaspora with the broad brush of dark hints at complicity with terrorism and terror-boosting, you lower the probability that the capitalist class will return to SL. Be prepared, oh SL, to do without them. Welcome your new Golden Key-style overlords. Hao Ma?
As to why Delon did not do as well as MIA, it is a matter of simple economics: demand v. supply. Both are producers of content with little aesthetic or technical value but MIA is different in that many more people consumed her output.
And as to funding, Delon can get it from his physician father.
and for your convenience, here’s the thread on Delon to end all others:
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005324.html#comment211434
note cracks about, “whitey” the “western liberal elite.” etc are not valid rejoinders.
as to Delon’s market share, it’s a matter of simple economics: both mia and delon have products of little aesthetic or technical value but MIA’s music was far more popular and her reception by likely consumers far more enthusiastic.
For a discussion of DeLon’s cred, this discussion is invaluable:
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005324.html
Good Job =Good Lesson!! Too bad MIA’s music is way better!! Just for your information, Sri Lanka will not win this war!! It will go on until the aspirations of Tamils are fulfilled. Where were you all when the Singalese Massacred all the innocent lives in 1958, 1968, 1973, 1977? Long before LTTE existed?? Its funny to read this comment from the writer!! Very funny!!!
The United States said …deeply concerned about an “unacceptably high” level of civilian casualties in Sri Lanka….
kind of ironic, – our dipolomats should keep track of the civilian deaths in iraq and afgahan and reply back… (last week over 100). the thing is with the sophistication of USA wepons -the F15′s and crusie missile they incurr so much casulaties, while our SLA in comaprative basis is much more professional…
Eighth Lesson Dayan J in Geneva Missed
Hello Dayan
So you are back in teaching. If this new teaching profession to be successful you should have begun with unteaching the Eelam you taught with Varadharaja Perumal before going underground. Chauvinistic Sinhala Buddhists are a difficult lot to teach because they have nothing in their brains except the good memory of scoundrels.
This land belongs to Sinhala Buddhists. Tamils, Muslims, Burghers et al can live as parasites. This is what the modern day great warrior Sarath Fonseka controversially stated according to some media personnel. I hope he is keenly watching all the dramas you are enacting in disguise. He is really tide up with delivering last rites to your –behind the scene- Eelam project. Hope he will answer you in real time when he is free.
Once upon a time we heard Sant Jarnail Singh Brindanwale and Khalistan. He and all his disciples attained Khalistan in Moksha. Golden Temple is back in its former glory making 100,000 Chapathi everyday to feed the Sardhajis. International Sikh Diaspora is living happily all over the globe. Why shouldn’t they when Hanuman Singh is dictating terms from New Delhi whilst Paradeshi marking time to put the progeny back in the hot seat. This is what a colleague from Maharashtra uttered over a couple of Amurtha. An ardent VHP worshipper. Another Chauvinist eh.
So you are a great fan of MIA and want our Chauvinistic Sihnala Buddhist girls and boys to follow suit. Not a bad idea. With added glamour of a cross around the neck. You take my mind back to Don Juan Dharmapala and the Goa hiphop.
Dayan the from the ashes of the LTTE, Tamil nationalism will arise more stronger than ever. The Tamils will be more dependent on the soft than the hard, with the demise of hard military power. The differences in the achievements of the Tamils and the Sinhalese is already quite pronounced.
Soft power always beats hard power on the long run.
lol @ delon… does delon have a single non-sinhala nationalist fan, besides some of the kids at the free high school gigs he does in california?
I wasn’t morally justifying what was happening in the fight against terrorism carried out by various countries. In fact no war is moral. It’s a necessary evil to protect one self. Sadly both opposing parties feeling the same way in most cases. Hence the confrontation.
Point is “most” you live in an utopian democratic land which doesn’t exist in the real world. You want countries like US, UK, and EU lot to intervene in Sri Lankan domestic issues when they scot-free doing the same thing more or less. Atleast in Sri Lanka we fight an internal threat to security. Where as the rest are invading other sovereign countries in B52 bombers. Squeezing the weak by them is just an opportunity for those countries to momentarily tread on a delusional moral high ground pretending they respect human rights. It’s all a facade to project false morality to an otherwise f*ed up place called the world! Clearly most of you don;t know how bad the world is since you think genocide is occurring in Sri Lanka. What a degradation/misuse of a word for propaganda.
Why do you think today’s UN resolution got blocked? Because there are other countries (non western emerging power houses) that doesn’t need to kid them selves pretending to be moral. They’re no better than the earlier lot but at least they provide the ying to the yang! If UK really cared about what was happening in the NFS they can just hover one of their military satellites over the area and get real time updates – including who’s doing the shelling. Please don’t tell me this is not possible and they don’t have the resources. What the UNOSAT “leaked/provided” was just a joke and proves jack all.
Thus the logical conclusions are that they just can’t be bothered because they don’t care about the civilian plight or the government isn’t shelling! Instead of speculating they could just back allegations with evidence. Leaves you to wonder?
Point is most of you very well know the dirty tactics that the LTTE is engaging in but won’t utter a word because deep down you want them to win. Get that ellam over any sacrifice. It’s sad but few genuine sympathizers of these civilians like DBS Jeyraj (prominent blogger) has made comments on this matter. All you can do is vilify him over the Tamil national question forgetting the real humanitarian crisis.
What I’ve come to understand is that even the Tamil diaspora isn’t all that concerned for the civilians as much as they’re concerned about ellam. Shame because the need of the hour is to rise up against the LTTE. If all the Diaspora took the streets with boards saying free the Civilians LTTE, I guarantee you that LTTE will melt then and there! Civilians would not suffer anymore. But hey.. asif that’d ever happen!
Observer >>
Very nicely put. I’m not against some pressure on the govt. to make sure as many lives as possible are saved. But these attempts to stop the war is to set the precedent that any terrorist group can get away with anything as long as they have a human shield to protect themselves. Certainly a worthy example for other terrorist organizations across the world to follow!
What about alligations of sexual abuse by the sri Lankan military on internally displaced persons? despite propaganda and high talking, have prompt steps been taken to establish discipline within the military, and to develop an ethic of ‘respect’ and ‘support’ for the people displaced, wounded, traumatised, and badly victimised by the war?
It is not by keeping people in internment camps, continuing sexual abuse, giving them some food and doing loads of pointless propaganda that the state is going to win the hearts and minds of the northern people. If things continue at this pace, the sri lankan government is cutting its own grave underneath its feet.
I saw Obama’s true colours today! I’m not sure if it’s in the same Press briefing (which would make it even more hillarious) but 2 clips on the news one saying essentially “I can’t reveal the extent of gross humn rights violations by the American soldiers (at Gitmo) because he’s scared them macho lot’s safety would be compromised (what bull c**p!) and then go on to say I urge Sri Lankan troops to take care in their fighting! Essentially Sri Lankan soldiers who have 1/4th thickness in their body armour has to give up much of their arsenel and compromise their safety in their own war according to Saint Obama. When Obama can’t reveal known gross human rights violations to the world because of indirect safety threats to American soldiers.
Honestly no other example could have glorified the term double standards! In my mind I was pleased at least I didn’t fall for his “changes crap” during his campaign!
You give away a lot by this one statement : “It is not that Sri Lanka had no MIAs. We had better MIAs than MIA, way before MIA.”
MIA is just as much “Sri Lankan” as Delon who was born and lives in the USA…and Gothabaya who is a US citizen… or do you have to be Sinhalese to be called “Sri Lankan”?
I suggest that once they are allowed to do so, all Tamils in Sri Lanka be assisted by international parties to flee the country and seek refuge elsewhere. Only then will Sinhalese in Sri Lanka be able to take full measure of their terrorist government. Because then, the army’s rifles will be turned on the Sinhalese themselves. And then they will finally know the truth. Do you not know, Dayan Jayatilleka, that thousands of Sinhalese dissenters (from the JVP among others) have been assassinated by the Sri Lankan government and lie secretly buried throughout the countryside? The Sri Lankan government only knows how to kill. It certainly doesn’t know how to run a country or it would have done so from the start. So stop talking about your aspirations for the Sri Lankan government–they are murderers, liars and thieves. Were so at the start and have always been so. If they had any amount of competence, they would have been able to negotiate peace in 2002 when the Tigers were willing to do so. The government didn’t want peace–it wanted genocide of the Tamil population.
You suggest that there must be equal rights for all parties. Yet, you do not wish the Sri Lankan government to tie up with any state having a substantial Tamil population. Tamils are a vastly overwhelmed minority in Sri Lanka–how do you expect them to get their rights from a racist government and a racist majority community? Are you conveniently forgetting why the Tamil Tigers emerged in the first place? They didn’t just come out without provocation. They emerged as a desperate response to Sinhalese nationalist racist chauvinism.
The War is now over and still srilankan government can not able to focus on development of the country. We only see that ‘update’ or ‘improve’ of infrastructure but never seen so far building newer projects for the benefit community by Mahinda’s Government.