The Tamil Tigers are about to be defeated in the conventional aspect of the war between it and the Sri Lankan fascist state. Despite all of the problems of this Tamil Sri Lankan revolutionary group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, I have always supported them. I do not support their tactics, and the shooting of innocent civilians who are trying to flee their zone of control is simply outrageous. This is part of a campaign in which the rebels have apparently forced their own civilians to be human shields. It was never going to work anyway, as the Sri Lankan fascists are ruthless. Recently, a hospital in the rebel zone had to be abandoned when it came under ruthless, multi-day shelling. Let’s not forget the death squads. The Sri Lankan fascists have always run their lovely death squads, a hallmark of most state counterinsurgency operations in the modern era, but they’re really ramped up the nastiness in the last few years. Just about any Tamil civilian can be hauled off and killed or disappeared. The Tigers took up conscription two years ago, and that made a lot of people mad. But guerrilla armies, when they get very large, often have to conscript, especially when they are losing a lot of forces in fighting. And it’s usually fairly unpopular in the areas they control. The Salvadoran FMLN did that at one point, and it wasn’t very popular with them either. No one likes a draft. The Tigers have made many additional mistakes, killing and persecuting other Tamil nationalists who did not support its cause, including other rebels, and virtually forcing Tamils to support them whether they wanted to or not. That’s not the way a nationalist revolutionary movement is supposed to operate. The problem was the megalomania of one man, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who has led the group for 30 years, bringing it from a tiny guerrilla band to a huge and feared conventional force. It was probably the going to a conventional military that defeated the LTTE, although they are really not defeated. They have lost the conventional war, but I am sure that they will take up guerrilla war. The government says that now that the LTTE is defeated, the government will start negotiations to grant the Tamils the rights and autonomy that they want. That’s a bunch of crap. That’s what the LTTE has been demanding all along. There is no reason on Earth for a victorious government to grant one single right to the defeated rebels, and they will not. That’s why they went to war in the first place, so they wouldn’t have to grant the Tamils any rights. The truth is that the Sinhalese are a bunch of fascist bastards. They’ve dominated, repressed and lorded it over the poor Tamils from Day One in that place. No wonder the Tamils want their own state, for Chrissake, who could blame them. Tamils have always been 3rd Class citizens in that place. That’s what the whole war was about. The Tamils are a minority, 15 The Tigers actually have very broad support across the Tamil community inside Sri Lanka and certainly outside Sri Lanka. I’ve known two Tamils in India, and they both supported the Tigers all the way. What’s truly sickening is the way almost every single state on Earth has cheered on the fascist Sri Lankan Sinhalese state. Other states have flooded them with guns, and I guess that’s how they won the war. The world’s international media has been cheering the fascists on, and can barely contain its glee over the defeat of the rebels. This actually points out the anarchist argument that states in general are no good. I don’t know how we get away from states, but when the chips are down, they always support the fascists among them. Just about every state on Earth opposes the right of minorities to secede. Even the most civilized states of on Earth, those inhabited by White European stock (the only states that grant minority nations succession rights) have cheered on the fascist Sri Lankans. Barack Obama, a liberal Democrat to my eyes but a socialist-Communist to the US Right, is delighted that the fascists have won. The world’s media doesn’t seem to support the right of minorities to secede either – why else are they cheering on the fascists? Statism as a fascist-like ideology is supported not only by the world’s states, as one might expect, but by the media too. And by extension, the rich and elite of the world. Which begs the question of why the elite and the media always oppose self-determination and support state fascism (in other words, the elite and the media always line up with the states), but I’m stumped. This time I’m with the anarchists, and I will leave it up to them to answer that question.
We fought the civil war over the secessionist issue in America and my side won. It’s like the issue was decided by trial by combat and the results are now canonical. That’s why I sympathize even with Russia, when areas like Chechnya try to secede.
If every minority tried to secede from their governing body the world would be in chaos. They need to, instead, modify their constitutions to protect minority rights peacefully.
I’m not well versed with Sri Lanken politics, but you yourself state that the Tamil Rebels were brutal. If Barak Obama supports the government then that is good enough for me.
Robert, you obviously don’t live in Toronto. All the Tamil refugees have been blocking traffic on major roads. They even broke through police lines, ran up the on ramp and blocked the Gardner Expressway last week. It’s been like this every day for a month. Plus, they torched a Buddhist temple a few nights ago.I guess they don’t have jobs to go to.
Furthermore, at these riots, they put the women and children in the front ranks to face to face with the riot cops. Good thing for the kids the Toronto police chief is too much of a pussy to do anything except pay hundreds of cops overtime to stand around and do nothing.