Comments on: Condemn President Chavez’s support to Rajapakse

By: Nathan

Nathan — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:19:06 +0000

Sri Lanka army killed over 40000 Tamils and detained 300000 tamils in Camps 40 Media persons including the Sunday Leader Editor even wrote a editorial stating the government will him.
Please note the Sri Lankan has refused to conduct an inquiry.
Rajapakse government killed several children.
Chavez and the leftists should have supported Tamils.
Rajapakse has only shown that he wants Sri Lanka to be family rule with his brother Chamal,Basil,Gothabya and now son all in positions and even arrested his opponent Sarath fonseka
The Left should have supported the Tamils not a Brutal guy like Rajapakse.This is forced the almost entire Tamil nationalists and diaspora to the streets of Toronto,London and Paris.80% of the Tamiil diaspora were on the streets this a mass struggle and even the defeat of the LTTE .Tamils staged referendrum on Vaddukottai 1977 resolution and Over 90% Tamils supported it.
Tamils moving into Government were detained in internment camps even today 100000 are in camps and 14000 in torture special camps with no being brought to trial.
Without mass support LTTE could not fight 33 years rising from the cycle to the Planes.Chavez and Left need to support the Tamils who are being the left in UK,India and other countries but sadly not by the communist states and leaders like Chavez

By: A Rejoinder to Ron Ridenour’s series on Sri Lanka : Socialist Resistance: Fourth International in Britain

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:25:17 +0000

[...] isolating themselves from the left governments, the Indian, especially Tamil, friends of Latin America will achieve nothing. They should have sought to discuss the matter with some of the Latin American [...]

By: Radical Notes » A Rejoinder to Ron Ridenour’s essay on Sri Lanka

Radical Notes » A Rejoinder to Ron Ridenour’s essay on Sri Lanka — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:14:45 +0000

By: S.V.Rajadurai

S.V.Rajadurai — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:53:55 +0000

I fully agree with the entire content of Sivasegaram’s response.It has been written with the courage of conviction of a Marxist who has consistently refused to fall into the Nationalist trap.It is surprising that a section of the Left in India, particularly those who have chosen the path of armed struggle has never cared to ponder over the history,the ideology and the ‘political’practice of the LTTE.They tend to equate any armed struggle against the state machinery with revolution.One needs to understand the position of Cuba and Venezeula in the context of US militarism and the regional hegemonic ambitions of its South Asian ally-the Indian State.Even China under Mao had to make certain foreign policy decisions which were not compatible with her Socialist principles.For example,she was one of the first countries to recognize Pinochet’s regime after the overthrow of Allende.Socialist coutries were/are not powerful enough to ignore the rules of the international game.

It is high time, the section of the Indian Left that considers the LTTE as the representative voice of the Tamil aspirations in Sri Lanka to reach out to the Left forces there in the island in order not to reduce the complex reality into black and white categories and with a aim of see ing and understanding various shades of opinion.

By: Sivasegaram

Sivasegaram — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:57:49 +0000

I think that the criticism is unduly harsh, and fails to take into account the objective global reality, where the US-led imperialist nations are making excuses in the pretext of dealing with human rights abuses and violation of democratic and fundamental rights. (I do not want to go into details of how US meddling in the affairs of countries including ours).

The Cuban statement in the context of the resoultion on Sri Lanka (designed to preempt a US-backed motion) has explained the position of the Latin American left-led governments; and there is need for understanding.
I think that it would have been wiser to have based the criticism on the explanation by theCuban government.

What is at stake in Sri Lanka is not just the national rights of the Tamils but democratic rights themselves. That has to be fought by the people of the country. It is the most pressing need of the country.

As for Tamil Eelam, it has been a project that consistently failed to take full consideration of the national question and national oppression in the country. Tamil Eelasm, the way the LTTE and Tamil nationalists intended, would have worsened the plight of other oppressed Tamil-speaking nationalities as well as harmed the entire people of the country.
Well considered solutions based on the principle of self-determination had been proposed by the genuine left, but the LTTE and other Tamil nationalists, most of whom are now supporters of the Rajapakse regime, had other things in mind.
The LTTE had been most undemocratic and never put its faith in the people. Its intolerance to criticism, let alone opposition, would have made any freedom loving Tamil to dread a Tamil Eelam ruled by the LTTE.
Notably, the LTTE has never spoken in support of a single anti-imperialist struggle anywhere. (Nor have other Tamil nationalists). It had no word of sympathy for the struggles in Kashmir, Manipur and the tribal people in India. It even endorsed golbalisation in 2002.
Also, the elite speaking on behalf of the Tamil nationalist diaspora has been openly pro-imperialist before and after the fall of the LTTE.

As for LTTE terrorism, I think that their attacks on innocent civilians as acts of terror match, at least in spirit, the state terror that I denounce strongly.
It was the insensitive actions of the LTTE targetting innocent Sinhalese civilians that helped to harden Sinhalese attitudes not just against the LTTE but also against the just cause of the Tamil people for autonomy with the right to self determination.

Yet, none of the faults of the LTTE and Tamil nationalists can justify the crimes of successive Sri Lankan governments against its people, especially in the past quarter century.

Beyond all that, there is a need for serious soul searching on the question of Tamil Eelam: Can one seriously see in it a feasible solution to Sri Lanka’s national question?
Did the struggle for “Tamil Eelam” follow a path of mass struggle? If not, why not?
Did the LTTE leadership really care for the people over whom it exercised control? Why did it detain them against their will, and cause a massive human tragedy, especially when it knew that the government would go to any length to have its way, as it had demonstrated in 2006-2008?

Romanticising the LTTE and Tamil Eelam cannot help us to obtain an objective view of the problems in Sri Lanka, where Tamil nationalist folly has rendered the Tamils leaderless, at least for the present. I am certain that the Tamils need a different aim and a different kind of leadership to win their fredom