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jkpo;j; Njrpa Mtzr; Rtbfs;

LIBERATION , NOT REFORMS

TELONEWS - SEPT '85' '

PAPER PROMISES. POLITICS OF PATCH-WORK, CONSTITUTIONAL

C OSI.IETICS; ARE ALL NOTHING BUT REFORMISTS' SHAMBLES

Whatever the deficiencies - morallyor politically - Mr.Thondaman maybe suffering from or be accused of;in^Sri Lanka's troubled and trivialpolitical arena he remains the manof the hour and saviour of PresidentJayawardene's racist and chauvanistregime.

It is unfortunate as. far as Planta-tion Tamil speaking people are con-cerned that Mr.Thondaman, despitebeing their unchallenged leader formany years achieved nothing to imp--rove the political and economicproblems that confront them.

Despite being a cabinet ministerfor the last eight years and veryoften a passive approver of all thegovernment policies, he couldn'tsucceed in any significant mannerto improve the conditions of livingof the Tamil speaking people ofplantations.

Having said this, given Mr.Thonda-man1 s political and personal inte-rests and basing one's jedgementon his past records, it is a futileexercise to expect Mr.Thondaman toseek real solutions to the mountainousproblems of the Tamil speaking peopleof plantations.

But, if on the otherhand we assumehe is really serious about champio-ning the cause of plantation Tamilspeaking people, then he shouldfirst of all distant himself fromthe racist regime of PresidentJayawardene.

Because, mere rhetoric outbursts,no matter how often, against thebourgeoise blood suckers and theSri Lankan government that giveslegitimacy and sanctuary to the ex-ploiters, will not improve the cond-itions of suffering plantation workersovernight or in the near future.

Furthermore, no amount of superficialand facial uplifts under the guiseof reforms to the existing politico-economic order will bring any signi-ficant changes to the conditions whichcondemn the plantation Tamils to thegutter.

Instead of reforms which have no realmeanings, Mr.Thondaman should seek ^^for changes in basic philosophy of the ^*plantation workers' existence and theirrole within the Sri Lankan polity.

These changes will never take placeuntil Mr.Thondaman himself takestock of what he has achieved sofar through his compromise approach(a BIG NOTHING FOR TAMIL, SPEAKINGP30PLE OF PLANTATIONS) and adopt astrategy which will liberate themasses of the mountains from theirpolitico-economic shackles.

REFORMS

Reformist questions are not questionsfor abstract changes in the relationsof production and they are. certainlynot questions for equal distributionof power and economic surplus.

Today Mr.Thondaman's reformist pro- -posals on the Tamils' National Questionhas become a face saver for the SriLanka government to retain if's oppre-ssive hold on the Tamil speaking peopleincluding those of the plantations.But reformist proposals he has putforward will not provide real solutionsto the Tamils' Nations! Question.

By the same reasoning, whatever thereforms Mr.Thondaman aims to achieveby compromising Tamil National Question;to improve the conditions of living ofthe plantation Tamil speaking peopleWE INSIST; will not solve the realproblems of the plantation Tamil speakingpeople, although it will help Mr.Thondamanto retain his noose hold on the plantationTrade Union and the consequent power thatemanate from it.

-2-



LIBERATION. . .contd

TELO NEWS - SEPT '85

So we say to Mr.Thondaman, likeIdampeyanthor Sangam in Madrashas already urged you to do, joinhands with the Tamil Liberationstruggle to fight for the realsolution of the plantation Tamils'economic and political problems.

The National Question of the Tamilg people of Eelam include

legitimate aspirations and exp-ectations of the Tamil speakingpeople of the plantations too.

Time is still on your side Mr. Thon-daman for you to think hard in thebest interest of plantation Tamilsand to struggle for their realfreedom and liberation. Mere re-forms will not achieve anything.

Yours strength Mr.Thondaman, stemfrom the struggling workers of theplantations. Who else but them with'their ailing and starving bodiesspill their blood and sweat to enrichthe bourgeoise blood suckers and inthe process also ensure power tomiddlemen like you.

The plantation Tamil speaking peopleout of their political innocence and/orineptness have been faithful to youfor donkeys' years and isn't it time yourewarded them with concrete and lastingsolutions for their generations ofproblems?

We urge you to reconsider you stance.

Plantation Tamils, like their counter-parts in northern and eastern provinces,need Liberation Not Reforms

QU5_y±EWLike president Botha ofSouth Africa, Mr.PresidentJ.R.Jayawardene also istrying to hold on to whathe possess - OPPRESSIVEPOWER - but the day ofreckoning is looming onboth of them.

Like so called moderatesin South Africa, moderatesamong us too want quicksolutions to generationsof problems.

Like how compromisingattitudes of a few oppor-tunists in south Africawill prolong the dawn ofliberation for millionsof blacks in South Africa,compromising attitudes ofour moderates too shallprolong the real freedomof our people.

Like how the millions ofblacks in south Africatoday is demonstrating toracist South African regimethat dawn of Azania isimminent, millions of ourpeople too say categoricallyto the Facist regime ofJ.R.Jayawardene that EELAMdawn is imminent too.

Any compromise with theFacist regime of Sri Lanka,in principle amounts tohaving agreed totally orpartially with the geno-cidal policy of the SriLankan regime; of whichwe all have been verycritical of.

-3-



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=1COVER STORY H INTERVIEW

government to come with some sensibleproposals rather than waste everybody's't ime by bringing silly ideas ' thrown outear l ie r by the Tamils? Any se t t lementt a k i n g shape in the fu ture , when.i t comes,should ensure that the Tamils are vestedw i t h s u b s t a n t i a l - implement ing powers.We have seen t h a t the Sri . L a n k a ng o v e r n m e n t seldom i m p l e m e n t s , i t sagreements with us. The Sri Lankangove rnmen t has. not:honoured the cease-fire agreement at all. They must releaseal l pol i t ical prisoners being held u n d e rthe 'prevention of terrorism act' (PTA).They must hold the i r forces inside thebarracks. Thcy^must concede we deservemuch more than what t he i ro ld proposalsarc w i l l i ng to give—that we deserve frce-dom to decide on our lives wi thout inter-fe rence f rom the racist regime and then,we a lso wan t the Sri Lankan governmentto b r i n g u n d e r control t h e i r own chauvi-n i s t i c forces, before they come to t a l k tous.

Q: What is the feed-back you havego:, for the Thimpu exercise from yourpeople back- home?

A". People have sarcast ical ly asked usif T h i m o u was our homaee to our mar-

tyrs. There have been several protectdemonstrations against these talks. Wehave.told them to wait and watch. But inthe present s i t u a t i o n , when the-Sri-Lan-..kan government cont inues to 'massacreinnocent Tamils, it makes things difficultfor us in our dia logue with our peopleback home.

Q: Ai least now. are you convincedthai negotiations alone can find a lastingsolution to the problem of the Tamils?

A: Very soon, the world wil l come torealise that the Sri Lankan governmenthas no intention or will to solvethc prob-lem through peaceful negotiat ions. It isthey who are trigger-happy. So howcan Ita lk of my convictions regarding thesetalks?

Q: What is going to be your strategyin view of the hardening of the Indianattitude to the presence of Tamil mil-itants on Indian soil?

A: We t h i n k such a s i t u a t i o n has notar isen now. But if a mi l i tary action isthrus t upon us, I am sure t h e ' I n d i a ngovernment will not let the Tamils down.

Q: Is coexistence with the Sinhalesepeople an impossibility or has the atmos-phere improved? -

i ^.' A : - U r j t i l the S.ri'La^kan governmentchanges its • hate-Tamil attitude andacfigns, i t ; w i l l be difficult for us tolive in a.-Sinhala area and there are-na* indications tha t there wil l be such achange in them:

Q: There are reports of tack of totalcooperation and understanding amongthe Tamil groups. What attempts arebeing made to sort out such problems?

A: A handfu l of leaders have gone. as tray but tha t does not reflect upon t h e i rorganisations or.the people back home.We are trying our best to convince these

. men to retrace the i r steps before it is toolate for them.

Q: There is a talk of placing the Cey-lon Workers Congress (CWC) proposalsof Minister Thondaman as the new basisfor-negotiations at Tliimpu. How do youreact to the CWC proposals?

A: Are they going to place t h a t docu-ment? 1 t h ink they wi l l not because theCWC proposals have federal f ea tu res init. Let them place it before us and wewi l l examine it .

Q: Do you have any proposals?A: Tamil Ee lam.

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-7-




FACTS

Let us get our facts right before we go intoassumptions.

-The talks stalled on the seventeenth morning.-The talks stalled when the delegates participatingon behalf of the Tamil organisations, includingMr.SithatharfHr.S.) walked out that iorning.-The talks stalled because of Sri Lanka governient'suncoapro»ising stand at Thiibu talks.-The talks failed because of Mr.Bandari'serratic handling of Thiibu talks.-The so called Mr.Bandari-Mr.Sathyendra clashtook place en the evening of the seventeenth.

-Talks failed not be ause of Hr.Sathyendra's Batterof fact words expressed to Mr.Bandari in responseto his undiplomatic like expression of words.

Hr.Bandari's erratic handLng of Thisbuexer ise:s well scrutinised by Indian and foreign nediaand the conclusion was that Hr.B.'s superfluousand superficial handl.ng of the talks was partlyresponsiole for tne stalled talks.

But as Mr.S. claim, if talks were stalled becauseof Mr.Sathyendra, do we interpret that iHe rest ;fthe delegates appointed Mr.Sathyendra tu be theirspokesman f.r lack of courage to speak t: theForeign Secretary of Inaia?

Or is it the case that Hr.Sathyendra has barain-wasred the rest f the delegates with h.s eloquentadvocacy ana in the process a nopoliseo the rightto talk _ n behalf of Tamil delegates.

Or is it the case that while everybody includingMr.S. were Kneeling down in front of Mr.Bandarito listen t; his "Mtiuntain Speech1 on^ nan among.he delegates had cuurage to put certain realitiesacross to Mr.Banoari.

Hr.S.s.newhat confused assessment of Thiibu talksand his allegation against Hr.Sathyendra is beingused as a sucker by the Sri Lankan press to give to theworld a story - yes a story - that Thiibu talksfailed because of one Taiil delegate and not becauseof Sri Lankan government intransigent and uncomp-roiising positian .

Taiil people often wonder who is their real enemiesand who is their real friends. Based on Hr.S. state-ment to the PTI, at least we can understand the reasonsfor such a confusion aiong the people of Thanil EelaB.

Coming to the paint whether Hr.Sathyendra should havetaken no notice of Hr.Bandari's so called informal...... nonsense, we have the following to say:

"IT HAY BE IN THE TRADITION OF MR.S's CAMP POLITICSTO BEG FOR SOLUTIONS WHILE PREACHING REVOLUTION."

"BUT CERTAINLY IT IS NOT IN THE TRADITION OF T E L OTO BEND DOWN AND BEG FOR SOLUTIONS TO THE TAMILCAUSE"

FLEXIBLE IN OUR APPROACH - YES WE SHALL BE

BEGGING FOR SOLUTIONS - BE IT FROM OUR FRIENDS OR FOES-NO WE SHALL NOT.

fnlGun&tl

"We are firm believers in thesaying that what one sows onereaps. That is why our mindsare calm.

The seeds we sowed were notseeds of poison. Our arrow-heads were not dipped in venom

But my fervent prayer is thatinnocent Sinhalese peopleshould not have to reap whatpower hungry Sinhalese poli-ticians have sown.

The final victory is Ours."

- Thangathurai -

24th Feb.1983.

-8-



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