My Diaspora Migraine

*Note: Whenever I mention “Diaspora”, I don’t mean every Tamil who lives abroad. The radical ones that I’m ranting about here are just a minority, but they’ve been pissing me off the last few days and I’m just trying to flush my annoyance with them out of my system by writing this.*

What is it about some people living away from their country that makes them so irrational when they consider its problems? I get group invitations on Facebook almost every week from many relatives and friends, Lankan Tamils making a living in some developed nation, asking me to join online communities that call for the Sri Lankan army to stop its campaign of “genocide” in the North Eastern regions of the country. One glance at these groups would tell you (if you’re the type that cares about objectivity) their only interest is in pinning the blame on the government, thus providing them wonderful discussion fodder thousands of miles away. I am waiting for the day I get invited to join a community, created by the wealthy and influential Lankan Tamil Diaspora, which has the courage to hold the LTTE and many Tamils living abroad just as culpable for the humanitarian crisis in the country as the Sri Lankan government. I doubt that day will ever come. The Diaspora of our people, like every prosperous Diaspora in the world, is interested only in ideas that make it comfortable.

My answer to these online invitations (on the rare occasions that I trouble myself with one) is invariably the same - none of you can change what the Sri Lankan Army is doing with your chest-beating Tamil Patriotism or your large pots of cash. Not as long as you continue to live in denial and members of your community continue to supply the Tigers with weapons and money. The outrage that follows is also the same - “You’re a traitor who doesn’t care about Tamils. You should be ashamed of yourself for supporting the enemy.” These boorish comments don’t have the intended effect of guilt-tripping me; they only add to my extreme irritation with this lot.

The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka was sparked by legitimate injustices done to the Tamils, by successive governments competing with each other on who could give the largest minority of the country a worse deal. It was frustration among the Sinhalese who were disproportionately unemployed (which was itself a product of the country’s colonial legacy) and later the Tamils who saw their futures being snatched away, that nourished the friction between both communities. It is no secret that the pogrom of 1983, which killed thousands of Tamils and ruined tens of thousands, was supported by the government. It is no secret that the government has taken a particularly vicious stand in recent years, with irresponsible air-strikes and civilians disappearing on a daily basis. The situation has escalated to a point now where it is possibly the largest human rights disaster of the sub-continent and something needs to be done. My agreement with Tamils living abroad ends there. The claims many of them make further, that it’s only the Sri Lankan government that has to be blamed for the events and that the LTTE fights for the Tamil cause, only show their inability to admit history as it really is.

Does anybody know the record of organised violence against Tamils by the Sri Lankan army before the LTTE took up its “armed struggle” (a heroic pseudonym for terrorism) in the 1970s? It was the LTTE that, after murdering its competitors, took the civil war to a level where it swallowed the entire country. It was the LTTE that, armed and financed by the ultra-conservatives of the Diaspora, made it dangerous to be a Tamil. And it is the LTTE that, with the noisy antics of the same people, is currently using pockets of trapped Tamils as shields from the ruthlessness of the army. Those who lived in Tamil areas administered by the LTTE have plenty of stories to tell about how they were chased out of their homes and not allowed to conduct business transactions without the permission of and a commission for, the LTTE. But they get little attention, because the stories in fashion now are those involving the government’s atrocities (there are plenty of those around too).

There is nothing original in my contempt. It is well known in most communities that have a Diaspora that the ones living abroad tow a much harder line than those in the affected country. The Tamil Diaspora tends to take its cultural identity very seriously (you only have to compare the proportion of middle-class Tamils in Europe or Canada or Australia with their sub-continental counterparts in “Bhajan” attendance and temple participation to see what I mean, the difference can be staggering). While this is generally harmless, even good to a certain extent, there are people who go overboard with it and develop the chest-beating patriotism I mentioned earlier. There are then some who suffer from the guilt of abandoning their country and creating a better life for themselves in another part of the world, making them need some outlet where they can sooth their conscience (the outlet usually turns out to be loud noises blaming the government for the plight of Lankan Tamils). The most dangerous ones are those who worry that a stable Sri Lanka might lead to them being asked to return and thus help continue the civil war by supplying arms and money (all of us know such people exist, however small in number they might be). Regardless of which group the sympathisers belong to, one thing is certain – they live far away in relative comfort, while the victims suffering from their hypocrisy are stuck in the battlefield.

A cease-fire was offered by the LTTE yesterday. The government responded that it would accept it only if the LTTE lay down their arms. If you’re familiar with the uproar created over this demand, you will know why my irritation came to a point where I had to write about this and cleanse it out of my mind. The LTTE sympathisers now demand that the government must (wait for it) disarm along with the LTTE! What madness is this? There is a very clear distinction between a national army and a terrorist outfit. The illogical claim that the army of a nation must demilitarize itself before negotiating with terrorists is itself a very strong signal that the intentions of the LTTE are not what they seem. This isn’t very promising stuff for an organisation that has entered cease-fire agreements in the past for no reason other than to rearm and regroup.

If only these people would just listen to reason. If only they stopped funding terrorists because of tribal patriotism. If only they stopped donating to bodies that are fronts for arms purchases. If only they stopped housing people in their homes and helping these outfits conduct their meetings in the security of middle-class suburbs. If only they stopped living in denial.

If only this migraine they created in my head would go away.

*Note: Feel a little better already. I repeat, I am NOT referring to the whole lot of Tamils living outside Sri Lanka (after all, Im one myself). Many of them are involved in a lot of good work that brings international attention to the crisis in the country. This was a purely selfish action on my part to make myself feel better.*