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Liberation struggle or
terrorism?
The politics of naming the LTTE
Suthaharan Nadarajah, Dhananjayan
Sriskandarajah
Third World Quarterly, Volume 26, Issue
1 February 2005
Abstract
This article examines the politics of
naming in one of the longest-running and most
intractable conflicts in the world: that between the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (ltte) and the Sri
Lankan state. While the narratives presented by the
ltte and the state in support of their respective
positions are complex and range across a number of
issues, this paper is primarily concerned with the
politics of the 'terrorist' label as applied to the
ltte. In particular, it examines how the
characterisation of the conflict as a form of terrorism
has affected its evolutionary course. While the Sri
Lankan state has deployed the language of terrorism to
further its strategic aims in both the domestic and
international spheres, the label has not necessarily
impeded the growth of the ltte's military capability
but has, by denying the ltte international legitimacy,
undermined the organisation's stated political project
- Tamil self-determination. The article also outlines
the contradictions between prevailing international
attitudes to terrorism and the conduct of key
international actors with regard to the protagonists in
Sri Lanka and demonstrates how the sustained rhetoric
of terrorism has become a serious impediment to
reaching a permanent resolution of the conflict.
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