Socialist Action /June 2000
Sri Lanka Protesters Demand: "Down
With the War!"
In the context of a politically explosive situation and great political
pressures created by a looming defeat of government forces in their war
against Tamil rebels, a coalition of left parties, including the Nava Sama
Samaja Party (NSSP), the Sri Lankan section of the Fourth International,
led a demonstration May 25 of 3000 people against the regime's war and repression
in Colombo, the capital of the island country.
After about half an hour, the demonstration was dispersed by police using
water cannon and clubs. But it made an impact that amounted to a serious
blow to the government and its war propaganda. The major slogans were "Down
with oppressive regulations!" "Down with censorship!" "No
to racism!" "Down with the war!" "No foreign forces!"
The largest population group on the island are Sinhalese, who are of
northern Indian origin, speak an Indo-European language, and are Buddhist
in religion. The main minority are Tamils, of southern Indian origin, who
speak a Dravidian language and are mainly Hindu in religion.
Historically, there has been a racial division between the northern and
southern Indian populations, which has been the basis for a kind of racism
against the southerners, who sometimes call themselves "Black Indians."
There are two main groups of Tamils, the community that existed before
the British conquest and workers brought from southern India by colonialist
plantation owners. Tamils predominate in the northeastern coastal area,
including the Jafna peninsula, where the rebels want to create a Tamil homeland,
Tamil Eelam.
In recent weeks, the Tamil rebels have seemed poised to recapture the
major town in the area, Jafna, and to trap large government forces in the
Jafna peninsula. The Indian government has been hinting about intervening,
at least to evacuate the cornered Sri Lankan military. That is the reason
for the slogan against foreign troops in the May 25 Colombo demonstration.
In the past, India sent troops to rescue the Sinhalese government from
defeat at the hands of the Tamil rebels. In retaliation, a Tamil suicide
bomber assassinated the then Indian premier, Rajiv Gandhi. India's intervention
reflects its fear of an insurgent movement coming to power in the region.
Also there is a large Tamil population in southern India, long restive
under the rule of a predominately northern Indian government, and among
whom there is considerable sympathy for the Tamil rebels on the adjacent
island.
The war in Sri Lanka was begun by pogroms against Tamil people launched
by Sinhalese chauvinists. The Tamil insurgency has been fueled by desperate
resistance to a virtual genocidal campaign, including attempts to settle
Sinhalese in Tamil areas.
Sinhalese chauvinism has also become the mainstay of the political rule
of the neocolonial bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka. In the latest crisis, the Sri
Lanka government has used the war as a pretext for introducing censorship
and other repressive measures.
In a statement issued immediately after the Colombo demonstration, Dr.
Vickramabahu Karunarthne, general secretary of the NSSP, issued a statement
stressing that his party had "always campaigned against any support
to the insane war efforts of the government, and we say only a solution
based on equality, autonomy, and the right of self-determination will be
the answer to the liberation war of the Tamil people."
-GERRY FOLEY
Socialist Action /June 2000 |