Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
-
Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

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Selected Writings -  Fr. Chandiravarman Sinnathurai

Satya-Lobby: Prophetic Praxis and Imagination (2)

[see also Satya-Lobby: Prophetic Praxis and Imagination (1) and
Satya-Lobby ��Take up the white man�s burden�]

3 July 2006


It was good of both Sri Skandarajah and Veeracingham to take the time to comment on Satya-Lobby. The express purpose of the work of such lobby is essential, especially at a pivotal time such as now when the Eelam Tamils are tortured and terrorized by the State. I�ve just finished being a delegate to an international conference in Scotland for a week. At the conference a report was tabled on being Peacemakers in the context of global terror. I took the podium to propose a counter-point as a Ceylon Tamil, the state of terror and state terror in Sri Lanka.

During conversation a Labor MP said that he had played a pivotal role in banning the Tigers in Britain. I asked why. The reply came because the Tigers were collecting funds forcibly in London and according to British intelligence that there are more than one group and hence there were �Gun fights and disorder�. Has the banning stopped such activities? The answer �Yes�. How do you know that these are not just Tamil gangs? The answer: We have records to prove.

Comment by tamilnation.org It may well be that the Labour MP believed that which he said. But one would imagine that strategic decisions such as the banning of the LTTE are taken at the highest level in the United Kingdom and not simply as a result of  the 'pivotal' role played by an individual MP. The UK Government did not ban Sien Fein perhaps because it was concerned to negotiate a settlement of the conflict in Northern Ireland. For the same reason the US did not list the IRA as a terrorist organisation.

Again if the reason for the ban on the LTTE was that  'the Tigers were collecting funds forcibly in London' the question may be reasonably asked: why was it that action was not taken under the ordinary criminal law of the land to prosecute the offenders.  Why was not the criminal law enforced in respect of 'gun fights and disorder' - particularly since they had 'records to prove'.

The reality ofcourse was that the ban was directed to prevent not  forced contributions but voluntary contributions to the LTTE.  And the political imperative for the ban was to 'manage' the LTTE and in this way  advance the strategic political interests of the UK government in relation to the conflict in the island.  We need to recognise that the 'international community' (consisting of the trilaterals - US, European Union and Japan but not India or China) are not disinterested good Samaritans helping to secure justice and peace in the island of Sri Lanka. They are concerned to advance their own strategic interests -  and in particular the 'containment' strategy that the US has adopted in relation to China, and less directly in relation to India. This explains what may otherwise appear to many as an irrational action - the  continued ban of  the LTTE in the UK on the ground of  'terrorism'  in Sri Lanka, whilst Sri Lanka itself has removed the ban on the  LTTE. All 'irrational' actions become rational once the frame of reference is clearly understood.

I went on to elaborate to the conference about the slow genocide and the aerial bombings on civilians. Thanks to the Israeli Kfir bombers. There was dead silence. Since the Geneva talks, the �Diplomatic victory� resulted in the murder in the Tamil country of over 400 civilians who mostly include women and children and the youngest victim being a 3 year old!

The blood-letting is continuing. We have to of course, deplore all killings. However, the Faith communities in Sri Lanka- Tamil Eelam ought to resist the temptation of offering pious clich�s and strive to be a prophetic voice � offering instead the Kairos word - in condemning all forms of terror; state terror in particular. I wish to dedicate the following poem, if I may, to all who would be willing and able to be part of the movement of Satya-Lobby who would stand for nothing but the truth as a truth-witness. The lie will be exposed and be vanquished.  I shall now return to Katunayake�

Sacred Geometry

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown of thorns
Yet the dance of life continues�
In the midst of tortured faces and bleeding hearts
Bursting forth a song of liberty
Sung from the lungs gasping for breath
Voices that have become hoarse�
By the strangling neck-chains of slavery
That curtails song and dance.

There hangs a Man who was lynched by the mob
For the sin of being misunderstood as a trouble-maker!
He is still un-understood�
His voice is squashed by the weight of bureaucracy.
�Don�t let Him come off the Cross
Let us make Him a Symbol.
A martyr; a philanthropist, a poet-carpenter
A Fisherman�s friend: hook, line and sinker.
That�s fine! As long as He remains nailed to the mast�

There is no �next time� this time
While we lock Him up and bleed Him
The Coroner�s Verdict read: �died of natural causes of battle�
Keep Him fastened to the torture chair
Electrodes and Electric blues
Make Him to refuse food and drink
Make it appear that it�s all a suicide
Gather a crowd and mock Him to death.
�Revolutionary! Rebel! Terrorist!!!�
Crucify Him.

Make Him a figure of hate.
Worse still � A figure Head
Yet the dance of life continues�

Dancers take their twists and turns
They whirl in an asymmetry of the world
There in the cemetery
Where the ashes are sprinkled on Rose bushes
While sons grieve for their mothers; and children long for their parents�
Sisters weep for the brothers they never had
Dreamers dream for the forgotten songs to return to memory.

A wise old-owl watching perched on a Sycamore tree.
Silently looks and offers no word of sympathy
In the dark night when the moon appeared, the Owl whispered to the balding Eagle:
�SatYen ought to bear the two-edg�d-sword
And the truth shall make you free.�

The Dove unfastens her fetters and flies off
Joining the cosmic dance of the eternal Natarasan
She cries: Freedom; free at last!
Libert�! Egalit�!! Fraternit�!!!

A Quotable quote from SatYendra�s writing:

�Krishnaji looked at me and said: "Sir, if you were asked to address the United Nations, what would you say?". I was taken aback at the directness and suddenness of the query. I hesitated. I did not want to make a fool of myself - and appear presumptuous in his presence. I decided to take what appeared to me the cautious option. I replied: "Krishnaji, I do not think that I would have anything to say".

�Krishnamurthy's response was quick: "Does that mean that you have nothing to say?" And as I was trying to recover from the force of the body blow, Krishnamurthy delivered the knockout. He said: "Does that mean that you do not care?�
 

 

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