[By Charles Somasundrum]
Uri Avnery an Israeli peace activist and founder of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc) who had also served in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) for three terms says, ‘What is really bugging me is the hypocrisy of the world media. They storm and thunder about Tibet. In thousands of editorials and talk people on earth whose right to independence is being denied by brutal force ….’ shows they heap curses and invective on the evil China. It seems as if the Tibetans are the only
Mr Avnery claims further, in the same article, that ‘the United States dominates a large part of the international media, and its news agencies and TV networks largely define the agenda and terminology of news coverage’. The Americans have introduced the world to terms like ‘the Axis of Evil’, Terrorist’, ‘Terrorism’ and many others. They have also introduced the world to new methods of torture, some of them extremely primitive and introduced us to terms such as ‘Rendition’ and ‘Waterboarding’ among others, but that is another matter. These are terms one might say, have the American ‘copyright’! Sadly, so called world leaders like Tony Blair, have used these same terms in sycophantism. It is unfortunate to note, that today’s Labour leaders have made no significant attempt to demonstrate an alternate, identifiable British international policy that is independent of the US. The Labour party is paying the price today (2010), under a Brown government, in poor pre election poling figures.
America banned, after a cursory examination, the LTTE which was the fighting arm of the Eelam Tamil Freedom Movement, on the grounds that it was a ‘terrorist’ organisation. Tony Blair, the then British Prime Minister as always, blindly followed this typical knee-jerk American reaction, in sycophantic dumbness. Gordon Brown his successor, continued to follow unquestioningly, the path that Blair had set. The so-called ‘ethical foreign policy’ of the then new and young Labour government of 1997 that was trumpeted by the late Robin Cooke who was Foreign Secretary, was soon jettisoned without much ado by the Blair government, as also was Robin Cook himself. It took only a few more years for Canada to declare the LTTE a banned ‘terrorist’ organisation. Clearly, Britain and Canada were only blindly following the lead set by ‘big’ brother America, though clearly, the ‘big’ refers to its geographic size and not to ‘bigness’, in mature and reasoned approach to international policy.
While we are on the subject of Tony Blair may I point out that he will certainly have his place in history if that is what he craves. He will always be known as the dumb ‘poodle’ of George Bush, the stupidest and most untalented President in American history! The words, ‘Yo! Blair’, with which his pal Bush once greeted him will always dog him.
Meanwhile, the British media continue to blindly beat the ‘establishment’ drum. Often, when a British newspaper is at a loss for ‘news’, the necessary ‘padding’ is provided by some hitherto little known journalist who is permitted two entire pages of the newspaper, to present his ‘scoop’! We recently had the Guardian newspaper showing a large picture of a bare bodied Mahinda Rajapakse (making a strange face and looking foolish in the process) surrounded by a similarly bare bodied entourage, apparently at a Hindu Temple in Jaffna - according to the caption. The purpose of this particular article or the accompanying pictures still defeats me, but then do newspaper editors require a purpose?
The British media always tries to ‘manufacture’ public opinion. The Murdoch press, always rightwing, backs the right wing parties – unless they think that the Labour party or the Liberal party will help a particular personal expansion programs. This happened when the Murdoch ‘Sun’ newspaper backed Tony Blair – that most right wing of Labour Prime Ministers. Ever since Brown decided to continue, to the lifetime of parliament, on succeeding Tony Blair, the media have been gunning for him. Brown has always been shown in poor light. Even photographs of the man have always tend to project his bad side and it would seem that the editorial staff spend hours picking out photographs showing Brown as a man who rarely smiled. The press photographs even went to the extent of showing Sarah Brown barefooted – in a Hindu Temple! The newspapers spent many column inches in discussing her bare feet, photographed in close detail, and criticised her toe nails because the nail varnish on one or two nails appeared scuffed or cracked. This, according to the newspaper editors, appeared to be sensational news of world importance!
Brown is shown as an impatient man and morose. The British public, who rarely if ever see the real Mr Brown, are therefore limited to press photographs or video – footage, where the editors determine what the public should or should not see. In contrast, Cameron has received a better press, we learned more about his bicycling to Parliament – even though we are all aware that his car followed him at a safe distance with his papers.
Nick Clegg the Liberal leader appears to be the new press hero. The press have started giving points to the leaders of the three principal parties, apparently based on polls carried out after their TV debates. After the second ‘debate’ on television, Clegg was seen as leading, with the Conservatives coming a close second and Labour trailing in third place. These ‘rankings’ are based on polls. The general public are not told how the polling samples are arrived at. It is sufficient for the media that the polls determine the ‘ranking’ of the parties. Basing their comments on these rankings, the press, in particular, have gone on to build up the party of their choice or demolish the party they do not like. Strangely, after each debate by the leaders of the three principle parties, the newspaper reader is treated to the results of an interview with what the newspaper describes as a ‘cross section’ of the voter. The person interviewed has no clear opinion but usually gives his/her spur of the moment opinion based on some personal experience. TV and Radio merely parrot the newspapers. This is Democracy!
Moving on to British newspapers and the way they treat international news. As Mr Avnery puts it, ‘Why do the world’s media adopt one independence struggle, but often cynically ignore another independence struggle? What makes the blood of one Tibetan redder than the blood of a thousand Africans in East Congo? He then poses the question ‘What, then, causes the international media to discriminate between the various liberation struggles that are going on throughout the world? To attempt to answer this question posed by Mr Avnery, I cast my mind a few years back, when I attended the second anniversary memorial meeting, organised in London by the Reporters Sans Frontieres and the Nimalarajan Foundation at the National Union of Journalists at Grays Inn Road, in memory of Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, a BBC, Eelam Tamil journalist based in Jaffna. Nimalarajan was exterminated by the Sinhala occupation army in Jaffna. The meeting was attended by a number of young male and female British journalists in the making. I was pleasantly surprised at, what I thought, was the interest that young British journalists were showing in this murdered Tamil journalist. That was, till the main speakers had finished and the meeting was open to general questions. Not one of these ‘journalists’ had any questions about the murdered journalist or about Sinhala state terrorism in the Tamil homeland or about the civil war there nor did they care two hoots about these. Each of the questioners had his/her own personal agenda. Their questions were more about matters they were personally involved in. These matters did not in the least relate to the dead reporter but were instead, related to a personal interest in other matters in other parts of the world that they had, perhaps, recently, reported on. They did not know the Tamil journalist, whose murder was being remembered at the meeting nor did they wish to know anything about him. They had no interest in the civil war in Sri Lanka or in Eelam or in the freedom movement of the Tamil nation!
One of the speakers at this meeting was Marie Colvin of the British Sunday Times who had entered LTTE held territory to interview certain mid ranking LTTE leaders, by crossing a Sinhala army held war zone surreptitiously. She had crossed the war zone without authorization to conduct her interview and was returning, when she was intercepted and shot at by the Sinhala army. She was injured in the head and arms. In the event, she lost the use of an eye. She was doing what any investigative journalist would have done. Yet, her experience at the hands of the ‘panicky’ Sinhala army appears to have affected her ability to make an unbiased report.
Her report, published in the British Sunday Times, was a very much watered down version, devoid of any adverse comment on the Sinhala army. The great investigative journalists of yesteryear are no more. Journalists who stood by their convictions, and often stood their ground against interfering and formidable newspaper Barons. Today, apart from one or two media moguls like the Barclay Brothers or Family Murdoch, the newspapers are owned by faceless shareholders. They are in the business to make a profit. Today’s journalists mirror this image. They have no views of their own. All they need is a ‘sensational’ story that will establish their name. Marie Colvin was after a ‘sensational’ story that sadly went all wrong for her. If she had done her basic ‘homework’ on the Sinhala Army and the LTTE she would have known that the Sinhala army was made up of mostly panicky men (who were scared of their own shadows) who would shoot before they asked any questions.
Marie Colvin’s backboneless article in the British Sunday Times shows the path followed by the British media. This is the same ‘policy’ followed by the media, when dealing with the Tamil freedom movement as opposed to the ‘terrorist’ Sinhala government. Where, the Sinhala armed forces or their mercenaries, assassinated leading Tamils, like the sensational assassination of the Tamil member of parliament for Batticaloa in East Eelam, who was killed on Christmas day 2005 in a church in the presence of the Bishop (what greater sensational headline of the ‘man bites dog’ variety can they have been looking for?); or the assassination of other Tamil MPs or prominent Tamils, or when leading Tamil journalists and professional Tamils are exterminated with state connivance, the silence of the British and western media is resounding! Most Tamils wonder, why the British media in particular, throws away its mantle of ‘British justice’ under which it usually covers itself (though often uncomfortably), and stoops to undisguised partisan coverage?
A matter of the greater interest to Eelam Tamils, is a principle that Mr Avnery lays down, which is as follows, ‘I would propose a pragmatic moral principle: Every population that inhabits a defined territory and has a clear national character is entitled to independence. A state that wants to keep such a population must see to it that they feel comfortable, that they receive their full rights, enjoy equality and have an autonomy that satisfies their aspirations.’
Here, in clear unambiguous words Uri Avnery has laid down what he terms a ‘pragmatic moral principle’. This is exactly the same pragmatic moral principle that the Tamils of Elam have always adopted in their battle for self determination. They ask for nothing more, but also, ask for nothing less. They seek the freedom of their traditional homeland in the ‘clearly defined territory’ that Mr Avnery describes. The Sinhala army is presently in ‘occupation’ of large tracts of that territory in the Tamil homeland.
The Tamils of Eelam have justifiable claims over and above Mr Avery’s ‘defined territory’ and ‘national character’. Apart from the ‘clear national character’ that Mr Avnery describes, The Tamil nation have their own language, their own religion, their own laws, their own dress, their own literature and an ancient literary tradition, their own music and the arts all of which are significantly different from those of the Sinhala nation. What is more, the Tamils have maintained and developed this ‘national character’ through three different colonial rulers.
The media have blindly, continued branding the Tamil freedom movement a ‘terrorist’ movement and have supported the British government’s action in proscribing the Tamil freedom movement, in Britain. How many British journalists have taken the time to examine the historical background to the Tamil freedom movement? We know that Marie Colvin did not. How many have tried to examine the type of government that existed in the island when the British arrived there? We know that Marie Colvin did not.
Today’s journalists are completely at sea without ‘labels’ to stick on their own little ‘packages’ of analyses of what they think is going on in Sri Lanka or for that matter, in the world at large. The wishy-washy documentary of the raw, semi trained journalist that Channel 4 sent to the Tamil north that was shown on Channel 4 some time back was the direct result of this indifference.
Has any western journalist ever attempted to learn about the activities of the Tamil freedom fighters outside Sri Lanka? How many buildings have the Tamil freedom fighters destroyed in Britain? How many persons, British or otherwise, have been killed, by the Tamil freedom fighters, in Britain? How many explosive devices have the Tamil freedom fighters set off in Britain? The answer to each of these questions is a resounding negative.
The rebel soldiers of George Washington fought direct battles against British soldiers in seeking independence and killed quite a few of them. George Washington is today a hero of the American nation. All that the Tamils have done is to fight the terrorist Sinhala armed forces (and their covert supporters the EU, the Americans, Pakistan, China and others) for the freedom of their homeland. British myopia has condemned Eelam Tamils to a lifetime as a ‘slave’ nation. The Tamils are fighting against this. The Tamils have never ‘exported’ their struggle abroad or caused trouble to any ‘innocent’ foreign national on Eelam soil.
On the issue of Eelam Tamils ‘exporting’ their struggle abroad, the following observation must be made. There are certain Eelam Tamils who have settled in ‘foreign’ countries – the Diaspora. These ‘Tamils’ who have naturally, adopted the nationality of that country have also unfortunately decided to erase from their minds, all memory of the land of their birth and the people they left behind. Some of these persons have decided instead, to mislead the people of the land they have adopted, by spreading lies and falsehoods about the people they left behind. They have spread lies that Eelam Tamils do ‘export’ their battles. They give as an example, the assassination of Mr Rajiv Gandhi in South India by an Eelam Tamil girl, who blew herself up in the process. There is an excellent book written by Dr Satchi Sri Kantha who analyses the events leading to this assassination and the events subsequent to it. He has shown, with accompanying documentary evidence, including copies of trial transcripts, that the assassination had nothing to do with the LTTE but was a solo endeavour by a young girl who had been raped by Indian soldiers of the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force). Her bitter hatred was directed against Gandhi personally. She held him responsible for the IPKF being in the Tamil homeland. Her hatred was exploited by persons in the Indian political scene who had their own personal political agenda. They got to the girl through her uncle, who was also arrested by the Indians for complicity. This information is in the public domain. If only the media showed an interest in investigative reporting and in the reporting of unvarnished facts!
Some Tamils, like the persons mentioned above, have cut themselves so far out of what is happening in the Tamil homeland that their response, if any, to what is happening in Eelam is alien and foreign. Tamil youths gave up their lives in their thousands, in the course of their struggle, just as the Nepalese; Burmese and Tibetans are giving up theirs today. Yet, these Tamils and the LTTE (who are sadly no more) are termed ‘terrorists’ by the world media. Not the Nepalese or Burmese or Tibetans.
It is time all Tamils of the Diaspora ‘stood up’ and were ‘counted’. They should expose the lies and trivialities of the British journalists and the British newspaper industry that have their own agenda. Let all Tamils vote at the general/local election on the 6th May, for whichever party they choose, and let the British media know that the Tamils will be a force to be reckoned with at all future elections. They cannot be taken for granted in future.