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| The victims of the last battle – largely the families and villages that invested in those killed and wounded – need to be first compensated in terms of Status and money in that order – before their experience could be hijacked by foreigners. |
by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam
(July 07, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) We have received feedback from many angles, in relation to the Australian ABC’s 4 Corners Program - ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’. These include a Notice of Motion by Senator Bob Brown (Leader of Australian Greens Party) as shown in Appendix 1.
When I received the email regarding the Green’s ‘Notice of Motion’ my first thought was about the ‘Silence’ from Senator Hanson Young of the same party, to whom my emails are sent almost daily – many of them on the Sri Lankan issue. The contrast confirmed to me yet again – that Australian Leaders – Political as well as Media leaders – are more interested in the ‘status’ that this exposure adds to their portfolios rather than the issue itself – the core issue being racism. If not for racism – we need to accept that the armed forces would have done to their own what they did to Tamils using arms against them. It’s the degree of difference in the punishment or reward that confirms unjust discrimination – in this instance - that racism was a key component of the root that produced such animal behavior. The UN has a clear mandate to investigate through the core principles of the International Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. I did all I could to urge them to undertake such an investigation. It is my firm belief that if had they done ‘something’ to recognize that my cry was based on Truth - they would have prevented these killings by both sides.
I have concluded that to many, including the UN – this is merely for a living. It is not for Life. It is not because they are themselves not free to enjoy freedom from racism.
Australian leaders have never been ‘insiders’ in relation to the Sri Lankan issue. I know of No ‘insiders’ other than Sri Lankan Tamils and just a few Sinhalese. Insiders know through ‘experience’. The facts that we observe are True only to the extent of this experience. Beyond that we are also ‘outsiders’. When our thoughts due to ‘outside’ influences are more than our feelings due to inner experience – we are outsiders. This difference is important because insiders are driven by the Power of Truth. Outsiders need to be bound by the Common Structure closest to their Truth. According to the acts of ‘confession’ by Australian leaders, the Common Structure shown by them is ‘War Crimes Investigations’ and not ‘Elimination of Racial Discrimination’. The result sadly is that Sri Lankans of both races are being labeled as barbarians.
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As I said yesterday to a fellow Tamil – those who share in the pain of others as insiders (for example sharing with the victims of war) would truly comfort. They do not wait for evidence before sharing nor do they show evidence after sharing. They know that the other is in genuine pain and that they have genuinely reduced that pain through their sharing as if there is nothing else that is more important. Those who react to facts are outsiders and need to be treated as opposition and required to show what they would do/have done. Those who react to facts more than sharing – are exciting new activities at their level of investment in the issue. This includes many parts of the Tamil Diaspora whose investment in war is greater than their investment in Peace.
The victims of the last battle – largely the families and villages that invested in those killed and wounded – need to be first compensated in terms of Status and money in that order – before their experience could be hijacked by foreigners. Foreigners are those who react more to ‘what happened’ without feeling before hand that something would happen. When we compensate from our own – we share in the pain of the victims and that is our real protection from future wars – especially through ourselves.
Yesterday, a fellow academic at the University of Technology Sydney said that he could not keep watching the 4 Corners program because the pictures were distressing. But we watched until the end. Like it or not – we have to take into account – the level of exposure of our ‘inside’ activities. To me – after being with the victims soon after the war – it was not a new sight. What affected me more was that my people were pleading with the UN staff ‘not to leave’. Yet they left – confirming that they were outsiders. If they were ‘insiders’ they would have left when the first symptoms of war were known and taken the civilians with themselves. They lacked the vision then and they lack the vision now.
After all this, many Tamil Diaspora leaders continue to depend on the UN’s status. The best way we can help ourselves is to ensure that we as a community demand that all governments, including the Sri Lankan Government that use the war must first pay their Royalties to the Victims of War – through insiders. Each time they talk about the war - they must pay an appropriate sum. Likewise LTTE supporters of past and present – within the Tamil Diaspora. That is how we become ‘free’ and sovereign. Then and only then would our actions not really damage anyone including ourselves.
ABC Australia and the Greens - Pay your dues please.
Appendix 1
Notice of Motion
5 July 2011
I give notice that on the next day of sitting I will move that the Senate:
1. Notes Sri Lanka's Killing Fields" aired on Four Corners last night (04/07) is further shocking evidence supporting allegations of war crimes committed during the 2009 civil conflict in Sri Lanka.
1. Notes that British Prime Minister David Cameron said in response to the program on 15 June that,
“ the Sri Lankan Government does need this to be investigated and the UN needs this to be investigated and we need to make sure we get to the bottom of what happened and that lessons are learned." (David Cameron, 15/6/11)
1. Urges the Australian Government to support an international call for an independent investigation into war crimes committed by both the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Senator Bob Brown
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