July 20, 2010

Government's victory celebrations and building the country

By Srinath perera
Editor, ‘Rathu Tharuwa’ News Paper 

The Sri Lankan government celebrated the first anniversary of the war victory achieved over the LTTE and killing of Prabakaran on June 18, 2009.

President Mahinda Rajapakse, well known for his gimmicks such as speaking few words in Tamil, spoke only in Sinhala at this big ceremony. The ceremony was conducted in a manner which glorified the Sinhala nation, further pushing the Tamil people away from the Sinhala capitalist ruling class. 

The first anniversary of the victory over the LTTE was celebrated barely a month before the 27th anniversary of the black July of 1983, which happened to be the bloodiest attack ever against  the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. Tamils who lived in Colombo and the southern part of Sri Lanka were subjected to inhuman attacks by Sinhala goons led by a Cabinet Minister of then J.R Jayewardene government. Hundreds of Tamils were killed, some burnt alive, and their properties were looted or set on fire. Finally, whoever survived was evicted and chased away from their homes. The exodus of Tamils particularly to the western countries began after this pogrom.

The May 18, 2009 victory of the government forces over the LTTE marked the climate of the annihilation of Tamil people that began in July 1983. One might say that only terrorists were killed in May 2009; not the civilian people. However, by now it is evident that apart from those combatants categorized by the government as terrorists, a large number of ordinary Tamils were either killed or have gone missing during this onslaught. 

 In this back drop, the dark memories of the Tamil people will not fade away for several more generations. Moreover, this government is acting in a way which cements blood stains of that ugly memory. The actions of the Rajapakse regime presented to ignorant Sinhala masses as cowboy heroics are akin to stab piercing through the collective hearts of the Tamil people.  

Almost all the memorials built in Jaffna and other towns in the north to commemorate dead Tamil militants have been vandalized by the government forces. The Government and Sinhala chauvinists claim that these memorials cannot be allowed to stand as those were built in memory of terrorists. They claim that even a small symbol associated with LTTE terrorism will not be allowed anywhere in Sri Lanka. Instead of that, all most all the main junctions in northern Sri Lanka are decorated with Buddhist status and bo-trees. In addition to this, some of the original Tamil names of roads are being replaced by Sinhala names.

The Gotabhaya Rajapakse army has now begun to destroy the memorials of Tamil militants. At the same time, Gotabhaya’s army establishes memorials for war heroes in every town in the north.  Buddhist monks are taken to the opening ceremonies and religious ceremonies are held in memory of those war heroes. In the eyes of the Tamil people, these memorials are nothing but tombs for those who invaded their homeland and slaughtered their sons and daughters. Finally, these memorials will remain as symbols of division and separation between the Sinhala and Tamil communities.

On the day of the victory celebration, the state television showed wives, children and other relatives laying flowers in front of the war heroes, their eyes filled with tears. It is the same for Tamil mothers, sisters, and wives who remember their loved ones, the militants whom the government labeled as terrorists. There is no difference of tears in Colombo or in Jaffna. The difference lies only in the interpretations given for those tears by the ruling capitalist class and their media. At least Sinhala mothers and wives have the freedom to cry publicly in memory of their loved ones. Mothers and wives in Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mulaththiu, Baticaloa do not have such a freedom. If they cry in public, they will be subjected to Gotabhaya’s law.

Recently, the BBC reported several incidents of abductions of young in the East, mainly in Baticaloa. There were over 2000 hostilities in that area. A large number of abductions were among them and these took place in 2007 and 2008. There is no information about them yet.

What a peace, when ushers after the end of a war which rulers claim they brought about for the country? The Rajapakse regime cannot douse the fire burning in the hearts of the Tamil people, even though they were able toe exhibit it a few smiling Tamil boys and girls in front of Lynn Pascoe and Yasushi Akashi. Those flames are rising because of the Mahinda/Gotabhaya regime. The country might burn again unless a program is not in place to douse those flames.

The important question in the back drop is what is the TNA doing?  The TNA was polled the highest number of votes from the Tamil speaking people in the north east. They recently held talks with president Rajapakse. It is still not clear whether they put forward the real issues of Tamil people. Their mandate from the people is to fight for devolution of power from the central government in a merged province of north and east. A merged province of north and east is a strong political demand of the Tamil speaking people.

If the TNA is serious about what they stated in front of the people during the election campaign, the first thing they should do is to concur that their strategy up to now has failed. They very well know that there is a considerable section of left progressive people in the south supports the right of self determination of the Tamil people in the North and East. Therefore, it should not be an issue for TNA to fight for a lesser concession to Tamil people, such as devolution of power.

While Tamil leaders join hands with the left movement in the south, it is our duty to extend a hand of solidarity to the people in the north. As true socialists, we should show them that not only we are fighting to overcome their day to day problems of existence, but are also prepared to fight for their political rights of the Tamil people as well. Only the left movement can build a bridge uniting the people of the north and south.

The Sinhala ruling class has once again shown that they are not capable of solving the national question in Sri Lanka even after the end of the war. It is the task of the day to rally Tamils, Muslims, and Sinhalese around a socialist program for the resolution of the national question in Sri Lanka.