This weekend marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of war in Sri Lanka, which is commonly dated to the anti-Tamil riots there in 1983—a time now known as Black July. The immediate catalyst for the violence: the death of 13 Sinhalese soldiers at the hands of Tamil militants. The longer story: ethnic tension that had simmered for decades, under British colonial rule and beyond.
On the 24th of July, rioting began as news spread about the deaths of the soldiers. The government was obviously complicit in the pogroms. (This link is to a Sri Lankan government website.) People with voter lists directed the mobs to the homes and properties of Tamils, which they destroyed. Thugs stopped vehicles on the streets, and, ascertaining the Tamil identities of the people within, set them aflame. When the violence finally ended, days later, as many as three thousand Tamils had been killed. Thousands and thousands more were left homeless. Shortly after, Sri Lanka saw a flood of Tamil emigration.
The 25th anniversary of such a hellish hour in the country’s history should not pass unnoticed on the Mutiny. Sri Lanka is Mutinous; it’s Mutinous in all the wrong ways: fostering ethnic hatred, distrust, violence, censorship, betrayal, and rootlessness in its own people. And it’s Mutinous in all the right ones: Sri Lanka and its diasporas are full of people who resist easy definition and boundaries, who refuse to cede to what they believe to be wrong, and who still fight, after twenty-five years, for a just home in the most beautiful place on earth. This is not a country that can be seen in black and white. This is a country in which authorities helped Sinhalese civilians to attack their Tamil neighbors. And this also is a country in which the people who saw that what was happening was wrong took their Tamil countrymen in and tried to protect them from the chaos. The best of human nature beginning a long battle against the worst of human nature.
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p>Of course, much has happened in the 25 years since. In the wake of the riots, the Tamil Tigers and comparable groups found more willing and able recruits among young people who were no longer sure what their future was in Sri Lanka. The Tigers launched more military-style actions against the government—but they also engaged in attacks on civilians, elected politicians, and dissidents. Now other minority populations and factions (including Muslims and tea estate Tamils) struggle for purchase on the shifting ground of war. Tamil journalists and civilians disappear in government-controlled areas as bombs go off in urban centers and near politicians. Civilians on the ground pay the price of this conflict, and to what extent, I cannot say—as their voices (Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher…) go largely unheard, and the voices at either end of this argument often drown out those in the middle.
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p>I am not a spokesperson, and I am not a historian. Even if I were, capturing those 25 years in a blog post would be a thankless task. But I am an artist, and as an artist I am against war. So I wanted to tell the Mutiny that I will take a moment of silence this weekend for those who suffered in 1983, and those who have suffered since. This is a moment of silence that I choose, and that no one can impose upon me.
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p>I will leave you with links to other reading.
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p>One, a poem by Indran Amirthanayagam that I like particularly because of its ending on a note of goodness and hope. (More Groundviews coverage of the anniversary here.)
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p>The other, a piece I wrote in a recent Washington Post, about finding myself in the tough position of trying to articulate Sri Lankan issues and history.
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p>Finally, a couple of pieces of miscellany: The BBC on the 25th anniversary and a report about the Sri Lankan government asking other countries to make sure Tiger “front groups” don’t hold Black July commemorations. Also: UTHR(J) (University Teachers for Human Rights—Jaffna) from their book The Broken Palymra on Black July.
UPDATE: Pass the Roti on “Six Days in July.”
Kush, I don’t know where else you raised that, but sorry I missed it. I don’t think you can assume everyone here has been to India, but I understand that India (like probably most countries) has a variety of educational systems. Still, I’d be interested in even anecdotal answers. I understand that these answers cannot necessarily be used to draw conclusions about all Indian schools. But I’m still wondering if anyone who is reading this thread went to an Indian school, and if so, did s/he study this at all?
I don’t think news coverage is a substitute for the classroom.
(To me, the obvious (albeit imperfect) analogy is Vietnam/the U.S. (I know I’m not the first to use this analogy, but I don’t know where I originally read it.))
I would be interested in seeing the details of this “plan,” since in the Malaysian elections in March instead of taking up arms Tamils went to the voting booth and drubbed the incumbent ruling coalition and its constituent Malaysian Indian Congress. Tamils did not vote on ethnic lines since the corruption of their ethnic party was part of the reason their economic and educational prospects were so poor. Far from being separatists in Malaysia, Tamils threw their lot in with the other minority groups and significantly strengthened the opposition.
So if you want to paint Tamils as separatist hotheads, Malaysia is not a good example.
45 · RahulD said
Batticaloa?
47 · Kush Tandon said
Wow, did you roll out of the patronizing side of the bed this morning, Kush?
As somebody who has spent a tad more than two hours in India, I can still see how the question is very well formed. Probably most interesting are how the CBSE and the Tamilnadu state board portray this conflict. I think one can give an interesting answer to the question raised by other commenters without being a jerk about it.
Still, I’d be interested in even anecdotal answers.
Sure, you can get anecdotal answers. But there is a huge danger, in a very diverse place (economically, educationally, linguistically, highly decentralised educational system) like India to draw any conclusions. A high school in a slum in Mumbai is not covering same material as Doon School in DehraDun – nothing is common there – books, language, topics they are interested in, resources.
I was past high-school phase when Norwawy Accord, and IPKF occured, and infact, I was (just headed for) in United States, but the few months that I was in India at that time, newspapers, magazines, debating societies (@ Universities) were flooded with varied analysis – for and against. However, I doubt, in schools, this is discussed beyond a few paragraphs (without much analysis) in History classes, but then again, I cannot say with this an iota of confidence and certainity.
Your best answer might be to look on the net for transcripts for Debating Societies (in Eglish, Hindi, and other Regional Languages) – India is full of them, but 1987-90 is pre-internet, and now people today in India are more interested in other things – so it might be not easy to discern.
If you really want to know – look for print media articles and letter to editor in print media from 1987-90 in library archives. Maybe, look for year schoolbook for Springdales for 1990 – I am sure an eager High Schooler has an opinion on IPKF.
51 · V.V. Ganeshananthan said
I did. I went to a CBSE school in Chennai, and finished high school in the mid 90s. The Sinhala-Tamil conflict was not covered at all in the CBSE textbooks (of course, the IPKF intervention was too recent to feature in my textbooks, I don’t know whether or how it is mentioned in today’s textbooks). I only learnt about it (even pre-Rajiv Gandhi assassination) through news articles, mostly about assorted impoundments of guns/boats in the Vedaranyam area, or more importantly, through the bubbling over of the conflict into Chennai itself – the most significant incident being the LTTE killing of EPRLF leaders in Kodambakkam. While the news articles did not give a good accounting of the background and I was too young to realize it then, the reason the LTTE could operate with impunity back then was the support given to it both by the AIADMK and the DMK. Again, as I mentioned earlier, the Rajiv Gandhi assassination changed that.
55 · Kush Tandon said
Actually, all of the CBSE textbooks are available online here.
Sivaji, Look again.
“I will take a moment of silence this weekend for those who suffered in 1983, and those who have suffered since”
There is no ethnic marker in that sentence. You’re assuming one.
The rioters in 1983 were organized and targeted people on the basis of their Tamil ethnicity, and as kettikili said, those details are worth delving into.
But there is no ethnic marker in that sentence. So “those who have suffered since” refers to exactly that.
55 · Kush Tandon said
this is probably true. i went to springdales (great training for my pomona years) — we worked with ANC leadership in South Africa, sent toys for kids to Cuba, learnt russian, heartily praised the NAM, and regularly participated in public speaking that commiserated with palestinian refugees/diplomats in delhi.
The CBSE barely covered the LTTE conflict, except in either 9th or 10th standard civics, where they mention the IPKF’s international stints (in a broad survey of India’s foreign policy). In passing, it is mentioned that Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE operatives. Incidentally, at this time India had just begun making very friendly overtures toward the US and Israel, in marked contrast with its NAM positions (circa mid-late 1990s). So the textbooks were outdated — not describing India’s self-proclaimed jump into the big league and shift to a different foreign policy tenor, usually attributed to its expanded nuclear abilities and early signs of the success of the 1991 liberalization.
57 · Hour 3 in India said
Thanks for the link. NCERT (perhaps for good reason) has never gotten love from Indian students, but this is very praiseworthy.
57, Hour 3 in India: only the contents page of the books seems to be available at the site you linked to. Is this a temporary glitch, or has the NCERT pulled a fast one yet again?
From Class XII / Political Science / Contemporary World Politics:
53 · pro mixalot: Batticaloa?
Thank you for that info, I looked up Batticaloa and I found this interesting factoid.
Batticaloa is the primary focus of attention of Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, better known as Karuna Amman, a former LTTE commander who broke away from the main organization in 2004. The LTTE claims that “Karuna” feared disciplinary action from the leadership for financial and personal malpractices. Karuna operates his own political (Not yet recognised as a political party even though an application was submitted three years before) and military group, the Tamil-Eala Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, TMVP. At first the LTTE attempted to eliminate the TMVP on its own and demanded that the Sri Lankan government not interfere. Subsequently, the LTTE called for the elimination of TMVP as part of the ceace-fire agreement. However, TMVP claimed to be a political party and asked for protection from attacks from the LTTE. It had no real option except to covertly collaborate with the government forces and function as a paramilitary group of the Sri Lankan Army. Thus the TMVP (referred to as the Karuna Group) is strongly opposed to the LTTE. The division between the Yalpanam-Vanni Tamils and the Mattakkalapu Tamils is deep seated, involving caste as well as forms of Hindu worship. The Jaffna Tamils have considered themselves to be superiror to the Batticaloa Tamils. The conflict between Batticaloa Tamils led by Karuna and the LTTE has some parallels with the conflict between the Mukkavas and the Thamilars
47 · Kush Tandon A high school in Hyderabad governed by AP School Board with Telugu as their primary medium
51 · V.V. Ganeshananthan But I’m still wondering if anyone who is reading this thread went to an Indian school, and if so, did s/he study this at all?
I was in high school a little about 6 years ago now and I don’t think the LTTE conflict was covered in the textbooks of the AP board. In the AP board, the breakdown is sort of different than in the CBSE. Political/Regional history wasn’t covered until the 11th/12th, where it was an optional subject and very few if any took it up. I think the News Media was a much better source of contemporary South Asian politics than textbooks were. AP high school history books were written mostly by an interesting fusion of Very Liberal Brahmins and Socialists in the academia from Andhra and Osmania Universities; they are very staid and almost never take sides. I don’t know if it has changed any but then again, through our history Telugus especially from Andhra have never really been overtly aggressive at stating public opinions on anything other than Chiru vs Nag vs Venky.
The link only brought up the title page or, at most, the table of contents. Did anybody have better luck?
61 · MFA said
The chapter titles in the contents are actually clickable links that will take you to the relevant chapter.
Sorry, the above excerpt is from the NCERT link that was posted. I assume this is a recent edition, as the inset political cartoon features Mahinda Rajapakse balancing a stick with a lion and a tiger on either end. There are two more paragraphs that highlight Sri Lanka’s relative success despite the conflict.
FYI, RahulD, that information about the East, TVMP and Karuna isn’t particularly current. Those interested may want to try Googling news about the TVMP, Pillaiyan and its spelling variants.
60 · MFA said
I really liked their sixth grade history textbook. One of the best for book cricket. The pages that would turn up were consistently unpredictable, the book’s bizarre numbering schemes meant that one side had both odd and even page numbers which allowed creativity in scoring schemes, and the spine was robust enough to provide a year’s worth of fun.
59 · MFA said
I’m taking the liberty of awarding MFA the Chacha’s Choice Award for Seriously Serious Humor, with VV’s permission.
I LOL’ed, and it reminded me altogether too much of old portmanteau, who got the very first Chacha’s Choice Award way back in the old days, like around May 2008.
I was studying in a school in Chennai in the late 80s and early 90s. As Kush remarked there are a variety of different academic boards all over India. I can comment on the books followed in Tamilnadu. Even within Tamilnadu, there are Central, State, Matriculation and Anglo Indian boards. Their history books vary in content and the subjects they address. Typically the history text followed by Matriculation board (and I guess it applies to Central Board (CBSE) and Anglo Indian) is written by the Leftist historians of Nehruvian bent. The history books carry very little information about South India, (2 pages out of 200) let alone info. about Sri lanka. State board syllabus is a bit better, because it is controlled by the state admin. I don’t remember whether anything about Sri lanka is even taught. Academically students learn very little.
But I think there is a quite a bit of passionate support for Sri lankan Tamils in Tamilnadu. After Rajiv Gandhi’s assasination the support for LTTE has been under the radar. The current CM Karunanidhi’s rule was dismissed claiming that it supported LTTE in 1991. He embarassed IPKF by not going to receive them. And Congress withdrew support from the United Front government in 1998 based on the same issue. It is a different matter that the Congress and the DMK are best buddies now.
V.V, thank you for the post. Yes, I too join you in a thought for those who struggle in Sri Lanka for peace, for life, for security.
Sri Lanka and the struggle has always fascinated me. Much has been written in fiction starting with Selvadurai with his Funny Boy which deals with the persecution (or whatever is the correct term) of the Tamils, during which I think his family migrated as well. So also Ondaatje and I have read some other works.
What escapes me in all the writing is a reluctance to name the conflict, take sides, and suggest resolution. If one were to read Anil’s Ghost one clearly sees Ondaatje’s position vis-à-vis the horrors of war, senseless cruelty, which position is quite familiar if one reads his other works. But nothing much about the horrible particularity of the conflict in SL itself in a political way.
This is not the case when you read writers who write about conflicts in their motherlands – Rushdie (Shalimar the Clown, about Kashmir), or Pamuk, or Palestinian writers. They make quite clear where they stand on the issue.
It is as if the civil war in Sri Lanka is carried on in muffled silence. The fact that the world has not paid much attention could be part of the reason. To some degree I understand the reluctance and the silence of the writers. Many have family back in the country. Even in these discussions there is cloud haninging over it, a reluctance to commit to a position other than state the obvious – how sad it all is.
Still I would like to know what Sri Lankans, the Sinhalese in particular, writers really think about all this. Do they feel the Tamil’s cause a just one? If so do they want remedies? If not how do they want to handle it? Is there a dialog inside the country, among the diaspora?
70 · Ponniyin Selvan said
This is not true. The CBSE history textbooks had extensive stuff on Chola/Chera/Pandya dynasty, as well as Vijayanagar etc. Post independence, there is very little domestic stuff, period. The focus was more on NAM, and the variety of African independence movements in the 50s and 60s.
MFA: Sounds amateurish. JNU molecular bio students resurrected Che using nothing but a hair from his goatee. He is being brought up to speed on the last 40 years of class warfare in a secret bunker at Evergreen College. A Pomona MFA is suited to nothing besides organizing an all Hijra Marxist chorus/street theatre troupe to sing the Internationale (can’t sound very good with just falsettos).
VV: Great post, it must be hard to navigate without ruffling feathers.
Ponniyan Selvan: I basically agree with you, but I will say that in the region of TN my relatives hail from the LTTE went from being heroes to zeros over night with the assassination of Rajeev Gandhi. It was tense before that because the refugees were being blamed for violent home invasions. I should qualify this by saying that very few of the refugee “tea plantation Tamils” had roots in these districts (unlike Madurai, coastal districts for example)
Indian perspective on IPKF in Srilanka: Anecdote. Feeble memory. An Army Brigadier had mentioned in a personal conversation that there was interest in IPKF posting because they could bring cheap VCRs home! (In the late 80’s, during India’s autarkic days, the only VCRs available were moslty smuggled in and sold at exorbitant prices.)
71 · smallpress said
Yes, I would pay money for a on-the-ground candid interview with a resident of Hambantota on what they feel is a just outcome(s) for their Tamil brothers and sisters in the north. If you phrased the question as, “do you feel the Tamil cause it just?” the answer would probably be the same as if you asked, “do you feel the LTTE’s cause is just.”
Hey look, it’s a troll!!!!!
75 · Nayagan said
Yeah, but that distrust and cynicism goes both ways. If you asked someone in the Vanni about the merits of the government’s stance, their answer probably wouldn’t be very positive. I mean, it’s pervasive in the Tamil diaspora too. There’s just this ingrained refusal to consider the other sides perspective. I have no idea how a typical Sinhalese member of the diaspora would answer the original question, because I don’t know any Sinhalese people, any lurker want to comment?
I imagine they’re just fed up. I think that when the other groups (local and not) are also fed up with the violence and death, we’ll be ready for a solution. I wonder if it’s growing in the Tamil diaspora?
Hour 3 :
Can you let us know the number of pages devoted to the South Indian history and then compare it with the Mughal/assorted history of North Indian kings and empires?. We’d have an idea.
“And it’s Mutinous in all the right ones: Sri Lanka and its diasporas are full of people who resist easy definition and boundaries, who refuse to cede to what they believe to be wrong, and who still fight, after twenty-five years, for a just home in the most beautiful place on earth.”
V.V., regarding your posting above, when I interpreted it, I did not interpret such a statement to include people on the margins (hence I said earlier that you qualified your statement). Most people would acknowledge that the Tamil diaspora is numerically larger than the Sinhalese diaspora. Moreover, it is far more organized, active, and influential with better links to their host countries’ governments. Thus, I do still think that the statement above, lends itself to an unfortunte interpretation (especially the part about fighting for a just home). But, we shall have to agree to disagree.
And, this hardly needs to be said, I never said that the expression of any kind of grief was illegitimate either.
Crane: regarding your points, I would not go so far as to say that Black July was the event that gave the Tigers their legitimacy which resulted in a stranglehold on everything Tamil in Sri Lanka. A bit of an assertion.
But you raise an interesting question: but what would have happened without their money? Would the conflict end? Would Tamils be safe in Sri Lanka? Considering the actions of the Sri Lankan state since, I have serious doubts. Black July caused the diaspora, the diaspora didn’t cause Black July.
Well, as you probably know, there were multiple waves of Tamil emigration from Sri Lanka, especially the professional classes leaving as early as ’71, ’72 and continuing well before ’83. (Probably saw the writing on the wall.)And there continues to be mass emigration today too. I do agree that there was a massive amount of emigration specifically due to the events of ’83, but I wanted to say also that people abandoned the sinking ship earlier. (And let’s not get into the ethics of such a move just yet.) As to your question about what would have happened if the diaspora did not use their money? Of course the conflict would not have ended. But, let me ask you, what if the diaspora contributed their money towards humanitarian efforts in Sri Lanka, and not to fund a cause with consequences they do not have to face? Maybe, we might have a different Sri Lanka.
I am not arguing against anyone’s right to commemorate July ’83. I think however, there is a fine line between commemoration (the most genuine of which my religion leads me to believe, is done in private), and the use of it as propaganda. And before you all jump, I am not saying that V.V’s post was propagandistic. Merely that it should have been more carefully written.
78 · Ponniyin Selvan said
what, are you saying that historical eminence of the scythians is even in the same range as that of our fellow austro-dravidian indian citizens?
but seriously, off the top of my head I remember a fair bit of South Indian history in my curriculum, comparable to the significance that was awarded to other regions. Some examples:
— the satavahanas — the pallavas — the chola, chera, pandya kingdoms — jain and buddhist sites in south india; associated philosophers like nagarjuna — cultural achievements made in the sangam era — the bhakti movement — the bahamani kingdom — the vijayanagara empire — the french and tipu sultan/anglo-carnatic wars — nascent proto-nationalist movements in the south, and their relationship to anti-caste reformers such as narayan guru — theosophical society (that its headquarter were at adyar!) — pricely kingdoms like mysore, travancore — biographical details of personalities involved in the freedom movement: naidu, bharati, rajagopalachari — smart people during the british empire: sir Mokshagundam (yes, i thought his name was funny; our 5th grade hindi textbook had a chapter on him) visvesvarayya, ramanjun, cv raman — civics class went over language riots; formation of DK–> DMK and AIADMK — the oeuvre of rajnikanth (now, i’m just trying to rile you up) — [not MK] stalin (once more)
i’m sorry my list is pretty random; it’s been 6 years. but i’m taken aback by your resentment at being missed in the cbse curriculum. your peeps were much represented. otherwise, how would i know that your handle refers to kind of a big deal.
51:
To me, the obvious (albeit imperfect) analogy is Vietnam/the U.S.
Much good that has done, wouldn’t you agree?
I’m not sure that the average Indian knows a great deal about Sri Lanka at all – ancient history or otherwise. This is based on nothing more than my gut feeling.
I read Arthur C Clarke’s Fountains of Paradise recently and I probably know more about Sri Lanka’s history now than I did before. So much for history books in schools in India (I know, there are various kinds, I studied in Orissa in the ’80s)! The only thing I remember reading is Ashoka’s daughter (Sanghamitra?) going to Sri Lanka. The other issue is there are hardly any historical documentaries worth the name…in the good old DD days, may be a few. Now it’s all paisa vasool entertainment.
A lot has happened since I last checked in on this thread, but let me address two earlier comments:
Nayagan (#10), I’m a little unclear about what your comment is referring to, but when I mentioned “specifics,” I wasn’t asking Sugi or anyone else for a clear narrative of personal recollections (But, like you, I’ve learned from the anecdotal, and I’d argue that there is something to be sought in those fragments that are wrinkled, dusty and unclear.) What I was trying to say (in my poor phrasing) is that now can be as much a time as any for reflection and thoughtful analysis, and IMO this post occasions that as a kind of rememberance, rather than simply letting the moment pass. That’s what I meant by the words “to understand this moment in Sri Lankan history” – it’s not to take away from Paul’s initial impression (#3), or other events/comparisons to be made, but a lot has happened before and since to contextualize Black July and its significance for Sri Lanka, beyond a statement of comparison with other riots.
Keralite (#9), thanks very much for raising the point about Tamil migration to India. Many who went to Canada and Europe went through India first, but aside from that, there are over 60,000 Tamils living on minimal in 102 government-run camps, on minimal rations. Add to that another 20,000 who went to Tamil Nadu (some returning for the 2nd, 3rd or 4th time) since the resumption of war in 2006. An estimated 60-100,000 live outside the camps; some are wealthy returnees from those very western countries to which they’d made The Great Escape, but the majority are not. Whether inside or outside the camps, almost all lack status as residents or citizens. There is no path to landed status, few rights to be claimed, as India does not adhere to the UN convention on refugees. For example: A child born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents, or Hill-Country Tamil parents who do not have Indian citizenship (as a result of various processes of disenfranchisement) and cannot provide documentation of an Indian parent or grandparent, would not have any claim to citizenship. That child is neither Sri Lankan nor Indian, making life outside the camp an extremely difficult and dangerous endeavor. After finishing their schooling that has been provided for by the Tamil Nadu state govt, there is little to no legal work available for a non-resident/citizen. There are many frustrating and painful stories about what it takes to survive.
Amitabh: You misunderstood me and ascribed to me words that I didn’t use. Who speaks of destroying? Can’t two or more cultures/languages/religions co-exist in one person? Or one society? I speak of amalgamating, of integrating, without ascribing hierarchies of intolerance. I wouldn’t want to respond to the person who said something like ‘let’s fuck around till we are the same colour,’ but whether or not you are going to ‘blame’ anyone for wanting to marry outside their community, our wonderfully parochial Indian society DOES.
Am I the only person who sees the eventual inability to achieve political tolerance in a climate of increasing personal intolerance? Yes, in India, due to incessant separatist talk spewed by ‘divide and rule’ supporting politicians (how many years after the end of colonialism?) who only want more votes, we are faced with an increasingly thinning group which believes in ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’. If you think persisting in this belief is an insult to my/your heritage, etc., then I can never make you see my point of view.
I used the intermarriage-angle as an example to denote the impossibility of achieving the political when the personal still seeks to divide and claim superiority for oneself. Stop being alpha-males defending a pet territory and UNDERSTAND what is Indian culture, for a change!
MFA:
My question is this
not about all the stuff you have read. As I mentioned I studied in the late 80s and early 90s and it has been 20 years and if you studied recently and there was an improvement in coverage of the rest of the regions of India it is good to know. Any mention of the North east regions of India?.
77 · crane said
no, we were talking about a ‘Sinhalese cause’ vs. a ‘tamil cause’ (incorporating this wording into the question is what would cause the immediate juxtaposition with “government/military’s cause” and “ltte’s cause). A resident of the Wanni casting aspersions on governmental motives is entirely justified and a Hambantota local doing the same to LTTE motives are PERFECTLY justified.
yes, i agree.
AVIAF,
so do you think that doing volunteer work in war affected areas (literacy, hygiene, gen-ed) is a cakewalk (as some of my diaspora cousins do)? A stroll through the palm trees? It is a war, for those volunteers, to negotiate between clashing authorities and unreliable supply lines.
Good to know how holy thou art! I’ll remember to tell my relatives that their boisterous remembrances of ’83 are too melodramatic and need to be downgraded to a whispered conversation–unless of course you realize that experiencing something like that tends to the muting of such experiences, even in private. And if people wish to jump about in a public square and express that they are still angry, so be it (as long as prabs or tigger flags are not visible).
This is the silliest counterfactual i’ve heard yet. Before you consider money, think of people. How many people would remain, stuck in a holding pattern of mistrust and fear?
Wow, what an exhausting comment thread. Many believe that forgetting is the only way to move forward. But in reality you can never really forget the atrocities to human life and dignity like what happened on July 24th and the days that followed it. This is more true in terms of the victims and any one who witnessed or were part of the atrocity. I was just 7 years old when this happened and like most kids I was utterly perplexed and scared (http://sahasamvada-forum.blogspot.com/2008/07/remembering-black-july_19.html). To this day I can remember everything that happened because obviously the trauma stayed. We subsequently left to India and returned back to Sri Lanka 3 years later.
Through collective remembrance of such atrocities we begin a healing process of this pain and trauma. The first Black July remembrance day I attended gave me a sense of peace and hope, especially after seeing many Sinhalese and Muslims talking about what happened with sadness and disgust. Through this united effort we were all stressing the fact that something like this should NOT happen again. If we have the ability to look at the past in this manner we will not allow something similar to happen in the future. Remember Black July pogroms though instigated by the then political powers of the Government was actually carried out by the members of the public. Also can we ever forget the many lives which were saved because of other members of the public who hadn’t given up being considerate for their fellow humans. The Black July remembrance day is also a celebration of this humaneness.
The Tamil Diaspora has definitely played a very deep and far-reaching role in fueling the ethnic conflict and is continuing to do so. Nevertheless, many of us who belong to this Tamil Diaspora population are trying to voice out our dissent of the support of the much hyped about ‘Tamil cause’. We are all very much aware of the atrocities of GoSL with its terror tactics and the climate of impunity now further complicated by the TMVP (Pillayan-Karuna)aspect. But we are also equally appalled at the atrocities that the LTTE is committing against its very own people. So there is state as well as non-state terror with the citizens caught in between.
I am seriously glad that many Indians are increasingly becoming interested in the conflict in Sri Lanka. I am sure most of you are aware of the pro-LTTE sympathy that is widespread in Tamil Nadu (http://sahasamvada-forum.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html). Nevertheless there is a popular hope amongst most Sri Lankan Tamils that India will intervene in negotiating for a political settlement for the crisis in Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately I was unable to read VV’s article due to some problem with the link. But as suggested for anyone who wants an unbiased insight into the history of the conflict in Sri Lanka, The Broken Palmyra by the University Teachers for Human Rights -Jaffna is good reading material.
AVIAF,
I wrote: “And it’s Mutinous in all the right ones: Sri Lanka and its diasporas are full of people who resist easy definition and boundaries, who refuse to cede to what they believe to be wrong, and who still fight, after twenty-five years, for a just home in the most beautiful place on earth.”
You wrote, “I did not interpret such a statement to include people on the margins (hence I said earlier that you qualified your statement).”
Why would it not include people on the margins? “Resist easy definition and boundaries” is not a qualifier in that sentence. Again, the sentence means what it says. An “unfortunate MISinterpretation” otherwise.
You wrote: “I never said that the expression of any kind of grief was illegitimate either.” But I was responding to your statement: “I do think that picking Black July as a memorial date is rather polarizing, specifically because I think this date is used in a lot of pro-Eelam propaganda both in Sri Lanka and by the Tamil diaspora.” (To which I had previously responded, “…yes, the event has been used for propaganda. That doesn’t mean that ALL recognition of it is propaganda. If you say that, you leave no room for the legitimate expression of grief.”)
Finally, you wrote:
“I am not arguing against anyone’s right to commemorate July ’83. I think however, there is a fine line between commemoration (the most genuine of which my religion leads me to believe, is done in private), and the use of it as propaganda. And before you all jump, I am not saying that V.V’s post was propagandistic. Merely that it should have been more carefully written.”
It was carefully written. It should be carefully read. Again, it means exactly what it says. As for your preference for private commemoration, that’s your prerogative, but this was violence that occurred in communities. Not that that is even a prerequisite for what has always been a very common ritual: collective mourning.
So yes, it seems that once again we will agree to disagree.
Hey sahasamvada, the links works for me… maybe try again later? Thanks for sharing so thoughtfully… and thanks to all of you who have joined this conversation.
I too would recommend UTHR(J) for those interested in more reading. In addition to The Broken Palmyra, you can also check out their website with updated reports. See also: Charred Lullabies by E. Valentine Daniel.
85 · Ponniyin Selvan said
very little, still less for the N.W. part of India, or the mountain states of the north, or about the history of Kashmir, considering how much it occupies the desi mindspace. I told you those facts because it is obvious that they could not be conveyed in 2/200 pages (rather than hit you on the head with it). Grades 6, 7, and 8 constituted Indian history. It will be fair to say (as a friend just pointed out to me) that south indian history constituted roughly 1 textbook length. In 9 and 10, we studied world history, and 10th was focused on post-imperial history, so there was little Indian history.
And should you need a page-by-page inventory in triplicate, why, the CBSE books are easily available. There’s a summer project for you. Perhaps you might even send your data to some desi leadership, and a few buses will be festively burnt. Look, if you think that Indian history textbooks are politically conciliatory and written by multi-culti-ultra-PC leftists, then you should also know that those sort of well-meaning people will bend over backwards to include South Indian history (at the expense of many other regions in India that I alluded to in the first line) after the Dravidian movement of the 1960s.
MFA:
I was just trying to gather info. Apologies, if my tone was insincere. Anyways, I was talking about my experience in history books where there was this pathetic ignorance of history of all other regions of India other than who ruled when in the empire around Delhi.
I’ll definitely check out the latest books from CBSE and let people know. I’m guessing that those books are in English and not Hindi. Multi-culti ultra PC leftists are just concerned with ‘secularism’ not regionalism. Infact they are dead against (atleast in the Nehruvian days) allowing regional sentiments to crop up and made sure there is a strong centre.
Ponniyin, I am a Tamilian from Chennai who finished high school in the mid 90s, as I mentioned earlier. I can confirm what MFA says, there was a fair amount of South Indian history in our textbooks. I recall studying all the stuff she mentions, except for the language riots/Dravidian movement stuff.
I don’t think there’s much of a conclusion to be drawn based on how much of the Sri Lankan conflict finds its way into Indian educational curricula. American high school students can’t tell you anything about the US civil war, or WWII, let alone Vietnam, despite the fact that these conflicts appear in any standard American history textbook. But if you are particularly interested, the literature on these subjects — both popular and scholarly — is vast.
A better question on the subcontinent is how much cultural impact has been made by the Indian Army’s foray into SL, in magazine journalism, popular non-fiction accounts, movies, academic symposia, etc. Yes, a lot of people have written about the SL civil war, but how many Indian journalists and academics have treated it, and have these works found traction in the culture(s) at large?
An analogous example from the US experience would be “Black Hawk Down” about America’s high-minded involvement in and then ignominious retreat from Somalia in 1993. First it was a serialized account in the Philadelphia Inquirer, then a bestselling book, then a popular film. Whatever one’s views on that conflict, the story was told well, responded to, provoked debate, etc. Without Mark Bowden’s journalism and Ridley Scott’s film, the whole incident would largely have been forgotten except among specialists, despite its importance at the time.
No country is particularly interested in chronicling its failures in classroom. You can graduate from a fancy American high school and learn nothing, for example, about the CIA’s actions in (pick a country) Iran, Argentina, Thailand, Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Africa, etc. It’s not as if there is a concerted effort to whitewash America’s failings, but we have a myth of ourselves that pervades everything and brooks very little dissent.
“American high school students can’t tell you anything about the US civil war, or WWII, let alone Vietnam, despite the fact that these conflicts appear in any standard American history textbook.”
I don’t know that I agree with this… but I certainly agree that the following is a good question… an improvement on the one I originally raised, and perhaps more answerable.
Preston wrote: “Yes, a lot of people have written about the SL civil war, but how many Indian journalists and academics have treated it, and have these works found traction in the culture(s) at large?”
I would add that I’m particularly interested in treatments of the IPKF because they committed so many human rights violations.
but how many Indian journalists and academics have treated it, and have these works found traction in the culture(s) at large?
There is a wikipedia link on IPKF.
In the bottom, there is a wealth of See Also, References, Notes and Further Reading, and External links – That is a start, You can go from there. They even refer to books, with Indian sounding names like JN Dixit***, Narayan Swamy, etc. I do not how well researched or balanced they all are, but it is a start.
*** JN Dixit was ex-Indian ambassador to Sri Lanka
Just taking a crap break. Will not be bothering beautiful people trying to bring peace to Sri Lanka by apeasing genocidal maniacs,again. comment #75 and # 71
You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth
http://www.cpalanka.org/research_papers/PCI_February_2007_REPORT.pdf
See, chandare, you call them genocidal maniacs and that’s the end of it. Once you call someone a genocidal maniac you remove all options but force. I mean, you can’t negotiate with a genocidal maniac, right? All you can do is fight them.
It’s true that they’ve done ghastly things, including mass-killings. But then, so has the government. Are they genocidal maniacs too? Hint: they are to a lot of Tamil people.
And that’s the crux of it, the most vociferous parts of each ‘side’ consider the other to be ‘genocidal maniacs’, not to be engaged on any level but by force. Force obviously hasn’t done much in the last 25 years except to reinforce each sides view that the other is fuelled by genocidal mania.
I wonder what it will take for everyone to get over this? AVIAF’s point, as far as I can tell, is that the diaspora needs to get over it and move on, because Sri Lanka now isn’t the Sri Lanka of 1983. But the leadership of Sri Lanka now seems as ‘ethnicized’ as ever. Mahinda has two messages, the one he delivers to locals in sinhalese is the one that makes it hard for the diaspora to get over it. The LTTE now is the same as they always were. It seems like it will take new leadership on both sides to lay the groundwork for everyone to get over everything. Unfortunately quality leadership is in short supply in Sri Lanka (and yes, i know whose fault this is on the Tamil ‘side’).
pedagogy:
What board did you study?.
Preston,
You can’t compare US movie industry with Indian movie industry. There is something called a censor board in India that has the right to interfere into film production and distribution. There was a Tamil movie “kutrapathrikkai” supposed to be on Rajiv Gandhi assasination. It has to go through a hell lot of trouble before it was released after 10+ years (I was not even sure if it got released).
In arts and literature, atleast in Tamilnadu, the record of IPKF is mixed. It is barely mentioned or lauded. As i said earlier, Karunanidhi, the current CM of Tamilnadu snubbed the IPKF. Ofcourse, army et.al is controlled by the central govt. and the states have little power over it.
98 · Ponniyin Selvan said
CBSE