True Nationalism Vs Imperialist Tribalism 

Rajpal has clarified many matters in his reply, leaving what I believe, as the main matter of controversy. He ends his article saying “I daresay that a political arrangement for the North and the East is a necessity to avoid possible future flare-ups between the two major ethnic communities. I think on that too Dr. Bahu and I could agree. But I certainly do not agree with him that protecting the economic sovereignty of this nation - which is something entirely separate from defending this government - is anti-national, or Sinhala chauvinist! After all, these progressive Nationalists ended the war, and stopped the seepage to the US of our dollars, to buy 44% of our arms needs! And if anybody - whether it’s Dr. Bahu or anybody else - thinks there was any other way of stopping the war with the fascist terrorist LTTE - of course surely he is in la-la land!.” There are many things that I could dispute in this short paragraph. Firstly, there is no ethnic problem in this country. Europeans assume, that they have left ethnic rivalries long ago and their conflicts are national problems. Rivalry between English and Irish is considered to be a national problem. However Tamils and Sinhala both, left tribalism long time back, may be in the 5th century; yet we are told that we have an ethnic problem. We dropped idol worship even before; and Hindu, and subsequently, Buddhist philosophies fashioned our thinking. In fact, Buddhist rationalism contested the concept of creation and advocated a rationalist view point. In this manner we lived in this island for over 2000 years. But still Tamil Sinhala clashes are discussed by the imperialists, in the framework of ethnic and tribal conflict. So Rajpal, let us get out of this imperialist bid to keep us in the domain of tribalism and let us go forward to put the problem in the proper framework.

Two nationalites one people
We are two nations or nationalities though we are the same people and lived such a long time in this country. To put it in simple words we are of the same blood and flesh, but we are different in language, religion and culture and these are seeped in ancient traditions. Thus we have a national problem which could be much deeper than any European nationality problem. Secondly, there is no fascist problem here, as Tamil nationality is economically as underdeveloped as the Sinhala nationality or more so. LTTE did not express the expansion of the great Dravidian nation as there was no such thing but only a ferocious hatred of a small nation oppressed for decades. LTTE was the guerrilla expression of the Tamil struggle for freedom and equality. Thirdly, so called progressive nationalists did not end the war, but it was transformed into an international political campaign against Sinhala nationality. What does the LLRC report say? It says the war was contaminated with criminality and human rights violations. Also it admits the Tamil national problem and recommends Tamils should be given autonomy and democratic freedom. Fourthly, it is not Bahu who is in a la la land but Rajpal himself.

Tamil homeland
He thinks that the problem is solved where as the problem has become tenfold with all kinds of attacks aimed at Lanka. We could have solved the problem if a true autonomy was given to the Tamil homeland. If such powers were granted the LTTE would have died a natural death, if it did not accept a reasonable solution; because Tamils would have defended the autonomy against any extremism. Also the Lankan Tamils do not want to lose their first citizenship in Lanka.
Trouble with Rajpal and other progressives who think in this manner, is that they do not understand the Tamil national problem. Or more correctly they do not want to understand the problem. Otherwise how could one say that the LTTE is a fascist organisation? How could a nation of 3 million peasants and fishers living in misery create a fascist movement? If at least the Indian state was run by Siva sena and that backed the LTTE one could talk in terms of Hindu fascism.
We can think of a situation similar to Cyprus. But in this case it was Indian rulers who wanted the heads of the LTTE leaders. General Fonseka had said, that once the armed forces were put in order the rig rag army of the LTTE had no options but to runaway leaving one city after the other, into jungle marshy areas pleading international forces to save them. The truth is this war of Mahinda backed by India was not a necessity nor was it a war against a fascist take over. It was a war conducted in the model of ‘war against terror” of US and other global powers. It has given the opportunity to the Establishment to grab our land, water and earth resources, while aggravating the Tamil national problem. We are more in the clutches of the Establishment today, than we were before the war. True nationalists should mobilize all communities against the establishment to protect the national economy.

Posted by Thavam