What kind of racism do Tamil people face in Sri Lanka?

The Sri Lankan government is doing a very good job of re-writing history at the moment. I have seen evidence in the Canadian press that people think "Tamils are terrorists" etc. The French company Ubisoft is producing a computer game in which you can hunt terrorists in Sri Lanka [1]. I wonder how many of those 'terrorists' will be dressed in Sri Lankan army, navy or air-force uniforms. The Sri Lankan armed forces have a long history of rape and mass murder and racist violence against Tamil people in Sri Lanka prevailed long before Tamil terrorism emerged [2]. Somehow I doubt those realities are going to be portrayed in the computer game, so this generation of gamers will grow up thinking Tamils are terrorists and the Sri Lankan armed forces are heroes.  If you want to see the kind of religious extremism and racism Tamil people face, you only need look on the internet. Some examples are included in this blog. 

A fake Tamil profile on the wall of: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43859695674 probably set up by a Sinhalese Nationalist to make Tamil people look like idiots.

Chaaminda Wijekoon implying that Tamil Nadu is populated by savages: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tamil-Nadu-history-is-a-disgrace-to-Hinduism/353953823732

Claiming that Sinhalese people are Aryan: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tamil-Nadu-history-is-a-disgrace-to-Hinduism/353953823732?v=wall

Claiming that the Buddhist religion could not survive without the Sinhalese race: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=72170069437

Homophobic racist obsenities: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tamil-Nadu-history-is-a-disgrace-to-Hinduism/353953823732?v=wall

Comments on www.youtube.com stating that Tamil women are too ugly to rape, and should be sterilised so that they cannot have children.

Various fake profiles set up by armchair-warriors to hurl abuse on a group wall: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2215400217

I have also received various personal threats and attacks for speaking out on this issue:

A sick reference to the murder of 3000 Tamil people by a racist mob in 1983: http://www.blackjuly.info/ from a profile with a fake name: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000098712823

Another immature threat accusing me of being a member of a terrorist group simply because I am Tamil: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000307926422

All of this is due to an underlying Sinhalese Nationalist psyche pushing the Sinhalese language and the Buddhist religion while treating all other Sri lankans as outsiders, based on the belief that Tamil people are inferior.

Chamara Senaratna claiming that "Tamil society is rather a backward society": http://te-in.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2201225225&topic=7696

Many people believe the solution is do deny what is going on and blame Western Christians for the short-comings of Sri Lanka putting full support behind the president despite his megalomaniac oppressive regime.

A wall post here: http://www.facebook.com/wall.php?id=130764207002 about this video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/01/07/ctw.anderson.intv.alston.cnn

This is just the tip of the ice-berg. If you look for the evidence, you will find it in abundance despite the Sri Lankan government's best efforts to cover it up.

If you were Tamil, would you like to live in Sri Lanka?

V

References:

1. Loewenstein A. (2010) Thank you Ubisoft for backing Colombo’s war crimes. Available from: http://antonyloewenstein.com/2010/08/18/thank-you-ubisoft-for-backing-colombos-war-crimes/ Accessed: 13:44 25/8/2010

2. Jivan (undated) Occupational Alienation: a personal perspective. Available from: http://www.metaot.com/blog/occupational-alienation-personal-perspective Accessed: 13:47 25/8/2010

Does Facebook support fascist regimes?

On 19 August 2010 Facebook administrators removed the group: ‘Racist Buddhist Nationalism is a disgrace to Buddhism’ and sent me the following message:

“On 19 August 2010 18:50, Facebook wrote:

Hello,

The group "Racist 'Buddhist' Nationalism is a disgrace to Buddhism." has been removed because it violated our Terms of Use. Among other things, groups that are hateful, threatening or obscene are not allowed. We also take down groups that attack an individual or group, or advertise a product or service. Continued misuse of Facebook's features could result in your account being disabled. If you have any questions or concerns, you can visit our FAQ page at http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=wgroups.

The Facebook Team”

This makes me wonder, does Facebook endorse racism? Judging by the fact they allow these groups to remain:

'Populate the Singhalese in North-East Sri Lanka':http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=280908196810 which states: “Is there any Tamil Problem in Sri Lanka? Yes; there is a problem! That is the ''Tamil majority problem'' in North and East areas of the country.

'Sinhala - The Official Language of Sri Lanka': http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=169192352667 which pushes the attitude that has fuelled racial conflict in Sri Lanka since its indepencdence and this page:

'Tamil Nadu history is a disgrace to Hinduism': http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tamil-Nadu-history-is-a-disgrace-to-Hinduism/353953823732? which claims that Tamil people are invading other countries and this profile:

'Devinda Fernando': http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000075859255which claims to have trained at “Tamil Donkey University '03” and work for “The Liberation Toilet Cleaners of Toronto Eelam (LTTE)” it appears to me that Facebook does endorse racism, at least in the case of racism against Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

What has that racism achieved so far? You can see some highlights here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y5S3IxDRuA and photographic evidence here: http://www.srilankanatrocities.com/

So why is Facebook so keen to protect Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism? Would it be against Facebook’s terms and conditions to state that the Nazis were a disgrace to Germany? I sent them this reply:

"from Servant of Vishnu to Facebook

date 19 August 2010 23:31

subject Re: Facebook Warning19 Aug

Dear Sir/Madam,

My parents fled Sri Lanka because a racist horde burnt my mothers house down and tried to kill her family, purely because of her race. She escaped, but many others were murdered. You can see evidence here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6QabSgnfC8

It therefore disgusts me that you have banned my anti-racist group, which had many monks amongst its members. Does this mean Facebook endorses racism? At the same time, you seem to permit many racist groups such as these, though I have reported them and know others have also: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=280908196810http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=280908196810&ref=ts#!/pages/Tamil-Nadu-history-is-a-disgrace-to-Hinduism/353953823732?http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=169192352667 Does this mean that Facebook endorses and supports Sri Lanka's racist oppressive regime?

If Facebook supports oppressive racist regimes, I have no wish to use Facebook any more. I doubt other people with an interest in human rights will consider Facebook an ethical platform either.

Yours faithfully

Venthan"

I received no response. I have no intention of letting any company that supports the oppressive regime in Sri Lanka make any money out of me, so I tried to deactivate my account. Facebook will not let me though. Every time I try to deactivate it, it just says an error has occurred.

Facebook sucks

Never mind. With Google running Youtube and Picasa, having Google chat etc, I am sure they are going to put Facebook out of business soon. Perhaps the Facebook administrators can retire to Sri Lanka to enjoy the fruits of their unethical actions.

V