A visitor to the website commented: " It's very difficult to decide what exactly to
say to you. I do not, in any way, want whoever reads
this to interpret it as any kind of hate mail. This is
not hate mail.. I certainly agree that it was the
'Sinhalaya
Jayaveva' attitude that was/is the root cause of
this problem (if I may be so bold as to use such a
trivial word to describe what has and is obviously
still going on).
However, does the answer lie in total separation from
the Sri Lankan mainland? To make more sense of what may
seem like bullshit rambling, take into account the
Israel - Palestine conflict which, as I come to
understand, has been going on for as long as the two
countries have existed and shows no signs of stopping.
One side hits another and the other retaliates, and
knowing the average Sinhalese thug (as with any over
patriotic, uneducated lout of any race) it would be
safe to say that the only way he is going to react to
the sudden surrender of a third of 'his country' is
through violence. Unless you are willing to promise
that the average Tamil man or woman has an almost
inhuman power of foresight and restraint in his
reaction to the death of his or her family at the hand
of a Sinhalese mob (a situation which would drive any
human, including me, to violence), I cannot see the
logic in the solution the LTTE put forward.
Another danger we, as a nation may face is that, like
post First World War, Germany, a loss in the war would
leave Sri Lanka with a badly bruised national ego, and
an atmosphere highly conducive to the rise of an
extreme nationalist regime, like Hitler and the Nazi
party in Germany. A situation like this, as you may
well agree would be immensely dangerous to all
minorities, but especially to the Tamils.
Belonging to a minority myself, I have felt the effects
of the policies of the chauvinistic Sinhala
politicians, namely the Sinhala only act, forcing my
family to have to be educated both in international
schools and abroad. Although this doesn't give me even
the slightest idea of the kind of persecution the
Tamils faced at the hands of the Sinhalese, it has
given me a sense of cultural and racial alienation as
well as a lack of a national identity. In other words I
have been made to feel that I'm not Sri Lankan coz I'm
not Sinhalese.
Perhaps I am being the naive teenager that everyone
expects me to be when I say in more words than is
necessary, why can't we all just get along. In my
defence however, the Nation of Islam wanted a separate
living space for the black people in the United States
itself. That was at a time when racial conflict was at
its highest in America the 1960's, today however the
situation is much improved, although it is not perfect,
the call for a separate home land has subsided,
something viewed by most to be a good thing. As a
person who views religion and race as the worst enemies
of peace, the only answer I can see is the separation
of religion from politics and government and the
implementation of a neutral common language (English).
I am really looking forward to hearing what you have to
say. .. as I plan to incorporate your feedback in an
upcoming seminar I am conducting at the Stratford upon
Avon College.
Response: Why can't we all just get along? Of
course, we can - and we should.
But 'getting along' does not mean the subservience
of one people to the rule of another alien
people. 'Getting along' means that each people
recognise the
existence of the other as a people. 'Getting
along' means agreeing the terms on which two
independent peoples may
associate with one another in equality and in
freedom.
It is true that the German defeat in the first World
War coupled with the harsh terms of the Treaty of
Versailles led to the rise of Hitler. But it is also
true that German defeat in the Second World War, did
not have the same consequences, but led to the creation
of the European Economic Community and later the
European Union, where a political framework was created
for the free association of independent nations. The
lessons of the First World War and the Treaty of
Versailles had been learnt by both the defeated and by
the victors. It is said that the wise learn from the
experience of others and that the foolish do not learn
even by their own experience.
The question which
faces the peoples of the Indian region, including
those in the island of Sri Lanka, is whether they too
have to go through the pain and suffering of
cataclysmic conflict before learning the lessons that
Europe learnt albeit after two world wars.
Again, it is true that the Nation of Islam wanted a
separate living space for the black people in the
United States. But, several factors may have, together,
contributed to the failure of that effort. One factor
was that the black people in the United States are
dispersed and do not live in a contiguous territory.
They live interspersed with the whites, in the same way
as the plantations Tamils live in the central parts of
the island of Sri Lanka.
Again, though the Nation of Islam sought to build a
togetherness around the Islamic religion, the majority
of blacks in the United States continued to retain
their Christian faith. Nations cannot be created to
order. They grow through a process of opposition and
differentiation. It is nature and nurture - it is not
either or but both.
The common language that the blacks in the USA share
with the non blacks has also helped to bridge to some
extent the divisions amongst the different ethnic
groups. But in the case of the peoples of the Indian
region, with their separate (and rich) literary
traditions, it will be futile to believe that a
togetherness can be built by English speaking Indians
(constituting less than 10% of the total population)
speaking to each other in English. The togetherness of
the one world of the
future, with Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, and
Tamil (to mention a few of the world languages) will be
built by recognising the rich contribution that each
language makes to that togetherness - it will not come
by recourse to an English strait jacket.
In the case of the US, conflict has also been
reduced (some may say, postponed) by the continuing
growth of its GNP - a larger cake reduces acrimony
concerning questions of how the cake should be shared.
If the GNP becomes static, or if there is a serious
depression, ethnic conflicts have a way of coming to
the forefront.
The Indian region, with a 'third world economy', may
not have a large enough cake to share without the
emergence of destabilising violence. There may be a
need to secure an equitable political framework in
order that the peoples of the region may then be
energised to secure economic growth.
We cannot go forward by denying our separateness.
But we can go forward by recognising our separateness
and by associating in equality and in freedom. We
take the view that the political framework of the
emerging Indian Union will need to promote the free
association of the separate peoples of the Indian
region - and here, the European Union serves as a
pointer to that which we may need to achieve.
