Our would be viceroy, Louise Arbour
The International Crisis Group issued a report. Lydia Polgreen of the NYTimes filed a report from New Delhi publicizing this analysis from Brussels. Which shows about how relevant this is to Sri Lanka. The basic allegation is that Sri Lanka’s conduct of the war was illegal. The recommendation is basically a UN occupation of the island to sort things out and prosecute the elected government. I thought this was over. It’s like a wedding anniversary with your ex-wife.
To quote a local idiom, ‘what are you talking, men?’ Yes there were horrors at the end of the war. Yes the truth was obscured. How do we get to it? International prosecution? That just buries everything further and makes it harder for the people that live here. The ICG’s response is just neo-colonial occupation that completely ignores the Sri Lankan people. May I quote:
An international inquiry into alleged crimes is essential given the absence of political will or capacity for genuine domestic investigations…
Across 15 points they essentially call for the UN and West to take over judicial functions in Sri Lanka, presumably prosecute and depose our elected government and then what, I don’t know what. This is, I think, neither realistic nor right.
They’re framing ending a war like it’s a war crime. They’re acting like the end of the war is something that should be prosecuted and, ideally, rolled back and done differently. I really don’t agree, I don’t know anyone that does agree and hence there is no ‘political will’ here for this external solution. Nor is there international will.
This is just bullshit posturing for their donors or whatever, it delivers no realistic result, it’s circulated within the same international circle jerk and has the end result of crying wolf and weakening possible responses when there is actually something they could do.
Louise Arbour of the ICG literally says ‘any national initiative in Sri Lanka would be bound to fail and certainly would carry no credibility’. Which I find astounding. Credibility with who? The diaspora, NGOs? Who exactly elected the UN here? The truth is precisely the opposite.
It must be a national initiative for it to have any credibility. And who is Louise Arbour? Can she even pronounce my name? I think there were atrocities that should be exposed and never repeated, but I support my elected President over impotent foreign intervention. And I didn’t even support him in the election. If people want to move on without proper reconciliation, then we need to organize people so that they do and care. It’s not something the UN can impose, nor is it something some random western funded ICG group can simply call for without any thought for the political will or mechanism of people on the ground.
What would I do instead? Dunno, but I think something more along the lines of a Truth And Reconciliation commission rather than a UN led investigation. The aim of the ICG seems to be punitive and setting example of Sri Lanka, literally “the need for an accounting to address the grievances that drive conflict in Sri Lanka, and the potential of other governments adopting the Sri Lankan model of counter-insurgency in their own internal conflicts.”
I don’t think this is especially worthwhile, especially if it involves prosecuting our existing stable government and replacing it with some UN protectorate. However, knowing the truth would be nice, offering compensation and apologies would be healing, etc. That’s only possible if people back off the impotent punishment and prosecution talk. There has to be immunity and some acknowledgement of the good that has come. And the ICG has to stop treating GoSL as an adversary if they want to get anything done. Or get guns and occupy a land that really doesn’t want them.
What will happen? Nothing much, we’ll move on and forget. The ICG will peddle its self-serving view and the GoSL will peddle their own. The truth is somewhere in between.
I wish every Sri Lankan could share your confidence about ICG’s ability and commitment to feel their way through systematic misinformation around the war. I personally don’t think ICG wants to do that, but you probably think they do. Your quotes from ICG reports are good examples of how to maintain an image of impartiality but it is ICG’s actions that really speak the loudest. Being who they are, it is obviously in ICG’s interest to research and understand LTTE’s unorthodox tactics, considering that LTTE literally invented a new phase in modern terrorism. LTTE not only pioneered the casual suicide fighter, but it also pioneered the use of sophisticated propaganda for asymmetrical warfare. And if you are like many liberal Westerners (or just like play one like many reporters), you will have no clue that you are being suckered in to playing for the wrong guys for the right reasons.
One final comment. The ultimate problem is not about who wrote this final report, but it is about the highly tainted nature of the sources. In all honesty the ‘reality’ of the war that ICG wants to discover can only be addressed in the abstract, and I bet ICG knows that too. That is what makes this exercise as much about politics as about anything else to do with justice. It has been disgraceful to watch how the prejudices of those who mediate this information from Colombo inject their own agendas to the mix. Therefore when big foreign countries are taking an interest in the war like this, we can be sure that reasons beyond pure altruism are involved as well. The millions of people in Sri Lanka who had to live with this war didn’t have the luxury of waiting for ideal solutions, a fact our visitors tend to forget quite easily despite incidental mentions of the LTTE atrocities. If the international community had been interested in upholding humanitarian principles, the minimum they could have done is to arrest the cancerous growth of LTTE by curbing the billions of dollars sent here to keep this conflict going for 30 years. But they didn’t and we are here.
Anyway, I don’t know, maybe ICG should consider making that ‘Humantiarian TV Show’ on Sri Lanka. I’ll watch.
@I witness: I don’t know the ICG leadership, but I’ve met some of their footsoldiers and they are genuinely idealistic people who are actually keen to get around the disinformation – and, in relation to Sri Lanka, have no illusions about the LTTE. Of course, the final reports aren’t released by their case workers, and I have no idea about the extent to which politics influences the process at higher levels.
I’m not going to get into the long-term role of the West now – that’s a complex issue, and you’re quite right that the question of funding for terrorism in Asia and Africa wasn’t something countries in Europe or North America were particularly bothered about until after 2001. I would note in mitigation, however, that they bent over backwards to stop the flow of funds from the diaspora post-2006. Even Norway did.
In one of the novels I’ve read, “Rangouk”, was a Goblin. That explains his poor understanding of human languages.
What’d I say wrong? Enlighten me, oh great zoophile.
long standing? haha. that’s a good one. when in doubt, say “long standing”.
Or so does the goblin think.
You are a disgusting display of human slime. Bow down to the goblin and I shall spare thee.
The picture of the witch at the start of this post is scary.
Sorry to see that the last 2 weeks have seen at least three Indi posts licking the ass of Mahinda or the powers to be.
If you are doing this so you don’t want to die like Lasantha, we can understand.
Actually you can do that in a better way…write about something different. Write about photography. Write abt quantum mechanics. Write about the wonder of schrodinger’s cat. write about love. about confusion. about family. about srilankan landscapes. even about sex.
But, don’t write kissing somebody’s foot.
It doesn’t look good Indi.
Dear I Witness,
1.The main thing here is – to investigate! Allegations have been made, we need independent investigations.
2.The police, which should be an objective and neutral body, that should investigate these things is filled with Sinhala extremists and will never do a job to bringout the-whole truth. That’s why we need independent investigations.
3. If the GoSL did a humanitarian operation what’s to hide? Why all the fuss?
Dear I Witness,
You are right about the U.S. case for war.
But independent investigations by the media have revealed some of the truth. For example: What Bush said in his state of the union address about ‘yellow cake(uranium) from Niger being sent to Iraq’ this was a lie, but thanks to investigations by the media or other sources some of the truth was able to come out.
As a Sri Lankan citizen, I ask for an independent investigation by a commission, appointed by the Public Service Commission. Thank you.
Dear I Witness,
1. the cause for this dirty war is the GoSL
2. the symptom is the LTTE
3. GoSL attacked and abused Federal Party MPs back in 1956
4. GoSL created a riot to attack innocent Tamils, back in 1958
what have you to say?
No the LTTE used those incidence as an excuse to do what they did. Not every Sinhalese supported the riots. infact, the overwhelming majority despised what had happened and a large number helped to hide the tamils when this was going on.
So even if the 50s’ Sri Lankan government created the riot, which is a blatant lie, this wouldn’t be an excuse to fight a war against Sri Lanka at large. Because the vast majority of us wanted to live peacefully & didn’t give two hoots about sinhala jingoism
If you recall, those two boys were found dead after they were last seen in police custody. The madman was chased into the sea and left to drown by policemen from the Bambalapitiya station.
The authorities ignored both incidents until the residents of Angulana took to the streets and then appointed someone to inquire and then quietly shelved the matter. The culprits got away Scot-Free.
Dear The Way of the Dodo,
Thanks for your reply.
1.
*How do you measure support?
*How do you know that a majority of Sinhalese didn’t support the riots?
*Because not everyone wants to do the dirty job since you would have to get your hands dirty.
*Some in the privy of their homes kept silent but supported it.
*Yes, you are right that many Sinhalese helped Tamils and safe-guarded them.
*Why didn’t the GoSL bring in measures to satisfy the grievances?????
*If grievances were satisfied then there would be NO LTTE!
2.
*Not only in the 50s but also 60s, 70s ,80s,90s and 2006!
*There have been smaller riots against Tamils and Muslims in these periods.
*You say blatant lie, but government officials have accepted this at least from Chandrika’s time
* When people are being killed for being Tamil, then Tamils will begin to rise up just like the Sinhalese, Muslims, and all other people.
*The GoSL after 1983 has been better at keeping a check on sinhalese hoodlums going berserk.
*In 2006 there were riots in Trincomalee where Sinhalese went on a riot after a bomb in a market and the armed forces(who were there every 10 meters) stood by and watched. HNB, the bank was attacked.
* How do you know vast majority wanted to live peacefully? Or do you mean wanted to dominate the Tamils peacefully???
How many Sinhalese have you met in your lives that actively condone the violence against Tamils in those riots? I have met none. Maybe that’s because of the people I associate, but that is why I believe that Sinhalese people at large didn’t support those actions. Have you ever seen Si Lankan politicians going on stage and saying we shouldn’t reconcile with the Tamils, do you think a Sinhala politician can get Sinhala support if he says something ethnically divisive. Even the JHU doesn’t dare go there. That alone shows the prevailing ethos in the country.
And no subsequent government has ever said the SLG cause those riots, I don’t know where that comes from. And caused is definitely the wrong word, yes it was a pathetic and shameful failure of government but that doesn’t mean they caused it. The US government failed to respond properly to Katrina, but that doesn’t mean they caused it.
As for grievances, while some grievances were definitely legitimate others were ridiculous in my opinion. Stuff like the protest against the universities act is obnoxious and exceedingly selfish. Were you expecting the government to keep an education system that completely excluded the overwhelming majority of its constituents? And I feel the same about the official language as well; running the country in English completely disenfranchised a large number of people. You can’t effectively run a country in two languages, one has to adapt this practical solution not a racial one. It’s not like the Malay & Burger people are talking about their own languages. They understood that living in a country requires a certain degree of conformity.
If all the grievances were satisfied the LTTE may not have sprung up but your augment borders on black mail. If the leader of American civil rights movement had taken the same militant stance as the one which you are describing do you think any progress would have been made over there? You talk about Sinhala domination, but where is this Sinhala domination. Are there laws prohibiting Tamils from getting jobs or into national universities? Do you see university acceptance rates of Tamils as being any less than their demographic percentages? Same goes for finding jobs, do you find Tamils being underrepresented in the Sri Lankan corporate society both at entry & management level? What about Doctors and Engineers, are Tamil underrepresented there? Are Tamils being underrepresented in the judiciary? What about sports, why are the racists Sinhalese allowing so many minority players to get into the national cricket team?
Here’s an interesting development.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Clinton-Prods-Sri-Lanka-on-Reconciliation-Commission-95128309.html
I guess no one really takes ICG seriously
I take them seriously!!!