Uh, oil painting via aquaview
Lately I’ve been seeing appeals to Oprah to save Tamil Eelam. This fellow in London pledged to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness. There are countless appeals to foreign parliaments and international bodies. I think awareness is important, but I honestly don’t get who they’re appealing to. Is some UN backed coalition of Oprah and Tanzanian fruit bats going to fly in and carve a democratic island apart?
I say this not to belittle these earnest young people and protestors. I think they’re dead wrong and that waving the LTTE flag and Prabhakaran’s picture is morally repugnant. But, I mean, I think we can work things out. No matter what happens with Eelam, when these people visit they still hang out in Colombo. Over 50% of Tamils live out of the mythical Eelam. So, I mean, I think we have to work it out. But that has to start with respect.
Sri Lanka exists. Most Tamils here seem to recognize that. People abroad, however, talk about Tamil Eelam (which doesn’t exist) and appeal to foreign celebrities and governments. Well, OK. But why not appeal to Sri Lanka, and Sri Lankan people. Cause that might, you know, make an actual difference.
Unless of course the point is to appear on Oprah or climb a mountain. I’m sure this is fun and life-changing for the kids there but does fuck-all for any human being walking this island.
If you want actual change then it’s not easy and it’s not prime time. If you’re brave enough to climb Kilimanjaro then you can surely get to Katunayake airport. There are so many poor people of all races who could use your time and money in this country. There are a few good politicians drowning in a crapflood of drug, extortion and gambling money. There are so many journalists putting lives on the line for shit pay who aren’t able to defend themselves.
There is stuff that we can do to improve lives within the democracy and the nation that we have. I know it’s not pretty, but that is the democracy we have. I mean, work with us here. I’m Sinhalese and I’m not genocidal. I’m trying to live here and I do respect and look out for the Tamil people as my family and neighbors. There are literally millions of Sri Lankans like me. We’re trying to make out country better. Perhaps you could turn off the TV and come here and help.
I don’t think the goal these protestors are striving for (and I’m also addressing your last comment on the Roy post) is understanding from the Sinhalese nor long-term bridge-building. I think they have more or less given up on the GoSL and the Sinhalese people and their ability to voluntarily make change. After 30 years of war and 50-odd years of conflict, you can’t blame them for that opinion. What they are aiming at is probably sanctions and/or a UN resolution of some sort. Given that, it doesn’t really matter if one gets on Oprah or Top Gear or if writing appears in the Times of India or FHM, as long as more and more people hear what one is saying. So far, though, the protestors have not really been successful in getting influential ears to hear them.
They have also more or less made up their minds that the LTTE are the good guys, so everything is seen through that distortion.
A non-Sri Lankan friend of mine asked me recently why some of these protesters still wave the LTTE flag after all the suicide bombs that have killed Tamil people (in addition to Sinhalese, Muslims, Burghers) living outside the borders of ‘Eelam’…it made me think that maybe in the eyes of the diaspora, Tamils who aren’t destitute or who don’t support the cause have sold out? If that’s the case, the fact that 50% of Tamils are living outside that region wouldn’t really make a difference to them no?
This looks at some of those questions, PseudoRandom:
http://sahasamvada-forum.blogspot.com/2009/04/tamil-diaspora-solidarities-and.html
Thanks David, that’s a very interesting post!
Indi, i was struck by your line “Sri Lanka exists. Most Tamils here seem to recognize that. People abroad, however, talk about Tamil Eelam (which doesn’t exist).” That’s true and insightful. Way back when, before you were born (no just kidding, but you may well have been 12 in 1998), I published a paper in Public Culture called, Eelam.com, which was trying to make this point. (Since then, I’ve tried to update those thoughts in a paper which is called, believe it or not, kottu.org — I presented in at Trinity College Dublin, some two years ago, and then revised it last year. Its supposed to be coming out in a book on globalization).
Anyway, my point in the first paper was that “Eelam” is a kind of virtual reality. I tried to demonstrate this looking at how this particular web site, referenced physical location, comparing to other web sites, like Fedex.com that also are kind of totally virtual. And other sites, that referenced location.
Eelam’s always been kinda virtual; even when refugees put their hard earned money, that hasn’t been extorted from them by the Tigers, in to some land, they do so in “Sri Lanka.”
This is why, I think, in the long term (and David is right of course about the short term) that even disaffected Tamils, believe in Sri Lanka, not Eelam.
And that we can work it out.
I’ve walked past stalls where they’ve been handing out “Recognise Tamil Eelam!” style leaflets, and the second question (after “thamilaro?”) is always “srilangaro?” You’ll never hear anyone asking “eelavaro?” And the same guy who’s railing about how Tamil Eelam always having been a distinct kingdom with no connection to the Sinhala kingdom will also be on his feet madly cheering the Sri Lankan cricket team the next day. So you’re completely right. Your typical first-generation Tamil, for all his professions of Eelam, feels a strong connection to the entire island of Sri Lanka, not just the “traditional homeland”.
(Note: I don’t think this necessarily applies to the second generation, but as I’ve said elsewhere, their views are of far less relevance.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZtl4t7LJXs
Finally some truth :)
Well said Indi.
Like you, I don’t intend to belittle our protestors here or their freedom to express — what’s so annoying about all this melodramatic hoopla is that it is almost always a bunch of university students enjoying their first class education in an English University who have not sighted Sri Lanka (never even a transit at Katunayake Airport), who have imagined their role as fighters of a cause they have little or no udnerstanding about and think that every sinhalese person is looking to wipe out the Tamil race (which couldn’t be further from the truth — here in Colombo I reckon you could find exemplary cases of the complete opposite — plenty of Tamils co-existing peacefully with Sinhalese). I think if we really wanted to be change agents then we’d begin by applying to where it really mattered and Oprah is really not the place. The experience of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro would no doubt be an exhilarating experience again though I don’t see how it helps the joe average Tamil caught up in this mess.
There’s another of these pro LTTE protests today in London, this time though school kids from a Southall school have been given the day off to join the protest. The idea is to surround themselves with the kids to prevent the police from breaking up the protest… sigh… guess the human shield mentality never dies.
you can watch it on ITN London
Strange as it may be in the modern world, we at last have success story in the war against terror.
The sovereignty of Sri Lanka is complete and rebuilding can begin.
Sri Lanka are you ready?
Go to Sri Lanka, every one!