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Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
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Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

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Home > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > International Frame & the Tamil Eelam Struggle for Freedom > Kosovo countdown: Lessons for Sri Lanka

INTERNATIONAL FRAME & THE TAMIL STRUGGLE

Kosovo Countdown: Lessons for Sri Lanka

Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka,
Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka
to the United Nations Office at Geneva
 
Global Research, 17 February 2008

[see Comment by tamilnation.org ]


Kosovo is set to declare its independence from Serbia this Sunday. In his four hour long valedictory media conference, outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced the move as "illegal and immoral". Serbia and Russia have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Russia, China, India and South Africa are among the countries which have opposed Kosovo's declaration of independence. The open secession of Kosovo and its imminent recognition by powerful Western states takes place notwithstanding UN Resolution 1244 of 1999 which recognises Kosovo as part of Serbia. As the Russian Federation's charismatic Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (who stunned me by a burst of fluent Sinhala upon introduction) warned in his Gunnar Myrdal Lecture in Geneva a few days back, the recognition of Kosovo's independence runs contrary to the very basis of international law and is fraught with consequences for Europe and other parts of the world.

�The Kosovo crisis sheds light on a dynamic in world politics which is of central importance to Sri Lanka. This is the matter of state sovereignty. As a country which is grappling with a challenge to its territorial integrity and unity, all tendencies towards the break-up of established states are against the basic interests of Sri Lanka.�

The Russian position has consistently been that any solution should be agreed upon in negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo. This was abandoned as impossible by Marti Ahtissari, who recommended de facto independence for Kosovo. Incidentally he was brought to Sri Lanka as a possible negotiator or facilitator by the Ethnic Affairs Advisor of President Kumaratunga, but luckily for Sri Lanka was objected to by Lakshman Kadirgamar and, it must be admitted, the JVP.

There were options other than secession for Kosovo. One was for the fullest autonomy within Serbia. The other was the carving out of the Serbian majority portion of Kosovo and its annexation with Serbia. However, all options were aborted by the obduracy of the Kosovo leadership, which insists on independence. It must be noted that the current leader of Kosovo is a former leader of the separatist army which practised terrorism, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The majority of people of Kosovo had become accustomed to the idea of independence during the several years of administration by a UN High Commissioner (later nominated as an IIGEP member for Sri Lanka by the EU).

The hardening of the position of Kosovo was also due to open pledges of recognition of independence by several key Western powers.

Of course the breakaway of Kosovo merely completes the unravelling of the former Yugoslavia. There were many reasons for this: the abandonment by majority Serbian ultra-nationalists, in the new context of electoral competition, of the enlightened compact forged by the unorthodox Communist Joseph Broz Tito, a founder leader of the Non-Aligned Movement (and friend of Sri Lanka); the exacerbation of ethnic tensions by the adoption of an IMF package; the rollback by Serb nationalism of Kosovo's autonomous status as a province; recognition by certain Western European states of the breakaway Yugoslav republics setting off a centrifugal chain reaction; the excessive brutality against civilians of the Serbian army and Serb militia in the breakaway republics; the partiality of the Western media which focussed only on Serb excesses but not those committed by anti-Serb forces.

In the final instance however, the secession of Kosovo is traceable to a single mistake: the decision by President Milosevic to follow the advice of President Yeltsin (who had already been lobbied by the US), and withdraw the Yugoslav army from Kosovo, notwithstanding the fact that in its heavily camouflaged and dug-in positions, it had withstood US/NATO bombing and was well positioned to inflict, with its tradition and training in partisan warfare, unacceptable casualties on any invading ground forces.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro reveals that at this crucial moment he had written to Milosevic and urged him, in the final words of his missive, to "Resist! Resist! Resist!", but the Belgrade leadership failed to do so. In short, the impending independence of Kosovo is the result of the failure of political will on the part of the ex-Yugoslav leadership. Instead of resisting, the Yugoslav army withdrew and was replaced by an international presence on the ground in Kosovo. After a period of tutelage, Kosovo was encouraged with a nod and a wink, to secede completely.

These then are the lessons for Sri Lanka: never withdraw the armed forces from any part of our territory in which they are challenged, and never permit a foreign presence on our soil. After 450 years of colonial presence, and especially after the experience of the Kandyan Convention, we Sri Lankan should have these lessons engraved in our historical memory and our collective identity. The Western imperialists who failed to capture our island militarily were able to take control of it only because we double crossed our leader, trusted the West, signed an agreement and allowed the foreign presence into our heartland.

The Western war against Yugoslavia was waged not by the Bush administration but by a liberal one. It was waged under the doctrine of liberal internationalism, and humanitarian interventionism. These doctrines were updated to "preventive humanitarian interventionism" in the case of the invasion of Iraq. Today, the buzzword is the "Responsibility to Protect", and I refer not to the UN World Leaders summit of 2005 which requires the endorsement of the Security Council, but the original 1998 version of the Canadian government sponsored International Commission on State Sovereignty, which had a far more elastic interpretation! The co-chairman of that Commission was former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans (whom Lakshman Kadirgamar was determined, should not play a role in Lanka's peace process despite his offers to do so in 1995).

We may find a newer version arising with UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband's Aung San Suu Kyi lecture delivered at Oxford University a few days back. In it, he says that notwithstanding some mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan, the West must not forget, and must take up once again, its moral imperative to expand democracy throughout the world (including, interestingly enough in "established democracies").

He identifies and rejects three objections to that project: the "Asian values" school which in its 1993 variant of a statement by 34 countries, recognises democracy but resist the imposition of western values as neo-colonial; the Realpolitik school which stresses "interests" rather than values and morality; and even the pragmatic school which points out that democracy is the product of internal historical processes. Foreign Secretary Miliband makes several pointedly critical references to China, (which he will be visiting shortly) in his speech on the need of the West to extend democracy worldwide.

The patterns of world politics appear kaleidoscopic, with coalitions forming over one issue, only to break up over another. At first glance this would make long term alliances or affiliations almost impossible. However, certain issues are revelatory of underlying dynamics which are of a defining character. Kosovo is certainly one such issue.

The Kosovo crisis sheds light on a dynamic in world politics which is of central importance to Sri Lanka. This is the matter of state sovereignty. As a country which is grappling with a challenge to its territorial integrity and unity, all tendencies towards the break-up of established states are against the basic interests of Sri Lanka.

The issue of Kosovo not only illustrates the phenomenon of secessionism. It reveals a more fundamental contradiction within world politics, namely that between state sovereignty on the one hand and those tendencies which act to undermine states. Such tendencies are twofold: secessionism from within and hegemonism from without. The tendency towards hegemonism manifests itself most starkly in the phenomenon of interventionism.

Kosovo and earlier Chechnya disprove the identification that some make between Western interventionism and particular religions. While it is true that on a global scale, the West perceives itself as besieged by and struggling against what it calls Islamist terrorism or Islamic radicalism/extremism (some hard-line ideologues even talk of Islamo-fascism) attention must be drawn to the fact that Serbs are Christian, while Kosovo Albanians are Islamic. The Chechen separatists, some of whom were headquartered in the West, were also Islamic, while Russia is mainly Christian. Western interventionism is not tied to any particular ethnic or religious group. The name of the game seems the old one of divide and rule, and whichever group or struggle weakens the target state appears to be the one that is afforded patronage.

All tendencies in world politics which weaken, fragment and destabilise states, undermining their sovereignty and making them vulnerable to hegemony and intervention, are inimical to Sri Lanka. All tendencies which strengthen and defend state sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, are friendly and helpful towards Sri Lanka. By extension, all state and non-state actors which work towards the weakening of state sovereignty in the non metropolitan areas of the world, i.e. the global South and East, cannot be regarded as the strategic friends, allies and partners of Sri Lanka. All state and non�state actors which support, defend and work towards the preservation and strengthening of the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of states, are objectively the friends, allies and partners of Sri Lanka.


Comment by tamilnation.org

Mr.Dayan Jayatilleka is right. Yes, there are lessons for Sri Lanka to learn from Kosovo. Mr.Jayatilleke is right to recognise that 'the patterns of world politics appear kaleidoscopic, with coalitions forming over one issue, only to break up over another'. The 'kaleidoscope' is a reflection of the asymmetric multilateral world in which we live - a world in transition from the unipolar to the multilateral.

But it seems that despite recognition of the kaleidoscopic nature of the world in which we live, Sri Lanka and Mr.Dayan Jayatilleka will continue to search hopefully (within the kaleidoscope) for 'strategic friends, allies and partners'.

Ofcourse, Mr.Jayatilleke will not be unaware of  the remarks made by a 19th century British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston - remarks which have stood the test of time -

"We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."

Mr.Jayatilleke's  understanding of the 'underlying dynamics' of world politics, should warn him that Sinhala Sri Lanka's  search for benign friends may prove futile - and costly. After all, a kaleidoscope is a tube of mirrors and as the tube is rotated, the tumbling of the coloured objects presents the viewer with an arbitrary and changing pattern of objects.  

Again, no one can foresee clearly the effects of even very simple facts as they pertain to the future.

"...Foreign Ministers and diplomats presumably understand the permanent interests of their country.. But no one can foresee clearly the effects of even very simple facts as they pertain to the future. The Rajah of Cochin who in his resentment against the Zamorin permitted the Portuguese to establish a trading station in his territories could not foresee that thereby he had introduced into India something which was to alter the course of history. Nor could the German authorities, who, in their anxiety to create confusion and chaos in Russia, permitted a sealed train to take Lenin and his associates across German territory, have foreseen what forces they were unleashing. To them the necessity of the moment was an utter breakdown of Russian resistance and to send Lenin there seemed a superior act of wisdom... .." Sardar K.M.Pannikar, Indian Ambassador to China from 1948 to 1952, and later Vice Chancellor, Mysore University in Principles and Practice of Diplomacy, 1956

Mr.Jayatilleke is right to point out that -

"...Western interventionism is not tied to any particular ethnic or religious group. The name of the game seems the old one of divide and rule, and whichever group or struggle weakens the target state appears to be the one that is afforded patronage..."

Whether Mr.Jayatilleke's analysis  applies only to Western interventions may be questionable. We do live in an emerging multi lateral world - with many states jockeying for power and influence in the Indian Ocean region and elsewhere. Be that as it may, it has to be said that it is because the two people in the island of Sri Lanka are divided, that the 'old game' can still be played - whether by the West or by anybody else. It is because a Sinhala Buddhist nation seeks to masquerade as a 'multi ethnic'  'Sri Lankan civic nation', albeit, with a Sinhala Lion Flag, with as yet unrepealed Sinhala Only Act, with Buddhism as the State religion  and with an occupying Sinhala army in the Tamil homeland, that the 'old game' can still be played.

The true lesson that Sri Lanka may usefully learn from Kosovo's 'independence' is that there is a compelling need for Sri Lanka to join with Tamil Eelam in structuring a polity where two independent states may associate with one another in equality and in freedom - and where the security of each may be secured. Sovereignty, after all, is not virginity. If Germany and France were able to put in place  'associate' structures such as the European Union, despite the suspicions and confrontations of two world wars, it should not be beyond the capacity of Tamil Eelam and  Sri Lanka to work out structures, within which each independent state may remain free and prosper, but at the same time pool sovereignty in certain agreed areas. 

Self determination and democracy go hand in hand. If democracy means the rule of the people, by the people, for the people, then the principle of self determination secures that no one people may rule another - and herein lies its enduring appeal. And we may need to attend more carefully to the words of of Yelena Bonner (widow of Andrei Sakharov) that  'the inviolability of a country's borders against invasion from the outside must be clearly separated from the right to statehood of any people within a state's borders.'

Said all that, Kosovo's 'supervised independence' (with an European Union/NATO military force in occupation) has lessons not only for Sri Lanka but for the people of Tamil Eelam as well. The words of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose come to mind -

Subhas Chandra Bose "No real change in history has ever been achieved by discussions alone... Freedom is not given, it is taken.. One individual may die for an idea; but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives. That is how the wheel of evolution moves on...The freedom that we shall win through our sacrifice and exertions, we shall be able to preserve with our own strength.."

Freedom is never given. It is taken. And it is freedom that we win through our sacrifice and exertions, that we shall be able to preserve with our own strength. In this context, it is altogether appropriate that Mr.Jayatilleke  should quote Fidel Castro. It was Fidel Castro Ruz who declared more than fifty years ago in History will Absolve Me on 16 October 1953 -

"We were taught ... that liberty is not begged for but won with the blade of a machete.... When there are many men without honor, there are always others who bear in themselves the honor of many men. These are the men who rebel with great force against those who steal the people's freedom, that is to say, against those who steal honor itself. In those men thousands more are contained, an entire people is contained, human dignity is contained ...'To live in chains is to live in disgrace and in opprobrium,' and 'to die for one's homeland is to live forever!' All this we learned and will never forget... "

The people of Tamil Eelam too will never forget that when there are many men without honor, there are always those who bear in themselves the honor of many men and that 'in those men thousands more are contained, an entire people is contained, human dignity is contained.'

The people of Tamil Eelam will learn from Kosovo's 'supervised independence' (with an European Union/NATO military force in occupation) that the machinations within the asymmetric multilateral world continue - and have not diminished. They will learn that Velupillai Pirabakaran was right when he declared in 1993 - 'The world is not rotating on the axis of justice. It is economic and trade interests that determine the order of the present world, not the moral law of justice nor the rights of people. International relations and diplomacy between countries are determined by such interests.' They will learn that the denial by international actors of their conflicting strategic interests in Sri Lanka and in the Indian ocean region has drawn a veil over the real issues that any meaningful conflict resolution process in the island will need to address.

But the people of Tamil Eelam also know that a struggle for freedom is a nuclear energy and that the Fourth World is a part of today's enduring political reality.

"Increasingly, the Fourth World is emerging as a new force in international politics because in the common defense of their nations, many indigenous peoples do not accept being mere subjects of international law and state sovereignty and trusteeship bureaucracies. Instead, they are organizing and exerting their own participation and policies as sovereign peoples and nations." - Bernard Q. Nietschmann

And the people of Tamil Eelam know that the 'asymmetric multilateral world' of states in their search for stability will find an increasing need to adopt a more principle centred approach towards struggles for self determination not only in the Indian region but also elsewhere in the globe.

 "...Let us accept the fact that states have lifecycles similar to those of human beings who created them... hardly any Member State of the United Nations has existed within its present borders for longer than five generations. The attempt to freeze human evolution has in the past been a futile undertaking... Restrictions on self-determination threaten not only democracy itself but the state which seeks its legitimation in democracy..." Self Determination & the Future of Democracy  - Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, 2001

[see also Kosovo's  'Supervised Independence'  "This declaration reflects the will of our people and it is in full accordance with the recommendations of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari and his Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement...We invite and welcome an international civilian presence to supervise our implementation of the Ahtisaari Plan, and a European Union-led rule of law mission... We also invite and welcome the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to retain the leadership role of the international military presence in Kosovo... We shall cooperate fully with these presences to ensure Kosovo's future peace, prosperity and stability..."

EU Launches Police, Justice Mission for Kosovo  "One day before Kosovo said it will declare independence from Serbia, the European Union on Saturday, Feb. 16, approved sending a 2,000-strong police and justice mission to the province...Once Kosovar leaders declare independence, the EU will take over responsibility for supervising police, judicial and civil administration from the current UN mission after a 120-day transition period.Kosovo Serb leader Milan Ivanovic on Saturday called the EU's police and justice mission a form of "occupation."

Comment by tamilnation.org five months ago in U.S. and EU ready to recognize Kosovo Independence if Serbia does not agree on role of the province, Judy Dempsey, International HeraldTribune, 24 September 2007 "..Kosovo as a client US state may not be without its attractions for US policy makers provided broad based European support is secured - and here the role of the members of the European Union may become pivotal. It seems that Velupillai Pirabakaran was right when he declared in 1993 'The world is not rotating on the axis of justice. It is economic and trade interests that determine the order of the present world, not the moral law of justice nor the rights of people. International relations and diplomacy between countries are determined by such interests.'"  

Nato, Kosovo & Tamil Eelam - Nadesan Satyendra, 24 April 1999 "Milosovich fears that greater autonomy will lead to secession. NATO fears that repression will lead to an increase in extra regional Muslim influence and in that way to secession. Milosovich believes that he can put down Kosovar resistance if  NATO stays out. But NATO fears that even if Milosovich succeeds, this will strengthen the Yugoslav-Russia-Belraus link with far reaching implications for the future of the European Union."

Understanding Kosovo - Nadesan Satyendra, 31 October 1998 "...Russia remains one of the few friends of Serbia... A leader of the Russian Liberal Party, proclaimed on a recent visit to Serbia, the brotherhood of the Slavs, and declared, in a rhetorical flourish,  that he would rest content only when the Slav people ruled a contiguous land stretching from Russia, through Bulgaria to Serbia.  One message that is being conveyed by the �international community� may be that the Balkans is not an area within the Russian circle of influence and that it is time that the Serbs recognised this reality. That is not to say that there may not be other messages as well. The spill over effect on Albanians in adjoining Macedonia and Albania, the destabilising influx of refugees to other parts of the European Union, and the support that may be given to Muslim Kosovo by the Muslim world,  may be other matters of concern. There is also the importance that Germany attaches to its relations with  Croatia on the western border of Serbia. Indeed, it was German recognition of Croatia which hastened the collapse of the earlier Yugoslavia..."]

 

 

 

 

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