My presentation on Working Class Movement and Tamil National Struggle at the University of London on 24 March 2007

1. 24 March 2007 Lionel Bopage
Sri Lanka
---
Working Class Movements
And
The Tamil National Struggle

2. 24 March 2007 2
Introduction
 This presentation looks at the complex
relationship between class and the ethnic
aspects of the current conflict
 The paper is underpinned by the Marxist
perspective on the National Question

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The Marxist viewpoint on the
National Question
 The Marxist goal is to build the unity of
the working class regardless of national
boundaries
 While not being prescriptive on the form
of self – determination, Marxists are clear
that within a nation state, all citizens have
equal rights

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The Tamil National Struggle
 Since 1948 successive governments have
systematically denied the Tamils equal
rights in the areas of language education
and employment
 From the late 80’s the LTTE has emerged
as the dominant political and military
group representing the Tamils of the
North - East

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Crisis in the Tamil National Struggle
 Since 2003 the Government has refused to
hold talks with the LTTE and has used
military force to undermine the LTTE
 The LTTE are more focused on their
military strength rather than their political
goals and the global realties they operate
under

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Malaiyaha Tamils* and
the Tamil National Struggle
* Tamils who were brought from India to work in the tea estates by the British since the
1840’s and their descendants
 The implications of the disenfranchising of
Malaiyaha Tamils by the Citizenship Act of
1948
 The lack of solidarity between the
Malaiyaha Tamils and their compatriots in
the North and the East

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Muslims and
the Tamil National Struggle
 The importance of Islam in defining the identity
of Muslims in Sri Lanka
 Peaceful co – existence between the Tamils and
the Muslims in the North - East till the 1980s
 The souring of the relationship with the LTTE in
the late 80s resulting in the massacre and the
displacement of Muslims in the North - East

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The working class movement
and the Left
“Bourgeois Nationalism and proletarian internationalism – these are the two
great class camps throughout the capitalist world.” (Lenin)
 Till the 1960’s the traditional left supported the
rights of the Tamils
 The hostility of the Left to the Tamil National
question and the attendant consequences

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Conclusion
“The greatest tragedy is not the brutality of evil people, but rather the silence of
good people” (Dr Martin Luther King)
 The left must take a firm and unambiguous stand
that any solution to the conflict MUST guarantee
democratic rights to all the citizens of Sri Lanka

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Conclusion
 The Sinhala and Tamil masses must be
mobilized by the struggle against Capitalist
Globalization
 The prospects for Tamil unity across the
Island
 The importance of implementing a Federal
Solution to the National Question

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Thank you