24 March 2007 Lionel Bopage

Sri Lanka---

Working Class MovementsAnd

The Tamil National Struggle

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Introduction

This presentation looks at the complex relationship between class and the ethnic aspects of the current conflict

The paper is underpinned by the Marxist perspective on the National Question

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The Marxist viewpoint on the National Question

The Marxist goal is to build the unity of the working class regardless of national boundaries

While not being prescriptive on the form of self – determination, Marxists are clear that within a nation state, all citizens have equal rights

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The Tamil National Struggle

Since 1948 successive governments have systematically denied the Tamils equal rights in the areas of language education and employment

From the late 80’s the LTTE has emerged as the dominant political and military group representing the Tamils of the North - East

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Crisis in the Tamil National Struggle

Since 2003 the Government has refused to hold talks with the LTTE and has used military force to undermine the LTTE

The LTTE are more focused on their military strength rather than their political goals and the global realties they operate under

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Malaiyaha Tamils* andthe Tamil National Struggle

* Tamils who were brought from India to work in the tea estates by the British since the 1840’s and their descendants

The implications of the disenfranchising of Malaiyaha Tamils by the Citizenship Act of 1948

The lack of solidarity between the Malaiyaha Tamils and their compatriots in the North and the East

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Muslims andthe Tamil National Struggle

The importance of Islam in defining the identity of Muslims in Sri Lanka

Peaceful co – existence between the Tamils and the Muslims in the North - East till the 1980s

The souring of the relationship with the LTTE in the late 80s resulting in the massacre and the displacement of Muslims in the North - East

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The working class movementand the Left

“Bourgeois Nationalism and proletarian internationalism – these are the two great class camps throughout the capitalist world.”

(Lenin)

Till the 1960’s the traditional left supported the rights of the Tamils

The hostility of the Left to the Tamil National question and the attendant consequences

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Conclusion

“The greatest tragedy is not the brutality of evil people, but rather the silence of good people” (Dr Martin Luther King)

The left must take a firm and unambiguous stand that any solution to the conflict MUST guarantee democratic rights to all the citizens of Sri Lanka

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Conclusion

The Sinhala and Tamil masses must be mobilized by the struggle against Capitalist Globalization

The prospects for Tamil unity across the Island

The importance of implementing a Federal Solution to the National Question

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Thank you