Closure & Siege

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TAMIL NATIONAL FORUM

World is Flat

6 April 2007

"...as Sri Lanka spins out of his control - with the strategic interests of Buddhist fundamentalism at stake - Rajapakse's logic is to double down, escape forward, and to fight this out in a larger Northern theatre and also to attack anybody who questions his regime's human rights abuses.. The whole bullying tactics of the GOSL and its allies show their view of the world as one-dimensional, as limited as the flat world before Galileo. A world where bullying and brute force (only brute force for most Tamils) reigns supreme.This is a world where there is no past and no future, no lessons of history and no foreseeing things to come. Whatever exists now will exist forever. This is a world without moral constraints, where the opinions of mankind do not count. The world of a Stalin, who once asked contemptuously: "How many divisions has the Pope?""

Since coming to power the Rajapakse Administrations has been, in the name of 'war on terrorism', waging an unimaginably destructive and cruel war on the Tamils.

Vaharai

Trincomalee

Muthur

Killinochchi

Vallipunam

Padahuthurai

This has claimed more than four thousand lives already In the Tamil East, the regime has been driving thousands of people out of their homes. These innocents live as internally displaced persons in very poor living conditions and are `managed' by Sri Lankan armed forces and its allied paramilitaries.

Rajapakse regime is committing crimes on a far greater scale and is the greatest danger to Tamils ever since the infamous, internationally approved `War for Peace' of Madam Chandrika Kumaratunge.

Navali

Starvation

Tortured

Nagercoil

Exodus

Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga

"Yapa Patuna"

Tamil people are presented with just one option. That is to channel our energies and our determination to bring this war to a halt by being politically active in, our adopted countries.

We, from the Tamil Diaspora thus have been lobbying our elected politicians, human rights organisations and state institutions. We have been branded as LTTE members, supporters etc by the GOSL and its media allies because we refused to be cowed. We have been demonised and vilified by the Sri Lankan diplomats for years now. When we complained about this bullying, nobody listened.

Now, as Sri Lanka spins out of his control - with the strategic interests of Buddhist fundamentalism at stake - Rajapakse's logic is to double down, escape forward, and to fight this out in a larger Northern theatre and also to attack anybody who questions his regime's human rights abuses.

Now GOSL bullying has turned towards the non governmental organisations which, were its allies during the infamous 'War for Peace' years of the nineties.

This bullying started with the cold blooded killings of the seventeen Tamil and Muslim aid workers who belonged to the French charity Action Against Hunger (ACF) in August 2006.

This week GOSL is focussing on the actions of Amnesty International (AI), a world wide movement of people who campaigns for internationally recognized human rights.

Capitalising on the interest around the Cricket World Cup 2007, Amnesty last week launched a publicity campaign. It is using the slogan 'Play by the Rules' to urge Sri Lanka's warring parties to respect human rights and to consent to an international human rights body to monitor abuses.

The reaction from the GOSL and the Sinhalese political parties to this Amnesty campaign was predictable."One expects international human rights organizations to respect the spirit of cricket and not intrude the game with such slurs," Lucian Rajakarunanayake, director of the Sri Lankan President's Media Division, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

It is sad and unfortunate that respecting human rights does not seem to be the spirit of Sri Lankan democracy or its rulers. But then what really is important is not what GOSL says or why GOSL says it, but the worldview that animates GOSL.

The whole bullying tactics of the GOSL and its allies show their view of the world as one-dimensional, as limited as the flat world before Galileo. A world where bullying and brute force (only brute force for most Tamils) reigns supreme.This is a world where there is no past and no future, no lessons of history and no foreseeing things to come. Whatever exists now will exist forever. This is a world without moral constraints, where the opinions of mankind do not count. The world of a Stalin, who once asked contemptuously: "How many divisions has the pope?"

Rajapakse regime's world looks like this:

The only thing that counts is the interest of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Sinhalese people. The interest of the GOSL and the Sinhalese people is to take possession of all of the territory in the island of Sri Lanka. The Tamils are powerless. Hence, they are nothing more than an object to be kicked around as much as one pleases. Human rights organisations are a pathetic lot. To hell with them. The Sri Lankan armed forces and the US led support – that is the winning combination. There is no need for a peace process; indeed, there is no need for peace. The Tamils are a negligible factor. Let them vegetate for the time being in their refugee camps. In due course, they will disappear from the country.

This is, in free translation, the world of the GOSL led by President Rajapakse. On the face of it, it is a realistic picture. GOSL's actions are politically primitive, and perhaps because of this, one might believe, GOSL sees things as they really are.

Really? Is this in truth the real picture?

What Thomas Jefferson wrote in the American Declaration of Independence about "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind" was not just an empty phrase. It was a realistic appraisal: world public opinion influences in a thousand ways, the behaviour of nations and governments. It can have far-reaching effects. "

The pen is mightier than the sword," according to a British poet. And the Pope does indeed have divisions, even if they don't march on the parade ground.

The human craving for freedom is invincible, and so is the struggle of oppressed nations for liberation. To ignore this is not realism, it is blindness.

Even George W. Bush, himself no less politically primitive and brutal than Rajapakse, is learning that the "world management" is subject to severe limitations, as he sinks into the morass of Iraq. The belief that Sri Lanka can solve its 'Tamil Problem' solely by an alliance with the "world managers" is an illusion.

The world is a very complicated place; numberless forces are at work, nothing stays in one place. "Everything is in flux," as the ancient Greek philosopher said. One is tempted to paraphrase Hamlet: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Ark, then are dreamt of in your philosophy."

The worldview of Rajapakse's regime, which at first appears so realistic, is the very opposite of realism. It is a view that will lead Sri Lanka to disaster.