lines co-editor, Ahilan Kadirgamar interviewed activist-intellectuals
Dr. A. Sivanandan and Nirmala Rajasingam in London. Dr. Sivanandan
is Director of the Institute of Race Relations and editor of ‘Race
and Class’. He has written works on Black struggles in Britain
including ‘Communities of Resistance: Writings on Black Struggles
for Socialism’ and ‘A Different Hunger: Writings on Black Resistance.’
He is also the author of a novel ‘When Memory Dies’ and a book
of short stories ‘Where the Dance Is’. Nirmala Rajasingam was
an activist in Sri Lanka who became an active supporter of the
LTTE’s political wing in the early stages of the Tamil militant
movement. She was also active in Tamil drama and the Tamil literary
circles. She went to prison in 1982 charged with harbouring wounded
Tiger militants. Nirmala Rajasingam broke jail two years later,
but left the LTTE soon after that and migrated to the UK in 1986.
She is the sister of Rajani Thiranagama, leading human rights
activist and co-founder of the University Teachers for Human Rights
(Jaffna). Rajani Thiranagama was assassinated by the LTTE in 1989.
Dr. Sivanandan and Nirmala Rajasingam, both exemplify a tradition
of dissent, critical activism and a commitment to their local
communities, be it in Sri Lanka or the UK. As evident from the
interview, their activism has traveled with them from Sri Lanka
to Britain. However, they are from two different generations of
Sri Lankan activist-intellectuals and have been engaged in a variety
of politics. Both interviews began with issues surrounding race
politics in Britain, but each interview took a life of it own.
Interview with Nirmala Rajasingam
AK: You returned after your university education in the US and
got immersed in activist politics in Jaffna. Some years later
you were in the UK. Having lived in Sri Lanka, the US and UK,
what do you think of the Black identity and its influence on Black
struggles.
NR: I think the idea of a Black identity, was inspired by the
Civil Rights movement in the US. Unfortunately, now Black is identified
with people of African origin only, but it didn’t used to be that
way. It was used as a political term of people of color uniting
to fight racism. I might call myself a Black British person, but
I won’t because I am a Sri Lankan national, but my nieces might,
but their generation is also changing due to the experiments of
multiculturalism. It was a failure because it divided the Black
community into its constituent parts.. into Jamaican or Punjabi
or Sri Lankan Tamil and so on, rather than build up Black unity..
But you know, there are young Asians who would like to call themselves
Black, but the African youth will say “You are not Black, you
are Asian. We are Black. Similarly, there are young Asians who
will say “We are not Black, we are Asian.”. So it has all become
diluted and depoliticized. And now because of all this multiculturalism
nonsense, all these funding agencies have been funding individual
ethnic communities and their interest groups. Hence you have
ethnic communities, or even more frighteningly they are called
‘faith communities’ now. But even now, activist Asians call
themselves Black, preferring a political identity.
AK: The Sri Lankan immigrants in the sixties and seventies, the
professionals, how did they relate to such a Black Identity?
NR: Oh, they would never want to be called Black, ever. They
wouldn’t want anything to do with people of African origin and
anything to do with the identity Black. I haven’t met many of
that generation that I am comfortable with. I have to sometimes
be apologetic to my Black friends, about the backwardness of my
community. Even the Tamil Nationalist activists, without thinking
would use the word ‘Kaapili’, I just cringe when I hear that word
you know. Because they don’t mix or meet with Black people. My
daughter has friends who are Black, both boys and girls, and
Tamil women in my neighbourhood will come and tell me, "is
your daughter hanging around with Kaapili boys…" I have
on occasion had to tell Tamil friends visiting me, "If you
are going to use words like ‘Kaapili’ I will have to show the
door to you." It is not any different from if your friends
started talking about ‘Nalavan’ and ‘Pallan’.
AK: You mentioned how Black is a political color. But do you
see that Black identity as overwhelmingly male?
NR: Actually, now, wherever you go, the activists are overwhelmingly
women. But unfortunately, the communities are so hopelessly divided.
They are mostly organizing along ethnic lines. And the so-called
community leaders, those that are recognized as leaders even in
the Tamil community, they are of dubious backgrounds. These are
the kind of people that the State and the local governments encouraged.
They are very reactionary. Asian women activists have lots of
problems with these leaders. I belong to a group called, South
Asia Solidarity Group which has a long track record of working
on issues affecting people in the Subcontinent and issues surrounding
racism and workers rights in the UK. I also belong to an organization
called Asian Women Unite, which is a coalition of many Asian
women’s groups working on issues affecting women, such as domestic
violence, forced marriages, mental health issues, the impact
of religion on family and culture and state provisions of services
to Asian women etc.. One of the issues that we are concerned
about is the government’s proposal to expand and proliferate
the number of Single Faith Schools.
To answer your question, about men it sometimes becomes a problem.
Women in our groups sometimes have difficulty working with male
activists as they are very macho and at the same time very uninteresting…..
I get bored talking to some of them in five minutes. I haven’t
been able to work closely with men, I find it much easier to work
with women. Yes, it isn’t a problem to the extent that I don’t
work politically with men. And I haven’t missed them!
AK: How has the Sri Lankan community engaged with politics in
Britain? Have they gotten involved in politics here or have they
only worked primarily as an Eelam lobby?
NR: The Tamil community has lots of community organizations.
A few people get together and form themselves into an organization
and they get funding for a computer a phone line and so on. Then
they get funded to give basic advice on basic rights to services
… The LTTE has sought to dominate such groups. Some of them have
tried to survive independently. These organizations do lobby
with the Home Office or with the Members of Parliament and the
government on immigration issues, but their concern is only about
Tamil refugees. There may be one or two individuals who are
involved in campaigns for the rights of refugees in general.
You wont see them at one anti-racist or anti war demo, or a
Palestine demo or anything of interest outside the Tamil community.
Some years ago, a Tamil refugee Sashidaran Panchatcharam,
was beaten to death on a very public road, in the early evening
by racists in Newham. Newham Monitoring Project, which was
an organization campaigning on race issues in that area organized
a campaign. Myself and literally a handful of progressive
Tamils, and frankly I must say that the few Tamils who became
involved had dissenting views on Tamil nationalism… became involved
with the campaign surrounding his murder. When we went to the
demo in Newham, we were the only Tamils there. The boy was beaten
to death with cricket bats, and the family would not show up because
they were frightened. Now Newham is full of Tamils, and there
is also a history of racist attacks there. Many young Tamils there
at that time must have experienced some kind of racial violence.
It was a Saturday, and there were so many Tamils out shopping
and as the demo went by they would stand around watching us from
the streets but would not join us. It is also our fault for not
organizing enough. But you know, he was one of our own, and they
wouldn’t come join us. The Newham Monitoring Project had done
a lot of publicity….The demo for this murdered Tamil boy was strong,
with people from all backgrounds …... White, Black and Asian
and only the Tamils were not there. Those few of us who went
there felt so small. I suppose partly because our successive
political leaders in Sri Lanka never got people involved in political
protests and so on. Now in protests here as in protests in Sri
Lanka, the LTTE will organize for its own demos, commandeer the
crowds , organize buses and ship people to the demo…
AK: Could you talk a little bit about how politics has changed
here in the UK in the post Sept 11th environment, especially
in terms of the repression of immigrants.
NR: There has been all this anti-terrorist legislation. A whole
new anti-Islamic phobia has been whipped up. The government is
also targeting refugees and bringing in new asylum legislation.
All Asians are perceived now as Islamic, not that we should care
about that. The resistance to such repression has come from the
anti-war movement, which is a coalition of diverse groups. Anti-war
demonstrations have been quite frequent and there has been a lot
of support expressed for the Palestinians as well, so those things
are happening, but its not reported in the press. This is not
a Black coalition but an anti-war coalition but the black presence
at these demos is substantial. The state is whipping up fear
among ordinary people, but at the same time the government is
also confused about all this. While on the one hand they want
to curb the growth of Islamic mosques and activity, on the other
hand they are encouraging single faith schools. As you are aware
before Sept 11th, there were all these riots in Bradford
and Oldham between Asian youth and BNP – Neo-Nazi gangs which
involved local White youth. There were big clashes. It was finally
established that the cause of the riots was long term segregation,
local authority policies to keep White and Asian neighborhoods
separate. If they had gone to school together and done things
together perhaps there wouldn’t have been this level of animosity.
These were mill and factory towns that had decayed and there was
a lot of deprivation unemployment and poverty. And then there
were the discriminatory policies of the local authorities to keep
the Asians segregated from the whites….. Even after this the
government is pushing ahead with the idea of single faith schools
…which will cause more division …. On the one hand they want
to close down the Madrassas on the other hand they want to allow
the religious leaders to open new single faith schools. Organisations
like the VHP are also making a bid to open Hindu schools. .
Sometimes, you find local government funding going to these dubious
groups. You can’t avoid the links between what is going on in
India and Pakistan and indeed Sri Lanka and here. And amidst
all of this… progressive Asians especially women activists are
fighting these very elements within our communities… and at the
same time the government and the local authorities which encourage
and fund them in the name of ‘multiculturalism’ and rights of
‘ethnic groups’ and ‘faith communities’.
AK: What is the difference between politics of your generation
your children?
NR: My children will probably be concerned about politics here.
They think it is terrible that Ammamma and Paatta have to live
in the war. Once in a while they sit up and listen to stories
of what goes on back home, but that’s about it. Their main focus
is on problems here. They are interested in issues of race,
class and gender here. But my children may have a different experience
from children of Tamil families that do not engage in local
politics at all, but only talk about politics back home. You find
that in some of these expat families, their children do cultural
programs to fund raise for the Tigers.
AK: You were involved in theater in Sri Lanka, what do you see
as the role of cultural production in the immigrant community.
NR: Right now they are so involved with what goes on back home,
in terms of the war and so on. But the second generation will
become more established as British Asians. So, the cultural umbilical
chord may be cut… In our meetings and events I see other Asian
young people’s presence and them taking part in a common British
Asian culture and identity. The Tamil community still tries
to maintain its separateness I believe.. There is an attempt
by families i.e. first generation Tamil immigrant families to
keep their children away from it… They are even segregated from
the rest of the Asian community. It is very funny. Even in Sri
Lanka many Tamil women would wear Punjabi outfits nowadays,
but here when I have worn one, other Tamil women have said “Cheee,
why are you dressing like a Paki.?” I do not want my children
to grow up imprisoned within a cultural diet of jaded Bharatha
natyam Arangetrams on the weekends. Why should they hold onto
this very narrow experience that is now being peddled in London
as ‘Tamil culture’?
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