Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

22 December  2019

NON ALIGNED MOVEMENT AND NATIONALISM

Sri Lanka has been part of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) from 1961.  As per Wikipedia:

[The purpose of the organization was enumerated by Fidel Castro in his Havana Declaration of 1979 as to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics."  The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations' members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World, though the Non-Aligned Movement also has a number of developed nations.]

Based on the above statistics the between the UN and the NAM, the NAM  represents majority world population. But when it came to National Security issue – Sri Lankan government resorted to the various arms of  the UN in relation to the war against the LTTE. India is a founding member, whereas China has only ‘Observer’ status.

The wellbeing of the Common Sri Lankan relates to both parent groups – the UN as well as the NAM. In the case of ‘Nationalists’ who were given ‘form’ through JVP and the LTTE – one can trace the influence to the NAM – which as per Wikipedia defines its Multicultural policy as follows:

[The movement accepts the universality of human rights and social justice, but fiercely resists cultural homogenisation.  In line with its views on sovereignty, the organisation appeals for the protection of cultural diversity, and the tolerance of the religious, socio-cultural, and historical particularities that define human rights in a specific region.]

As per Wikipedia:

[Both Sri Lanka and Cuba were members of the Non-aligned movement, which rejected a bipolar domination of world affairs. Though many members of the Non-Alignment Movement were embroiled in intra-member conflicts, Cuban-Sri Lankan relations were quite cordial. Prime Minister Junius Richard Jayawardene visited Cuba in 1979 to promote the aims of the movement, while the respective governments signed a number of agreements in the 1970s to further cement ideological ties. These included a cultural agreement, signed in 1976 and amended many times later, and a Scientific and Technical agreement which was signed in 1978 and later buttressed by later added protocols.

Cuba also supported Sri Lanka by rejecting the 2012 U.S sponsored resolution.]

The above confirms that the NAM values were stated to takeover Polarization power from the UN into their own hands. When the 1972 Constitution was prepared ‘Buddhism Foremost’ policy was also given birth through Article 6. Mr J R Jayawardene carried this forward in the 1978 Constitution – through Article 9.

If Cuba could not identify with the Polarization policy in the Sri Lankan Constitution – then the declaration by the Cuban leader in 1979 was lacking in belief.  The above NAM declaration by Mr Castro was made in September 1979 – leading one to conclude that Mr Jayawardene carried the demon of Separatism with him to Cuba and in exchange brought home the July Karma.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"  is the second of the Ten Commandments. To a country governed through a lawful structure – its written Constitution is the Bible and the words in the Bible are the words of the Lord. If ‘Buddhism foremost’ was part of the Sri Lankan Bible – using it for political purposes carries a high risk of  abuse of power. Mr SWRD Bandaranaike promoted Buddhist clergy and was murdered by the Buddhist clergy. Strictly speaking – Mrs Banadaranaike whose original entry into Sri Lankan politics was through her husband’s status – ought to have brought that truth in the constitution written when  Mrs Banadaranaike was Prime Minister. Hence one is entitled to conclude that ‘Buddhism foremost’  was the Quid Pro Quo which has become a menace in Sri Lankan politics killing National unity through abuse of the Common Name, by Separatists.

Mrs Bandaranike’s government lost miserably in 1977 after the 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution which manifested the belief of  Tamil Politicians that Tamils were a diverse culture. Preserving this diversity  is the essence of the NAM. Mr Jayawardene failed to identify with the passage of that belief as the value realized through the NAM membership but used its power to make himself the king of Sri Lanka through the Executive Presidency. His fall was firmly confirmed through Black July.

As per my insight – this infection came from free association with Cuba’s rebel leaders. The connection is identifiable by any true believer:

[The 26th of July Movement's name originated from the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, an army facility in the city of Santiago de Cuba, on 26 July 1953. This attack was led by a young Fidel Castro, who was a legislative candidate in a free election that had been cancelled by Batista. The attack had been intended as a rallying cry for the revolution. Castro was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison but, along with his group, was granted an amnesty after two years following a political campaign on their behalf. Castro traveled to Mexico to reorganize the movement in 1955 with several other exiled revolutionaries (including Raúl Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Juan Almeida Bosque). Their task was to form a disciplined guerrilla force to overthrow Batista.] Wikipedia

Following is an account of the Black July manifestations on 26 July 1983:

[Tuesday, 26 July

The mob attacks continued in Wellawatte and Dehiwala on 26 July. There were 53 houses on Ratnakara Road. The 24 Tamil owned/occupied houses were burnt.  Three houses had Sinhalese owners but were rented by Tamils. The mob removed the property from these three houses out to the road and burnt it. The three houses were not burnt down, neither were the 26 Sinhalese owned/occupied houses. In many parts of the city, the Army merely looked on as property was destroyed and people were killed.

The violence spread to the country's second largest city, Kandy, on 26 July. By 2:45 pm Delta Pharmacy on Peradeniya Road was on fire. Soon afterwards, a Tamil-owned shop near the Laksala building was set on fire; and the violence spread to Castle Street and Colombo Street.  The police managed to get control of the situation, but an hour later a mob armed with petrol cans and Molotov cocktails started attacking Tamil shops on Castle, Colombo, King's, and Trincomalee streets. The mob then moved on to nearby Gampola. A curfew was imposed in Kandy District on the evening of 26 July.

In Trincomalee, false rumours started spreading that the LTTE had captured Jaffna, that the Karainagar Naval Base had been destroyed, and that the Naga Vihare had been desecrated. Sailors based at Trincomalee Naval Base went on a rampage, attacking Central Road, Dockyard Road, Main Street, and North Coast Road. The sailors started 170 fires before returning to their base. The Sivan Hindu temple on Thirugnasambandan Road also was attacked.

The curfew was extended nationwide on 26 July as a precautionary measure. There were more outbreaks of violence and looting against Tamils in areas where various ethnic groups had coexisted. By the evening of the 26 July, the mob violence began to slacken as police and army units patrolled the streets in large numbers and began to take action against the rioters. The soldiers killed in the Thirunelveli ambush were quietly buried during the night curfew].

To my mind, the July connection is no coincidence. It was the return Karma for abusing NAM to run a parallel to US controlled UN. In that Cuba became America’s  parallel and Sri Lanka became the UK’s parallel.

When the structure is used for current benefits, the other side is invoked as opposite manifestation. The lower the level of benefits taken – as in  quid pro quo / cash / vote – the more visible the cost / loss becomes.  Commitment to the above mentioned Commandment would prevent such manifestations and therefore protect the group and the leader.

The current President also has invoked Sinhala-Buddhism and therefore loses not only the protection of the UN but also that of the NAM Policy. Many Nationalists in the Diaspora – both Tamils and Sinhalese – would team up with rebels.

As mentioned above ‘Cuba also supported Sri Lanka by rejecting the 2012 U.S sponsored resolution’

To my mind, this was due to the mind connection with Dr Jayatilleke  about whose role Wikipedia states as follows:

[Jayatilleka is credited with shielding Sri Lanka from censure by the UNHRC for alleged human rights violations during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009]

The reason is known through the following account:

[Jayatilleka had become involved in radical politics at a young age and whilst studying Advanced Level at Aquinas he was "picked up" by the Intelligence Services Division and questioned at their headquarters in Longdon Place, Colombo. At Peradeniya he was a member of two radical groups - the Lanka Samaja Adhyayana Kavaya (Lanka Social Studies Circle) and Samaja Adhyayana Kavaya. Whilst at Binghamton he was involved with solidarity movements in support of El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. He returned to Sri Lanka in 1982 to observe the presidential election but, having gotten involved in militant Sri Lankan politics, never returned to Binghamton and dropped out….

. Jayatilleka had been a supporter of Tamil militancy for some time and had argued that their actions were a war of national liberation, not terrorism. Vikalpa Kandayama formed a relationship with the Tamil militant Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).  Vikalpa Kandayama was banned in 1986 and Jayatilleka was indicted, in absentia, by the Colombo High Court on 14 counts including conspiracy to overthrow the state through violence.  In the meantime, Jayatilleka had gone into hiding, spending two years underground in Sri Lanka and one year in India.  He was then pardoned by President J. R. Jayewardene]

Like Mr Jayawardene, Dr Jayatilleke also liked to be the king of militants. His role also contributed to  the 13^th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution which was too little too late. According to Wikipedia:

[He received a PhD degree from the Griffith University in 2007 after writing a thesis titled The Moral Sierra Maestra: The Moral-Ethical Dimension of the Political Thought of Fidel Castro.]

With that ‘intelligence’:

[Jayatilleka was Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva between June 2007 and October 2009.]

NAM thus lost its independence and infiltrated the UN through Dr Jayathilleke as Sri Lanka’s representative.

UN – like Cyber Space may seem ‘free’. But its exponential power was manifested in 2012 & 2013 when Tamils were able to influence through their own social investments in Western world – the manifestation of  Resolution against Sri Lankan Government, through the leadership of America through the UN. This would not have been possible if Tamil militants had continued to separate internally. The deep and genuine pain that our Community felt – through civilians were orphaned by both sides – became a universal power. When we genuinely make amends to our contributions to ‘attack’ and not stop with ‘Defence’ – we would continue to keep this Universal support which includes our ancestors who invested in Self-Governance through Thesawalamai.