The Rajpal Abeynayake Column
Rebels with no causes as such...
What happened to the bright young Canuck who was of Sri Lankan
descent? The same thing that happened to some bright young whites in
England who turned Muslims and joined th e
growing global Islamic militant terror movement. Last week I read
somewhere also, that next to Sri Lankans, there were more Canucks
compelled to flee the fighting in Lebanon. The writer ended up saying
that “most of these fleeing Sri Lankans would have been cleaning the
tables of the fleeing Canucks.” Not a totally relevant detail if you ask
me — but that’s the kind of insensitivity that probably sends bright
young Sri Lankans in Canada into the hands of the Tiger movement, and
bright but underprivileged whites in England (..and sometimes in Canada)
into the ranks of Islamic terrorist movements. Who knows? There is
probably a better chance that fleeing Canadians would join Islamic
terror outfits, than there is a chance that a fleeing Sri Lankan
housemaid would join any kind of militant uprising.
Also appearing this week was the article —- highlighted in an
international news magazine — which reviewed the story of a Russian
teenager who got sent to Siberia, along with her entire family, for
writing in her teenager’s diary that “Stalin is a dictator who is
ruining all of Russia.” For that, and for writing about teenage love and
angst. She survived six years in Siberia, was eventually pardoned by
Khrushchev, and met a “handsome face” that she pined for in her diary.
Eventually, she married that man she met in Siberia, and lived to be
seventy-five, even though the words in her teenage diary were the only
ones she ever wrote. This was the Ann Frank story with the happy ending.
Goes to show that in every society, there are those who feel
alienated enough to push the envelope upon the system, which is
perceived sometimes accurately, and sometimes exaggeratedly, as
oppressive, insensitive and overwhelming.
Quite a roundabout way perhaps to arrive at the issue of the reported
suicide attacks against the LTTE by the Karuna group. If those who
committed suicide for the LTTE did so for the Tamil cause, are those who
are motivated to commit suicide on behalf of Karuna doing so AGAINST the
Tamil cause??? Or are they committing suicide for Batticoloa, and for
the glories of Eastern Sri Lanka and all its silvery lagoons?
We do not know, except to say that in the midst of mounting evidence
that there are suicide attacks being carried out now by the Karuna
group, that we should re-visit Richard Pape. Pape did the authoritative
handbook on suicide terrorism, and his thesis revolves round the same
thesis of marginalisation alienation and angst that this article began
with.
The sufficiently alienated, are willing to kill, and are willing to
kill themselves “for a cause” or so is what could be gathered from the
Pape thesis. Talking of killing, there is time here for an interesting
aside that concerns Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda who grants an
interesting interview to Rediff., which we reproduce elsewhere in this
newspaper.
Uyangoda is asked “what do you think of Prabhakaran?” With his usual
display of extraordinary courage under pressure, Uyangoda says
“Prabhakaran is a controversial figure. I cannot say much about him. I
have to live in Colombo.” With his characteristic bravura, Uyangoda
wants to evade the issue. There are thousands of prominent persons in
Colombo who have said both kind and unkind things about Prabhakaran and
continued to live. Nobody has been killed by either side in Colombo at
least, for making a stray comment in an interview.
With this line, Jayadeva Uyangoda distinguishes himself by his
mendacity. He does not have the courage of any conviction that he
carries. Colombo society’s alienation is seen to be complete with this
kind of timidity at its disposal. Whom do the young look to for
leadership, when a man who cannot say boo to any goose or gander passes
for a political analyst?
Anyway, there is alienation and marginalisation in society, without
any overarching cause for it; but often the cause is somebody’s desire
for economic advantage over another group.
John Kenneth Galbraith said so in his book “The affluent class”, where
he wrote something to the effect “whenever anybody espouses a cause, be
careful — he is talking of economic dominance over the other.” There can
be no doubt that this is the gist of what Galbraith wrote; he is a Nobel
prize winning economist, not a Nobel prize winning political scientist.
Tailpiece:
One Quadri Ismail writing in the Lies magazine, oops, Lines magazine,
takes issue with the late Kethesh Loganathan for joining the government
Peace Secretariat — his last bold professional move which almost
certainly earned him his eventual death sentence. Kethesh is portrayed
as a naive man with a good heart, who sought peace but joined the wrong
folks with whom to do so.
What a ghastly piece for something masquerading as a tribute. First,
tribute it isn’t, as it is tantamount to justification for the murder of
the man. Writes Ismail that Mahinda Rajapaksa reminds one of the
terrible days of the war criminal J. R. Jayewardene.
Quadri Ismail’s memory does not retain any memories -- pity -- about
the times of the war criminal V. Prabhakaran, the here and the now. No
mention of the LTTE’s attack in Kebbilithigolewa -- on a busload full of
civilians - - which precipitated this round of violence against
civilians.
At times of conflict, spiralling violence against civilians is almost
inevitability — as Gandhi said, violence begets violence. Most everybody
is repulsed by any kind of violence, but that does not mean most
everybody wants to distort the cause for it.
What precipitated this round of violence? The LTTE wanted Rajapaksa
elected — but he sued for peace upon being elected. How did the LTTE
respond? With Kebbilithigolewa, an attack on the army commander etc.,
Nothing earthshaking here, the LTTE having killed the Sri Lankan Foreign
Minister last year, when Rajapaksa had still not dreamt of being elected
President.
Ismail writes that among Rajapaksa’s first acts was to appoint Sarath
Fonseka and H.M.G.B Kotakadeniya, Sinhala supremacists — to leading
positions in the defence establishment.
Maybe the President should have called Ismail to obtain his opinion
on whom to appoint as the Army commander, and Ismail would have probably
said smartly “go ahead appoint me.” But with a marauding Tiger which had
sabotaged a free and fair election in the north and the east of the
country, killed a Foreign Minister and killed over a hundred
intelligence operatives in the country - - while establishing camps in
the Sampur area in strict contravention of the ceasefire agreement, it
will be comic if Rajapaksa isn’t entitled to appoint his best man to
lead his army. Sinhala supremacist?? The guy had a record of military
successes against the Tiger, and if that makes him a Sinhala
supremacist, what does Spassky’s genius in successfully defending his
world championship chess title make him —- a communist imperialist?
If a Commander in Chief is not entitled to appoint his best soldier
for his job — what is he supposed to do, appoint some armchair pundit’s’
pet Doberman pincher? Kethesh made no mistake, he knew that, peace
without appeasement, means precisely that the President should appoint
his best General. I mean, who is this guy, who titles his article Peace
without appeasement (he speaks of appeasement of the LTTE!) and then
grudges President Rajapaksa for appointing his best general — precisely
because he wanted peace without appeasement.
Kethesh hadn’t jerked off his memory or his ratiocinating power. He
worked for a tough Commander in Chief, who did not appease — but sued
for peace, calling for talks from the moment he assumed office. He still
calls for talks. That’s what peace without appeasement means. You don’t
need a degree in English to decipher the meaning of the words and act
upon them - -as Kethesh showed, so let the man rest in peace without
anybody having to do any violence to his legacy, or to his memory....
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