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The
Sri Lankan government announced on May 17 that they had defeated the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The
government victory took place after a three-year
assault on the Tamil homeland in the northeast of the country.
Buttressed by large stocks of Chinese and Israeli weapons, and U.S. military training, the Sri
Lankan forces massacred thousands of people and uprooted hundreds of
thousands from their homes.
According
to The Times of London, at least 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in
the last weeks of the government’s artillerybombardment.
A helicopter tour of the war zone that the military gave UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon and a group of
journalists on May 23 revealed numerous bomb craters, mass graves, and
many tents and huts erected by refugees that had been flattened or
reduced to rubble.
At
least 200,000 Tamil refugees have been incarcerated behind barbed wire
in the Manik Farms displacement camp. People
interviewed there complain of a lack of food and water, and of not
being permitted to leave.
At
right, we print a statement by the Bureau of the Fourth International.
As background on the situation, below, we are reprinting an article
from the April 29 issue of Green Left Weekly (issue #792), with slight
editing for style and space. — The editors
Sri Lanka: A merciless war that has brought no political
solution
On
Sunday, 17th May, the weapons of the Tamil Eeelam
Tigers were silenced and they heard of the death of their leader Vilupillai Prabhakaran.
This was the end of a brutal and merciless military offensive by the
chauvinistic nationalist Sinhalese government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa.
For
several months the regime had unremittingly bombarded Tamil rebels and
civilians in its so-called “war against terrorism.” Hospitals, schools,
homes were bombarded, causing more than 7000 deaths and 15000 wounded.
Tamils were forcibly moved and placed in detention camps that they
weren’t allowed to leave. They are all innocent civilians, but
suspected of terrorism simply because they belong to the Tamil minority
of the North and East of the island.
This
military victory will not, nevertheless, put the end to a military
conflict that has lasted for several decades. Since 1948, when Sri Lanka became independent, the
minority in Sri Lanka have suffered systematic
linguistic, cultural and economic discrimination. Up to the 1970s, the
Tamils of the North East repeatedly and unsuccessfully demanded the
respect of their rights and culture by peaceful means. This led to a
political radicalization of Tamil youth and to the emergence of an
armed struggle that lasted for almost 30 years. While we can only
condemn the suicide attacks and the violence of the Tamil Tigers, the
struggle for the respect for Tamil rights and culture are still pertinent.
This
war against the Tamil Tigers has served as a pretext for the
authoritarian Rajapaksa regime to limit
democratic freedoms not only for the ethnic minorities in the country
but for all citizens. The government has sent its death squadrons
against independent journalists and critics of its war policy.
No
lasting policy will be possible without recognition of the right to
self-determination of the Tamil people. Autonomy must be granted to the
regions with a non-Sinhala majority and
equality between citizens must be granted as the only guarantee of
peace and democracy in a multiracial and multi-cultural state. A real
democracy cannot exist without respect for the rights of ethnic
minorities.
— Bureau of the Fourth
International, 18th May 2009
Socialist
Action is in political solidarity with the Fourth International, a
worldwide organization struggling for socialist revolution.
Organizations who accept and apply the
principles and program of the FI are united in a single international
organization, acting together on the main political questions, and
discussing freely while respecting the rules of democracy.
Who are the Tamil Tigers?
By CHRIS SLEE
APRIL
25—The Sri Lankan government claims to be on the verge of totally
defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE—also known as the Tamil Tigers). The LTTE has fought for more
than 30 years for an independent state for the Tamil people on the
northern and eastern parts of the island.
The
roots of the conflict lie in a long history of state-sponsored
oppression of the Tamils, which eventually led some Tamil youth to take
up arms. When the British granted independence to Sri Lanka in 1948, power was handed
to politicians drawn mainly from the upper classes of the majority Sinhala ethnic group. These politicians used racism
as a tool to divide the working class.
Tamil
plantation workers were deprived of citizenship rights. Sinhalese was
declared the sole official language of Sri Lanka, making Tamil language speakers
second-class citizens. Knowledge of Sinhalese became necessary for
public service jobs, excluding most Tamils. Discrimination was also
applied in education.
For
many years, Tamils opposed discrimination by peaceful means, including
demonstrations, sit-ins and taking part in elections. But peaceful
protests were met by violent repression, carried out by the police and
army as well as racist Sinhalese mobs incited to violence by
politicians and Buddhist monks. There was a series of pogroms against Tamils,
culminating in the murder of an estimated 3000 people in the
government-instigated 1983 "Black July" riots. LTTE
theoretician Anton Balasingham said:
"The anti-Tamil riots that periodically erupted in the island
should not be viewed as spontaneous outbursts of inter-communal
violence between the two communities.
“All
major racial conflagrations that erupted violently against the Tamil
people were inspired and masterminded by the Sinhala
regimes as a part of a genocidal programme.
"Violent
anti-Tamil riots exploded in the island in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974,
1977, 1979, 1981, and in July 1983. In these racial holocausts
thousands of Tamils, including women and children, were massacred in
the most gruesome manner, billions of rupees worth of Tamil property was
destroyed and hundreds of thousands made refugees.
"The
state’s armed forces colluded with the Sinhalese hooligans and vandals
in their violent rampage of arson, rape and mass murder."
Self-determination struggle
This
boosted Tamil nationalist sentiment. In 1977, the Tamil United
Liberation Front won 17 seats in the Sri Lankan parliament on a
platform of Tamil self-determination. The repression of peaceful
protest led many Tamil youth to violent methods. The LTTE was formed in
1972 under the leadership of Vellupillai Prabakharan, then a 17-year-old. He remains LTTE
leader. The LTTE carried out its first major armed action in 1978.
After
Black July, support for the LTTE grew among Tamils. It dramatically
stepped up its war against the Sri Lankan Army. The SLA could not defeat the
Tigers, despite brutal repression that included civilian massacres.
In
1987, India sent a "peacekeeping
force" to Sri Lanka, with the stated aim of
protecting the Tamils from SLA violence. However, the
Indian government did not want an independent Tamil state. The Indian
army began repressing the LTTE. After the Indian troops withdrew in
1990, fighting again broke out between the SLA and the Tigers.
In
2002, a ceasefire was signed between the LTTE and the United National
Party (UNP) government. But the government failed to offer Tamils a
just solution that could guarantee a lasting peace. Pro-government
paramilitary groups, in collusion with the SLA, continued violent
attacks against Tamils. The UNP government, which claimed to want
peace, was replaced in 2004 by a more openly chauvinist government—a
coalition led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Violence escalated
into full-scale war. Tiger-controlled areas were bombarded. Blockades
prevented food and other necessities from entering these areas.
For
several decades, the LTTE was a very effective fighting force. It
inflicted big defeats on the SLA, often killing hundreds of troops in a
single battle. It controlled large areas in the north and east of the
island. The LTTE developed innovative tactics, such as the use of light
aircraft to carry out bombing raids on government targets, including in
the capital Colombo.
But
over the past two years, the government seems to have captured nearly
all former LTTE-controlled areas. On Jan. 2, the government captured Kilinochchi, which had been the administrative
center for LTTE-controlled areas. This followed five months of aerial
and artillery bombardment of the town. The SLA’s
gains are partly due to aid from imperialist powers. Israel has supplied Kfir jets to the Sri Lankan air force, which has
used them to bomb Tamil areas.
However,
this alone cannot explain the scale of the SLA’s successes. It is necessary
to also look at the strategy and tactics of the Tigers. The LTTE was
formed by young people angry at the oppression of Tamils and
disillusioned with failed peaceful methods of struggle. They were also
disillusioned by the sell-outs of Sri Lanka’s main left parties (some
of whom had abandoned previous support for Tamil rights to join coalition
governments with the SLFP).
Tamil
youth didn’t see any prospect of an alliance with Sinhala
workers and peasants against the Sinhalese ruling class. This led them
to focus on the military struggle. They succeeded in building a
formidable fighting force.
The
LTTE has fought courageously and persistently against the Sri Lankan
and Indian armies in an effort to win self-determination for the Tamil
people. It has also been willing to seek a peaceful solution when it
appeared that the Sri Lankan government might be willing to agree.
The
LTTE has strong support from the Tamils in the north and east of the
island. This is indicated by election results (20 members of the
pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance were elected to Sri Lanka's parliament
in 2004) and by the big attendance at LTTE-organised
rallies during the ceasefire. Yet the goal of self-determination has
not yet been attained. A Tamil homeland seems a long way off.
This
is not solely due to the military power of the Sri Lankan state or its
backing by imperialist powers (important though that is). It is also
due to the political limitations of the LTTE. A one-sided emphasis on
military struggle led to mistakes, including the alienation of
potential allies. The Tigers sometimes disregarded the need to win
support among Sinhalese workers, peasants and students in southern Sri
Lanka for the right of Tamils to self-determination. This also applied
to the Tamil-speaking Muslims of eastern Sri Lanka.
The
absence of a mass antiwar movement in southern Sri Lanka is a key obstacle to the
success of the Tamil self-determination struggle. For instance, the U.S. anti-war movement played a
key role in forcing the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam.
The
LTTE has been willing to negotiate with Sinhalese political leaders
whenever they showed any signs of wanting to reach a peaceful solution.
But the LTTE has not made a serious effort to get its message directly
to the Sinhalese masses, bypassing the politicians whose promises of
peace have been deceptive….
The
LTTE has sometimes responded to SLA atrocities by carrying out
atrocities of its own, including massacres of Sinhalese civilians. The
LTTE has at various times carried out bombing campaigns in Colombo and
elsewhere in the south. These actions helped alienate the Sinhalese
workers from the Tamil struggle. When the targets were military, such
attacks could be justified, but this was not always the case.
Errors
by the LTTE also helped alienate the Tamil-speaking Muslims. Some
Muslim youth joined the LTTE in its early years. But the government,
with the aid of some Muslim politicians, was able to instigate clashes
between Tamils and Muslims. This led the LTTE to become suspicious of
Muslims, to such an extent that it expelled them en masse from the Jaffna region. The LTTE later made efforts to
rebuild relations with the Muslims, but suspicions were not completely
overcome. The LTTE’s militaristic way of
thinking has also led to the repression of dissent among the Tamils
themselves.
These
problems should not, however, negate support for the right of Tamils to
self-determination. In particular, there is the need for the removal of
the occupying SLA from Tamil areas. The Tigers can be criticized, but
the main blame for the violence lies with the Sri Lankan government. The
cycle of violence was initiated by the government, and the government’s
denial of the right of Tamils to self-determination remains the main
obstacle to peace.
Self-determination
means that the Tamils can freely choose whether to form a separate
Tamil state, be part of a united Sri Lanka, or have some intermediate
form such as a federation. The LTTE has stated its willingness to
consider a federal structure. "Unity" imposed by the SLA
through violent repression is not real unity. Such unity requires ongoing
repression of Tamils and prepares conditions for a new war.
Some
commentators believe the LTTE will continue as a guerrilla force
(small-scale attacks are continuing in the east, which the government
has claimed to fully control for the past two years). Others predict
the LTTE’s imminent collapse. But even if the
government wins a complete military victory, the occupation of Tamil
areas by the SLA can not bring lasting peace. Occupation will always
breed resistance.
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