[b]Not an Island unto Itself…[/b]
Tisaranee Gunasekara
[i][b]"…knowledge derived from experience of the occasions for vigorous action and for remission".[/b][/i]
[b]Marcus Aurelius[/b] ([i]The Meditations[/i])
No country can be an island unto itself politically and militarily, even if it is an island geographically. Sri Lanka needs the backing of the international community if she is to meet the Tiger challenge successfully. Indubitably in this contestation with the LTTE we can rely on the support of our traditional friends, such as China, Pakistan and Russia. Equally indubitably a majority of the international community would be agnostic on the Lankan conflict.
But by the same token, there is nothing much we can realistically expect from this neutral majority; they would not care, would not get involved, one way or the other. The case is far otherwise with India, the US, the EU, Canada and Australia. They are interested in the Lankan conflict and could help or hinder us with the stand they take on Sri Lanka, together and severally. Consequently we need to cultivate their support, to persuade them to take a clear and an unambiguous stand for us and against the LTTE.
http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=17873
Not an Island unto Itself…
Tisaranee:
I can not understand, if Israel applied the same theories that you appleid, where they would be bye now.
If the Sungoat applied the same analysis, where he would be.
SO, is there any other way that we can argue.
In 1964, Tamilnadu lost their struggle. Then the PAba'a ganag thought, that they could easily bully GOSL, because it is a small island govt.
That is what they are doing. they know exactly what they are doing.
With your analysis, they can have EELAm for sure.
On the rother hand, 80 million tamils spread in a few countries, 50 million in tamilNAdu, thought they don't have their own country, enjoy far better status than 16 million sinhala people - the island nation.
We need to think that what some tamils are doing to us.
Giving into LTTE is not the answer.
All other analysis are mostly CRAP.
Not an Island unto Itself…
Since reading Mr humanright’s “Democracy” I am lost for word, just like the public live under LTT control. :P
Not an Island unto Itself…
[size=100][b]Go visit the LTTE controlled areas and see first hand that there is no corruption there and all citizens enjoy true democracy. No wonder 99.9% of Tamils back the LTTE[/b][/size]
This must be the biggest joke in this century
Thanks.
Not an Island unto Itself…
Sri Lanka protests when foreign governments condemn their brutal killings of its own citizens and state they are a sovereign nation. But when it comes to begging for aid and for arms, they unashamedly go begging. The government is so corrupt that they will never be able to get out of poverty. Rather than criticise the Tamils freedom fighters, concentrate on cleaning up your own corruption. Once you govern as a true democratic country, then the Tamils will stop asking for freedom.
Go visit the LTTE controlled areas and see first hand that there is no corruption there and all citizens enjoy true democracy. No wonder 99.9% of Tamils back the LTTE.
Not an Island unto Itself…
In this article Tisaranee Gunasekara (TG) rehashes her pet theory about the importance of non-LTTE Tamils for the resolution of the separatist problem in SL. This time it is argued that SL needs the support of the international community (IC) to solve the problem, and this support will not be forthcoming unless the non-LTTE Tamils are given the devolution they demand. There are many fallacies in this argument.
It is said that most of the IC does not care what happens in SL, so as far as they are concerned there is no need to give devolution to any racial group. But it is claimed that some countries – e.g. India, US, EU, Canada and Australia – are interested in the outcome and that they favour devolution, even federalism. This may well be the case, but no country should pander to members of the IC regarding the internal constitutional structure of the country.
Sri Lanka as a democratic, secular country should not give territory to racial or ethnic groups on the basis of apartheid. There should be entrenched rights for all, and these should be a legal mechanism to deal with discrimination on racial or any other grounds. Given the size of the country, and its diverse ethnic and religious mix, territorial division on whatever lines will not be a solution. Racially based devolution or federalism will be extremely unstable and the country will disintegrade on the Yugoslav model. The country should operate as a unitary state with the right of every person to live and work anywhere in the country. TG's solution of giving devolution to non-LTTE Tamils will simply not work. The only persons who will benefit will be the LTTE who will dominate the Tamil area and convert it into a fully-fledged Eelaam state.
TG assumes that there is a sizable number of non-LTTE Tamils who think in non-racial terms and would opt for a multi-cultural and democratic solution. It is my contention that such a body does not exist, or even if some individuals hold this position they are not numerically important. Pandering to a mythical army of non-LTTE secular democratic Tamils is not only an error of TG. It is also entertained by the President and many peaceniks. If there is such a body of non-LTTE Tamils why should they object to operating in a unitary country with the same safeguards against discrimination as is present in many multi-cultural countries in the world? It is wrong to call racially based devolution or federalism "pluralism" as TG does. True pluralism can only occur in a unitary state.
The fact is the non-LTTE or 'moderate' Tamils quoted by TG like Anandasnagree, Devananda, UTHR, Tiruchelvam, Yogeswaran, Hoole or Thiranagama are a much Tamil-separatist as the LTTE, but of course not relying on military action. They may call themselves federalists, etc. but what they have demonstrated is their chronic inability to live in a multi-racial society without racial enclaves. TG wants postage stamps issued to commemorate these. It forgets that people like the late Thiranagama for a good part of their early politicl activism supported the LTTE at a time they were engaged in ethnic clensing and the like. It is only later when the LTTE turned on non-compliant Tamils that some of them discovered Human rights. This is clearly seen in the documentary on Thiranagama which was recently shown in the anti-GOSL Australian chanel SBS. Despite the bias and distortion in this film it shows that the T. in the early stages was a propagandist for the LTTE.
Of course much of the problem was created by the blunders of GOSL. The present administration of Mahinda Rajapakse is characterised by extreme servility to the LTTE, and its support for the unitary state is only in its rhetoric. The President's foreign policy has been a disaster. India slammed the door shut in his face, even though he is still trying to woo it. He has no solution other than begging the LTTE to come to negotiations.