Peace in Sri Lanka

There is much verbiage tossed around about the war in Sri Lanka, and most of it is worthless. Most Western commentary is hand-wringing nearly devoid of any real historical context, just dark warnings about the "reclusive" and "feared" LTTE and a token paragraph at the end saying "the Tigers claim discrimination." Most Sri Lankan commentary is strongly nationalistic, denying there even is an ethnic dimension to the conflict, painting it as Us Versus Them, Good Guys fighting Terrorists. Most Tamil commentary is published by the LTTE, or by those who fear them, and it whitewashes that group completely, making this nothing but an ethnic conflict.

My perspective will be different. I am a Tamil. I believe the Tamil peoples (and yes, I use 'peoples' in the plural) have been shamefully mistreated by the Sri Lankan state for generations. The Sri Lankan republic as presently constituted is untenable. And yet, I would call myself an equally staunch opponent of the LTTE. They have oppressed my people just as much as the most racist Sinhalese politicians, if not more. The LTTE's so-called "liberation struggle" is a sham.

Indeed, much of the Sri Lankan conflict is positively Orwellian. The freedom fighters have only imposed tyranny on their people. Those claiming to fight terrorism have only terrorized the civilian population. The basic values of decency and humanity have long been forgotten in a Robespierrian nightmare.

A blog cannot stop a war. But if this blog opens the eye of just one person, if it makes them stop to think, if just a handful can reconsider their slogans and platitudes, then I can count myself successful.