Was I wrong to oppose the war?
Repost This ArticleI used to think non-violence would win in the end. Even with a murderous megalomaniac for an opponent (I mean Prabhakaran, not Mahinda), I believed the offer of an open hand would prevail over the closed fist. Three bloody Eelam wars, each fought with more combatants and fiercer weaponry than the last, was proof to me that this fight could not be won on the battlefield. So when Eelam War Four began with the promise of a final victory, this time using a bold new strategy (more combatants and fiercer weaponry), I assumed it would end as it did the last three times–without an end. I was wrong. When the remnants of the LTTE were cornered, I assumed they would go underground, the hit and run insurgency of the early eighties would begin anew, and Colombo would shudder as Tigers and Tigresses blew themselves up in the middle of our streets, buses, and marketplaces. I was wrong again. It’s been a year since the war ended. No bombs. No hit and run. What’s going on here? Did war win conclusively? I think it did. And what’s more, I think non-violence lost. Not just on the battlefield, but in that place where higher ideals once endured, impenetrable to the cruel logic of the world–our hearts.
I opposed the war. Not on the street with a placard, but in my heart. I believed it was wrong to kill no matter how it was justified. Six thousand soldiers died in Eelam War Four, as did tens of thousands of LTTE members. The President says the civilian death toll was zero. Perhaps he was referring to the many zeroes that follow the real number. Truth be told, we really don’t know. Many. I used to feel bad about it. Whenever I caught myself smiling as I drove down formerly barricaded roads without any fear of dying in a bomb, I would remind myself about the heavy price paid in sons and daughters on both sides and the failure to resolve our differences peacefully. A year after the war, with hordes of tourists pouring into the country and hotels mushrooming in former war zones, I’m smiling all the time, drunk on victory, but I’ve forgotten that when I smile, I reveal bloody teeth.
Has the war really ended? Or will it be like the Great War, the war to end all wars, later renamed World War One because it created the conditions for World War Two a decade later. Now that we’ve won, are we going to forget why we fought in the first place? The vast majority of the country thinks the war over for good, the dispute settled, and any attempt to rekindle it should be sorted out in the most effective way available to us: overwhelming military force. Since independence, large-scale military force has been used three times internally (we have yet to fight an external invader, which theoretically is the reason for a military): the 1971 JVP insurgency, the 1989 JVP insurgency, and the Eelam Wars. One would think that the sheer brutality of these three should make us shy away from the military option and look to non-violent means of addressing our disagreements. But in reality, it has solidified the military option as the only effective method to deal with dissent. Even a peacenik liberal like myself has to admit that if Rohana Wijeweera had been killed in 1971, in all probability there would not have been a 1989 insurgency; and if Prabhakaran had been killed in the Vadamarachchi Operation, there would not have been an Eelam War Two, Three, and Four. With this bloodshot hindsight, ask yourself what you would do the next time a charismatic, idealistic youth with a healthy following turns violent to make himself heard: would you arrest him and talk to him about his grievances, or kill him the first chance you get? Based on our recent history, talking seems to only postpone the inevitable, so we should kill him. A more intellectual proponent of military force (Dayan Jayatilleka?) might suggest that we kill him first, and then talk to his followers. Either way, the lessons learnt seem to be that the best way to avoid the wanton destruction of military force is to use it early before things get messy later.
We are today a nation that wants a powerful military to stamp out the dissenters and different thinkers among us, that wants a government with a Gestapo-like ability to make dissenters disappear, and tolerates a stifling control of our information. We believe that the alternative, ironically, is war. Even more ironic, any politician that offers liberal values and less oppressive governance is viewed as a sell-out to international imperialism, and a traitor to the nation. As proof for this argument, they can always point to Ranil Wickremasinghe’s liberal, media-friendly, appeasement-heavy regime that allowed the LTTE to rearm, regroup, and launch one more war.
Was I wrong to oppose the war? Let’s rephrase the question: if I could press a button and bring all those who died in Eelam War IV back to life (assuming a round figure of about fifty thousand dead) in exchange for a still living Prabhakaran, and a still menacing LTTE, armed to the teeth, and lurking behind every corner in their suicide vests, would I do it? I’m not sure. I wish I could immediately say yes, bring those people back to life; I’ll take my chances with attempted negotiations for another decade or two with the LTTE. But I can’t. I lived it for thirty years, and I’m sick of it. I’m not saying I would order those fifty thousand to be killed to eliminate the LTTE either. I could never do it. I am a coward and a hypocrite, who gladly enjoys the fruits of another’s murderous crime, but without the stomach to commit murder myself.
Mahatma Gandhi’s and Martin Luther King Jr.’s commitment to non-violence brought real solutions to the problems they faced in their time. But I’m beginning to believe that their success was the exception and not the norm. I still think that non-violence is noble and right, but like a Christian who goes to church though he no longer believes in miracles, I have lost my faith.
Well said under dog. There may be many others like you in this country who feel the same way as you do but due to fear and suspicion they prefer not to express opinions. Not everyone was supportive of the war.
Dear Under Dog,
I think Niranjan has underestimated the subtlety of your essay, but that’s not my concern.
” …the next time a charismatic, idealistic youth with a healthy following turns violent to make himself heard” ….A more intellectual proponent of military force (Dayan Jayatilleka?) might suggest that we kill him first, and then talk to his followers.”
Nope, never did, never will. I’d say invite him to join the Cabinet. BUT that presupposes that he is in fact ” …a charismatic, idealistic youth with a healthy following turns violent to make himself heard”.
If on the other hand he is a pathological killer who eliminates unarmed dissenters and murders civilians, and unilaterally walks out of peace talsk and resorts to killing civilians when he has a chance to take another path and make hismelf heard, then he is not an “idealistic youth” and nor are his followers ‘healthy’. They are at best, terrorists and at worst fascists.
Then Dayan Jayatilleka would indeed say kill him.
You have not drawn the fundamental distinction between violent resistance/rebellion/revolution and terrorism. The latter is defined by the intentional use of armed violence against unarmed, non-combatants. That’s the difference between Che Guevara and Osama Bin Laden.
Lemme put it simply: support the underdog, but keep him inoculated. Even an underdog, if rabid, has gotta go, for the greater good .
Then indeed Dayan jayatilleka would suggest we kill him.
It took so much lives long to finish the war because of liberals.JR would have finished the war in 87 if not for meddling Indians.DB wijethunge had a lot of success on the field had control most of the east and parts in the north then came the liberal government of CBK and started negotiation with the terrorists and lost the entire North east to the terrorists also fault of Premadasa to negotiated with terrorists that helped them strengthen themselves.It would have taken longer and cost more lives if the liberal movement was successful in preventing the total annihilation of the LTTE in 2009.
Very interesting thoughts. Many of these thoughts crossed my mind too. But I haven’t come to the same conclusions. First of all, we are talking about ‘peace and non violence’ vs ‘brutal violence’. It is brutal violence that created Prabha in the first place. But never mind about that. One way or the other we have a filthy murderer killing people on a daily basis. Is war that best solution. Most in Sri Lanka would cry ‘Yes of course’ and a few more, like yourself, would be whispering ‘May be’
But I am on of those who would simply say ‘No’.
What exactly defeated LTTE? Great new military strategies? More defense spending? Clever president and his brothers? Or could it be something else? Could it be because external world events like 9/11 simply made life more difficult for LTTE? Did Prabha commit suicide in slow motion by killing Rajiv a long time ago? Thereby permanently placing India in the enemy list? And more importantly did Prabha forget the golden rule of asymmetric warfare by choosing conventional warfare and forgetting his guerrilla roots that made him so successful in the past?
And about Ranil and the Peace time. Did they regroup and rearm during his time? ‘regroup and rearm’? That makes it sound like they were running for cover when Chandrika Ranil started negotiations. But was that the case then? They had just scored a series of victories then. But never mind about that. Did peace make them stronger? If so why was it so quick and easy to reverse all their gains within a short time and destroy them completely? Because of brilliant strategy?
Is it possible that they simply became weaker during peace? If you join a guerrilla outfit life is nothing but easy. unlike the army, there is no pay, no holidays and even less chance of staying alive. You have to be really angry to strap explosives on your chest and blow yourself up. How do you get angry people when there is no war? Was this why there was a lot of news about LTTE forcibly recruiting people? Wasn’t that a sign of weakness?
What about Karuna. As an extremely experienced top battlefield commander of the LTTE, isn’t he a prize catch for the military? Could he, perhaps be the single most important factor that made all the difference in war no 4? Would he have broken away if there was no peace? Was it the lack of fighting, The lack of focus on the ‘common enemy’ that made this division possible?
Had Ranil remained in power, would the LTTE have continued to become weaker and more fragmented and destroyed themselves in slow motion? Could this have happened with the minimum loss of civiliion casualities? Could this have saved the lives of thousands of soldiers?
Talking about this charismatic guy with a healthy following, Or the ruthless terrorist with an unhealthy following. Do we always have to choose between killing him and making him a minister? Or is it possible that the charismatic terrorist is merely a symtom of a problem whose root causes can be removed without killing anyone?
If a single man feels like going around shooting peolple because he feels that’s the right way to fight what he calls ‘injustice’ then he is probably crazy. But if thousands , or even hundreds are following him, then probably there is some injustice. It doesn’t matter if Dayan Jayatilaka would call this a healthy following or not. I just don’t think hundreds or even thousands of people can instatly become Psychopaths.
Throughout history the history of all our conflicts, how often did we give peace a chance? Why is it that these kind of Charismatic individuals with healthy or unhealthy followings only spring up in some places again and again? In our short history since independence we have had 2 JVP wars and 4 ealam wars. Why is it that Switzerland which has 4 different ethnic groups never had anything like this? Are they killing bad guys very quickly as you have suggested?
About your reservations about pressing that button that would bring 50000 people back to life. Let me make your decision easier. Let’s make it simpler. Let’s say it would only bring one person back to life. But that person is your child, your brother ,your syster or your wife. Would you press the button. Or would you say that is a small price to end Terrorism?
But I know no matter how much I argue, there will be many who would not be convinced. Most Sri Lankans would say ‘All these arguments look good on paper, but when it comes to certain things, non violance just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes brutal violance is the only way to end brutal violance. Sometimes you have to kill innocent people when fighting a really bad guy. You just can’t be Mr nice guy when your enemy is really bad. Lots of people would agree with that argument – including Dayan Jayathilaka and Prabhakaran.
Sure.
Terrorism is intentional use of armed violence against unarmed, non-combatants.
This has been the response/activity of the many ‘governments’ of the ari lankan state from 1948, against tamils, in response to their passionate request – later demand – for complete equality with all other citizens of sri lanka.
Such response by a state is called State Terrorism.
This has been, and still is, happening in many countries, including sri lanka.
State Terrorism results in common or garden Terrorism by/from those targeted by it.
Thank you ‘Human’ for raising the questions you do, which challenge what we believed because we heard it so much – that the LTTE regrouped and rearmed during the 2002 CFA. You know what – I for one think you’re right!
“About your reservations about pressing that button that would bring 50000 people back to life. Let me make your decision easier. Let’s make it simpler. Let’s say it would only bring one person back to life. But that person is your child, your brother ,your syster or your wife. Would you press the button. Or would you say that is a small price to end Terrorism?”
Fixed version:
About your reservations about pressing that button that would bring 50000 people back to life. Let me make your decision easier. Let’s make it simpler. Let’s say it would only bring one person back to life. But that person is your child, your brother ,your syster or your wife. Would you press the button. Or would you say that is a small price to end Terrorism compared to placing your entire family at risk and run the risk of losing ALL your family members. Now how simple is that?
There is no war in the Northeast:
1.Feeling of Deterioration in Jaffna Must Be Reversed Without Delay, Jehan Perera, Chairman, National Peace Council, 10 May 2010:
‘… there have been reports of a deterioration of conditions in the Jaffna peninsula, including threats, extortions, kidnappings and killings. ….”
2.SLA soldiers force Tamils to hoist Sri Lankan flag in Jaffna peninsula – Tamils haven’t hoisted the flags for 5/6 decades.
3.Elaborate arrangements are being made by the Sri Lanka Army with its command in Jaffna district to celebrate Vesak celebrations in the peninsula on May 27, 28 and 29.
Many Tamils haven’t been celebrating Thai Pongal, New Year or Deepavali for decades.
People must have the freedom to choose to practise a religion or not.
Anyway the world is moving towards HUMANISM.
Bring on HUMANISM:
Emergency 58, Tarzi Vittachi:
”…. He met them at the head of the stairs and by the way of an opening gambit he pointed through the window at the neon sign atop the Grand Oriental Hotel building which read: `2500 Years of Buddhism’. He remarked: ‘Two thousand five hundred years of Buddhism – and see what we’ve come to:’ One of the editors replied: “Two thousand five hundred years of Buddhism and two and a half years of Bandaranaike. ….”
interesting article, actually. i disagree with ur interpretation of the death toll in Eelam War IV, i’d put the number at 15,000, which is what the majority of the media put it at [admittedly, some would say thats still 15,000 too many]. you make an interesting question when u refer to the button that would bring the dead back and whether or not you would use it. i doubt anyone except a tiger would. i think the world is built on wars and peace is built on cruelty. world war II ended with nagasaki and hiroshima. the american civil war, which ended slavery, ended with 600,000 people dead. sometimes when the cause is good enough, and peace is a pretty damn good cause, the death toll, to a degree, become less relevant, because in the long run, you will save more lives than you will end. its a heartless statement, but it works in a heartless world.
The reality is that with people like Prabakaran with his “kiiler” mindset, there can never be a chance of peace. How many opportunities were afforded to him to give up the violence and step into a democratic pathway. He spurned them all and continued to bomb innocent civilians, slash and thrash young kids to death and kill off all his opponents. He was mad, period. You can’t reason with a mad man and the only solution is to either lock him up or kill him.
You can talk of “peaceful means to end a violent conflicts” to the high heavens, but, the reality is that it hardly happens anywhere in the world. Once the path of violence is chosen by someone and a violent and brutal struggle is launched, the inevitable end will be a very violent conclusion. Look at history and also think about “those who take the sword shall perish by the sword”. This is the reality. The only way to have a “peaceful end” to every conflict of opinion and interest is NOT to start on a violent path at the very beginning and never include violence in your struggle.
‘Human’ supposes that had Ranil continued in office the tigers would have disntegrated. Doesn’t he or she know that the Tiger Air Force, which was earlier on the drawing boards, actually came into being because of the equipment smuggling during Ranil’s CFA? This made the Tigers the only non-state group with its own air force!
Human also writes: “It doesn’t matter if Dayan Jayatilaka would call this a healthy following or not. I just don’t think hundreds or even thousands of people can instatly become Psychopaths”. Now where did I say they ‘instantly’ become psychopaths? Obviously, this ‘Human’ hasn’t read Wilhelm Reich’s The Mass Psychology of Fascism, which seeks to explain the mass following of Nazi fascism, which by the way , ran into millions not merely tens of thousands. Human also hasn’t heard of the hundreds of thousands of supporters of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge.
Justitia accuses the Sri Lankan State of state terrorism. I agree that it has been guilty of epiosdes of state Terorism, but mass scale state terrorism has not been a policy as it was for Prabhakaran and the Tigers. I have just read top Indian Gen Ashok Mehta’s Manekshaw paper 22 for the Land warfare Centre in Delhi, a scrupulous professional study of How Eelam War 4 was Won. there is no mention of any ‘ atrocities’ war crimes, or mass scale state terorism in the last war , inclduing the final offensives.
There’s not a lot to praise in your article, there was no war, the government forces were defending the civilian population against a ruthless terrorist group, so what is the fuss? Dayan Jayatilleke’s replies are more interesting, for example when he says ‘Nope, never did, never will. I’d say invite him to join the Cabinet. BUT that presupposes that he is in fact ” …a charismatic, idealistic youth with a healthy following turns violent to make himself heard”.
It depends on the particular season for sure. If it was with Vijaya Kumarathunge backing a pro-military group DJ might say ‘don’t kill’ and invite him to hoin the cabinet but under Rajapakse, it’s a different role. Anyway DJ is a rare breed, as for now he defends SL and he needs to be the London or Torronto HC. At the moment, only Kohona has to defend all of us because other ambassadors/High Commissioners have no backbones or should I say brains either.
@ Dr. DJ’s – quote: “Gen Ashok Methta’s …’ a scrupulous professional study of How Eelam War 4 was won… there is no mention of any ‘atrocities’ war crimes or mass scale State Terrorism…”
How could anyone, an accomplice – in particular, expect to confess or accuse himself or his partner for committed atrocities and war crimes? It’s taken for granted as a Certificate of Character and recommendation for clearance from crimes and violations. Credibility of the issuer / originator is always taken into consideration and scrutinized. It’s something like evaluating the eligibility and credence of such Certificates given by Dr. DJ and Dr. Mervin Silva – the two highly decorated Doctorates, in Lanka.
pros and cons of war.Which serves the best to achive a goal.The ideology of non-violence or violence.it seems that people are more prefered non -violence. But the history of human kind is full of violence and proved over and over again that only through violence the people have achived their goals and been sucess in reaching their target.
because of the tigers , we have many s.l.ans today , who have become ,so called academics,intellectuals,thinktanks, — .some write articles and many who are not that super brains comment.i would like to call myself liberal,iam against any form of war.infact till the about 1991 wished the ltte success.allthough i may call myself a peacenick(i know many peacenicks who like war.wars should continue for these p.k. ,for them to make money(NGOS;INGOSE),i wanted the fascist ltte to be crushed by all means. this liberal,p.k. writer is of the opinion mahathma G. and marthin L.’s , commitment to non violence brought real solutions to the problems during their time.in my opinion india got her independence not because of G. but because soviet union under the leadership of stalin won the 2nd world war.(details some other day).what has changed in india?for me allmost nothing (poverty,discrimination etc.).india has become strong,but nothing else.in the u.s.a. certain changes have taken place for the blacks and the coloured,but for me u. s . a. is the biggest terrorist country in this world.hope obama who is not a black,could and would change this world,for the betterment for us all.anyway i did not celebrate victory day,because iam waiting for the the day where all s.l.ans have justice,irrespective of our ethnicity.
ranjit de mel berlin/colombo.
UNDERDOG ! THINKING LIKE A BOY SCOUT IS NOT EASY ALL THE TIME. BECAUSE REALITY IS DIFFERENT FROM IDEALISTIC VISION. BE PRACTICAL MAN!!
It is indeed a very constructive approach Ground Views has taken and I have no doubt that it will become a Light House showing many the logical path, if and only if it becomes a real forum where all kinds of opinions can be presented. Then only can there be a proper and a balanced kind of opinions can be formed to find solutions to the problems Sri Lanka faces now.
One can be against War and I think that is the most natural feeling all will have except for a few mentally sick sadistic excuses for human beings. World history had enough such human beings and there is no need for another to appear to prove how he would behave. Such monsters are created only when the Leaders are clueless and do not do their duties honestly and diligently.
I think all our leaders who came after the Independence failed let us all collect enough courage to accept that.
When Socialist Leaders promoted equality they were ridiculed and all those who had the power talked about Freedoms that would be lost under Socialists. They were cock sure about their own prowess and prescribed solutions.D.S.Senanayake promoted honestly thinking that some kind of discriminations would come later. As a simple-minded person, he never thought about population expansion
After his untimely death, the dog fight started and if S.W.R.D.Bandaranayake was elected as the UNP’s Leader, SLFP would never have been created. To defeat UNP,, he found the unfailing formula-Buddhist Priests, Village Medicine Men, Singhala Educated Teachers, the farmers who tilled the land and the landless workers-the Five Forces. He became the Champion of the backward Singhalese who were dreaming to have better social status.
All of us know the rest. The gap between the Tamils and Singhalese was made.He and a person like Dahanayake who seldom spoke in Singhala became the Champions in promoting Singhala only.
The stranded Singhalese youth already revolted and JVP was born.
The lop sided policies continued and naturally Tamil youth had less opportunities
In the meantime the Tamil counterparts who were leading Tamil people put the blame on the Singhalese and created the hatred. In short that was how a monster like Prabhakaran was formed. He became the hero as he gave the cruel’ Singhalese ‘ tight and became the saviour in the eyes of Tamil people and later he started maintaining his position by force, making their lives miserable longing to see a country of their own.
Now I can come to the point.
The writer talks about Non-Violence and there is no doubt that it is the most revered position. But whether we like it or not his rabid behaviour had to be stopped in the interest of all peace loving people whether Singhalese of Tamils. Now one year has passed since the complete annihilation of the monster and his LTTE. and how peaceful it is now. If one cannot see that ,there must be something radically wrong with him.
But, now the Peace is achieved, what about the rest. That is where the problem lies.
Out of the MPs who have been elected how many are rational?. Most of them are glorified Minstrels and they simply do not have the capacity to think deep and understand what is really needed.It is out of them the Ministers are selected.
One may say that the MPs to be selected cannot be scholars and there for they cannot be genius people.True.That is why a good bureaucracy is necessary. See how the formula goes out of control.
The Minister does not like a Clever Secretary ( Not all the Ministers ) They want and prefer only ” Yes Sir ,Yes Sir Three Bags full ” singers. and not the original thinkers.The result is what we see now.
So, there is no point in fighting only for a” No War Future” because it will never be realised if we continue like this..
Sri Lanka has got a chance for the first time after the so called independence to rethink and do things.
I have a proposal and it is very simple.All of us those who are concerned can make a list of priorities at hand. then,thereafter, we can give proposals for each priority.All those can be sent to the President’s Office for their attention.
If nothing happens,we see to it that President becomes aware of those . If nothing happens,then we can reach the Opposition for action. There will
be enough intelligent people who would take over from there.
No one will have a reason to be annoyed because this forum will be promoting only the truth.
That way,we can avoid any more wars.
Ananda Ariyarathne
..
Could Dr. Dayan care to explain how the Rajapakse regime that he was supportive of during the war is any less fascist, or free of the same accusations that he had made against the Tigers? Do I sense hypocrisy? Going by his own definition, this implies he is not “healthy.”
First of all I must thank Dayan Jayatilaka for taking the time to reply. So now it is time for me to reply back
DJ: “Human’ supposes that had Ranil continued in office the tigers would have disntegrated.”
Doesn’t DJ remember they were in fact already disintegrated after Karuna left with a large number of Battle hardened men and women?. My argument is, if the same conditions continued, with the absence of the focus on the common enemy, why wouldn’t other internal rivalries come to surface. Karuna was the first man who managed to break away from Prabha’s grip and still stay alive. Wouldn’t that have inspired more other rebels within the LTTE? To me it sounds more than likely.
DJ: “Doesn’t he or she know that the Tiger Air Force, which was earlier on the drawing boards, actually came into being because of the equipment smuggling during Ranil’s CFA? This made the Tigers the only non-state group with its own air force!”
Oh the TAF! That is the huge military advantage tigers gained during their ‘rearming and regrouping’ session during the peace time right?. And with the newly gained air power they managed to hammer the SL military left right and centre and won the war! – really?. They managed to buy a few cheap light civilian aircrafts (Zlin – not costing more much more than 60,000 USD these days) and managed to drop some homemade bombs missing their targets completely about half the time. Yes they struck about 10 times killing a grand total of about 20 people in the space of more than 2 years. But what effect did this have on the war? Did TAF have a significant effect on the balance of power? Did it have any effect? Was this the one grand tactical advantage LTTE gained during CFA? Of course it sounds impressive when you say “only non-state group with its own air force”. But from a military point of view, that doesn’t make much of a difference. Being the “only non-state group with its own air force” doesn’t turn your Zlin into a mig. TAF did have symbolic value. It did have a huge psychological boost to their supporters. But that is no substitute for real increases in your firepower as they found out quite quickly.
If anybody ‘regrouped and rearmed’ during the peace time, it was the Sri Lankan military.
“The army nearly doubled its artillery, from 97 in 2001 to 187 in 2002,”
“The army increased its APCs by approximately 70 percent, from 158 to 204.”
“The air force remained at 10,000 airmen until 2002 when it nearly doubled its size to 19,300 airmen,”
“In 2001, the SLN increased its manpower by 80 percent to 18,000 sailors. By 2003, the navy had approximately 20,600 sailors,”
Source: Sri Lanka’s Military: The Search For A Mission – Brian Blodgett ISBN-13: 978-1593301828
While the state was doing all these things what was the LTTE doing? Bought a bunch of Zlins and cessnas! Talk about the balance of power? No wonder they got thrashed when the war started again.
And what makes DJ think that “equipment smuggling” would have been impossible had it not been for Ranil’s peace? The LTTE got all their supplies by the sea during war and peace. If it was impossible for them to smuggle stuff during war time they wouldn’t have lasted this long. And Zlin -43 is only 7m by 10m (including wing span) when it is fully assembled.
But it is true that the doubling of the size of the navy and the air force during the peace time (during the ‘regrouping and re arming’ of the SLA during peace) did pay off when they war started again. Making smuggling much harder for the LTTE.
But let’s get back to the point. Did CFA really make LTTE stronger? How does a bunch of cheap two seater planes modified to drop improvised bombs that eventually killed about 20 people (and an unlucky buffalo) stack up against the loss of Karuna? Someone who was high up in the LTTE power structure(He was a body guard of Prabha in the early days) and had valuable inside information including the battlefield tactics used by the LTTE? How does it compare with the fact that the peace made it so hard to get new recruits that the LTTE had to resort to large scale forced conscription to try to keep up with the fast expansion of the SLA? How would a team of 14 year olds kidnapped and trained to fight by the LTTE fare against a team of SLA men? How about LTTE’s main source of income, donations from Tamils abroad, dropping to an all time low during the peace time? Because during that time people didn’t feel LTTE was protecting the Tamils. It didn’t look like Tamils even needed their protection. So people had other things to spend on. Of course it changed once the war drums started again.
DJ: “this ‘Human’ hasn’t read Wilhelm Reich’s The Mass Psychology of Fascism”
Hmmm… That’s interesting. Does DJ know Wilhelm Reich also built “orgone energy accumulators” and claimed to have discovered “primordial cosmic energy” which , according to Reich is “what other people call ‘God’”!!! And does DJ know this man also claimed he could ‘make rain’ and ‘cure cancer’?
I don’t think his book is a good choice to use to back your argument.
While his claims were influential at his time, his assumptions and opinions are anything but science. And DJ shouldn’t forget that 1930 was a long time ago and Social Psychology has moved on. Even Freud’s ideas on which “The Mass Psychology of Fascism” was based on, is now considered “desiccated and dead” by Psychology departments in American universities. But that’s a different debate so let us leave it there.
The argument DJ is making is simple. Violence is OK against some opponents. Simply because those opponents are BAD. Of course there are different ways of saying ‘bad’. You can say ‘mad’ or like DJ use the political ‘F’ word. Fascists. It is precisely the same argument that is used by both sides of almost all violent conflicts, from street gangs to nations. The LTTE is no exception. They kept using the word ‘Fascist’ to label the Sri Lankan state. Successive Fascist Sinhala leaders wanted to destroy the Tamils. Want proof? Just look at all the history of ethnic riots and the governments inaction during the riots. Look at the quick reversal of “Banda Chelva pact”. How can we believe any peace deal would last even few months? Or the next leader wouldn’t reverse everything. Look at the attacks by government sponsored thugs when Chelvanayagam and his supporters tried to do a peaceful protest against the violation of Tamil rights? Look at the denial of the right of the Jaffna people to vote! Look at the burning of the Jaffna Library. Look at treatment of leftist Sinhala leaders when they spoke out against racial inequality? Look at the refusal to share any power! The list goes on and on. Can we have any hope of a negotiated solution with those Sinhala Fascists? Peaceful protests don’t work when dealing with Fascists. You have to talk to them in their language – violence. This is a classic piece of LTTE propaganda that has been used to Justify all their cruelty. Of course it is a bunch carefully selected half truths used to justify their violence and mislead their people. While I am not sure if Prabha would quote Reich like DJ, to explain Fascism, the underlying logic is the same. Violence is OK when fighting bad guys. And everyone knows who the bad guy is. In every fight it is the ‘other guy’. To an LTTE supporter, Mahindha would be a Fascist. A dangerous charismatic terrorist with an unhealthy following who should be killed.
The next thing DJ is saying is even more interesting
“Justitia accuses the Sri Lankan State of state terrorism. I agree that it has been guilty of epiosdes of state Terorism, but mass scale state terrorism has not been a policy as it was for Prabhakaran and the Tigers. “
This is getting even better. Even Terrorism is not that bad as long as it comes in ‘Episodes’ and not ‘Mass scale’. And I am sure DJ has the privilege of defining exactly how big is ‘Mass scale’ and exactly how long an ‘Episode’ can run. During the second JVP period, Killer squads sponsored by the state went around murdering a large number of young Sinhalese men in rural areas. This was just a repeat of the brutal tactics used by the state during the first JVP uprising. Would they qualify as ‘Mass scale’ or would DJ call them ‘Episodes’ that were not part of the ‘policy’?
I am sure Prabhakaran would say he was just playing a few ‘Episodes’ against the ‘Mass Scale’ killings by the government.To justify his claim he can conveniently point to the fact that the majority of the civilians are Tamils killed by the forces. Of course he wouldn’t want to mentioned that in many cases he provoked the forces with the very aiming of causing civilian causalities to support his argument.
But my argument is if hundreds or thousands of people have decided to use violence and choose to risk their lives fighting an enemy then there must be a problem out there. And it is very unlikely that the problem is entirely inside their heads. And it is very unlikely that killing them all is the only solution or the best solution. Unlike Reich, I just don’t think it would have anything to do with how much sex they were having.
You don’t always need a Ghandi. The northern ireland conflict was resolved without requiring a Ghandi. Of course britain could have taken the view that they are all fascists and looked for a military ‘solution’ who knows? they could have even ‘won’ that war killing all the ‘terrorists’ by now. But that way more people would have died on both sides.
But old ideas die hard. The use of violence to settle disputes predates us as a species. Even animals understand it. It is so natural it is hard to look at other options. So we rationalize it. We have to kill him because he is just crazy. He cannot be cured. He is dangerous. What about the hundreds of people following him? Oh it is just because he is quite charismatic. So charismatic that people would blow themselves to bits just to make him happy. Or maybe there are all fascist. He just unlocked the hidden fascist tendencies built inside every human being. Of course that is possible because Wilhelm Reich said so. he must be right you know? Because he is the one who discovered God among other things! – A very convenient argument that Prabha wouldn’t mind using.
And then DJ has chosen to use the lack of any mention of atrocities in Ashok Mehta’s book as proof that nothing happened! Surely if there had been any ‘ atrocities’ the General would have written about it in full detail right? If Ashok Mehta has published all the detailes then why should Gota get nervous about Gen Fonseka revealing ‘War secrets’ even after the war was over? What about the Channel 4 videos and the recent interviews of SL army officers on Channel 4?
if DJ wants to see the ‘atrocities’ committed by both the government and the LTTE, I am afraid Mehta’s book would not be a good choice. I would recommend http://www.uthr.org/
Human,I appreciate your ‘Humanness’,but hardly so your tinted view! The conflict in the Northern Ireland was temporiliy doused with the peace pack,but it’s bound to disintegrate with the scale of the things happenning now.Simply the British couldn’t curb it militarily after trying to do so for so long,just like the previous Sri Lankan governments who tried to fight the war.
Did Israel-Palestinean peace deal materialize?
The separatism of the Tamil political parties started even before the Independence of Sri Lanka.How come Chelvanayagum asked for 50/50 in 1947 and formed the Federal Party?
The Tamils of Sri Lanka think that they are a “Superior Race”.
It’s not the Sinhalese who think like that!
They wanted the extra-special treatment which they received under the British to be continued!
The Sinhalese indentity got a shot in the arm in 1956
Yes,still we can’t accept the Tamil Homeland concept,because it doen’t say where the Sinhalese Homelands are!
All the terrorists are dead and gone now.Mahathma,…Buddha….Martin Luther preached non-violence.
Soon after the Buddha’s death the prince called Vidudabha sliced all the Saakyans to death in cold blood.Buddha prevented Vidudabha twice when he was alive.
After the death of king Asoka his cherished “Dharma Raajya” was invaded and strewn into pieces.
The Buddha or Gandhi IS no more.
So,don’t cry you pseudo humanists(just fuck off!) We humans are into our favourite occupation in our long journey to be “Human”
VIOLENCE!
OK, I never liked the LTTE or Prabakaran just like DJ. But I knew for a fact that at least 90% of Tamils would have preferred a separate state even with VP in charge. In conflict resolution it is not compulsory to love you enemy. One needs to just recognise that a sizable proportion of the population wants something different and that we need to find a compromise where both sides get some but perhaps not all their wishes.
The best way to look at it is from the point of fairness and equality. Before going for all out war we should have offered the Tamils a solution based on complete equality. i.e. a separate state of a size proportionate to their population. I dont believe VP would have agreed as he wanted one in which the Tamils got 4 times more land per capita, but had we made the offer we could have then gone to war with the conviction that a compromise based on fairness and equality was offered and was rejected. If the only circumstance that VP was prepared to settle on was complete humiliation and dispossesion of the Sinhalese, pushing them all into the lower 2/3 of the country then war would have been inevitable.
dingiri,what an educated fool are you? Luckily people like you never got a chance to have a say in the conflict!
To give a “small” Eealam?Very hilarious!Why don’t you give it in your own backyard?