Imperialist Intentions in Geneva and the Desperation of Tamil Nationalists

Imperialist Intentions in Geneva and the
Desperation of Tamil Nationalists

Comrade SK Senthivel, General Secretary of the New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party addressed a meeting for the youth held at the Jaffna office of the Party. The following is an excerpt of his address.

The US has exposed its imperialist ulterior motives by releasing the draft text of the resolution that it intends to bring up at the United Nations Human Rights Council Sessions in Geneva. Not knowing that, the US-loyalist Tamil nationalist leaders conducted false propaganda among Tamils that the Geneva resolution would turn out to be a great blessing to the Tamils.

Now they are moaning and groaning that they have been let down. This is an expression of their short-sighted narrow politics with loyalty to the White maters with little understanding of imperialism. What we witness today is an expression of the politics of foreign loyalty of the Tamil leadership which is unable to make out whether the wolf is shedding tears out of its own hunger or out of pity for the goat getting drenched in the rain.

From the last century to this day, members of the so-called Tamil leadership have been loyal stooges of British colonialists and then the US imperialists. But the Tamil people have not been rewarded with any political returns for all the submissive loyalty shown by the Tamil leadership. The British and later the Americans have always been on the side of the ruling Sinhala Buddhist ruling class elite.

To readily forget on whose side Britain, the US and India were in the closing stages of the war — during which war crimes and human right violations are said to have occurred — and to hope for a resolution on an international inquiry into war crimes to emerge from Geneva through their initiative is as comic as asking the person who provided the stick to strike with to give evidence in support of the victim.

What the US and the countries of the West want are not the North and East or the Tamil people. They want to have the whole of Sri Lanka within their global hegemonic grip. Since the Rajapaksa brothers do not come up with the absolute compliance that they desire, they are flinging ropes from Geneva in order to either tame the Rajapaksa brothers or replace their regime with another to the liking of imperialism. It is for this purpose that the draft resolution for Geneva allocates time for discussing Sri Lanka in the 26^th and 27^th Sessions of the UNHCR. By portraying the US and Britain which conduct themselves in such fashion as the saviours of the Tamil people, the Tamil leadership’s is only seeking to deceive the entire Tamil people.

Periodic declarations by the Tamil political parties such as “there comes the pressure” “here comes the mechanism” “the Internal Community is watching intently” and “an international inquiry is due” by pointing to Chennai, Delhi, Washington and London have been acts of political deception. The Tamil people, especially the younger generation, should reject such political falsehoods and superstitions and come forward to take the road of clear and far-sighted politics for the people. Otherwise, once again, the people will receive only disappointments and losses.

Answering the question “Why did you participate in the awareness campaigns organized by the Tamil leadership the past?” raised during the discussion, Comrade Senthivel said that the Party participated in those struggles for two reasons. One is that the Party has strongly condemned the political, economic and military oppression imposed on the Tamil people by the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinist regime even after the end of the war. Workers, peasants, fisher-folk and women continue to be severely affected. The Party, therefore, has participated in these awareness campaigns to emphasize its own demands. The Party participated in the campaigns to take up the issues of resettlement of the people in their own areas, encroachment of land by the military, planned colonization, the release of political prisoners, due rehabilitation for those who have been resettled, civil administration, normal life, democracy.

Secondly, the Party has meanwhile urged the Tamil political parties on those issues as well as a common programme for a political solution. In particular, the Party emphasized the need for progressive Tamil nationalism. But the Tamil political parties carry on with the attitude that such things cannot be expected of them and that they will continue with their domineering elitist political line. While the parties of the Tamil National Alliance lack unity and solidarity, they pursue votes, positions, power and political domineering. Under the cloak of Tamil nationalism, they continue to show the Tamil people a narrow political path.

Meantime, those in the Tamil National People’s Front are seeking to go along the road of Tamil Eelam by pushing a ‘two nations’ theory’. Their Tamil narrow nationalist position is rich nutrition for the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists and the regime of the Rajapaksa brothers; meanwhile the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinist projections and practices undertaken by them in the South nourish the Tamil leadership.

Under these conditions, the Tamil leaders have no practically feasible policies or programmes to guide the Tamil people. As a result, they are surrendering to and pleading with the rulers of the US, Britain and India, kissing the feet that kicked them.

There is a need to move away from this state of affairs and advance along the path of mass struggle among the Tamil people for democracy and a political solution to the national question based on the right to self-determination. That should reflect the aspirations of the Tamil people and the fundamental problems of the workers, peasants, fisher-folk, women and those oppressed by caste. Such a stand should be reflected among the ordinary toiling Sinhalese people of the South and create an understanding among them about the case of the Tamil people for a political solution.

It is therefore that the Party has continued to emphasize that the Tamil political parties should transcend ballot box politics aiming at posts and portfolios and come forward to join a common programme for winning autonomy for all nationalities of Sri Lanka within a United Sri Lanka, based on the principle of the right to self-determination. Comrade Senthivel pointed out the importance of the young generation taking these matters into consideration.

(Reported by: Comrade SK Senthivel, General Secretary, NDMLP)