The Significance Of The Students’ Protest

                                                                                              20^th March 2013

Learning Lessons!

Many spectators especially from Tamil Nadu term the students’ protest as the reawakening of the 1960’s anti Hindi spirit, while some others compare it to the JP movement of the 70’s. What it really is a spontaneous reaction of a bunch of students who were motivated by some political thinking. Let us not mistake this to be a political party but it is political thinking. That means any one who wants change a system that is perceived to be unjust is thinking politically. The process of politicization happens when the eyes and ears along with other senses are open and a sense of dissatisfaction is sustained over a period of time. The simmering of this feeling has led to the precipitation of events. It was almost like the student community was waiting for a chance to protest.

In the past twenty years or so there have not been too many protests at this scale in Tamil Nadu and especially by the students.  In the urban areas they were considered to be mall going, entertainment loving, time wasting types or on the other hand belonging to some nerdy group that was interested in techy stuff, or others still belonging to the don’t care attitude groups. There are also others who belong to the “I cant afford that”. This is an interesting group that is deprived and disadvantaged and does not hesitate to lay its life for a cause.

There is reason to believe that the protests sparked off a sense of purpose in the minds of the youth. With or without understanding, knowingly or unknowingly but most willingly the students have stepped out of their classes and forced the state to declare an academic holiday.

There are several things that we can learn from this.

1.     Even if the world has forgotten the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka, the students have reminded them that it is very much alive in the hearts, minds and in body.

2.     It is a reminder that the students can’t be taken for granted. This means that they re ready to come out in the open and take a stand for issues of social justice even if it is not happening in India

3.     For students there is no need for any inspirational leader to organize them. They are capable of organizing themselves.

4.     Though many political parties motivate the students and draw inspiration the students have still not pledged any allegiance to any party.

5.     Despite the presence or absence of distractions of IPL, Movies and TV the students have found ways to sustain themselves for a cause

6.      They have not had coordinated protests but independent flash strikes, fasts and so on.

7.     We should never forget that this is a twitter generation and they have made use of the social network sites to its best. Along with this they have also known ways and means to attract the news hungry media.

8.     Let us not feel that they are on the street just because the government is letting them to be there. Even if there is a lot of pressure on the students from the government they will find ways to continue their protest.

 The causes and consequences of such students’ actions can be subjected to a postmortem at a later stage. What is most important is that they have made the world look at them in a different light. It looks like they have shaken off their Teflon coating of indifference to prove a point that they are still awake and will keep us awake when it is necessary. 

Being aware of what we ask!

The protests of the students have taken a different turn from what was imagined by the students. However, for those who have lived through the protests in Tamil Nadu it was pretty much predictive. Some students are yet to give up the protests while many have given up due to the closure of the colleges and hostels. After waiting and watching, the Government of Tamil Nadu has acted. It is an attempt to calm the students who are agitated and think that such terrible things are happening in Sri Lanka right now as they happened in till May 2009.

The emotional outbursts of the students should be respected and handled with care both by the state and the educational institutions. For the students it is a way to say, “we care about the Tamils in Sri Lanka”. They want to be part of the pressure group that can get the government of India and the UNHRC to act on Sri Lanka. The only confusion is what to ask them. Some say oppose the US sponsored resolution not minding to know what it contains, India should have its own resolution, a separate Tamil Eelam should established based on a referendum, an international independent judicial inquiry into the war crimes/crimes against humanity/genocide, announce an economic embargo on Sri Lanka, all this is motivated to punish those who have and are committing the atrocities against the innocent Tamils.

The demands sound very legitimate at the first look but the practicality is very questionable. Firstly, opposing the US resolution and throwing it out of the window without giving it a fair chance would mean that the only option in front of us have to be left out. The time factor and India’s current positioning does not permit it to draft and come up with its own resolution. Such a process should have been thought out well ahead of time. Also, this is a time when the previous US sponsored resolution is coming up for review. So, it is only right to say that what was stated last year should be reviewed and not have something entirely new as a knee jerk reaction just because we think India needs to do more immediately.

A referendum on Tamil Eelam is a popular demand. It appeals as the only solution for the population that has been suffering injustices for the past 60 years. Thanthai Chelva placed the proposal in the 1977 Vaddukottai declaration in 1977. This came after years of struggle where the Federal party in one voice said that there is not other option but a separate nation. Though not much has changed till date in Sri Lanka in terms of political solution to the Tamil Question, the demographics have changed considerably. This is because of the new delimitation of the constituencies, migration of people from the Tamil People to the developed world in fear or in search of greener pastures. With an estimated 20,00,000 tamils living abroad the 7 districts that are primarily Tamil areas in the North and East have been depopulated. A large number of Tamils now also live in Colombo. These people are either unwilling to return to their homelands or are not able to return for political reasons. In this context a referendum will be self defeating on one hand and also become a cause for further Sinhalization of the areas. A Tamil Eelam will be defenseless without people to live in it, although, those patriotic Tamils who live in the developed world will promise to come back and live in it, their children and their grand children who have been raised in the developed world will find it impossible to acclimatize themselves to the Eelam situation.

The option of an economic embargo, is bright and looks good. The wrong doer should be punished, the country as such has failed to protect its citizens and hence it is only legitimate that stringent economic action should be taken against them. This is meant to be like the one that was in South Africa, or that was imposed on India just after the Pokhran Nuclear tests. Well the context in Sri Lanka is definitely different. Though it is claimed to be a middle income country, the majority of the people who are just trying to rebuild their lives after the war live in the Tamil areas. An economic embargo would mean a repeat of what happened inside the Vanni during the times of the LTTE when the government did not permit transport of even essential items to the Tamil areas controlled by the LTTE. Though the innovation of the LTTE kept people alive to survive the terrible times. Such an embargo from the international community would bring undue sufferings to the already ailing community in terms of price rise and demand for essential commodities. The few jobs that are available to the Tamils will also be lost. Further leading to a depletion of the population owing to its penury.

Does this mean that the Tamils just need to accept the situation and live at the mercy of the current regime? Definitely not! There are many more options that will preserve the Tamil identity, territory of the Tamils and preserve the heritage. The two-pronged approach of working with political and developmental goals in mind is essential. Both these should be worked on simultaneously. The Tamils who were displaced by war are just limping back to normal life; there is a need to concentrate on the rebuilding their lives though proper development programs. This will encourage Tamils to get back to their home soil, occupy their land and not allow it to be empty without protection. For this, the diaspora can step in a big way. Hypothetically there were about 300,000 people who were displaced because of war that means about 75,000 families. The diaspora, which is much stronger than that in numbers, could hand hold at least one family to restart their lives. On the other hand encouraging investments in the north and east that would provide jobs and help the youth to see some scope for their continued existence in their home lands, provision of amenities such as schools, colleges, hospitals and an array of things will surely pep up their self concept.  All this may still sound a bit too lame and not valorous as fighting a war but things do not stop here.

The second prong is to take the political debates forward. With the absence of any consensus among the political parties about a political solution the bargaining capacity of the Tamils for self-determination and is reduced to fighting elections and holding on to posts. The real need is to come up with a package of demands and to stand united on one side at least when it comes to the principles. Moving the agenda on the rights dimension is dependent on clearly starting with a common minimum approach. As stated earlier it could be the 13^th/13+ Amendment or any other starter that was agreed by all earlier. Once a critical mass is built the issues of identity, protection and governance will ensue.

Right now the whole insistence on exuberant demands such as separate nation, especially with the noise of the international community is used and will be used by the radical Sinhala forces to further ferment the opinion of the poor and ignorant Sinhala South to hold on to their position of the whole world is against us and we have only Sri Lanka to live and hence let us keep it to ourselves.