This 'WAR', of course, was nothing of the sort.
This 'WAR' was in reality a brutal and systematic 'cleansing' of the northern Tamil population of this embittered, abused and consistantly IGNORED island.
Wholesale murder and bloodshed on a scale we can't even conceive of in the West.
We all knew this was going on of course.
Didnt we?
Us... in the West?
We knew what was going on?
Blair's government knew. David Milliband knew. The UN knew. The World media knew.
And yet it was suppressed. Not only did the powers that be look away, they effectively put their fingers to their lips and said 'ssshhh'.
The BBC ran triumphant headlines hailing the end of the Sri Lankan government's war against the terrorist Tamil Tigers. A glorious victory ! The BBC ran the stock footage that Rajapaksa's fascist government released in the immediate aftermath showing the triumphant flag-waving army symbolically celebrating on the northern beaches of Kilinochi.
But this was a lie.
And the BBC knew this.
They knew that genocide and ethnic cleansing was taking place just behind those beaches. They knew that internment camps were being set up... and that makeshift hospitals were being indescriminately bombed.
The BBC and 'OUR' Government sat by and let this atrocity happen. David Milliband (by doing nothing) allowed this to happen. The blood is on his hands...along with many others in the west.
Channel 4's documentary The Killing Fields Of Sri Lanka broadcast on Tuesday 14th provides unequivocal proof of the atrocity. A clinical assessment of footage showing the massacre of prisoners by government forces.
Some 40,000 civilians were killed. The camps are still holding prisoners. The check-points are still operating. The fascist oppression continues. Tamils and independant journalists alike have disappeared off the face of the Earth.
The images that were broadcast show Nazi's reeking havoc on this island. We saw them in Kosovo, we saw them in Darfur and we saw them in Germany. Nazi's are relatively easy to spot, whether they are baiting bulls in Pamplona or raping girls in the Congo, one thing always gives them away...they turn and smile to the cameras. Their bloodlust always betrays them. And its not something inherent in man...its not some biological or genetic coding that compels man to such horrific acts of brutality.... it is something methodically and intentionally INSTILLED in man BY THE RULING ELITE. Men like Rajapaksa.
Rajapaksa is a Nazi and a war criminal. This is an unarguable fact.
So where is the debate following Channel 4's revelations?
More to the point where is the Left wing voice in the hours after this documentary?
Where is the pledge from the Communist and socialist parties?
Answer: NOWHERE
Its an old sorry story.....
Was there any support for the UK-based Tamil occupation of Parliament Square in 2008 as the bombs were dropping?
NO....THERE WASNT.
I myself spotted one Workers Power newspaper seller. No SWP. No CPGB. Infact I was often the only white face in the whole crowd. One weekend the Sri Lankan conflict clashed with a mass Palestine demo in Trafalgar Square.....and did any socialist groups organize and come to Parliament Square to show solidarity in numbers?
NO....THEY DIDNT !
Did anyone from the left wing organizations join in the London demonstrations outside The Dorchester Hotel last year when that fascist President Rajapaksa dined with Liam Fox. Or outside the Embassy...or at the airport?
NO....THEY DIDNT !
Had it been a Palestine rally there would have been a sea of SWP and other left wing banners. See if you can spot any......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImdyVdGlp30
NO.... NOT ONE
As always the poor Tamil community is left ISOLATED and completely ON THEIR OWN !
Why is this?
Why does it appear that the heralded 'International Community' is persistantly BLIND and DEAF to the desperate struggle of one the poorest and most oppressed communities on the planet?
IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE
We can expect the mainstream media to suppress this info (thats their job) ...but what about the left wingers?
Lets have a quick look at the home pages of their websites and see if we can find a recent article on Sri Lanka ?
Workers Power?
Nothing.
Lets have a look at the SWP...anything???
Nope.
CPGB?
MUTE
We contacted a prominent and vocal member of Workers Power and enquired whether anyone in Trot Towers might be stirred up enough by recent revelations to start some debate. ''Dont worry we'll talk to the comrades'' was the reply.
The League for the Fifth International's homepage offers a link to the Sri Lanka topic that hasn't been updated since November 2010!!?
'but what about the anarchists?' I hear you ask.
Well, our favourite blogger Phil Dickens (truth reason and liberty) is also GUILTY OF SILENCE.
Last time I looked at Ian Bone's website he was busy praising Sally Bercow for her sterling efforts during Slutwalk!!?
Numerous peace groups on Facebook focus almost exclusively on Palestine. Some we contacted have not once (even with polite encouragement) shown any willingness to even seek and share info about Sri Lanka.
Croydon Class War is fed up of hearing people reply 'oh i never knew anything about Sri Lanka'.
BULLSHIT !
There are unsettling and nasty reasons why the media draws a veil over Sri Lanka, and why white people in the imperialist and bloated patriarchal west fail to even register their suffering....there are equally unsettling reasons why a link is rarely made between the Tamil cause and other more high profile causes. And most of them centre around rascism and class bigotry...yes even in the Palestine movement. But lets not lower the mood.
Surely only a deeply cynical person would suggest that the likes of Workers Power and the SWP are selective in their battles? It would be wrong to suggest that these parties shamelessly court the students and throw most of their weight behind the relatively luxurious and trendy Palestinian cause? It would be madness to suggest these things?
-------
Faced with video footage of a bunch of government funded Nazi soldiers on a poor island in the Indian ocean raping women, shooting entire families through the head, dumping their dead bodies like rotting chattel into the back of lorries and then turning round to laugh at the cameras...if we are unwilling or unable to stop them with all the power and influence we hold in the international community....we will NEVER be able to stop the smiling Nazis in American-backed Israel !!
Martin Luther King said of the Vietnam war ''a time comes when silence is betrayal''
The message from Croydon Class War is this:
THE GLOBAL FIGHT FOR FREEDOM BEGINS OR ENDS IN SRI LANKA !!!
*17th June
http://www.tamilcanadian.com/ a large and vibrant Tamil community in Canada
Tamil refugees are continuing to be deported back to the killing fields by 'our' government
and the Sri Lanka High Commission details:
current campaigns:
Thank you for this article. Couldn't agree more! The UN have proved once again how useless they are and the world looks on....
ReplyDeleteThis was a brilliant piece of writing. How can I help you to get this information about?
ReplyDeleteActually, during the fighting and after, I did a number of pieces on Sri Lanka. See here, here, here, and here.
ReplyDeleteIts all about momentum Phil. At the time of the channel 4 airing its a sad fact that almost every group/blogger mentioned seemed to have their head in the sand.
ReplyDelete