Peace? Rainbow High
by- Chandi Sinnathurai,
ONE THING is not right. Even two. Stretch it to three.Things have badly gone wrong.
Paine penned a series of dispatches to inspire disconsolate soldiers to keep up the pressure on the Redcoats. Times were trying. He wrote ‘Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph’. Thomas Jefferson ascribed the American Revolution to Thomas Paine. Paine exposed, with his pen, the absurdity of a continent perpetually governed by an island.
The Sinhala rule over Ceylon Tamils is becoming short of an absurd tragic-comedy. The recent take-over of Vaharai moving on to Vavunativu area near Batticaloa town in the East; then if every thing runs to plan, to spearhead over to capture the priced Kokotticholai Tamil Tiger camp. The Sinhala side, as the
This is not going to be successful on the long run. Tamil areas will increasingly become ungovernable for the Sinhalas.
I want to return to why I think, things are not right. Why I feel deeply distressed in my conscience. I am not pointing fingers. I am including myself in this worrying deviation because I tend to believe that we all are vicarious participators of the struggle. I cannot escape from the wrongs of my brothers. (Am I my brother’s/sister’s keeper?) As much as I would be thrilled to bits by their victory.
It is less of a concern here how the ‘other side’ is treating our people – Makkal. The pre-eminence of our struggle, the whole spiritual-psychophysical-moral, ethical ethos of our struggle, our ancient value systems solely depends on how our Makkal are treated by us. 
White Flag!
If I don’t say it now, then I’m defrauding my people.It is utterly and completely despicable to treat our people – the poorest of the poor; vastly illiterate, the vulnerable women, children and men as human shields. Call it strategy, tactic, military manoeuvre – but simply it is immoral. We cannot venture into winning our goal by simply liquidating our very own flesh and bones – or taking cover behind innocent unarmed civilians - Nirayuthapanikal. The question one has to deeply reflect on is that, what is it that we are struggling to liberate from when our own have become mere commodities, pawns in a game of hit and run.
Secondly, the plight of our children.
The yard stick I would always use is this. What if these children are one of my very own? What would be my reaction if one of these vulnerable Tamils is my father or mother, wife, husband, sister, brother? Will I let them starve in the jungles exposed to monsoon rains, infections, bombs and rockets? What right have I got to defraud their fundamental right to be in a safer place like my own kith and kin? When I send my own child to a secure boarding school in the West what morality do I have to ‘shut up and put up’ when horrendous treatment of these innocent Tamil children occur?
It is said, not too long ago, the English aristocracy, sent a son to join the Armed Forces and the other son (that is if they had two) to be trained as a clergyman. This is where the State and the Church seamlessly intermingled subtly.
In the case of our chattering classes or the liberation illuminati however,it is altogether a different story: As long as MY CHILD is safe and sound and exploring an academic pursuit… I guess, that is the desire of every parent. Fair enough. But WHY should it be different to the poorest of the poor? Why are only these little ones that suffer abductions, forced conscriptions etc? What is the meaning of liberation when we begin to impinge on the fundamental freedom of our very own – the very poor? If self-determination is our fundamental human right then our struggle should embrace the value of each human and their inalienable right. I am more concerned of what we do to our own prior to realising liberation – “a shadow of that which is to come”, to couch it in the New Testament language.
If I don’t ask this question now then I am not worthy of being a fellow human, journeying alongside my sisters and brothers on the path of liberation. If honesty is the best policy, then what is best for me should also be the choice of my neighbour. If not, we are moving from the frying pan to the fire; literally.
Finally.
Why is it there is a sickening tendency in our community, almost to the point of mocking cynicism that we no longer face up to hard truths and honest questioning. To question our conscience in order that it does not become dormant or seared. To be big enough to accept, rectify and amend the wrongs that have been done. To think through; move on; refuse to be insular and remote but listen to the cry of the people. Most importantly, not to veer from the moral path. A person with a differing view, an alternate suggestion might not be necessarily an Ettappan – a traitor! Unless one is totally gone to the opposite camp with the aim to destroy our people and to dislocate our cause.
As a community - both in our homeland and scattered in the Diaspora -we need to discern, dissect and engage in a lot of soul searching. Accumualtions of wrongs cannot be right which ever side it might be.
It is appropriate to quote here a peer of old, Fr Peter Pillai. Actually these words are spoken by another fine Civil/Human rights activist, none other than Senator Nadesan;Q.C [Incidentally found in SatYendra’s Tamil Nation website]:
In 1937 Father Peter Pillai inaugurated the movement for the Restoration of Social Order and founded the Social Justice Review.
At the inaugural conference of Social Workers Father Peter Pillai said:
"We shall now consider the necessity for Social Services. What are the mainsprings of its action ? It may be that some are impelled to join the ranks of the Social Service Workers from an aesthetic need. Poverty spoils the beauty of the Universe, and this eye sore must he removed at all costs. A few others may throw themselves into the movement in order to gain the applause of men, while still others may swear allegiance to the standard of Social Service, purely from a desire to act for activity's sake. Needless to say that such recruits to the army of Social Service do more harm than good. There are however reasons which make Social Services an imperative duty. With the exception of a few savages and of those for whom hate signified by a clenched fist, is part of the social programme, I do not think there is anyone who will reject the doctrine of the Universal Brotherhood of Man
To those of us for whom the Fatherhood of God is one of the cornerstones of our religious outlook, the doctrine of the universal Brotherhood of Man cannot but shine forth with splendour and illumine our entire life with its powerful dynamism and make of it an inextinguishable source of beneficent activity.
But even to those few who do not go so far and so deep, the Brotherhood of Man is almost axiomatic. How then can anyone stand by indifferent when his brother is in distress and even in misery. Is it possible for us to enjoy the good things of life when we know that our brother is in dire want? I know that certain extreme nationalist theories run counter to this elementary sense of humanity. But such hypotheses are aberrations of the intellect which cannot stand the test of time.
Social Service then as an evident corollary of the doctrine of Universal Brotherhood, preached most strongly by Christianity it is true, but accepted by both Buddhists and Hindus."from Somasunderam Nadesan at the Peter Pillai Award Presentation, 1984
I have said my piece. What the reader will make of it is their responsibility. As much as we need liberation without; one needs to synchronize liberation within. Or else, we might succeed in winning the struggle but in the process pay a colossal price of becoming a guilt-ridden society akin to the post-War
Tamils have rich spirituality, culture and heritage. In conclusion, one is reminded of the Manu Neethi konda Cholan. This Tamil King was of immense stature and character. His rule was just and fair. One day his son had killed a calf under the chariot wheel. The dead calf’s mother had rushed to the king in grief and rung the ‘bell of justice’ which was hung on the palace doors. Every one including an animal had their right and direct access to justice. Cholan heard the case and ordered his only son to be executed in the same manner the calf was killed. Truth and justice have to be uncompromising. That is the moral of the story. __________________________ In Memoriam: my beloved Iyah Appendix: 1) Here is a quote from the Bilateral Donors' Report released on Wednesday (Jan 24/07): " A special security concern, also hampering humanitarian efforts in the districts, is the report that the parties to the conflict might be using civilians and civilian installations as sheilds. For example, the civilian and IDP population in Vaharai is generally believed to be used by the LTTE as a human shield against SLAF and Karuna operations. In the same way, SLAF and Karuna camps tend to be located in the middle of urban or otherwise populous areas, bringing military activity dangerously close to IDP camps and civilian areas." The report was compiled by the Embassies of the donor countries in 2) See http://chandi.eponym.com/blog/_archives/2007/1/14/2646645.html 
Nandi,ca. 1200
Southern India, Chola dynasty