Posted: 10 Oct 2011 04:14 PM PDT

Unforgotten: War Crimes in Sri Lanka

Video Courtesy: Right to Life

How Sri Lankan security forces committed War Crimes against innocent Sinhalese two decades ago.

This happened almost twenty years ago in a majority Sinhala dominated area in Sri Lanka, well before the culture seeped into the Tamil dominated areas. The term ‘War Crimes’ is not a new phenomenon in Sri Lanka which has long history like other countries around the world. The new video provided by a local rights group to the Sri Lanka Guardian shows glaring account of war crimes being committed by the crude, unethical, barbaric security forces in Sri Lanka during the second uprising of the People Liberation Front (JVP) in 1988-89.

The Right to Life- a local non-government organization based in Colombo that works on human rights, has given the new video showing experience of the victims of war crimes committed by the security forces during the said time period.

“They (security forces) took me and my husband to one of their torture centres, where hundreds of others were tortured, killed and burnt,” Mrs. Premasili, a widow has revealed her account carrying with her the late husband’s photograph. “Then they took my husband and hung him by his toes after making him to remove the clothes and then started to torture him naked. They blind folded me and started to torture as well after hanging me like my husband,” she said.

“Lieutenant Colonel Rahula Sirimanna , a commanding officer who tortured, raped several times and ordered the others to rape many women suspected of supporting the JVP,” she said.

“ They finished off my husband after two days of torture, and then took me to Hambantota where number of women were held on suspicion. To my knowledge, most of them were innocent like me. There too they tortured me and urged me to reveal the names of the people who had connections with the JVP, but I did not know anyone who had JVP connections and I didn’t have any link with them either,” Mrs. Premasili says.

Premasili is one of women who was raped several times by several Security men in the torture centres. She was hanged and tortured continuously. Fortunately, she narrowly escaped from death but her husband was killed by the security forces and justice never came forth for her. She is a eyewitness for several killings and tortures by the Sri Lankan army and she is one of the thousands still seeking justice still.

© Sri Lanka Guardian

Politics of Imperialism

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 04:13 PM PDT

Politics of Imperialism had ensured that Nations without State do not know one another and confined to borders controlled by dominant Nations (Agent Imperialists) with State. Thus 1/3rd of the population of the World is reduced as Stateless peoples without controlling any resources including their own Labour, often ending as refugees in strange lands. A sense of helplessness and powerlessness pervades their minds and they are made to depend on charity by well wishers. Their minds are brainwashed not to think of hurting their well wishers even to the extent of betraying their natural allies. The Politics of Imperialism takes extra care to ensure that natural allies never get together, writes TamilNet Economic and Geopolitical Analyst in the Asia Pacific.

Full text of the article by TamilNet Economic and Geopolitical Analyst in the Asia Pacific follows:

Politics is resolving contradictions within and between the many groupings of Mankind.

The contradictions between Imperialism and Peoples or to be more precise, the contradictions between the Imperialist Nations and the oppressed Nations is the most dominant and antagonistic contradictions of our times.

The Imperialist Nations are not confined to former historical Imperialist Nations but include all the Agent Imperialist Nations like the Sinhala Nation of Sri Lanka, the dominant Nations in India, Pakistan, China etc.

The resolution of such contradictions is the Politics of Imperialism and the resolutions of all other contradictions (including working class struggles) are subordinate Politics to the Politics of Imperialism.

The dictionary definition of Imperialism is acquiring of dependent territories or extending a country’s influence through trade and diplomacy. It is to be noted that after the victory of war in May 2009, Sri Lanka is now in the process of acquiring dependent Territory in the Tamil Homeland.

However different interpretations of Imperialism, Countries and Nations are in vogue and stripped of their context, these interpretations cause confusion and divert the attention of the peoples to irrelevant or subordinate contradictions.

Nations are defined as natural and historic evolution of communities in the rising period of Capitalism with common Territory, common Language, common Technology (Economics) and common Culture.

Rising period of Capitalism is to be understood as pre imperialist stage of Capitalism and at that stage, the Country was the same as Nation State.

When Imperialism arose in the scene as a result of acquisition of dependent Territories, The Country is no longer synonymous with Nation State but comprised of an oppressive Imperialistic Nation State and oppressed Nation(s).

Sovereignty and Self determination are said to reside in the Peoples and since Nations being the Natural and historical evolution of communities of Peoples, Sovereignty and Self Determination should be characteristics of Nations and Patriotism is same as Nationalism ONLY in that context. The words Nationality and Citizenship were synonymous only in the pre imperialistic stage when Nation State was synonymous with the Country.

The Politics of Imperialism laid the foundations for the Ideology of Confusion by equating Nation state with the Country, equating Nationalism with Patriotism, equating Nationality with Citizenship even after dependent Territories were established in the period of Imperialism and performed a subtle transfer of Sovereignty and Self Determination to the Country first in the conceptual plane.

Further Imperialism itself was confined to acquisition of dependent Territories thereby hiding the important characteristics of Imperialism, namely, Economical Imperialism arising from Trade and Political Imperialism arising from Diplomacy.

When Lenin called Imperialism as the highest stage of Capitalism, he probably referred to the Economic Imperialism and since at that stage Marxism was founded on Economics determining Politics, Political Imperialism was probably ignored.

With the conclusion of the Second World War, when holding on to dependent Territories was no longer practicable and since the cost of Military Occupation of dependent Territories was prohibitive, the Politics of Imperialism underwent a fundamental change from Politics independent of Man’s will to Conscious Politics.

The dependent Territories were given “independence” with boundaries of Countries drawn without giving any consideration to the boundaries of Nations, combining Nations (Ceylon, India etc) and dividing Nations (Arabs, Kurds etc) all with the idea of potential time bombs to sabotage the completion of National Liberation.

Political Imperialism was transferred to the dominant Nations (agent imperialists) of Countries like the Sinhala Nation in Ceylon or to the dominant Sheikhdoms (again agent imperialists) in the Arab Nation.

The essential Economic Imperialism (Trade) was retained by the former Imperialist Powers. To date Economic Imperialism is in their hands though “democratized” in the name of World Trade Organization (WTO).

Thus Economic Power is taken out of the UNO (United Nations Organization or the Club of Agent Imperialists).

Man’s Conscious choices not only created the Economic Crises (WTO) but also the Environmental Crisis in Climate Change issues (WEO for World Environmental Organization) and these are serious challenges for the Politics of Imperialism. Even while facing these common challenges to Mankind, Imperialist Powers do not want to relax on their antagonism to National Liberation Movements as revealed in their joint crushing of the Eezham Tamil Liberation Movement.

The completion of National Liberation is a prerequisite for the Establishment of Socialism and hence denial or even delay of National Liberation is a pre emptive strike against Socialism guaranteeing the preservation of Capitalism.

What the Eezham Tamils, in particular the Diaspora, should realize is that National Liberation is functionally and fundamentally anti Imperialistic in character and we cannot therefore expect any Imperialist Power or Agent Imperialist Power to deliver us Liberation.

Just as the anticipated Socialism in the Soviet Union and China ended up as State capitalism, the anticipated decay of Imperialism after the Political independence of many countries after the Second World War turned out to be a consolidated Transformation of Imperialism.

Though the acquired Territories were handed back, Political Imperialism was shared with the dominant Nations (Agent Imperialists) of all countries including the nominally socialist ones while the Economic Imperialism was retained by the former Imperialists making it a more efficient arrangement of exploitation of Men and Nature, later transforming as “Globalised Capital” which finally won the cold war in favour of the former Imperialists.

Since Globalised Capital did not have enough Political muscle, the less Economically efficient Establishments of the World representing the dominant Nations (Agent Imperialists) of the countries, thus establishing a unified mechanism against the oppressed Nations.

Thus while the oppressor Nations with State are more readily united (like more than 30 Governments backing GoSL), the oppressed Nations have to go it alone like the Eezham Tamil Nation which lost in spite of very strong internal strength because the Nations without State have not established international Solidarity among themselves.

Politics of Imperialism had ensured that Nations without State do not know one another and confined to borders controlled by dominant Nations (Agent Imperialists) with State. Thus 1/3rd the population of the World is reduced as Stateless peoples without controlling any resources including their own Labour, often ending as refugees in strange lands.

A sense of helplessness and powerlessness pervades Stateless peoples’ minds and they are made to depend on charity by well wishers. Their minds are brainwashed not to think of hurting their well wishers even to the extent of betraying their natural allies.

The Politics of Imperialism takes extra care to ensure that natural allies never get together.

For example when 20 groups banded together to protest against Common Wealth Heads of Governments (CHOGM) meeting in Perth, the police has gone round advising all the groups to organize their individual protests and that they will have police protection for that.

It is unfortunate that even some Eezham Tamils think them as “fringe groups” though one of them is the Greens who called for the suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth. Such is the power of the Politics of Imperialism which through the indoctrination of “two party democracy” prevents the emergence of a third force for fear that such a force is more likely to be anti Establishment.

It is common knowledge that in all two party democracies both parties are pro Establishment and the prevention of the emergence of a third force is the best pre emptive to preserve the Establishment. One could find many pre-emptives to prevent a Third Force in all the two party democracies. It is to be noted that only Third Forces like the NDP of Canada that recognize representatives from Nations without State.

The only way to break this Politics of Imperialism is to develop solidarity among all the Nations without State and also educating the populations (including support for developing Third Forces) in the Nations with State that their Salvation also depends on completing the National Liberation in the World.

TamilNet

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