Audacity Of A Tongue: Nadashen’s Tongue Acrobatics Continues Unabated

Author: Swarnajith Udana - swarnajithudana@gmail.com

Consider this unbelievable act of tongue gymnastics.

“Whenever the LTTE had the upper hand militarily, the Sri Lankan ruling party pretending to find a political solution came for peace talks. But, once finding the time space to strengthen its armed forces, the Sri Lankan ruling party disrupted the peace talks and again created the conditions for war.

The Sri Lankan Governments have staged this drama of deceiving the world and the Tamil people starting from the very first talks, after the launch of the armed struggle, in Thimbu in 1985 till the 2002 ceasefire agreement and the following five years of peace talks under Norway's facilitation.”-Nadashen

Can you see how true this is? Alright, I agree. There is a minor correction to be made. In that statement, LTTE and Sri Lankan Government are occupying each others’ place. If you do not replace LTTE with Sri Lankan Government and vice versa then this is an example of audacity of a tongue which may be unparallel in human history. This tongue is, of course, a gifted tongue. Gifted by the Sun God, that is.

Rajiv Gandhi was killed. It is either “that was an act of liberation” or “Sri Lankan Government did it to paint the LTTE in bad colour”. Which one of these is to be picked is determined by the operational need of the day.

Whatever LTTE does is an act of pure generosity of the highest kind.

Government sends food to Wanni. This is an act of genocide.
LTTE takes this food by force and deny it to the civilians. This is an act of generosity; also an act of liberation of the highest order.

The Government welcomes refugees and look after them. This is genocide.
Tamil civilians are shot at and killed by the LTTE. Further they are used as body armour. This is utmost generosity of the best of human decency.

The roads that can be used by civilians to flee to the government area are mined by the LTTE. That is emancipation.

The Tamil Diaspora cannot feel this human tragedy because their ethnic ideology has blinded them. Any ideology can blind us and can take us to the abyss of evilness. Patriotism, socialism, capitalism or even humanism in extreme form can blind us and push us into the darkness. It happens slowly. So we do not realise unless we stop and look at ourselves frequently to see where we are going.

We need to operate on principles rather than on emotions or rules. We need to practice patriotism for the welfare of our people not for the sake of ideology of patriotism. We need to practice humanism for the benefit of mankind not for the sake of ideology of humanism.

I do not believe that we are exonerated of creating the LTTE. If the right conditions were not there LTTE leader could still have become a psychopath; a social one not necessarily a socio politico one. We are a part of that crime. Tamil people are a part of that crime. We need to find salvation in our hearts, end the blame game and learn how to live together as Sri Lankans had done for many centuries, because we are them they are us.

Miracles Of Money: Unscrupulous Gymnastics Of a “Legal” Professional

Author: Swarnajith Udana - swarnajithudana@gmail.com

What determines who is a terrorist?
What determines what humanism is?
What determines what is evil?
What determines what is good?

A great service of unimaginable value has been rendered by some legal saints who stand for sanctity of human rights and civil liberty by simplifying the process of answering such questions.

The methodology is so simple; unbelievably simple. Only problem is that the answer generates utmost revulsion in any decent person and increases the bank account of the creators of this simple method. This makes one ponder is it really possible such ‘erudite’ people to fall into this despicable level of nastiness and hypocrisy just for color of money. More the zeros in the sum, the deeper the abyss of evilness and darkness these people fall into.

If the Government of Sri Lanka has paid the fee asked by the so called great humanist lawyer then the LTTE is the terrorist organization. Since the Sri Lankan Government has not agreed to pay the fee, that is what has determined what terrorism is not. Since the LTTE has paid more or less than this asked price of 25000 dollars a month, the Sri Lankan government has suddenly become the terrorist party and LTTE has become the angles of peace, champions of liberation, ideals of humanity and priests of sanctity, to the sharp eyes of these lawyers. That is, sharp enough to see only the color of money. This is the miracle of money. This is the ultimate manifestation of incredible ‘legal’ gymnastics of unscrupulousness.

Let us look at a different situation. A farmer may refuse to sell his produce to a customer if the right price is not offered. This is quite normal, but the farmer will not poison the foods in the refrigerator of this customer. A doctor may refuse to treat a person who is not in an emergency situation if the right fee is not agreed upon but the doctor will not falsify the medical history of this patient. Now, an underworld contract killer will obviously behave differently. If the underworld thug does not like the price offered to him by the person A to protect him from B then he will negotiate with the person B to kill the Person A for half the fee. That is natural too. That is what natural to contract killers.

Now these unscrupulous acts legal professionals are amount to contract killing of Tamil people, nothing less and Sri Lanka in general. This frightens me. What would have happened if the Government had agreed to pay the fee? Would this person have become the greatest of the great in our eyes? How ironical, sad and frightening?

This writer will be extremely unhappy, as many others, if Sri Lankan Government acts casually towards the safety of civilian lives. Indications are that the Government is trying to do all it can to save human lives under extremely difficult circumstances. For example, UTHR(J) has commended that soldiers’ behavior at crossing points being exceptionally well. In the refuge camps there could be vultures. Some of these vultures could even be LTTE-ers. Like in Tsunami or New Orleans cyclone there are always vultures who take advantage of human tragedies. This behavior has no racial undertones or is not limited to any particular group. Religious, civil and political leaders can assist the government to eliminate behaviors of such vultures.

We need to look at the promise here. Even after the suicide bombing in side the refugee camp if the soldiers, who are trained to promptly react to even a slightly a threatening situation, can behave with such gentleness towards civilians (even though these civilians could end up being LTTE attackers) is a hallmark of bravery and nobleness of well disciplined soldiers. Again there could be people step out side the norm. In the name of our Tamil brothers and sisters the government needs to look into these possibilities. I emphasize that the tragedy of tsunami brought out the best of humanity and the worst. In any crisis situation, in any country these things could happen. It was reported that how Sri Lankan Sinhalese Nave personnel risked their lives to save Tamil brothers and sisters. Again even in that situation LTTE obstructed these rescue efforts and did not give any assistance to the people.

One may resist that this writer is thinking every civilian as a possible LTTE terrorist. Not so, but this problematic challenge itself epitomizes the brutality of LTTE methodology. Isn’t this another reason why the LTTE needs to be destroyed? Even basic human compassion is a bait of death. They can use so called their own people as baits of deaths. This reminds me Ted Bundy. To rape and kill he lured girls by pretending to be sick.

I would like to summarize what a few zeros in a bank check can do. It can sanctify the act of using babies, women, and elderly people as body protection suits. Yes it is a divine act of endless mercy and human compassion. It can deify drug trafficking, human smuggling suicide killing and any other crime. Yes they are noble acts of liberation. More the zero-more the lowness they would embrace. What I am surprised at is that world has ears to lend them.

I would like to thank Hela Puwath for bringing this aspect to my attention.

Demonstrating for the same reason – to save Tamil civilians

Author: Rover

It was a cold and windy day, in Washington DC on the 20th of February 2009, when I walked over with a couple of other folks down the streets, we walked down Pennsylvania avenue (where we parked our car) and turned onto 15 th street. On my right, I could see the White House, and far away the majestic Washington monument, the worlds tallest obelisk built to commemorate the first US president George Washington. My destination was between these two imposing structures – the Ellipse, an open park fringed with trees where the National Christmas Tree is located, and during the American Civil War where the union troops camped, but more importantly for my story, where we were about to counter-demonstrate against a ruthless terrorist organization, the LTTE.

I was reminiscencing – how could an internationally proscribed terrorist organization be allowed to demonstrate freely in the middle of the epitome of US governance. Was this a dream? Perhaps it won’t be the LTTE, it probably will be just Tamil people, concerned about the plight of the entrapped civilians, wanting to demonstrate against the LTTE to save the Tamils. This I knew was just wishful thinking, and in a corner of my heart I knew that it would be mostly the LTTE.

When I arrived at the Ellipse, it was divided by a broad fence into two halves, the Sri Lankan half and the “Tamil” half ((I use citation marks for a specific reason as you will see later), mounted police were actively keeping an eye for trouble makers; already a large group of "Tamil" supporters had gathered, and already I could hear their slogans through their loudspeakers. They had also got the prime spot, right in front of the State Building next to the White House. Predominantly Canadian and US flags were being waved about. No sign of LTTE flags. But the heat was on.

I watched a group Sri Lankans getting ready for the counter demonstration. I heard someone asking around… “do we have access to a loudspeaker?”; “no not yet, we’ll soon find one” came the answer – we were not that well prepared, at least on the loudspeaker front. Another man was preparing banners. One elderly gentleman had put in a lot of effort and had made a lot of banners; he must have taken at least a day preparing those. And they had some profound slogans. Even some of the ones we discussed on this blog! Another group had prepared the flags, Sri Lankan and the US flags – they were given around. We were ready to go!

A couple of Sri Lankans who obviously had no prior ability to run a demonstration started to lead the chanting. It was a feeble effort, rather depressing. These were probably gentle folk who worked in the nearby offices who were compelled to attend the demonstration in support of our country. Mercifully, soon a group of Sri Lankan youngsters with some spunk and with a little bit of cheer-leading abilities took over, and the chanting took a turn to better. One girl stood out from the rest. She had a high pitched voice, and it pierced all corners of the Ellipse. I started liking this. But still they were not really used to doing this sort of thing, it was obvious. Why should we be? Sri Lankans have better things to do than going all over US, demonstrating and being a public menace; we are not on welfare. In fact many people with Sri Lankan roots missed the demonstration because it was a working day, a Friday.

In contrast, the "Tamil" demonstrators were very good at chanting, they were professionals, I was told (and felt) that the same group attends all the LTTE instigated demonstration in N. America. Apparently around 40 buses had arrived, mostly from Canada, where most of the LTTE supporting idle Tamils who are on welfare live – a good population for the LTTE to exploit.

Curiously, I soon realized that both the Sri Lankans and their opposition were chanting to save the civilians! At least this was one of the major reasons. Why were we then chanting as different groups if we were demanding the same thing?! Perhaps there were no LTTE supporters here? My hope was soon shattered when LTTE flags were suddenly raised; there were 6 of them, and banners of Prabhakaran (wow!), the LTTE leader. So this crowd comprised of LTTE supporters, wanting to save the Terrorists who were entrapped by the Sri Lanka Defense Forces and not really the civilians.

Let me be clear. LTTE is holding Tamil civilians as a human shield, and would not let them go their way despite the Sri Lankan government providing a no-fire zone and safe passage. There was even a two day ceasefire to facilitate the safe movement of civilians, at a great cost to the army. But still, the LTTE didn't let the civilians go. LTTE was admonished severely by the UN for obstructing civilian passage. So it is now well known that LTTE wants to keep the civilians trapped for to further propagate their terrorist activities. So the guys demonstrating here wanted to save the LTTE instead of the entrapped civilians. Government's main goal on the other hand was to crush the LTTE militarily and save the civilians, both in short and long term.

By seeing the Terrorist flags, right in the middle of the US, I was disappointed. How could LTTE terrorists raise their flag in front of the epitome of US democracy? When the US government, itself plagued by the activities of terrorists, had given permission for the “Tamils” to demonstrate, how did the LTTE hijack this? Or were the LTTE terrorists given permission to demonstrate here? How could a proscribed terrorist group loaf around freely and chant against a democracy that is fighting the terrorists? Would anyone have allowed Al-Queda, shinning-path or Hamas activists to demonstrate here? But soon several Sri Lankans called some influential people and the flag-bearers were asked to lower their Terrorist flags.

Another poignant event occurred. A white American had gone to the LTTE side to ask a few questions; to get at the truth. One of his questions had been “why are you demonstrating here, I was in Sri Lanka when LTTE bombs went off and many civilians were killed”. The LTTE supporters had not liked this question and had asked him to “go away!”; he had retorted “this is my country, you can’t ask me to go away!”; the LTTE guys had said “this is our country too!”. After this guy came running into our half and got a Sri Lankan flag and started waving it vigorously about and joined us in our demonstration. Well, he actually went beyond our allotted space into the LTTE half and displayed the Sri Lankan flag! This act was poignant for me as at that moment, Bruce Fein, another American, but who was more interested in materialistic gains rather than moral considerations, was at that very moment with the LTTE supporters, but mercifully I did not see or hear what he was doing.

It was bloody cold, as I said earlier, and it was time to go home, I had been here for almost five hours and was half frozen, time to find a coffee shop somewhere and back to work. I walked away from the Ellipse, cold and hungry, and quite disappointed to hear my country being denigrated by a ruthless terrorist group. The last chants I heard that drifted across the frigid ellipse were made by an LTTE vixen screaming “Sri Lankans are cowards, killing innocent children!” and "let us end this genocide!". Since then I have been wondering how a terrorist group, that terrorized civilians to get at a political goal for 30 years, killing more than 75,000 people in the process, was able to demonstrate to "save civilians", in the grand Ellipse to the right of the White House.

"Genocide" Accusation of Bruce Fein

Author: Swarnajith Udana - swarnajithudana@gmail.com

People are blinded by many things; sometimes it is patriotism, sometimes religion, it could be power or earning for glory, perhaps a solidified ideal or penchant for money. I cannot say what has exactly blinds and drives Mr. Bruce Fein. Irrespective of the reasons that blinds him, the outcome of his actions creates a disastrous inhumane bias against innocent civilians and instigates a culture of worship of suicide bombing, using civilians as defence body armour (human shield), drug trafficking, human smuggling, kidnapping children and sending them to war front as canon-fodder, credit card frauds and various other crimes.

I, as a humanist, always appreciate and admire any human being who speaks up against oppression but when people patronize terrorism in the name of humanity that is a worse crime than terrorism itself. If one wants to stand against oppression in true sense then they must oppose all forms of oppression. Only then we can stand as true humanists and help oppressed people. An example which satisfies this condition is University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

I do not wish to whitewash or talk down horribleness of 1983 riots. Leaders of then Government were responsible for that crime. This is obvious. As Mr. Ananda Sangari once pointed our, what is not obvious is that what happened was what LTTE exactly wanted to happen. Then Government played into the hands of LTTE. Though this does not alleviate, excuse the role of Sinhalese mob or that of the Government, 1983 riots speaks up volumes for cruelty, barbarianism, unscrupulousness of LTTE.

If the LTTE can use the so called "their own people", whom they say that they are the sole representative of, as bait and if the LTTE can kill "their own people" whom they say they are liberating without any mercy and if the LTTE can use the people whom they are going to liberate as cheap body defence armour that has less value than a bag of dirt that itself stands as evidence of their inhumane nature of unspeakable magnitude. If so called humanists cannot see this, then if this is not natural blindness of perceiving reality, then it should be a blindness caused by wishful and willful search of wealth. This kind of blindness is as bad as LTTE terrorism.