Posts Tagged ‘Tamil Community’
A UN Mandated Force Needs to be on the Ground in Sri Lanka
When has a minority group ever been interned in camps run by the dominant opposing side in a military conflict, and it ended with those people walking out alive? When have internment or concentration camps without independent media or Red Cross access ever not resulted in mass killings of minorities? Simply put, the fox can never be trusted to guard the hen house. Why haven’t we learned to respond immediately?
Sri Lanka has been engaged in civil war for well over two decades. The Tamil people have suffered systemic racism in Sri Lanka for decades, and well before the start of this war. With the government of Sri Lanka bombing Tamil civilians, denying humanitarian access, or the mobility of independent media – how can the world sit by and just hope that somehow the Sri Lankan government won’t go even further, especially when the UN is saying they’ve likely already committed crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Pro-Sinhalese folks will say, that the LTTE are terrorists, that’s not a claim I am going to dispute, but the LTTE are not holding over 200 000 members of an ethnic group they’ve been indiscriminately bombing, denying basic medial and food aid to and forbidding the media from witnessing. The Sri Lanka government is. They are also not denying the over 200 000 minorities they are holding in guarded camps, surrounded by barbed wire, the right to leave the camps. The journalists who tried to report on the severity of the camps was deported from Sri Lanka for ‘damaging the countries image’.
The world community needs to get their act together and invoke the ‘responsibility to protect’ and prevent what could be an undisputed genocide if the world community fails to step in. The reason Tamil Canadians are in the streets of Toronto daily is to push for our government to protect their loved ones back home. It isn’t an unreasonable request to ask Canada to stand up and use it’s presence on the international stage to protect innocent civilians from further harm.
I was very young when the Srebrenica massacre happened. I am too young to remember it, but it is a topic I’ve certainly learned about in university and read about on my own. I was shocked that such a large scale mass murder of innocent people could take place in ‘safe zones’ while the UN stood by and watched. It demonstrated the atrocities of Rwanda had not served as a lesson in managing ethnic conflict. The resulting decade of discussion about the UN’s effectiveness has seen Darfur virtually ignored by the international community, and now Sri Lanka setting the stage for the latest moment when the world community has a choice to make.
The United Nations Security Council has a responsibility to protect innocent civilians. They have a responsibility to ensure that innocent civilians are protected from armed conflict. The reports that are getting out of Sri Lanka make it clear that isn’t happening. Whether you believe the government figures of 378 deaths from the Sri Lankan government shelling a hospital, or the Tamil community’s figure of 3000 – there is no room for moral relativism when it comes to the deaths of innocent civilians. One is too many. 300 or 3000 is totally without explanation. Simply put, governments never have the right to kill their people, and the world community always has an obligation to act when it is clear a government either has, is or soon will kill innocent civilians.
The silence of Canada’s government has been deafening on this issue. The Canadian government should act at the United Nations to pressure members of the Security Council to pass a resolution invoking the ‘responsibility to protect’ and sending in an international force that can protect Tamil civilians from violence, and develop a framework to a sustainable peace and security for both the Tamil and Sinhalese populations of Sri Lanka.
A UN mandated force could open the country up to foreign journalists, keep the peace and allow for humanitarian aid to flow in hopes of alleviating the current humanitarian crisis and preventing further humanitarian crises and acts of genocide. This force could also stabilize the situation and prevent future outbreaks of violence.
If you haven’t already, write to the Prime Minister of Canada (pm@pm.gc.ca) and your Member of Parliament
to tell them that you believe Canada must act to prevent further crimes against humanity from being committed in Sri Lanka.
These protests we’ve seen every day have been about raising awareness and getting people to pressure the government. If you agree with the Tamil community, or even if you just want the protests to stop, remind Stephen Harper that his Government has a moral obligation to pursue peace in the world and that the UN has a responsibility to protect. Call on him to do his part to ensure that happens.
Below are some links to stories about the chaos brewing in the internment camps the Sri Lankan government has forced over 200 000 Tamils into.
Children Separated From Parents in Chaotic Sri Lankan Camps – Save the Children, May 16 2009
Sri Lankan Government Denies Entry to Aid Groups, Raising Humanitarian Law Questions, May 15 2009
The banality of evil in Sri Lanka – UPI Asia, May 15 2009
Sri Lankan shelters stretched to ‘breaking point’, May 12 2009
5 Comments »My Heartfelt Thanks To You
I wanted to send a heartfelt thanks to those who have written me since I posted My Support of the Tamil Community in Canada – Explained.
In post I had written about a poorly made government decision in October 2008, that I believed put the life of a prominent anti-war politician in Sri Lanka at risk by publicly suggesting he was both supportive of, and possibly even a member of the LTTE, I wrote:
‘Even writing about Sri Lanka is uncomfortable for me because I am well aware of how having an opinion that is not supportive of the Government of Sri Lanka’s military efforts against it’s own people can and almost always is equated to supporting the violent actions of the LTTE and by bringing up Sri Lanka at all, one is forced to explain their views clearly and precisely to ensure they are not misrepresented.’ grindstone road divx movie online Terrorist By Assumption – Conservative Government Policy - October 7th 2008
Throughout my involvement in politics, I’ve never been comfortable sitting quietly and letting something I’ve felt is wrong go by unchallenged. When one recognizes their view isn’t necessarily the popular opinion on an issue, it is often more of a challenge to speak out. One can be ‘thick skinned’ or ‘tough’ but still needs to know they’ll be able to withstand the blows that will certainly come their way. That being said, it is a heck of a lot easier to stand up with strength and courage when you know there are others who are supportive of what you’re doing.
The dozens of messages I’ve received through email and comments on my blog have been a re-affirmation of the decent, caring, Tamil community in Canada I know. The mix of kind words, and personal stories has touched me, and allowed me to further try to understand how painful it must be knowing about the atrocities going on in Sri Lanka and seeing them unreported in the media.
Hearing stories of lost loved ones, carnage and destruction, of food shortages and fear; it’s clear to me why the community is exercising it’s democratic rights in Canada with such vigour. It’s clear why there is such urgency in the voices and on the faces of demonstrators. It’s clear why so many Tamils have put their daily lives on hold to struggle to be the voice of the unheard victims back home. You feel a sense of obligation to do so, and all Canadians and our government have an obligation to listen.
Your words further hit home how wrong those who think Tamils want to see more bloodshed are. It’s clear to me, Tamils want to be safe from violence, have access to the basic necessities of life, have their human rights protected, and the political rights all the world’s minority populations are guaranteed by the United Nations to self determination.
Canadians must see that the Tamil community is giving us the opportunity to live up to our international reputation. The challenges in Sri Lanka give Canada the opportunity to lead again on the international stage. It allows us to stand up for values and morals we hold dear and believe to be inalienable, not just at home, but abroad as well. It’s my hope we seize that opportunity and begin to pressure the Sri Lankan government to recognize that peace won’t come militarily, but only through a recognition of the rights of Tamils to self determination and setting up a fair and open process to that end. If the government of Sri Lanka wants unity, it can’t win that in war, it must earn it through it’s actions. If the Tamils want independence they too need a non military process to realize that goal.
There is hope that the community may finally see some action. The Gardiner Expressway closure was controversial, but effective. It doesn’t need to happen again, but it worked. Daily protests for weeks were ignored, hunger strikes not reported, but each day since the Gardiner closure, the plight of innocent Tamil civilians has been on the front page of the daily newspapers. The Gardiner being closed for five hours was covered by international media, and helped wake many Canadians up to what’s going on in Sri Lanka.
I am proud to stand with Tamil Canadians, who are peacefully calling for an end to violence in Sri Lanka, who are calling for a recognition of their internationally accepted human rights. It is my hope that the Sri Lankan government will bow to pressure soon, and recognize that they must be held to a higher standard then this. The LTTE has already said it is prepared to enter into a ceasefire. The Sri Lankan government should take them up on that and end the violence. The actions of the Tamil diaspora around the world have gained recognition of the issue. It’s seen President Obama call for an end to the violence in Sri Lanka yesterday and the United Nations get more and more aggressive in their diplomatic efforts.
Thank you again for your kind messages. With the support I’ve been receiving, it is easy to speak out. If you wrote me and have yet to receive a response to your message, I assure you it’s coming soon.
1 Comment »My Support of the Tamil Community in Canada – Explained
It’s worth explaining. I’m taking some heat for my stance, and although not prepared to change a view I’ve held for years, I am more than willing to explain why, and how and to what degree I support the Tamil community. Apologies for doing so in 2000 words or so.
I am someone who feels sympathy for the treatment of Sri Lankan Tamils, someone who felt outrage the first time a Tamil friend shared with him personal stories about how ‘Black July’ impacted his family and his friend’s families. As an individual I live my life with open eyes and an open mind, and often find myself trying to understand problems, and their possible solutions.
I think the ultimate solution in Sri Lanka will not be achieved militarily by anyone. I don’t believe violence is in this case, or ever the answer. That being said, understanding the events of ‘Black July’ and the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka post Black July there is a clear path to violence that however unconscionable was foreseeable and the lasting damage probably irreparable.
The treatment of the Tamil community in Canada by government officials has also been a cause of concern to me. While I understand the listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organization, I think the ensuing witch hunt and suspicion of every Tamil as being a possible ‘tiger supporter’ has tested the strength of the multiculturalism we hold to be so inherently Canadian.
I have attended Tamil events, rallies, protests and vigils over the last five years. In fact, on Canada Day last year, I joined with hundreds of members of the Tamil community and rolled up my sleeve and donated blood for the first time in my life. I thought about that again last month when I donated blood again. When I lay in a blood clinic last, I recognized that the blood drive the Tamil community ran last July has made me a more active citizen than before, a blood donor.
Through my political involvement as a former candidate in a part of Toronto with a very large Tamil population and as a Liberal Riding President in a riding that has one of the largest, if not the largest Tamil Canadian population of any riding in Canada, I’ve had the opportunity to have a number of frank and honest discussions with members of the community about the war in Sri Lanka and other issues. As a student at a high school with a large Tamil population, it was hard not to be aware of the war then as well.
The situation in Sri Lanka is a good example of how polarization, ethnic tension and violence can happen. It is also a demonstration of the importance for majorities to respect the minorities and ensure government policy does not shut them out of decision making or deprive them of recognition and equality. Years before violence broke out, the Tamil community in Sri Lanka was being culturally and economically disadvantaged by the majority Sinhalese. I’m not defending the resulting violence, but am merely pointing to conflict on the island being deeper than real estate in the north and the east.
Having studied what has been over forty years of struggle between the Sinhalese and Tamils, and being aware of how it has intensified in the last decade, it is clear to me that even if the violence stops tomorrow, it would be impossible to reconcile and have a united country free from violence, oppression and political struggle.
For this reason, I do support the right of the Tamil people to achieve independence, not through violence, but through a United Nations monitored, self determination process followed by free and fair elections. My opposition to government sponsored ‘disappearances’, abuses of a minority population, systemic barriers to full participation in society fuel my support for the Tamil community’s attempts to raise awareness and get help from loved ones at home through our government.
I believe that Canada has a moral obligation as the adopted homeland of the largest Sri Lankan Tamil population outside of Sri Lanka to use it’s role in the world to push Sri Lanka towards a process that will recognize minority rights, see an end to violence and allow for a path to independence in line with United Nations principles around Self Determination.
To date, Canada’s approach to the violence in Sri Lanka has been to entirely focus on the tactics and actions of the LTTE, and while I recognize the purpose and necessity to condemn assassinations, suicide attacks and other tactics that we morally oppose; our government’s decision to take Sri Lankan Embassy officials at their word, and not condemn state sponsored terror, attacks on civilians, politicizing humanitarian aid and other unconscionable acts has, in my view, hurt the Tamil community in Canada.
On October 1st 2008, I saw up close some of the total misunderstanding of the Tamil community in Canada in disgusting attacks a partisan blogger known as ‘NB Tory Lady’ had made against the community. NB Tory Lady was closely affiliated with now Cabinet Minister Keith Ashfield’s campaign for election to the House of Commons. It was unconscionable, I couldn’t let it go unanswered. I challenged him on her racist statements which included calling the 200 000 Tamil Canadians who live in the GTA ‘terrorists’ and ‘rebels’. He disassociated with her in a written statement, she took down his web banner. I still didn’t let it go. That wasn’t good enough. Her statements represented what is wrong with the approach to Tamil Canadians so I continued to push. On day two, she defended the statements, by day five they were deleted, and finally on day six, she was out of blogging. Below are the links to those pieces.
On Conservative Ignorance and Bigotry – October 1st 2008
UPDATE – Have Tories heard of Print Screen in Fredericton? – October 1st 2008
Conservative Kieth Ashfield’s Response – October 1st 2008
Keith Ashfield Supporter — NB Tory Lady Stands By her Racist Statements – October 2nd 2008
Keith Ashfield Supporter, NB Tory Lady Backs Down from Racist Statements – October 5th 2008
Keith Ashfield Supporter NB Tory Lady Deletes Entire Racist Blog – October 6th 2008
The Tamil community has been protesting for weeks now, holding regular protests across the street from the US Consulate. They’ve largely fallen on deaf ears, as the media gives them a passing reference – even though they are a daily, twenty-four hour event. 30 000 Tamils showed up on Parliament Hill and the government refused to have someone address them. Michael Ignatieff sat with organizers and told them straight up that not a single Liberal MP would address them either.
It wasn’t until Tamil protesters shut down the Gardiner for a few hours in an unprecedented protest that they hit the front page, and were able to stay there for two days and counting. I watched it unfold on TV, and recognized this was a dangerous situation. I was pessimistic that it would end well. I made the decision to head down to the protest and do what I could to provide a voice to protesters by twittering their story, taking pictures and just being present to document what happened, in case there was violence. This is the link to my pictures. My Pictures From the Tamil Protest on the Gardiner Expressway.
I was met with ‘thank you’, pats on the back, and by one man an apology for shutting down the Gardiner. My response to him was pretty simple. ‘If I was upset, I wouldn’t be here. I am here, because I understand’. I made my way up the ramp, through the crowd and wrote what I was seeing to share with others a view from the ground. I made it clear I have sympathy and empathy for the Tamil community in Canada, and that I did stand with them in their calls for a free press, a ceasefire and for the government to stop shelling safe zones.
I watched as on Twitter some truly hateful messages were put out against the Tamil community. We witnessed unconscionable racism, stereotyping and the find of hateful and divisive behaviour that threatens the social fabric that is Canada. I saw Tamil Canadians called ‘terrorists’, likened to supporters of the Taliban or Al Qaeda. I read Canadians calling for police to use tear gas, water cannons, charge the crowd, arrest five thousand people en masse. It was not commentary that made me proud to be a Torontonian or a Canadian and know that these were the views of some of my fellow Torontonians or Canadians. I can only imagine how it made Tamil Canadians feel.
My responses were pretty simple. ‘protesters are not terrorists’, ‘they are not members of the LTTE’ ‘find me a single conviction’ ‘ I stand with the Tamil Community in Canada – no qualifiers needed’
I do stand with the Tamil community in Canada and do not need to qualify that statement because the Tamil community in Canada is calling for things that all Canadians could and should support. They are calling for a free, independent press, they are calling for a ceasefire for humanitarian purposes, they want a free flow of aid to Tamil areas of the war zone and they want a right to independence. These are all things that fit nicely into Canadian values. Support for some of the LTTE’s tactics doesn’t, but not a single person chanted ‘more suicide bombings now’ ‘let’s assassinate (enter name here)’.
As for the flag. This has been the lightening rod of pro-Sinhala and anti-Tamil commentators and has been used to attack all those who participated in rallies. In many ways this is one of the complications in trying to differentiate the dream of a Tamil Eelam, an idea that existed before LTTE, from LTTE which has been the dominant force in fighting for such a state. Below is the Tamil Eelam Flag, and the LTTE Logo. Best described as ‘similar, but different’.
This is the Official Flag of Tamil Eelam
LTTE Logo
The red flag is not seen by the Tamil community as a ‘terrorist flag’. Those who fly it are not ‘terrorists’. They are folks who support an independent, separate homeland for the Tamil people. If you see the logo below, with the writing, that would be a flag of a designated terrorist organization in Canada.
I am known for being outspoken, and often finding myself in positions that many would see as controversial. This isn’t by design, but more by circumstance really. Once again, in taking a position that I feel is principled has resulted in me being personally attacked. This isn’t new, but the level of attack certainly is. Being accused of associating with terrorists is not something I take lightly. Associating with terrorists is not something I would ever do. This isn’t about political maneuvering either. I’m not a candidate for anything and have zero involvement in federal politics in Canada at the moment. I’m not handing out business cards, or trying to build a base for anything and have always understood that the safest politicians are generally the smartest politicians – at least at the politics. Ducking is always the safest position in a fight. It also happens to be one I’m not very good at and certainly don’t practice.
I support the Tamil community in Canada’s efforts to gain recognition and action to address the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. I do not support acts of terror or violence as a means to achieve a political end. Neither do those I stood with at any of the rallies I’ve attended. In fact, not a single Tamil I’ve ever spoken to has defended acts of terror. I believe Tamils, like all the world’s people should have the right to self determination and the ability to establish an independent state democratically. I think all Canadians need to work on understanding, and the Tamil community needs to try to communicate a clearer position on some of the unfair attacks levied at them, to make it easier for non-Tamil Canadians to stand with them.
That being said, I am prepared to take the abuse that comes from taking a principled position, until such a time as the debate shifts back to where it needs to be; about basic human rights, decency, access to fresh water, food, medicine, aid and a democratic process to end decades of violence. Attacks will not now, or ever silence my voice, and I only hope others will stand strong as well in the face of personal attacks.
In closing – if you want to talk about this, email me. Whether you agree or not. john.laforet@laforet.ca
Posts written since this one:
A UN Mandated Force Needs to be on the Ground in Sri Lanka
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