Direct Democratic Action is the Need of the Hour for Tamils in 2019 ! – Rudrakumaran

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Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran

Direct Democratic Action is the Need of the Hour for Tamils in 2019 ! – Rudrakumaran

The year 2019 marks the tenth anniversary of the Mullivaaikkaal Genocide. Yet, not a single individual for these brutal acts has been punished. Link: https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/472715971/direct-democratic-action-is-the-need-of-the-hour-for-tamils-in-2019-rudrakumaranNEW YORK, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, January 3, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ —

It gives me great pleasure in extending New Year greetings to all Tamils, in our Homeland and in the Diaspora, and to all people struggling for their rights around the world. Let us welcome the New Year with the hope that oppressed peoples around the globe will take significant steps forward in 2019 in winning their rights.

The year of 2018 just gone by has once again demonstrated the power of people’s struggles on the world stage. The Yellow Vest protests in France in particular attracted world attention. This struggle has shown how direct struggles of the masses can eliminate deficits in the path of electoral democracy, and that direct democratic action has the power to bring substantial pressure on a government’s decision-making process.

In 2018 we witnessed the spectacle of a three-way clash in Sri Lanka among the three pillars of the State, namely, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. The curtailment of the executive powers of the President has finally brought to an end the political games played by the President of Sri Lanka. While these political clashes are said to have been brought to an end through the verdict of the Supreme Court, there is widespread belief that the clashes were resolved only through strong international intervention, especially that of the Unites States.

It is believed that this international intervention came in many forms including the successful prevention of mass defection by Members of Parliament, the stand taken by the Tamil National Alliance on this matter, and the warnings given about the likely adverse international impacts on all concerned if the judiciary were to pronounce contrary judgments. Sinhala nationalists of the extreme kind tend to depict the whole matter as a contest between the Sinhala nation and stooges of foreign powers. They also carry an anxiety over the sense that the said foreign stooges have scored a win over the Sinhala nation. They ascribe blame on the Tamil and Muslim people as well as the US and Indian governments for this setback suffered by the Sinhala nation. For this reason, the island of Sri Lanka is likely to face an upsurge of action among Sinhala nationalists in the unfolding New Year 2019. We have to seriously consider how the Tamil people should handle such an eventuality.

The year 2019 marks the tenth anniversary of the Mullivaaikkaal Genocide. Yet, 10 years after the cold-blooded massacre and systematic genocide of over one hundred thousand Tamils, not even a single individual found to be responsible for these brutal acts has been punished nor has the Government of Sri Lanka which committed the systematic and well planned act of genocide been formally accused. In this respect, not only the Sinhala nationalists, but also the international States are on the side of Sri Lanka, intent on protecting the Government of Sri Lanka. Faced with the choice of either rendering justice to the Tamil victims of genocide, or securing their own interests with the help of Sri Lanka, these States choose the latter. What seem important for them are not the steps necessary for assuring justice, but a few symbolic moves as eyewash.

Somewhat akin to assigning the one who is accused of a murder to serve as the judge to conduct the murder trial, the international States entrusted the Government of Sri Lanka with the responsibility of conducting the war crime inquiry. At a time when it has been revealed that nothing ever happened on the war crimes issue, the Sri Lankan judiciary is being bestowed with laurels for acting on the side of justice by giving decisions against the country’s President himself. The judgment pronounced by the Supreme Court against the President’s decision may well be cited in 2019 in order to justify an internal inquiry into war crimes. The Tamil people must remain vigilant in this regard.

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) and other Tamil organizations, with the help of international Civil Society organizations who stand for justice, have been consistently fighting to establish the truth and to counter the attempts of the Sinhala nationalists aided by the international powers to cover up Genocide of the Tamil people. We have succeeded in frustrating the attempt to cover up Tamil Genocide and keeping alive the demand for justice for the same. The international struggle towards justice for Genocide is a protracted one and our success in this regard depends on our ability to safeguard it from being diluted or weakened through a prolongation of time. Armed with this clear understanding of the nature of the challenges, we must steadfastly carry forward in 2009 the struggle for justice against Tamil Genocide.

No Sri Lankan government is ever going to acknowledge the fact of an ongoing Tamil Genocide, nor recognize the Tamil people as a distinct nation. Therefore, it is a matter of historic necessity for the Tamil people to carry on a relentless struggle against the standpoint of the various Sinhala Governments. It is an imperative at the present juncture that this struggle is carried on by political and diplomatic means. As such, the Tamil leadership in the Homeland extending support to the Government of Sri Lanka, citing multiple reasons, is bound to weaken the Tamil people’s struggle. They also seem to exhibit a cavalier attitude to the way their election promises given to the Tamil people are being thrown to the winds.

It is in this context that the people in the homeland ought to think about taking a clear political position. Instead of continuing to follow those leaders who present themselves as the electoral victors and as representatives of the Tamil people, homeland Tamils have reached the moment when they have to ponder over the likely political impact of undertaking direct democratic mass struggles. When homeland Tamils launch effective political and democratic direct action a la the Arab Spring or the Yellow Vest protests of France, diaspora Tamils would come out in support. Tamils in Tamil Nadu and rest of the world would also engage themselves is such struggles in support of the Eelam Tamil people. It is my belief that this form of joint direct action will move us forward in our struggle for freedom.

This path of direct democratic action is the need of the hour in 2019. Let the Eelam Tamil Nation rise to engage with vigor in direct democratic action. This is the essence of my message to usher in New Year 2019!

Link to Tamil Press Release: https://world.einnews.com/pr_news/472603835/2019 மக்கள் வலிமையை உணர்த்தும் நேரடி ஜனநாயகப் போராட்டங்களையே 2019 ஆண்டு எம்மிடம் எதிர்பார்க்கிறது- பிரதமர் வி.உருத்திரகுமாரன்

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