Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

12 January   2021

 

 

 

ACADEMIC FREEDOM V MILITARY FREEDOM

 

One of the best monuments of Independence of a community is its University. Hence Academic Freedom is essential feature for an institution to qualify as a University. Mahatma Gandhi published his work through his own journals. Even though many would not have read them – the very publishing of truth made that manifestation the monument of his work at that time; at that place. Gandhi published his work through his own institution. He was a University because he published Truth as experienced by himself. 

 

The ‘Magna Charta Universitatum’  specifies the essential features of a University as ‘Academic Freedom & Institutional Autonomy’. Institutional Autonomy is demonstrated through the University’s adherence to its own laws.

 

Yesterday, there was Hartal in Jaffna due to Tamil War Memorial within University of Jaffna being demolished. What was more worrying was the message in following AFP report:

 

[Sri Lanka To Rebuild Tamil War Memorial After Protests

 

Angajan Ramanathan, a ruling party legislator for Jaffna, said authorities had agreed to rebuild the monument at the same location.

"The foundation stone... was laid today, Ramanathan said on Twitter.

Tamil Tigers controlled a third of the island at the height of their power, but were crushed in a military offensive when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the top defence official.

His brother Mahinda, the current prime minister, was the president when Sri Lanka annihilated the Tiger leadership.]

 

Was the removal a drama to promote the government through Angajan Ramanathan?  To qualify as a University, the University of  Jaffna as an institution, needs to decide for itself.

 

The installation of that monument is the truth of the LTTE which disrespected the school authorities to influence students to join their movement. The monument is a confirmation that under LTTE – education is subordinate to military. This is also the case with the current government led by former Defence Secretary – as confirmed through military appointments in civil areas. By supporting the Hartal, the supporters demote their own investment in education and intellectual freedom. There was a time when Jaffna Tamils sold properties to educate their children. Where is that heritage?

 

The Hartal supporters, supported military freedom of Tamil Armed Rebels. This makes it easy for the government to defeat them. The rebuilding promise confirms this. This is why one needs to go deeper into cause and effect rather than marking rights and wrongs through laws that are foreign to Tamils including those at the University of Jaffna who have failed their community.

The core value of Academic Freedom is that  it enriches the place and time of publishing even if no one reads it. All we have to do is genuinely seek through our own truth and publish the findings we make – without any expectations of profit. Then we convert our contributions to Energy which connects us to Universal power of Truth. This includes time based ancestral powers.

 

I discovered this through my own writing work. I did not often get feedback for my work but I felt the motivation within me to continue to write. Often my mind was ‘taken’ to relevant work by others in the past. A systematic search would have taken ages to get to that material – for example the ‘Kerala connection’ revealed through my yesterday’s article. My investment in Thesawalamai law accelerated this process. This was followed by an email from France which referred me to an article [ஈழத்தமிழர் அரசியல் வெற்றி பெற சில ஆலோசனைகள் - கலாநிதி ஜோன் மரி-யூலியா (சுகிர்தராஜ்) (lankanewsweb.net) ]which includes confirmation of the support of then Kerala Defence Minister Mr A K Antony – who held the position of Chancellor, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology. The article was published on 10 January . The article mentions support for Kamala Harris which has become habitual with some Tamil Diaspora leaders. By conduct the LTTE leader was not at all like Joe Biden. That reveals to me that the writer seeks to ‘buy’ status and not earn it.

 

The question that the article led me to was whether Jaffna Tamils have facilitated the development of a Defence Academy under the name of University of Jaffna?

 

The current Minister active in the UNHRC, on behalf of the current government is Mr Sarath Weerasekara. As per Wikipedia, Mr Sarath Weerasekara was trained at  the National Defence College, New Delhi. He is therefore more a Defence person than a Politician. Such a person would naturally invoke her/his parallel in the Opposition, when s/he is free to lead. Hence the demolition at this time – which was matched by young and restless Tamils who have been joined by Muslim agitators.

 

The National Defence College is  ‘ is adjacent to the home where Mahatma Gandhi lived the last five months of his life, and the garden where he was assassinated’

 

Both Gandhi’s were assassinated by their own community for facilitating multiculturalism. This divided their home-groups – the intellectuals driven by the truth they have discovered and the armed warriors to whom winning confirms ownership.

 

The Sinhalese celebrate 04  February as Independence day. It marks the departure of the British and not the true independence earned by the sacrifices made by Indians led by Mahatma Gandhi.

 

As per my discovery – shared through my regular articles – when someone dies, those of us who connect through their goodness inherit their assets. Those who owe them inherit their liabilities. Condemning the British while using their infrastructure is to condemn our ancestors. Sri Lankan politicians who are negative about the British separated themselves from those who inherited their heirs. By becoming independent of the British while they were still ruling India, the likes of Mahatma Gandhi became the Governors of that whole region, including Ceylon/Sri Lanka. If Mr Sarath Weerasekara therefore failed to pay his respects to Mahatma Gandhi – the spirit of the great soul would keep separating Mr Sarath Weerasekara from Independence.

 

If the war memorial is reinstalled by the government – that would be a victory memorial for the Defence Forces and this is likely to turn University of Jaffna into a Government controlled Defence Academy. What an insult! – All become we do not know the difference between ‘physical freedom’ and ‘independence’. The truly independent Tamil would NOT react – taking an eye for an eye.