Cheran vs Cheran – (A reply to Professor R. Cheran)

A reply from the Forum of Sri Lankan Congress against Terrorism is follows;

(December 07, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is normal for Prof. R. Cheran to dismiss that he is not a LTTE adviser; because if he admit that it would be the end of his carrier in Canadian soil. So there is no point of arguing about in his rejection of LTTE position. We also do not want to dismantle someone’s carrier as that is not our business. Our business is attacking terrorist ideology. In that case we are happy that at least now he rejects LTTE ideology.

We also don’t believe Professor Cheran had any military connection with LTTE but we believe that he in his capacity as an intellectual, donated his ideological ”two cents” towards Tamil Nationalism, the one which end of the road supports LTTE terrorism, which by the way on his own will. Therefore we think it would be ideal if we point out dramatic changes in Prof. Rudramoorthy Cheran’s ideology in the past few years, in his own way.

We know him as a peace activist, poet actively speak against LTTE Terrorism and used to hope for a pluralistic Sri Lanka. In that sense in 1994 he wrote to his news paper “Saranihar” on the “Limits of nationalism”. There he said “Tamil nationalism, in its struggle against the Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism emphasizes the Chola period and Chola imagery. This nationalism does not recognize, or even justify, the imperialism of the Cholas and their unprincipled governance;…” further more he said “….In such nationalist movements humanism has no space. Under these circumstances, the noble concept of “liberation” degenerates in to a self-serving nationalism of a specific class or group. To think about this basic truth is an essential lesson for those who speak and struggle for Tamil liberation and Muslim liberation. Are they thinking?... “
Then he migrated to Canada and started to write about the Diaspora and eventually he fell in love with Tamil nationalism, by the way it does not seems the correct line of nationalism according to the specs of his article “Limits of Nationalism”. May be he did stop “thinking”.

Then in his study paper in 2003, “Diaspora circulation and transnational’s as agents for change in the post conflict zones of Sri Lanka” he criticized Michael Ignatieff’s article on “Dangers of Diaspora Nationalism” and wrote about magic of Diaspora nationalism. There he stands in a totally opposing position to what he wrote when he was with “Saranihar” According to his above theses “The problem with this view is that it homogenizes Diaspora nationalism and new immigrants. It also conceptually fails to appreciate the distinctions between groups such as Al Qaeda on the one hand and other non state actors which may be engaged in legitimate struggles of self determination (although resorting to illegitimate tactics with greater or lesser frequency), ie. Historically South Africans under the apartheid regime and currently, Kurds, Tamils, Palestinians and Kosovars. As the power of nation-states weakens as a result of rapid globalization, and as the power of Diaspora communities grows, the logic of incorporating these communities into theories and practices of international law, international relations, development policy, foreign policy and civil society grows as well…” In this way he argues for the power of Diaspora activism.

We all know who gains the most from Diaspora activism these days and expecting to gain more in the future!. In that sense this thesis could also be looked at as a white paper for future separatist movements which could be activating from Diaspora.

During this period among so many other things Prof. Cheran wrote a drama for Canadian Tamil Congress. This time it was about Black July, the only black mark on Sri Lanka history that LTTE still depends on. “WHAT IF THE RAIN FAILS” staged at Young Center for performing Arts, in Toronto on July 26, 2008. This drama was all about raising Tamil Nationalism using trauma and tears. In fact this is a true reflection of Prof. Cheran’s ideological change.

Then in most recently Prof. Cheran appeared in one of the pro LTTE videos produced by a person named P. Wicknesvaran. Main object of this video seems to be, to persuade the international community that there is genocide of Tamil people in Sri Lanka. While doing that, this video is trying portray that the main aim of Sri Lankan security forces and the successive governments are to eliminate entire Tamil population from Sri Lanka.?

Professor Cheran in his capacity as an intellectual endorses this LTTE slogan with the help of his other pro LTTE legal and professorial buddies. Let him speak for himself. “.. This kind of situation is a misery because of the resistance as long as they continue to resist they will be attacked they will become refuge they will have no one else to look after them. In other ways in any kind of …insurgency government… if they can simply catch the guerrillas their only way is to eliminate the population. It means if you can catch the fish you can try to drain the water. There you loose the water. You loose the fish..right..So if you can’t catch the resistance, if you can’t catch the guerrillas then they think only way to is to eliminate the civilian population there by denying the base for guerrillas. So that is the struggle they are currently perused. This is a making of that every single Tamil living in that part of the world. You kick them out or you kill them. So this is the kind of straight policy…That..not going to work..!”

These are very powerful words professor Cheran. Your words “That not going to work ..!” with your body language reflects, power and authority. Also these words are similar to boasting words once came out from Thamil Chelvem and Anton Balasingham’s mouths. Where did you get this power, and authority? That, you have to ask from yourself.

So there you are professor, you made your own decision to change your ideology towards the road that once, you yourself rejected. You change your path towards your own ideological destruction. You made yourself risk to you and the lives of other people you know by associating and ideologically supporting Tamil nationalism; the one, which at the end of the road supporting LTTE terrorism. We think you will have lots of explaining to do. - Sri Lanka Guardian