Tamils, it's time to wake up!

| by C. Naganathan

( May 29, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Before the LTTE evolved into a militant force, the peaceful struggle for devolution by the Tamil leaders (front of old Parliament and Galle face green) were attacked by the Sinhala government sponsored mob. During that time the Tamil problem was known as a domestic issue and the outside world did not bother, but today the situation is totally different, the entire world is involved.

In his keynote address by Mr. R Sampanthan the leader of the main Tamil parliamentary party at the recent congress of that organization provides a glimpse of their future tactics.

In his speech Mr. Sampanthan also says,

“…Our patience however, will not be everlasting. Our patience too, has its limits. Once we have reached that limit, we will move onto the stage of our effort. We will not hesitate to gather our people together and with the support of progressive forces in our country, and the international community, even engage in a non-violent struggle. We will decide on specific deadlines and when the time comes for such action, we will act…”

When it comes to non-violent campaigns, the Non-Violent Direct Action exemplified several decades ago by the Civil Rights Movement under Martin Luther King in the USA is a very practical alternative technique to militancy-cum-terrorism. There are several features in this strategy which are positive and relevant to the Tamil people everywhere.

Firstly, it will involve large masses, if not all, of the Tamil people. Secondly, it will preclude the enormous waste of resources in the purchase of arms, which could be far better spent in rehabilitating the North and East, presently lying in ruins. It also provides a less unethical, less immoral and certainly less mortal route to the same experience of involvement - and it is open to every Tamil.

All Tamil parties should establish their permanent headquarters in the North and the East, so also the Tamil social service organizations or humanitarian agencies. The Hindu cultural and religious organizations should follow suit. The Tamil people everywhere else should consider it their bounden duty to look after their less-fortunate brethren in the North and East as a priority, live soberly, and demonstrate to the rest of the world that they take their responsibilities as a people, seriously and ethically. Non-violence with Direct Action is not naive, but a rough factor for real politic based on careful study of human psychology.

It will enable the Tamils and the parties to appeal with confidence to the conscience of the international community, as expressed in international law, world opinion and international institutions. It will realistically facilitate an UN-sponsored armistice and UN-supervised referendum that will hand back the traditional Tamil lands to the Tamil people.

It is for the Tamil people in the North and East to decide how they wish to settle the Tamil question, let the people have their say. It is time that Tamil people everywhere, whether in the Tamil speaking areas, or in the rest of the country, or abroad, demand their right to an open forum in which to have their say. Create the conditions for the Tamil people to exercise their right to enter the debate and negotiate the final answer to the Tamil question that concerns them most?

Every opportunity should be grasped by the Tamil people, parties and organizations alike to establish links with the International community (including India) and also with groups of enlightened Sinhalese opinion that perceive the good of all implicit in breaking the hold of the present Sinhala ruling class over the affairs of the country, defeating majoritarianism and replacing the present Unitarianism and centrist structure of government by a new confederative structure or consociation of nationalities. This, in a plural society such as ours, is the only suitable vehicle for democracy, according parity, equality and tolerance at all levels of government and society and culture and liberating the down-trodden and oppressed, whether Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher or other, so that they may live in peace, dignity and concord, without either class or ethnic bias and where there is scope for all without the one subsuming the other.