Who are the Tamil
Tigers?
By Chris Slee
International Journal of
Socialist Renewal
April 25, 2009 -- The Sri
Lankan government claims to be on the verge of totally defeating the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE — also known as the Tamil Tigers). The LTTE has
fought for more than 30 years for an independent state for the Tamil people on
the northern and eastern parts of the island.
The roots of the conflict
lie in a long history of state-sponsored oppression of the Tamils, which
eventually led some Tamil youth to take up arms. When the British granted
independence to Sri Lanka in 1948, power was handed to politicians drawn mainly
from the upper classes of the majority Sinhala ethnic group. These politicians
used racism as a tool to divide the working class.
Second-class citizens
Tamil plantation workers
were deprived of citizenship rights. Sinhalese was declared the sole official
language of Sri Lanka, making Tamil language speakers second-class citizens.
Knowledge of Sinhalese became necessary for public service jobs, excluding most
Tamils. Discrimination was also applied in education.
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For many years, Tamils
opposed discrimination by peaceful means, including demonstrations, sit-ins and
taking part in elections. But peaceful protests were met by violent repression,
carried out by the police and army as well as racist Sinhalese mobs incited to
violence by politicians and Buddhist monks. There was a series of pogroms
against Tamils, culminating in the murder of an estimated 3000 people in the
government-instigated 1983 “Black July” riots.
LTTE theoretician Anton
Balasingham said: “The anti-Tamil riots that periodically erupted in the island
should not be viewed as spontaneous outbursts of inter-communal violence
between the two communities. All major racial conflagrations that erupted
violently against the Tamil people were inspired and masterminded by the
Sinhala regimes as a part of a genocidal programme.
“Violent anti-Tamil riots
exploded in the island in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981 and in July
1983. In these racial holocausts thousands of Tamils, including women and
children, were massacred in the most gruesome manner, billions of rupees worth
of Tamil property was destroyed and hundreds of thousands made refugees.
“The state’s armed forces
colluded with the Sinhalese hooligans and vandals in their violent rampage of
arson, rape and mass murder.”
National
self-determination struggle
This repression boosted
Tamil nationalist sentiment. In 1977, the Tamil United Liberation Front won 17
seats in the Sri Lankan parliament on a platform of Tamil self-determination.
The repression of peaceful protest led many Tamil youth to violent methods. The
LTTE was formed in 1972 under the leadership of Vellupillai Prabakharan, then a
17-year-old. He is remains LTTE leader.
The LTTE carried out its
first major armed action in 1978. After Black July, support for the LTTE grew
among Tamils. It dramatically stepped up its war against the Sri Lankan Army.
The Sri Lankan Army could
not defeat the Tigers, despite brutal repression that included civilian
massacres.
In 1987, India sent a
“peacekeeping force” to Sri Lanka, with the stated aim of protecting the Tamils
from Sri Lankan Army violence. However, the Indian government did not want an
independent Tamil state. The Indian army began repressing the LTTE.
After the Indian troops
withdrew in 1990, fighting again broke out between the Sri Lankan Army and the
Tigers.
In 2002, a ceasefire was
signed between the LTTE and the United National Party (UNP) government. But the
government failed to offer Tamils a just solution that could guarantee a
lasting peace. Pro-government paramilitary groups, in collusion with the Sri
Lankan Army, continued violent attacks against Tamils.
The UNP government, which
claimed to want peace, was replaced in 2004 by a more openly Sinhala-chauvinist
government — a coalition led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Violence
escalated into full-scale war. LTTE-controlled areas were bombarded. Blockades
prevented food and other necessities from entering these areas.
For several decades, the
LTTE was a very effective fighting force. It inflicted big defeats on the Sri
Lankan Army, often killing hundreds of troops in a single battle. It controlled
large areas in the north and east of the island. The LTTE developed innovative
tactics, such as the use of light aircraft to carry out bombing raids on
government targets, including in the capital Colombo.
But over the past two
years, the government seems to have captured nearly all former LTTE-controlled
areas.
On January 2, 2009, the
government captured Kilinochchi, which had been the administrative centre for
LTTE-controlled areas. This followed five months of aerial and artillery
bombardment of the town.
The Sri Lankan Army’s gains
are partly due to aid from imperialist powers. Israel has supplied Kfir jets to
the Sri Lankan air force, which has used them to bomb Tamil areas.
However, this alone cannot
explain the scale of the Sri Lankan Army’s successes. It is necessary to also
look at the strategy and tactics of the LTTE.
LTTE's strengths and
limitations
The LTTE was formed by
young people angry at the oppression of Tamils and disillusioned with failed
peaceful methods of struggle. They were also disillusioned by the sell-outs of
Sri Lanka’s main left parties (some of whom had abandoned previous support for
Tamil rights to join coalition governments with the SLFP). Tamil youth didn’t
see any prospect of an alliance with Sinhala workers and peasants against the
Sinhalese ruling class. This led them to focus on the military struggle. They
succeeded in building a formidable fighting force.
The LTTE has fought
courageously and persistently against the Sri Lankan and Indian armies in an
effort to win national self-determination for the Tamil people. It has also
been willing to seek a peaceful solution when it appeared that the Sri Lankan
government might be willing to agree.
The LTTE has strong support
from the Tamil people in the north and east of the island. This is indicated by
election results (20 members of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance were
elected to Sri Lanka's parliament in 2004) and by the big attendance at
LTTE-organised rallies during the ceasefire.
Yet the goal of national self-determination
has not yet been attained. A Tamil homeland seems a long way off. This is not
solely due to the military power of the Sri Lankan state or its backing by
imperialist powers (important though that is). It is also due to the political
limitations of the LTTE.
A one-sided emphasis on
military struggle led to mistakes, including the alienation of potential
allies.
The Tigers sometimes
disregarded the need to win support among Sinhalese workers, peasants and
students in southern Sri Lanka for the right of Tamils to national
self-determination. This also applied to the Tamil-speaking Muslims of eastern
Sri Lanka.
The absence of a mass
anti-war movement in southern Sri Lanka is a key obstacle to the success of the
Tamil self-determination struggle. For instance, the US anti-war movement
played a key role in forcing the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam.
The LTTE has been willing
to negotiate with Sinhalese political leaders whenever they showed any signs of
wanting to reach a peaceful solution. But the LTTE has not made a serious
effort to get its message directly to the Sinhalese masses, bypassing the
politicians whose promises of peace have been deceptive.
The lack of a strong
anti-war movement in southern Sri Lanka reflects the weakness and political
limitations of the Sri Lankan left. But some actions by LTTE have also helped
to alienate the Sinhalese masses.
The LTTE has sometimes
responded to Sri Lankan Army atrocities by carrying out atrocities of its own,
including massacres of Sinhalese civilians. The LTTE has at various times
carried out bombing campaigns in Colombo and elsewhere in the south. These
actions helped alienate the Sinhalese workers from the Tamil struggle. When the
targets were military, such attacks could be justified, but this was not always
the case.
Errors by the LTTE also
helped alienate the Tamil-speaking Muslims. Some Muslim youth joined the LTTE
in its early years. But the government, with the aid of some Muslim
politicians, was able to instigate clashes between Tamils and Muslims. This led
the LTTE to become suspicious of Muslims, to such an extent that it expelled
them en masse from the Jaffna region. The LTTE later made efforts to rebuild
relations with the Muslims, but suspicions were not completely overcome.
The LTTE’s militaristic way
of thinking has also led to the repression of dissent among the Tamils
themselves.
Support Tamil liberation
These problems should not,
however, negate support for the right of Tamils to national self-determination.
In particular, there is the need for the removal of the occupying Sri Lankan
Army from Tamil areas. The main blame for the violence lies with the Sri Lankan
government. The cycle of violence was initiated by the government, and the
government’s denial of the right of Tamils to national self-determination
remains the main obstacle to peace.
National self-determination
means that the Tamils can freely choose whether to form a separate Tamil state,
be part of a united Sri Lanka or have some intermediate form such as a
federation. The LTTE has stated its willingness to consider a federal
structure.
“Unity” imposed by the Sri
Lankan Army through violent repression is not real unity. Such unity requires
ongoing repression of Tamils and prepares conditions for a new war.
Some commentators believe
the LTTE will continue as a guerrilla force (small-scale attacks are continuing
in the east, which the government has claimed to fully control for the past two
years). Others predict the LTTE’s imminent collapse.
But even if the government
wins a complete military victory, the occupation of Tamil areas by the Sri
Lankan Army cannot bring lasting peace. Occupation will always breed
resistance.
[Chris Slee is
member of the Democratic
Socialist Perspective, a Marxist organisation affiliated to the Socialist
Alliance of Australia. He a long-time activist in solidarity with
the Tamil people’s struggle. This article first appeared in Green Left Weekly issue #792, April 29, 2009.]
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