ජනවාර්ගික යුද්ධහ හා රසායණික අවි | Ethnic War and Chemical Weapons (translated in to English)

Article: ‘Ethnic war and Chemical Weapons’by Prageeth Eknaligoda, Auswin Labour School, 22^nd 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.)