Comments on: “Race and Class” Siva on ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka

By: jayalal perera

jayalal perera — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:06:57 +0000

It is good to have a balanced view.

By: Dinesh G

Dinesh G — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:50:30 +0000

Very illuminating and thought-provoking

By: krishna

krishna — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:24:27 +0000

it is time for sri lankans both tamils and sinhalese to understand the philosophy of history. history can be very nasty when leaders make terrible errors. the tamils made a terrible mistake by not seeking a separate state as happened in india in 1947. may be they thought a separate tamil eelam would not be viable. but realising the success of the israelis,leaders like navaratnam must have been influenced enough to translate EXODUS.

so actually, the tamils shud accept their rerrible historical mistake in not seeking a separate independent nation based on the treaties signed with the portuguese in 1598.

a separate tamil eelam and a separate sinhala nation would have eliminated the reason for racial politics. it would have turned the politics of the 2 states to be based on ideology.

whatever happened after 1948 in sri lanka would be described as details by historians however bad the tragedy is.

the tamils can take comfort that it is not only tamils suffered . many other nations have suffered oo such as the jews.

the defeat of the LTTE doesnt mean the beginning of a new sri lanka. i doubt the issues can be resolved unless sinhalese sri lankans realise that economic development and social justice is more important than racial politics. we will have to wait and see for further developments.

in any case best wishes to sri lanka. may your nation be able to heal and prosper.

By: dayan jayatilleka

dayan jayatilleka — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:00:35 +0000

Sorry for coming in so late, but i just discovered this. I do wish that Siva had sourced his punchline. It was originally from a letter written by James Baldwin to Angela Davis: ” If they come for you in the morning, sister, they will come for me at night.”

By: UGK

UGK — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:44:14 +0000

It is correct that arrogant upper caste tamils of Jaffna looked down upon other tamils. This is an unfortunate problem. Tamils creating problems for other tamils in a land where a sinhalese who want to eliminate the whole lot? A double blow really
I have spoken about this with another tamil and he said that attitude is rapidly changing with the Genocide in recent times. He says it is fast making tamils put aside petty differences and unite.
In some ways, Rajapakse with his careless approach to Genocide has given alot of opportunity and evidence to get Sri Lanka exposed as genocidal racist nation.
In the past it was very hard to expose oppression because it happened on a more subtle scale and killing were fewer in number.
But the reincarnation of Dutugemunu (as our Mahavamsa friends call him) decided to use heavy artillery and phosphorous chemicals. And then lock the rest in starvation camps.
So the world suddenly saw it!

By: UGK

UGK — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:21:23 +0000

Wickremasinghe,
From dress to food to values, even in their violence the two communities are a mirror image of each other.
—————————————
Absolute rubbish!
Right throughout recent history there have been countless riots by the sinhalese against Tamil Hindus and on occasions against the muslims.
Members of the tamil community never went on riots.
The LTTE is a different issue. They are an armed rebel group that organised themselves into a war unit.
But with Sinhalese, the public were always ready to run down the street with swords and sticks looking for ‘Paara Dhemala’
One example was in the 1930s when Ponnamballam publicly challenged the demonisation of tamils (through Mahavamsa) as being fabricated history.
It instantly resulted in mobs of Sinhalese going on the rampage from Colombo to Maskeliya. The British rulers managed to silence it.

By: UGK

UGK — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:11:02 +0000

Navin,
Dont talk like a smart alec.
I know straight away reading into your attitude that you are a Mahavamsa believer.
Tamils were never given treated as equals.
And they had every right to demand Eelam based on the oppression.
In an ideal Sri Lanka there would be no reason to demand Eelam. But Sri Lanka is not ideal and the string of racists that came to power kept on demonstrating that over and over again.
It is not a favour or a gift to ask for freedom when you are subjected to murder, humiliation on a regular basis.
And this was long before LTTE came into the scene.
There was a robbery case my family suffered in the 1960s. There was no LTTE then. A sinhalese thug approached my Grandfather and said: ‘You tamils be careful, when you go into court hearing, you better not identify those responsible for the robbery of your house. Because we will have to deal with you later. You tamils realise where you stand in Sri Lanka’
My grandfather got scared and refused to testify in court.
Whatever LTTE did wrong much later, this cannot be used to dismiss the systematic oppression of tamils since the British left.
Only racists who are brainwashed by the Mahavamsa will continue supporting this.

By: UGK

UGK — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:00:06 +0000

I see some Mahavamsa motivated comments here.
Please remember that Sri Lanka was originally a Hindu country.
Buddhism arrived and spread. And you had large numbers of Tamil Hindus, tamil buddhists and other Indian Buddhists all living in SL.
There was no such thing as ‘Sinhalese’ in those days.
Sinhalese was created much later by using elements of Pali, Sanskrit and tamil.
And even then, using false history to create genocide in the 20th and 21st century is not acceptable

By: UGK

UGK — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:55:00 +0000

113) Belle
In 50-100 years, you folks will be speaking, singing and dreaming in Mandarin, so please don’t worry your head about Tamils having to learn Sinhalese.
——————————-
hahahahahahahhahaha
This might actually happen.
Chinese might be given free passport to turn Sri Lanka into their official southern penetration point to destabilize India

By: paths

paths — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:47:41 +0000

carry on Jeyaraj; we need opinions; ur continued contributions are most welcome. What we need is a united SL with Meaningful Devolution of Power for a merged N-E with powers to raise development cash amply available with the diaspora incl the Ltte cash; we can develop N -E thro local NGOs but the govt is blocking the NGOs from functioning. Rajapakse s MAHINDA CHINTHANAYA speaks of an unattainable SINHALA SL by chasing the Tamils into S India.

The President does not realise, the 3 nations of SL can together bring about a rich cultured SL; so much he is soaked in his ‘chinthanaya’ the countrys finances r in poor state, no development , no foreign investment ,indebted to ADB, WB etc. while his brothers r plundering for continued luxury life in USA; the laws in USA will catch them soon – Bruce Feign will see to that.

GG’s 50/50 was distorted; what he meant was balanced representation meaning – a f’irst past the post system of elected lower house & a Senate of 50% singalese & 50% tamils & Muslims to block legislation that will injure the minorities. such legislation going for referenum.
The economic woes will finally see the birth of a federal or confederal setup for SL; the respected VITHARNE proposals
r with the President with 2-3 forms of govt ; i prefer confederal setup with joint rule at the centre.
Lets wait for the end of the year; this problem cant go on endlesly. Thank You.

By: Sriyan Chaminda Pasqual

Sriyan Chaminda Pasqual — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:20:38 +0000

# 113 Belle

So, what do you suggest.

It’s this attitude that creates all these problems.
Be realistic.

By: peace

peace — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:20:40 +0000

It’s sad and regrettable a lot of lives were lost in SL over the ethnic issue on both sides.It’s time to put this behind and move forward.With a goal of just and fairness in all work walks of life in SL.Reconciliation has to take place but not retribution.
Please read this article http://www.island.lk/2009/07/12/features9.html