Download Sri Lanka: Contesting Identities, Conflict and Democracy

Sri Lanka: Contesting Identities,
Conflict and Democracy
Harinda Vidanage PhD
The Country, The People
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Island of south eastern shores of India,
800km north of the Equator.
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AREA 65,525 square km. Coastline 1,340
km
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POPULATION Sri Lanka has a population
of 20 million of whom the majority are
Sinhalese (74%). Other ethnic groups are
made up of Sri Lankan Tamils (18%), Indian
Tamils, Moors (7%), Burghers (of
Portuguese & Dutch descent), Malay and
Vedda (1%). Although a multi-religious
country, Buddhists constitute
the majority
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RELIGION Buddhist (70%), Hindu (15%),
Christian (8%), Muslim (7%)
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Sri Lanka's literacy rate of 88.6% is one of
the highest in Asia.
Pre Colonial Sri Lanka
• The Vijayan Myth and Aryan Descent
• The Buddhist Influence (Theravada Sect)
• Establishment of Anuradhapura, first largest
Settlement
• Chola and Pandyan Invasion, Tamil settlements
• Rise and fall of Sinhala Kingdom
• Kingdoms in Sri Lanka prior to colonial occupation
were Kotte, Kandy and Jaffna
Map
Colonial Shaping
“Colonialism touched Ceylon and its peoples in an uneven fashion.
Only in the Western and South Western regions of Ceylon had
there been early signs announcing the bourgeoning of Modernity”
(Wickramasinghe 2006:6)
• Sri Lanka was a complicated Matrix of racial and
religious identities prior to the colonial shaping
• Ex: Upcountry Sinhala, Low Country Sinhala, Jaffna
Tamils, Eastern Tamils, Moors, Malayas, Arabs, Indians
Colonialism
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Three waves of colonial influence
The Portuguese 1505 -1658 ( trade, religion)
The Dutch
1658 – 1796
The English
1796 – 1948 / (1972)
Political Reforms and Social Implications
under British rule
• Political reforms based on principles of
liberalism and representation
• 1833 – 1924 Legislative Council and limited
representation
• 1931 Donoughmore Commission reforms
• 1947 Soulbury Reforms (Sri Lanka
Independence 4 February 1948)
• These political reforms re-cast the polity where
modern political identities were born and modern
identities of nation, race were solidified.
Post Independence Sri Lanka 1948 – 1970
( Before the Republic)
•The Post Independence State saw the Sinhala Domination of
political system
•State policy on expansion of Sinhala settlements
•Rise of popular nationalism based on Sinhala Supremacy (1956)
•Exclusivist Language Policy, education Policy
•Political Isolation of Tamil democratic parties, leading to Tamil
unrest
1972 - 2012
• 1972 Republic constitution (Socialist Democratic)
• 1977 2nd Republic constitution (Executive Presidency)
• In Sri Lanka the creation of a plural democracy in
which the various communities can live with dignity and
justice must depend on a supreme constitution which
upholds values and principles and acts as a bulwark
against majoritarianism (Edirisinha 1999)
• Constitutional drawbacks ,Priority to Buddhism,
powerful executive, inability to address the values of
pluralism. (Thiruchelvam 1999)
Political Parties
• UNP : United National Party
• SLFP Sri Lanka Freedom Party (currently leading
ruling coalition)
• JVP (PLF) People’s Liberation front, led two
Marxist uprising among the Southern Sinhale
communities in 1971 and 1989
• JHU (Sinhala Right Wing party, member of the
ruling coalition
• TNA (Tamil National Alliance)
Sinhala Nationalism
• State policies and institutional Sinhala hegemony
supplemented by entrenching Sinhala Buddhist identity
• Buddhism and Political power of clergy
• Merging Buddhism with Sinhalese ethnicity making the
category superior, Buddhism and patriotism loyalty to
country religion was equated
Linguistic nationalism and state
formation
Neil DeVotta (2004) locates the conflict roots in the
context of Sri Lanka’s transition in early 1950’s from a
traditional to a modern society. He claims that the
Sinhala language was used as a political tool and a
policy to empower and unite the Sinhala communities
polarizing Sinhala and Tamil relationships. DeVotta
claims: the ‘Sinhala only’ movement led to the
formation of an ethnocracy and ‘ethnic outbidding’,
which led to the marginalization of the Tamil minority
and undermined Tamils’ confidence in state institutions.
(Vidanage 2009)
Religious nationalism
• Buddhism and its ability to bring out the revival
of the Sinhala as a race was an ideal symbolic
tool for politicians since 1931, used to address a
Sri Lankan society riddled with caste, class,
regional matrix (1990: 20). This is the key reason
why even now the arguments of Sinhala
majoritarianism still center on the necessity to
protect Buddhism and the Sinhala people.
Tamil Nationalism
• Concept of ‘self determination’ gains broader political
consensus among Tamil political elites as a reaction to
Sinhala nationalism
• 1976 Vadukkodai resolution (Tamil nationhood, Tamil
eelam/ (Tamil nation)
• Institutional decay, facilitated by linguistic nationalism
mobilized the Tamils for the ethnic conflict (Devotta
2004)
• Mainstream politics and Militancy
• 1977 election TULF won 17 seats in parliament
• 1983 riots and 6th amendment to the constitution
Tamil Nadu factor
Majority/ Minority complex
• Adding to the feeling of the that the majority Buddhist Sinhalese
have of being perennially under siege by the more entrepreneurial
and dynamic minority –Hindu Tamils is the feeling of religious
oppression sustained under the European colonial powers, beginning
with Christian Portugal, and continuing through the mid twentieth
century with the Dutch and British (Kaplan 2010)
• As a result, like the Serbs, in the former Yugoslavia and the Shiites in
Iran, the Sinhalese are a demographic majority with a dangerous
minority complexity of persecution. (Kaplan 2010)
• The history of Tamil invasions against the only homeland that the
Sinhalese possess is not just the stuff of ancient history, but a living
reality reinforced by the Tamil terrorism of the present era.
Rise of Tamil Militancy
• 1970– 1976 Formation of radical Tamil political
organizations.
• 1972 LTTE formed by Velupillai Prabhakaran
• Political/organized Violence against Tamils (1977,
1978, 1979)
• 1980 – 1983 Tamil radical organizations became overtly
militant and random confrontations
• 1983 (July) Ambush of Sri Lankan Soldiers and 1983
Ethnic riots.
LTTE Trivia
• One of the most ruthless Guerrilla organization in the
global context.
• Modernised the application of suicide warfare
• Ran a de facto regime in North of Sri Lanka till end 2008
• Has three main military wings (Ground, Naval and Air
units)
• Specialised units including Black Tigers, Black Sea
Tigers, Child Soldiers, Women only special operations
units. (350 suicide attacks 1/3 females)
• International operation networks (Diaspora – Global
networks)
• In 1976 the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
was formed by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE’s
precursor was the organization named as Tamil New
Tigers formed in 1972. State relations with minorities
worsened throughout the 1980s and the Northern
Province became a virtually militarized zone. In a short
span of time during the 80’s, the LTTE (Tamil Tigers)
gained the upper hand among the militant organizations,
after a series of bloody turf wars and internal feuds in
which they successfully eliminated rivals and emerged as
the powerhouse of the Tamil militancy movement.
• LTTE claims to be the sole representatives of Tamil
people in Sri Lanka and achieve separate Tamil
homeland called ‘ Tamil eelam’.
Eelam War I (1983 – 1987)
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1983 Ambush and killing of 13 soldiers
1984, 1985 civilian massacres
Purging of dissent
1986 LTTE crack down on TELO and PLOTE
First suicide attack July 1987
Operation Liberation ( May – June 1987) and
Indian Intervention
1987 Indo Lanka accord
• Indian intervention (political and military)
• Establishment of provincial councils
• Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Patrol
North and East
• Premadasa Factor (1989) and the withdrawal of
the IPKF
Eelam War II (1990 – 1994)
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Massacre of Unarmed policemen
Eviction of Muslims from the North
Massacre of Muslim villagers in 1991
Rajive Gandhi assassination (May 1991)
Killing of President Premadasa 1993
Eelam War III (1995 – 2001)
• April 1995 Naval battle, Gunboats sunk
• Air force and civilian airline downed
• Attack on Mullativu garrison ‘unceasing waves’
July 1996
• Civilian massacres 1995, 1999
• Assault of Elephant Pass Garrison 2000
• The mid 1990s to the early 2000’s saw the LTTE
performing the role of a state as they began
regulating and controlling the resources and
population of the land under their control. They
viewed these methods as tools for effective
governance. These included establishing a central
information collection agency thus enabling
them to implement a successful tax regime.
Eelam War IV
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LTTE split in 2004
Mavil Aru incident July 26, 2006
March 2007 Air raids
LTTE attacks on eastern targets
Government resumed full-scale offensive
Truce attempts
• 1994 New Government, New President and a
New Peace offer.
• 1995 Devolution Package
• 2001 Peace effort , Signing of the Cease Fire
Agreement (CFA)
• 2004 LTTE split between Eastern and Northern
Command.
• 2004 Boxing day Tsunami and peace effort
India factor
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Internal politics 80’s
RAW training Tamil militants
Post 1977 Sri Lankan foreign Policy
1987 Indian intervention and IPKF
1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination and Indian
position on LTTE alters radically
• Since 1991 India officially stood for territorial
integrity in Sri Lanka.
• The conflict entered a new phase with heightened
confrontation between the Sri Lanka forces and the
LTTE since 2006. Uyangoda (2007) views this as an
endemic feature of the conflict where it has become self
sustained and reproductive. He focuses on the view of
power between the state and the LTTE where the LTTE
is war-making in essence as a state making process.
• He makes this argument focusing on the approach to the
conflict by the new president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda
Rajapaksa who came to power in 2005. Rajapaksa has
given total backing for an all out military push to
dislodge the LTTE from power. Uyangoda argues, this is
a process of viewing the war as, ‘a space in which the
two sides actually negotiate their competing state
formation goals’ (2007: 10).
Military solution
• Competing state formation projects (Uyangoda
2005)
• LTTE grows beyond its original objective
• LTTE depends on perpetuation of violence as
political wing of the group remains weak
• State building under a militarized hierarchy
• Change of international power structures,
Chinese, Russian influence.
Geo Political dimension
• Partly because of Chinese strategic interest concerns, Sri Lanka
was able to win a war while rejecting the West. And though the
defeat of a group like the Tamil Tigers is certainly something to
be welcomed, it was achieved in a manner that demonstrates how
the rise of China in Asia and Africa carries with it troubling
repercussions for the states and regimes affected.
• As we have seen Chinese military aid does not come with lectures
about human rights the way the West does. China does not
interfere in its own. Chinese foreign policy, without being in any
way extreme or bellicose, nevertheless represents the bleakest
form of realism.
• While we in the west scan the developing world for moral purity,
decrying corruption in backward societies, the Chinese are content
with stability no matter how illegitimately conceived. (Kaplan
2010)