Ceasefire has been called, two days is better than nothing - shows more willingness than the LTTE and now, they won't let the Tamil people go. What kind of sick minds do they possess? Thing is they realise that if they do, it will be the end of them because they will lose their cover and be singled out to be beaten by the army, irrelevant of whether we think it is right or wrong.
So instead, they sacrifice the ones they love and are supposed to protect.
I've had some comments left on my blog by someone who claimed not to know anything about the Sri Lankan conflict and asked me for more information. I then received a rather odd comment from the same person today with a link to a video of the army filming dead bodies of the LTTE cadres and this person citing a sudden opinion on how bad the army is. Quite laughable - when are the outsiders going to realise that you can't assume anything and you can't just immediately take this conflict as black and white. I thought that video was sick, but then war is sick, war is dark and war is a violent means for a struggle that goes drastically wrong almost every time. If this person wants to challenge and talk about this conflict - at least have the balls to leave me their email address. Not just anonymously leaving comments. Plus the whole blog she/he found that video on was in Tamil, so how do they know it is legit? Unless they aren't who they say they are.
Also - Stop the War Coalition. Come on, I was even on their list of volunteers, now I might have to think twice as they joined the demonstration against the genocide of the Tamils over the weekend. What message are they sending as an impartial group when they side with terrorist supporters? Again, not so black and white because these protesters are fighting for many reasons, one which I support wholeheartedly - the freedom and safety of the 1000's of Tamils trapped in the war zone. But we know who is responsible for their suffering - LTTE. And whose flags did these protestor's wave at the demo's? The LTTE. Confusing, isn't it?
6 comments:
why couldn't you have just replied via comment?
this is the email address:
1986stephanie@gmail
does anyone read this blog?
i found that vid of the SL army abusing the dead women on a tamil friend's facebook post.
i'm not tamil and couldn't read it but the video said it all. i've got up to speed very quickly - after not know ANYthing about the war - i'm an anti-iraq protester that has now got involved with this one because i see the injustice that the govt of sri lanka is perpetrating on the tamilians.
by the way i read tamilnet (tamil?) and asian tribune (sinhala?) other websites and they say the govt isn't honoring the ceasefire:
http://asiantribune.com/?q=node/16771
http://tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29035
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO5JW_E1Gsk
cool video of people protesting for peace as opposed to you calling for more war to 'wipe out the LTTE' - by the way, if those that the LTTE were allegedly "holding hostage" were sinhalese would the be being bombed and shelled and killed?
200,000!!! Isn't that well over 70% of the tamils in the UK. Amazing.
more video of the protest -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udDUJeuH2D8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFXg-4HATOo (stop the war banner 30-37 seconds in - lots of us "non-tamils there too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CLPsYn86aQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPeL3S-oEVo
oh, ya... i'm on facebook tooooo...
stephanie stewart... add me please...
Yes many people read my blog. I think you have taken a very black and white view point on this with clearly very little knowledge on the war, the history behind our 35 year ethnic conflict and the many years of strife and discrimination of the Tamil people since 1950's, which I have grown up with. So please do not tell me that I am calling for war to wipe out the Tamil people. How dare you.
What you fail to realise is that the LTTE don't represent the Tamil people. I have many friends who are Tamil who hate the LTTE, from prominent politicians to tea pluckers in the hills. And for good reason, the LTTE have killed off in cold blood many moderate leaders who could have steered our country to avoid this conflict. But it was not in their interest to do so, because they too want war.
I am glad you are an anti-Iraq protestor, good for you. I too am one. But that has nothing to do with this conflict and is NOWHERE near the same issue. Would you go out in public and support the same terror groups who bombed the London underground in July 2005? Because that is the same equivalent of the LTTE.
As for sick abuses, yes the army is bad and I do not condone them or their strategies but I would choose them over the LTTE any day because the list of the LTTE's abuses are so long and horrific it has convinced me enough. I have lost friends to their sick suicide bombings - I have lived under the shadow of their attacks. They have hacked villagers to death in such horrific ways using machetes that looking at the video you sent me, it made that look like nothing.
They have discriminated and attacked Muslim people who have nothing to do with this conflict.
By the way, please check your facts, the Asian Tribune is an international publication in the family of the Herald Tribune, not a Sinhala newspaper!
I think you are getting very caught up in the immediate propaganda and if you choose to believe face value then I can't help you.
And before you start assuming that the govt is not obeying the very ceasefire they called themselves in answer to the Tamil protests, please note that they said from the beginning that they will react if attacked only. The LTTE plays like a wiley jackal and have attacked the forces. This information comes from my sources on the ground.
I am for peace and have worked in the peace process for some time, you know nothing about that and I would appreciate if you could be objective and less provoking when contacting a stranger.
I think you have completely got the wrong end of it, I am for the Tamil people and am so glad that the protests went so well. The fact is, it is not so black and white. And I do not believe that you will understand.
was that last comment by you Leah? Why did you post as anonymous on your own blog? weird.
well, you've certainly brought up some interesting view points and i will do some more reading.
you didn't answer the question i posed in my comment above:
"Would the SL govt be bombing and shelling these people if the "hostages" were sinhalese?"
Yes or no?
but in the mean time can i ask another question please?
you talk about the atrocities of the tigers, and don't address those of the Government and the Sinhalese in general.
I've read a lot about the massacres, mass graves, disappearances, extrajudicial killings - Human rights watch and amnesty and even the US state dept human rights report mention the LTTE for a paragraph or two but usually have more to say about the behavior of the govt.
So a question arises, who do you think has killed more civilians in this war? the LTTE or the Govt?no need for long winded answers, just pick one please. LTTE or Govt?From my reading of the war and the larger picture regarding tamils you seem to be caught in and viewing this conflict from the viewpoint of only what has happened within your lifespan - your views of the LTTE seem a bit "chicken & the egg" - meaning you see the LTTE as the problem whereas most of the international independent commentators that i have read see them as a symptom of the problem and not the cause.please correct me if i am wrong.
you haven't added me on facebook yet. please do so.
also, as you said in your original blog - war is sick, war is dark and war is a violent means for a struggle that goes drastically wrong almost every time
but it seems you support this war and don't want a ceasefire? so there are "good wars" (ie to defeat the LTTE) and "bad wars" (ie the US in Iraq, Israel in Gaza)?
I don't get it. I'm against all war. War is bad.
Another question, other than your anecdotal evidence, "How do you know what the tamil people want?"
Are they able to speak freely to you? I've read about the media killings in SL. How are you ascertaining what the "tamils" want? who are you to speak for them? shouldn't there be a referendum or something like in Montenegro or East Timor?
by the way this website (http://asiantribune.com/) has nothing whatsoever to do with the International Herald Tribune.
report about the "ceasefire": (Sri Lanka ceasefire 'a deception') http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7997502.stm
whew, i meant only to write one question but couldn't stop my self... your interpretation of the conflict seems jaded by your personal experience rather than a reasoned analysis of the situation.
cheers
no answer to my questions leah?
Wow,
Some serious stalking going on here!
quite funny.
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