Who is the Enemy?

[Flabbergasted]

Sun, 2006-08-13 06:23
By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“When a general is attacking a town he should endeavour with all diligence to relieve its defenders of their obstinacy…..by explaining that no attack is being made on the common good but only on a few ambitions citizens”.
Machiavelli (The Discourses)

One year ago the Tigers murdered Lakshman Kadirgamar; one year later, a few hours ago, they murdered Kethish Loganathan, the deputy head of the Lankan Peace Secretariat. The Tigers know their enemy. That is why their prime targets are top Security Forces officials and those Tamils who desire a united Sri Lanka rather than the Sinhala supremacist ‘heroes’ who cannot differentiate between Tamil nationalism and Tiger fascism or the LTTE and the Tamil people.

The Tigers know who their enemies are. Do we?

Who are we at war with? Tigers or Tamils? What are we fighting against? Tiger fascism or Tamil nationalism? What do we want to prevent? Separation or federalism?

According to the New York Times, the latest counterinsurgency manual by the Pentagon (called ‘FM 3-24/FMFM 3-24’) highlights the critical importance of ‘soft power’ tactics in the war against terrorism. The manual advocates a policy of winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of the populace through "political, economic, civic and other similar’ efforts. 'Soft power tactics' cannot work with hardcore terrorists but they can and do work with civilian populations, which, willingly or unwillingly, provide certain essential support services for the terrorists. As emphasised by a US Army official working on this manual: "most critically we have to get better at winning hearts and minds…. That is influencing neutral populations towards supporting us and not supporting our terrorist and insurgent enemies" (International Herald Tribune – 31.7.2006).

Sane and sensible advice that we in Sri Lanka would do well to heed, as we head deeper and deeper into the Fourth Eelam War. The Tigers, as an organisation, cannot be tamed or won over with gestures of friendship; but Tamils can be. And the Tamils must be won over if we are serious about defeating the Tigers. But this winning over of Tamils is preconditioned upon our capacity to make a distinction between the Tigers and Tamils and to identify the Tigers as the implacable enemy who has to be destroyed with ‘hard power tactics’ and the Tamils as potential allies and partners who must be won over with ‘soft power tactics’.

Tiger Fascism and Tamil Nationalism

Tiger fascism has to be resisted and defeated. Tamil nationalism has to be comprehended, addressed and incorporated. The two are not one and the same. There can be no compromise with Tiger fascism. And there can be no military solution to Tamil nationalism. Vellupillai Pirapaharan represents Tiger fascism; he has to be defeated militarily. V Anandasangaree, Douglas Devananda and Karuna Amman are all Tamil nationalists; they must be turned into vital stakeholders of a pluralist Sri Lanka, thorough a generous devolution package. The anti-Tiger war and a political solution to the ethnic problem are not mutual exclusive options; they are interrelated tasks which must be fulfilled (simultaneously rather than sequentially) if we want a lasting peace in an undivided Sri Lanka.

[mr_hat]

1. Oh shit. Not them too.