http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/nomoretears/about.html

>>But more of us SL Tamils – including those of us who live outside SL and who may be thinking of funding the SL Tamil cause – need to DEMAND from the LTTE:

- an end to the bombing and targeting of civilians

- unambiguous commitment to peaceful means (direct self-defence excepted)

- democratic choice of leadership, with total political pluralism and freedom of speech

- respect for individual rights, rule of law, and judicial independence>>

Ravi, that demand should have been made at least two decades ago. The LTTE have irreparably tainted the SL Tamil cause.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5089776.stm

This thread seems to have become depressingly dominated by extremes. Let me start by saying that I’m a Brit of Sri Lankan Tamil origin with relatives still living there. And I have no fear in expressing my utter condemnation of the LTTE. I’m not totally open with my identity here because of my typically expat Sri Lankan Tamil obsession with protecting my career. But I make my views known very clearly whenever relevant to all who care to listen in my private and professional life and to my SL Tamil friends and family including in SL. See my comments on Brit SL Tamils and the LTTE that Sunny posted to PP some time ago ( http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/536 )

Like Ananthan, I find that the opinion of the LTTE held by most SL Tamils I know in UK and SL range from sympathy (as Roger said “they may be bastards but they’re our bastard”) to full support (“saviours and protectors of our race and homeland”). However, I’m finding that my views – total condemnation and lack of support for the LTTE – are increasingly shared by other SL Tamil expats (I can’t say the same for SL Tamils), largely because of the LTTE connivance in the election of Rajapakse and the various acts of violence that they’ve been guilty of since.

But let’s be clear – the SL Govt forces are guilty of continuing serious violence and other human rights abuses against civilians, including by proxy through their support for Karuna’s splinter Tiger faction. No doubt not all of this is with the full knowledge and support of the Govt – the SL military has never been totally controllable by civilian authority. But the SL Govt does seem to be doing precious little to tackle the abuses by their security forces. And yes Aadhavan I would term these acts by the SL security forces as state terrorism.

And I have no sympathy at all for the self-deluding idiots who support JVP and JHU on Ravana’s site. Yes it’s good that JVP and JHU are engaged in mainstream politics. But to deny their links to the continuing ethnic violence in SL is as naïve as saying the BNP has absolutely nothing to do with continuing racist violence in the UK.

And Roger, your question “Is Sri Lankan Tamil culture worth preserving” is totally crass. Yes Prabakharan has foully distorted important sections of SL Tamil opinion, mainly by killing those who disagree with him. But does that justify your call for – what? Genocide against SL Tamils? In which case, when do me and my family get our tickets for the gas chambers?

But I totally disagree with Aadhavan’s infantile assertion that depraved behaviour by the SL forces and some Sinhala political groups somehow excuses or justifies depraved behaviour by the Tigers. The LTTE and the Tamil cause attracted much greater international legitimacy and support when they were pursuing peaceful negotiation. The UK Govt was under increasing pressure to de-proscribe the LTTE after the 2002 ceasefire. All that’s gone now.

The LTTE need to be the major negotiating partner in the peace process because they are the major problem in terms of violence. That does not make them “legitimate”. They are a militaristic bunch of brainwashed thugs. And – please excuse this display of SL Tamil expat snobbery – they’re a bunch of thickos too. I mean, their strategy of boycotting elections to engineer a Rajapakse victory thus justifying return to war was too transparent for words. It could only have been thought up by a knuckle-headed mustachio’d village boy like our great leader Vellupillai. (Sorry, being snobbish there again.)

The independent Eelam that the LTTE want to build would be a vicious one-party military dictatorship, with a stagnant North Korea style state owned economy, totally dominated by the Cult of Prabakharan – every single law already has to be personally approved by the Great Leader ( http://www.eelamjudicial.org/English.htm ). How could the argumentative, opinionated, education-obsessed, enterprising, wheeling-dealing SL Tamil people that I know live with that?

SL Tamils deserve the right to a full free choice on self-determination – eg a referendum offering full independence. The poisonous legacy of the last 30-50 years of inter-ethnic violence is too bitter and too deep for anything less.

But more of us SL Tamils – including those of us who live outside SL and who may be thinking of funding the SL Tamil cause – need to DEMAND from the LTTE:

- an end to the bombing and targeting of civilians

- unambiguous commitment to peaceful means (direct self-defence excepted)

- democratic choice of leadership, with total political pluralism and freedom of speech

- respect for individual rights, rule of law, and judicial independence

Like lots of SL Tamil expat professionals, I send money back for various reasons to North SL. But if there ever is a free Eelam, I certainly would not take my family to visit, nor would I give it money if it wasn’t at least trying minimally to meet the standards above – standards which lots of third world countries that had to fight for their liberty manage to meet.

Sorry, as usual way too verbose.

Ravi4

Mirax: The Tamil exiles may be safe from retaliation, except perhaps ostracism and isolation- but they have families and relatives in SL probably. All the same there is often an attitude of “They may be bastards but they’re our bastards.” and a certain second-hand thrill at the thought of killers and murder: I knew wealthy Peruvians who were fans of the Shining Path, who were up there with the TT when it came to brutality and futile cruelty.

Oh, in case it is not clear to you, Ananthan, I am Tamil myself and perfectly entitled to reject, mock, ridicule any bit of my own culture.

If you pay attention and read upthread carefully, Ananthan, you will notice it is aadhavan at #18 who implied such and I am irresistibly drawn to pushing his buttons . Why should that impertinent twat speak for anyone other than himself? I am merely reminding him of his proper place in the grand scheme of things, sorry for the broadswipe at SL Tamils.

Are you saying support for the LTTE has become an aspect of tamil culture?

“Tamil culture is the preserve of a people of whom 90% are not linked in way or form to SL? IOW, you guys were literally in the backwaters the last coupla millenia…”

When did this expand from criticizing the LTTE to insulting sri lankan tamils and our culture? This seems like a particularly bitter angle to take in this debate.

“Many Tamils see the Tigers as a necessary evil. Time and again I have heard this view expressed: “I don’t agree with them totally, but as a Tamil we would have been wiped out without them putting our cause on the map.”

That is complete and utter rubbish. I’ve not met a single rich/poor/catholic/muslim/hindu/eastern/western Tamil in SL who’s said that.”

It’s actually a common refrain; i’ve heard it a lot. That doesn’t mean the LTTE is good though. They are the only ones standing between the SLA (a force many of you wrongly seem to assume is more accountable and less vicious than the tigers) and the tamil people. At the same time the LTTE eliminated most others who could have defended tamils… rock and hard place once again.

Phew, that’s a relief! I’m so grateful at being let off the hook, as I’m actually more keen on demolishing a fair bit of ass backward thinking that’s passed off as Tamil culture.

May I also remind you that Tamil culture is the preserve of a people of whom 90% are not linked in way or form to SL? IOW, you guys were literally in the backwaters the last coupla millenia…

The SL Tamil diaspora that supports the LTTE with cash for weapons can repudiate the LTTE (not the tamil cause) with little cost- they are safe enough from Tiger retaliation. What’s their excuse? Quite a few of them are internet warriors, glorifying in the LTTE’s bloodletting. OTOH, that may merely be symptomatic of one of the SL Tamils’ least endearing qualities – their killer competitive spirit. I kid you not, you have to know them to believe this.

“We aren’t just run of the mill guerillas; we’re the planet’s deadliest, meanest mofos!”

Tamil culture has survived for thousands of years and does not require your protection, Thank you.

There is so much equivocation in your post above! If you support the LTTE, be man enough to come straight out with it and say so. Yes, the cease fire monitors do say that there are indications of the GOSL aiding the breakway tiger factions and yes, military abuse of human rights do occur. But scale and perspective are important criteria which cannot be junked just cause you want your side vindicated at all costs.

For me, the LTTE stopped being a ’cause’ and became pretty straightforward thugs and murderers when they started eliminating other TAMILS. When was that? Almost from their inception. Says something about about them, doesn’t it? The SL Tamil cause has been deeply tainted by the LTTE and their supporters. No surprise then that you get comments like this :

>>Is Sri Lankan Tamil culture worth preserving if it now consists of nothing but “self-sacrifice and martyrdom”?