IDS Documentary: No More Tears Sister 1) Explain Historical, Political, Cultural and Socioeconomic factors that caused a civil war, killing more than 75000 people, between the Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. Paul Collier outlines four reasons for what causes and attributes to civil wars in his book the Bottom Billion. Out of his four reasons there are two that I will compare the Civil war in Sri Lanka to.
The conflict was started in 1983 by a group called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers) wanting to create their own state after the Sinhalese people who controlled the Government reated a few discriminating policies against the Tamil Tigers (2006, PBS). After being colonized by Brittan Sri Lanka gained independence and the ethnic divide grew stronger. Up until 2003 the civil war continued with thousands of unjustifiable killings and the displacements of thousands of people.
Collier first states that the Tamil Tigers and the Government were able to justify their actions because of their grievances (Pg. 9, Collier). Furthermore, when the government created policies that discriminations against the Tamil Tigers they felt excluded from their country. The feeling of exclusion from their own ountry would make them want their own sovereignty. The Government and the Sinhalese people were able to justify their actions because they were trying to undo what the traditions and enforced peace that the British instilled (Pg. 19, Collier).
Colliers second reason is that civil war is more likely to occur in low income countries (Pg. 1, Collier). Having a low income leaves people feeling helpless, being in the Tigers brought an income to the low income people. In No More Tears Sister Rajani discuses sending money to the Tigers to release her sister. This was a way for those Tigers to provide for their families. Collier discuses a study done in Chicago that further backs up this point. Collier explains that being in a gang which provides little money is worth it to many people as there is hope that they will move up in ranks to make more money (Pg. 21, Collier).
Poverty is also linked to education, as discussed in the film it was very hard to attend school as children often were participating in the conflict. Also in the Rajani town the university was bombed therefore there was no place to learn. Without proper education the opportunity to make a good income decreases. Politically an issue that was not discussed by Collier was a corrupt government. Sri Lanka struggled to gain a strong democratic government that had proper rights among their citizens where did not divided people by their cultural differences and backgrounds.
Such as Rajani and she husband who could not be together. The differences and similarities in political ideology, developmental problems and political struggles. 2) Discuss differences and similarities in political ideology, development theories and approaches that guided Rajani, a Tamil activist, and Dayapala, a Singhalese activist in their respective political struggle over time. Rajani was a Tamil Tiger and Dayapala was Sinhalese. Although they were from different castes they fell in love. Rajani didn’t want to be married off she wanted to marry someone how had the same morals and ideals as her.
Even though they were divided by ethnicity and language they were both liberal activists that believed in the respect of human rights. Dayapala created an anti-government resolution which cause him to be in jailed for a few years. His revolution was supposed to create awareness on what the government were doing to the Tigers. After he was released from jail he was forced to stay underground in fear of being aken and murdered. Moreover, during this period Rajani would write him letters revealing how much she loved him and also bring the two children they had together to come visit.
As the war strengthened Rajani decided to attend school in the west. During this time she became really interested in being a liberal activist. She became a leading figure in the Tamil Tigers and became an important figure on raising awareness about what was occurring in Sri Lanka. To get her sister freed from jail she prepared an international campaign, the Tigers were then able to help her flee jail. This is when Rajani and Dayapalas marriage starts to change. As Rajani became a more important person in the Tigers it created a divide between them.
Although the Tigers were trying to stand up for their ethnic and language rights they were not doing so in a peaceful way. Furthermore, as Rajani became a more prominent figure in the Tigers it effected Dayapala. Over time Rajani realized that the Tamil Tigers did not have her best interest, spying on her and tapping into her phone. She left the Tamil Tigers and came home to teach at the University. Rajani believed that the Tamil Tigers were fighting he conflict in the wrong way, she believed it should be settled non-violently and the killing of Singhalese was wrong.
Dayapala and her did not agree on this issue as he thought the opposite, after this they ended up separating. At the beginning of the civil war they had the same political ideals but overtime when the conflict intensified their political ideals changed. 3) In your view, the conflict in Sri Lanka is a quest for Liberal Democracy, ethnic-nationalism, cultural identity, class-struggle based on Marxism, or all of these? After the end of colonization in 1948 by the British, Sri Lanka voted in a democratic style for ew presidents and representatives (2006, PBS).
Even though there was some problems such as the implementation of the Ceylon Citizenship Act which denied citizenship to Tamils from India in the elections remained peaceful. This changed in 1977 when a new government was elected (2006, PBS). The government was then in favor of the Singhalese. The majority government changed the Constitution in 1978 to create a dictator style government system (2006, PBS). Over the years there was also implementations that discriminated against the Tamils language and reserved the best jobs for the Sinhalese. After the discriminatory policies there was no liberal democracy.
The Tamil Tigers felt oppressed so they started fighting against the government and Singhalese to get liberal democracy. When the government passed the policy it was a threat to the Tamil Tigers nationality. The Tamil Tigers were fighting to regain their cultural identity and to be acknowledged by the government in the same way that the Singhalese were. To do all of this they fought against the government to get a liberal democracy so that they could be represented in the government. The Singhalese and government had a different idea about the onflict.
The Singhalese majority government were trying to recreate Sri Lankans cultural identity after being colonized and conformed into the British lifestyle (2006, PBS). The British imposed Christianity and Cristian traditions on the people of Singhalese. The government felt if they were to create policies that went against the Tamil Tigers they would be able to transition back into their Buddhist traditions. Unfortunately in doing this they destroyed some of the fundamentals of their own religion and killed thousands of people. In both of the groups there were different ideals and conflicts.
Throughout the ocumentary they showed the groups as being strong, aggressive and serious. Numerous times they mentioned that if someone in the group disobeyed they would be killed. However when they showed Dayapala and Rajani they both had understandable and compassionate morals. This showed that even though there were two groups not everyone in the groups wanted the same things. To end this conflict and to move forward all groups must put their differences aside and realize they are more alike than they think for example they are all Sri Lankans. This is essential in improving the development of their country moving forward.