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The Fourth Person and the Politics of Aid
-- Ahilan Kadirgamar
When I visited Jaffna not too long after the ceasefire
agreement in 2002, I asked one of my friends about life in Jaffna.
He replied: there are
four kinds people who make up Jaffna.
The first person has relatives in the West, and money is
not an issue for him. Jaffna’s economy runs on remittances from the
West. Whether the cost
of living goes up, or whether the army returns the property in the
High Security Zones or whether the LTTE extorts, does not matter
- this person can always ask his relatives in the West to send the
necessary money. The second person is the Jaffna middle class, a professional, a
bureaucrat, a teacher, a NGO employee.
The second person will focus on educating the children and
reproducing their position in Jaffna society.
The third person may have two acres of land, to plough enough
to eke out a living, may own a couple boats, or a store and can
somehow make ends meet. The third person’s wealth and skills are not
transferable and is unable to leave Jaffna, but has survived the
war with a livelihood. The
fourth person has nothing and perhaps comes from the oppressed caste.
It is the fourth person’s daughters and sons that the LTTE will
try and recruit into its ranks, it is the fourth person that is
mobilized by the LTTE for its hartals, tire burnings and protests
in front of the army sentry points. It is the fourth person that
will also resist, as with the fishermen’s struggles against the
LTTE. The fourth person has nothing to lose.
His story prompted me to consider this fourth person. I started thinking about how the war and the
peace process had affected him or her.
The government massacred them during the war and ignored
them during ‘peace’. The
LTTE wants to represent them yet continues to exploit them.
The fourth person during the last three years figures as
the unemployed, the displaced, the reserve army of cannon fodder.
The fourth person is invisible to the international community
and the lagging reconstruction efforts.
If we move to the multi-ethnic East, away from the Jaffna where eighty thousand Muslims were forcibly evicted, away from the Vellala dominated West-ward looking Jaffna Tamils, we find a province where the effects of poverty and destruction are multiplied. During the war, they endured massacre after massacre and displacement after displacement. After the ceasefire, with thousands of children recruited into the LTTE’s ranks, a rebellion, a massacre and hundreds of targeted killings, this fourth person was not spared by the tsunami. In parts of the East, and in Tiger controlled Killinochi and Mullaitivu, there might not be four persons, there might only be two persons: the haves and the have-nots, those with homes and those that are displaced.
The tsunami may have cast a spotlight on Sri Lanka, but the fourth person still stands in the shadows. The tsunami rehabilitation efforts highlight the predicament of those affected by the Tsunami almost at the expense of those who have been affected by war. Unless of course, they have had the misfortune to be displaced by both the war and the tsunami. The other section forgotten in the Tsunami tragedy is the informal sector. While their dwellings may not have been washed away, their livelihoods have vanished as the fish they cart or clean are no longer in circulation and the devastation brought on production has erased the need for their labour. The fourth person, who often works in the informal sector, has been forgotten because they have always been voiceless. They have disappeared from the statistics.
The impact of the tsunami echoes the effect of the war in terms of its destruction, displacement and disenfranchisement. The tsunami affected vulnerable have also become part of the reserve army. It is the reserve army that Colonel Karuna preyed on to recruit his army of child soldiers soon after the ceasefire, and it is the reserve army from which the LTTE recruited children soon after the Tsunami even in the face of overwhelming international condemnation. But a reserve army serves more purposes than filling the battalions of child soldiers; they can also be sources for exploitation to build the political and social power bases. Even as news came out of evangelizing religious fanatics making the rounds of refugee camps, there were more sustained efforts that challenged the democratic empowerment of the affected populations, more exploitative external forces that would exclude, marginalize or prey on the fourth person. Even in the days and weeks following the tsunami, the TRO backed by the LTTE and the JVP competed in the East to create their social and political base through “humanitarian” work. The iNGOs rushed to find the labourers, and not the partners they are mandated to work with, to account to their Western donors over the interests of the local population. The Government and particularly its chief constituent party, the SLFP, also saw this as an occasion to build its patronage systems through its ability to control access to resources.
These powerful actors were able to seize on the opportunities presented by the aftermath of these devastating events. The LTTE’s language of humanitarianism, the Government’s rhetoric of reconstruction, the international community’s politics of aid, and the Norwegian’s “facilitation” betray their similar perspectives. In all the negotiations and discussions, a commitment to the exclusion of the people and the entrenchment of the powerful seems to materialize.
For practical and political reasons, there are crucial differences in the politics of aid when it comes to post-tsunami reconstruction, as opposed to post-war development. For practical reasons, the far-reaching effect of the tsunami on multiple countries has militated against country-specific political conditions as international aid and support has been mobilized and disbursed for all those affected by the tsunami. However, there is a political logic to international humanitarian aid that claims to avoid political conditions.
The humanitarian politics of the recent World Bank, ADB and JBIC Needs Assessment has laid the groundwork for neo-liberal reconstruction. It has been characterized by the exclusion of the informal sector, the privileging of the tourist industry over the fishing industry and urbanization over the rural economy. While the neo-liberal leaning of reconstruction has been consistent both in word and deed for both the tsunami and post-war reconstruction blue prints, the politics of aid has been more twisted. The 4.5 Billion Dollar post-war reconstruction and development aid, as articulated in the Tokyo Declaration of June 2003, linked the aid to progress in the peace process, including the participation of Muslims, and human rights benchmarks. However, the direction of the Donors during the course of the last year and a half after the Tokyo Declaration had increasingly become an attempt to bribe the LTTE and the Government into ending the conflict. The sub-text of the debates around the tsunami reconstruction (as articulated by the Government, the LTTE and the Norwegian facilitators) has been that humanitarian aid can not have political conditions, but that tsunami reconstruction can build confidence for the peace process by fulfilling the material interests of the powerful players.
While a peace with justice and democracy should address the concerns of all the populations of Sri Lanka, including the fourth persons, the peace process has come to mean a deal between the Government and the LTTE. And all efforts, humanitarian relief, reconstruction or development are there mainly to support such a deal between the two former warring parties. If humanitarian aid should not have political conditions (the resumption of an inclusive peace process, Muslim participation or progress on a federal political solution) then it need not have mechanisms for the government and the LTTE to work together on reconstruction. Such humanitarian aid should only have to ensure there is non-discrimination in the distribution of aid and that it reaches the affected and the LTTE will only be one among a hundred non-state actors that would compete for resources and opportunities to do development work.
The trajectory of 1.5 Billion Dollar reconstruction aid package recommended by the World Bank is moving towards entrenching the LTTE on the one hand and the SLFP and JVP party machines on the other. This was the same logic of the politics of aid when the UNP attempted to cut a deal with the LTTE for the 4.5 Billion Dollar Tokyo aid package. Hence, whether it is in times of war, the aftermath of the tsunami, or with reconstruction and development in general, the fourth person remains invisible. Visibility requires resistance and there have been sparks of it from the fishing communities of Gurunagar [i] and Mannar. [ii]
[i]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/sep2004/sril-s27.shtml
Sri
Lankan fishermen protest against LTTE attack
By
M. Vasanthan
27
September 2004
Thousands
of fishermen and their supporters at Gurunagar near Jaffna town
in northern Sri Lanka protested at the beginning of the month
against the actions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
in firing on their boats and making several arrests.
The
demonstration was the largest public protest by ordinary people
in the North against the LTTE, which is notorious for its ruthless
suppression of any political opposition. The protest is a sign
of growing discontent with the policies of the LTTE, which, since
signing a ceasefire with the Colombo government in 2002, has failed
to improve the living standards of the Tamil masses.
The
protest was sparked by an incident on August 30. The LTTE fired
on two trawlers engaged in fishing at sea near the Palavi-Poonahari
area, 40 km from Jaffna town, injuring four fishermen and damaging
the trawlers. Armed LTTE fighters arrested 10 fishermen, including
the injured, and seized two trawlers.
The
LTTE claimed that the fishermen from Gurunagar were operating
in an area designated for other fishermen and for not heeding
its orders to return to shore. The LTTE has arbitrarily demarcated
these zones, which the fishermen say are a barrier to them earning
a living.
About
4,000 angry fishermen stopped work on August 31 and September
1 and held a protest outside the LTTE’s office in Gurunagar and
the Fisheries Co-operative Union Federation, which is controlled
by the LTTE. They demanded the release of the arrested fishermen
and their trawlers and an end to the harassment. The Gurunagar
fish market and shops were closed in a show of support for the
demonstrators.
On
September 1, hundreds of fishermen picketed the office of the
Jaffna-based Tamil newspaper Uthayan to protest at its misreporting
of the incident. The pro-LTTE Uthayan reported shots being fired
at the trawlers but failed to mention the LTTE. The protestors
were demanding a correction be published.
Clearly
worried by the protests, the LTTE released the fishermen and their
trawlers. Normally it does not hesitate to mete out severe punishment—financial
and physical—to anyone who fails to heed its orders. Fishermen
face fines of 20,000 rupees ($US2,000)—the equivalent of three
months income—for fishing outside their designated areas.
In
an effort to patch up the situation, the Gurunagar fisheries co-operative
union invited the LTTE’s Jaffna district political wing leader
Ilamparithi and another LTTE official Sanymaster to attend a meeting
on September 1. About 300 fishermen attended and angrily protested
at the presence of LTTE leaders. “Who admitted these people to
this meeting?” they yelled.
When
Ilamparithi asked the name of one of the people in the audience,
the fisherman defiantly retorted: “Why do you want my name? Do
you want to pick me up in the night? Why at night, you can shoot
me now!” Faced with a barrage of criticism, the LTTE leaders were
forced to leave the meeting. They left declaring: “Those who shouted
are not workers but anti-social and anti-national elements.”
The
following day, the LTTE’s naval commander Soosai summoned the
Gurunagar and Palavi fishermen to another meeting at Palavi. He
admitted that the LTTE had shot at the trawlers and apologised
but then blamed the fishermen for not heeding the LTTE’s orders
to stop.
Repeating
the line of Ilamparithi, Soosai ominously warned the fishermen
not to become the pawns of anti-social and anti-national elements.
“Stop the agitations and protests. We will not allow this type
of agitation until our liberation war has ended. You were encouraged
by some bad elements. They are agitating for regionalism between
Jaffna and Vanni.”
Uthayan
published an editorial echoing the same theme, blaming the protests
on “some bad elements trying to discredit Tamil nationalism”.
While trying to underplay the extent of support, the editorial
also referred to “some elements advocating regional separation
using the Gurunagar fishermen incident”.
This
nervous reaction reveals an organisation in deep crisis. While
the LTTE claims to be the “sole representative” of the Tamil people,
there is profound and growing hostility among broad layers of
the Tamil minority to its anti-democratic methods, its fines and
taxes, and the appalling social conditions in areas under its
control.
The
LTTE is clearly worried at the prospect of another debilitating
regional breakaway along the lines of the split earlier in the
year between the northern and eastern wings of the organisation.
More fundamentally, however, it fears the emergence of a movement
of workers and the poor in defence of their class interests. The
denunciations of the Gurunagar fishermen as “anti-national” and
“anti-social” is the sharpest warning that the LTTE will stop
at nothing—including thuggery and murder—to crush such opposition.
In
September 2002, the LTTE’s present deputy political leader in
Jaffna, Semmanan, issued death threats against members of the
Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Kayts who refused to hand over
the funds of the Ampihainagar fishermen’s cooperative which they
had formed and led. SEP member N. Kodeeswaran, who was the co-operative’s
treasurer, was attacked by an LTTE member with a knife and hospitalised.
Continuing
anger
The
Colombo media and the Sri Lankan military attempted to make some
mileage out of the incident. Military spokesman Colonel Sumedha
Perera told the press that the fishermen had stormed the LTTE
fisheries office at Gurunagar and “chased away senior Tiger leaders”.
Tamil fishermen are well aware, however, that the activities of
the Sri Lankan navy have been every bit as repressive as those
of the LTTE.
Speaking
to the World Socialist Web Site, an official with the Gurunagar
fisheries co-operative official outlined the difficulties confronting
fishermen. “The LTTE is dividing fishermen on a regional basis.
They instruct us to form a fisheries co-operative union on regional
basis and allocate fishing areas,” he said. “Before 1989, we were
able to go up to Katchchathivu, a distant island, to fish. But
when war intensified after 1990, the Sri Lankan navy harassed
us, imposed rules and sometimes banned us from fishing. Now LTTE
has imposed restrictions on us in areas they control.”
According
to the Gurunagar fishermen, the LTTE recently imposed a new restriction
that banned the use of trawlers in the Pallikuda, Palavi, Keerikuda,
Walaippadu and Nachchikuda areas from December. The LTTE claims
that trawlers damage the fishing nets used by local fishermen
in these areas. Those operating the trawlers, however, are losing
their livelihoods.
“Now,
if we fish in other areas, the LTTE seizes our boats and anchors
them at Nachchikuda for a month as a punishment and also imposes
a fine. They claim the fine is for the loss incurred by others
due to our fishing. There isn’t any security for our boats and
equipment when they are captured. Even though it is difficult
we have to stay to look after them,” one fisherman said.
Another
fisherman pointed out that at Negombo (near Colombo) it is possible
to fish at sea for weeks. But the Jaffna fishermen—both in LTTE-
and government-controlled areas—are compelled to return on the
same day. Previously the fisherman could go as far as Mannar and
Pesalai where a kilogram of prawns would sell for 750 rupees.
Now they have to sell their catch in Jaffna for 400 rupees a kilo
to traders, sympathetic to the LTTE, who make substantial profits.
The
protest at Gurunagar is simply one sign of the underlying discontent
in the war zones of the North and East. The ceasefire may have
silenced the guns but for most working people it is still a struggle
to survive from day to day. This situation underscores the fact
that the so-called peace process was never about helping the masses—Sinhala,
Tamil or Muslim—but was aimed at securing a power-sharing arrangement
between the LTTE and the government to intensify the exploitation
of the working class.
[ii]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2005/02/050218_fishermen_ltte_protest.shtml
Fishermen
protest against LTTE Fishermen
in Mannar on Friday protested against Tamil Tigers accusing them
of shooting one of their boats and abducting 11 more.
Sri
Lankan security forces intervened to prevent the fishermen from
setting fire to the LTTE office in Talaimannar.
Fishermen
brought the boat shot by the LTTE to Mannar town and shouted slogans,
journalist Dinasena Ratugamage told BBC Sandeshaya.
Rejecting
the accusations, LTTE office in Mannar said they only warned the
fishermen not to continue with fishing using dynamites.
Kaushalyan
murder
However,
fishermen say the LTTE is harassing them because they did not
join protests and hartal against the murder of Batticaloa- Ampara
political wing leader Kaushalyan.
Kaushalyan
was shot dead on 07 February by the unidentified gunmen in the
government-controlled areas.
Mannar
Bishop Rajappu Joseph has requested the security forces not to
intervene.
The
Bishop has promised to control the situation by negotiating with
all the parties involved.
Mannar
has been calm in the evening after the protests, police said.
Journalist
harassed
Meanwhile,
Provincial journalist Mangalanath Liyanarachchi says that he was
detained for over three hours by LTTE carders and released after
deleting his digital photographs.
Liyanarachchi
who reports to the Lakbima newspaper from Trincomaleee said that
he entered the rebel held territory with the permission of the
LTTE leadership to cover the discussions of LTTE political leader
S.P Thamilselvan and Muslim civilians.
Explaining
what happened he said “as I was observing the discussions of Thamilselvan
and the villagers a LTTE carder approached me saying that he has
some information to be published and request me to accompany him.
I was taken to a LTTE camp and later questioned.”
Liyanarachchi is a former soldier of the medical services unit of the Sri Lanka army. |