E. T. Agnosticus, 30 April 2001
Agnostics are well aware of the harm and injustices that
religious ideologies can cause to a large number of people. Let us consider
religious hypocrisy among Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka. To impartial
observers of the long drawn-out Sinhala-Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka, the
astounding hypocrisy of so-called religious people becomes all too obvious.
Sinhalese mobs and armed forces,
claiming to be
Buddhists, have systematically attacked and
destroyed
many Hindu temples and
Christian Churches of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. In recent years, as the
fighting intensified, the
LTTE, known as the Tigers
� a
national liberation movement of the Tamils � has occasionally targeted
Buddhist places of worship in its campaign for Tamil rights.
Nevertheless, in their ideology, the Tamil side has not brought religion as a
major factor motivating their struggle; nor have they in any major way
displayed any linkage between Tamil nationalism and a religious ideology. On
the other hand, the Sinhala Buddhist ideology has been a central element of
the Sinhalese ethos.
Blind faith in mythological stories as facts � from their
delusions about Aryan heritage to their belief that they are the chosen
guardians of Buddhism has driven much of this ideology, and created a
society that is fundamentally and astoundingly hypocritical in its faith in
Buddhism vis-�-vis its ready willingness to embrace their bestial mobs and
armed forces as saviors of their nation and unleash them on innocent Tamils.
A society that claims to be fundamentally conservative, sees no fault in,
and is protective of, the
bestial soldiers who
gang rape and murder Tamil women, even pregnant ladies and school children.
I have seen many well-educated Sinhalese justifying the
horrendous atrocities of July 1983, in which thousands of Tamils
perished and many Tamil men and women were doused with petrol and set afire
in the name of their right to preserve the brand of identity as
Sinhala-Buddhists. They are willfully blind to the atrocities committed by
their forces in full view of the world. Buddhist monks and their leaders
have been aligned with the Sinhalese hardliners, and have scuttled every
major peace initiative since Sri Lanka�s independence from the British. I do
not indulge in generalizations, but it is well worth to remember the
assassination of the late Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike by a hard-line
Buddhist monk.
Of course, similar hypocrisy exists in all societies and Tamils are not immune
from such irrationality. I believe that Tamil societies have to tackle among
themselves a great deal of moral hypocrisy of their own. The contradictions
in their religious faiths and professed allegiance to non-violent ideals
versus their support to an armed resistance, have
given way to a lot
of agonizing on the morality of war. There is also the need to eliminate
gang violence in some expatriate Tamil communities, unrelated to the
political struggles back home.
Such hypocrisy arises mainly because these people cannot reconcile the basic
tenets of their religions with life in general, and under brutally
oppressive war conditions in particular. Fighting any war always gives rise
to moral agonizing: though most people who encourage and support war do not
themselves fight the battles or sacrifice their lives, they are there to
gloat over their side�s military successes and enjoy the spoils of war; such
results have been accomplished at the expense of great many lives, who have
no way of enjoying such success.
Agnostics are not excessively concerned with such issues;
however, since agnostic morality accepts pain as an inevitable fact of life,
and holds that violence in the search for justice and self-defense is
unavoidable, even necessary. As agnostics, we believe that any eventual
long-term solution lies in societies becoming fully open, rational,
prosperous and eventually free of armed conflicts. But in the short-term, it
is just and moral to employ violence in seeking justice when the injustices
of an irrational, extremist, and tyrannical majority leaves the minority no
choice.
It is thus perfectly moral to argue that the violence the Tamils have condoned
in recent years during the campaign of the Tigers for freedom, has been an
inevitable reaction to the
atrocities and
injustices committed originally against them by the Sinhalese Governments,
mobs and armed forces, which have caused untold suffering to Tamil
communities.
Tamils need to educate a callous international community that ignores State
terrorism and advises them to live in peace with an oppressive majority and
ensure �territorial integrity� even when that majority has no sense of
�integrity�. The incontrovertible truth is that the Tamils have become so
alienated from the Sinhalese, and the mistrust so deep, that some form of
separation is inevitable in the short-term. The only thing that can be
argued is the political structure of that separation.
Having convinced themselves of the
legitimacy and morality of the armed struggle, Tamils should rally
behind the Tigers, whom all main Tamil parties have collectively chosen to
represent the Tamil cause in any peace talks. Now is the time to strengthen
the freedom fighters.
Expatriate Tamils should tirelessly take whatever legitimate action necessary
to make their case. Such as exposing and challenging the propagandists of
hardline Sinhalese such as Mr. Walter Jayawardhana of Colombo Page in Los
Angeles,USA, Mr. Dushy Ranatunga of the Island in the UK and similar
characters in Canada and Australia. This Mr. Jayawardhana, who has formed a
two-bit organization, often takes articles from Tamil related websites and
internet bulletins, such as the
Tamil Guardian
and Tamil Circle, adds his own blinkered and Goebbelsian commentary, and
then posts them prominently in Colombo Page/Lanka Page website. Tamils
should also attack through all legal means the SL Government�s deceitful
collaborators in
the Indian and Western Press, such as
Mr. N. Ram and V. Suryanarayan of Frontline in Madras and Mr. Stewart
Bell and Senior Editors of the
National Post in
Toronto, Canada. The antics and dishonesty of these people are too well
known and I won�t dwell on them here.
The wealthier Tamils should financially support the struggle and the
rehabilitation of displaced Tamil communities within Sri Lanka, especially
in the Wanni. They should also use the legitimate methods of well-known
financial managers like George Soros to take concerted action in the
international currency markets to cause the destruction of the floating Sri
Lankan Rupee. Rise up Tamils! I challenge you to bring the SL Rupee to 1/120
of the US Dollar. Storm the Ramparts of Tyranny!
