Tag Webcast 2 - Tamil genocide - History

Culpable Individuals Tamils Against Genocide Bruce Fein Former U.S. Associate Deputy Attorney General Good evening, my name is Bruce Fein. Today's program addresses an element of genocide that is quite in contest by the current government namely whether or not the killings, the kidnappings, the torture, the arbitrary detentions against Sri Lanka's Tamils is a response to terrorism or is, in fact, a cover for a genocidal intent to destroy the Tamils in whole or in part because of their nationality or religion or ethnicity. We need to begin with the 1948 Genocide Convention which defines the crime of genocide as an intent to destroy a group in whole or in part, as such, because of their nationality, ethnicity or religion. And if we consider the entire sweep of Sri Lanka's life since it was given birth in 1948 the evidence clearly establishes that the animosity, the attempt to destroy begin far before terrorism even lurked its head in part in the late 1970s or after 1983 with the race riots. Sri Lanka was barely born when the first event of genocide began namely the denaturalisation of a million Tamils because of their race or ethnicity, half of the Tamil population. Then that follows disfranchisement then in 1956, came the "Sinhala Only Act" which renounced the use of Tamil as an official language in an effort to try to destroy the Tamils as a separate culture that was viable. Soon after 1958, came a chronic series of race riots against Tamils by the majority Sinhalese Buddhists. In every instance of these kinds of crimes against Tamils, they were committed with impunity, no punishment, no deterrence. Then we come to the 1972 constitutional change undertaking without Tamil participation which celebrated Buddhism as being the preferred religion, eliminated the protection against the official discrimination under Article 29 and generally speaking attempted to prohibit any kind of federalism that would acknowledge Tamil autonomy by declaring a unitary state. Then we can move forward to 1981 when there was the destruction of the Jaffna library an act of cultural genocide if you will, it clearly indicated an animosity towards even believing that there was any kind of Tamil culture that was worth preserving in Sri Lanka. Then came a amendment 6 to the new Sri Lankan Constitution which prohibited even thinking about an independent Tamil State destroyed Tamils as any viable political opposition even when it was necessary to establish their own basic human rights protected under international laws and even under covenant signed by Sri Lanka itself. 1983 was perhaps the high-water mark for that time of racism where they were efforts by the government orchestrated thugs and paramilitary units to kill Tamils indiscriminately in an attempt to destroy them as a people who belongs to the island. So we go through these series of events, all conducted with impunity all before there was any use of the words terror or counter-terror that establish within the Sri Lankan political dynamic an animosity and an attempt to persecute and discriminate against Tamils based upon ethnicity or religion or otherwise. And we find that true not only in these particular political events but in the cultural, political, literary life of Sri Lanka. If you look at the Mahavamsa and the lectures given by Buddhist monks in temples they all speak of Sri Lanka as being a Sinhala Buddhist nation, Tamils no where to be mentioned. And it is repeatedly taught, in not only religion but in the classroom the idea that the Tamils are a subordinate people who really are interlopers on the island and don't belong there. The genocide that began in 1948 is not abated even up to the most recent month of August 2008. The chief culprits include U.S. Green Card holders or citizens Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Basil Rajapakse and General Sarath Fonseka. And during the month of August, there were 65 incidences of genocide. They include such things as indiscriminate bombings of hospitals, killing infants discriminatory access to churches or discrimination permitting the exercise of religious freedom, the use of torture or inhuman treatment against Tamils including putting five hundred down on kneeling situations for an entire day. All of these instances is open and notorious and conducted with impunity. And only last July, there was discovery of a mass grave, of scores of body that obviously were there attempted to be concealed because there were evidence of nefarious crimes conducted by the Sri Lankan armed forces or paramilitary units. If we look even to recent years not only the recent months of events in Sri Lanka the facts are equally if not more chilling. The sum of the high-water marks are instances where there were lynching of an entire family in homes very gruesome, that would be nauseating to any ordinary human-being like witnessing Auschwitz or Bergen-Belsen with these skeletons. And we know the notorious instance of the Trincomalee five where students were massacred with impunity. Followed also by the seventeen humanitarian aid workers working for Action Against Hunger were slaughtered with impunity. In all of these instances, it is obvious that the government is complicit they are seeking in order to shield even greater understanding of the magnitude of the crimes the area in the North and the East from any kind of outside observation. So there is no way that we can have impartial evaluations of what is happening in these instances. And we just know from human nature, there is no reason why the Government of Sri Lanka would be trying to conceal what is going on in these particular areas except that they have something to cover up. We intend to continue to compile weekly, monthly reports on genocide file so no one will forget those who have suffered simply because of their race or ethnicity in this long quest to achieve justice for the Tamils and we hope that everyone will contribute to our particular project by conveying to us their own personal knowledge or knowledge that they have been come upon by talking to others that will continue to ensure that no one is died, no one has suffered in vain. And we hope to redeem their suffering. To borrow from the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court the killings and the attempt to destroy the Tamils are notorious. "COUNTERTERRORISM IS THE PRETENCE GENOCIDE WAS THE INTENT!" Thank you for this evening and a look forward to another program soon in these series on genocide by U.S. citizens and Green Card holders that will not go unpunished.