By Rajan Hoole –
Dr. Rajan Hoole
Tamils & The Political Culture Of Auto-Genocide –X
Quite frequently any Tamil talking about democracy is given short shrift with the retort that he is talking nonsense, because there is no democracy in Sri Lanka. The response achieves two things. It absolves the person saying it from taking responsibility for improving the quality of democracy that obtains. Secondly, it exonerates the Tamil elite from being answerable for their outrageous complicity in the destruction of their community. Their argument is that since Sri Lanka is undemocratic, the methods of the Tigers cannot justifiably be criticised. But then, was not the rationale for the Tamil liberation struggle that Sri Lankan governments have very low standards and that the Tamils should liberate themselves and establish a society with the highest standards?
The rationale for the Tamil liberation struggle should not be turned into a rationale for fascism. This rationale was closely tied to what was in origin the democratic idea of self-determination. It came from a desire for greater control over our collective life, more equitable opportunities for our children, and to be free of arbitrarily discriminatory policies that had nothing to do with the long term interest of the people of Sri Lanka.
Are not child soldiers against a regime of internal repression, murder, and despotism, a parody of the aims of the struggle? Only the elite having no appreciation of the sacrifices made by the people, and by thousands of militants with a deep sense of decency, can glibly argue that the LTTE is right because there is no democracy in Sri Lanka. In fact, a large number of these decent people were executed in the LTTE’s torture camps. To regard their deaths as a non-event has become fashionable among NGOs and peace groups courting the LTTE, not wanting to see its true nature. But for Tamils themselves to do so, would be an act of supreme insensitivity and ingratitude. The crimes against dissidents have made the deaths in the ranks of the LTTE meaningless – yet another crime by the same authors. They died as hostages of fascism.
The fate of the Tamils has nothing to do with democracy in the abstract, but rather with the denial of the most basic democratic freedoms. These being the right to exercise parental responsibility, to insist that children should not be cajoled into soldiering, and the right to voice collectively their demand for peace and democracy and respect for basic humanitarian norms. These are blatantly denied to Tamils in the North-East, not by the Government, but by the LTTE. Killing the voices for democracy and basic human norms, amounts to genocide inflicted on the society as a whole.
*To be continued..
*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power – Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To read earlier parts click here
Kailainathan / November 14, 2015
Is he (Rajan hoole ) gone crazy !! He should talk n write about the present situation of the there in the hands of srilankan government !!
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Thiru / November 14, 2015
Does Rajan Kool know that in 1977 general elections Tamils of the NorthEast voted for self determination for Tamil Eelam?
Doesn’t it indicate their democratic wishes?
What freaking democracy are you talking about?
You are hell bent on deprecating and discrediting Tamil people all along under the cover of human rights, for reasons best known to you.
Stop you rantings and move on. Nobody takes you seriously anymore.
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Ajith / November 14, 2015
He can’t talk about Sinhala govt. He is a paid employee.
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Burt / November 15, 2015
This is common to all Dr’s on CT, they are blind to the present, too stubborn to look at the future. Blame everything on the LTTE who are legally nonexistent.
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Paul / November 15, 2015
I cannot understand why these people comment just for the sake of commenting without even reading it. This is a part of what Rajan Hoole wrote long ago that the CT is publishing now. Please read the last line:
*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power – Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish.
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Mallaiyuran / November 15, 2015
[Edited out]
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Manel Fonseka / November 15, 2015
He wrote it 14 or 15 years ago!
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Sinhala_Man / November 16, 2015
Exactly. I’m just getting a response ready to this article which he has just posted, and which has some uncharacteristic typos:
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/rule-of-law-first-step-to-invigorate-democratic-institutions-advance-nation-building/
That article deals with the situation as he sees it, today.
Can’t these armchair critics understand that these heroic efforts come from fallible human beings? What we, in the South, have to learn from his writings are the moral lessons that WE must draw; instead of which we want to stone the poor guy!
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The Rogue Ayer / November 15, 2015
Paul,
“I cannot understand why these people comment just for the sake of commenting without even reading it. This is a part of what Rajan Hoole wrote long ago that the CT is publishing now. Please read the last line: *From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power – Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish.”
Sorry to say this but many of the commentators appear to be quite ignorant.
In the case of Dr Rajan Hoole and some others their names are enough to cause an attack without reading what they wrote.
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Raja / November 14, 2015
Democracy has a meaning. The rights of the people to decide what they want. But if that rights going to go against the welfare and the future of the community, then it is selfishness. In such case somebody else has to teach them. That teacher is Prabaharan.
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Amarasiri / November 14, 2015
Dr. Rajan Hoole
RE: Democracy: Does It Have Any Meaning For The Tamils?
“Quite frequently any Tamil talking about democracy is given short shrift with the retort that he is talking nonsense, because there is no democracy in Sri Lanka.”
No Democracy in Sri Lanka? How did they get rid of Mahinda Rajapaksa?
Yes there is democracy. It is democracy primarily to the benefit of the majority,., Sinhala Buddhists, and those who bribe the Politicians.
With dictator Mootal Veeran MaduPillai Prabakaran, there was no democracy. Only dictatorship and war crimes.
The Great Dictator Velupillai Prabakaran Should have learned from Charlie Chaplin
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Ajith / November 14, 2015
Dr.Rajan Hoole,
Does Democracy has a meaning to you?
Was there any democracy before LTTE or after LTTE?
Was there any democracy in your house?
How do you measure Sinhala democracy and Tamil democracy?
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vas / November 14, 2015
I can bet vellala democracy will be worse than the sinhala democracy. Either way it will be pseudo democracy.
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Mallaiyuran / November 14, 2015
Mr. Hoolie has changed his skin. Read this question. Read his question
“But then, was not the rationale for the Tamil liberation struggle that Sri Lankan governments have very low standards and that the Tamils should liberate themselves and establish a society with the highest standards?”
My god! Haaaaaaa! What a mountainous thinking. Anybody Socrates, Plato, Valluvar, Buddha… Anybody had the grinding power to penetrate to that deep?
Poor Hoolie has become baby! Anything he wrote as Tamils and Tamils traits is coming from his carnivorous mind’s desire to become VC. Nothing is ever surveyed or polled. Tamils has proven with a record of most of the people with many different traits and talents. Many Tamil migrants (refugees) have received awards from their country leaders for their achievements in their field. This equals their achievements during the British rule in Ceylon. It is simply a baby behavior from Mr.Hoolie to uplift him unnecessarily to get attention and try to prove that he is the greatest.
It is not that he is simply putting the cart “Establish higher standards”, before the horse, “liberate themselves”, as usual he is behaving like “mamiyar koovaththai marumagal ammiyilai theachchaalaam”( Daughter in law showed her anger of Mother in law on the grinding stone; possibly the poor daughter in law was ordered to grind a lot for the mother in laws family food;;because showing it on mother in law is un-dream -able ) Mr. Hoolie did not get the job he wanted from the Sinhala Intellectual’s Royal government. So, the carnivore man is eating his race. Then he is denying it as it is the Tamils who do not understand his lectures on democracy.
What he did was he tried to work with EPDP for VC from the most notorious dictator Old King. By that carnivorous act, he is the last person in the world to preach morality for a race. Entire Tamil community ignores his history writing. They have seen the Jaffnahistory.com another one like the Hoolie’s history books.
Hoolie is not a Tamil. His PhD has not taught him this something any J.S.C. school kid would have studied in the north east or upcountry, the Tamils lands. Jesus told “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.” Jesus takes a seat more than a human being in the west. But his talk ends at there. So the where the attacker and victim are left is not answered in his teaching. Here, listen one Tamil says what to do in those circumstances. It gives complete answers. “InnA seitharai oRuththal avar naana nannayam seithu vidal-இன்னா செய்தாரை ஒறுத்தல் அவர் நாண நன்னயம் செய்து விடல் (திருக்குறள்)
Make a wrong doer feel shy, by doing him a favour.
If others harm you, do good unto them, so that they are shamed into realizing their mistakes.” Tamils knows the right and wrong;Carnivorous hyena behavior is not Tamil’s trait.
We know Mr. Hoolie is a well-known Carnivorous, but had The Boys taken over the country, Mr. Hoolie would have had a position he would really deserve, unlike had it happened in the Old King’s Sinhala Intellectual government, whom by suppressing him and have made out of him dog eating dog, the hyena, mentally unbalanced ethics preacher.
TNA, which was opposed by them once, and TNA opposes them still, was in the same seat when LTTE was there.
After 6 years of dodging, after letting go flying in the air of many promises to UNSG Ban-ki-Moon, Norwegians, American Ambassador Blake, Indian Prime Minister Singh, FM Krishna, UNHRC Navi Pillai administration, PM David Cameron with promises in CHOGM… a democratic government still has not started to investigate of what happened during the war. Irrelevant of many IC organizations’ verdicts (like world court), irrelevant of three UN commissions found that there were war crime evidences during the war, Lankawe has not come forth to investigate. Injustice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakse has openly declared that he will not listen to criminals and terrorist and arrest or investigate a man who protected the country; that is no arrest of Brother Prince after UNHRC resolution co-signed!. To willfully camouflage that, Mr. Hoolie is predicting that if The Boys has taken over their land, there would not have been an investigation of their wrong doing during the war. Hoolie may want to know Bangladesh is still investigating of what happened in their freedom fight days.
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Sinhala_Man / November 16, 2015
Idiot! Rajan never aspired to be Vice-Chancellor. It was his brother Jeevan who was VC.
Is it necessary for us Sinhalese to teach you even that?
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cholan / November 14, 2015
what is exist in Sri Lanka is DEMOCK-CRAZY…
Cheers
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Jim softy / November 15, 2015
Blame every thing on Brahmins, India, Sri lanka.
Don’t accept that Tamils were Tamils because they were very conservative, they still respect Caste ism or the Tribalism, they want to stay as castes, lower castes have to
respect higher castes.
In tamilnadu they even get married to dogs and frogs.
Every where Tamil politicians exploit lay people.
If tamils are democratic why Wiggie has to be the NPC head and Sambanthan to be the TNA head, Why anadasangaree is not good to head to TNA ?
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The Rogue Ayer / November 14, 2015
Mallaiyuran,
“Anything he wrote as Tamils and Tamils traits is coming from his carnivorous mind’s desire to become VC.”
“What he did was he tried to work with EPDP for VC from the most notorious dictator Old King.”
Case of mistaken identity due to the fact that there are two Dr Hooles in Jaffna. Dr Rajan Hoole is not the one you write about.
Your ignorance shows that you know nothing about Jaffna. Please check the facts before posting comments.
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Mallaiyuran / November 15, 2015
Double Rogue ( Rogue + Ayer)
Thanks for the information. Pls read my comments. I write about Mr.Hoolie. He is the one has UTHR and forced out of university by the Sinhala Intellectuals government.
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The Rogue Ayer / November 15, 2015
Mallaiyuran,
“Thanks for the information. Pls read my comments. I write about Mr.Hoolie. He is the one has UTHR and forced out of university by the Sinhala Intellectuals government.”
I don’t know any Mr Hoolie but Dr Rajan Hoole is a lecturer and an activist for human rights, academic freedom, writer and many other things in Jaffna.
To my best knowledge Dr Rajan Hoole has never wanted to become VC anywhere.
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EW Golding / November 15, 2015
Yes Rogue Aiyer well said. Mallaiuran’s ignorance is monumental, even embarrassing since he has written such a long piece of cock!
As for Kailainathan who says Hoole is crazy for not writing about current affairs, K seems unaware that this is a serialised set of extracts from a book published some years ago. Well K’s ignorance is embarrassing too.
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Paul / November 15, 2015
This man is a [Edited out]. I have seen these so called born again Christian Tamil extremists in the west and how they operate, especially how they prey upon the poor Tamil asylum seekers with the sole intention to convert. They are as dangerous as the Tamil Muslims, to ancient Tamil Saivite culture. One wants to build an Islamic Caliphate on the ruins of the ancient Hindu Tamil lands in the island and the other a born again fundamentalist Christian utopia. Ordinary Tamil Christians are nice but not these varieties. See how he turns a blind eye to large scale ethnic cleansing and genocide committed upon the Tamils and is still continuing so but constantly criticizes on anything Tamil the liberation struggle and how it came about it. He has an agenda. Yes there a problems within Tamil society, especially a society that has been traumatised with large scale discrimination genocide and ethnic cleansing. However no society is berefts of problems but according to all this man’s articles it is only the Tamils who are full of problems and the Sinhalese and the Tamil Muslims are wonderful. He should never be given any responsible position representing the Tamils, education or otherwise as this self-centred opinionated person will greatly harm the Tamils for his own personal glory.
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Jim softy / November 15, 2015
When democracy comes in Tamils are no longer tamils.
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Paul / November 16, 2015
But democracy has never come to the Sinhalese, they are steeped in a racist myth, influenced by an equally racist Buddhist clergy and government by a set of imbeciles. Democracy has never come to the Tamils as they are ruled by a bunch of racist morons and thugs from the Sinhalese ethnic group. Yes when it comes we will not be Tamils but super Tamils
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Jim softy / November 16, 2015
The word Democracy is not relevant to Tamils.
they are already oppressed in their own culture. YOu people need to know why you people are uniting behind Tamil Language and not anything else.
when you are dishonest to yourself, you can talk any crap.
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Sri-Krish / November 17, 2015
Dr Hoole,
During war, law is silent.
Not only law even democracy is silent.
During war, freedom also will be absent.
When all other options fails wars break out as the last resort
Why do you expect LTTE to be democratic.It is the gun that settles everything during war.
Democracy returns after the end of war
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