ABDF

Hi Everybody!

Welcome to ABDF.org’s 2009 season, and welcome to my 2009 series of dispatches. It’s been about four months since I last posted, and I hope that all of you are doing well.

I will be leaving soon for Sri Lanka, so I wanted to let you all know how things stand, what the situation over there is, and what I hope for in the coming season.

For many of you, the next bit will be old information, but for those who are new, I want to give a quick run-down of the situation in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is the teardrop shaped island off the southern tip of India. It is just about on the opposite side of the globe from the US West Coast, and, depending if we are in Daylight Savings or not, is either 12 ½ or 13 ½ hours ahead of California. It is a relatively small island by US standards; if the southern coast was located at San Diego, the northernmost tip would probably be around San Louis Obispo, in central California. Depending on whom you ask, the population is either 21 or 23 million; war conditions have made it difficult to get an accurate count, and ethnic politics color what count there is.

There are two main ethnic groups on the island. The majority, about 80% or so, are Sinhalese. They speak Sinhalese, an Indo-Aryan language distantly related to our Western languages. They are almost entirely Buddhist, with a small Christian (mostly Catholic) minority. The other major ethnic group is the Tamils. The Tamil language is completely unrelated to Indo-Aryan languages; having developed independently in southern India. Thus it is an extremely difficult language for us Westerners to learn; believe you me, I know. Tamil speakers make up between 15-19% of the population, depending on who you talk to. To give you a comparison, this is roughly the same percentage as we have black folk here in the US. The vast majority of Tamils are Hindu, although there are substantial numbers of Muslims (see below) and Christians, again mostly Roman Catholic.

“Tamil” is only a loose category. Tamils themselves are divided among several groups. Perhaps the biggest division is between Sri Lankan Tamils and Estate Tamils. Sri Lankan Tamils predominate the north and east coast of Sri Lanka, where they have lived for several thousand years. Estate Tamils were imported by the British some 200 years ago from southern India to work the tea and rubber plantations in the central Hill Country. Thus they have a common language and culture, but in many ways they are very different people. Think of the similarities and differences between Americans and Britons, who have only been separated for 200 years, and you can get an idea of the relationship between Sri Lankan and Estate Tamils.

This is further complicated when you consider that a largish minority of Tamils are Muslim; between 10% and 20%, again depending on who you talk to. In Sri Lanka, everyone distinguishes between “Tamils” and “Muslims” even though they speak the same language, have intermarried for centuries, and are almost culturally indistinguishable. To us Westerners, there is little difference between Tamils and Muslims except religion and a few associated cultural habits such as food and clothing. So for us it is quite confusing when we first hear about Tamils versus Muslims; they eat the same food more or less, in general wear the same clothing, live in the same areas, speak the same language, watch the same TV shows and movies, etc. They even share the same political and social problems vis-à-vis the Sinhalese majority. But to Sri Lankans, the difference is very real, and in the last 70 years it has had explosive consequences for all.

So from now on, I will use the Sri Lankan frame of reference: Tamils and Muslims.

There are a few other, much smaller, minorities in Sri Lanka. There are Burghers, the offspring of mixed marriages between Sri Lankans (mostly Tamil) and European colonizers. There are Moors, the Muslim descendents of mixed marriages between Sri Lankans and Arab traders, Malays who are the result of mixed marriages between Sri Lankans and Indonesians brought in by the Dutch, and the Veddhas who are the remnant of the original indigenous people in Sri Lanka when the Singhalese and Tamils invaded. Veddhas are analogous to our own Native Americans. Altogether, these groups amount to around 5% or so of the population.

Now I will give you a VERY brief history of Sri Lanka, with an emphasis on the current conflict.

The Veddhas were the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka. In the very distant past Singhalese and Tamils immigrated to the island from India, and quickly wiped out or absorbed the Veddhas; today only a few thousand remain. The Singhalese and Tamils set up various kingdoms in various parts of the island; between bouts of being invaded by Indian empires, these small kingdoms cheerfully fought each other. It is worth noting that even though there were Singhalese kingdoms and Tamil kingdoms, these conflicts were not ethnically based; Singhalese lived in Tamil kingdoms and vice-versa. The Western historical analogy would be the Middle Ages in Europe, where different say French kings and princes fought each other and “Frenchness’ had little to do with it.

Sri Lanka has a long history of international trade. Famous for its spices and gemstones, Sri Lanka has been trading with both the West and the East since time immemorial. The Egyptian Pharaohs traded with Sri Lanka and the ancient Greeks new the place as Taprobane. Medieval Arab traders called the island Serendib or “Jewel Island” from which we get our word “serendipity.” Naturally all this wealth attracted a lot of outside attention, and Sri Lanka was periodically invaded by outsiders, usually from India. However with the rise of European power, the island became a focus of Imperial rivalry. The Portuguese controlled much of the island for 200 years, then the Dutch, then the British, who came in 1796 and managed to conquer the entire island.

It was during the British period that today’s ethnic conflict has its roots. The British found it easier to deal with Tamils than Singhalese; the reasons are varied and extensive and so I won’t go into them here. But the result was that the British promoted Tamil interests above those of the Singhalese majority. As a result the majority of Sri Lankan officials, professionals, businessmen, etc. were Tamil. The Singhalese majority, who remained mostly poor and agricultural, resented this, and tensions between the two groups grew.

Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, with the British handing over a pretty democratic constitution. However, once the Singhalese majority came to power, they began to redress what they saw as historical inequities. Urged on, if not outright manipulated, by the Singhalese political elite, the government began to enact a series of legislations and constitutional amendments that changed the nature of the Sri Lankan government and society. Singhalese became the national language, and Buddhism the state religion. Ethnic quotas were put in place, which resulted in universities, the government, and the professions being purged of Tamils. The military was purged of Tamils, and thus became almost 100% ethnically Singhalese. A series of economic policies were put in place to benefit the majority Singhalese farmers, which had the result of destroying Tamil (and Muslim) businesses. Masses of poor landless Singhalese were resettled in historically Tamil and Muslim lands, thus changing the ethnic balance in two provinces and diluting the political power of minorities. Needless to say, many Tamils saw this as a conspiracy to destroy the Tamil people. They began to organize politically.

The 1950s, 60s, and early 70s saw a whole host of Tamil political organizations formed in order to change government policy. One of these, the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) (AKA: Tamil Tigers) was formed in 1976, with the goal of giving the Tamils Eelam, the supposed Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. By and large political efforts failed as the Singhalese majority simply ignored the Tamils and other minorities.

As a result, many Tamil parties began to form military wings, and fight against what they saw as the instruments of oppression; police stations, court buildings, etc were frequent targets. This began a series of tit-for-tat attacks, which cumulated with “Black July” in 1983. This was a pivotal moment in Sri Lankan history.

In July 1983 thirteen Sri Lankan (read: Singhalese) soldiers were massacred while out on patrol. The result was a series of ethnic riots across Sri Lanka the likes of which had never been seen before. There had been ethnic riots prior, but they had mostly been quick and geographically localized. The 1983 riots spread across the island to virtually every town and village. Tamils living in Singhalese majority areas were butchered by the hundreds, and Tamils responded in kind against Singhalese living in Tamil areas. The violence went on for days with little government intervention; in fact there are cases of police and military helping the Singhalese mobs. Additionally, Singhalese mobs “somehow” got hold of voter registration lists; in Sri Lanka each voter is registered by ethnicity. Thus mobs selectively went into neighborhoods knowing which houses were owned by Tamils, and burned them down, killing the occupants when they could.

OK, before I go on, I want to make it clear that a great many Singhalese, if not the majority, were horrified by what was going on, and had nothing against their Tamil neighbors. There are many of stories of Singhalese families helping the Tamil friends and neighbors escape the mobs, often by hiding them in their houses at great risk to their own families. Singhalese did try and help Tamils strangers, and without a doubt many more would have died without Singhalese help. But despite this, whole neighborhoods were burned down, people were set on fire in their cars, and bodies piled on the street corners.

After some days the government, fearing it was losing control of the mob, clamped down and brought peace. But it was too late. Almost every Tamil with any resources, any education, and any money, fled into exile. This had three unexpected consequences for the Sri Lankan government. First, Sri Lanka lost most of its intelligentsia and professional class, thus crippling the economy and future development. Second, it created a very large, very bitter Tamil Diaspora that began to support Tamil militant groups financially from abroad. Third, it convinced most Tamil political parties that there was no chance at a political solution, and swelled the ranks of the Tamil militias. In other words, it made a bad situation even worse.

In 1986 the LTTE decided that it was the sole voice of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and basically told the other Tamil groups to disband, join the Tigers, or be killed. It’s hard to give percentages, but probably a third did each: many gave up and went into private life or exile, many joined the Tigers, and a great many refused to do either and were gunned down.

Since then civil conflict has raged across the island. At any given time one side or the other had the upper hand, and the map of territory controlled by each side has fluctuated accordingly. Outsiders have tried to intervene with no success. In fact, the LTTE assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 for his interference in Sri Lanka. For both sides, the only options are complete victory or complete defeat; compromise and negotiation are not part of the dialogue in Sri Lanka. During the few times a ceasefire has been arranged (most recently in 2002 – 2007) both sides have used the time to rearm and retrench, all the while provoking each other to try to get the other to breach the ceasefire terms.

The tsunami hit Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004. The north, east, and south coasts were devastated, as we all saw on the news. There was hope that the disaster could pave the way towards a peace treaty, similar to what happened in Aceh, Indonesia. Unfortunately neither side was really interested in peace, and the number of ceasefire violations began to rise.

At the time, The LTTE controlled most of the north of Sri Lanka, and almost the entire interior of the east coast; the government controlled the narrow coastal strip which included the town of Batticaloa. They (The Tigers) had set up an unofficial mini-state, complete with taxes, traffic cops, a postal service, etc. The idea was to present an independent Tamil state of Eelam as fait acompli should real peace negotiations ever take place. Eelam itself only really controlled very poor undeveloped agricultural areas, and relied heavily on money from the Tamil Diaspora; it is doubtful the state ever could have been economically viable. However, it turned out to be moot point.

In the summer of 2007, the Sri Lankan military drove the LTTE out of the east coast. The army was on a “humanitarian” – not military – mission to help the Tamils under the yolk of LTTE oppression. An interesting way of having a war without calling it a war; perhaps learned from such wars as our own police actions in Korea, Viet Nam and Iraq. At any rate by September of 2007 the Tamil Tigers were defeated as a military force in the east. That left only the north.

In February 2008, the government formally withdrew from the ceasefire agreement, and launched another “humanitarian operation” which is still ongoing, to free the Tamil people of the north. They have been remarkably successful, capturing the LTTE capitol on January 2nd of this year. As of today (Feb 20, 2009), the LTTE has been driven out of its last remaining towns and is clinging to a tiny coastal strip of the northeast, an area of maybe 20 miles long and 10 miles wide. To put this in context, it’s less than the distance from Palo Alto to San Francisco (for my Bay Area readers), or a bit smaller than the San Fernando Valley (for my readers in the LA area). And all of this was done during the monsoon season, when conditions couldn’t be more difficult.

The monsoons should be ending around now, so I would imagine that the military will quickly finish off the LTTE. Well, sort of. The Tamil Tigers are pretty much done for in a conventional military sense, but everyone expects them to go to ground in the jungles and return to their guerilla roots. And it is generally believed that there are Tiger sleeper cells all over Sri Lanka. So the conflict is leaving its soldiers and artillery stage, and entering a cloak and dagger phase, which is scarier, in my opinion.

Batticaloa, where I live, is currently a place of intrigue. In 2004, before the tsunami, the LTTE commander for the region, one Colonel Karuna, abruptly changed sides and allied himself with the government. This split the LTTE on the east coast, and there were battles for control between the two, with Karuna and his group, now called the TMVP, eventually taking over. They were invaluable in helping the military expel the LTTE from the province in the summer of 2007. So now the east coast is more or less under of the control of the TMVP and its armed militia, which are currently allied with the government against the LTTE.

But it gets more complicated. Soon after clearing the province of LTTE, Col. Karuna began to exhibit a little too much policy independence for the government’s taste. In late 2007 and early 2008 the government (supposedly) engineered a coup within the TMVP, placing the more compliant Pilliyan, one of Karuna’s lieutenants, in charge. Karuna fled into exile to Britain, where he was arrested for using a fake passport. Pilliyan got himself elected Chief Minister for the province, a position analogous to a State Governor. However, when in power he found governing to be much more difficult than being a guerilla leader; his commanders and militiamen still expected a free hand in the province, but the government was pressuring Pilliyan to maintain a veneer of peace and democracy.

And now, it is even more complex. Col. Karuna returned from exile in mid-2008 and began to recruit the disgruntled commanders and troops back to his side, slowly leaving Pilliyan more and more isolated. And the government apparently decided to return its support back to Karuna, leaving Pilliyan virtually powerless and unsupported. So last year was marked by an explosion of political assassinations, abductions, and isolated attacks between the supporters of the two factions. This is the current situation in Batticaloa.

Some of you may recall my description of a friend who had just been abducted and tortured. He was one of the collateral effects of this shadow war; both sides need arms and the money to buy them, and so have taken to targeting those they think they can get money from. And as my friend illustrates, the populace can do nothing, can turn to no one, and can not escape to anywhere.

OK, so I’ve just painted a very dark, very bleak picture. It isn’t all like that all the time. There are a lot of good people in Batti District, and a lot of good things do happen. To me it is impressive that folks manage to carry on, if not improve themselves and their communities, DESPITE all the BS. In fact, I find it inspiring. And this is why I go to Batti, because I feel that we should be supporting people in their efforts to improve their lives in the face of all this.

Let me be very clear about something. I am in no personal danger in Batticaloa. The conflict is not about foreigners, never has been about foreigners, and all sides in the conflict want the world to believe they are in the right. Back in the days of the ceasefire, I had no trouble going back and forth between lines of control; last year I had no trouble from either the TMVP or the military. Well, let me qualify; the military prevented me from going into newly liberated areas, but in terms of Batticaloa and the coastal strip where most of our projects are, there was very little interference.

Yes, there is some danger. There are minefields, bandits (mostly at night in isolated areas), and continuing claymore mine and grenade attacks. However, as a foreigner I am not the target of these things. True, I could always get caught in some sort of crossfire incident, but the odds are pretty small; the presence of foreigners tends to discourage overt violence. Plus if you think about it rationally, there is probably more of a chance of me being injured in an accident while driving the I-5 between LA and San Francisco, or driving around LA during rush hour.

So anyways, I leave on the evening of Saturday March 7th from LAX, and arrive in Colombo, the capitol of Sri Lanka, in the early afternoon of Monday March 9th. I anticipate spending a few days in Colombo, seeing friends and getting provisioned for Batticaloa. I plan on spending at least one very leisurely afternoon doing nothing at Barefoot, the famous café/shop owned by my friends Nazreen and Dominic. When in Colombo I love to get the newspapers, take my laptop and a book, and sit and have a lunch and coffee and while away the afternoon with Naz and Dom and several of their friends who I’ve met over the years. It’s very relaxing.

I hope to trek over to Batti that weekend. Batti is on the opposite side of the island, a day’s journey by vehicle. I will be staying at the same house, with the same family, in the same room. In many ways I anticipate that things will pick up where I left them back in October; I’ll start my English conversation course with the kids over at Synergy, for example.

We have a host of great projects coming, assuming we can raise the funds. As it is we are just about where we were financially last year, which is encouraging, although I’d like to do more. So please! Send us a donation!

As usual, this is getting to be a long dispatch. Unless there is some dramatic development, I will next write in a couple of weeks, when I’m in Colombo. Thanks, everyone, for your patience in reading this!

B.