People often debate the meaning and classification of genocide - which conflicts are genocide and which are not? When do individual acts of repression turn into a concerted campaign to exterminate a people? Often times the question is one of the scale and speed of the crimes - when the world sees tens of thousands killed in one day, they take notice. But when the crimes occur over decades, they often pass with little note. Genocide, however, is not a question of scale - it is a question of intent.
The Government shows their intent when they declare an area a safe zone, shepherding civilian towards it, and then proceed to shell the area.
They show their intent when they order all international NGO’s out of a region when civilians desperately need their help.
They show their intent when they disappear their critics, silencing them forever.
They show their intent when journalists are suppressed, when orphanges are bombed, when aid workers are killed and when hospitals are shelled.
The Government has made its intent clear.
So on this, the fourth day of our fast, I keep going by remembering that in three decades of ethnic conflict, it has been the Tamil civilian population that has overwhelmingly borne the brunt of the Government’s aggression. It is they who have suffered at the hands of a government that refuses to value the lives of the people it claims to be fighting to govern. Compared to their sacrifice, my fast is nothing.
Tags: fast, genocide, government
February 14th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Vanakkam!
Hats off to the eight of you who are making this sacrifice for the sake of our kind and our race. It is truly moving to see how truly dedicated you and your friends are to our “thaagam” for “thamizh eelam.”
In a nutshell you have expressed all that to be known about genocide and of course the application of the meaning to our plight is flawless! On the other hand, your sacrifice is not “nothing”; it is another drop of water which is creating an ocean of revolutionary Tamils bravely marching towards freedom. No sacrifice is nothing!
There was a time when my parents along with many elders from the previous generation worried that the “thaagam” would not prevail in our generation considering how most of our generation is growing up under various international flags. However, we have proved ourselves to be a breed of poppies; we grow and thrive on the blood of our martyr brothers and sisters!
The time will soon arrive when we all receive the manna of freedom.
Dharmam Vaazhga! Thamizh Vezhga!
Anpudan,
eezha gothai
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
“Compared to their sacrifice, my fast is nothing”…
I wish more people can feel the way you feel my friend.. My respects to you!
-Stan