Sri Lanka, India & the Tamil Eelam Movement

TAMIL NATION LIBRARY: Eelam

*States, Nations, Sovereignty :
Sri Lanka, India, and the Tamil Eelam Movement - Sumantra Bose
Sage Publications, London, 1994
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[see also full text of chapters on Reconceptualising State, Nation and Sovereignty and Forging Nationhood Through Struggle, Suffering and Sacrifice]

from the conclusion:

"Demands for 'national self determination' are, in one sense, therefore also a struggle for a higher form of democracy. It must then be recognised that 'post-colonial liberation movements' far from being inherently 'undemocratic', 'subversive', 'terrorist' ad infinitum, are often the most effective medium for democratic assertion by social groups who have been deprived of equal citizenship rights, who have been subjected to state oppression. This is something that is true from Palestine to Kashmir, from Kurdistan to Tamil Ceylon...

The political and philosophical vision that is required today has been eloquently articulated, ironically enough, by radical Tamil nationalists ('chauvinists' and 'separatist terrorists', according to the official wisdom), in 1985:

"We know that in the end, national freedom can only be secured by a voluntary pooling of sovereignties, in a regional and ultimately in a world context. And we recognise that our future lies with the peoples of the Indian region, and that the path of a greater and larger union is the (eventual) direction of that future. It is a union that will reflect the compelling and inevitable need for a common market and a common defence and foreign policy, and which will be rooted in the common heritage that we share with our brothers and sisters not only of Tamil Nadu but also of India as a whole. It is a shared heritage that we freely acknowledge and it is shared heritage from which we derive strength - and we know, that we too, as a people, can contribute to that strength." (Nadesan Satyendra at Thimpu Talks, 1985)

In the specific Sri Lankan context, the challenge is to devise and implement innovative and imaginative associated structures whereby the Sinhalese and Tamil peoples can peacfully coexist, and freely associate and cooperate in certain vital spheres of common concern (and there are many) so that the welfare of both peoples may be safeguarded and enhanced. In my view the most efficacious solution would transform Sri Lanka into a voluntary confederation of two essentially sovereign peoples."