By Dayan Jayatilleka –
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
Obviously, Surendra Ajith Rupesinghe (SAR) has never met a metaphor. When I wrote that “ There is first hand evidence of the explicitly fascist nature of the organization, which turns out to have been not merely fascist in a generic sense, but explicitly Hitlerian and Nazi, from its genesis and in its very DNA”, it would be quite plain to all but the illiterate and irrational that I did not mean that every member of the LTTE, let alone every Tamil, has fascism in his or her DNA in any physical sense. How on earth could an ideology be embedded in a genetic coding? It is blindingly evident that I meant- and actually wrote- that the Tigers were a fascist movement from the inception, from its origins, in its roots and very essence. I based this on the first hand testimonies of two founder members of the LTTE, Ganeshan Iyer and Raghavan. Ganeshan Iyer’s testimony has been reiterated and reinterpreted by a respected scholar, Prof Michael Roberts, on this website.
The point is simple and indubitable. However horribly oppressed, no liberation movement, social or national, anywhere on the planet, adopted the Hitler salute, and no leader of a liberation movement and struggle ever had a positive view, let alone a fascination, with Hitler. For any leader of a liberation project, Hitler and the Nazis were precisely The Other. Furthermore, only one kind of leader ever took Hitler as a model and only one kind of movement ever adopted the Nazi salute: neo-Nazi, neo-fascist movements! That is precisely what Prabhakaran and the Tigers were and that movement (in exile) still is.
What pray, were the Nazi-like atrocities committed by the Lankan state by that time, which were mirrored in Prabhakaran’s embrace of Hitler? And pray, which liberation movement in the world mirrored the atrocities committed by an oppressive bourgeois state, by admiring Hitler and adopting the Nazi salute?
Surendra Ajith Rupesinghe’s excuse for the LTTE’s fascist practices is that these mirrored the brutalities of the Sri Lankan State. This is a disgusting excuse which is easily proven false. Prabhakaran’s embrace of Hitler as a role model took place at the inception of the movement and before the commencement of the armed campaign. What pray, were the Nazi-like atrocities committed by the Lankan state by that time, which were mirrored in Prabhakaran’s embrace of Hitler? And pray, which liberation movement in the world mirrored the atrocities committed by an oppressive bourgeois state, by admiring Hitler and adopting the Nazi salute?
Prabhakaran practised what he admired and adopted, quite irrespective of the conduct of the Lankan state. As Ganshan Iyer confirms, he initiated internal executions quite early, ordering the murder of Sundaram in 1982. In Surendra Ajith Rupesinghe’s reckoning, this probably mirrored the brutalities of the Sri Lankan state. To prove this disgraceful cover-up of Tiger fascism, he must tell us which Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister was murdered by which Sri Lankan leader and when.
All those who owe loyalty towards and mobilise politically (especially in the Diaspora) under the Tiger symbols and insignia, are witting or unwitting participants in neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, neo-Hitlerian events.
All Sri Lankan governments have been elected by their citizens. Let us not waste time with the argument that Hitler was elected, because there were no multiparty election once he assumed power, which has not been the case with Sri Lanka.
In a stark choice between bourgeois democracy, however flawed and truncated, and a neo Nazi movement, any Marxist, social democrat, liberal or simply a decent person, would and ethically must choose to defend bourgeois democracy. This was the basis of the Popular Front of Dmitrov and the Comintern. This has been my choice when I supported Premadasa, CBK and Mahinda Rajapaksa against the JVP’s Pol Potist (‘red fascist’) second uprising and Hitlerian LTTE.
Rupesinghe makes much of Karuna et al, who broke away from the LTTE. What of their DNA he queries elaborately. My answer is that they belong to the same category as those who broke away from Pol Pot’s ‘red Fascist’ Khmer Rouge, fought against it together with the Vietnamese Communists and formed the government of Cambodia. Heng Samrin and Hun Sen are examples. The same goes for the Northern alliance which fought as Mujaheddin in a counter-revolutionary war against the Afghan revolution and the Soviet Red army, but played a progressive role by fighting against the Taliban. Everyone is capable of political and ideological redemption, even former fascists, so long as they make a rupture with fascism, rebel against it and resist it.
Surendra Ajith makes much of my re-iteration of Gen Vo Nguyen Giap’s formula of ‘the annihilation of the living forces of the enemy’, accusing me of ideologically justifying war crimes. His earlier argument was that Giap meant it for use against imperialist enemies, and my counterargument was and is, that according to Marxist strategy and theory, fascism was a far worse enemy than imperialism ( hence the alliance with imperialism and the domestic bourgeoisie against fascism). As for my use of the formula itself, I explicitly meant it in the sense that Giap did. Giap did not mean the killing of every member of the imperialist state, society or even its invading army. He meant the destruction of the fighting forces of the enemy; the destruction of its military apparatus. Some Marxist-Leninist is our Comrade Rupesinghe! When Marx, Engels and Lenin called for the smashing of the state apparatus, they did not mean the execution of every functionary of the state and when Stalin called for ‘the liquidation of kulaks as a class’ he did not mean the murder of every rich peasant! I wrote: “If an enemy is fascist, it is all the more valid that the war against it should be one aimed at ‘the annihilation of the living forces of the enemy’, with the enemy defined, not as the unarmed, non-combatant civilian population, but as the fascist armed forces”.
The destruction of the LTTE and its leadership as a military entity is indeed what the Sri Lankan armed forces and State did – notwithstanding certain individual episodes of excess which must be criminally prosecuted by the national judiciary to the fullest extent of the law. If not, and if the state and its armed forces were hell-bent of physically liquidating every LTTE fighter, member, supporter and sympathiser, how on earth could there have been 11,000 prisoners of war, and how could so many thousands, including trained ex-combatants, have been released?
Related articles;
The Politics Of Fascist Terror: A Sociological Analysis By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe
Hitler’s Rejuvenation Of Germany As Inspiration For Prabhakaran By Ganeshan Iyer
Answer the question Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka ! By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe
Prabhakaran, The LTTE And Fascism: The Evidence ; By Dayan Jayatilleka
Theoretical Sophistry, Political Sycophancy And Craven Careerist Apologetics Of Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Continued ; By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe
FASCISM, SOVEREIGNTY AND THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TAMIL STRUGGLE ; By Dayan Jayatilleka
The Theoretical Sophistries And Political Sycophancy of H.E. Ambassador Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka ; By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe
Das / February 6, 2012
Am sick of Fascism,Hitler and Prabakaran. These are past.
This “Blame Game” is sickening.
What of the present and future of sri lanka. Are all people going to live in a “make beleive” utopia which the state
propagandists are propagating or face the reality of the abject poverty which drives thousands of our women to the middle east knowing some will come back in coffins while some may not come back at all.
What of the reality of the thousands of war widows and their children without decent education while the childen of the elite attend ‘international schools’ preparing to go abroad while common folk trying to escape are arrested.
What of the army which has nothing to defend and noone to fight, but is paid and pampered by the leaders who fear a Lankan { Arab like } Uprising – while the economy is going to ruin according to economists but not, according to Cabraal.
What of the 50,000 deserters whose guns are being used in killings and robberies, but are never examined for fingerprints.
What of the thousands of killings & disappearances (NOt during the war) which are never going to be solved.
Is this becoming a “land of the ‘living dead’ ” ?
What are we leaving for our children?
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Nihal P / February 6, 2012
This article is total is total rubbish. Because one does the Hitler salute does not make him fascist. Besides, Jayatilleke forgets to mention that the only reason Hitler even became Chancellor of Germany is because of the indignities of the Versailles Treaty and soaring hyperinflation. In contrast, EVERY President of Sri Lanka since independence has been a FASCIST ANTI-TAMIL SINHALA-BUDDHIST from the South. Jayatilleke should explain why the Sinhala-Buddhists keep electing one fascist President after another, war or no war. Furthermore, Jayatilleke should explain the reconciliation process between the Jews and the Germans after WW2, e.g. how Germans undertook a process of introspection, whereas the Sinhala-Buddhists have continued with their plan to colonize and militarize the entire North and East. Finally, Jayatilleke should explain why his paymaster is deadset against any form of devolution for the Tamils, to the extent that Jayatilleke even lost his job at one time over said issue.
As I have stated before, Mahinda bears far more similarities to the mass-murderer Stalin, than Prabhakaran does to Hitler:
http://www8.georgetown.edu/centers/cndls/applications/postertool/data/users/stalin4.jpg
http://lankaposter.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/mr-1st-poster.jpg
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David Blacker / February 8, 2012
Nice defence of Hitler there, Untersturmfuhrer.
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PresiDunce Bean / February 6, 2012
@ Dr. The Yarn,
The problem that some of us have is not the destruction of the LTTE and its leadership as a military entity…but the annihilation of between 20 and 40 thousand Tamil civilians.
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inioru / February 6, 2012
Dayan Jayatilleka,
Forget about prabakaran, he is gone. How about you, a high profile member of fascist machinery of rajapaksha’s regime. Do you think that you have to be convicted?
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Dr Dayan Jayatilleka / February 6, 2012
What a bunch! Not even willing to criticise Prabhakaran for his pro-Hitler sentiments. As Raghavan and Ganeshan Iyer clearly state, it wasn’t just the salute; it was admiration for Hitler, the adoption of his tactics and the enthusiastic reading of Mein Kampf!
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uvindu kurukulasuriya / February 6, 2012
Dayan, some points for further discussion;
* Sinhalese-Buddhist ideology, by the 1930s, had begun to draw inspiration from German Nazism. For example, Kumari Jayewardena gives an account of how A.E. Goonesingha, the leader of the Ceylon Labour Union launched a campaign against Malayali workers, which became virulent in the late 1930s. The same leader had sponsored ethnic unity in the 1920s. In the context of the economic depression of the 1930s, the slogan became one of Malayalis (from Kerala) stealing Sinhalese jobs. Kumari Jayewardena cites a letter in Goonesinha’s journal “Viraya “(17.4.1936), which called for a leader of the Sinhalese like Hitler, whose policies were said to be saving the Aryan race from degeneration.
* It was not just Goonesingha, but also D.S. Senanayake and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike whose brand of nationalism drew inspiration from Nazism. For example, Kumari Jayewardena cites an important occasion, Traditional New Year’s day in 1939, when D.S. Senanayake was the chief guest on Goonesingha’s platform. Senanayake said: “We are one blood and one nation. We are a chosen people. The Buddha said that his religion would last 5500 years. That means that we, as the custodians of that religion, shall last as long” (Ceylon Daily News 17.4.1939). The occasion symbolised the union between the nationalist Right and a segment of labour. By 1939, we also see a change in Bandaranaike from the liberal who stood for federalism in 1929. At a public speech in Balapitiya, he said: “I am prepared to sacrifice my life for the sake of my community, the Sinhalese. If anybody were to try to hinder our progress, I am determined to see that he is taught a lesson he will never forget” (The Hindu Organ, Jaffna, 26th January 1939). At the end of the meeting, a Mrs. Srimathie Abeygunawardena “likened Mr. Bandaranaike to Hitler and appealed to the Sinhalese community to give him every possible assistance to reach the goal of freedom.”
* One sees therefore where Sinhalese- Buddhism had, one might say, almost inevitably, arrived, since the beginning of Dharmapala’s career. By a different route Sinhalese-Buddhism had arrived at positions close to Nazi fascism,
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suren / February 7, 2012
I studied in Sinhala-Buddhist schools. I had some wonderful, compassionate teachers who taught me Sinhala.
But some teachers during social science/history lessons, will tell the class that Sinhalas are a proud Aryan race. They will even point at me ( the only Tamil in the entire school studying in Sinhala medium) that ‘People like Suren are Dravidian – they were the ‘uncivilized’ dark skinned Yakkas that Buddha chased on to another island (according Mahavamsa)- when I scored regional best marks for Sinhala and Buddhism some parents and teachers protested, saying Dravidian cant score top marks for Buddhism – lol
Did not Anagarika and Ven. Walpola Rahula take pride that Sinhalas are Aryans and thus are superior to that of Tamils? This superiority complex is well ingrained in the socio-political psyche of most Sinhala- I think
I don’t mind one thinking superior of themselves- what matters is what do they do(not) to have and maintain such confound claims?
very good primary resource research by Uvindu!
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Dr Dayan Jayatilleka / February 7, 2012
A friend just drew my attention to this. C’mon Uvindu, be serious. You write: “It was not just Goonesingha, but also D.S. Senanayake and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike whose brand of nationalism drew inspiration from Nazism.” Is that a quote from some scholarly authority? I rather think not. You must never confuse ultra-nationalism, chauvinism, even racism, with Fascism. The Communist movement in the 1930s and ’40s was very clear on this matter. For instance marine Le pen is an utranationalist, even a chauvinist, but she is not a fascist. The guy who murdered all those people in Scandinavia was. Neither DS nor SWRD ever praised Hitler and the Nazis or embraced Mein Kampf in private or public; nor did they maintain secret prisons, practice internal executions and massacres. They were bourgeois democrats who held elections. Kumari Jayewardane and newton Gunasinghe would have been horrified by the misue of ther writing to claim that DS and SWRD were fascist influenced. Hitler himself was influenced by Aryan myths. This was part of the ideology of fascism, but it is a sin against the laws of logic to say that because Aryan supremecism was a component of fascist ideology, every adherent of Aryan supremacism was in some way or another, fascist! It is similar to arguing that since the exterminist Pol pot claimed to be influenced by marxism Leninism and Maoism, therefore all who were influenced by Marx, Lenin and Mao, had some ideological kinship with Pol Potism!
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Nihal P / February 7, 2012
Mein Kampf was written by Hitler while he was in Landsburg Prison. Any mention of the “tactics” you mention, then, would be more relevant to World War I (which Germany lost) as opposed to World War II. But as far as Mein Kampf is concerned, there is little to no discussion of any military tactics, period. The closest thing one can find is a chapter devoted to the organization of the SA, http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/meinkampf/toc.htm. This is because Mein Kampf is a book about Hitler’s personal political philosophy not a manual military tactics. So if you really believe Prabhakaran obtained the ideas for tactics from Mein Kampf, it would be best to give direct references to Mein Kampf itself; otherwise your argument lacks any factual basis.
I also think it is pertinent to mention that Hitler was more of an artist and politician than military tactic. Many of his military “ideas” were simply wrong.
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Nihal P / February 7, 2012
*not a manual of military tactics
*more of an artist and politician than military tactician
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padraigcolman / February 17, 2012
“Any mention of the ‘tactics’ you mention, then, would be more relevant to World War I (which Germany lost) as opposed to World War II.” Does that mean that Germany didn’t lose WWII?
You are employing that weird echo effect again, Nihal.
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Mango / February 6, 2012
So Nihal/Heshan’s taken time out from his Wehrmacht Latrine Digging Re-Enactment Battalion to explain why an insurgent group which deliberately adopted the Nazi salute is in fact …. just a bunch of heavily armed social workers. What a dork! :) :)
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David Blacker / February 8, 2012
He also points out that Hitler was just a poor victim of Versailles
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D.A Ranawake / February 7, 2012
Version of Fasism of Dr DJ is principally wrong.LTTE was born as insurrectionist of TAMIL IMPERIOUS nationalis AND TURN INTO ruthless tamil-terrorist out-fit.
Prabrakaran was NOT facist,but is ruthlness,inhuman terrorist.
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Silva / February 7, 2012
It looks like Dayan too has never met a metaphor. When Surendra referred to DNA he too referred to it only metaphorically. Shaken by Surendra’s excellent article and countering of Dayan he has rushed to publish this post. Surnedra has responded Dayan in a superlative and unassailable manner which is a death blow to fake “political scientists” like Dayan who operate laundries for the regime on foreign lands.
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David Blacker / February 10, 2012
This is what Rupasinghe said: “Now pray, your Excellency, where is the first hand evidence, where were these DNA tests conducted on each and all Tigers?”
Does that sound metaphorical?
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David Blacker / February 10, 2012
Rupasinghe also says this: “Study the recent literature carefully. There are those who argue that Prabhakaran’s ‘fascism’ is derived from his DNA, that it is constituted by a genetic-type. It is held that this man was born with a biologically determined predisposition lodged within his very DNA cells to become a fascist terrorist.”
Clearly he has taken the DNA metaphor literally.
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Vasu / February 7, 2012
After decoding the genes in Genom project, scientists discovered from the genes of sinhalese population they examined that 90% of them have a dravidian origin. At the same time a lot of SL sinhalese people believe that they are of aryan origin and proud of Hitler.
I remember some of my teachers in SL were very proud to say they are aryans. You can see this tendency in North India and in some states there were Hitler statues in public places.
One of my teachers in St Josephs College in Col 10 told us that Hitler had given back the lost values to the germans after 1st world war.
Our house dog was named as Hitler with the expectation that it should be a brave and a battlesome.
When you come to Western Europe to study politics and you see everything in a new aspect.
This is what our so called “political scientist” tries to do. He knows the sentiments of Anti Nazis in the West.
If you say that V.P read “Mein Kampf” and was pro Hitler, everybody says ” Oh God, this LTTE was a facist organisation ” .
Tamils are dravidians, they can not identify with Aryan policies or Hitlers Rassentheorie ( Race Theory ), not to forget he sent Sintis and Romas to the gas chamber.
V.P was not political, everyone knows it.
This opportunist DJ, once nominated by EPRLF for eastern council, knows the expectations of moderate Tamil people for a sustainable peace. He can not play Goebbels for MR.
We don´t want to leave a corrupted and hopeless SL to our next generation.
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Abimanasingham Sitthawatthai Uthayakumar / February 8, 2012
Dear Dr. Dayan Jayatileka,
The Idea of establishing a Sinhala – Theravada Buddhist fascist state was propagated from 1850s by Christians turned Buddhists like James d’Alwis, Anagaarika Dhammapaala and by foreigners like Annie Besant, Colonel Olcott, German Dr. Wilhelm Geiger and others. Annie Besant in her lecture tour in 1907 had spoken about establishing Sinhala Theravada Buddhist nation. As examples:
In her Lecture at the ‘MAUSAEUS GIRLS’ SCHOOL’ she had said (Buddhist Popular Lectures. 1908; Madras):
“We speak of the children here learning Sinhalese history, Sinhalese geography, and I should say Sinhalese botany and Sinhalese science along Sinhalese lines. In no other way can you lay the foundation of that self – respect without which no nation can be built up to greatness. …”
In her lecture at ‘ANANDA COLLEGE’ she had said:
Let me say to you in closing this brief description of the right principles that you have had in this island for the last twenty-three centuries – …… On Buddhism you must build your nationality…. “
In her lecture at the COLOMBO PUBLIC HALL she had said:
“If you want to teach botany here, you should teach it with the help of Sinhalese flowers – you have enough of them – with Sinhalese trees, Sinhalese products of every kind and then the child’s mind fixes the thing taught with the aid of living pictures and makes it a part of the child’s ordinary life… If you would make your school-books what the English school – books are to the English boy, if you would write your own books, written by Sinhalese men and published by your own Sinhalese people, with illustrations drawn from your own Sinhalese history, heroes from your own national story, which will inspire feelings of patriotism in your children, if you would write the stories of your own great kings, your own warriors, your own statesmen and place them as examples for the Sinhalese boy to follow – ah, then you would make feelings of patriotism which would build the Sinhalese nation. … You have many religions in this land, but the vast majority are Buddhists, and Buddhism must be the dominant note of the civilization of Ceylon …. “
If you go through the German records you will come to know how the Germans tried to influence Sri Lanka through people like Dr. Wilhelm Geiger.
“The Influence Sea Power upon History” (1890) by Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (American); “The Problem of Asia and its Effect upon International Politics” (1900) by Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan will give you a clear picture on how the Indian Ocean and Lanka became important for Global military domination and why the British, Americans and Germans were competing to influence Lanka from the end of 19th century. This was further aggravated since the Communists Revolution of 1917.
To have an influence over Lanka, the foreigners had to be ‘friendly’ with the Sinhalese Theravada Buddhists who were the majority of the Island. Thus, the British ‘gave up’ the Tamil minorities and started to ’embrace’ the Sinhala Buddhists since 1920! This only made the British to hand over Lanka to the Majority Sinhala Theravada Buddhists.This gave a great opportunity for the Sinhala Theravada Buddhists to rise vigorously with their Sinhala Theravada Buddhist nationalism.
In 1944 itself, J. R. Jayawardena came out with a proposal of conducting Government examinations in Singala language alone. But this was opposed by the Tamils and rejected by the British and decision was made to conduct the exams in both Sinhala and Tamil!
The successive Governments of independent Lanka formulated and implemented policies and actions based on the false and imaginary doctrine: Aryan – Sinhala – Sinhalese – Theravada Buddhism – Lanka with one to tone correspondence.
Dr. Dayan! The book with the title ‘THE SINHALA BUDDHIST HERITAGE IN THE EAST AND THE NORTH OF SHRI LANKA’ written by ELLĀWALA MĒDHĀNAŅDA THĒRA and published in the year 2005, shows how vigorously the imaginary doctrine ‘Āryan’ – Siňhala – Siňhalese – ‘Thēravāda’ Buddhism – Laňkā Doctrine with one – to – one correspondence is being executed in our country.
Now with eradication of LTTE militarily, Sinhala Theravada Buddhist nationalism has reached its galloping stage! The ‘interests’ of India, the USA, West European countries and other industrialized nations made them to give all sorts of military, logistic, intelligence and training assistance to Sri Lanka to destroy the LTTE. But, these countries have again made the Tamils of Lanka at the mercy of the Sinhala Theravada Buddhists!
From 2005, people like ELLĀWALA MĒDHĀNAŅDA THĒRA have been speaking in crude language about the FULL IMPLEMENTATION of the false and imaginary doctrine.
But, the Sinhala ‘intellectuals’ like you continue to speak with soft language for the establishment of a fascist Sinhala Buddhist state in the island Lanka!
We have to wait and see how successfully the MR Government with people like you could achieve its objectives!
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Dr Dayan Jayatilleka / February 10, 2012
Abhimanasingham Sitthawaththai Uthayakumar, you are being intellectually dishonest. You have provided evidence of a Sinhala Buddhist project, which may be termed chauvinist, exclusivist or hegemonistic. You have not provided a scrap of evidence of a Sinhala Buddhist FASCIST project. You are trying to pass off one for the other, rather like the guys arrested in La Chappele the other day who ran a kachcheri printing forged travel documents.
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Abimanasingham Sitthawatthai Uthayakumar / February 12, 2012
Dear Dayan! An integrated analysis from 1908 to 2008 will confirm the evidence of a Sinhala Buddhist FASCIST project!
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Let's Ban Crooks and Charlatans / February 9, 2012
The mutual admiration society of DJ, Michael Roberts and the village idiot, Peter Casie Chetty have come together in defence of the REAL fascists who continue to ply their trade in this country! What else is new? If ever there was a justification for censorship it would be if it was applied against people like this!
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Dr Dayan Jayatilleka / February 10, 2012
LBC&C, you naughty chap, you forgot David Blacker and Mango! :))
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padraigcolman / February 17, 2012
“If ever there was a justification for censorship it would be if it was applied against people like this!”
Someone who chooses the pseudonym LET’S BAN CROOKS AND CHARLATANS obviously DOES believe in censoring those who do not agree with him.
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cheran / February 10, 2012
I am glad to see the scholars and analysts have started use materials written in Tamil. my humble suggestion is: please go back to 1980. We had this whole discussion way back ( as for Dayan, I am not so sure whether you remember your visit to university of Jaffa in the company of Ravisekar and other marumalarchi kazakam colleagues, a radical marxist/nationalist (confusion intended) who were all part of the LTTE. I have written more stuff in Tamil on this issue but should I translate that into Sinhala? is that the only way for a discussion? or Should I go for French?
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Dr Dayan Jayatilleka / February 10, 2012
Cheran, if your memory goes back to my visit to Jaffna university and my lecture to the MMK in the early 1980s, you will also be honest enough to admit the following. My lecture was on the Lessons of the Nicaraguan Revolution and was translated on the occasion by DP Sivaram. It was edited by AJ Canakaratnam for publication. It was published and circulated by those associated with Mahattaya who was later incacerated, tortured and executed by Prabhakaran. In my lecture at Jaffna University ( I was told afterwards that ‘Kundan’ – or ‘Gundan’ was in the audience as were some who had particiapted in the Chavakachcheri attack) I clear stated that whatever the horrors of oppression by the state, no liberation movement worthy of the name can engage in acts such as those which had just been committed in Jaffna, notably the dismembering of a policeman whose body parts were strewn around a road junction. I said that Somoza’s National Guard used to apply lard to the genitals of Sandinista political prisoners and release Alsatian dogs on them. I said that prisoners were dumped live, from helicopters. I pointed out that notwithstanding all those, the Sandinista guerrillas never committed a single atrocity or act of intentional cruelty. I gave the example of Commandante Tomas Borge who was tortured and imprisoned and whose wife was murdered by the National Guard. When the Revolution triumphed, he returned to the prison and told the man who tortured him: ‘I told you I would come for my revenge and I have; my revenge is this: I set you free ‘. When I criticised the dismembering of the Sri Lankan policeman, I made a bitterly ironic remark and asked whether it was a protest by a student who had wanted to be a surgeon but was prevented by media and district wise standardisation. Sivaram was so nervous even at that time, that he told the audience ‘ it is the speaker who is saying this, not I’. In my speech I also called for a united front of all liberation organisations instead of fratricidal strife, and unity with the Sinhala progressives as the only way forward, and laid a huge emphasis on the need to avoid any civilian killings, and to always occupy the moral high ground. So, I gave you a very early warning and the right awareness, unlike those who are trying to lecture me on it now and pose as great revolutionaries….except you guys didn’t have what it took to learn those lessons. That stemmed from an utterly misplaced sense of superiority which led to the LTTE being outfought in your own ‘ homelands’ and own jungle terrain by an army of another ethnicity….which is something of a world record! That lack of self-criticism still lasts, as evidenced by your — Cheran’s — stances during that last war and afterwards– and the writers to this website, including yourself, who refuse to be shocked by Prabhakaran’s admiration for Hitler, and to condemn it even now!
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cheran / February 10, 2012
Dayan,
I was merely pointing to the discussion we all had then. As for LTTE and Hitler, I wrote a piece in the German magazine Sudasien way back in 1994 /95. It was about their thamilthaai naad kaatty ( Tamil Mother Calendar) and the entry on Hitler. For me, there’s no need to be shocked.
By the way, I never had a chance to see the book edited by Chandrakanthan.
Kanesan’s ( Iyer’s) analysis is much more nuanced. I hope someone would translate this sooner.
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Nirosh / February 11, 2012
“…Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek rejuvenation of their nation based on commitment to an organic national community where its individuals are united together as one people in national identity by supra-personal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood through a totalitarian single-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through discipline, indoctrination, physical education, and eugenics. Fascism seeks to purify the nation of foreign influences that are deemed to be causing degeneration of the nation or of not fitting into the national culture. Fascism promotes political violence and war as actions that create national regeneration, spirit and vitality. Fascists commonly utilize paramilitary organizations for violence against opponents or to overthrow a political system. Fascism opposes multiple ideologies: conservatism, liberalism, and two major forms of socialism—communism and social democracy. Fascism claims to represent a synthesis of cohesive ideas previously divided between traditional political ideologies. To achieve its goals, the fascist state purges forces, ideas, people, and systems deemed to be the cause of decadence and degeneration….”
The definition of fascism being such, the “political scientist” has described the fascist nature of LTTE but what about the fascist nature of Rajapaksha junta and the racist Sinhalese that support it including Dayan? Nowhere in the world has fascism of Hitler been wholesale imported and adopted in all its appearance and content. However the principles and machinations of fascism that the above definition explains have been well adapted and adopted by Dayan’s regime in Sri Lanka. Rajapakshas’ is a quasi radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology that intermittently enters peak activity and then assumes quiescence status only to rekindle after a while to keep the nation in suspension deception constant occupation and servitude. The illegal enactment of 18th amendment to the constitution is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideological measure, so is the corrupt piece of legislation called revival of underperforming enterprises and underutilized assets which amply demonstrate the radical authoritarian nationalist politically motivated and Rajapakshasized ideological nature.
The famous lullaby sang for the Rajapakshas by backboneless bootlickers and the claim made by yet another actor cum bootlicker relating Rajapakshas to the ancestry of Lord Buddha via king Dutugamunu signify the Rajapakshas perverted attempt to rejuvenate Sinhala racist tribal sentiments to be committed to an organic national community where its individuals are united together as one people in national identity by supra-personal connections of ancestry, culture and blood through a totalitarian single-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through discipline, indoctrination, physical education, and eugenics, the eugenics at work being evident considering any beggar having the infamous Rajapaksha name and all their henchmen being endowed with all the fruits and benefits of nepotism. Purification of nation is seen when Rajapakshas rant on home grown solutions, sovereign nation and foreign intervention, Political violence with impunity aimed at national regeneration, spirit and vitality can be witnessed by the horrendous treatment towards Tamils in Colombo and suburbs and specially in North. Usage of paramilitaries, thugs, underworld gangs, white vans, government troops and police to overthrow political system, destruction of democracy, suppression of dissent and opposition, amputation of free and independent media, peoples’ right and just claims are the most conspicuous phenomena of this fascist regime. Multiple ideologies such as conservatism, liberalism, and two major forms of socialism—communism and social democracy being opposed is evident by the introduction of a barren self-aggrandization Mahinda Chinthanaya which does not fit into any economic ideological concept the world ever knew but a collection of empty and broken promises. Representation of a synthesis of cohesive ideas previously divided between traditional political ideologies is nailed in the unholy conglomeration of nationalist racist ideologist tribal groups such as Hela Urumaya that sold Buddhism for political mileage, SL Gunasekara, Gunadasa Amarasekara, Gomin Dayasiri, all the stupid monks who take to streets with underwear at short notice including other racist nationalist thugs. To achieve its goals, the fascist state purges forces, ideas, people, and systems deemed to be the cause of decadence and degeneration such as incarceration of real war hero Sarath Fonseka, or killing of Lasantha Wickramatunga, disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda or more recent Kugan and Lalith.
The problem with Dayan is he tries to disrobe others to improve his naked count. By the way Dayan what is your position regarding imprisonment of war hero Fonseka vis a vis KP, Karuna, Pillayan and other LTTE members who are responsible for killing tens of hundreds innocent people are living with every imaginable luxury? Do you approve Fonseka being sent to jail, if so why? Was he given a fair trial and if not who is responsible for his wrong incarceration?
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Peter Schalk / May 19, 2014
The following articles are not available any more. Can you make them available to me?
The Politics Of Fascist Terror: A Sociological Analysis By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe
Hitler’s Rejuvenation Of Germany As Inspiration For Prabhakaran By Ganeshan Iyer
Answer the question Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka ! By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe
Prabhakaran, The LTTE And Fascism: The Evidence ; By Dayan Jayatilleka
Theoretical Sophistry, Political Sycophancy And Craven Careerist Apologetics Of Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Continued ; By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe
FASCISM, SOVEREIGNTY AND THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TAMIL STRUGGLE ; By Dayan Jayatilleka
The Theoretical Sophistries And Political Sycophancy of H.E. Ambassador Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka ; By Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe
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