Article:
‘Ethnic war and Chemical Weapons’by Prageeth Eknaligoda, Auswin
Labour School, 22nd December 2008
Even though this lecture is titled “Ethnic war and Chemical
weapons”, as I see it, a technical knowledge of chemical weapons
itself is not sufficient to understand the real situation of Sri
Lanka’s ethnic war. It is not wrong to gain technical knowledge on
chemical weapons. But that is not the most important thing. What is
important is to find out why chemical weapons are used in this war
and to find out the connection between chemical weapons and war.
In recent times, chemical weapons were used during the Iran-Iraq war
and also by these two countries during the genocide of the Kurdish
population. One or two decades before that, a chemical weapon was
used during America’s war against Vietnam. This was a primary
form called Napalm. It was also used by the Sri Lankan Air Force
in 1987-90 during the rule of General Kobbekaduwa. In those days even
acids were used during attacks. Records state that school children in
Jaffna had been victims of such attacks. Other than this, chemical
gases, too, are used in the world today. It was also revealed in
recent times that the Russian rulers had used an unidentified gas in
order to liberate many civilians from the clutches of a guerrilla
group. It is believed that this gas included the highly poisonous
4-Nitroaniline 99, but the exact facts are not available. It is a
well-known fact that during World War II, the Nazi army officials,
especially under General Eichmann’s orders, used chemical gases to
annihilate the Jewish population. This was a primary gas
called Carbon Monoxide that caused suffocation. It is the Anthrax
Bacteria that has a history for being a dangerous chemical weapon.
This bacterium can last for a very long period. It can enter plant
and animal bodies and survive for decades. In addition to this,
biological weapons or viruses and fungi are also used as
weapons. These can create epidemics, cause great catastrophes by
breaking down life cycles and produce genetic disorders. I
must point out here that those who use chemical weapons use them on
lands which are not their own. Anyway, finding accurate information
on chemical weapons is a difficult task. One can come to reasonable
conclusions only by analyzing the bodies of victims and by studying
the nature of their suffering. Here we must seek the help of Voharika
Vaidya Vidyawa and Genetic Engineering.
But this is not what is important in a political sense. What is
important is “Why are chemical weapons used in warfare?”
Brothers, you and I know that for agricultural purposes farmers use
insecticides and herbicides to control pests. Such chemicals are used
to completely eradicate or exterminate insects and weeds. You also
know that by using these chemicals on crops, the harmless as well as
the harmful insects are destroyed. This shows that chemicals cannot
be used to attack selectively. The same applies for chemical weapons.
In other words, chemical weapons are used for total eradication.
This is the important thing. This is the only important thing.
The Lankan rulers, who are leading the war mission titled the
“Humanitarian Operation”, have stated on several occasions that
this time they possess the technical power to bring the Tamil
terrorist organization down to its knees. The Prime Minister,
especially, is one of those who stressed on this matter. He also
stated that this technical information is classified. Nobody thought
further about these statements nor made any inquiries, thinking they
were war secrets. However, an important matter worth discussing is
the fact that a military information agency called the Media Centre
for National Security was formed with the commencement of this
“Humanitarian Operation”, creating strict media suppression. What
is the need for such a media mission to suppress a country’s ethnic
civil uprising? Why hide information? From whom are they hiding this
information and for what purpose? What is the purpose of creating a
distance of understanding between the two conflicting parties if
there is a parliamentary or (from a mooladharmika arthayakin)
democratic objective to solving the conflict? Understanding,
sympathy, responsibility and even wagaweema are essential
for a democratic objective. Covering up information will only
lead to the destruction of all these essentials. What are we supposed
to understand from that? What is obviously visible is that the
government has something to hide. What is this secret? Some
journalists exposed information on the chemical weapons used on the
Sri Lankan battlefield, especially by the L.T.T.E. Mr. Iqbal Athas
from Sri Lanka was one of them. Foreign media, too, had exposed this
situation. During such situations, it was the government that was
more excited than the L.T.T.E. The Prime Minister made a public
announcement that chemical weapons were not used in Sri Lanka and
that not even the L.T.T.E. possessed such weaponry. He also stated
that if such chemical weapons were in existence, the intelligence
agencies would expose the relevant information.
However, when a group of Special Forces soldiers fighting in the
Northern battlefront died after being attacked by a chemical weapon,
the Prime Minister’s guarantee came under further scrutiny
(became more suspicious). Because the tissues of these
dead bodies were severely damaged and the eye tissues were
burnt, one can get a vague understanding of the chemical weapon that
was used; this is a weapon that damages the skin and tissues of its
victims. Such weapons were used during the Iran-Iraq war.
Brothers, the chemical weapons that are commonly used in the world
today can be divided into three main categories. This categorization
is done according to the harm caused to the human body. One category
attacks the nervous system of the body. These are mainly produced
using the cyanide formula (sanghatakaya). Methyl isocyanide or
Sarin (the shortened form) is one of these. It is similar to
the sulphuric cyanide found in the cobra’s venom, but is a thousand
times more deadly. The Bhopal catastrophe in India was caused by a
similar chemical gas. Sometime back, the Japanese madman Shoko
Asahara, who was believed to be a Buddha even by some Sri Lankans,
used this chemical gas in order to fulfil his Kalpa Vinashawadi
religious belief of destroying all humankind. For this offence
the Japanese court of law sentenced him to death.
Another category of chemical weapons causes the destruction of the
body’s tissues (pataka), membranes (patala) and skin,
leading to the victim’s death. Even though the person may live, he
or she would be blind. This category of chemicals is concisely
referred to as Mustard. Mustard is Aba in Sinhala. This weapon
is so named because its smell is somewhat similar to that of mustard.
In military terms, this category is also referred to as Tear Gas.
Even though this is called “tear gas” it is not the tear gas used
by the police to control riots. It got the name Tear Gas because the
first reaction of the victims of Mustard attacks is a burning
sensation of the eyes.
The third category of chemical weapons causes body burns. High
temperature and abrasion (gharshanaya) caused by rapid air
expansion after the explosion are the main reasons for these burns.
Marks of light rays/beams (kirana kadamba) can be seen on the
bodies of the dead or injured victims. Actually the bodies get
roasted. These weapons are made using liquid nitrogen or other
parallel (samaanthara) gases. Thermo-baric is one such weapon.
It was said those days that during the Millennium City incident these
weapons were used by the Athurugiriya Diga-Dura Vihidum Balakaya
also known as the Mahason Balakaya. In military terms this
weapon is also referred to as the Zero Radiation Nuclear Bomb
(Vikirana rahitha nyashtika bombaya).
Sri Lankan army officers, especially soldiers and officers of the Sri
Lanka Artillery (Kaalathuwakku balakaaya) have revealed that
they have been using a chemical weapon similar to tear gas against
the L.T.T.E in the Northern battlefront for some time and that the
Tigers flee from the area when this weapon is launched. They are
under the impression that they are using a harmless weapon that
causes little damage. But that is not the reality (the reality is far
from it). This is one of the weapons that were named and certified by
the United Nations as Weapons of Mass Destruction (samooha
ghaathana awi) in 1998. This weapon cannot be used to selectively
attack people. Such weapons are known as Weapons of Mass Destruction
(Samooha ghaathaka avi). This is similar to weed killers
(goyam masi beheth). This weapon cannot attack without harming
civilians. Therefore one thing is clear: this is the secret that was
hidden from the country and the world by forming the Media Centre for
National Security.
As a member of the United Nations, Sri Lanka is forbidden from using
Weapons of Mass Destruction. If chemical weapons are used in
order to suppress a country’s civil uprising, especially an ethnic
civil uprising, the motive of mass destruction gets attached to it.
Then it becomes a war crime. The wars carried out by the German
commander Herr Hitler and by the Serbian Slobodan Milosevic were
similar situations. You all know how these wars affected those
respective countries. Due to time constraints I am prevented from
presenting more examples. When countries move away from the
globally accepted method of democracy and resort to mass destruction,
the United Nations has to interfere and solve the problems. The
government knows that the United Nations does not approve of
annihilating a community in order to suppress an ethnic uprising.
Concealing information regarding the use of chemical weapons must
have been done in order to hide the truth from the United Nations.
Another reason is the willingness of most journalists to wipe out the
Tamil population by any means, be it chemical weapons or even nuclear
weapons.
Brothers, an important factor here is whether a war of mass
destruction (samooha ghaathaka yuddhayak) is identified
merely by the use of chemical weapons. No, it has specific reasons.
Out of these, I would like to mention only a few important factors.
It can be presented in detail during the discussion. A war of total
annihilation requires a vision (mathawaadaya) or philosophy of
total annihilation. This means that through history, politics,
culture, art and social science a belief or a firm conviction is
created in the mind of the powerful group that the people perceived
as the enemy must be eradicated from that land. As I see it, this
kind of philosophy is present in the minds of the majority of the
Sinhala population in Sri Lanka. This belief is represented in
literature, creative art (nirmaana kalaawa), cinema, education
and popular usage (jana wahara). The problem is not that this
philosophy is present amongst the ordinary Sinhala community, but
that it is found in the opinionated personality-builders of
society (samaajaye paurushaya thanana). It is they who mislead
the ordinary people. The idea that Sri Lanka’s history and culture
were built solely by the Sinhalese is one such example. Such beliefs
have no scientific evidence (hadarima) or basis. They
are mere nonsense. But even scholars accept it without any debate. It
cannot be found out whether this belief originated or ended with the
ordinary people or with the elites who build social personality
(samaaja paurushaya godanagana). It has evolved and blended to
such a degree over a period of time. It is not easy to prevent such a
society from entering an ethnic war situation. The reason is that
those opinionated ideas have spread to the depths of ethnic
sentiments (waargika adhyaathmaye gamburatama ema mathawaadi
wishwasaya kinda basa thibeemai). Therefore there is less space
for intelligence (prachyawa) and more space for emotion and
belief. Such a society can come to reality only when the ethnic
project they believe in fails completely. We must realize that this
is a breakdown of the personality of the entire society. The
social personality that was thus destroyed cannot be rebuilt in its
former appearance. That is a negative aspect (haaniyak).
But when the situation matures, such a society cannot avoid this
consequence. Today we are in such a situation.
Thereafter a total annihilation mechanism (samoola ghaathana
yaanthranayak) is also required. This includes building a system
to kidnap, to assassinate the kidnapped victims through various
tortures (chithra wadhaya), if required, to make people
disappear, if that is insufficient, to make the evidence-holders and
the evidence itself disappear and creating a legal process that
appears to be trustworthy and democratic in order to protect the
assassins. The act of kidnapping persons is not a secret to you.
Neither is the government’s public support of such assassins. The
Nishantha Gajanayake and Karuna Amman situations are examples for
this. You all know how the law operated regarding the killings of the
Bindunuwewa Tamil prisoners, the students in Trincomalee and
volunteer workers. You know that the dysfunctional commissions
established for this purpose were not concerned about finding the
truth and providing justice. They merely pretended to provide
justice. But as a result of the ethnic extremism (waargika
umathuwa) of those in the commission, they were not able to
properly carry out even this deception. It must be noted that in
those situations, not only the government but the majority of the
media, too, endorsed crime. These are sensitive matters in areas of
ethnic conflict. It is this media that labelled the democratic
organizations and people who spoke up for the victimized populations
as traitors. Therefore I believe that a complete mechanism that
enables the total annihilation of an ethnic group is present in Sri
Lanka. If needed, I can elaborate on this later on.
The next important factor is whether there is a janawaargika
sannadda thrivida hamudaawak that can be utilised in the total
annihilation mission. You all know that ninety-nine percent of the
Sri Lankan army comprises of Sinhalese. They do not speak or
understand the Tamil language. Even though there were Tamils in the
army in the beginning, this has gradually decreased. It must be
stated that even though there are Muslims in the army, it is a very
low percentage. Besides, they are employed in special tasks.
Therefore this is not an ordinary army. I do not have to point out
that they work according to an ethnic basis (waargika
wignaanayak). It must not be forgotten that the missions
(kriyaanwitha) would have been directed against the guerrilla
organization of an ethnic group whose language they do not speak. And
it is not a secret that these army soldiers learnt to read and write
in an anti-Tamil visionary universe (chinthana vishwayak).
The next important matter is, even though the majority ethnic group
enjoyed complete state power for a long time they were unable to
dismantle the guerrilla power. This has led to a hateful mindset.
This period is more than two decades. Therefore the army is also
armed with an ethnic anger. The Sinhala community views this failure
as a certain disgrace. The mentality to get rid of this disgrace is
balanced by accusing the country’s political leaders. That is why
there is a cry that the heroic army was defeated because they
were betrayed by the traitorous government. Therefore the army has
the pressure (peedanaya) of taking revenge of the enemy ethnic
group (sathuru janawargaya). They consider the rioters and the
entire ethnic group as enemies. That is why they say that they must
suspect every Tamil person. Even though they do not state it openly,
the government’s official belief is the same. You must remember how
the Tamil residents of Colombo, the country’s capital, were once
chased (pituwahal) out of the city. This was done with
the knowledge and support of government officials. This reminds me of
the time when Herr Hitler’s army chased away the Jewish people from
Munich. This is also similar to the decision taken by the American
leaders during World War II to get rid of (pituwahal) the Japanese
people of American origin living in California. The census
(sanganana) program conducted recently in urban areas is
another similar situation. Therefore I believe that it is entirely
sufficient that the ethnic civil war has lasted up to two decades in
order to completely end the ethnic challenge that has lasted for so
long in Sri Lanka. It is not a surprise that in this background the
ethnic civil war of Sri Lanka has transformed into a war of total
ethnic annihilation. It is imperative/definite (aniwaarya)
that its image and meaning (haraya) comprise of the objective
of completely wiping out the enemy.
Brothers, there are some statements (pravaada) presented
regarding this ethnic war by those carrying out the war and those who
officially and unofficially express their support of the war. The
Fascist pravaadaya that states that the Tamil race has no
right or contribution to the country’s history or culture is a very
primary pravaadaya. It is more a chinthana syndrome
than a pravaadaya. In other words, it is a chinthana
thathwayak or a cultural chronic (sanskruthika chronic). For
example, take the aakalpaya of the government and certain
scholars regarding sending food and necessary paarabhogika bhaanda
to the L.T.T.E. controlled areas. They say that we are not like
other countries, that even though we fight with the enemy, we send
them food and drink and that we act in such a humane way. This idea
is born with the belief that the Tamil areas belong to outsiders or
to the enemy. They forget that the Tamil people in these areas have
interactions with national banks and that they pay their taxes to the
government. In fact, they do not feel that they are citizens of their
own country. In other words, it is as if their conscience tells them
that they belong to a different country. Another pravaadaya
expressed by others, which is like a scholarly idea (prabuddha
adahasak), is that the government has no way of evading this war.
They state various reasons for this claim. The main claim is that the
L.T.T.E. does not like peace and that the L.T.T.E. has destroyed
(kadaakappal) the efforts taken by various governments to
establish peace. They also use the argument that the L.T.T.E.
utilizes the cease war period to strengthen their military power, to
increase their sannadda balaya and to fortify their monetary
strength. Therefore they say that they cannot create peace without
defeating the Tigers. This is a fine example for the uncommon mistake
made by humankind of coming to a wrong conclusion through true facts.
A military organization (yaanthranaya) like the L.T.T.E. acts
according to its understanding of the world and its objectives and
aims. This is the general nature of organizations that act with a
firm belief in its sannadda balaya. They are not used to
having discussions or coming to an agreement. Even when they come to
certain agreements, they would still have some doubts. It is the
government, which acts or must act in a democratic manner, that has
to take the responsibility of vanquishing these doubts. In addition
to the government, civil organizations and the society, too, must
take this responsibility. However, I do not believe that the
government or civil organizations have done this to a sufficient
degree. Here I must say that when the provincial council suggestions
were presented during the Indo-Lanka Pact, the Sinhala community
reacted against it with full strength and the government acted to
prevent this provincial power from being established through any
paripaalanamaya upaamaaru. The people who present this
argument forget that the Southern Sinhala community struggled with
far more enthusiasm than the Tamil guerrilla group in order to get
out of the Indo-Lanka Pact. You must understand that it is no
surprise that a heavily armed military group like the L.T.T.E. would
hesitate to trust the democratic process (prawaahaya) of a
government who had humiliated and betrayed the civilized
parliamentary process that the Tamil democratic political parties had
carried out for six or seven decades. You all know that several Tamil
members of parliament were assassinated in the recent past and that
others had received death threats, while plots are beings carried out
to prevent the independence of Muslim political parties. What does
this teach us? Doesn’t this show that you don’t have any space in
the democratic route? Not only a guerrilla organization, but even a
suffering (peedawata path) ethnic group would not believe in
political parties and leaders who have such a savage past and
present. Therefore it is the responsibility of the Sinhala political
leadership to confirm the faith in democratic sammuthiwadi
projects. The reason is that the Sinhala leadership has a scarred
history of tearing up and destroying (kada kappal)
agreements and pacts (sammuthi ha giwisum). First the
government must clean up by washing away its dirt. So, according to a
mechanical recipe (yaanthrika wattoruwa), one can ask “Didn’t
the Tigers commit this fault? Didn’t they commit that fault?” and
one can point out that “This gets this mark and that gets that
mark”. But that is useless. These factors may be true, but not the
whole truth. It will only be a partial truth. That is the problem. In
other words, this is a negotiation between democracy and sannaddha
wishwasaya. The government wins the deal if it succeeds in
selling the energy, trust, power and profit of democracy. The
L.T.T.E. wins the deal if they are able to show the negative aspects
of democracy, highlight the success of the military operation
(sannaddha kriyamargaya), and sell it. It is the ordinary
Sinhala and Tamil people of this country who buy both these products.
As it seems, the government has failed in selling the product
(Alewikaranaya). The reason is that the government, too, has
attempted to sell the military method (sannaddha kramaya). What
would the situation have been if Lord Buddha demonstrated in front of
Angulimala that he was better at cutting off fingers?
In this conflict, the L.T.T.E. holds the centre of the military
method, but the government that was selected through an election
holds or should hold the centre of democracy. If not, the centre of
the parliamentary system (parlimenthuwaadaya). We must
understand that perfectly. The reason is that when a government that
was elected by the people moves away from the democratic,
parliamentary centre, it will result in the breakdown of the entire
democratic system. This will ensure the position of armed conflict
(sannaddha satan maargaya). Then the civilians will have no
options available to them. This will lead the entire population of
the country to suffer. Then we must expect the legal system to
collapse and the less-privileged majority population to lose their
protection. In simpler terms, one will have to look after oneself. In
the end, there will not even be any protection for infants. This is
what social scientists and political critics refer to as a araajika
thathwayak. This situation can be seen in several states of
Central Africa. But, unlike for those living in these African states,
as citizens of a developed, democratic country, it will not be easy
for you to accept this situation. This can be likened to the
different experiences of a man who falls down from a low branch of a
tree and a man who falls down from a high branch of a tree. You must
understand that the hunger of a rich man (situwaraya) is far
worse than that of a poor man. Just because a guerrilla organization
does not respect democracy a democratic government cannot move away
from democracy. The reason is that it is the government and society
that moves away from democracy that has to pay the higher price.
Brothers, but why did the government enter such a route, disregarding
the consequences? Is it because they do not understand this? What I
believe is that this is a result of the belief in the plan for total
annihilation. The reason why the government could not avoid war was
not because the L.T.T.E. had no faith in democracy, but because the
government had no faith in democracy. It was also because of the
government’s belief that they could suppress the Tamil population
through total annihilation. In other words, this is a problem
regarding the final objective. Even the government has no faith in
discussions and agreements. That is why they break up agreements made
with people in their own political camp. The incompleteness of these
critics is made visible by the fact that they leave out important
information regarding the irresponsibility of the government. This
information they possess is correct when taken merely as facts but it
is not sufficient to reach true conclusions. This leads to false
conclusions. Therefore it is false when they state that war is the
only solution to this problem.
Brothers, why must we be against this war? Is it because this is a
war of total annihilation? Is it because small children, women and
unarmed civilians become its victims? Is it because of a grief
resulting from the possible defeat of the guerrilla operation? Is it
because of the humiliation that will befall the Sinhala community if
the Sri Lankan army loses at some point? Or is it because of a fear
that the advantage of victory will go to a political party that we
detest? I feel that most people have come to opinions regarding this
war based on such sentiments (aakalpa). It is also visible
that they do not have a main conceptual basis (moolika
mooladharmika padanamak) regarding war. At first glance it seems
that they have legal arguments (nyaayika mathabheda) among
themselves. However, they are basically within the same legal
framework (nyaayika raamuwak) or “problematic”. I feel
that we must think about this matter more delicately. I say this with
reason. None of these people are primarily against this war. Some say
that if they were in power they would go on with the war in a better
manner. Others say that the real problem here is that some government
officials rip off (gasaa kanawa) from the war. Therefore none
of them oppose war because of an overall defect of the war process.
They oppose it because of faults in the manner (aakaaraye). In
addition, there are others who say that they are not against the war
against terrorism but that they are against the violation of the
rights of the Tamil people. This does not answer the question as to
why those rights were not provided before they entered into terrorist
activity. My belief is that terrorism is a means of war (satan
widhikramayak) and that it is the present form of the continuous
struggle carried out by the Tamil community in order to attain their
rights. One can only get lost by dividing rights and the means of war
(satan kramaya) and by splitting the dialectic relationship
between them. We must not forget that the previous generation of the
children who are engaged in terrorist activity belonged to the system
of democracy. Therefore we cannot support the fight to eliminate
terrorism while simultaneously fighting for the rights of the Tamil
people. The reason is that terrorism was brought about by the
suppression of rights.
The Marxists do not oppose this ethnic war based on these reasons
presented by others. It is through a clear understanding of the
dialectic relationship of the ethnic conflict. In other words it is
through an understanding of the relationship between the causes and
consequences (hethu pala). This is because war is not the
solution to this problem. The Marxists do not monitor (iwa
allanna) as to who is winning the war. Some people lay out
geographical maps (bhoogola sithiyam) on tables and monitor
the progress of the war. But they do not realize that this monitoring
includes a reality that is not revealed in the geographical map.
Apart from this geographical map, there is also an ethnic map or a
human map (maanawa sithiyama). The human map acts differently
from the geographical map. Even though the Tamil people living on the
plains of the North-East of Sri Lanka are Sri Lankans, there is a
similar Tamil population inhabiting a large area of South India. When
looked at in a general sense, the geographical divide between India
and Sri Lanka is united in the human map. It must be expected that
the borders of human maps strengthen with the increase of ethnically
charged conflicts. This is because ethnic brotherhood overpowers
political and geographical divisions. This is why South Indians are
interested in the war in Sri Lanka. Even though a small part of the
conflict is in Sri Lanka, the rest of it is in India. It is according
to the rules and regulations of this human map that the war becomes a
never-ending (aagaadayak) and hell. This is why even though
this conflict has moved from a war situation to a total annihilation
path and no matter for how long they keep firing at each other there
is no end to this war. It is foolish to get into such a never-ending
war situation since the borders of the war map are much larger than
they appear to be.
On the other hand, it is absolutely clear that the conflict will not
end unless the Tamils are willing to accept the leadership of the
Sinhalese and the Sinhalese are mature enough to provide such
leadership or unless both ethnic groups agree to a governance of
equal power which is devoid of the suppression of any group. If we
realize that what exists in the form of an ethnic war in Sri Lanka is
actually a profound social problem of social inequality and freedom,
then we can decide that the solution to a social problem comes by
finding out needs and coming to an agreement in order to manage the
conflict, and not by engaging in war. Then the question that is
directed to us is “how do we disarm this heavily-armed (sannaddha)
guerrilla organization?” I know that, as Marxists, you are
aware of the fact that the answer lies in cancelling the armed
organization’s space for existence. In a summarized form
(sanyukthawa), “cancelling the space for existence”
involves a parliamentary solution that reinforces the faith and
freedom of the Tamil people, supporting their desire for social
development and dividing power and opportunity in an equal manner. It
is clear that this is the solution to the initial conflict as well.
But that is not all. Marxists clearly have a legal Magna Carta that
is against war. What is this? The main objective of my speech is to
initiate a discussion on this matter before you.
Brothers, it is not an overstatement to say that the history of
humankind is a carpet full of battles and wars (kalaalaya)
that is spread out from the past till present. Human beings did not
move away from bloody wars even after starting to build up a
civilization. Even though they killed each other in the beginning
like animals, fighting over food, sex and shelter, they eventually
broadened the objectives of their wars by fighting for the group,
land, leadership, property and protection (fear). It must be said
that colonial wars (yatath vijitha yuddha) and wars of
resource exploitation (sampath pahara ganeeme yuddha) are
primarily the results of the expansion of the objectives of civilized
humans. However, my feeling is that when the objective broadens at a
higher level of civilization, the need for war gets cancelled. If
wars occurs between two or more parties and since parties get
cancelled at a higher level of civilization and national boundaries
broaden, then where is the possibility for war? Consider the way in
which the European Union was formed. What I mean by this is that in a
legally global (goleeya) social civilization there is no space
or need for war.
What is developing at the moment is a global (goleeya) society.
It is a universal society. If one violates the standards set by a
universal society, then the entire universal society must pay the
price. We are already suffering such consequences. Global warming is
one such consequence. The recent economic depression is another
example. As was necessary, the war that was waged against the Arab
countries with the leadership of the world superpowers including the
leaders of America gave birth to an international insurgent movement
that was able to challenge those superpowers. In a global system,
things happen at a global volume/level (parimaawa). Osama Bin
Laden became a global rebel within this reality. With just one threat
he can disrupt the entire global network. This is because he is a
cyber animal/being. Therefore the capital of the super world society
was also threatened. This capital went out of the super circle into
safe oasis. The super powers could not protect it. In the end, the
American money market gradually declined. In the end, the entire
system collapsed. Even though the process started with the American
super war decision, it ended by not only jeopardizing that super
system but also the entire network that was directly or indirectly
(niyamin aniyamin) connected with it. Even though some critics
stated that America’s crisis will not affect countries like China
and Russia who lead a planned socialist system, within two three
weeks they all became victims of the crisis. That is how things
happen in a global or universal society. Therefore, in a universal
society, there is no existence for the rest of the society after the
total annihilation of one ethnic group. The reason is that, in a
global society, each person is a part of a network that is connected
to each other. It not only includes the relationship between two
individuals but also the relationship between an individual and the
environment surrounding that person. The American super war decision
is against the standards of the global society. The new world pattern
is against the global civilization. I see the present international
economic depression as an instance of the political contrast
(prathiwirodhaya) between the global society and the
pre-global society. We can learn from the Middle East war that war
and weapon power (awi balaya) are not suitable mechanisms to
solve a conflict. What I am saying is that even the slowly developing
global society is rejecting pre-global plans (upaaya). This
principle is common to both America and Sri Lanka.
(Please note that this is a rough translation of the original article
published by Prageeth. However, every attempt has been made to ensure
consistency with the original. The original article which is in the
Sinhala language is attached to this submission as Annex 4.)
