The unifying, winning issue is equal rights for all Sri Lankans. Framing it as a Tamil issue will inevitably lose because this isn’t about Tamil Eelam. It’s about Sri Lanka. Too much from the Tamil side is about how they are being wronged by the bad Sinhalese, how this is never going to work. Well, it can work, but we have to unite as Sri Lankans. I am Sinhala and I believe in equality for all Sri Lankans. I do not believe in Sinhala or Tamil exceptionalism, but I do believe in Sri Lanka. The issue that concerns all of us is equal civil rights for all Sri Lankans.
I follow this TamilDiaspora character on Twitter. He posts some interesting links, but too many of them are about the future of Tamils or Tamil vigils and attacking Sri Lankan thugs and Sri Lankan economic extortion. I agree with many of the concerns, but I think the approach is divisive and counterproductive. The people of Sri Lanka are reasonable and multi-ethnic. The grievances of one race backed on foreign punishment is not a winning national platform. Seriously, calling for foreign economic attacks on Sri Lanka to support one race should be rightly opposed by everyone here.
Civil rights for all Sri Lankans, however, is a unifying issue. All races have their constitution suspended under emergency law. All races have problems with government corruption and inefficiency. All races have language issues in government services. All races have issues with poverty and economic mismanagement. We all want to send our kids to better schools, be able to get better jobs, have access to government services, be able to travel, etc.
These are not Tamil issues. These are our rights as Sri Lankans. Tamils are not asking for anything special and they do deserve better. They deserve equal protection under the law. We deserve equal protection, because these are our family and friends. I know someone in jail for almost two months now under Emergency. His family deserves to get the letters and be able to defend their case in the Tamil language. Not because that is some special right as Tamils but because it is their consitutional right as Sri Lankans. Not because they are Tamil and the UK backs them up but because they are Sri Lankan and you and I back them up.
Frankly, I am as put off by Tamil chauvinism as I am by Sinhala chauvinism. Both sides play the victim and both sides act as if they are owed something special, based on race. They’re not. We have our own cultures, but when it comes down to it we have more in common than apart. We are all have the same basic, fundamental rights as Sri Lankans. Regaining these civil rights is something all Sri Lankans can unite around and benefit from. I think we need to start framing it that way.
What Tamils face as Upendra Baxi would put it (whose lecture you attended today) is not a problem of equality before the law, but one of lawlessness. All 300,000 of those detained are Tamils, and there is no law that provides for it. Disappearances, extra judicial killings etc are issues of lawlessness which cant be addressed in an individual rights framework. The larger issue is of the Sri Lankan state not wanting to recognize its plurality in the way state power is exercised. Hence the identity that you want everyone to subscribe to – the sri lankan identity in its political form is also conterminous to the current framework of the sri lankan state which as explained above is an excluding one. from the discussion that we had today i also understood that you find it impossible to appreciate that a nation need not always equate to a state. Hence a tamil nation doesnt always mean a tamil state. The alternative is what some call state-nations. there might be things in common indeed (like you said our love for tea, cricket) but does it mean that the common identity (which you can build only on flimsy grounds and definitely something that you were NOT able to give a political expression to) should subsume the particular identities and a denial of the problems because you hold those particular identities to be important?
Er, I don’t think it’s that complicated to say that we’re citizens of the same country, under the same constitution, with the same protection under law. That’s not the state right now, but it’s something all Sri Lankans can work towards.
This is political gobbledygook. When civil rights issues are targetted towards and/or disporportionately affect one community, they become the special concern of that group. Yes, we wish “Sri Lankans” were as concerned about the concentration camps as Tamils are, but they aren’t. We wish they were concerned as civilian deaths during the last few days of the war, but they weren’t. Some of them even said they would be cool with 50,000 Tamil dead ;-) Tamils aren’t asking for special rights. They are only asking for some minimum protections so that they have some protections against a stridently Sinhala-Buddhist state that is fucking with them.
I’ve tried explaining the “nation doesn’t mean state” point to Indi multiple times on this blog. He doesn’t get it. I’ve given up. He doesn’t get the democracy-dictatorship mutual exclusivity either.
I don’t have any particular issue with your points, but the tone is counterproductive. To achieve civil rights we have to work together, with respect and understanding for people that don’t agree with us. If you frame the state as your enemy that may just be what you get.
You can also try to belittle me as a ‘government stooge’ or somehow stupid but I don’t think this really accomplishes anything. I’m not your enemy here. I just try to understand and respect the different views here. Personally, I’m trying to actually accomplish change so I try to write (moreso now, as I’ve matured) with respect. I don’t assume anyone is stupid, least of all my ‘enemies’.
I think the Tamil people need to consider Sinhalese, Muslim and other races as partners and friends in this. If there is a civil rights movement it needs to be broad based and appeal to all races, not just something to keep a demonized state from ‘fucking with’ one particular race. I think we can all aspire for more than protections against a ‘Sinhala-Buddhist’ state. Like actual civil rights, for all civilians.
Restore rights – two steps:
1. Remove Emergency
2. Remove PTA
then follow this
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=6186&l=1
However, realistically, this unlikely to happen unless someone is willing to take this up. UNP is dumb, and others are mostly muted.
Why?
To demand things is a bad thing. The top brass and many others have warned minorities not to demand things, they are only guests here. Those who advocate these things will also be given the same treatment as the minorities.
At this point of time, all of these issues drill down to one simple subject. Law and Order. Lack of it. Any Sinhalese easily can be in the same position as a Tamil as it often happens, if they are in politically wrong side. The reality most of the people do not want to understand is, Tamil-Sinhala or Tamil-Sri Lankan relationship is not a zero sum game. It is none zero sum relationship. Diaspora often plays it like a zero sum game, because they have other factors in their equation, such as the country they are living in or they absolutely do not want to come to Sri Lanka. Diaspora has not done anything to help Tamils in Sri Lanka, let alone Sri Lankans and they will continue to behave so. By taking Diaspora in to the equation, we Sri Lankans, Tamils or Sinhalese are to loose.
If we have a proper judiciary and a police, most of those problems will disrepair rapidly, i think. But I can’t think of a way how we can achieve that.
Sam,
so you are saying that there are 280,000 singhalese fellows in camps? that’s just terrible. I wonder what legal protections they are afforded by the corrupt police and judiciary you mention.
Is it by asking about civil rights that you consider the Diaspora’s opinion to become a weighted variable? To me, it is not. Civil rights is seen as non-zero sum by all only where it does not coerce. What will people think when the legislators they have lawfully elected are no longer able to secure rents/welfare/gov’t cheese based purely on where they are?
Nayagan,
No. there is no 280,000 Sinhalese in camps. It is not so, not because they are Sinhalese, because they have not crossed the path of the government in the same way at this precise moment. And if they do (it is always matter of time), there is no mechanism to stop such things are happening. Just because Sinhalese, Muslims or Some Tamils live in their house under the pleasure/mercy of the president at this moment, that do not mean their rights are respected. It never was.
There is nothing wrong with pointing to immediate issues as you do so. But by just pointing to immediate issues alone, such as 280,000 Tamils going back to their homes or wherever their homes used to be, will not fix the defect in our system. And as long as those defects are there, our lawfully elected politicians, whatever their ethnicity or gender it may be, will behave exactly the someway like this one and others before him.
Blacks would not have their civil rights if they were unable to accrue some support from white people. And MLK did that by not taking America in a zero-sum game. And once they accrued the rights on the paper, they were followed, because America had a reasonably functioning judiciary and a police under it. If Diaspora has been working on improving Civil rights in Sri Lanka in some way that I have not seen, they are utterly useless in that.
If you don’t have any particular issue with any of my points, then I have been massively productive, due to, or despite my tone. If you don’t have any particular issue with my comments, you have done a right about turn, and disowned the stuff you have written here. But you will not change the stuff that you are writing, and will not stop spouting the same drivel, because frankly, I don’t think you even understand where the clash lies.
If you may have noticed, the communities are hardly talking to each other, much less trusting each other.
A huge wedge has been driven between them by the post conflict conduct of the state.
Kottu posts and comments reflect this with most of those who occupied the middle ground falling silent. There is no one they can talk to anymore.
I agree with Sam that this is a Sri Lankan law and order issue. Any Sinhalese can be on the wrong end of the stick, as many youth were during the JVP uprising. Poor Sinhalese are also screwed over by the police and judicial system.
Now it is disproportionately upon Tamil people, but there is grounds for a united civil rights movement. Dividing constantly into Tamil/Sinhalese doesn’t help.
I think there are certain things which it kinda sucks to be in Sri Lanka; they include being poor, being non-Sinhalese, being from a rural setting, being from a low class/caste, and/or being from a non-Buddhist religion. If you’re rural, poor and Tamil, you’re basically at the bottom of the heap. Same but Sinhalese… near the bottom. Rich, Singhalese-Buddhist–much much less likely to have your civic rights denied to you.
Access to political representation; unfortunately is still to an extent done through communalist ties.. both the UNP and PA pander to the majority and are therefore viewed by minority groups as not representative of their rights… which has led a the rise of political representation down ethnic or religious lines. Sinhalese and Buddhists have more representation, as they are the majority. Rich people tend to have more social connections, which is all important nepotistic/cronyistic societies such as SL and therefore is equal to more political representation.
I think for this reason, what you say about Sinhalese being just as likely as Tamils to be screwed over by government systems is inaccurate. Like Tamils, Muslims, or Americans (basically any ethnic/religious/national/ group) Sinhalese will get more outraged against wrongs being done to their own kind, and the government is unlikely to do anything to upset their majority voting bloc.
Yes, the government has been brutal to Sinhalese in the past with the way it treated the JVP insurrection, but then didn’t the Sinhalese celebrate on the streets when Premadasa was assassinated? Which politician wants that kind of send-off at their funeral..
I agree with their needing to be a united civil rights movement, but there needs to be some acknowledgement that there are groups of people who are more unequal than others. Otherwise, how will you reach a consensus from which actual equality can be met?
I don’t see anyone here denying the fact, some are discriminated or their rights were neglected. On the contrary. Even in a well functioning democracy, there always minorities and majority often do wrong things. (That is why we place a constitution and a judiciary) But at the same time, there is nothing wrong with majority having the power they do and also it does not mean majority is against the minority. I know it sound confusing than a clear-cut minority vs majority game, but that is how the democracy is. Minority, whoever that may be at that give age of time, can and must receive support from the majority to put forward their requirements and when they do, it works. I don’t say it is as easy as taking up arms, but Blacks in America did it, Gays in America doing it, if Tamils in Sri Lanka want to do it, they can too and not only Tamils, all Sri Lankans are to be benefited form that.
as much as i love getting lectured on american history what you’re saying is categorically false–MLK, SNCC and the NAACP won the necessary share of popular opinion and sympathy by getting video recordings and still photograhs of the results of their nonviolent agitation–brutal and immediate police crackdown.
you’re making a mistake by thinking of the IDP tamils as a short-term problem. The legacy issues of living under terrorists and then being herded by your saviors are manifold and sometimes interesect. It’s true there are massive structural issues to be addressed regarding law and order but don’t think that the first time it appears to have been fixed that the poor, the rural and the Tamils won’t get the boot just as often as they would anyway.
as to how you achieve an honest and properly incentivized civil police force? You fire everyone below a certain rank (i’m thinking from the highest operational asset on down) and encourage them to reapply with the proviso that not everyone will be hired back. That’s when you can create a specific set of rules which determine promotion and retention through performance reviews and actual metrics of effectiveness (public safety outcomes–incidence of petty crime, burglary, murder, etc.)
that’s how public schools are turned into higher-performing charter schools here.
I’m pretty sure that the American civil rights movement was about much more than horror at physical violence. Those were a few incidents in a struggle that went on a long time. And which pointedly refused to be defined by violence. The more lasting image is really MLK speaking about black and white children playing together in ‘I have a dream’.
Listening to MLK appeals to me as a human being, not as an African-American. What he said and practiced appealed to whites and non-whites. I can’t remember the quote, but I remember Obama saying something similar about a moment in the civil rights movement. He said it was not a great day in African-American history, it was a great day in American history.
We need to aspire for something similar as Sri Lankans.
um, i don’t know when you last went to an american civics class but the most enduring image from that era is Bull Connor’s dogs and water hoses trained on advancing protesters, not “i have a dream.” Very few people listened to that single speech at the time but millions saw the pictures and video of altercations–every day on the tv news, which was still a new and novel thing, and in the newspaper.
you underestimate the effects and acceptance of Jim Crow–I went to a private school in rural VA that was all-white till the mid-90s because the local parents didn’t want their white kids in the integrated public high-school. and remember, i specifically referenced public opinion and sympathy–not all changes post civil rights.
it seems to be that a united civil rights movement in SL could only be premised on similar living conditions, material wealth and lifestyle–where do you see that happening?
No point arguing about American civil right movement. If you think Tamils can get their rights without support of the Sinhalese or whoever the majority at this time, please stand up.
Sam, Tamils will never get their rights without the support of SOME Sinhalese, but they also will never have the support of ALL Sinhalese to win their rights either. Who are the people Tamils should then enlist to support them? Indi thinks we should stop talking about ‘Tamil’ issues, because, presumably, Sinhalese who would otherwise support civil rights, don’t, because Tamils are talking about Tamil issues. My response would be that if people are unwilling to talk about civil rights now because they affect Tamils disproportionately, they prolly aren’t people who really believe in civil rights in the first place. The NAACP(whose membership was majority black) never argued that civil rights were not black issues, only American issues. Instead they argued that those were black issues, but that black issues were American issues too. That’s a critical difference.
more importantly, they are human issues. these are human rights, not sri lankan rights. would we support the internment of 300,000 people just because they were Nepali, or Bangladeshi? When did citizenship become the only moral basis for a rights claim.
Sam,
“There is nothing wrong with majority having the power they do and also it does not mean majority is against the minority. I know it sound confusing than a clear-cut minority vs majority game, but that is how the democracy is. Minority, whoever that may be at that give age of time, can and must receive support from the majority to put forward their requirements and when they do, it works.”
It is very unfortunate that you think of democracies as only possible in the form of majoritarian democracies. For a very very long time people have been talking about what are generically classified as ‘non-majoritarian democracies’. From Consociationalism to Fedearlism and Confederalism there are a variety of options.
The individual rights framework can only work in a democracy that has a constitution that is of very high liberal order and a judiciary that can uphold it impartially, as you rightly identify. The history of the failure of the judiciary to do this in Sri Lanka is very long: From not willing to apply Article 29(2) of the Soulbury Constitution to the application of the FR chapter under the 1978 constitution the individual rights framework hasnt worked.
To have a judiciary then that will uphold the constitution and respect the peoples rights you need a revolution in culture and a very fundamental reform in the institutions. Hence for a very long time constitutional reform debate in this country for example (within the framework for proposals for a non majoritarian democracy) have talked about a constitutional court that will be representative of all communities and of the different shade of opinions in this country which can adjudicate key constitutional disputes. Consider for example the South African Constitutional Court.
All it requires Sam is some basic reading of the devolution debate in Sri Lanka.
I thank you for reading.
PS: Even countries like Canada have a very good liberal track record (except until recently with regard to their indigenous population) have realised that an individual rights framework hasnt been enough to accommodate the aspirations of the Quebecian population. Same goes for Germany, Switzerland, India and many many other countries that have what some scholars call ‘deeply divided societies’.
aadhavan.. exactly.
If Tamil (Diaspora) finally accept Tamil Rights are Civil rights in Sri Lanka, then it is a major breakthrough, even bigger than start or the end of the war in so many levels. It bring so many principles in to a single framework, that so call SOME Sinhalese can work in too. And Sinhalese alone, they will never improve civil rights in this country. They are the majority and majority often screw things up in any democracy when they act alone.
You ranked me way too high. It can’t be “unfortunate” by any means. Mere irritation it may be :)
Consensus democracy I like. But before we rebuild a whole new system (which is lot of work), can’t we use the system we already have to fix those issues? Or at least significant part of it? I think we can, if essential IF conditions come true. Let’s assume for a minute we bring up a new system on paper today. It can bring sense of victory to some people. But if we do not have a properly functioning judiciary (including a Police), business will run as usual while having all that good stuff on the paper. In the absence of law and order individuals perform better and systems fail. As far as I know Singapore do not have a superior democracy, but it have very predictable and stable system backed up by brutal but functioning judiciary and a police.
Devolution debate is a good debate, as a debate, but as far as I can see all it did was, undermine the current system and create some sort of an excuse for injustice to exist under the current system meanwhile. I think even with the current democracy, with proper law and order (I don’t know how to get there), we can have a decent civil society that may eventually create an organic consensus democracy.
No Sam, not exactly. When civil rights violations disproportionately affect, and specifically target Tamils, we cannot pretend that the only problem is a general breakdown in the rule of law. if it were, Tamils wouldn’t be disproportionately affected.
“Devolution debate is a good debate, as a debate, but as far as I can see all it did was, undermine the current system and create some sort of an excuse for injustice to exist under the current system meanwhile.”
I am baffled by this comment to an extent that i am not sure where and how to respond.
Ok then we are supposed to prefer the Singapre model? Fabulous.
If you are saying that Tamils problem is a matter of good governance i take it that you havent understood a word i have said in my last comment. Thanks Sam.
Singapore.. Hell no! We have to be more practical about this. My whole point is, even if Tamil problem is not a problem of good governance, it cannot be solved without good governance. And once that set in place, sorting Tamil problem or any other problem will be relatively easy.
Maybe I do not understand the real Tamil problem. I don’t deny that possibility. May be lot of people really do not understand the real Tamil problem. It is true; I have difficulty completing a single sentence starting with “Tamil problem is”. If I forced to do so, I may write something similar to, Tamil problems are issues Tamil people have to face been dignifying Sri Lankans. I’m open to change first part of the sentence, but not the last part. If real Tamil problem is “Been Sri Lankans”, then not only all my ideas become false, Tamil problem even turn in to Problem of Tamil. But I firmly believe it is not the case and Tamil rights are civil rights too.
Coming back to original topic, I don’t think there is much to be puzzled in that. Isn’t that what is happening? We are been talking about political solutions for ages, while every other aspect of society going downhill all the way.
“To achieve civil rights we have to work together, with respect and understanding for people that don’t agree with us. If you frame the state as your enemy that may just be what you get,” says Indi.
That may just be the best quote i’ve read in a long long time. The second half, while I am less keen about it, nevertheless has a lot of basis to it too.
I just wish everyone involved in peace building, reconciliation and conflict resolution would appreciate the first part of that line which you are modelling very well here, despite provocation by some who are commenting.
There won’t be any reconciliation and conflict resolution until we manage to discuss things without making provocative and personal attacks.